We resumed our journey, stepping deeper into the heart of the dungeon. The air grew heavier with every step, thick with the scent of damp stone and latent mana. The walls pressed inward subtly, as if the dungeon itself were aware of our passage, breathing along with us.
Then, without warning, the tunnel veered sharply to the right. From the bend ahead, a soft blue glow spilled into the path, gentle and unreal, like moonlight filtering through a veil of fog.
Master slowed his pace. I followed silently, boots brushing over loose pebbles and dust, Aur perched lightly on my head, her ears alert.
As we rounded the corner, the sight before us was nothing short of otherworldly.
The entire corridor shimmered. Black stone walls, jagged and rough moments ago, now bore crystalline growths that twinkled like distant stars caught in glass. Pale-blue Crystals pulsed faintly within the rock, stretching endlessly as far as the eye could see. The tunnel seemed alive, breathing light instead of darkness.
Master raised a hand, and the flame orb he had conjured vanished effortlessly. Its warmth was no longer needed; the crystals themselves lit the path better than any torch.
Aur leapt to the floor silently, her tiny paws making no sound on the stone. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she padded forward, sniffing the glow. She turned back to me, head tilted.
"What are those?"
Master's gaze followed hers, voice low, contemplative. "Mana Crystals. They form deep within dungeons where mana saturates the rock in extreme concentration. Normally, they appear in small clusters, offering just enough light to navigate. But this…" He swept his hand across the walls. "This is different. It is too many and bright. Something unusual is at play. I still can't understand why the earlier tunnels were barren."
I stepped closer, fingers brushing the crystalline surface instinctively. "Don't you think this is… overcrystallization? I can barely see the stone behind it. The corridor glows entirely."
The crystal was surprisingly smooth, cool to the touch, almost soft — more like gelled glass than stone.
Master nodded. "Exactly. It's not natural. Remember what I told you earlier — I sensed the presence of a Sohastra. This could be connected to it or there is an SSS-rank beast."
I narrowed my eyes. "You really think it's doing?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he crouched beside the wall, one knee resting on the cold stone. I mimicked him, squatting, while Aur wandered a few paces ahead, her nose twitching as she inspected the glowing rocks.
Master's gaze lingered on the wall, studying it like a scholar deciphering a living language.
"Mana Crystals form when the mana saturation in stone reaches its absolute peak," he explained. "The rock can no longer contain it. The excess seeps outward, forming a condensed shell of pure mana. That glow… is mana trying to escape."
I brushed the surface again, frowning. "It doesn't feel like stone at all… more like some kind of hardened gel. Soft, but cold."
"Exactly," Master said, flicking a shard off the wall with precision. It fell into his hand, pulsing faintly. He extended it toward me.
"Here. This is what condensed mana feels like outside the wall. Try breaking it."
The shard thrummed faintly in my palm, alive in a way that made my fingers tingle. I pressed with both hands. Nothing happened. It held firm.
Master smirked. "See? It's still connected to the rock. Now, imbue a bit of your mana into it while applying force."
I did as instructed. Channeling a thin stream of mana from my core into the shard, I pressed again. This time, it cracked cleanly, splitting in two.
Master's satisfaction was quiet but clear. "Breaking a Mana Crystal requires more than strength alone. You need overwhelming force, aura infusion, or the right application of mana. Strength without focus is useless against the rock's condensed resistance."
I examined the broken piece in my hand. "But… it's still absorbing mana from the dungeon, right? Shouldn't that make it weaker?"
He chuckled, low and knowing. "Ah, you're thinking deeper now. Correct — it absorbs mana. But here's the trick: these crystals form when the rock cannot absorb the excess. The mana is too abundant, overflowing. The rock expels it outward, layer by layer. That's why it looks so… perfect, and why breaking it without focus is nearly impossible."
He gestured to the corridor, now a river of pale light. "The mana continues to pour in, and the crystalline layer thickens. Eventually, this path could seal entirely under its own weight."
I opened my mouth to question him further, but he cut me off, tapping the wall lightly. "You're wondering why your shard broke so easily when infused with mana yourself. Here's why: your mana is targeted, focused at a single point. The dungeon's mana flows evenly through the rock, creating uniform, stable layers. Your localized input disrupts that balance, allowing the crystal to split."
Another flick of his fingers, and a shard fell cleanly, settling on the stone floor with a faint chime.
"Pay attention," he said. "Mana Crystals are graded by color. Red — low-grade, fragile, easy to refine. Yellow — medium-grade. White — high-grade. And then…" He swept his hand over the corridor. "These blue ones are legendary-grade. Legendary grads are rare. Capable of fueling ancient artifacts and recharging sealed relics. The dungeon has gifted us something extraordinary here."
I stared in awe at the corridor, the crystals' soft light reflecting in my eyes. Even in the depths of the dungeon, in the midst of its dangers and silence, life — or at least mana — shone brilliantly.
And I couldn't shake the feeling that we were not just observers here… but intruders in something far older, far wiser than any of us.
He stepped back, eyes tracing the full length of the luminous corridor, absorbing the surreal brilliance that pulsed from every wall. "And there's more," he continued, voice low and deliberate, "these blue crystals—even though they appear ordinary—harbor a trace of Source within them."
I froze, the gravity of his words settling over me like a heavy cloak. Source. The fabled, Spiritual energy. My fingers itched, longing to reach out and feel its subtle resonance.