Everyone was waiting for Chris in front of Mia's tent. Now that everyone was reunited it was time to check out the undead cave.

Chris noticed that Mia was about to go fetch her own horse and said:

"The cave isn't far from here, how about we share a mount Mia?"

"P-please don't joke my Lord" Said Mia before leaving in a hurry.

"Ooh! See that Bergy? She was blushing right? She finally sees me as someone from the other sex!" Chris was very excited.

"Your efforts are paying off my Lord." Answered Berg respectfully.

"You are finally wearing her out!" Continued Ferlin.

"Your strange appeal will win in the end!" Complimented (?) Titus.

Cat who was listening to this shameless display could only think: [She was just too embarrassed to ride on a donkey...]

Cat assembled her 110 soldiers, and they left together with Chris' group. The beast hunts were put on hold as the cave was a more pressing matter.

Cid and his soldiers remained in Brine City to protect it.

On the way Chris complemented Titus for his daughter.

"Titus, your daughter is really fierce, she is going to do well in life."

A rare smile was on Titus' face.

"Thank you my Lord. She is really enjoying the game you taught her."

"Tell her to go easy on the other kids, that game is very dangerous in her hands." Sighed Chris.

The group continued chatting until they finally reached the cave.

There, the ten soldiers Cid left were waiting and saluted upon the group's arrival.

One of the soldiers came forward and made his report: "The undeads are still trapped in the cave. They are mindlessly attacking the collapsed rocks. This does little damage, but they will eventually free the entrance if left alone."

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Chris could hear the skeletons hitting the collapsed rocks from inside the cave.

"You fought them yesterday right? How dangerous are they?" He asked.

The soldier hesitated a bit; "Frankly... They are not that dangerous my Lord. They have no weapons. Their grip is weak, they can only hurt by swinging their arms or biting us. The only danger is their number, but the cave isn't that wide, at least the entrance isn't. We can barely fit 10 of us shoulders to shoulders."

Mia joined in. "Then we can be sure the necromancer isn't here or isn't alive. I'd recommend clearing the cave for good."

Cat and Berg agreed: " We agree lord. It is better to take care of this problem as soon as possible."

Chris thought for a while. He was not worried for his soldiers. The skeletons seemed weak. So he agreed.

He had to protect his citizens from the undead! But also...

[Mana crystals! Every single one of those skeletons has a mana crystal on them! This cave is like a treasure trove! What else is in there waiting to be plucked by me?]

His eyes were shining like two gold coins.

"Very well, everyone prepare to clear the cave." Said Chris.

Berg followed his Lord's instructions and gave orders to the soldiers.

"Ferlin take 20 soldiers, you are in charge of the rear. Please protect our Lord and miss Mia. Cat and Titus, we'll each take 30 soldiers and take turns fighting in the front. The ten soldiers remaining will clear the blocked entrance and guard it until we come back.

Everyone remember to remove the mana crystals otherwise they'll just come back to life later!"

"Yes sire!" They all answered.

The cave's entrance was quickly cleared and the skeletons rushed out. Cat took the lead and pushed back the wave of undead. Progress was slow but steady. The undeads were numerous but not unlimited. The soldiers fighting on the front would break down the skeletons and move forward slowly. While the soldiers in the back would remove the crystals.

After a while the soldiers in front would step back and be replaced by another group.

Chris was very excited. Everytime a skeleton went down it meant he just got one more mana crystal. He had so many things to experiment with those. Yesterday he had left a crystal in a pitcher of water. This morning he went to Mia's tent to water one of her plant with it. It died almost instantly! Luckily she wasn't here so he managed to sneak out undetected. It turns out that death energy in the grey crystal was absorbed by the water.

This was probably something known by most mages in this world, but they didn't bother researching different uses for the crystals as they could already directly use them by absorbing the mana inside. But this was different for Chris. If he could do this, what else could he do with water crystals? Fire crystals? Could he mix their effects? How about designing machines to use their effects?

Mia noticed his excitement: "You look happy." She said.

"Well all thoses crystals would be a big help to us. We can sell them or find more uses for them. For example I noticed that water could absorb the death energy of those crystal. There might be many other ways to use the energy contained inside." Said Chris. He was quite honest as he wasn't going to hide anything from Mia and his people. He was an honest man! He had no need for secrets!

"Oh right. One of my plants died this morning. Did you have something to do with this? Cat said she noticed you leaving my tent in a hurry this morning." Asked Mia with an inquisitive look.

"M-me? Of course not, I was just looking for you, but you weren't there, so I left." He answered while sweating quite a bit.

[W-well maybe some secrets are alright after all...]

The group continued to move forward for about an hour and eventually reached an opening. This would taken much less time if they didn't have to fight all the way through.

Everyone was stunned as they looked at what was ahead of them.

[What the...]