– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 49 –

"There aren't that many records to compare to, but I'd say, by now, we're overprepared," said Mercedes.

Terry had known the elven researcher from the introduction to mana cursed course, which he had taken together with Siling and Calam. Only back then, the woman had worn a pantsuit instead of light armor and an enchanted travel cloak. She was, however, the only one from the enlisted researchers whom Terry recognized.

Terry noticed how Mercedes had glanced at him when she had emphasized the last word. He also noted the slightly irritated tone in her voice.

Terry didn't comment on it. He knew he was the biggest reason for the delay. He had allowed his friends and family to stall him for longer than the overeager researcher could stomach.

Then again, Terry roping in a Council member to support the expedition was also a reason for the preparations to be unusually quick to begin with. Without the freed funds to requisition supplies for the Guardians, and without the power to simply create Guild contribution points under Council authority, the whole endeavor would have taken a lot longer to prepare.

Terry glanced to his sides to see that his friends and brother, who had a large hand in the delay, didn't even display the slightest shred of guilt for the delay and, by extension, the disgruntled attitude of the researchers.

"I assume everyone has gotten their shots?" Mercedes turned to one of her assistants.

"Yes, madam. Without a sample of cursed mana, we could only go by the description of its transmissions. We focused on general mana stabilization."

Terry caught himself frowning. He understood that the mana stabilization was a precaution against being infected by a mana curse, but he didn't like its side effect. His mana felt sluggish, which was apparently the point. The magic injection turned his mana less reactive, which would inhibit any infection by mana curses and allow his own naturalization a better chance to fight back and overcome the infection.

Unfortunately, the lower reactivity wasn't just limited to a curse infection. It also applied to his own mana control. Hence, it felt sluggish to use. His mana touch also felt more fuzzy and less sharp.

As if I've been thrown back a year…

Terry clenched his fists. He had volunteered for the cursed realm investigation in large part because he had hoped to find a path for himself to progress. Something new he could add to his options.

Why had it turned into himself growing weaker instead?

Terry took a deep breath and swallowed his frustration. He knew that the effects of the shots weren't permanent. They had all been supplied with additional doses in case the expedition took longer than expected.

Terry tried to remind himself that it wasn't all negative. In a way, the effects of the mana stabilization should prove a great training opportunity. Training his control, touch, and casting with the sluggish mana was like training his body with additional weights.

"Very well," said Mercedes and made a note on her clipboard. "We also have several mobile laboratories to create the specialized shots when we are there." She added a checkmark before looking up. "Personal safety equipment?"

"We've distributed the inertia cleansing devices with sufficient backups to spare."

Terry nodded. He noted the slight delay in his mana circulation that was caused by the device intended to record his mana signature.

The inertia cleansing acted similarly to the inertia inscription in his bidirectional attraction gloves. The inscription learned the mana signature of who was wielding it and any discrepancy with the signature of injected mana would increase the difficulty of activation, effectively locking the magic item to a specific person until the signature had been forgotten.

The inertia cleansing devices would detect any deviations in mana signature and then activate to counter it by pulling the mana back towards the recorded signature. As long as the curse was slow-acting, the devices should buy them time to remove themselves from exposure.

One by one, Mercedes went through her checklist and confirmed with the research team, the Guardians, and the Guildheads.

Terry looked around. Aside from Mercedes, he didn't know many people personally.

Khaled still looked exactly like he had during the introduction to mana cursed lecture. Unless Terry was mistaken, the human man was even wearing the exact same dark grey coat and travel boots.

Verecund, the man that had accompanied his introduction to dungeon work lecture held by Samuel, was the opposite and appeared to wear brand-new equipment.

Besides the two Guardian instructors, Terry only recognized three of the enlisted Guildheads.

William. The elven man was very hard to miss in his idiosyncratic robes overgrown with moss.

And, of course, the two elven dimensional mages: Mia and Yorgos. Apparently, the Supreme's Disciple had taken over the transport duty for Calam, so that Yorgos was free to join.

Neither of the two elves looked particularly happy to be part of the expedition, though. Terry didn't know what exactly they had discussed with their uncle – Naer, Weran, Roy, or whatever alias the powerful dimensional mage was currently using.

"I have nothing to add," said Khaled eventually. "We all know our roles." He caught Terry's gaze. "We can set out in the morning."

***

Terry took a deep breath. He didn't dare look back again. He had already said his goodbyes. His eyes were only fixed on the fluid stone that pulled away from his presence to reveal the realm portal to the cursed realm behind.

Even though Terry's sight was focused on the mission ahead, he could still feel his family and friends with his mana touch. Despite his earlier resolve, he hesitated.

Questioning if this was the right path for him.

Acknowledging that he wouldn't witness his cousin being born to Uncle Samuel and Aunt Brynn.

Wondering what might happen.

Remembering that his parents had shortened life-spans.

Fearing that he would not see them again.

Imagining a world where the monster continued roaming free.

Terry clenched his fists and inhaled deeply when he felt a familiar presence at his left forearm. His brother Jorg had initiated the traditional forearm ceremony for whaka walking into battle. His brother was there for him.

Terry involuntarily smiled. He looked to his right to find one of his oldest friends reassuring him with her tall and powerful presence. Terry held out a forearm to Tiana without hesitation.

Tiana raised an eyebrow but quickly smiled warmly. Even without words, she understood Terry's meaning, and she was all too happy to accept the offer of an extended family.

With their bracers connected, Terry resolved himself. The portal was somehow keyed to his soul. It was on Terry to make the first move and break the ceremony.

"What's going on?" Rafael blurted out from next to Jorg. "What's with the hand holding?" He was ignorant of the whaka tradition for facing danger together.

Terry snorted and chuckled. He looked at his felan martial brother and smiled. "I'm sure I'll tell you one of these days."

Terry stepped forward.

Jorg, Tiana, Rafael, Vess, and Patricia all followed right behind.

Right behind them was Mia as the most experienced dimensional mage. Her magic was covering the whole expedition to keep it together in case of any spatial storms or other realm-crossing anomalies.

The bulk of the expedition forces followed with Yorgos bringing up the rear.

In less than five minutes, the entire expedition force had crossed the portal and the retreating dungeon wall returned to cover and seal the portal back into its dormant state.

Only the worried faces of those left behind remained.

***

Right after Terry had stepped into the retreating stone, his mana sense went completely haywire. He could feel himself being pulled through the veil. Could feel the pull resembling an unanchored spatial transfer.

It took him a mere moment to realize that was exactly what he was feeling.

The initial sensation of crossing the veil had imperceptibly transformed into an unanchored spatial transfer… or something like that. There was a difference in sensation. Slower. Like being pulled along instead of instantaneous teleportation.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

With his suspicions raised and with only seconds to react, Terry's reflexes took over and he instinctively burst his mana.

Suddenly, Terry found himself dropping out of an unfamiliar sky. He caught himself with divine barriers, only to have a flying something crash right into him and send him tumbling down once more.

Terry stabilized himself while he checked his communication talisman and while his mana perception followed whatever had crashed into him.

It turned out, it had been two things, actually.

One dropped into the green-ish lake below.

The other was flying around panickedly.

Terry stared at what he could only describe as a little bug person. About as tall as his arm was long. Large round multi-faceted eyes. Two small antennas on its head. Wings like a ladybug, but without the usual pattern.

A little bug person that accumulated mana.

The little mana user was buzzing around with a grimace plastered on its face. It stared at Terry with fearful eyes and then flew down to the lake with worry while emitting strange chirping sounds that held no meaning for Terry.

"Uh… Sorry?" Terry didn't know why, but he felt like he had caused some trouble.

The little bug person showed no signs of understanding his meaning but it reacted to his voice. It flew forward while chirping with its hands raised in a pleading gesture, only to retreat again with fear.

Terry could see the little bug person frantically fly down but seemingly not daring to touch the water. While he observed the bug person, he checked his signaling cube to discover all signals with his companions out of reach, just like his communication talisman.

Is it worried about the other…? What is that? I can sense a soul but its shape appears different from the bug person.

I guess they both can't swim.

Terry jumped down to land right on top of a divine barrier on top of the lake's surface, which caused the little bug person to widen its eyes in terror and—

Did it just teleport?

Terry's head whirled around to where the little bug person reappeared. He was surprised for multiple reasons.

That was definitely not structured magic and teleportation was rare among magic beings relying on innate abilities.

His mana bubble had already expanded and, from what he knew, his oscillating mana interfered with spatial transfers, which made the teleportation stand out even more.

Above all, there was something else in that teleportation. Something besides the space aspect. It had only been for the briefest of moments, but Terry felt something reminding him of the hellspawn portals.

A touch of void.

Terry could see that the little bug person was terrified. Even so, it refused to leave and its eyes were glued on the water, or rather on the other that was sinking underneath.

For a moment, Terry hesitated, but before his mind had caught up to make a conscious decision, his hands were already testing the water for potentially dangerous effects.

After confirming that it was nothing but a deep lake of regular water rich in algae, Terry closed his eyes and dove in. He followed his mana touch and swam to rescue whatever the little bug person was so worried about.

Terry surfaced and pulled himself out of the water with immovable metal until he could stand on divine barriers again.

He looked at the being in his arms and froze.

He was holding a chubby mushroom with short legs and arms. Two beady eyes were looking at him with evident discontent.

A magic mushroom?

Just like the little bug person, the mushroom with limbs had evidently accumulated mana.

The mushroom person began squirming and huffing until Terry struggled to hold it and decided to drop it off on the ground.

The little shroom was shaking itself like a wet dog and emitted a range of huffs accompanied by an unpleasant smell. While it was huffing and puffing, it shrunk from a size comparable to the bug person to about the length of Terry's forearm.

Meanwhile, the little bug person was buzzing happily around the mushroom until it dared to chirp gratefully at Terry.

"Yeah, no problem," muttered Terry. "You're welcome." He felt kind of silly talking to a bug and a mushroom, but who was he to judge?

They knew about elves and the goblinoid giants, but who was to say there couldn't be other folks living in this cursed realm?

From what Terry had seen, the little bug person had shown both empathy and intelligence. It evidently cared about its mushroom friend and showed enough sense not to dive after it and chirp for help instead.

"At least one thing sorted out…" Terry heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. His mind was finally catching up with what had happened.

We've barely arrived and already we're separated.

"Great start," muttered Terry sarcastically. "I hope they'll be okay."

They had Mia and Yorgos with them. If that really was some kind of spatial transfer trap for those entering the realm, then the two should be able to deal with it.

Now that he had time to think, Terry kind of regretted his reflex to burst his mana.

They had enlisted the help of two skilled dimensional mages that were probably more than capable of handling whatever space magic was being thrown around in a realm of outdated spellwork.

"And I decide to take myself out of their magic by bursting oscillating mana," grumbled Terry with self-reproach.

Instinctive reflexes were hard to suppress. He knew that, but he still cursed himself for failing to trust their expedition preparation.

Who is to say that that transfer targeted everyone? Perhaps it just targeted me? There is a connection between my strange soul and the portal to this realm, so…?

Terry focused on his mana regeneration. A part of him had expected that he would arrive just like he had left, which was to say in a dungeon. However, unless his sluggish mana was tripping up his senses, there was no dungeon around.

Would there have been a dungeon at the intended destination?

No, why would a dungeon have to do that? It also would contradict my theory that the transfer was some kind of ancient space-aspected spellwork.

Terry furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.

If that sensation really was some kind of ancient unanchored spatial transfer, would Mia and Yorgos be able to interrupt it when it had already started? From what I remember from Ying, an unanchored transfer had to be stopped before it was 'fired'.

Eventually, Terry shook his head. "Oh, well." He took a deep breath. "I'll just have to find them."

Before I get myself into trouble again. Or before Rafael gets everyone into trouble while I'm not around.

Until then…

Terry looked at the two strange folks at the lake side.

My mana feels sluggish and instead of my companions, I now have you two.

Great.

For a moment, he looked at them with suspicion. It was a strange coincidence to have them crash into him the moment he had escaped the transfer.

Was it a coincidence?

The beetle appears to have some innate space and void magic…

Terry slowly approached the bug and mushroom to not scare them away. He knelt down to make himself appear smaller and spoke softly. "I don't suppose you can understand me?"

He could see that they heard him, but both the beady mushroom eyes and the multi-faceted bug eyes displayed nothing but confusion… or what Terry interpreted as confusion.

"Great," exclaimed Terry sarcastically.

Not sure what I was hoping for. Why would these folks speak the common tongue of humans and oldfolks?

Of course, they don't.

Wait…?

Terry tried again with his finger runes. [Can you understand me?] He hoped that the magic means of transmitting intent would somehow bridge a potential language barrier.

Unfortunately, Terry got the impression that the beady eyes of the shroom didn't perceive any mana. When his gaze focused on the beetle folk next, it didn't display any signs of understanding, either. The bug person stepped in front of the mushroom and appeared to protectively cover it with its own body.

Did I scare it? Wait, they display signs of sapience. I shouldn't call folks 'it'.

Her? Him? Them? They're folks, but no clue what gender or sex. Do they even have sexes?

Beetles do… I believe. But mushrooms? How the heck do mushrooms reproduce? Even if I knew, do the answers even apply to… them?

Them.

Terry stood up and shook his head. His mana bubble spread far and wide to scout the area. The further it reached without any sign for him to follow, the more dispirited he became. He puffed his cheeks and sighed. "Just great."

Eventually, Terry sensed a little tug at his leg to see the shroom look up to him and then perform a little… bow?

The beetle bowed as well.

"Are you thanking me?" Terry tilted his head. If they can't swim, I guess I saved the shroom person…

Shroom person. Shrooman? Fungan? Do they have an official name?

Terry couldn't help but curse at the communication barrier. He had expected to get along with the common tongue from his native realm.

Probably because of the elves among the fungus-infested army. I assumed this would be an elven realm, even if it had been lost to the elven empires.

Fungus.

Terry's eyes rested on the little mushroom person.

Coincidence?

He couldn't sense anything resembling the fungus curse from the folks in front of him, but it was another thing that stood out.

A dungeon had been fighting against the fungus-infested elves, giants, and beasts.

That dungeon placed a location into my mind.

That location led me to this realm.

In this realm, I've now found a folk seemingly evolved from mushrooms.

All mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mushrooms.

Coincidence?

"No clue," said Terry, who became aware of the two sets of strange eyes on him. "And no worries."

He subconsciously placed a hand on his helmet and looked at the little… "Shrooman. I'll go with shrooman."

The two otherrealm folks looked at him confusedly.

Terry cleared his throat. "Well, you're the closest to a clue I have. Would you mind showing me around?" The moment the words had left his mouth, he felt stupid again.

Terry groaned. He always hated the game in which one person was not allowed to speak and had to get others to guess a word. He tried to get his meaning across by pointing and acting out movements.

He mostly focused on the bug person, because the more he interacted with the two, the more he was convinced that the beady eyes played a small role in how the shrooman perceived the world.

It took Terry longer than he would like to admit, and he felt like a fool during the entire time. He was almost glad that he had gotten separated. At least there was none of his companions around to witness his embarrassing display of otherrealm charade.

However, eventually the two folks appeared to have understood him.

Terry was relieved but immediately confused when the shrooman lifted its arms towards him and made strange huffing sounds again, which were accompanied by even stranger scents.

Oh, bloody Wastes. I hate this part of charades, too.

The beetlefolk flew up to gesture for Terry and help their little shrooman friend.

"Uh… They want me to lift them up?" Terry hesitatingly lifted the small shrooman, who wiggled happily, and then pointed.

Like lifting a strange toddler.

Terry recalled again the moment when the two had crashed into him. He looked at the beetlefolk and guessed that they had carried the shrooman while flying.

Perhaps the shrooman isn't too fond of walking?

I should tell Siling I found someone even more averse to running than she is. Perhaps I should call the shrooman Shroomling…

Terry was thinking pointless things while following his two helpful realm guides. He retrieved a set of small constructs that looked like overgrown flies. As bad as his entrance to this realm had been, it was not unexpected.

They had come prepared.

His signaling cube was out of reach for the others, but his reach could be extended with mobile signal amplifiers that were keyed to the signals of their expedition members.

***

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.