Chương 59: Chapter 58 The Laboratory Beneath the Mountain

Karath spent his first day underground sensing and accumulating mana. On the second morning, he began exploring the facility. He needed to understand what kind of place he had discovered. More urgently, he needed to locate an exit. Finding magic here meant little if he could never return to the Bloodclaw settlement. After searching the underground structure, Karath concluded that it had once been a private research laboratory. One chamber appeared to have served as a bedroom.

Another contained what remained of a cooking area. The room where Karath first fell held the bookshelves, desk, and equipment that made it the main laboratory. He eventually found an exit as well. Unfortunately, rain was pouring beyond it. The storm was so violent that returning to the settlement immediately would be extremely difficult. Traveling through heavy rain was exhausting under ordinary circumstances. In a primeval forest without roads, it became far more dangerous.

Karath also had no clear understanding of his current location. The final stages of the chase had been too desperate for him to observe the surrounding terrain or remember his direction. He would need to reconstruct the route using the few landmarks he had noticed while fleeing. Returning empty-handed would accomplish little anyway. He still lacked any method of dealing with the drake.

Whether he later returned to this laboratory or carried the books back to the village, he needed to preserve a route between the two locations. The torrential rain made leaving markings difficult and carrying books even worse. There was one small comfort. The drake would also struggle to locate the settlement in weather like this. Karath had lured it a considerable distance away. The creature had never directly seen the village and had no reason to know its exact location.

Unless it wandered blindly through the storm and reached the settlement through impossible misfortune, it should not attack within the next few days. At least, Karath desperately needed that to be true. Otherwise, risking his life to lure it away would have meant nothing. He decided to focus on what he could accomplish. The monsoon did not produce relentless rain from its beginning until its end. There should be a period of lighter weather within several days. Karath could return to the tribe then.

He repeated several times that the village would remain safe until he arrived, gradually calming himself. Once his anxiety eased, another question occurred to him. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. How had this place remained untouched? It possessed a visible exit, yet not a single monster appeared to have entered. Curiosity drew Karath one step beyond the entrance. When he turned to look back, he immediately understood why the laboratory had remained hidden.

The cave entrance was gone. A steep mountainside stood in its place, with half of Karath's body seemingly buried inside the rock. This was the power of magic. Some form of illusion concealed the entrance. More precisely, the passage appeared to have been carved through a real section of the mountainside. The opening was only large enough for one person to pass through, while the surrounding slope was genuine stone.

A massive monster moving through such a broad and steep area had almost no chance of noticing a narrow opening it could not even see. Karath had no idea how the spell worked. That only made it more fascinating. If magic could produce such a convincing phenomenon, it would undoubtedly become useful to the tribe. He returned inside and decided to study until the rain weakened. Karath had expected the storm to ease after two or three days. Instead, the downpour continued without pause for five full days.

He repeatedly wondered whether something had happened to the settlement. Each time, he reminded himself that it should still be safe. The drake had not lived near the Bloodclaw territory before. None of the elders had ever spoken of such a creature, which meant it had entered the region only recently. It did not know the surrounding land. The violent rain would make finding the village even less likely. Karath used those arguments to control his anxiety while waiting for the storm to end.

He did not spend the time idly. Karath continued reading the books on the shelves and practicing magic. Gradually, his efforts began producing results.

"Haa." He took a slow breath and sent the mana accumulated inside his body toward his fingertips. Using it as a connection, Karath interfered with the mana flowing naturally through the air. He forced the external energy into a specific pattern above his palm. Flare. The moment the pattern was completed, a small flame appeared over his hand. It was the First Circle spell Fire.

"Haa. At least it takes only five seconds now." Karath had begun attempting spells on the second day. Manipulating mana already circulating within his body felt completely different from using that mana to influence the surrounding energy. The difficulty was far greater. During the first day of spell practice, every attempt ended with Karath exhausting the mana he had gathered and being forced to rest. He alternated between resting and attempting the spell countless times.

Several hours passed before he successfully produced Fire for the first time. After repeating the process for another three and a half days, he could now complete it in approximately five seconds. First Circle spells possessed simple structures and required only a single pattern. Their calculations were not especially complicated. Once Karath became accustomed to interfering with external mana, they were relatively easy to cast. The location also contributed greatly to his rapid progress.

During the five days underground, Karath read several additional books from the shelves. He discovered that all of them had been written by the same author. The mage's name was Renstein, and Karath suspected he had once owned this underground laboratory. According to Renstein's writings, the Grimwood Mountains possessed an unusually high concentration of mana compared with most other regions. That abundance had made it far easier for Karath to sense, absorb, and manipulate mana.

First Circle spells also explained how he and Buddy survived five days underground without serious difficulty. Drinking water was simple. Rain fell constantly outside. Food was more troublesome. Buddy occasionally ventured into the storm and returned with small prey such as rabbits. Karath then used Fire and other First Circle spells to clean and cook them. At last, the miserable routine came to an end. After five uninterrupted days, the rain finally stopped.

"Then it is time to return." Karath had prepared in advance. The moment he confirmed the storm had weakened, he left the underground laboratory. He carried a leather bag discovered while searching the rooms. Inside it, he had packed the magical books closest to his current level, along with several objects that appeared useful. Before departing, Karath deliberately moved a short distance from the concealed entrance and swung his ogre femur against the stone. Crash!

The blow left a visible mark that would help him locate the laboratory when he returned. After completing every preparation, Karath encountered one final problem.

"Damn it. Which direction leads home?" He had no idea which way to travel. The possibility that the rain might begin again before he reached the settlement made the uncertainty even worse. Buddy suddenly walked away with complete confidence. Karath followed, hoping the wolf knew something he did not. Buddy glanced back to confirm Karath was behind him, then increased his pace. They traveled for two or three hours, alternating between a light run and a rapid walk to conserve energy.

Gradually, Karath began recognizing the surrounding terrain. They had reached the section of forest through which he fled during the early stages of the drake's pursuit, before exhaustion and panic erased his awareness of the route. From there, Karath knew the way. He overtook Buddy and began running ahead. Before long, he reached a familiar area used by the Bloodclaw warriors as a hunting ground. Several tribesmen were hunting nearby. The moment they saw Karath, they froze.

"Karath?"

"You are alive?" Their voices carried complete disbelief.