Rune Matrix: Programming Magic After Transmigration-Chapter 124: Inside

There was nothing but darkness all around him. The light spell he cast was not bright enough to illuminate the entire area. Other than the gentle flicker over the water and the jagged rock wall next to it, he couldn’t see anything.

’As expected.’

Zephyr took a deep breath.

The water below him gave him a little pause. He didn’t know if anything was taking a swim with him.

’I need to leave.’

He looked around to find a place to climb on.

The reason he threw away the light spell was to avoid attracting anything to himself. So, he couldn’t create more and use it as a headlight, at least not yet, while he was on the water.

’The interior is large. The light spell is not enough to illuminate the area. It must be a large cavernous area. I must be near one end of it.’

Zephyr could see the rock wall where the light spell struck. It was steep, with no place to climb on. He would have to follow the wall until he found a place he could climb on.

So, without wasting any time, he swam over to it. Touching the wall with his fingers, he slowly began to make his way forward.

’Dungeons are known for their danger. The mana in the air is denser than normal. The deeper I go, the denser it will become. So, most strong monsters reside in deeper areas.’

He was in a dungeon, imitating an underground cave system. Thinking it through carefully, he calmed himself, slowly moving further and further away from the light.

Pretty soon, he found himself entirely in darkness again. The rock wall had curved around, blocking the light.

’If only I had echolocation. I need to find a spell like that...’

He commented in his mind.

At the same time, his eyes caught something glowing from afar. The light was barely visible. It was yellow.

He slowed his arms and legs flapping under the water. Carefully, without making a single noise, he grabbed hold of the rock wall, stopping his body.

His muscles tightened.

It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t nervous.

The light spooked him. His breathing turned heavy.

Clutching the rock wall, he quietly observed it.

The darkness. The cold, damp air. The musty smell of rock. The stale air within. Everything raised an alarm in his mind.

He was not a nocturnal animal. He was not fit to work in pure darkness.

Slowing down his breathing, he watched the yellow light far away. He wouldn’t recognise it from this far away. Still, he would know if it moved.

The rule of thumb was that anything that moves inside a dungeon is an enemy. He had to be extremely careful.

He waited, attached to the wall like a gecko for a minute.

Nothing moved for the entire minute. There was no sound coming from it or weird motions.

His body relaxed a little.

’It doesn’t seem to be dangerous.’

Zephyr climbed down from the wall, into the water again. Slowly, he began swimming towards the light.

’Fortunately, I learned to swim. I have to thank the older brothers from the orphanage who threw me into a pool.’

Learning to swim was a challenge for him. He overcame the fear of water after almost drowning in it a couple of times.

’Hm...they called it exposure therapy. Those bastards,’ he complained, keeping a close eye on the yellow light, enlarging in front of him.

As he went closer, the contours around the light became visible. The yellow was not a simple point. It was spread across a large area. Between it, he could see darkness.

The pattern in which it spread reminded him of roots.

A thick root was in the middle. Then many small roots spread around, connected to it. The smaller roots were also splitting, forming their own children. The ends of it looked like a furball because of the thin roots growing out together.

The root system was above ground, standing vertically like a tree.

’An inverted tree?’

He was confused.

A normal tree would have leaves. This thing didn’t. It only had the glowing roots, raised into the air.

It was too far. He couldn’t estimate its true size.

He needed to go closer.

With a mix of caution and curiosity, Zephyr continued to approach it.

The light emitted from the root tree guided him forward.

As he was moving forward, his foot suddenly touched the ground below. The soil underneath his foot rolled as he tried to stand on it.

A small grin formed under his armour.

The ground was sloping up.

He was almost there. The land must be close.

Zephyr combined the light spell with a mana bolt, sending it forward.

The spell flew out of his fingertip, flying forward.

He tracked its motion and saw it moving uninterrupted for a long time before disappearing from his vision.

The mana bolt collided with something, stopping it.

But it didn’t matter.

As it flew, he saw the ground below. A dozen meters in front of him, the water disappeared. He was approaching the bank of the lake he was swimming on.

He was thrilled.

Swimming faster, he went forward.

Within a few seconds, he felt his foot firmly grasp the ground below. His legs sank into the mud as he climbed out of it.

’Finally.’

The dirt was up to his knees. He rolled over it, climbing to the shore.

’Finally, I am out.’

He lay on the ground, his chest heaving up and down.

’That was eventful.’

Relaxing his muscles, he recovered for a few seconds before sitting up. The armour on his body returned to its normal form.

There would be danger out there. He couldn’t relax entirely.

Slowly, Zephyr dragged his exhausted body and stood up.

Swimming ashore had steadily consumed a chunk of his mana. Fortunately, the armour supported and enhanced his physique. Without it, he wouldn’t have reached the shore in such a short time.

"..."

Zephyr turned around to look.

His eyes had adapted to the darkness.

He still couldn’t see anything. The cavern was dark.

However, the light from the root acted like a beacon, attracting him towards it.

Taking a step forward, he walked towards the only light source around.

The mana gathering spell inside his mindscape activated, steadily refilling his mana cores. Because of the higher mana density, he was recovering faster.

"Thud."

"Thud."

The metallic armour collided against the stone scattered over the ground, crushing a few under his feet, creating a steady rhythm of footsteps.

Zephyr wanted to be stealthy. The sound would alert the creatures within.

He frowned.

Within the water, he could move soundlessly. Now, he couldn’t.

Taking off the armour was an option. Naturally, taking it off would eliminate the sound.

Or else, he could remove the armour covering the portion under his foot. That would do the trick, too. It was significantly better than removing the entire armour.

But both options would create weak points in his defence.

What if there was something on the ground that could injure him?

It would be disastrous.

Having one’s legs injured during a dungeon expedition was the worst.

Zephyr didn’t know any healing spells. Accelerating recovery with mana was a solution, but if the injury was too serious, his mobility would be affected. Slowing down in a dungeon, when there were dangers all around, was not a good choice.

He needed the ability to move quickly if required.

He couldn’t let his legs get injured.

Wearing armour was the best option.

After coming to the decision, Zephyr looked around the large cavern. From his hands, he shot out a couple of mana bolts around him, observing each one as it moved.

There was no point in hiding anymore. His footsteps were audible. If there were dangerous creatures nearby, they would approach him.

So, he decided to quickly cast some spells to see how his environment actually looked.

The mana bolts flew through the air, striking rock walls on the side, dangling stones on the ceiling, the lake water, and damp ground littered with stones.

The stones on the ground were round, almost polished-looking. It meant they had been in flowing water for a long time.

The place he was standing was a drained underground river bed or something similar. The lake must be what remained of it.

In the case of dungeons, he couldn’t be sure of how they formed or when, since the land could move, change, and evolve. Nonetheless, analysing the way it looked gave him clues as to what he should expect.

Thinking for a few seconds, he cast a dozen light spells. This was a spell he had learned from Aurelia yesterday. It was a lesser version of the sun-like spell she released to illuminate the village.

He thought it was interesting and learned it. And it came to use to explore the dungeon.

The wisp of light formed over his palm as he cast the spell. Then he threw it, illuminating the area where he stood.

The path leading to the light root was dark. He illuminated it to be safe.

Fortunately, nothing except the tree was nearby. There was no lifeform around.