Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Mana Spot

It’s been 12 days since the exploration of the Forest of Death began.
As we searched the forest, we were also able to map it out, complete with data on the distribution of the monsters and vegetation within it.

「We’ve gathered plenty of materials that could seemingly be used for superior restorative potions and mana potions.」
「We’ll definitely have to research recipes.」

Laeva harvested copious varieties of plants and mushrooms that grew only in environments with dense mana. We have to try a variety of things to see if we could use them for medicine with high efficacy.

As we continued the search while still securing more precious monster materials and herbs, I noticed that there were more monster presences compared to yesterday.

Basically, our strategy was to avoid presences that were too big, the type of monster one would guess was a dragon type. That’s because we’re doing our best to avoid fighting for too long here. For that same reason, we essentially tried to avoid large groups, but I felt uncomfortable somehow.
I carefully investigated the presences around and then suddenly, the presence of a monster popped up from a certain place.

「What could that be?」
「Hmmmm, Kaede doesn’t know.」

Kaede and I wondered about it, and Sophia talked about a possibility.

「I’ve only heard this from an elder, but there could be spots inside a large monster nest where especially high amounts of mana gather. An accumulation of mana known as a Mana Spot, it had been said that monsters could suddenly be born there.」
「Monsters, you mean a phenomenon where monsters could be born without parents……?」
「It is a little known topic and we do not know how much of it is true, however, it had been said to be connected to the world of Spirits or the afterlife.」

I asked Sophia and the team to remain on standby while Kaede and I go scout.

We were using the Stealth skill and Overcoat of Existence Concealment so as to not be sensed by others to the utmost degree, even holding our breath, lowering our hips, controlling our movements, and moving while paying close attention to our gait.

From the team’s point of view, Kaede and I probably looked like we melted into the scenery like a mist.
As we heard Berkut’s surprised voice, Kaede and I headed to its approximate location.

Though it seemed like an assassin would come swooping in from somewhere at any moment, we reached our destination without encountering any monsters.

There, we saw mana, which is invisible to the naked eye, gathering at one spot like a black, swirling cloud. Actually, mana had no visible color, but because level of Kaede and my Magic Perception skill was high, we were able to see a visualization of the clump of mana.
And I also sensed strong miasma from the mana spot before my eyes. This miasma must have been the key to the monsters birthed.

As we were observing it, a monster appeared from the Mana Spot.
A singular Killer Ape was born from within the swirling black cloud. Born from might be a bit wrong. The Killer Ape that appeared was in its adult form. The lone monster was cautious of its surroundings and left aimlessly.

After that, we continued observed the phenomenon for a while more, and monsters would be born at set intervals. Eventually, the black swirling cloud-like mana spot lost its dense mana and disappeared.

I sent Kaede a signal to go back to where the team, and I also withdrew so as to not be discovered by the monsters just like when we came here.

「Haa~ I was so nervous~」
「Good work.」

We managed to come back to everyone safely and I let out a sigh of relief.
Kaede and I wouldn’t have lost even if we had encountered monsters and fought them, but we would surely use up our magic power and physical strength. I would like for conserve as much of our strength as we could while in the danger zone known as the Forest of Death.
When I was catching my breath, Akane who couldn’t wait patiently asked.

「So, what was it?」
「Hmm, I don’t know if it’s connected to the world of the Spirits or to the afterlife, but there’s no doubt that it was a Mana Spot.」

I explained to everyone what we saw.

「So this thing where it produces a set number of monsters and the mana disappears is happening all over the forest of death?」
「Probably. It might not just be here either. It’s possible that even though they are less frequent in smaller monster nests, similar Mana Spots pop up there too.」
「There’s no way monsters in a monster nest could run out, right?」

It is known that monsters breed similarly to normal living beings. Aside from this, it is also known that the monsters born from dungeons overflow and live in monster nests. If I was pushed to say, a Magic Power Spot felt similar to how a dungeon produces monsters.

Because the Magic Power Spot disappeared, we couldn’t investigate any further, so we went back to searching for our original objective, the Hermit Peach.

It was also important to explicate the principle behind the origin of monsters, but right now, collecting the ingredients for Soma was our first priority.