Ulrich backtracked through the passage until he reached the boundary between the dungeon's first and second layers, a threshold marked by a subtle shift in the air's pressure and the quality of shadows, a factor which only a Shadowmancer such as himself could discern. Here, the oppression lessened to a manageable level, and by that, he meant to a level where he was confident in running away at the sight of trouble.
Well, he was already in that department, and that was before manifesting the spell "Shadow Step".
Ulrich found a defensible alcove carved into the stone wall and settled down to recover. His body ached from the overextension during the Aranid fight, muscles still cramping with the abuse he had subjected them to. More concerning was his spirituality, depleted to perhaps thirty percent of maximum capacity.
Ulrich pulled dried meat and water from his pack, forcing himself to eat despite exhaustion. Physical recovery would help, but spirituality requires meditation and time. He closed his eyes and focused inward, feeling for the Vital Rune pulsing steadily in his chest.
The completed rune responded to his attention, drawing in ambient shadow essence from the surrounding dungeon. The process was slow, far slower than he would have liked, but gradually his reserves began to refill. An hour passed, then two. The ache in his muscles faded to a dull throb.
When his spirituality fully recovered, Ulrich opened his eyes. He performed a quick divination, letting the silver coin dangle as he posed questions.
The coin swung in a slow circle. Cautiously positive.
He pocketed the coin and checked his equipment: Healing salves are running low. Moonflower extract is still intact. The incomplete Soul Core pulsed against his back, radiating cold energy even through the rucksack's fabric.
Ulrich activated Blessing of the Shadow and felt his senses sharpen. The enhancement settled over him more gently this time, sustainable rather than explosive. He manifested a spear to test his control, the weapon forming instantly and holding its shape without conscious effort.
Ready enough, or as ready as he can be. Push comes to shove, he'd just run back to the surface and go make money elsewhere.
...
The passage descended deeper, bone fragments giving way to bare stone slick with moisture. Pale fungi grew in patches along the walls, emitting faint bioluminescence that painted everything in sickly green hues. The temperature continued to drop, cold enough that Ulrich's breath misted before his face.
The second layer's first chamber, he assumed, opened before him, a vast space where the ceiling disappeared into darkness overhead. Massive stalactites hung like suspended swords, and the floor was uneven, pocked with holes that suggested hidden depths.
This chamber was different from that cavelike environment. Having encountered an unknown group of monsters, he'd taken a different passage down to the second layer after resting fully.
At this moment, his danger sense pulsed steadily. The threats were always present, but not entirely immediate.
Ulrich advanced cautiously, using Shadow Vision to map the terrain, seeing as the naked eyes were not reliable in this environment. In his vision, the chamber revealed its true nature: dozens of smaller spaces connected by narrow passages, perfect territory for ambush predators.
Movement flickered at the edge of his view. And any shadow that moved can only be a living thing!
He spun, manifesting his spear just as something massive launched from the shadows. Black fur, red eyes, jaws lined with fangs that gleamed like obsidian. The creature was wolf-shaped but wrong, too lean, too long in the limbs, with shadows clinging to its form like a second skin.
Ulrich barely got his spear up in time. The creature's momentum carried it past, jaws snapping shut on empty air. It landed with preternatural grace, claws scraping against stone as it immediately pivoted for another attack.
A second creature emerged from a different angle. Then a third, and forth.
Barghests, his mind recalled from the half-remembered bestiary entries. Shadow hounds that hunted in packs. Great ranked at minimum, judging from their size and the intelligence burning in those crimson eyes.
The first Barghest lunged again, but Ulrich sidestepped and thrust, his spear catching the creature in the shoulder. Instead of penetrating deep, the weapon slid off, deflected by some quality of the shadow-fur that made it slippery and smooth.
The other two attacked simultaneously from opposite sides.
Ulrich used Shadow Step, sinking into the floor's shadow and emerging several meters away. Yet, the Barghests tracked his movement instantly, their hunt instincts adapted to hunt prey with unmatched speed. They spread out, circling him with coordinated precision.
He manifested three Dark Arrows and fired them in rapid succession, hoping to keep them distracted. The consumption of spirituality in this fashion was much less than having to constantly make more spears.
Unfortunate, one Barghest dodged entirely, another deflected the projectile with a swipe of its claws, and the third took the arrow in its flank but barely seemed to notice.
They moved too fast. Even enhanced by Blessing of the Shadow, Ulrich's reactions couldn't keep pace with creatures that flowed through shadow like water. When he targeted their physical forms, they dodged. When he tried striking their shadows, they moved before the attack could land.
A fourth Barghest emerged from the passage behind him, cutting off his retreat.
Ulrich's danger sense spiked as all four prepared to attack simultaneously. He wouldn't survive this, not with his current capability. The realization was stark and immediate; these creatures were built to counter everything he relied on. Speed, shadow manipulation, and even his enhanced senses meant nothing against predators evolved to hunt in eternal darkness.
It was like he'd been counterpicked, and his arsenal was rendered useless.
Ulrich threw everything into his Shadow Step, burning spirituality recklessly to put distance between yourself and the pack. The transition felt slower than before, fatigue making the shadow membrane resist his passage. But he emerged near the chamber's entrance and ran.
The Barghests followed but didn't pursue beyond the threshold. They paced along the boundary line between layers, red eyes watching with patient hunger. Fortunately, they were more territorial creatures and would not leave unless forced by circumstances.
Ulrich collapsed against the wall, breathing hard. His spirituality had dropped below fifty percent from that brief engagement. Sweat cooled on his forehead despite the dungeon's chill.
Shadow Step limit was just five meters, but burning spirituality for distance was simply too taxing for his current rank, not to mention overloading his Blessing of the Shadow.
He needed a solution. The deeper chambers held the materials he wanted, but the Barghests stood in his way, and they will not be the last. Fighting them directly was suicide; his combat style relied on mobility and precise strikes, useless against enemies faster and more agile than himself.
What he needed was a way to bind them, to remove their speed advantage. It was a dilemma he'd thought of before, but never had to worry about because there were no foes that could punish his lack of crowd control utility.
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The thought crystallized as his hand brushed against his rucksack. The incomplete Soul Core, still radiating cold energy. He pulled it out and examined it more closely. The core was roughly thumb-sized, its surface swirling with captured essence from the Awakened Great Aranid. Not complete, but enough that some of its traits remained.
Soul Cores could be consumed for a generous amount of lesser runes. That was their primary purpose. But they were also concentrated repositories of a being's power, their abilities and essence taking physical form.
What if he could use that power before consuming it?
Ulrich's mind raced back to his lectures with Father Lorel. He'd mentioned that the origin of spells and talents was but another form of manifestations of the Runes. Following the principles that all beings bear spirituality, then all beings bear runes. Thus, all forms of living things can be seen as just another form of Runes. Alive or dead.
Since spells come from Runes, why can't he manifest another spell with the Soul Core as the base?
He had manifested Shadow Step by understanding the relationship between Shadow Vision and briefly tapped into its potential. The spell emerged from recognizing that shadows weren't just visual phenomena that can be attacked, but aspects that can be manipulated.
Could he apply the same principle here?
Dark Arrow worked by condensing shadow into solid form. Shadow Vision revealed shadows as tangible entities. Shadow Step allowed a temporary fusion with the shadow substance.
Indeed, Shadow Step worked in reverse, making tangible (himself) intangible, even for just a brief moment.
In that moment, Ulrich's eyes sparked with enlightenment, as though he'd grasped a crucial principle that governs spells and talent, or at least the major aspect of it.
What if he combined all three concepts, using the Aranid's Soul Core as a base to bridge the gap?
The Aranid had been a creature of binding in its own way, webs and venomous strikes that paralyzed prey. Those properties should be in the Soul Core's essence.
Ulrich closed his eyes and focused. He activated Shadow Vision first, watching as the world transformed into gradations of shadow and light. Then he reached for the sensation of Dark Arrow, that feeling of will imposing shape on shadow essence.
But instead of creating a weapon, he tried to shape chains.
The first attempt failed. Shadow essence gathered at his fingertips but refused to take form, lacking cohesion and purpose. He tried again, this time adding the spatial sensation from Shadow Step, the understanding that shadows were an aspect he could manipulate.
The essence flickered, almost forming something before dissolving.
In the third attempt, Ulrich pressed the Soul Core against his chest, letting its cold energy seep into his Vital Rune without resisting it with his own spirituality. The incomplete core resonated with his own Vital Runes, and suddenly he felt the Aranid's nature, patient hunter, builder of traps, deliverer of paralyzing venom.
He channeled that understanding into his experimentation.
Shadow essence gathered again, but this time it held and did not disperse. The chains manifested from his outstretched hand, links formed from solid darkness that rattled with spectral sound, a sound similar to hollow wind. But they weren't quite right yet, too brittle, lacking the binding force he needed.
Ulrich focused on the Soul Core's essence, drawing out the venomous aspect from its memory. Then, his chains shifted, taking on a faint green tinge. Where pure shadow had been, now existed something hybrid, darkness laced with corrosive energy that would eat at whatever it touched.
Night Chain, his mind understood. The name felt right, appropriate for a spell born from shadow manipulation and the Aranid's essence.
At the same time, his psyche shuddered. Ulrich smiled, knowing that another card had appeared.
Night Chain
Requirements: Aranid's Soul Core
Forge binding chains from concentrated shadow and venom that sap strength over time.
He dismissed the manifestation and tried again, this time creating the chains more quickly. The Soul Core grew slightly dimmer, its energy being spent as a catalyst, but the spell formed perfectly. Dark chains erupted from his palm, extending roughly five meters before dissipating.
If anything, Ulrich's desire to hunt more Aranid rises. The core of this spell was the Soul Core from the Aranid, which allows it to possess other venomous traits, as well as stability. Without it, Ulrich could not manifest the Night Chain. At least for now, it was usable.
Looking at it, he couldn't help but feel proud of his own creativity. He had manifested a new spell through pure experimentation and understanding, something not granted by his Vital Rune. The achievement felt significant, proof that Weavers could expand their capabilities beyond simple advancement.
Ulrich recovered for another hour, letting his spirituality climb back to full. The Soul Core had dimmed from creating Night Chain, perhaps twenty percent of its energy consumed. Still enough for multiple castings before it became too depleted to use.
He activated Blessing of the Shadow and descended once more.
The Barghests waited exactly where he had left them, four shadow hounds pacing the chamber's perimeter. When Ulrich stepped across the threshold, all four turned toward him with synchronized precision, and they lunged as a pack.
Ulrich raised both hands and channeled. Night Chain erupted from his palms, not one chain but multiple strands that spread in a wide net. The dark-green links caught the lead Barghest mid-leap, wrapping around its limbs and torso. The creature shrieked as corrosive energy ate into its shadow-flesh, binding it completely.
A second Barghest tried to dodge, but the chains tracked its movement, guided by Ulrich's will and Shadow Vision.
The thing about the physical body and shadow is that they both move simultaneously, yet occupy two entirely different spaces. Even if it had dodged the physical part of his chain, its intangible form will still cling to its shadow. The links wrapped around its legs, sending it crashing to the ground where more chains coiled tight.
The remaining two Barghests split apart, trying to flank. But Ulrich had already manifested additional chains, creating a web of binding darkness that filled the space between them. Both creatures became entangled, their superior speed meaningless against restraints they couldn't dodge or break.
With all four bound, Ulrich manifested Dark Arrows and ended it quickly. The shadow hounds died without ceremony, their forms dissolving into wisps of darkness that dissipated in the chamber's stale air.
Ulrich stood among the dissipating corpses, breathing heavily but uninjured. Night Chain had worked exactly as intended, removing the Barghests' speed advantage and reducing them to stationary targets. The spell wasn't flashy or overwhelming, but it solved the specific problem he had faced.
Sometimes the right tool mattered more than just raw power.
He harvested what he could from the corpses, shadow-touched fur that retained some substance even after death, obsidian fangs worth their weight in shards, and small crystallized cores from each creature's heart. The materials went into his pack alongside the other collected components.
The Soul Core had dimmed further, perhaps forty percent depleted now. Still usable, but he would need to be judicious about casting Night Chain repeatedly.
Ulrich moved deeper into the second layer, his confidence restored. The dungeon held more threats; his danger sense painted a picture of numerous encounters ahead, but none felt insurmountable as better. He had adapted, learned, and created a solution when brute force proved insufficient.
The next chamber held a different challenge, skeletal creatures fused with crystal formations that gave them enhanced durability. Night Chain pinned them in place while Dark Arrows shattered their cores.
A natural cavern beyond that hosted a colony of shadow bats, their numbers overwhelming but vulnerable to wide-spread chain nets that caught dozens at once.
Each encounter added materials to his collection. Ulrich kept a mental tally of estimated worth: two hundred shards, two twenty, two fifty. The pile grew steadily, his rucksack becoming heavy with components that would fetch good prices at Helgan's Keep's trading post.
Hours blurred together in the eternal twilight of the dungeon's depths. Ulrich's spirituality cycled through depletion and recovery, his body accumulating minor injuries that he treated with healing salves. The Soul Core continued to dim as he relied on Night Chain repeatedly, but the spell proved invaluable time and again.
Finally, after clearing what felt like his twentieth encounter, Ulrich paused to assess. His pack bulged with materials, the weight pulling at his shoulders. A quick mental calculation suggested he had accumulated roughly three hundred fifty to four hundred shards worth of components, well over his target.
More than enough to secure the Rank 2 Rune of Shadow from the Ministry.
His danger sense had grown increasingly insistent during the last few chambers, warning him that deeper sections held threats even he can't handle. Myriad-ranked creatures, possibly even another Awakened. The smart move was to retreat while ahead, and fortunately, he considered himself smart.
Ulrich turned back toward the surface, navigating through chambers he had already cleared. The journey felt longer going up, exhaustion making each step heavier than the last. The threshold between layers passed beneath his feet, and the entrance stairwell appeared ahead, torches burning with steady light.
He had done it. Three hundred umbra shards worth of materials, maybe more. Ulrich climbed the stairs toward Helgan's Keep, then toward the trading post and exchanged the materials.
Among all the Rank 1 Weavers, he could be considered wealthy. Though Ulrich knew that the moment he returned to the Ministry Sanctuary, all will be gone.
All he had to do now was prepare for the advancement to Rank 2, then move toward exploring that white room.