A Dragon's Curiosity

With each revolution, a part of the mana and aura changed shape and opened a gate towards another place.

The energy expended by the dragon did not actually vanish or enter the connection, it only strengthened the conduit and solidified into a concrete shape.

Dark energy flooded out of the connection and filled the space next to the elf, displacing all other aura and mana.

Rather than a physical location, the dark mana and energy drew the plane where [Midnight] existed towards the plane Ator, where Nisha currently lived, and opened a small connection.

The more energy the dragon invested to maintain that gate, the more dark mana and energy flooded into the area where the connection was established.

Around the elf, the pathway did not entirely plunge into darkness from the sudden surge of dark elemental energies, but the light dimmed and the stone surfaces nearby grew indistinct.

Normally the sudden obscurity should have alerted the monster waiting in the next room, yet the [Bait Waste] behind the girl and the unknown monster in front of her failed to notice the sudden situation.

Nisha herself was immersed in controlling the connection between her own plane and another unknown location.

It was a very different sensation compared to [Solar Flare], which drained her entire mana and aura pool regardless of her intention.

Alternatively to the violent nature of the fire principle, the girl had far greater influence on the gate and could control it to accept more energy or maintain it at a certain level.

While the dark energy in the surroundings increased, the shadows deepened and turned to the colour of ink, whereas the air became murky.

Interested in the environment, Nisha maintained the current level of release - the connection still drained a meager amount of energy to sustain itself - and observed the changes through her [Spirit Sight].

With the constant release of dark aura and mana, all other elements in the surroundings were replaced and dyed the corridor of the Dungeon with its shadows.

Although the surroundings changed, Nisha was still able to perceive the dents on the ground and the rugged walls down to the smallest bump.

Her physical sight was not impeded either, as the dragon had night vision even before she attained another means of observation.

Satisfied with her current evaluation of the principle, the girl fed more energy to the connection to summon more dark elements.

Slowly, the shroud of shadows exceeded Nisha’s area of perception with [Spirit Sight] and invaded the rooms next to her.

On the side of the [Bait Wastes], the fish hidden inside the muck of the puddles shuddered and burrowed deeper inside the mud, hiding themselves from the unknown danger.

A wounded individual - injured during an internal scuffle for a greater puddle with more water - similarly tried to escape from the invisible predator, yet the wound on its body suddenly turned worse.

The boundary of the injury darkened, then festered and rotted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Perhaps the monster would have had more resistance if it was more powerful, but each fish was very weak as an individual and only the swarm behaviour made them a real threat to others.

As more dark energy invaded its body, the [Bait Waste] keeled over and died, whereas its body withered and its flesh blackened.

In the room on the other side, a large four legged monster yowled and anxiously turned in circles, unsure what happened.

The dark aura and mana seeped into its body as well, but it had a larger aura pool than the other unfortunate monster, hence it only felt uncomfortable and its vision worsened, adding a sense of dread without a visible source.

Irritated by the nameless terror, it curled into a ball and tried to resist the fear that way.

Nisha was too far away to observe them with her [Spirit Sight], she merely experienced the surge of dark elementals in the air.

It was not uncomfortable or detrimental for the dragon to bathe in the dark energy, as one of her elements was of the Darkness attribute anyway.

Injecting more energy into the connection, the elf wanted to test the limit of the principle - the fire one literally decimated the prey she set her eyes on, leaving nothing behind.

Growing like grass after a summer rain, the darkness spread even further than the two adjacent rooms, startling more monsters.

One of them was in a fight with a group of adventurers, where both parties were equally startled once the dark energy interrupted midway during their fight.

Fortunately, the party recovered faster than the monster and pounced on it, ending the fight.

Nisha spent all her mana and a good portion of her aura, where even the stones around her began showing signs of withering from the exposure to the corroding dark element.

Perhaps [Midnight] was not at the limit yet, although the shadows around the girl already transformed into deep pools of ink, giving the illusion of a deep endless chasm.

Unable to sustain the gate, Nisha cut off the supply of energy and let loose a deep breath, feeling more tired than she should be from the release of energy alone.

Having her mana pool emptied twice in a row and spending a good portion of her aura, the dragon was rather spent at the moment.

With the source cut off, the gate showed signs of collapsing right away, but it did not break apart yet.

The dark elements did not come from Nisha’s plane - Ator - and the place showed signs of rejection to the intrusion of foreign power.

Finding an outlet for the pressure of the repulsion, the dark cloud receded and returned to the portal to return to its own plane.

Part of the energy passed through Nisha and replenished her exhausted energy pool, restoring about half of the power expended to open the portal in the first place.

This was a pleasant surprise for the dragon, even with her impressive recovery capacity it would take a while to restore her energy pools to the peak - mainly because it was larger than that of others.

Fortunately, her regeneration matched the size of her mana and aura pool, making it just slightly longer than normal for others of the same rank.

Exhaling a puff of pure darkness, Nisha opened her eyes and pondered over the results of using [Midnight].

Testing the move not in combat turned out to be the right decision, if the elf pointed her finger at a monster and expected a burst of power similar to the earlier fire spell boosted by her other principle, it would have been slightly dangerous for her if only dark mana and aura proliferated into the atmosphere and the monster pounced at the girl.

Aside from the obvious effect of connecting another plane of darkness with her current location and borrowing energy from there, Nisha would have to slowly explore the remaining effects by herself.

Dusting off her garments, the dragon gave the place a last glance and advanced to the next room.

Unexpectedly she had a harvest right away when the monster inside spotted her and attacked right away, brimming with fear and irritation.

Normally, the various species inside the room acted according to their behaviour and more or less waited before engaging in a fight, unlike the one that currently jumped at the girl.

Snarling and growling, a white frame grew bigger in Nisha’s eyes while it tried to come closer and bite her.

The elf was surprised to see that the monster in front of her had dark spots on its armor, showing signs of corrosion.

Recalling the surge from her previous experiment, the girl immediately connected it with the surge of dark energy.

Whereas the smoky wisps or shadows felt comfortable and familiar to the dragon, the approaching monster clearly had an adverse reaction to being inundated in them.

She recognized the attacker as well, although Nisha had not encountered it outside the Dungeon before.

It made it easy to recognize the species by referencing the white bone armour and the four strong limbs, as well as the canine physique.

Nisha dodged the incoming [Bone Hound] that rushed at her and pushed it off to the side with a strong push.

The serrated bone segments on the outer shell of the monster would usually have hurt any rash adventurer that dared to compete with it using their bare hands, yet the dragon’s skin was even tougher than its bone armor.

Yowling and wincing from the pain, the monster curled up in the corner, pushed all the way over from the strong force with which it was pushed.

In one spot, the armor even broke from the impact and revealed the fleshy interior underneath.

[Bone Hounds] were fairly strong fourth rank monsters and had a special background.

Many beastmasters wished to obtain one from outside the dungeon and make a contract with them, due to their evolution method.

Any canine monster beneath the fourth rank had a chance to change their bloodline and turn into such a hound by merging with the vital bone such as a spine, skull or numerous rib bones from a deceased beast or monster above the fourth rank.

Discarding their fur and claws in the process, tough bone plates, serrated appendages and a spiky tail fully enclosed the monster and fused with their bodies.

Once fully grown at their rank, the [Bone Hounds] had a chance to repeat the process and find the remains of a monster or beast one rank higher and devour their bones again.

Naturally, a trade off existed and they had a large downside as well.

First, the monster or the beastmaster had to find the remains of a higher rank monster, and level crossing challenges were difficult from the start, so hunting them was not an attractive option.

Buying the required bones instead was expensive, as it was impossible to know how many and which parts the monster needed to advance.

On top of the heavy expenses required to advance the monster, it was further possible that the advancement failed if the [Bone Hound] was unlucky and obtained bones from an incompatible source.

Lastly, the special evolution method deprived them of the capability to handle mana, limiting the entire species to remain monsters forever.

Nevertheless, with enough resources it was possible to nurture a strong monster with a relatively high success rate.

Rich merchants and noble family houses often bought the armored monsters from adventurer teams that caught them at high prices, making them a very highly sought after commodity.

Sadly, monsters and beasts inside the Dungeon lacked something, which was the reason why materials harvested from them progressively turned worse the more it was harvested and rendered them unable to survive outside of it.

Seeing that the monster was temporarily unable to move because of the fractures in its armor, Nisha swooped down on its body and broke its neck in one swift move.

In prime condition, it might have been her opponent, but now the dragon only squatted next to its dead body and probed the corroded areas.

From a quick inspection, dark aura invaded the [Bone Hound] when it mistakenly tried to absorb the surge of energy and poisoned itself instead of strengthening its limbs and body.

As a result, those spots broke first when it clashed with the elf before the monster had the chance to expel the rotting force and restore itself.

Placing the body inside her [Inner World], Nisha planned to take a closer look at the infected breaks once she was back home and checked the room for hidden treasures.

With her [Spirit Sight], nearly next to no chest or dropped item had the ability to evade her notice.

On the first five floors, the items were not valuable enough to make Nisha deliberately search for them as they were all below the first great divide.

Now, she might even find some gear or ingredient suitable for her own use, setting some expectations for future finds.

Following her major experiments, the dragon got into more scuffles and gradually fell into a fighting frenzy, bringing her own body and spells to bear against all kinds of enemies until she forgot her original purpose, making a big round through the sixth floor.

None of the materials were wasted and all ended up in the elf’s storage, building a suitable storage of food for the next period of time.

With a higher cultivation rank also came higher expenses in regards to living expenses, as foodstuff equal to one’s own rank was the most suitable sustenance.

Only with a diet of fourth rank meat would the girl have enough energy to continue cultivating and moving around.

Drenched in blood and seawater from the more water inclined rooms inside the Dungeon, Nisha climbed the stairs back up to the fifth floor.

Deterred by the strong stench of blood, the boss monster did not wish to engage her, allowing Nisha to exit the Dungeon without much trouble.