“Do you think the second tunnel was created by the salamander?” I ask a little doubtfully after a moment of chewing it over. I mean, I’d thought it myself, but the fact remains that burning through stone seems a little too much to expect from the liquid we harvested from the creature.

No, Kalanthia answers patiently. What do you know of how Pure Energy behaves? she asks first.

“Only what you’ve told me today and the fact that touching it seems to have destroyed something in my body and cracked my core,” I answer frankly.

Energy is an agent of change wherever it is. It changes our bodies, it changes the environment. If we gain control over a small aspect of it, we can change our reality. Pure Energy is only more concentrated. In greater concentrations, as long as it can keep moving, the majority of it will stay as a pseudo liquid. This is what creates the streams which flow underground. However, were it to be trapped somehow… she trails off and looks at me pointedly.

I think back to travelling through the tunnel, trying to look at it with new eyes. Trapped… There was that bit which we had to carefully negotiate, the bit where stone constricted the tunnel more than half-way along it… Could that have been closed? And what’s Kalanthia trying to say here?

Forcing my stats to work for me, I go over what she said about Energy. An agent of change… The rock seemed melted in the tunnel and its angle had been pretty steep… And what about the pool of Pure Energy I touched...and all the Energy-Hearts in the cavern? A picture starts coming together in my mind.

“I’m just going to think out loud here, correct me if I’m wrong?” I half-ask Kalanthia. She sends me a wordless sense of agreement so I continue. “Something dug a route down to the Pure Energy stream. It then blocked the stream for some reason. The Pure Energy backed up, started getting compressed. Then, it...exploded?” I glance at Kalanthia, but she gives nothing away. “Though I still don’t understand how the Energy-Hearts would have been formed in that context.” Kalanthia finally shifts.

Those were my thoughts too, she agrees. I suspect that it did not all happen at once. From your memories, I would guess that the Pure Energy was blocked by some magically reinforced rock. It then ate away at the softer rock around its usual route, until it found a small outlet into the cavern. It probably continued eating away at the rock there, but may have found itself trapped by more dense rock. I suspect that it is at this time that the Cores were created. Eventually, the pressure became too much and even the dense rock had to give way in an explosive blast.

“Pure Energy could do all that, though?” I check. “Because it seems like far too many steps for something which is unable to think.”

I do not know for sure, the massive nunda replies, as I am not an expert on this subject, but the evidence seems to indicate this series of events is possible, even likely. Additionally, there has been some evidence in the past that Pure Energy is not as unthinking as you might consider it. There seems to be some rudimentary intelligence to it, some basic instincts. More like an unevolved Beast than a rock, for example. Either way, we had better hope that all this was as a result of Energy escaping.

“Why?” I quickly follow up.

Because the only creature I know of that might be capable of such a feat otherwise would be an elder dragon. Their fire would be hot enough and their mouths big enough to make such a tunnel.

I stare at her wide-eyed. A dragon?

Kalanthia clearly senses my sudden apprehension as she soon reassures me. Sort of.

I doubt that there are any elder dragons around here, though. Their auras are hard to miss. I breathe more easily. Unless they put a lot of effort into it, that is, she continues thoughtfully. I tense up again and she notices, huffing in amusement. Fear not, Markus Wolfe. I highly doubt that this tunnel was the work of an elder dragon: what would it have gained them? Besides, the rest of the evidence is more in favour of a mana explosion from below rather than a dragon’s breath from above. Dragon’s breath could have created the fire-aspected Cores, but it wouldn’t have left a pool of Pure Energy to so dramatically increase the Energy-density of the cavern. It would also explain the loud sound that echoed through the forest a few claw-fulls of cycles before you arrived here.

“But they exist? Dragons, that is?” I check. Kalanthia gives her equivalent of a shrug.

Here? I know not. On my home world, yes. They exist, and they are the apex predators wherever they are.

“Some of those creatures which are born with a Core?” I guess.

Indeed. She goes silent, staring out at the rain still pelting down outside. Then she returns her gaze to me. You have not yet told me what you wish for a boon.

“I…” I hesitate. “Can we call it an IOU for now? I’ve got some ideas but I need to think about them first.” Kalanthia grunts.

Very well. However, do not take too long. I do not care for the sense of debt hanging over my head. If you cannot think of something, I will.

“It’s not that I can’t think of anything,” I hurry to assure her. “It’s that I can think of too many things. Look, give me a week, OK? I’ll let you know by then.”

A week...that is as many sunrises as I have claws on my feet, is it not?” she asks, her eyes narrowed a little. I check her paws, spotting four claws on each paw.

“No, seven,” I correct, showing her the number in fingers.

Then I’ll give you a week to consider, but no longer, she agrees. With that, she places her head down on her paws and closes her eyes. Clearly, our talk is over. Fine by me – my head is swimming in information.

So, I haven’t had any more clarification over how to fix my Core, but it seems like I was probably on the right track before. It appears that the Cores River and Bastet collected are even more useful than I thought. They present a great opportunity for at least my companions to grow stronger; maybe even pick up some fire-related ability.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Then, for me, they offer a dense amount of Energy which I can – hopefully – use to solve my Core issues. Though, we must all be sure not to over-use them. After that, I’ll have to figure out what to do about the broken threads, since I hope that that is the reason for the reduction to my mana pool and regeneration.

A thought occurs…. Kalanthia had talked about the salamander gaining a fire-aspect after evolution, presumably because of eating fire-aspected Cores. Does that mean that the type of creatures we hunt will have an impact on my companions’ gained abilities when they cross the threshold? Quite possibly. Not to mention her words about how Cores can actually negatively impact growth if they’re aligned too differently from the consumer. And what does that mean in terms of who we should then aim at fighting?

It’s satisfying to finally have a working theory about how the tunnel was created and the Vine-Strangler forest got out of control. Actually… I open my status screen and navigate over to messages. Sure enough, there’s one waiting for me. I’d checked my notifications yesterday, so this one is clearly new.

Congratulations!

You have made progress on your Quest.

You have discovered the centre of the Vine-Strangler Copse and encountered a guardian of unusual size and strength. You have investigated the guardian beast’s lair and have discovered a stagnant pool of Pure Energy surrounded by a plethora of Energy Crystals. You have discovered that this easy access to an unusually high Energy-density is the reason for the Vine-Strangler’s explosive growth.

Quest: The Vine-Strangler Copse

Quest type: Regional

Objective: Discover why Vine-Strangler trees are growing in this location and the reason for the unusual level of Energy (Completed)

Secondary objective: Investigate the guardian beast’s lair (Completed)

Time to complete quest: Unlimited

Suggested difficulty: Initiate

Reward: Rare Bronze chest

Congratulations!

You have completed all objectives on your Quest: The Vine-Strangler Copse. This quest deals with a situation which is not yet resolved. You can choose to accept your reward now, but may or may not then be offered the follow-up. Alternatively, you can choose to accept the new quest. This will increase the rarity of your rewards by a rank upon completion of the second quest.

Accept current reward / Accept new quest.

Interesting, very interesting… I now have a difficult choice. Part of me wants to hedge my bets and take the reward now: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, after all. I try to see the description of the new quest, but the system doesn’t seem to be willing to show it to me until I’ve made a decision. It feels a bit like buying a product off the internet: who knows if it will turn out as expected?

In the end, though, I decide to accept the new quest. Ultimately, I justify it to myself as the reward having been a bonus anyway. As it happened, I didn’t exactly go out of my way to complete the quest – the vine-stranglers made sure I had to pass through the tunnel regardless of what I wanted to do. So if the objectives of the new quest turn out to be impossible, I haven’t actually lost anything. If anything, I’ve gained eight levels, and a whole load of Cores which I wouldn’t have had. I’ve also gained a cracked Core and damaged internal matrix, but I’m working on that…

Congratulations!

You have received a new Quest.

In the course of your adventures, you explored the centre of the Vine-Strangler Copse and defeated its guardian. Upon investigating the guardian beast’s lair, you discovered a route down to one of the Ley Lines of the planet, running unusually close to the surface. However, you do not seem to have been the first to make this discovery. You have realistically theorised that a beast may have tunnelled down to access the Ley Line and blocked the stream. You have posited that a side effect of this may have created the stagnant pool of Pure Energy, the Cores, and the tunnel you first encountered.

Quest: The Vine-Strangler Copse II

Quest type: Regional

Objective: Find evidence to prove (or in the event of the theory being disproven, discover) the reason for the strange conformation of the underground tunnels.

Objective: Rectify the situation with the exposed stream of Pure Energy and return the area to its previous state.

Time to complete quest: 53 days

Suggested difficulty: Journeyman

Reward: Uncommon Silver chest → Rare Silver chest (rarity increased due to passing over of previous rewards).

OK, wow. A lot to take in there. I reread the notification a couple of times, just to make sure I have understood everything. So, first of all, it’s not telling me whether our theory is correct or not; just that it’s ‘realistic’. In the event where I find proof that it’s incorrect, it sounds like I’ll have to go back to the drawing-board and start again.

Second of all is an addition of a secondary objective, one which sounds a lot harder than just finding out what happened. Interestingly, it doesn’t say ‘secondary objective’ like I’d seen in the previous quest notification about investigating the salamander’s lair. Is that because the two objectives are separate to a large extent? Or is it that both objectives are equally important?

I also note the increased difficulty level and the higher value reward – even before I gained the increased rarity from not accepting the previous reward, it was probably still more valuable than whatever I would have got before from a bronze chest. I suppose that if I’d decided to take the Rare Bronze chest, and then also manage to complete the quest, I’d also have got an Uncommon Silver chest. Well, I suppose I’d better hope that the reward of a rarity above is worth passing up having two chest.

Lastly, and perhaps the most immediately important, is the change in the time to complete the quest: from unlimited to fifty-three days is a big jump! Is that saying that something is going to happen in fifty-three days’ time? Or is it that changes are happening which will render the quest impossible to complete after fifty-three days?

I’m very tempted to just forget about the whole thing, my curiosity about the rewards aside. I’ve already almost died, and almost lost Bastet in pursuit of it. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s an option: River agreed to be Bound as long as I swore to help his village with the threat of the Vine-Stranglers. I might have broken far more promises than I’d like to admit in the past, but I don’t want that to be me now.

The best thing I can say about the situation is that at least it’s a two birds, one stone kind of thing: if the Vine-Strangler trees are feeding off the Energy evaporating off that Pure Energy stream, then cutting them off from that should at least stop their growth, if not weaken them outright. Plus, if the vague plans I have in the back of my mind are ever to come to fruition, then I’m going to need to fulfill the quest anyway.

I conclude that I need to sit down with River and talk through a number of things with him. After all, the poison he created for use with the lizogs proved its worth, and makes me want to know about other concoctions he knows how to make. I can’t forget that I was given two healing potions when I first entered this world: if River could make something that was even a diluted version of those, it could be a literal life saver. And what if he could make one that helps regenerate mana? Just as much a life-saver, especially if I decide to go for the option still hanging over my head of either adapting Lay-on-hands to be more combat-applicable, or accepting that new Skill Body-Invasion.

And even if he can’t produce health or mana potions, poisons would be a useful tool, especially for creating traps or helping us against larger and more powerful beasts. If what Kalanthia said is true about my cracked Core essentially acting like blood in the water for creatures with Cores, we’re going to need every advantage we can get.

Not right now, though, I decide. I feel antsy. A good portion of the morning has gone and all I’ve done is talked. Now it seems that my method from last night is the best option for my Core as matters stand, I’m eager to get going.

With that in mind, I withdraw to sit against the wall of my alcove, and close my eyes.