As they make their way into the next room, I secretly estimate their chances of having to retreat at 62%. It would be higher, but Lily just leveled up after treating Cole's shoulder. Ironically despite being a healer most of her experience seems to come from her foraging skill. Perhaps I've been a bit too generous with the food resources. Ah well, I'm not going to change anything either way. I'd rather look forward than backward. On top of Lily's level up Darrel also leveled up fighting the second-floor boss. I have long suspected that he remains busy outside of my dungeon being a water mage in the desert so it makes sense he would level up sooner than the front liners.
So having two people of the same level as the skeleton party does increase their odds of winning even if only one of them has offensive capabilities. They were cautious as they entered obviously aware that the fights were not going to get easier. Almost immediately upon spotting each other the two tanks charge forward as do the two fighters. this leaves Darrel to deal with the two skeletal mages. Fortunately, he is able to hold his own. Unfortunately defending is all he can do. Chandra as usual starts the encounter by searching for hidden traps in the room.
The biggest surprise in this encounter is Lily. She is casting a defensive spell on Cole which seems to slightly increase his defense. So apparently healers can do more than just heal, good to know. Honestly Lily seems to have the most diverse skill set of the entire group. Her defensive spell seems rather weak though. Combined with the fact that this is the first time I've seen her cast it, I'm guessing she just learned it during her last level up.
As I watch her casting her spell, I start to notice the mana flowing through her. I notice that part of her mana is getting diverted to the life growing within her. This mana feels different than the mana she uses to cast spells though. Puzzled by this I go ahead and move my perception down to the fourth floor for a minute. This allows me to open the system shop where I spend 5000 world energy on a skill that I had thought was pointless. The skill is called mana sense, and it allows those who have it to sense the flow of mana. Something dungeons can do by their very nature. The secondary effect of the skill is allowing people to distinguish between types of mana.
As soon as I test out the skill it's like opening my eyes for the first time. Every type of mana has a unique color and there are way more types than I would have thought. It seems mana is a broad term for any type of energy. At the very top is neutral mana which as the name suggests doesn't have any properties and can become any type of mana. After that there are the two main types which are physical and magical. Everything else is derived from those two main types.
Physical mana as the name suggests is used in skills that involve physically attacking and defending. It can be broken down into a few different types though the main one is kinetic mana, or the energy of movement itself. This can be used to increase the speed of your own attacks or dodges. Creating mobs or grass or anything else really is literally me turning mana into physical objects. Even the stuff that I didn't think cost mana to place. It turns out that what I placed was just a concept. This concept then slowly begins absorbing part of the mana coming in until it becomes real. Seriously, the more I figure out the less I understand.
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Magical mana on the other hand is way more interesting. From what I could tell it has seven main types. Which are. life, fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark. These in turn can be broken down into other types. Life mana for example can be converted into healing mana as one would expect but I'm certain it has other subtypes as well. Water mana on the other hand can be converted into ice as well as, I suspect, steam mana. though I'm not sure if Darrel will ever figure that out.
Out of curiosity I convert some mana into world energy to watch what happens. It turns out everything I thought I knew about being a dungeon is wrong. Well sort of. It turns out that while we do consume mana by turning it into world energy, world energy itself doesn't actually exist. It's like digital currency that I earn by converting the mana back into neutral mana consuming a small fraction of it as I do. I'm literally a filter feeder that regurgitates 99% of what it consumes. Except that compared to the mana going in the mana coming out is in its most pure form.
So now armed with both my skill sense which allows me to see past whatever magic protects them from my direct influence and my mana sense which now allows me to distinguish between types of mana I return my attention to Clyde's party. Now instead of just watching them gather and release mana I can tell what type of mana it is. The interesting part is that while Cole and Clyde are both use melee combat, they couldn't be more different in the type of physical mana they use.
Cole uses what I can only describe as stillness mana to turn himself into an immovable wall. Clyde on the other hand uses kinetic mana to try and outmaneuver his opponent. As I continue to focus on the fight, I notice that Chandra seems to have gotten the attention of one of the mages. Thanks to this Darrel now has the upper hand in his fight. The skeleton mage attacks with a water spear which Darrel easily deflects with a simple water tentacle. At the same time no longer needing to worry about the other mage he is able to go on the offensive using that same water tentacle.
The skeleton mage attempts to block using water wall, but Darrel just switches to ice spikes instead. The switch happens so fast the Skeleton mage doesn't have time to react before being split in half. Another spike through the skulls ends that skeleton. Turning my attention back towards Lily I notice that she is casting her defensive spell on Clyde instead. Taking a closer look at her I notice the mana getting diverted by the new life is a combination of basic physical mana along with a type of mana that I still can't identify. This other mana isn't coming from Lily though. Nor is it coming from me or anything I can perceive. It doesn't seem harmful at least. In fact, I get the distinct impression that it's necessary. Not that I could block it even if I wanted to. Whatever the source is its beyond even me since I exist within my own pocket dimension, and it's able to cut through the dimensional barrier as if I'm not even here. All other mana comes from my entrance or from the delvers themselves.
My attention is suddenly diverted by Chandra who in the middle of dodging for her life through a knife not at her attacker but at the fighter. The skeleton fighter easily blocks it, but the momentary distraction is all the opening Clyde needs to thrust his sword forward decapitating the skeleton and ending the fight. Darrel in turn sends a few ice spears towards the mage chasing Chandra successfully getting its attention. Unfortunately going up against a fire mage when you're starting to run low on mana isn't the greatest idea. He is back to just defending while occasionally launching ice spears to keep the fire mages attention.
Chandra on the other hand seeing the enemy tank now having to contend with both Cole and Clyde is able to sneak up on it. She isn't dumb though, so she waits for the perfect opportunity to reveal herself. that time comes when Clyde and Cole attack simultaneously forcing the enemy tank to deflect with his sword while blocking with his shield at the same time. Chandra uses this chance to stab the skeleton tank, who currently has both arms busy, in the face. After that the fire mage doesn't last much longer.
I didn't actually think they would win. Not that I'm complaining because the amount of effort that it took gave me a lot of mana. They do decide to call it quits here though. Which isn't surprising considering they barely had the energy to collect the loot.
