The Regressed NoBody

Claire nodded her head nervously and I turned around to look at the enormous doors which stood at the end of this hall.

The echo of my foot rang loudly inside the hall, as I walked over the cobblestone floor. Claire right behind me.

I touched the doors, which were cold and rusted. Mould was growing at the edges of the doors, as I placed both of my hands against the doors and forcefully pushed them forward. But unfortunately, they were stuck to their place.

I cycled the mana inside me, as I pushed harder this time, but the doors didn’t budge one inch. Beside me, Claire had also placed her hands against the doors and was pushing alongside me.

But it was to no avail. The doors didn’t move from their place.

After a few minutes of trying, I stopped with a defeat sigh, then took a few steps backward.

“Claire, step aside,” I voiced, firming my grip over the sheath and handle. In a sharp burst, I released my sword from the inside of the sheath and launched it at the metallic doors. The air around us shook violently, as I saw from the corner of my eye Claire taking a few steps back defensively.

A loud ringing hammered into my ears and entire hall, as I withdrew my sword back into the sheath and looked upon the doors, which still stood without a dent on them. They were much too sturdy to tear them down. I thought touching the hard surface of the doors, running my fingers up and down the door.

“What was that for?” Claire grunted from beside me, with a surprised expression.

“Well, I thought I could cut these doors down to make an entrance for us to move forward, but it didn’t work,” I said, matter of factly.

“Surely,” Claire sighed as she leaned against one of the doors.

Taking a few steps back, I placed my hand over my chin as I began to think. ‘There has to some way to open these doors?’ Like some kind of key, trigger or lever to activate some kind of built-in mechanism!’

I thought with squinted eyes, looking around the doors to search for any way to open them, any point or gap in them which could be a lock or trigger. But my eyes quickly stopped on a small gap hidden behind a narrow slit in the door to my right which was big enough for one of my hand to enter.

I activated Mind’s Eye, and began to observe the doors, there was some kind of pattern installed inside the doors,sole areas which had mana imbued in them. Just like a lock mechanism. I walked closer to the door on my right, I went on one keen, as the gap was at least thigh high, as I hesitantly inserted my hand inside that small gap.

My fingers touched against a hard surface, but there were smaller gaps inside this opening in the door. But big enough to allow three of my fingers to enter.

I channelled the mana inside me and inserted three fingers inside those gaps. I kept observing the way the door reacted to the release of mana, as I kept on releasing sudden bursts and pulses of mana, from weak to strong.

Mana rolled out of the tip of my fingers, as I kept observing the lock mechanism reacting to my mana. I released a quick burst of mana but the door didn’t budge, then released a weak pulse, but the outcome was the same.

“What are you trying to do?” Claire asked, as she leaned closer to me, her hand placed over her knees, as he too observed the opening which I had found in the door.

“I think these doors can be unlocked by releasing some kind of frequency of mana which can trigger the lock mechanism built inside them,” I answered, keeping my focus entirely on the mechanism, and the mana.

I keenly observed how the mana, as well as how the mana residing in the specific areas of the doors reacted to the quick and sudden pulses of mana.

But after trying for a little over twenty minutes, I slumped on the floor, frustrated, clearing the sweat which had accumulated over my forehead, beads running down my temples.

I had used more than half of my mana reservoir trying to trigger the lock, but to no avail.

I sat down crossed legged on the floor, then withdrew a mana recovery potion from the inventory from my limited stock of potions, and chugged it down, as I began to preform a certain type of breathing form—the one which Han had taught me in my past life.

The mana began to coalesce faster towards my body, as I quickly pulled the particles inside through my mana channels and began to refine the raw mana.

“What are you doing?” Claire asked from my side, confused as to what I was doing. This breathing art may have looked absurd to the spectators, but for the one utilising it, it worked like a charm.

“Well, I am trying to recover some of my mana before I try again,” I voiced, focusing on the particles hovering in the air. With each breath I inhaled, the particles were drawn more faster and effectively inside my body.

“Shouldn’t potions be sufficient enough?” Claire asked, as I titled my head at her, continuing the breathing form.

“True... But, becoming too reliable on potions isn’t too good of a thing either," I answered placidly.

“Why so?” Claire inclined her head in question, confused. Her expression perfectly displayed that she hadn’t understood the meaning behind my words.

Because now that potion and herbs had become a common necessity among hunters, which everyone uses to increase their body’s capability to quickly adapt to the changes it goes through due to mana, or else help someone to increase their strength or grow.

I also used herbs and potions, but I was never too reliant on their use, neither did I abuse their use. I mean herbs and potions were good and all to allow a person to grow and help them during their breakthrough, and whatnot, but becoming too lenient on their use isn’t a good thing either.

“Lets say, if a mage uses all of their mana conjuring spell after spell, they go into a state of backlash by overflowing their mana veins by absorbing the mana from the atmosphere—sequentially charging themselves with an abundance of mana—, if they are not careful—which is actually common among them after exhausting all of their mana which they absorb and refine in their body. And why do you thing that is?” I asked with my attention on Claire now.

She pursed her lips trying to form an answer. After thinking for a few seconds she answered. “Because the amount of atmospheric mana they can quickly use to form their spells by filling the empty spaces and also depending on each mage’s construction of their mana veins.”

“Correct, but I think that the constant use of potions and herbs can hamper one’s growth and ability to strengthen their channels or veins on their own, and to get a better grasp and control over their mana, and the ability to manipulate it, and as well as to allow their body to naturally refine the mana which they absorb to better adapt to it, despite how pure or great the herb or potion maybe in grade, ” I finished my sentence taking a deep breath.

"But that's only my way of thinking," I added.

But, mages were completely different from people like me, as we utilised mana to reinforce our body to strengthen it to fight in close quarters. But that didn’t mean that mages couldn’t do the same.

But our use of mana and the way a mage manipulated his/her mana was different, but similar in some ways. Because mages used the atmospheric mana—depending on the element they could manipulate—to allow them to conjure spells, so to not go into backlash, they used the mana inside their body as a backup reserve, as they used their own mana to assist them in conjuring a spell. The likes of Adam, who was a brillant mage.

After relaxing, and utilising the breathing form to recover some of my mana for a bit—almost half of it—I once again inched closer to the door and inserted my hand inside the small gap.

Again releasing a sudden pulse of mana into the gaps, I observed the mechanism of the doors through Mind’s Eye—the areas where there was some mana sustained, but there was no development what‐so-ever.

Frustrated, I released a weak pulse of mana, but as I gritted my teeth in anger, I released a strong pulse right after.

The sound of rustling echoed in my ears, as I saw the first trigger unlock with a sharp twitch of metal clanking.

I took a deep breath, this time as well I released a weak pulse of mana, following a strong burst. I had tried releasing all sorts of amounts of man, but there was something missing as I had thought. But after that coincidental try, I had now found my answer.

I heard the doors rustle, as the sharp noise of metal clanking against each other echoed in the hall and my ears.

After one last try, I released a weak pulse of mana following a strong pulse. Through Mind’s Eye, I inspected that my mana had triggered the lock mechanism built inside the doors, as one lock after another unlocked. Making a chain reaction.

I quickly withdrew my arm back, as I jumped backwards. The doors harshly screeched against the cobblestone floor, as they opened, causing the entire room to quake momentarily. I shot to my feet and waited for the doors to completely open.

After taking a few more seconds, the metallic doors opened, as a cold gust of wind swayed my bangs and clothes backward.

I sharply inhaled, then as I exhaled, I stepped forward, gesturing Claire to follow suit. The youth firmly held on to the rapier in her hand, to withdraw from the sheath at a moment.

The ominous feeling since entering this dungeon was still pestering me, as my body and senses were on high alert for any incoming attacks or ambush.

As we left the enormous hall, we found ourselves walking into a tunnel like cavern, which had an enormous rift on the further left side. The floor here was also of cobblestone and there were man lanterns hanged alongside the walls, illuminating our surroundings.

I walked closer to the rift, and looked down into the abyssal like pit. As far as the eyes could see, only darkness met.

As a strong gust of wind blew upwards, I stepped back looking at Claire. She nodded at me and I nodded back.

Then we began to move deeper into this dungeon.

“Oh right...Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Claire Heartman.” She said as we strode deeper into this passageway.

“I am Seo Jiwoo,” I said.

“Yeah, I already know,” She exclaimed. “Aren’t you the guy who always sit with Jiyoung in class, and is close with Aogiri Ryuya and the other top ten."

“Well, that’s a weird way to remember someone, but yes...I am close with them...I think.”

Afterwards we both silently walked.

My mana was almost entirely recovered, but the thoughts which I had been trying to push to the back on my head began to pester me to no end.

Just why had the system given me a quest out of the blue? Also it didn’t have a description either? Neither was there any hint as to what was I supposed to do in here. Just like the time when I had went into the ‘devil’s whisper’ dungeon.

Could here be a demon as well? I formed a theory which for some reason felt the most plausible to me. Like when the system had given me a quest, and inside the dungeon, there had turned out to be a ranked demon residing there.

‘What if there was a high ranked demon here?’ I thought as a frown found its way up my face. ‘If its a rank dungeon then...there could be an amber or turquoise eyed demon or worse if here was a grey eyed demon.