Chương 38: The Archmage Found Gold

Countless crimson eyes stared at him from the ceiling. The spider clung to its web, massive. Its legs were four to five meters long, the web twice his arm span. A massive, terrifying creature. Clay would have passed out here on his own. Well, he would be in trouble if the creature attacked him now. But the barrier was there, and he had two hours to recover his mana before smacking it. Now that he thought of it, that was a good way to get rid of the oversized spider. His lips curled up. That was for later.

Now he needed to recover his mana. His head had cleared after his fun with the spiders, so he could use meditation. The only flaw with the technique was that if his mind wasn't clear, it would calm him, but if it was, it would restore his mana. He sat down in front of the entrance to the next room, crossing his legs and resting his hands on them. Closing his eyes, he entered a meditative state and focused inward, toward his chest, where the core was.

He took a deep breath, and the smell hit him, smoke and burnt hair. He focused on the mana entering his core and pulled it into a circular motion, forming a vortex. The mana began flowing twice as fast. He opened his eyes. More than half of his mana had recovered. The spider was still on the ceiling, and Clay had fallen face down on the ground. He had forgotten about him, and during meditation, his hold over the spell had loosened, making him plummet face down. He shrugged. Levitate.

Clay rose back into the air, his head and front blackened from the char on the ground. He controlled the mana around him and washed him with it. He cast Sleep for good measure. After a room or two, he could wake him up. It was time to move through the dungeon and find the rest of his allies. After the annoyances were dealt with, he could relax again. Not before that. Not too much, at least. He stepped inside, and it was instantaneous. The spider launched a web at him. The web was bigger than him.

If it landed, he'd end up in a cocoon. He lifted his staff and cast Air Blades. The web was cut into pieces and slid off his shield harmlessly to the ground. The spider jumped toward him, covering his entire vision with its body. It was massive. His arm closed around Clay's, and he cast Blink. He appeared on the other side of the room as the spider crashed into where he had been. It turned toward him, clicking its mandibles. Click. Click. The whole room echoed with the sound of mandibles clicking.

No smell filled the room. Something to do with the spider's venom, he guessed. Even without biting him, it was still affecting him. It was time to deal with the spider, or he'd have to keep spending mana while blinking with Clay in tow. The spider lunged at him. Gravity. The air around the spider grew heavy. Gravity surged. The spider slammed into the ground, its legs splayed out. It struggled against the weight pressing down on it. Leg by leg, it lifted them and forced itself up.

Its legs shook, but it stayed upright. He watched the spider struggle and whistled.

"What a terrifying creature," he said, circling it, avoiding its head and spinneret. The creature fired webs as he approached, but none landed. One leg slammed into the ground in front of him. The leg was razor sharp, cutting through the stone like it was clay. He stayed just out of its reach. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The spell was enough to deal with the king's guards, even with their mana-protective gear, yet this creature was still fighting the pressure, even pushing against it. He didn't have time to play around, so he poured more mana into the spell, tripling it. The spider splattered against the ground. Like he had smacked a house spider against a wall. The Gravity spell was one he had relied on a little more than was healthy during his time as a High Mage. He continued using it even after reaching Archmage.

It was a good spell, with few counters against warriors. At least in his own world. In this one, people and creatures seemed more resilient. However, adding more mana worked like a charm. It was time to find the treasure chest, maybe get some gold, or another high-purity potion. That would be even better. The more potions he had, the faster he could perfect his alchemy. There was another level beyond master, and he wanted to reach it. Grandmaster? That sounded cool. It didn't take him long to find the chest.

He kicked it open. Another health potion. Same quality as the first. He grumbled. Couldn't he get some gold? He loved the potions, but he'd never sell them, and he needed gold. He stored it while sitting down to meditate, gently lowering Clay to the ground as he cast Toxin Removal on both of them. He needed to recover what he'd spent so he wouldn't have to stop in every safe room. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped through the entrance to the next room. He found himself on the peak of a mountain.

Snow poured from the sky, and high winds threatened to push him off. One wrong step and he'd go tumbling down, hundreds of meters below. In front of him was a narrow path leading to the next peak. Probably the next room. The entrance behind him was gone. He looked down from the peak and shivered. It was the cold. The wind didn't penetrate the barrier, so he ignored it and walked the narrow path. Clay floated behind him, the wind pushing him off course, but he kept adjusting the spell.

A small struggle between an archmage and the wind. A nice way to pass the time on the boring path. The longer he walked, the farther the other peak seemed to move. Some kind of illusion. Or a mind spell meant to wear down adventurers. It would have worked on him, too, if not for the spells from his past life. He focused on the space around him, using Mana Sense. The air was filled with disturbed spatial mana. The only way forward was to keep moving.

He grumbled as he cast Levitate on himself and then used Wind behind him to increase his speed. There were a few ways to deal with the spatial mana, but all of them would cost too much. Not worth it. So he would have to sacrifice some time. Teleport was the best way to pass the trial, but the spell would have to fight against the distorted spatial mana, draining most of his mana in the process. After what seemed like hours, he reached the entrance to the sixth room. The chest was there as well.

It was slightly open, revealing gold coins inside. His lips curled. He moved toward it, and on the edge of his vision, he noticed the fighting in the next room. He stopped and looked into the next room. It was some kind of swamp. Murky water stretched in every direction, twisted trees rising from it. A faint mist hung low, clinging to the surface. In the distance, he saw the man who had made his tent fighting a swamp beast. It was too far to see clearly. He wasn't alone; three more men fought beside him.

"Ooogh," Clay groaned from behind him. He turned and saw Clay waking up, wiping his eyes. Then they widened as he looked around. When he saw him, he seemed to calm down.

"What happened?" Adolin was met with three difficult choices. What was he going to do? On one hand, Edrin's men were fighting for their lives in the next room, but they weren't losing. At least not yet. Clay was awake and asking questions. It felt wrong to put him to sleep for the third time in a few hours. He did owe some kind of favor to the man who had set up his tent, but… there was the chest. Filled with gold. And he liked gold.

"You passed out when you saw the spiders," he said. The boy seemed to recall it and flinched.

"We're alive?"

"Of course we are. I had to fight them alone while carrying you on my back. We almost died a few times." Adolin said, his eyes flicking between the three directions.

"I… did?" He ignored him, walking toward the chest.

"I don't think that's possible with the training I had."

"You sure you didn't skip it?" He stopped in front of the chest and kicked it. It didn't budge. He didn't have time to wait, so he crouched and grabbed the lid. Finally. Gold.