Chrysalis

[We need more of this. As soon as you can get it.]

…

[Uh, okay? Maybe take it out of my face a little so I can see it?]

An unusually forceful and intent Enid is waving something in my face with shaking hands. As soon as I waddled my way into the village someone had gone to fetch her and the normally dignified older lady had arrived at a dead run, her skirts hiked up with one hand and the other clutching this, object.

As she withdraws the object slightly I can see that it is, as suspected, the mana infused wood that I delivered to Beyn a day or so ago.

[Ah. Finally got your hands on that did you? So what is it?] I enquire.

[It's mana infused wood.]

[I can see that plain as day! What is it good for?!]

Enid huffed with her hands on her hips.

[Well that's a different question, isn't it?] she held the branch tenderly in her hands, like a newborn babe, [this wood has absorbed the plentiful mana of the Dungeon and taken on the attributes that surrounded it.]

[Yeah?]

kinds of materials from the Dungeon are treasured and worth just as much as cores. Nations fight over the rights to expanses and other regions that produce this kind of thing fiercely. They are rare and incredibly useful! Not to mention valuable. In the past I dealt with some

what?!] I'm losing my

the effect. For example, if a staff where made for a water wizard with materials that were imbued with water mana, any spell cast through the staff

[Ooo, that is handy.]

smiled triumphantly at my growing enthusiasm. [Not only that. You could make shields, swords,

it] I pointed out, [water as well

the most important thing! Double affinity! Double the offensive boost, double the defensive! This kind of material is extremely rare! In Liria, anything like this was claimed directly

That's nice. But what exactly can we do with it? I doubt there are any master enchanters hanging around the village currently, and the

Yet.

in a few years? In my mind scenes of the great ant forges

Gweheheheh.

glorious within my

Anthony. Play it cool. The inevitable ant

looking at me strangely. Dammit Anthony, don't let

apprentices and, more importantly, we have Beyn

ages for someone to train up those skills? Just how much

She shook her head.

By accelerating level growth in the Dungeon and with expert knowledge to crack the unlock conditions, the only thing

it for the colony? The expanse is ours and we are the only ones able to go down there

of course. I was also able to extract a promise from a curious Enid to engage in a knowledge sharing arrangement,

Once more painfully shifting my legs one by one as shooting beams of agony rippled through my body with each step, I made my way back to my chamber. The journey only took four times as long as normal. I