The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Vitmori POV

As we ascended the stairs I could feel Reyvyre's gaze focusing intently on me, her mind burning with a few questions, though I could tell she didn't want to pester me after interrupting the training I had already been doing. I didn't really mind all that much though, since I had already learned what I needed to by now. "What's on your mind?" I ask in a leading way while glancing back at her.

She almost immediately perked up at that, excited curiosity at the forefront of her thoughts despite the casual smile she maintained on her face. "I was just wondering how your body was holding up... You were training your magic last night and then trained in combat until just now, right?"

I smiled a little before looking ahead again as we continued to walk. "I'm not really noticing any real delays anymore, though I do still feel an odd disconnect between myself and this body. As responsive as it may be, I still feel like it is more of a puppet I'm giving orders to rather than my own body that I'm moving without much thought. Perhaps it's because I used to be flesh and blood that I'm feeling that disconnect, but regardless, it's been performing very well."

Reyvyre nodded intently, and I could hear her scribbling notes into her journal without even having to look back at her. Once she finished her current thought, she peeked up at me curiously again. "What sort of things did you experiment with? Regarding your magic that is."

"Nothing particularly esoteric." I mentioned outright before scratching my cheek in thought. "I was just experimenting with the elemental magics as those seem like the most straightforward magic types. Basically dipped my toes in the water as it were to see what was possible based on my understanding and imagination alone."

Reyvyre bobbed her head intently, clearly ready to take down even more notes as she watched the back of my head. "I see, and what were you able to do?"

I hummed for a moment, considering what I did and the results. "I was able to create clean drinking water through nothing but mana, it wasn't even as hard as I thought it would be; though the act of destroying the water cost just a little less than actually making it. It felt more along the lines of simply making it evaporate instead of forcing it to disappear outright. I also tried to change the color of the water, or even the pH of it at times by imagining various chemical additives, but that proved to not be as straightforward as I would have liked." I couldn't help but smile a bit as I reflected on my findings. It's been a long time since I've experimented for fun and discovery rather than necessity or desperation.

"I hadn't tried controlling the water after conjuring it out, but I have been able to change the way it comes out. The mental image I had was that of a hose with different nozzles as I created a fairly strong jet stream, a shower of water, fine spritzes of mist, cones of water, and then just a steady stream. Oh, but I was able to create a stream of water that was pressurized to carve into stone, but it would be more efficient for me to just use earth magic to shape or cut through the stone itself." I explained before glancing back at Reyvyre. "This was all pretty small-scale stuff too, I did my best to limit myself to what I discovered to be the equivalent of fifteen gallons of water. However, I would like to try to increase my output eventually, maybe trying blasting out water with the force and volume of a firehose."

She nodded intently at my words, and I was just glad she at least understood what I was referring to for the most part, even if she apparently got confused by the concept of pH at first, though I think she figured it out if the next question on her mind was anything to go by. "Vitmori, I would've thought you'd have been able to make acid with your understanding of alchemy... Though I suppose you would call it chemistry."

I had vaguely recalled something along those lines in the combined memories of all the magic users I've come in contact with so far, but I wasn't sure how to actually go about doing that. If anything I was under the impression that it was some kind of acid bomb or something they prepared beforehand. "So... Water magic does lead to being able to conjure a form of acid?" I asked for the sake of clarification.

Reyvyre bobbed her head, closing her journal and tucking it under her arm for the moment as we came up into the spitter wolf den and started heading outside. "It's usually not a particularly corrosive acid, but yes it does." She started to say as she held up her left hand, a very small ball of yellow-green fluid forming above her palm before she held it up to show me. "Though if I'm being honest, this is likely to be the more dangerous substance for you to come in contact with. It essentially cleans metal and stone, burns flesh, damages leather, and... Well... It eats through plants, cloth, and wood." She explained as she walked over to a sparse patch of grass in the gravel around the base of my mountain, turning her palm over and spilling the little ball of acid onto the grass. The grass itself quickly started to wilt and melt away under the sizzling of the fairly corrosive acid. "There are ways to make a more corrosive and deadly acid, the same goes for poisons as well. Most mages partner with an alchemist to prepare acids and poisons for them to use in combat, which they then enhance or simply launch with their magic."

Now that was interesting to see, maybe I was thinking about it all wrong? "I see... Well, let's see how it affects me. Better to learn now instead of waiting to see in a live environment." I suggested, flashing her a smile as I held my arm out to her while using my other hand to roll up my sleeve. However, I then had a realization and focused on the vessel within my avatar, suppressing the intricate enchantment that maintained the illusion of my skin as I exposed my wooden form.

At first, Reyvyre seemed rather hesitant, but then I could see her very palpable curiosity start to form in her thoughts as she intently eyed my forearm. "I suppose you have a point... Now, I'm not overly familiar with using acid in combat, but I'll do my best to make it as most combat mages would try to do." She admitted soon enough before holding her hand out, conjuring a larger ball of acid before crushing it with her magic.

The acid spilled over my arm, running along the surface of my forearm, wrist, and hand. The reaction was rather quick and intense as the wood started to sizzle and smoke with acid burns, the wood being consumed fairly rapidly as it reached deep into where the bones of my arm would be; all the while my wrist simply fell to the ground, landing in the small puddle of acid that had formed between me and Reyvyre. Soon enough, I was left with just under half of my forearm in less than a minute. To say it was a rather surreal experience to watch my arm melt away is an understatement for sure; especially considering I was expecting to feel some kind of pain somewhere, but I still felt nothing despite what should have been a rather gruesome way to lose a limb. "Well then... I suppose I should do my best to avoid acid, among other things." I muse a little grimly while checking out my new stump, all while taking a few steps away from the acid puddle to put some distance between me and it.

Reyvyre for her part looked rather horrified at what she had done, guilt superseding her initial curiosity as she conjured a ball of water and quickly set about swirling it around my stump; washing away the remaining acidic residue before using the ball of water to disperse and clean away the acid puddle. With that done, she gave her full attention back to me and my arm as she carefully took it up. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. Are you okay?" She asked, sounding nearly frantic as she racked her mind on ways to repair the damage.

I did my best to look reassuring, even offering her a small smile as I used my remaining hand to gently pat her shoulder, all while doing my best to catch her gaze and make eye contact. "Hey... Hey, It's okay. You didn't hurt me, it's fine..." When she finally does make eye contact, I smile a little more before pulling away and looking over the stump itself. After a minute or so of quietly studying it, I can start making out distinct signs of regrowth; whether it's going to cover the end of the stump or regrow the entire hand, I'm not sure. But the growth is there and I make sure Reyvyre sees it. "Look, my body is already starting to repair itself. Let's just think of this as another experiment and see how long it'll take me to regrow a limb that I can't just reattach."

Reyvyre just sighed in response, and I could sense she managed to wrangle her sudden bout of panic before taking up her journal from under her arm and flipping to a certain page, jotting something down. "You're deceptively charismatic Vitmori, I hope you know that. What kind of person would just use their own body for potentially dangerous experiments..." She said with no small amount of exasperation when she came to a realization and glanced up at me for a moment before going back to her notes when I offered her a small grin. "Right... You are that kind of person." She said, feeling decidedly unimpressed at the moment as she tucked the journal away once more and began making her way towards the stairs up my mountain. "Good thing you won't need both your hands for what's coming next. Let's go, Rita is waiting for us."

"Sounds good to me." I reply, even though I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be helping with.

As we began our ascent, Reyvyre had managed to fully settle down again before glancing back at me once more. "We can talk more about your magic practice later... After that little incident with the acid, I would much rather hear what you learned about manahearts and the defensive abilities that can be developed through them."

I nod intently at her words before scratching the back of my head with my remaining hand. "I learned quite a bit about how the manaheart can be used in combat and how it flows through the body. I also learned that I can't make use of a manaheart like that."

It was at that comment that Reyvyre stopped walking again, a sense of worry bubbling up all over again. "What do you mean you can't make use of a mana heart? Is there just something you're not getting or...?" She started to ask, not really sure what the possible problem could be.

"It has to do with the lack of blood, or perhaps it's due to the fact that I'm not a proper living thing." I started to explain, though if I'm being honest, I'm not sure where the problem is ultimately stemming from either. "From what I've seen of manahearts, even a new and inexperienced one, the mana itself is spread throughout the body with little thought or action from the person themselves. It can be further refined and directed via instincts and specialized training, but at the very least it's done as a natural and near-thoughtless function of the body." I then gestured to myself with my remaining arm. "I can't do that. Sure, my body may be filled with mana, but that's only because of the vessel's baseline of animating this body to my thoughts and commands. If I want to move mana around my body, I have to both will it and think about the function while also trying to move and fight. I may be good at multitasking, but unless we find a way to spread mana around my body for more useful functions and then will for certain effects to happen; I really don't see a way for me to increase my defenses, strength, and mobility in the ways that Reonim or the drakewardens are able to."

Rather than worry, I could sense Reyvyre was more perplexed than anything as she considered the findings I placed before her. It wasn't long until she was jotting down yet another series of notes in her journal before glancing back at me. "That is certainly an interesting issue... I would have thought the sheer amount of mana your core houses and the quality of your vessel would have made up for any of those possible issues or shortcomings, but to think the problem was something so fundamental as a lack of blood? I'll see about what we can possibly do to workaround it and if I can come up with any answers before you head off toward the Hegemony." She said as she offered me a small smile. "That body of yours is my best work yet, and I would hate to leave you wanting despite my efforts. Just leave it to me Vitmori."

I nodded in response as I scratched the back of my head. "Take your time, I'm in no rush for all that stuff. It's not like I'm planning to get into any straight-up fights. I've never needed abilities like those to handle myself in my day-to-day back in my old life, and I'm sure I'll manage here just fine for the most part. Besides, I've got magic to supplement any physical shortcomings that I may encounter."

Reyvyre chuckled softly at that before sighing softly. "I know Vitmori... I know, again, I'll do my best." She said with a little more self-assurance as we came up to the entrance of my core chamber.

Making our way inside, I'm greeted by the sight of Rita as she uses a rather long stick to draw what looks to be the magic circle we saw in Orwis' memory into the stone sand. In the center of the magic circle itself was a sapling with runes carved into it; it was one of the many evergreens that made up the forest around my mountain, though this one only stood to be around three feet tall from where it had been planted in the sand.

“So… What’s all this then?” I asked, my curiosity only really being matched by my confusion as I looked over to Reyvyre.

Reyvyre smiled a little more as she gestured to what was still being set up. “We’ve spent the better half of the morning experimenting with what could be used as a spawner while also studying that magic circle we saw. While we haven’t been able to get the magic circle to actually respond to our mana, we’ve got some interesting reactions from the potential spawners. The feeling of possibility was rather potent during our last attempt when we used this sapling as the base.” She explained before looking just a little hesitant. “Mind you, nobody has ever studied spawners in the way we’re doing now… So this is all just untested potential and guess work. We believe the only thing we’re really missing is a certain kind of mana to activate the magic circle, which should then ready the spawner to be attuned to whatever creature you might summon.”

“I think I get it… So you want me to try running my mana through the magic circle?” I ask, just to clarify before I try anything while approaching the magic circle itself.

Rita piped up as she pulled away, lifting the stick carefully away from the sand before resting it against her shoulder. “That’s right, it’s ready whenever you are.” She expressed with a fair deal of excitement while making her way over to stand with Reyvyre, giving me a fair bit of space for whatever reason.

Looking the magic circle over, I get an odd sense of trepidation, now vaguely worried something might blow up for whatever reason. After another moment I managed to squash away my nerves and get to one knee, reaching out my only hand and touching the magic circle before starting to run my mana through the runes in the sand. At first, it was slow going, and I could feel the mana being consumed by… Something. All of a sudden it’s like a vacuum is being pressed against my reservoir of mana, the energy being greedily slurped up in such an intense way that I was somehow getting a headache. By sheer focus and willpower, I quickly pulled away and practically threw myself into the sand after freeing my hand from what felt like a hungry tarpit. “W-what the hell…” I couldn’t help but murmur, as I laid on my back for a few moments.

I could feel Reyvyre and Rita making their way to me and even see them as they looked down at me. But I couldn’t hear them as my head suddenly felt much more full than usual. I wasn’t sure what was going on until I saw a familiar panel form in front of my face, and heard an all too familiar feminine voice which filled my ears. ‘You’ve been busy, I'm sorry I didn’t reach out sooner candi-... I mean… Vitmori.’