Chrysalis

What is mana? It was an embarrassingly long time before the tower had anything even remotely approaching a satisfying answer to this question. Even now, we have no real way of knowing if we are correct, since we don’t know where it comes from, how it's made or where it goes. We know that it existed on Pangera before the Dungeon broke the surface. It's possible that mana has always existed on Pangera since the pre-history times, but that's another thing we cannot confirm.

The deeper one goes into the Dungeon, the more dense it becomes. This, we have known for a long time. There has been a lot of argument over whether the mana was emanating outward from the centre of the planet, or being drawn from the outside inward. A great deal of effort was put into tracing the mana flows on the surface and most studies have been inconclusive on this issue.

As to the nature of mana itself, who knows? It's a type of energy. It's malleable. It can be changed into a massive variety of other forms of mana, each with their own attributes, strengths and weaknesses. It's tied into the natural world, as it replicates things that are possible without it. Sometimes. Other times it achieves things that are impossible without its use.

To this day it baffles us, though we use it extensively in our daily lives and research.

• Grand Mage Trissitan of the tower.

The mana was rising. It wasn't a dramatic issue in the present moment, but should this extermination drag out, it might cause problems. The spawn rates have already begun to rise, if it were to become another Wave…

shook his head. It wouldn't come to that, so soon after a wave had just completed. There hadn't been two such events so close together in the history of the Empire of Stone. It would be foolish to adjust his strategy to accommodate such a freak occurrence. The levels were still within tolerance, no doubt they would peak soon and then continue to decline until mana levels returned to what they should

state necessary for the ritual. All concerns and awareness faded from view. The mission no longer existed, the tent around him turned to black and

was the stillness, and

Warrior drew his blade and placed in on the prepared cloth spread before him. Once, twice, thrice he

vibrant, through the rock of his true skin. It was tantalising. Sunk deep into meditation, he ignored it and stretched his hand out to the blade. Before he opened his hand, he could

to strengthen and sustain itself. It was almost a waste to awaken the blade only to cut insect trash, a pathetic breed of monster, unworthy of

of its true power. Ritual complete, the High Blade rose and

He was tired of these pests spitting

and whatever was going to happen, she wanted to make sure it was going to happen fast. Problems seemed to sort themselves out so long as she was quick enough. It was one of the reasons her mutations continued to emphasise speed. The faster she went, the easier things got, so why not just keep getting faster? She couldn't wait until her next evolution. The sort of speed she'd be able to achieve then would truly be something to

Senior! Where are we going?" Emilia,

Vibrant laughed.

Isn't it good to go down? Better than sitting around in a council room.

be sure. They fell upon everything in their way with ferocious, coordinated strikes and devoured the Biomass like a school of sharks before sprinting