Not to my knowledge, River replies evenly.
“Then what was all that in there? How can you say they don’t pose a threat when you and Bastet both couldn’t seem to tear yourselves away?” I ask pointedly. This is an absolutely key question since it will determine whether we attempt to travel through the tunnel again, or give up and head for the trees once the sun’s up.
I believe it is just the sheer number of them in there. It creates a temptation to sit there and just absorb them which is almost irresistible. Now I know what will happen, I’m confident that I will be able to resist it. I look at him for a long moment. What? he asks defensively.
“What makes you so sure?” An uncomfortable feeling comes across the Bond.
If you’ve never felt the attraction, you won’t know what it’s like. It’s...a deep intense yearning to grow, to become stronger...to evolve. Seeming to run out of words, he instead shoves a sense memory at me. All of a sudden, I feel exactly what he was describing. And I understand why it was so difficult to tear himself away. It feels like...all my problems could be solved if I could only get closer, if I could only absorb the power floating around me. My destiny is just waiting for me to reach out and grab it. The sensation is dulled thanks to it being a second-hand memory, but if this and stronger is what River felt, I understand why he couldn’t tear himself away; why he became aggressive at being interrupted.
That still doesn’t reassure me that going back into that cave is the best choice; the opposite, in fact. Sure, having those Energy-Hearts sounds like a great bonus, but not if it means my Bound lose their minds because of the quantity in there. Actually, since I was able to put the salamander Energy-Heart in my Inventory, does that mean I could break these other stones off the walls and put them in there too? Because if so, I could harvest some and then, if my Bound can’t handle the compulsion, we could go through the forest anyway at dawn. I decide to test it.
“Wait here,” I say absently to the group. River, Bastet, and Lathani all make a noise at that, ranging from reluctant to curious. I just wave their objections away as I stand up and walk around the bend and back into the cave. Pausing at the threshold, I take a moment to consider my own emotions. Any feeling of attraction? Any sense of that desperate need to possess?
Not really. I can feel...something. A...density? Like the air is thicker in here? But none of that all-consuming need that gripped River earlier, and Bastet too, I guess. Stepping over to the closest Energy-Heart cluster, I examine the things. They shine in the light, a fire lit within their depths. Leaning forwards, not touching yet, I tilt my head so one of my ears is facing it, wondering if there could be any sort of sound. I listen to it for a good half a minute, feeling increasingly stupid at listening to what appears to be a rock, but either it doesn’t produce any noise, or my hearing isn’t good enough to detect sounds it’s making. Glad that no one’s watching, I don’t even dare to think about what I must look like as I turn my head and lean even closer to give it a sniff.
Despite only doing it for the sake of being thorough, I realise that there is something here. A faint...spiciness? Or sweetness? It smells good, whatever it is, tempting me to take a bite. I resist the temptation, not wanting to break my teeth. Then again, Bastet did crunch up the cores that we found in a posse of attackers. Does that mean cores are edible? Or is this a raptorcat thing? River did say that his people don’t eat the cores directly, but he also talked about adding bits of cores to potions to enhance their efficacy. He didn’t say ‘poisons’, so hopefully that means the cores aren’t actively poisonous. Plus, if the lizard-folk drink the potions as he indicated, surely they wouldn’t be trying to poison themselves?
I dare to touch one, ready to pull back the moment I start to feel any sense of needing to possess them. The crystal is hard and cool to the touch, yet not completely cold. It also leaves some sort of residue, I realise as I pass the crystal to the other hand. It’s almost like the whole thing is covered in a thin layer of glittery oil, I remark to myself as I hold my hand up to the light. This must be what I saw on River’s paw and Bastet’s coat. A moment later, the sparkly substance disappears – it’s absorbed into my skin. My stomach drops for a moment, worried that it might have detrimental effects; I’ve only just got over being poisoned by that creature in the forest!
Nothing seems to happen, though, and there’s no sense of any new notifications to tell me about anything. My health bar stays full, as do the other two. Opening my status screen, I stare at the value in my Energy absorption rate: well over two thousand units per hour! A couple of seconds later, though, that rate drops down to a still-whopping three hundred and eighty-five. Absolutely insane! When that rate doesn’t change after a good thirty seconds or so, I have to conclude that that’s just due to the Energy density here.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Briefly touching the Energy-Heart while keeping an eye on my status screen, I see it leap once more up to two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy units per hour as soon as the oily feeling on my fingers disappears. The effect only lasts about ten seconds, though that’s just enough time for my Energy store to increase by a single percent. My excitement grows. Forget risking my life to kill beasts: if I can just absorb a load of these I’ll leap up the levels in no time!
I gaze around the cave with greed – if this is what Nicholas meant by ‘treasure trove’, then I find that I have to agree with him. However, it’s a treasure we have to take away with us since there’s no way I’ll be trying to absorb all of these things at once. Heck, even if Bastet and River both absorbed them as quickly as they could, it would take us days to put a proper dent in the hoard. We don’t have the supplies to stay that long, and who knows what might stand in the way of us getting back? Besides, Lathani needs to return to her mother.
So, using the pommel of my knife, I try to crack the Energy-Heart. I start softly and work up to heavier blows. Still, it’s not a particularly strong impact which creates the first visual change. Instead of the whole thing fracturing, as one might think should happen with a crystalline structure, a small shard splits off. It’s more like my flint-knapping than anything else.
I hold the shard, inspecting it. For a moment, I can see how the edges gleam, looking as sharp as a knife. Then the whole piece softens and melts, the solid suddenly becoming liquid and flowing to pool in the palm of my hand. There, like the residue which had coated my skin earlier, it is absorbed. I freeze, waiting for my health to start ticking downwards or something. After a few seconds, I relax a little: so far, I haven’t seen any negative effects. Reopening my status screen, I see that it’s jumped up to the same two thousand nine hundred and seventy units per hour.
The difference is that this time it lasts long enough for me to accumulate three more percent worth of Energy towards my next level. So the rate of Energy absorption is the same, but the length of time varies according to how much of the Energy-Heart I absorb at a time...Good to know.
Next, I try to break the whole lump off the wall. It takes a few attempts before I succeed, most of the methods I use at first instead just breaking off other shards. Interestingly enough, the shards which fall on another Energy-Heart end up being absorbed into the lump on which they landed. The ones which fall on the cave floor, however, remain intact as shards. I make a note of my observations and push them away to think about later.
In the end, I succeed at prising the Energy-Heart off the wall by chipping away at its base with my knife, and then using a rock held in my fist to bash it off. Acting against all expectations, the Energy-Heart which falls on the floor doesn’t then burst into a load of different shards; it just sits there, the rough edges visibly softening and rounding. Within a short space of time, it strongly resembles the salamander Energy-Heart, although significantly brighter, clearer, and ‘rougher’ than the latter. Interesting… It’s almost like the Energy-Heart is molten glass, except not hot and always attempting to arrange itself around the central point.
Picking up the Heart, I’m intrigued to see that it doesn’t melt into my hand like the shard did. There’s still that oily residue, but the Heart maintains its integrity, even after a minute or so. My next test being one of the most important, I put it in my Inventory. A moment later, I take it out. I don’t bother to wait any longer than that since, from my experience with hot soup and burning torches, it doesn’t seem to matter how long the item is in there: any change will happen immediately and if there is no effect when it’s put in, there will still be no effect a day or more later.
The Heart appears unchanged. That’s useful: I was worried that it would be considered an ‘unstable’ Energy source like the flesh of creatures I kill. Instead, it seems like it might be more like the Skill and knowledge stones I used right at the beginning of my journey here. Excellent! Then the question is more about how many stones I can collect – or how much time I’m willing to dedicate to this – rather than how I’m going to carry them out of here.
It would be useful if River could help me, though, I muse to myself. A task shared is a task halved. Or perhaps it would be better to say that two pairs of hands double the number of Energy-Hearts we can reasonably harvest. I’m still wary about the whole compulsion aspect, but it appears that River might be right about the Energy-Hearts not having detrimental effects. In the end, I head back out of the cavern to where the rest of my party is waiting.
Bastet and River look up at me as I approach, hope running through them both almost identically. It seems that regardless of their species, the desire to grow, to evolve is the same. I won’t try to pretend that I haven’t been gripped by the same urge, either, though the Energy-Hearts don’t seem to have the same compulsive effect on me as they do on my companions.
“Alright,” I say, holding up one hand as they eagerly get to their feet. “Hold on a moment.” They do, though both are emitting a sense of impatience. I do the mental equivalent of crossing my arms and staring sternly at them until they subside a bit. River settles back on his feet from where he was practically on tip-toe – well, tip-claw – while Bastet huffs and sits down again, looking away and casually cuffing one of the cubs which is trying to chew her tail. Probably Trouble, but the darkness makes it hard to tell.
“I’ve been convinced that the Energy-Hearts can be very beneficial for all of us, and I’m willing to take River’s word for it that they’re not hazardous in the long-term. And we would definitely be able to take more Energy-Hearts with us if all of us work at harvesting them. However,” I continue, glaring at them as Bastet comes to her feet again and River even takes a couple of steps forward. “I need to be confident that you two can keep your heads. So if either of you start feeling like the urges are getting too much, I want you to leave the cavern and cool down. If I have to order either of you, then we’ll have to leave via the forest. Deal?”
I get a hurried sense of agreement from both of them and then they’re past me, almost racing each other to make it back into the cavern. I’m left exchanging glances with Lathani, feeling a little bemused. Then, shrugging, I accompany the other four members of our current party back into the cavern to see the other adults both hard at work harvesting the Energy-Hearts. All I can hope is that I don’t have to carry out the threat of leaving the cavern behind before I’ve filled at least three slots.