Hoping to find a way to reach the bottom of the ravine without getting soaked in the process, Liam paced back and forth at the edge of the section of cave he had just come from. There were two issues he needed to overcome. One was his broken arm. The other was the necessity of keeping his torch lit. Even sliding along the wet stone would prove dangerous and difficult in his current situation. The worst part was that he still had only three HP and he had no idea what might happen if it reached zero even without suffering grave injuries. Perhaps it would not even go any lower if he did not suffer any life-threatening wounds, but he was unwilling to test it.

“If only my arm wasn't broken, I could just slide down.” He muttered. “Maybe I can hold the torch in my mouth...”

With that, he lifted the torch and tried to hold it in his teeth. The weight was not unbearable but would likely be uncomfortable after a short time. However, it was the best option for descending the slippery stone hill.

Holding his broken arm behind his back to keep it out of the way, he carefully placed one foot on the slope. It was more slippery than he expected but it was manageable.

With the hope that he would not fall, he let himself slide down with the water. Two feet and a hand were just enough to keep himself balanced, albeit barely. Within seconds, he reached the bottom. While the slide went smoothly, the landing was, well, less smooth. Just before reaching the ground, he removed a foot to brace himself. Unfortunately, his foot slipped on the damp surface, resulting in him sprawled out on the wet stone. He barely kept the torch clenched between his teeth. The downside was that he ended up scraping his arm in order to do so.

“Ugh... at least I don't have to go through another torch.” Liam muttered after sitting up and removing the torch from his mouth. His arm was not bleeding badly, but a bandage would certainly be prudent. The only problem was that his left arm was barely usable. After thinking for a moment, he decided to cauterize it.

A brief yelp echoed in the cave. Of course, doing such a thing could leave him susceptible to infection, but it would at least stop the bleeding. When he checked his status, it still showed three HP, which was nice.

Now that the troublesome part was out of the way, he began to walk upstream. The ground was damp and slippery, but careful steps were enough to prevent any falls. Both sides of the stream were wide enough to walk on. The stream itself gurgled through the bottom of the ravine. Within the water, Liam spotted a few eyeless black and white fish that looked similar to trout swimming downstream. Most of them were as long as his forearm.

For a while, he simply followed the stream. Most of the journey was uphill but some areas were flatter. At one point, he had to cross to the opposite side since his own got cut off by the widening river. While stepping from rock to slippery rock, he slipped into the water. Luckily it was only deep enough to submerge his knees.

Even with his lower legs sopping wet, he trudged onward, eventually reaching a wide, flat area with a large pond at the center. Normally, such a thing would not have caught Liam's attention but the pond glowed with an unnatural blue-green hue. Right away, he saw that there were crystals in the water generating the light. He looked at his torch. Then he looked back at the crystals.

“I wonder if I can break those off...” he muttered.

Intending to somehow obtain some of the glowing crystals, he searched for a good place to set down his torch. The ground was obviously a bad idea. That being said, he examined the wall for a hole or something to stick his torch inside of. It took him a few extra minutes but he eventually found a jagged hole to store his torch in. After sticking it in, he chuckled at how much it looked like a torch one might find in a medieval castle.

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With his good hand now freed, he reached into the water and to test the strength of the crystals. Before wiggling the one closest to the surface he noticed all of the crystals looked like sculpted quartz. He was not intent on admiring the structure, though. The piece he decided to push his entire weight against was no longer than his hand. The circumference was no wider than a baseball.

Using his good arm, he pushed and pulled the crystal with all his strength. He could have sworn it budged a few times, yet it remained attached to the stone wall within the pool. A brief idea passed through his mind to jump into the water since he was already wet anyway, but the glow from the crystals made it hard to tell how deep the water actually was. Being underwater would reduce his strength, too.

Instead, he reached further into the water in order to grasp a crystal as large as his own arm. He pressed down with his full body weight. At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds it snapped off. The sudden break would have made him fall into the water had he not been almost completely laid out on the ground.

A smirk spread across his face as he lifted the crystal from the pool. If he had to guess its weight than it was about the same as the old wooden Louisville Slugger he used back in the day. The light released from the crystal was actually quite substantial. Although not as bright as the torch, it did come close.

“Maybe I should grab a few more for safe measure since they seem kind of fragile.” He said aloud.

A few minutes later, he had a nice collection of crystals of varying sizes. The largest of which was a few centimeters longer than his leg and was twice as heavy as the first one. It was more of a trophy than a practical source of light. Next, he needed to test whether or not they stacked in his inventory. One went in. Then two. As it turned out, they did, in fact, stack.

“Merediem Aqua? Kind of a strange name. Makes me think they might be worth something... Alright, I'll grab as many as I can.”

Inventory:

Available Slots: 4

Blanket: 1

Leather Tent (Small): 1

Flint (worn): 1

Steel Pot: 1

Waterskin (Small): 1

Unlit Pine Torch: 3

Magic Stone (Grand): 1

Merediem Aqua Crystals (varying sizes): 37

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

“Well, it doesn't seem like there are any more I can reach that are possible to break off, so I'll leave it at that.” Liam said while tossing one last crystal up and down in his hand. It was the perfect size to carry around without getting in the way.

Not wanting to waste the remaining light from the torch, he retrieved it from its resting place while slipping the crystal into his pocket. With new items within his grasp, he resumed his uphill journey in the deep reaches of the world.