CHAPTER 10 — “What I Become”
Which is a new one. Usually dungeons try to kill me with teeth and claws and screaming mushrooms. But the Crystal Caverns are different. They’re gorgeous—walls of shimmering quartz, pillars of amethyst reaching toward ceilings I can’t see, pools of water so clear they look like liquid glass.
It’s the kind of place that would make a painter weep with joy.
It’s also the kind of place where every surface reflects light in ways that make it impossible to tell what’s real and what’s illusion, the footing is treacherous because everything is slippery crystal, and the monsters are made of the same material as the walls so you can’t see them until they’re already trying to remove your face.
Lovely, Johnson says, his voice dripping with sarcasm so thick you could spread it on toast. You really went all out with the interior design.
“I don’t remember designing this.”
You keep saying that. It’s starting to sound like denial.
“It’s starting to be denial.”
I’m picking my way carefully across a crystal bridge that spans a chasm of unknown depth. Every step makes a chiming sound, like walking on a giant xylophone. It would be musical if it wasn’t also announcing my presence to everything on the floor.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ FLOOR 5 --- CRYSTAL CAVERNS │├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤│ Environment: Crystalline formations ││ Visibility: Deceptive (reflections, refractions)││ Footing: Treacherous (smooth surfaces) ││ Ambient Mana: HIGH (crystals are natural ││ mana batteries) ││ ││ Primary Threats: ││ --- Crystal Golems (hard to damage) ││ --- Mana Wyrms (drain your MP) ││ --- Prism Sprites (illusions, disorientation) ││ --- The Floor Itself (see: slippery death) ││ ││ Floor Boss: \[Resonance Core\] (Level 15) ││ ││ Environmental Hazards: ││ --- Sharp crystal formations ││ --- Unstable bridges ││ --- Mana vents (random discharge) ││ --- Echo chambers (sound-based traps) ││ ││ "Everything is pretty.
Everything wants to ││ kill you. Welcome to the aesthetic murder ││ floor.
" │└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
I’ve been down here for two hours already. After looting Fenris—which yielded some excellent materials including a [Primal Fang] that practically vibrates with contained power—I decided to push forward while my momentum was good.
That was before I knew about the Mana Wyrms.
Speaking of which, Johnson says, his ears swiveling, there’s one behind you.
I spin, cleaver raised—
Nothing.
Just crystal. Shimmering, beautiful, definitely-not-a-monster crystal.
“Where?”
Wait for it.
The wall moves.
What I thought was a formation of clear quartz unfolds itself, revealing a serpentine body that was pressed flat against the surface.
It’s maybe ten feet long, completely transparent except for a faint blue glow at its core, and its mouth is opening to reveal not teeth but a void—a dark emptiness that pulls at something inside me.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ THREAT ANALYSIS ││ \[Mana Wyrm\] │├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤│ Level: 11 ││ HP: \~120 ││ Classification: Mana Predator ││ ││ Abilities: ││ \[Mana Drain\] --- Steals 10-15 MP on contact ││ \[Crystal Camouflage\] --- Nearly invisible ││ against crystalline surfaces ││ \[Refraction Body\] --- Physical attacks deal ││ 30% reduced damage ││ ││ WEAK POINTS: ││ ? Core (glowing center, only vulnerable spot) ││ ? Mana attacks (it absorbs them, but overload ││ is possible) ││ ? Sound (crystal bodies resonate) ││ ││ THREAT LEVEL: Moderate (unless it drains you) ││ ││ "It eats mana.
You need mana. See the problem?" │└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The wyrm lunges.
I throw myself sideways, and the crystal bridge chimes dramatically as I hit it, slide, and nearly go over the edge. My fingers catch a formation, grip, and I haul myself back just as the wyrm’s void-mouth passes through the space I was occupying.
“Little help here?”
Working on it.
Johnson launches himself at the wyrm’s midsection, claws extended. His attack connects, and the sound it makes is like someone striking a tuning fork—a pure, ringing note that echoes through the cavern.
The wyrm doesn’t bleed. It cracks. A line of fracture spreading from where Johnson’s claws hit.
Crystalline body, he reports, already moving to avoid the wyrm’s counterstrike. It’s literally made of the same stuff as the walls. Tough, but brittle if you hit the resonant frequency.
“The what now?”
Sound. Hit it with the right sound and it’ll shatter. Music class, Velthar. Did you never take music class?
“I was busy learning to destroy armies with my mind!”
Excuses.
The wyrm coils, preparing for another lunge. I have maybe two seconds.
I don’t have any sound-based attacks. I don’t have musical instruments. What I have is a cleaver, some alchemical supplies, and a very annoyed rabbit.
Wait.
Alchemical supplies.
I dig into my pouch, grab a [Glowcap] mushroom, and throw it at the wyrm’s head. Not to hit—to distract. The mushroom bursts on contact with a crystal pillar next to the wyrm, releasing a cloud of bioluminescent spores.
The wyrm flinches. Turns toward the light.
I activate [Alchemical Synthesis], combining two more Glowcaps with a pinch of [Spore Essence] and all the mana I can spare.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ ALCHEMICAL SYNTHESIS --- EXPERIMENTAL │├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤│ Components: ││ --- \[Glowcap Mushroom\] x2 ││ --- \[Spore Essence\] x1 ││ --- Raw Mana: 20 MP ││ ││ Target Effect: Sonic Burst ││ Stability: 34% (highly unstable) ││ ││ Result: \[Resonance Bomb\] (Improvised) ││ --- Creates burst of concentrated sound ││ --- Damage: Low (to most things) ││ --- Damage to crystalline entities: HIGH ││ ││ Warning: First time creating this.
Results ││ may vary. Side effects may include deafness, ││ nausea, or spontaneous combustion.
││ ││ "You just invented a new alchemical weapon ││ in the middle of combat.
Either genius or ││ insanity. History will decide.
" │└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The compound forms in my hand—a sphere of compressed light and sound, vibrating so intensely I can feel it in my teeth.
I throw it at the wyrm.
The explosion isn’t fire. It’s noise. A wall of pure sound that hits the wyrm like a physical force, and the crystal creature screams—
No. It doesn’t scream. It sings. Every part of its body resonating at once, a harmony that becomes dissonance that becomes destruction.
The wyrm shatters.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ ENEMY DEFEATED ││ \[Mana Wyrm\] --- Level 11 │├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤│ XP Gained: 85 ││ Method: Resonance Destruction (improvised) ││ ││ Loot: ││ --- \[Mana Wyrm Core\] x1 ││ --- \[Crystal Shard\] x4 ││ --- \[Void Fragment\] x1 (rare) ││ ││ NEW RECIPE DISCOVERED: ││ \[Resonance Bomb\] added to alchemical ││ repertoire.
Can now be crafted intentionally. ││ ││ "You turned mushrooms into a sonic weapon.
││ Somewhere, an alchemist is having a stroke.
││ A proud stroke, but still a stroke." │└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
I’m deaf.
Well, mostly deaf. The ringing in my ears is so loud I can barely think, and the world has taken on a muffled quality that suggests my eardrums are filing complaints with HR.
That was impressive, Johnson says. I can hear him through the telepathic link, which is good because I definitely can’t hear anything else. Also reckless. Also probably going to cause permanent hearing damage.
“Worth it.”
Debatable. He hops over to the wyrm’s remains, poking at the core with his paw. This is valuable. Mana Wyrm cores can be used to create MP regeneration items. Or sold for a small fortune.
I pocket the core, plus the Void Fragment—which the System helpfully describes as “a piece of nothingness, paradoxically existing despite being defined by absence”—and check my status.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ CURRENT STATUS ││ Velthar (Arcane Apothecary, Level 12) │├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤│ HP: 156/200 │ MP: 48/95 ││ ││ Status Effects: ││ --- \[Temporary Deafness\] (physical hearing) ││ Duration: \~30 minutes ││ --- \[Mana Fatigue\] --- Recovery rate reduced 20% ││ ││ Combat Duration: 2 hours, 34 minutes ││ Enemies Defeated: 8 (4 golems, 3 sprites, wyrm) ││ ││ Remaining Resources: ││ --- Glowcap Mushroom x2 ││ --- Assorted herbs (low) ││ --- No potions (used last one on Floor 4) ││ ││ "Still going.
Still not dead. The bar is ││ low but you're clearing it.
" │└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
No potions. Half mana. Temporary deafness that might not be so temporary if I keep making sonic weapons next to my own face.
And I still haven’t reached the boss.
We should turn back, Johnson says. You’ve been fighting for nearly five hours straight across two floors. Even with the level up, your body has limits.
“One more push.”
You said that before Floor 4’s boss.
“And I was right.”
You almost died.
“‘Almost’ is the key word.”
You are the single most stubborn human I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve encountered humans for longer than your civilization has had written language.
“Thank you.”
That wasn’t a compliment.
“I’m choosing to take it as one.”
Johnson makes a sound that might be a sigh, might be a growl, might be the rabbit equivalent of throwing up his paws in frustration.
Fine. But if you die, I’m not carrying your corpse back to the surface. You can rot down here with the pretty crystals.
“Fair enough.”
I keep moving.
The Resonance Core is not what I expected.