“To think it keeps going deeper…“ Astolfo muttered as he observed all the images once again. His fingers grazed over the slightly distorted section in the center of all the images except the one above ground.

Having made a note of the pictures, he closed the book and stepped away from the table. Astolfo went outside the room and towards the window he had seen earlier. The trees growing underground seized Astolfo’s attention, the piquant fruits made him drool despite him not being hungry.

He thought of going down and checking the trees out when a stint of dizziness hit him. With a light headache and heavy vertigo, the mana exhaustion was kicking in. With the support of the dusty walls, Astolfo navigated through the hallways and went back to the room where he found the book. He trudged himself on the strangely comfortable and intact bed with his head facing the ceiling.

Astolfo pressed his arm on his forehead and took in deep breaths. What would be a nightmare for most mages was just something Astolfo could shrug off with a night’s sleep. His body’s assimilation with mana was still at the Ninth Rank, the lowest one. Furthermore, he never used anything above basic ranked magic that could not do any serious harm. Astolfo felt his spinning mind coming to a stop as he calmed himself down.

With soft movements, Astolfo reached to his pocket and pulled out the makeshift canteen he had made from the debris and ice magic. He sipped in the fountain water and placed the canteen to his side. He decided that it would be fine to recover here and closed his eyes.

As Astolfo’s consciousness went farther away, thoughts he had been pressing down swam back up. How was he healed? Where was he? Will he get to see his family again? Are they… alive? Will he ever get out?

It was pointless to think this way, Astolfo knew that. Whatever he was thinking about, he could only find the answers by doing something, by moving ahead. The creativity that served as his sharpest weapon in battle whetted itself in this manner.

That he could think so meant that Astolfo was safe for now.

Eventually, the child fell into a dreamless slumber.

**

After waking up, Astolfo went out to check the trees. Shining bright grass covered the underground floor that should be made of dirt and rocks. Systematically placed trees stood all over the park with majesty. Astolfo brushed his fingers over the trunks of the trees as he looked at the scene agape in awe. He abandoned his boots and savored the feeling of lush grass against his bare feet.

After strolling around for a short while, he set his eyes on the luscious yellow fruits hanging from the trees. Though he had never seen it before, he had surely heard of this plump and round fruit from his mother. As he plucked one out, he remembered his mother’s instructions on how to peel these things and followed them by memory. From the bottom to the left, he scraped the peel off and bit into the juicy flesh of the fruit.

“Uwa! Delish!” he exclaimed. Then, Astolfo tore into the whole fruit in one breath, stopping only when a bunch of seeds was left. He plucked out a few more and leaned against one of the trees. As he peeled off the fruits one by one, Astolfo thought about his actions ahead.

His biggest priority was to get out of this place. Till now, he had no ideas on how he could do it, but he was recently presented with new facts. Even if there was nothing at the end, going deeper in was his best and only bet. He would have to explore this… floor, to find any clues. That brought him to his next problem, the four-armed stone monsters.

Astolfo had never seen or read about monsters like these even in his mother’s study. The feral beast above was something he had read about many times and the imps and gnolls were monsters he had personally fought with during his father’s training, but these stone monster’s posed a problem.

“Haah, I’ll have to use crude magic…”

With a sigh, Astolfo shook his mind off of the monsters and stood up. It was time to tackle the smallest and the most urgent problem, to find a water source.

Astolfo slapped his cheeks and headed out of the park-like place. The ruins of a civilization and a mass of still alive trees were more than enough proof of the existence of a water source. He traced the thin paths till they grew wider and wider until he reached a huge crossroad.

The left path led farther into the ground while the path on the right led to the center of the underground ruins. Astolfo first thought that the water source would be an underground stream or waterfall-like in the famous ruins of Labyrintheres, but the fountain above ground and the canal system centered around it convinced him otherwise and he set off on the right path.

The towering grand structures of stone and cement surrounded Astolfo as he covertly passed by the roads while keeping an eye out for the monsters. Soon, Astolfo found himself facing a gigantic circular plaza with his mouth wide open.

“This has to be a dream… right?” Astolfo said in a gasp. Similar to the one above ground, a beautiful fountain stood in the center of the forecourt, and on the fountain was a dreamlike sculpture of an angel. Unfurling wings, waving hair, this perfect sculpture couldn’t have been made by a real person. But even more than the sculpture, Astolfo was left bewildered by what was around it.

Water, transparent like crystals, was flowing towards the sky without a sound.

“M-m-magic? How can water flow upwards?”

Water gushed towards the ceiling with such naturalness that it made one think this was how it should be. Moreover, it was so clear and quiet, that this floating mass of water that could be seen from anywhere on this floor had blended into the background.

Wonder and awe encapsulated Astolfo’s heart for a short while before an old and bad habit started resurfacing. Self-taught and self-proclaimed master mage, Astolfo Kirsche, proudly considered himself a magical geek. A nerd that studied all kinds of magic and magical phenomena. Being unable to use anything above the most basic kind of magic, which takes normal people a few months to learn, for five whole years gave him the leeway to expand his theoretical knowledge by leaps and bounds. And self-taught and self-proclaimed master mage, Astolfo Kirsche’s instincts were roaring at him! This fountain had a stench of mana!

“Haah, haah. How is this happening? Where is the circle? What is the formula? What field does this fall in?” Astolfo erratically circled the fountain while heaving deep breaths. He put a finger in the water and even tried drinking it. It was quite delectable. Astolfo also tried to magically manipulate the water, it worked quite well on a small scale.

After the manual tests, Astolfo stepped back and prepared for the next step. He stretched his arms out and a wave of mana gushed forth from his palms. The ethereal mana seeped into the air and formed a circle around the fountain. Soon, Astolfo started chanting while performing magical gestures, filling the magic circle with strokes and symbols of various formulas and patterns.

There were multiple ways of activating magic. The most basic form was to draw a circle with your mana step by step, and the most advanced form was to materialize magic. As one’s understanding of the spell and the formulas involved in its casting increased, it was possible to substitute parts of the circle with chants and further with gestures.

Astolfo, who had the greatest affinity with ice and wind elemental magic had already reached a realm where he could activate spells of both types with a mere keyword. His psychokinesis was a step further where he could activate it with just a thought. As he could not increase his assimilation level, or the amount of mana could control, increasing his proficiency was a matter of course. And he had reached the highest realm of proficiency, or as Astolfo like to term it, the highest realm of perfection.

As the magic circle was completed, Astolfo exhaled slowly and activated his spell. A golden hue covered the incorporeal circle of mana as the symbols inside the circle revolved and spread over the water of the fountain. A variation of the [Appraisal] spells adjusted to the level of a basic magician. The spell soon gave him an analysis of the components and attributes of the water. He just needed to assemble and interpret it with a few more spells and he would have something similar to the result of an advanced appraisal.

The results of his spell flowed into his mind while Astolfo pulled out his makeshift canteen and filled it with the water of the fountain. Just then, the grating sounds of rocks reached Astolfo. A couple of one-eyed stone monsters were in the vicinity of the fountain. Seeing as they weren’t coming closer, Astolfo thought that they too must not be aware of its existence. Unlike the beasts above, he was sure these things didn’t need water to survive.

With a sigh, Astolfo shook his head and sneaked away from the fountain. He wanted to carry out the remaining part of his appraisal in a safe location as it was a long process. Astolfo swerved through the streets while admiring the houses and construction as he reached the first house he had found in this place.

Astolfo entered the room on the first floor again. The well-placed desk with the book right in its center and the surprisingly fresh bed were still there. For some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity from these things.

Astolfo sat at the desk and moved the book to one side. Then, he carefully prepared the circle for the assembly and interpretation spell. Counting the incorporation of the data he had attained into his spells, he assumed that the spell would take four hours to set up. For the next four hours, he was immersed in the creation of the circle.

“Hah, finally done,” Astolfo said as he stretched his back. He got up from the desk and walked around for a while. “Should I test it out now, or would it be better later? Haha, who am I even talking to?” He shook his head with a sigh and then turned towards the magic circle and poured his mana into it. Unlike the [Appraisal] spell, there was nothing flashy happening this time around. The mana circle simply ‘poofed’ into the air and the results of the spell flowed into Astolfo’s head.

“Oh!” Astolfo gasped. “Hah… haha, of course! This was a city after all. So that’s why those damned monsters weren’t coming to the fountain!” Astolfo said to himself.

A city needed safety against monsters and beasts, and the clear water of the fountain was that very safety. Though the concentration had sharply declined over the years, the unending water still had its properties.

It was imbued with curse magic to weaken and put monsters to sleep.

He could not even come close to tell its rank, let alone figure out the mechanism. But learning of the effects was enough, no, it was the best.

“I can use this...”

**

Rows of sharp teeth spread all over its mouth like haphazardly placed spikes. Its four whip-like arms, padded with tough stones flailed around playfully while the single madder red eye glared at the bloodied beast that had fallen from the dark sky yesterday.

The stone monster was curious about the dead beast and the little rat it had brought with it. Unlike other monsters, this one had no thoughts about eating the beast that had fallen from the skies. It was on a higher level than those monsters and could survive on mana alone.

The stone monster circled the beast again and again, as if it were inspecting it. In fact, most of its fellow monsters had already found mates while it was still alone. It was hoping to attract a soul or two by acting smart.

-Tweet♪

Stone monster turned around at the sudden voice. Had it attracted someone? Finally? Would the years of solitude and jealousy end now? It started searching for the source of the voice in all directions. While the stone monster looked around, a dense mist started enveloping the air.

The stone monster gave up and turned back to circling the fallen beast, unaware of the mist that had now enveloped its face. The monster’s steps got wobbly and its head started spinning. Even the flailing whip-like arms looked as if they were losing energy.

“Wow, I just whistled at that beast, but this dumb monster doesn’t even notice the mist?”

An incomprehensible voice reached the monster as it looked around in a fluster once again, but the dizziness and drowsiness it was being subjected to were being a huge hindrance. The monster stepped in the direction of the voice, alas, it couldn’t make out anything thanks to the mist that was still covering its eyes.

As the monster took the next step, its foot was placed on something brittle and slippery. Unable to control itself, the monster’s leg grazed over the ice floor and it fell to the ground back first. Just what was happening?

“This is more potent than I thought. Making it a mist was the correct decision.”

That incomprehensible voice again. The monster’s eyes were spinning as it tried to make sense of its situation, but nothing came up.

It just wanted to run away from this place. Fall asleep, and never come here again.

Suddenly, a short boy appeared above its eyes. The boy with flickering red hair was holding a thin stick covered in a dense golden aura. Before the monster could realize it, the stick crashed into its eyes. It tore through its eye and lodged itself right into the monster’s brain. Black blood flowed out of the monster’s eyes as unconscious wails of pain boomed into the air.

“Should I try to make the next one attack the floor then?” Those were the last words the monster heard.