Vol3 Chapter 39 Hard to notice the little differences

"I suppose I should explain my side as well."

The four adventurers looked toward him. Amos remained seated, his back against the ancient stone wall while the barrier continued to hum around them.

"My name is Eoghan."

The leader nodded.

"I've heard the name."

Amos raised an eyebrow.

"Have you?"

"You're one of the A-Rank adventurers, aren't you?"

"Something like that."

He decided not to elaborate.

"I came here with another group. Team Blue Wolfs."

The reaction was immediate.

"Blue Wolfs?!"

The injured mage nearly sat up too quickly before wincing and clutching her side.

Amos nodded.

The four shared a quick look, the relief on their faces clear as day.

"An S-rank team is here..."

"Then we're saved."

"Wait."

The leader looked at Amos carefully.

"You're saying the Blue Wolfs are inside too?"

"They are."

"All of them?"

"As far as I know."

Amos paused.

"I was separated from them when I was teleported."

The adventurers' expressions changed.

"So you were caught by the trap too?"

"Yes."

Amos glanced toward the corridor.

"And you found us by chance?"

"Not exactly."

"I followed your trail."

"Our trail?"

"Physical signs and mana."

The adventurers looked confused.

"You could track us through our mana?"

"Yes."

Amos's expression became slightly more serious.

"This ruin made it difficult."

He gave a quick rundown of what he’d found—the lack of natural mana, the odd monsters, and how the adventurers’ mana traces were among the few dependable leads he could track. He purposely kept certain details to himself. There was no need to share everything he knew about the creatures just yet.

"So I simply followed what traces I could find."

He gestured toward the direction behind him.

"Eventually, I found you."

The leader exhaled.

"So you came all this way looking for us?"

"That was the purpose."

Amos looked at their injuries.

"I was told to retrieve the scouting team. I assumed you would have a route back."

A bitter laugh escaped one of them.

"We thought we did."

"Apparently not."

Amos sighed.

"Apparently not."

"If the Blue Wolfs are really here..."

He looked at his companions.

"We're not alone anymore."

The others visibly relaxed as well.

One of them even laughed weakly.

"That means we actually have a chance."

Amos watched them.

Their relief was understandable.

Being an A-rank team stuck inside an S-rank ruin was one thing, but being trapped there knowing an S-rank team was nearby was another. Still, Amos couldn’t shake his unease. He knew how strange this place was, how unnatural the monsters felt, and he still had no idea where the Blue Wolves were. Even so, he figured it was better than being alone.

"Yes," Amos said calmly. "That's why we need to find them."

The leader nodded.

"We regroup."

Amos looked toward the darkness.

"After that, we figure out how to leave this place."

His gaze lingered there for a moment.

"And preferably without triggering another teleportation trap."

The adventurers chuckled nervously.

Somewhere deep within the ruin, he couldn’t shake feeling that the trap leading them here had been anything but random.

The laughter faded quickly.

Amos leaned against the wall, arms folded, while the four adventurers rested as best they could.

“This place really is strange,” one of the adventurers muttered. “The monsters, the traps... even the damn walls.”

“The monsters especially,” another said. “I’ve never encountered anything like them.”

Amos glanced at him.

“The pale one?”

“That one too, but there were others.”

He nodded.

“I encountered several different types on the way here.”

The four looked at him.

“Several?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

Amos paused.

“I stopped counting.”

“They don't seem to possess mana. At least, not in any form I could detect.”

“That explains why we couldn't sense them,” the mage said. “Our detection spells were completely useless.”

“It wasn't just detection,” the cleric added. “They were strange to fight. It was almost like fighting something that shouldn't exist.”

Amos remained silent for a moment.

Something that shouldn't exist.

That was becoming an increasingly accurate description of this place.

“The lack of natural mana is probably related,” he said.

The mage frowned.

“You noticed that too?”

“I did.”

“We thought something was wrong with our own senses at first.”

Amos looked toward him.

“You experienced it as well?”

“Of course. We thought our mana detection had been damaged by the teleportation trap.”

The mage hesitated before continuing.

“But there was something else.”

“What?”

“Our mana doesn't recover.”

Amos's expression barely changed.

“Doesn't recover?”

The adventurer shook his head.

“Not naturally. We've been here long enough that we should have recovered at least some of what we spent. But nothing came back.”

“We used the potions we brought with us,” the cleric said. “Mana recovery potions. We had enough to keep going for a while.”

“Unfortunately,” another adventurer muttered, “we ran out.”

Amos went still.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“How long have you been without them?”

“Several hours, perhaps. It's difficult to tell.”

“And your mana hasn't recovered at all?”

“Almost nothing.”

Amos glanced at his hand. For the first time since stepping into the ruin, he actually took note of his mana reserves. He’d been casting spells nonstop—spatial magic, barrier creation, enhancement, detection, elemental magic—and yet his reserves felt nearly full. Maybe a little lower. Maybe. He’d just never bothered to check the difference before.

Wait.

His thoughts stopped.

Then the pieces fell into place.

The absence of natural mana.

The monsters possessing no mana.

The adventurers' inability to recover theirs.

His own seemingly normal reserves.

Amos's eyes widened by the smallest fraction.

How could their mana recover?

He glanced around the chamber and the truth was plain—there was nothing for it to draw on. Outside, mana was everywhere: in the air, the soil, the water, in every living thing. It was the ambient energy that creatures absorbed, knowingly or not, to restore what they had used. But here, in these ruins, there was nothing at all.

And mana that has already been converted into magic doesn't simply become natural mana again.

That was the important distinction.

Once mana was used, it was transformed.

Whether it turned into heat, kinetic force, light, sound, pressure, or countless other forms of energy depending on the spell, it didn’t simply vanish. But it also didn’t return to the environment as usable natural mana.

Normally, the world was filled with enough mana that the cycle hardly mattered. But here… there was no reservoir, no trace of ambient mana. Nothing at all.

His gaze wandered to the adventurers. They’d been draining their reserves ever since stepping into the ruin. Each spell they unleashed chipped away at the mana within them, and every moment spent waiting for it to return had yielded nothing.

They've been spending from a finite supply.

A cold understanding followed.

And when that supply reaches zero... certain death.

He glanced inward once more. His situation stood apart, not due to the ruin treating him any differently, but because his reserves were downright ridiculous.

I didn't notice.

That was what annoyed him most. He’d been focused on everything but the thing he thought mattered least. His reserves were so massive that telling the difference between natural recovery and just having a huge amount left was almost impossible. He’d dismissed the lack of recovery as nothing important since his mana pool hardly seemed to change.

I suppose having too much mana can occasionally be inconvenient.

He kept a calm expression, and the mage took note of his quiet demeanor.

“Eoghan?”

Amos looked up.

“Nothing.”

He pushed himself away from the wall.

“I was simply thinking.”

“About our mana?”

“Yes.”

He looked at each of them.

“I will share my potion with you, but you should try to ration it as much as possible.”

The four adventurers exchanged grim looks. Amos turned toward the barrier.

“And that means we need to find the Blue Wolfs quickly.”

The adventurers nodded.

Then one of them hesitated.

“Wait.”

Amos looked back.

“If what you're saying is true...”

“Yes?”

“What about you?”

Amos paused.

The adventurer stared at him.

“You've been using magic this entire time.”

“Yes.”

“You haven't used a potion.”

“No.”

“And your mana hasn't recovered either?”

Amos considered that.

“No.”

The adventurer's face tightened.

“So how much do you have left?”

Amos was silent for a moment.

Then he answered honestly.

“Enough.”

Somehow, that only made them feel worse. Amos turned his back and walked away.

Fortunately, enough is a very large amount.

Amos stayed silent for a moment, his mind still turning over the implications of the ruin. Then, a new thought crossed his mind.

“How are your other supplies?”

The four adventurers looked at one another.

“Other supplies?”

“Food. Water.”

Their expressions immediately became more uncomfortable. Amos's eyes narrowed slightly.

“How much do you have left?”

The cleric sighed.

“Not much.”

“We rationed everything after we realized we couldn't find the exit,” the ranger explained. “But we've been here for...”

He hesitated.

“Several weeks.”

Amos’s expression shifted subtly. Several weeks—that lined up with what Gareth had said.They really have been missing for that long.

“And the food?”

“We have enough for a few more days if we continue rationing.”

“Water?”

“About the same.”

Amos nodded slowly.

It was worse than he’d imagined. They were already rationing supplies, their mana wouldn’t recover, their potions were gone, and they were hurt. Even if the monsters quit attacking, time itself was turning against them.

“You should have told me earlier.”

One of them gave an embarrassed smile.

“We didn't exactly expect to run into another adventurer in here.”

“Fair.”

Amos reached for the magic storage pouch at his waist, drawing the adventurers’ attention. One by one, he pulled out sealed containers, setting them on the floor—water, preserved food, and more still. The pile grew steadily, and the four adventurers could only stare until he finally stopped.

“This should be enough for now.”

The barbarian looked at the pile.

“For now?”

“I have considerably more.”

There was a long silence.

The ranger slowly looked at the others.

“Do all solo adventurers carry this much?”

“Maybe,” Amos answered.

He didn't elaborate.

The cleric looked between the supplies and Amos.

“You're sharing these with us?”

“Yes.”

“You barely know us.”

“We are in this together.”

Amos shrugged.

“Plus, I'd rather prefer not have to drag four starving adventurers around.”

“Take what you need. We'll ration properly once we regroup with the Blue Wolfs.”

The mage looked at the supplies again.

“And if we don't find them?”

Amos's expression became serious.

“Then we'll deal with that when it happens.”

He stood.

“For now, you don't need to worry about food or water.”

His gaze moved toward the dark passage beyond the barrier.

“Our priority is finding the Blue Wolfs.”

The adventurers nodded.

Amos looked down the passage.

Mana is finite. Food is finite. Water is finite.

His eyes hardened slightly.

Time is finite too.

He had no intention of wasting any of it.