Blacksmith vs. the System-Chapter 203

[Meditation of Decay (Mythic) - 151]

After the monumental yet impulsive decision to spread everything I discovered about the System freely, I returned to my task of absorbing the remaining tainted energy, deciding that maximizing mana reserves was important in case of an immediate attack.

I planned to continue despite the sun disappearing at the horizon, marking the arrival of the night. There were many things that scared me, but the increased monster aggression was not one of them. Not anymore.

All the while, questioning whether I did the right thing. It had the chance to end up in a spectacular disaster, and a part of me hated it, but I believed that I had no other choice. Not when millions of people suffered and died in silence.

No, some things were worth the risk.

I planned to work until midnight, completely dispersing the leftover tainted energy, when I was interrupted by several flags being raised at the dungeon entrance.

An emergency signal.

I immediately created a gate to create a shortcut for the main dungeon entrance, right next to Harold who was organizing the defenses. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“The dungeon monsters, sir. They are in a frenzy. It’s much worse than usual.”

I frowned once I opened multiple gates. “This leads directly to the third floor, follow me,” I said. There were almost a thousand farmers down on the third floor, where the insects were going through an accelerated improvement due to the plants and the abundant mana.

Combined with an exceptional frenzy, it could end up in a true disaster.

Harold didn’t say anything to me, just barked several quick orders to mobilize the emergency forces, who responded by darting toward us, their speed showing the marks of a familiar spear technique. Their discipline was appreciated.

With that, we stepped into the third floor … right into the middle of a war, where an insect horde that could be comparable to the ones that I had seen on the fifth floor gathered together, trying to overwhelm the defensive line of the farmers.

The problem, the repellant trees weren’t working like they were supposed to, showing that the frenzy had reached a dangerous point. It reminded me of the intensity of the boss monsters as they broke through the defenses.

The only exception — a very welcome one — was the actual presence of a boss monster, which could have broken through the haphazard defensive line with ease, causing untold casualties. Luckily, that didn’t seem to be a problem right now. There were several that were wounded gruesomely, but they were safely at the back line.

The situation was too dangerous to examine the insects in detail, but even a cursory glance showed that even the weaker variants were showing increased combat capabilities, actively using the environmental mana. And, since mana density almost doubled compared to the earlier check, it had the potential to be truly devastating.

That would have been a disaster if every single person wasn’t equipped with gear to resist the corrosion attacks from the insects.

[-1000 Mana]

[-1000 Mana]

[-1000 Mana]

I rapidly delivered three attacks from my newest skill, destroying most of the horde rapidly. “Harold, you handle the defenses and the evacuation,” I said as I opened another portal, right to the fourth floor.

Right to my students.

Once I appeared, my first response was to let out a relaxed sigh, followed by hiding as I watched the six defend against the threat. The insects raged around them, but unlike the third floor, the insects were the variety they were used to, and they were capable enough to defend themselves, to the point that not all of them fought.

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Just as I expected, Terry was proving to be an important part of the defense, able to actively use his mana to turn the mist-repellent trees into actual weapons, their branches skewering through the insects en-masse.

However, what surprised me was the other two that were assisting him. Logan and Jessica. Jessica was moving between the trees as she cut through insects, moving with a surprising mixture of dexterity and clumsiness. The glow of mana that stuck between her and the tree promised an interesting skill she was still getting used to.

It was not guaranteed, but combined with the pure excitement on her face, I was willing to bet that it was her transformed class skill. Though, there were not many options available. Unless she managed to smuggle a legendary skill stone without me being aware — the fighting patterns of a lower-class skill and a legendary one were easy to distinguish — transforming her skill was the only option.

Logan seemed to have a new skill as well, but in his case, it was a wooden armor and weapon, enhancing his power significantly. There was no hint of mana, but watching him operate with a surprising strength that far surpassed the limits of a Farmer by burning Health, I was confident that he wasn’t regretting.

Two new upgraded skills, each unique. Talk about a silver lining…

Seeing that they had the situation under control, I went back. First, I teleported back to the second and first floors, making sure there was no unfortunate traveler who was caught badly. “It’s good to see the railroads working as intended,” I celebrated happily as I watched traveling groups either pass by the hordes, hidden behind the metal wagons, or use these wagons as mobile bunkers, delivering devastation through steam weapons.

Though, it helped that, just like the fourth floor, the situation in the first two floors wasn’t too bad. Only the third floor, due to the growing density of environmental mana turned threatening. With that in mind, I returned to the third floor, once again at a distance, watching Harold organize the defenses against the horde ready to intervene in case of mortal danger.

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To my pleasant surprise, there was none. Harold and his elite team of Advanced Farmers with maximized Uncommon Breeze Spear skills were more than enough to prevent any external dangers, while the rest used the horde as an easy leveling opportunity.

There was no need for further intervention from my side. Hell, it looked like they could have handled it even without my initial mana attacks cleaving through the horde.

They were not weaklings that I needed to be careful not to break, not anymore. Instead, they fought with a competency that surpassed the initial team of guards Maria had hired by a great margin.

Once again proving the absurdity of dismissing production classes as useless. I was not a token example of success among a bunch of weaklings.

Not anymore.

“Now, let’s see what’s the reason for this sudden riot,” I said as I closed my eyes, afraid that it had something to do with our rapid terraforming project happening on the third floor, as if it was the case, it would require a swift update.

Discovering the reason took seconds.

The new gates I had opened at the newly built towns. Each gate had been acting just like the initial dungeon gate, absorbing the mysterious source from the outside environment. And, since it was the first time I kept other gates open for any length of time, it was the first time I noticed it.

But, the flow of energy from seven distinct gates was obvious. The main gate still took more than the auxiliary ones, but it was less than double, which meant the dungeon’s intake had been increased fivefold.

“No, not the first time,” I corrected myself, remembering the one gate I kept open in the depths of the mountain. That gate hadn’t resulted in any such problems. Why, I didn’t know, but I had three hypotheses: It was too close to the main gate and each gate collected the energy from a reasonable radius around them; the mysterious energy didn’t penetrate almost a mile of thick rock and ground to reach to the gate hidden deep in the earth; or the energy simply spread vertically, and the two gates overlapped.

Luckily, with the crazed beast riot already in control, I was free to test these hypotheses. All I needed was to teleport and open several gates, and watch the intake of the energy.

Despite the disaster we might have faced, avoided only due to the excessive precautions we had placed, there was no ignoring the strategic opportunity this phenomenon had presented. While I had no idea what that mysterious source was, how it truly interacted with the dungeon, and why it only worked at night, ultimately, it was a critical resource.

It was the only renewable source of mana we had, which could prove critical in the long run. The idea that I could increase mana production just by opening new gates went a long way to soothe my growing anxiety about the upcoming war.

However, despite that, I didn’t rush outside to test the exact working principles of those gates. Ultimately, while the gates represented extra mana, they also represented another location to be hit from, requiring some kind of defense around them. The establishment of the six towns around the mountain while turning the mountain into a bunker had been a tactical necessity, and I couldn’t open dozens of gates to create more vulnerabilities.

Especially since I wasn’t exactly hurting for mana at the moment.

I opened another gate, once again to the fourth floor, but not to meet with my students. While I was curious about their skills, I also wanted to use them as a test, curious how they would work on without me looking over their shoulders.

I traveled to my personal workshop, finally ready to work on my newest weapon project.