Blacksmith vs. the System
Chapter 121

"… So," I muttered after a long silence, during which we stared at the book on the ground, radiating a disgusting yet dangerous feeling like I came face to face with a monster I could not fight back against. "I'm guessing we're not touching that."

"Depends on what we replace in the notebook," Maria answered. "I want to burn it completely, but …"

"We can't take the risk, not when the notebook could be empty. Do you want to do the honors?" I said.

"Really, do you want me to read? I thought you would argue to be the first one."

"If we weren't operating under a very tight restriction, I might have done exactly that," I said. "Under the circumstances, I'm happy to temporarily limit myself to second-hand information," I said. Technically third-hand, as that notebook looked more like a personal collection than anything else.

She gave me a small smile as she opened the notebook, flipping through the pages with a speed that was impossible for me to match. More than two hundred pages, and she finished it in less than five minutes, and most of that time was spent taking notes on the margins. When she raised her head, her thoughtful expression didn't give much away. However, watching her grab the corrupted book and place it back in the satchel was promising.

"Good news?" I asked.

"Better than I feared," she said. "Apparently, the book only describes how to break the dungeon gates, and not how to open new ones. We don't need to touch it for the moment."

"And, how about the dungeon gates?" I asked.

She paused. "That's a bit more problematic. He's not a good note-taker, and I have a feeling that whoever taught him did a bad job in the first place. But, he has the core methods written down."

"And," I asked.

She smiled. "The biggest part is to create an alignment with the dungeon by killing the boss monsters," she said. "Apparently, one needs to kill multiple boss monsters to establish a preliminary connection, before establishing a contact through various magical conduits."

"Conduits?" I asked.

"Simple mana constructs, and he had descriptions of them. They have several fail safes to keep the connection limited, which seems to be an important part of what he was focusing on. But, why, he doesn't go into so much detail."

"Maybe it causes some kind of backlash while breaking the dungeon," I said. "Or, it's only possible to connect with one dungeon."

"Probably," she said even as she raised her hand, and a very complicated pillar of mana appeared.

"Wait! Are you going to do it immediately? We only have a few notes from the notebook. It's too risky," I said.

"As risky as sending you to an unknown dungeon as a scout with no support, where you fought with an army just to escape," she countered as she continued to build the very complicated mana structure, one that I couldn't even begin to imagine building unassisted, rotating and shifting.

"Good point," I admitted. I wanted to argue more, but she was not only determined, but also it was far closer to her expertise. "If you think the risks are acceptable, go ahead."

"They are," she said. "The notes are clear that an unclaimed dungeon is easy to take over as long as two or three dungeon bosses have been slain. Since I have killed about a dozen, it should work perfectly —"

She was interrupted by a deep scream, one that I realized was coming from me. The moment her mana structure sank into the ground, a sharp pain hit my whole being, forcing a cry. I never remembered feeling something this intense.

As if something was being ripped out from my whole soul.

When I stopped trembling, I found both Eleanor and Maria hovering above me, signaling that it had been a while. "What happened?" Eleanor said.

"I don't know," Maria said, panicked. "I was trying to connect with the dungeon, but he cried in pain."

"I … I think I know," I muttered, barely able to whisper. "But, just to remove my doubts, do you mind explaining how the connection with the dungeon works in simple terms."

"From what I could understand, the absorbed boss crystal works as some kind of guidance, allowing the recognition from the dungeon, while the mana pillar works as a way to connect with it. However, the notes were clear that more pillars were required to make more complicated changes."

"And, only one person could bond with a dungeon?" I asked.

"Yes," Maria nodded, quick to catch up where I was leading. "You think you already started the process?"

I nodded. "It looks that way."

"But, the notes are pretty clear on the next steps of bonding with a dungeon. It requires a lot of very careful meditation, one that relies on a very specific way to meditate while using the pillar as a channel. The multitasking it requires is enough to challenge me. Not something that could be done accidentally."

"Even if someone absorbed more than fifty dungeon boss crystals, raised a veritable forest across multiple floors, absorbed thousands of shells, and then went ahead and slept in the dungeon continuously."

As I counted, Maria frowned. "Maybe," she muttered. "I can easily imagine the trees functioning somewhat similar to the mana pillars, especially with the way they affect the dungeon mist. The notes are clear that the number of boss crystals absorbed makes the process easier. And, as for sleep…"

"They had been filled with weird dreams since I absorbed the boss crystals, and I slept longer. I was willing to write it off as mere exhaustion, but..."

"The timing of your pain is conclusive," Maria said. "We need to replace a way to fix it," she said.

"Do we?" I asked.

Maria frowned. "Of course we do. It's a complete unknown, and too risky to be left untouched."

"And, do we have any idea how to safely separate it now that I used thousands of trees instead of carefully designed mana pillars?" I countered.

"You can't be serious," Maria growled.

"What does he want?" Eleanor interrupted.

"He wants to deepen his connection with the dungeon," Maria commented. "It's madness."

I sighed. "Look, the last thing I want is to experiment on myself. But, we have no idea how to separate it safely, and I doubt that we could afford to purchase that information." She looked ready to argue. "Just answer me. True or not?"

"True," she said reluctantly.

"And, the way I reacted shows that a fragile bond is a weakness that could potentially be leveraged easily."

"Also true," she said, this time in resignation. "But, what you're proposing is a complete unknown, and too risky to be left untouched. We have no idea what kind of influence the dungeon might exert on you through an unregulated connection."

"Unlike your experiment, where we were perfectly aware of what would have happened?" I countered.

"Wait! What?" Eleanor interrupted, looking at Maria angrily. "I thought we agreed on being careful. What's with you two? I was away for only an hour."

I raised my hands in surrender. "In my defense, I had no idea that sleeping in the dungeon would result in such a dangerous side effect."

It was a good point, but Eleanor didn't seem to be ready to accept it. "Doesn't matter. You need to be more careful," she ordered. I nodded sheepishly. "Now, what are we going to do?" she said.

Maria paused for a moment, her expression twisting like she had just eaten something foul. "I hate to admit it, but it looks like he has a point. He has already bonded with the dungeon somewhat, and breaking it would be unnecessarily risky. Reinforcing the connection in a more controlled manner seems like a better idea."

Eleanor looked ready to argue, but I had no intention of backing down. "I understand the risks, Eleanor, but think about what we're dealing with here. I've already been connected to the dungeon, whether by accident or through my actions. And, with the danger of their assault getting closer and closer, we don't have a real choice."

"We don't even know that there's going to be an attack now that we have discovered their plans. Maybe they will just pull back. I want to scout the dungeon entrance myself. That way, we will know if it was broken or not."

"A fair offer," I accepted. It was more than fair. After that horrible pain, I wasn't enthusiastic about the attack, but the prospect of another attack like that was even scarier. I could do my best to defend the first floor, but recent events had shown that we didn't know enough about the dungeons to properly understand what was going on.

"I'll come with you," Maria said. Eleanor looked ready to argue, but Maria waved her finger. "No, if there's a break, I need to be there to restrain their aura," she added. "The flame nature goes both ways."

Eleanor nodded in acceptance. "No experimenting while we're gone," she said.

"Deal," I replied as I nodded. "I'll just read the notebook to get a better sense of what was going on." But, just as they turned, I also pulled the sealed letter from Maria, one in which she had written the secrets of her meditation art into. "And, maybe this as well. I have a feeling the insights will come useful."

Maria looked torn in indecision, but after a while, she sighed. "I see your point," she grudgingly admitted. "But, no experimenting before I return. On either."

"I promise," I said, which I meant completely. The pain I felt earlier was a good enough reason for me to be dissuaded.