Sweet Rest and Growth
The surroundings were being purified at an astonishing speed. The spot that had once belched black flames like the maw of hell was now being washed away as if by a stream of clear, purifying water. In its place, transparent and pristine mana began to fill the air.
Only then did the tension drain completely from Ian’s body. He collapsed to the ground and sprawled out flat on his back. Every single bone in his body felt as though it had been shattered into pieces. Even lying still sent dull, throbbing pain radiating through his entire frame.
Zenon approached with a refreshed smile and sat down beside him.
“Good work, Ian.”
“Ugh… I feel like I’m going to die. It’s like I wandered through the deepest depths of a labyrinth for half a day straight.”
Zenon gave a slightly pitying smile before delivering a shocking reply.
“To be honest… the density of dark mana you just endured is something you’d normally only encounter around the eightieth floor of a labyrinth.”
“……”
Ian could only let out a hollow, silent laugh. The eightieth floor of a labyrinth! That was the terrifying abyss only the strongest among high-ranking adventurers ever set foot in. And he, an ordinary person, had taken it all head-on with his own body.
‘Hoo… If I keep trying to catch up to the level of high-ranking adventurers, my legs are really going to split apart.’
Ian glared at Zenon with narrowed eyes. This time, even Zenon seemed to feel a pang of conscience; he awkwardly avoided Ian’s gaze and stared off into the distant mountains. Seeing that, Vartin and Lucas clutched their stomachs and burst into roaring laughter. It was only natural.
Selin, who had been chuckling along with them, spoke to Ian in a gentle voice.
“Still, you know. Since you endured dark mana of that concentration, your senses for detecting and guiding blue mana must have become quite sharp. Why don’t you check your total mana pool?”
“Yes, I will.”
Ian’s eyes sparkled at the unexpected gain. He closed his eyes tightly and began to feel the energy circulating inside his body.
To Ian, mana had always been nothing more than a cold stream that briefly brushed past him when activating a skill. But now, as he focused his mind, entirely new sensations enveloped his whole body, sinking deep inside and wrapping around him with gentle warmth.
He could feel smooth, silk-like streams of water flowing through the surrounding air. Those slender currents synchronized with his breathing, flowing into his body, swimming through every part of him, then escaping again as faint particles.
‘Whoa…! So this is the flow of mana!’
Ian’s eyes snapped open. He hurriedly opened his skill window. The numbers for his total mana and stamina at the bottom had changed dramatically from before.
Total Mana: 210 / 250
Total Stamina: 72 / 330
His total mana had increased by a whopping 100 points. On top of that, his stamina had risen by another 30. When added to yesterday’s gains, his stamina had shot up by 80 in a very short time. Ian shouted with a bright face.
“My total mana went up by 100! My stamina increased by 80 in total too!”
“Good. That’s how it should be. Mana and stamina only grow when you push yourself to your limits.”
The moment Selin finished speaking, Lucas chimed in with his usual cheeky tone.
“Now you can faintly sense the flow of mana, right? Meditate every night while reading that flow. One day it’ll suddenly jump again, like stepping onto the next stair.”
Ian nodded with a bright, childlike smile. The genuine joy he felt seemed to lighten even the pain that had been tormenting his body.
Ian stretched his arms wide and gazed at the distant, winding ridges of the Ephel Mountains. The black mountain range, now wrapped in twilight, had shed the ominous shadow it once cast. It had become a beautiful, tranquil landscape quietly sleeping beneath a red sunset.
Even in the cool mountain breeze, the chilling aura of demonic energy was no longer present.
At the center of the newly set-up campsite, Vartin—who had carried the exhausted Ian down the mountain—busily prepared dinner beside the campfire. Right next to him, Lucas watched his every move with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him fiercely.
“Hmph. Let’s see just how amazing this mutton stew of yours really is!”
“Pwahaha! I can easily beat a so-called mage whose only cooking skill is adding salt to plain water. What are you standing there grumbling about like an idiot?”
“Grr! Just you wait!”
Vartin grinned and skillfully twirled a kitchen knife that looked comically small in his massive hand. Vegetables were diced into neat cubes in the blink of an eye and tossed with heavy plops into the bubbling pot over the fire. The boiling water swallowed the vegetables and quickly began drawing out a rich broth.
Next, Vartin tossed various spice jars into the air, catching them effortlessly while rhythmically sprinkling salty and spicy powders into the pot. Finally, neatly sliced meat and thick tomato sauce were thrown in.
For a split second, sauce splattered and hot broth surged upward, but Vartin calmly flicked the liquid back into the pot with the flat of his knife—an impressive feat. Watching the circus-like cooking scene, Ian burst into joyful laughter at the peace he hadn’t felt in so long.
Soon, a lively dinner began.
To be honest, Vartin’s mutton tomato stew was superb. The broth was tangy yet savory, with a pleasantly spicy aftertaste that made the flavor truly outstanding. The well-cooked mutton had no gamey odor, and the fluffy potatoes and carrots melted softly in the mouth.
After everyone had taken a few spoonfuls, they all glanced at Lucas at once. The usual confidence had vanished from his face; he wore a gloomy expression and mechanically gulped down his portion. Even the proud mage couldn’t bring himself to claim it tasted bad—the dish was overwhelmingly excellent.
Ian covered his mouth without thinking and snickered.
“Now I finally understand why Lucas is the youngest member of the Shield of Thorny Vines Guild. Pwahahaha!”
“Ugh. Ian, I’m a mage who never gives up! Just wait. One day I’ll definitely make something even more delicious than that ogre warrior!”
At Lucas’s bold declaration, Selin jumped in with a face full of mockery.
“Give it up, give it up. You can’t even properly make a magic tool or potion with your own skill. You were born to be a combat mage, plain and simple.”
“Then what about you, Selin! You’re even worse at cooking than I am!”
“So what? It doesn’t matter at all whether I can cook or not. I get by just fine.”
“Grr. Why doesn’t it matter?!”
“Kyahahaha! A warrior just needs to swing his sword well—what more do you want? Honestly, you really never know when to quit, kid.”
“Don’t call me a kid! I’m twenty-three now!”
“Yeah? So?”
In the end, Lucas suffered a crushing defeat from Selin’s indifferent attack. He hunched his shoulders and silently sipped his stew. The pitiful sight of his back finally made Ian clutch his stomach and explode with laughter. Even though his abdominal muscles ached from laughing too hard, the laughter refused to die down.
Even after the meal ended, the conversation around the campfire continued without pause. Ian listened with particularly eager eyes to stories about Selin’s homeland, the Duchy of Duren.
“So you’re that curious about where I’m from?”
“Yes, Selin.”
“You know the Duchy of Duren is nestled against the western flank of the giant northern empire, Baldheim, right?”
Ian had actually never heard of the empire before, but he nodded silently for now.
“Given its location, it’s a place filled with biting cold air and blizzards all year round. The land is almost nothing but rocky mountains. It’s horrifically barren.”
“How do people even survive in a place like that? Just thinking about it sounds exhausting.”
“Yeah. If the dwarf race hadn’t helped us, our duchy would have collapsed five hundred years ago.”
Ian’s eyes trembled for a brief moment. Dwarves! His heart raced at the realization that other races besides humans truly existed in this world. Thinking his reaction was simply the curiosity of an interested young man, Selin smiled faintly and continued.
“The dwarves were originally a nomadic race that moved around developing all kinds of mines. When their population grew and they needed permanent settlements, our duchy reached out to them. It was right after the aftershocks of the Magic War were still tearing across the continent.”
“So the Duchy of Duren suffered heavy damage from that war as well.”
“That’s right. Too many people died—especially the engineers who cleared rocky mountains and built fortress walls. It was a crisis. The dwarves settled at just the right time, which allowed the duchy to rise again.”
“How do you solve the food problem? Since it’s a duchy, does the Baldheim Empire help?”
“Heh. Our duchy is practically an independent kingdom now. We interact with the empire’s nobles, but our archdukes have kept their distance from the imperial family for generations.”
She took a sip of the warm water in her cup and went on.
“That was possible thanks to the Elf Kingdom of Caltrain, which borders our southern frontier. Elves have the ability to gather large quantities of wild fruits and staple crops that are both delicious and good for the body without damaging nature. We export processed minerals and trade the money for food with the elves. Through that process, we’ve built deep trust with Caltrain.”
“Are you in an alliance, then?”
“It’s not an official alliance, but elves live for nearly two thousand years, you know? We’ve had generations upon generations of friendship with our duchy.”
Ian carefully organized the new knowledge in his head and asked another question.
“But doesn’t Caltrain share a border with the Baldheim Empire as well?”
“Heh, yes, but… the empire clears forests with absolutely no mercy when developing cities or villages. Plus, they have a huge population and long winters, so they need a lot of firewood.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
“Exactly. The elves would watch the empire’s indifferent back with their keen eyesight and feel very sad about it.”
Every story Selin told made Ian’s heart beat with pleasant excitement. Dwarves and elves. The fact that races he had only imagined in stories actually lived somewhere on this continent filled him with pure wonder.
Suddenly, curiosity about whether other races like beastkin existed began to pile up one after another. But he had already shown obvious shock at the mere mention of “dwarves.” If he carelessly opened his mouth and asked all sorts of questions in such an ignorant state, he would basically be advertising that he was an outsider from another world. So Ian swallowed the rising curiosity and kept his mouth firmly shut.
While a new map of this unfamiliar world was being drawn inside his head, the evening glow that had illuminated their final campsite at the foot of the Ephel Mountains finally sank completely beyond the mountain ridge.