I stare at my piles of loot on the floor and let out a long disappointed sigh. The white walls around me hum with a low and eerie tone. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I turn my head back and forth to take in the reality of the white walls around me with a clearer mind. With a loud clang, I drop my dagger and sword to begin walking slowly toward the back of the narrow rectangular room.
It’s silent in here. I can hear my footsteps echo throughout the chamber. The small creeks and crunches of my old boots crawl in my ears as I walk. My heavy breaths and consistent heartbeats pound making me feel queasy.
I make it to the end of the hall, activating my All-Seeing Eye, then turn and begin walking to the other side.
“There has to be a way out of here. I need to find some kind of weak point…”
My pacing begins. Back and forth, extending the range of my exceptional perception to its limits. Mana is coursing through my body. It’s being burned through almost as quickly as I plunder it. I try with all my might, but the range of my inner vision won’t leave this confined space.
I can tell there’s something out there and have witnessed it for myself firsthand. For some odd reason, I can’t peer into the void.
Over 2 hours go by. Well… I think it’s been 2 hours or so. It’s impossible to accurately tell how long I’ve actually been walking. Using up so much mana on a perception-based skill is very mentally draining. I collapse to my knees beside my 3 piles of loot after confirming there are in fact no weak points to this white-walled prison.
It’s been a long day…. Honestly, it’s been a long couple of days. Ever since I came to the capital for the exams it’s been non-stop hunting and getting into trouble. It’s all of my own doing though. No one has forced me into anything… I’m just a battle junky that can’t seem to get his fix….
My eyes begin to shut as I lie down on the hard marble-like floor and begin to let all my worries drift away.
I deserve a break… right…?
My mind and body are both on the verge of collapse and the hum of mana around me has become pretty normal for the time being. Over 2 hours in this odd environment makes the hum of energy in the air almost soothing.
My breaths begin to slow, and the humming sensation begins to lull me to sleep. I fall away from reality into a blissful dreamland for… Well, I’m not exactly sure how long.
The mana continues to buzz, and the white-walled room around me continues to miraculously exist within the black abyss that is the Titan’s Domain.
A smile creeps across my face as I calmly snooze away my worries. My brain and body are thankful for the long-awaited rest.
In other words, I sleep like a rock.
Many, many hours later, my eyes begin to open and the bright white light of the walls on all sides blind me as I wake up. I let out a groan while stretching my arms, legs, and back. Lifting a hand above my face, I cover my eyes to adjust to the brightness while standing to my feet.
Another groan leaves my mouth as I reach over to my item stash and start to chug a bottle of water. Aside from this one, there are only 13 full bottles remaining.
I stop halfway through and let out a refreshing gasp for air, then take another look around.
“I’m still in this damn white-walled prison.”
The second these words leave my mouth, my heart skips a beat. I gulp and run over to my sword and dagger lying on the floor, grabbing them both and cursing under my breath.
“I was supposed to meet Maria and the others to go hunting today… this is… not good…”
I twist my head around in all directions, snarling at the inanimate humming marble walls that keep me captive. I stretch my back and arms one more time while holding both my weapons tight. After that long rest, my body sure does feel rejuvenated.
I sprint around activating my stat-boosting skills while letting out a few practice shots of wind and fire magic at an open wall on the opposite end of the room. With a smirk, I watch the red and white crescents of energy erupt from my blades. I’m hit with a cold hard slap in the face from reality once again. They collide with the unbreakable walls, fizzling out into dispersed mana.
“Fine. I guess it’s time to get serious.”
I plant my feet and begin taking in all of the mana in the air around me. With each sword by my side, I start channeling energy into both of them. Activating all my buffs, glowing with crimson golden light, the ultimate charge-up begins.
For the first few seconds, the charge-up process is pretty normal. I’ve done it this way dozens of times, within 3 to 5 seconds I can usually charge an entire bar worth of MP in my blades. If I do both at once, 10 seconds should be more than enough. Unfortunately, normal isn’t going to cut it this time.
After about 15 seconds of continuously plundering MP from my environment while focusing them in my blades, the two weapons glow brighter than I’ve ever seen them glow before. They’ve both hit full capacity and surpassed their limits. Each one of them holds close to 2000MP worth of pure firepower. That’s over double my full MP bar in each blade. It’s 4000MP in total for one attack…
The air pressure from my dagger is threatening to explode outwards. The dense flames in my sword crackle, waiting patiently to be released and burn everything in their path. An intense white light comes off my dagger and a deadly crimson glow seeps from my sword. I grit my teeth and continue.
“I can go further.”
Another 10 seconds pass, and my blades are nearing 2 times the mana capacity they’ve ever received. The absorption rate slows drastically the further I push it. Both weapons vibrate violently in my hands.
“Just… a little more….”
Gripping the sentient blades with all my might for another 10 seconds, it feels like an hour passes in my mind. I’m nearly blinded by the white and silver shimmering glow that comes off my dagger, and the dark red flames of my sword become even more ominous. More than 3500MP is stored in each individual blade. A combination attack would be close to four times any full-power move I’ve ever attempted. That’s 7000MP in one attack…
My own sword’s flames begin to burn my hands and the dense air around my dagger is making my joints creek trying to hold on any longer.
“It’s time.”
Letting out a yell as I swing both blades across the front side of my body, an ear-shattering release of force erupts from my blades. A metallic clanging mixed with the buzzing of my own mana reacting with the unique makeup of magic in the air echoes all around the room.
Two massive crescents of pure energy come rocketing out of my blades. One of them is pure silver, if looked at from the side it glimmers in and out of existence, a dense attack of wind magic. The other is a dark red flame with flickering black accents. It crackles and bends the air around it, leaving heat waves in its wake.
I’m thrown backward, but my eyes stay locked on the two powerful energy waves on a crash course for the white wall.
On impact, a ground-shaking twang rings out. It definitely feels and sounds different than all of my previous attacks. The moment they hit the mana barrier, something shakes beneath my feet, I’m sure of it. I feel the vibrations all around me. The two crescents of pure mana dissipate into the air moments after impact, this new reaction gives me a glimmer of hope.
Collapsing to my knees with a smirk plastered across my face, I wipe sweat from my forehead and stare straight ahead at the portion of wall where my full-strength ultimate attack just hit.
“Not even a scratch….”
The wall is completely unscathed, but I did feel a minor disturbance. So far, this is my only clue. After standing to my feet, I slowly walk over to my piles of loot and grab a handful of dried fruit while storing my blades in my item storage again. A breakfast of champions, there’s only about 10 handfuls of fruit and 4 1kg bags of dried meat. It’ll last me quite a while, but let’s hope I can get out of here before food becomes an actual problem.
While chewing on a long strip of dried mango, I begin pacing back and forth along the long room’s backside. Activating my All-Seeing Eye is useless, the only thing I can sense around me is this barrier sealing me off from an endless void. Doing so just fatigues my mind and honestly bums me out for no reason…
Dungeon Walker is the same. I can only teleport within this tiny confined space.
The echos of my footsteps while mindlessly pacing begin to fill my thoughts with worry and doubt. The rhythmic beats of my shoe’s soles against the hard surface below me begin to be the only thing I can think about.
Every hour or so, I attempt to charge my blades up and attack the same portion of the wall.
The second time around, I have a pretty similar experience. Hands aching, blades shaking, and wall rattling as the attack hits it with nearly 7000MP in total. The whole charge-up process takes about 35 seconds.
My third attempt is a bit easier, the blades still shake and my hands still ache with pain as they grip the overly charged weapons, but to get up to the 7000MP threshold it takes just over 30 seconds. I push my limits for the extra 5 seconds and muster another 200MP worth of firepower into the brutal dual strike. The wall vibrates on impact, but yet again, remains completely unharmed.
As the day goes by, I manage to charge up 6 more attacks. Each time it gets a little easier to charge up to the previous limit and a tiny bit more MP can be squeezed into each weapon. By my final attack, I’m able to store just under 8000MP in both blades combined. That’s almost 4000MP each and charged to full in just 30 seconds.
The metallic twangs of fire and wind imbued mana attacks on white-walled mana shields are getting louder, and the room-shaking sensation continues to grow slightly as well.
I’ve raised the attack’s proficiency just by practicing, there’s been no leveling up necessary. I guess training really does work… The mana released from each blade feels a little bit tighter and more refined. I’ve had more mana flow through my body today than I have in weeks worth of intense dungeon training.
I collapse to the floor next to my piles of loot, grabbing a handful of jerky and chugging the rest of my bottled water from this morning. The immense physical output and meticulous mana control have taken a huge toll on my body and mind.
This is good progress. I have nearly unlimited mana to work with in here, I’ll train my way out of this madness.
“I’ll escape the Titan’s Domain.”