Arcanist In Another World-Chapter 3: Crack Tap Crack

The cave stretched and forked and sprawled like a complex maze system, and without his affinity to wind mana Valens would’ve likely been long lost in this earthly cage. He’d been keeping an ear on the draft as he made forward, bare feet scraping against the wet, gravelly path, one hand pressed against the side wall to keep him steady.

If he had to guess he’d been at it for two hours, give or take, but hadn’t yet managed to discover anything of any worth. There wasn’t the so-called rot of the Necromancer here, nor was there any living thing from which he could begin to decipher the ways of the world.

He found some worms on the path, of course. And tiny bugs and the occasional bat that made him flinch. Nothing, so far, seemed any different than his own world. Perhaps he’d been too liberal with his imagination. Then again, he was always his own worst enemy, and there was something soothing that it had not been changed.

You can’t blame a man for being a dreamer, though. Valens expected to see some alien lifeforms the size of houses, terrible beasts out for human flesh, different races in their different ways of life. That was about how their talks went with his Master whenever they delved into the old texts.

At least the abundance of mana was promising, and he certainly cherished the feeling of having his own mana pool near his heart, just like the masters of the olden times. So they weren’t entirely lying in their promises.

Not long after he paused in his steps when it sounded like something was rattling close by, like two stones grinding against each other. He craned his head round the corner and narrowed his eyes when a wave of rotten stench splashed across his face, making him blink.

There, a few paces from the corner, stood a man’s silhouette. It was too dark for him to make out the details, but the Resonance of the mana painted a rather difficult image in his mind.

Thick bones, barely any skin, and live tissue left over them. The joints were half-broken, the right index finger bent hideously toward the palm. The side of his face had a gaping scar that slithered down the nape of his neck. Valens couldn’t decide on an age, but guessed the man should’ve been no more than thirty when he died.

Was that a cadaver? Here in the depths of a cave, standing still as if it’d been nailed to the ground? What was holding it, and most importantly, why would someone place a corpse here?

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He glanced back the way he came. The wind suggested he had to turn the corner to find the exit, but he wasn’t amused by the notion that he would have to pass by a cadaver on his way. Who knew what awaited him further ahead? Certainly not some grinning, compassionate company eager to help a lost man find his way.

Yet, he couldn’t turn back. He had to complete the trial to prove he wasn’t a fledgling, inept disciple who chanced his way into this world. No, for all reasons and purposes, he came here sacrificing a lot in the path. He wouldn’t have this mad Magus laugh at him beyond what twisted dimension he’d wedged himself in.

He had been a disciple once, but not anymore. He was his own man now.

So he focused on the Resonance, feeling the spell formula in the edge of his mind. He considered what to pick before settling on a particularly strong, and yet simple spell. It took him a moment to adjust the frequencies, his lips curling with distaste. Tongues of flame materialized out of the fingers of his right hand and coalesced into a single, burning sphere.

Ding! You have learned the Class Skill ‘Fireball - Proficient’. Do you want to register it in one of your skill slots?

Valens smiled at the words. He was glad to see this mad Magus had no qualms about Warmagic. The sight of a Fireball alone would have earned him a life sentence back in the Empire, and yet in this world, he was beginning to suspect the rules were different.

Just as he hoped.

Ding! The Class Skill ‘Fireball - Proficient’ has been registered into your skill slots.

Remaining Class Skill Slots (6/10)

But he couldn’t be careless. He took in a long, deep breath to steady the hold of the Apathy and focused on the spell. To make sure the Fireball was stable, he had to leash it with all of his senses, keeping it shackled on the tip of his fingers… Except he didn’t have to, because the spell just floated there all by itself.

Valens paused, scowling down at the wavering sphere that burned in his hand. Even without his tight control, the Fireball remained separated from the spell formula as if it’d become a thing of its own.

And it was feeding itself? From the pool of mana inside his chest? This was too odd! Spells didn’t work like that. Spells should—

A rasping breath sounded close, followed by a rattling that shook the ground beneath his feet. Valens snapped his head up and witnessed a sight he wouldn’t dare to imagine. The cadaver was dragging its feet across the cave, a mess of bones and half-remained flesh reeking of rot.

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[Skeleton - lvl 5]

Words appeared over its head, flashing in orange light.

A target, was his first thought as he raised his hand. Whoever that mad Magus was, he must be quite sick in mind if he wished him to burn a cadaver.

Something stirred inside the skeleton’s bones. Something that inherently felt familiar. Valens narrowed his eyes as he felt the unmistakable song of the frequencies that belonged to mana. Death mana, to be more precise, that took hold of the creature from within.

It was wobbling closer, hissing and rasping, rotten teeth crunching, jaw clacking shakily. Two bone-fingered hands were stretched out as if it was searching for something to stick its fingers at.

Valens gazed around him. There was no one else here. The trial, as it appeared, would have him face the skeleton soon. While he had his Fireball still burning in the tip of his fingers, the skeleton looked… well, bony and clumsy. It didn’t seem to know how to use the death mana that kept it animated.

Yet the sight of it sent a shiver down Valens’s back. Its hollow eyes burned with an ominous light, green but not quite, a deep, unsettling color. Everything about it screamed unnatural, but Valens knew better than to expect normal in this world.

So he twisted around the narrow cave, raised his hand and flung the Fireball into the skeleton’s face, jolting in nervous expectation as he watched the sphere streak across the distance. It splashed with a sickening crunch, sending a sprinkle of burning rain about the walls. Tongues of fire slithered down and latched at the creature’s bones, eating away the foul mana that filled it to the brim.

It almost felt like watching a set of firewood crack in a bonfire, except this time the sounds were more clear and had a satisfying crunch to them. The cadaver started wailing. It banged its head to the walls, arms flailing and trying to quench the fire away, even ripping a bone or two from its ribcage in desperation.

But it wouldn’t work since there was a connection between those flames and the mana well in his chest. Valens was constantly supplying fire mana to the spell, and could feel those flames as if they were outgrown limbs he’d decided to fling at the creature.

There came a click when the skeleton went deathly still.

Ding! You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 5]! For killing a creature above your own level, you are granted bonus experience.

You have leveled up! 5 Stat Points granted!

Ding! [Fireball(Proficient): 1 > 2]

Ding! [Apathy(Master): 1 > 2]

Ding! [Mana Manipulation(Master): 1 >3]

“Hah!” Valens swept his hand to kill the burning sphere, lips curling into a smile as he felt a wave of mana wash over him. Felt the energy alive in his chest. Burning. Waiting. A mindless lump of source that just stood there.

More questions, and words that seemed not particularly insightful at the first glance. He was about to check the lines to see if there was anything else he could use to understand their meaning when the ground jolted beneath his feet. More rattling noises followed. All around him. Coming from behind, and front. Everywhere.

His smile slowly died. Curious he might be, but he wasn’t fool enough to think this mad Magus would keep sending a cadaver at a time. Already the Resonance picked quite a few of them stumbling ahead. He smoothened the side of his robe, frowning at the frequencies. He felt his bare feet grow cold, leaning against the nearest wall. He blinked to clear his mind, and decided to trail the draft onward.

Another Fireball coated over his right hand, the burning sphere illuminating the path to aid his sound vision. The scraping of bones, the rattling of the rib cages, and that slow, sinister rasping that sounded much like a dying man’s breath. Valens was intrigued, to say the least. He was also curious to have seen a wicked way to use death mana.

…

The ground started sloping upward by the time he came across a pair of skeletons. Spitting drops of rot that hissed against the stones, rusted, worn spears clasped in their hands. Ancient warriors, then, or were once before death claimed them. They looked terribly inefficient with the way they kept swaying at each step, but those weapons gave them an edge the first skeleton lacked.

Valens decided to take the initiative by flinging a Fireball toward them. It had done the job with the first one, and these ones didn’t look much different other than their weakly fashioned weapons. As expected, the fire mana tongues lashed at them with brutal precision, worming across their bones like snakes lit by deadly fire.

They hissed painlessly and wobbled forward. Rusted weapons hauled high. Dragging the heels of their feet stubbornly still. Then there was a spear coming at him. Coming at him fast with a burning skeleton on the other end of it.

“Oh?” Valens said. He stepped back, stumbled into a stone, found himself falling toward the ground, feeling the spear closing in on him faster than before. He floundered backward, the heat of his own spell splashing into his side.

The Skeleton hissed and stabbed at him. Valens barely dodged out of the way, called for another Fireball, raised his fingers just in time for the spear to swat his palm away. Terrible pain bloomed in the Resonance, filling his head with blinding lights. Blood dribbled down the gaps of his hand, trickling warm over his skin.

Apathy fixed the pain for him. He picked himself up off the ground, and caught the spear’s tip when it made for his stomach. Caught it tight with his right hand. Tongues of fire splattered over the rusted weapon, burning the worn metal from within, slithering quickly toward the bony fingers of the cadaver.

The other one was back on its feet. Valens saw it out of the corner of its eyes, barely looking like a corpse now. Half of its right leg was missing, shoulders draped with melted liquid of the bones that dripped down like a sickening rain. It stumbled when it made for a step, bashed into the other skeleton and they crashed into the sidewall together, arms and legs tangled in a nauseating mess.

Valens snapped his fingers at the flailing pair. Another Fireball for the occasion. More flames seemed like the answer.

Crack. Tap. Crack.

They went still.

You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 8]! For killing a creature above your own level, you are granted bonus experience.

You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 6]! For killing a creature above your own level, you are granted bonus experience.

You have leveled up! 5 Stat Points granted!

You have leveled up! 5 Stat Points granted!

Ding! [Fireball(Proficient): 2 > 3]

Ding! [Apathy(Master): 2 > 3]

Ding! [Mana Manipulation(Master): 3 > 4]

Fancy that, but there were more coming from behind. He could already feel their nasty stench in his nose. Not just the rot, but something more wicked. Something dark.

…….