...And before we knew it, we were dangling from a metal cage, probably fifteen feet high up. Minnie and Leo passed out and unconscious whilst Cassandra is... Where is she?

I looked around to see where she was but she was in another separate cage that's probably five feet higher than us which gives me the view to see her... Nevermind.

I looked down to discover that one, I can see some guy, probably in his mid twenties looking up at us with a slight smirk. He was wearing a labcoat of all things. After he noticed that I was looking at him, he then turned around and scrounged around our gear and supplies. And two, that I'm afraid of heights.

We were in a dome-like structure, all of the walls were metal and it was dimly lit because we are hanging from the roof of the structure and it's dark as night in here. I could barely see Cassandra, Minnie, and Leo from the lack of light.

I closely inspected everything around the room to see that it was filled with gigantic glass-like tubes with complicated machineries and... Trapped pixies and fairies in the tubes with blue blobs coming off their body which I presume is Mana.

So, how did we end up in this predicament, you might ask. Well... It all started about a few hours ago when I woke up.

As usual, I got out of bed to meet up with Minnie and Leo.

I saw them already awake and waiting for me.

— "Can't you be more late, Owens?"

She asked sarcastically. Of course, this is the first thing I hear in the morning. How perfect.

— "I'll try to be more late next time."

I quipped sarcastically. Look, if she's willing to play that game with me then I accept. I can't be bothered not to get any compensation when this is the first thing I hear in the morning.

She scoffed and said nothing more. Leo, on the other hand, was still wiping his eyes. I'm guessing he got out of bed forcefully. And Cassandra didn't have any tint of emotion on her face whilst she looked at her staff.

Speaking of which, her staff was made out of ebony wood. It was a narrow staff with a crystal which I presume is a Mana Crystal.

Anyhow, we all stepped out of the "hut"'s door and stepped into the ground of a... Forest? Wasn't her "hut" supposed to be in the marsh part of the forest near Aevum? What's up with that?

Nevertheless, we continued our travels. Not saying a single word to each other after we reached the Mystical Forest for whatever reason—and that reason being is to be quiet since Pixies and Fairies have a good sense of hearing. Especially good at hearing and recognizing human voices.

We all communicated by using papers and using pens to write to avoid waking up the Fairies and Pixies. Speaking of which, they're all nested in hidden crevices where it's hard to be spotted.

And after a while of walking, we found a tree. But not just any tree, no. It had a weird glowing crystal on it.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

— "A village."

Cassandra vaguely said. She talked in this forest even though she knew the risk. I'm guessing she has a plan if she was this uncautious. But the three of us still kept our mouths shut to avoid getting swarmed.

We kept walking along a trail alongside the trees but with each passing tree, we started seeing trees with crystals attached to them which led us to believe that what Cassandra meant was that these crystals lead to a village...

...And she wasn't wrong.

As soon as we reached the village, it was lit by a large crystal piercing the skies in the middle of the village with houses built around it. As if ants were building around a sugar crystal.

The clouds around it was circling around the sky-piercing crystal like it was making way for it. It was a bit ominous seeing the clouds circle around it aimlessly as if it was preparing a storm.

The houses that were built had pillars nicked from the crystal. Now that I thought about it, the crystal that leads to this village had the same crystal–I see now! Maybe this crystal could repel those pests. That's why Cassandra wasn't afraid to talk when being near those bits of crystals! I could make a killing with these!

— "You guys bet that I could make a fortune with these crystals?!"

— "N-No... Why would you ever think about that–"

I don't care! I didn't even bother hearing out what Minnie had to say and I took my sword to try and mine a bit but... As Leo said a few days ago, it just looked like an oversized needle.... But I couldn't care less!

I immediately ran towards the crystal and dodged the locals and lunged towards it with the sword.

*Clink!*

*Shatter!...*

And to my surprise it shattered–no, not the large crystal, be realistic here. It was the "sword" and what's worse is that it made a gong-like sound, alerting every local in the area. But hey I at least got a bit–aaaaand that's how we ended up in this situation.

I screwed up big time and we got caught in metal cages like animals. Speaking of animals, the locals in question were Beastkins. But I saw a Beastkin woman that vaguely reminded me of Leo for whatever reason.

Well, I should probably practice my apology when they wake up. But I didn't have to wait for long as Leo was the first to wake up.

— "You're such a moron, Owens."

Leo said but groggily. I mean, he probably got a larger dose of sedatives than me so I could kind of understand.

But there's just one thing that I don't understand... When I rushed towards that crystal with greed in my eyes... Greed...

— "Hahaha...!"

I could hear chuckling from my trouser's pocket and when I took it out, it all came to me that this thing had influenced me to mindlessly lunge at that huge crystal. And it's not as if I could ever dodge like that on my own, that requires master acrobatics, a skill that I unfortunately don't have since I didn't take the time to learn a skill like that.

I'm getting off-tracked here, so I took it out and looked at it.

— "You're a real prick, you know? Now how are we going to get out of here?"

— "You reckon that guy has a lot of money?"

He's probably referring to that guy below us who is actually... Tying up fairies and pixies in a small metal table and throwing small bits of glowing rocks at them. What an odd guy.

— "Probably not–"

— "What?! That thing could talk?!"

What I didn't know is that Leo was watching our conversation from the beginning. Well at least my name is now cleared of being "insane" and "out of my mind".

— "Do you believe me now?"

— "Hey, young lad, you got any cash on you?"

— "Don't listen to what it's saying."

— "Hrngh..."

I could hear growing from my left and to Leo's side, it was Minnie's groans. She's probably going to wake up and she actually did.

— "Where are we...?"

— "Somewhere, that's for sure."

— "Oof, you got sedated real bad. Sucks to be you, Min-Min."

— "Shut up... I am not in the mood for banter, Leo."

She rubbed her eyes and looked down on the cage at the man who is now placing the fairies and pixies in glass like tubes and switching on a machine that sounded like a vacuum... It was literally forcing out the pixie and fairy to summon their Mana Crystal by suction and sapping out their mana in smaller bottles and being sent to an industrial line with a familiar branding. It was the same bottle of Mana potions that I sell. Maybe this guy is the one who makes them! I buy these in bulk to sell them–

— "Father... Is this where you have been?"

Minnie said solemnly with a tearful look in her eyes.

What?