Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):
Alex shifted in the saddle. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked, and I didn’t need to read his expression to tell he was really unsure about the idea. But the monster had finally gotten its balance figured out and was tensing up to attack, so I didn’t have the time for a full explanation.
“You trust me right? Worst case, you shock me, and I’ll be fine.”
“Alright,” he said, though he still sounded unsure.
Reluctantly, he placed his hands between my shoulders, and I tensed up in expectation. I had to dodge back to avoid being hit by one of the roots the bush-monster shot my way, but I kept my focus and only got a little shocked when Alex channeled his mana into me. It was bizarre. The mana was wild and unruly—it wasn’t mine and didn’t want to be controlled by me. It refused to be controlled by me. It only wanted to listen to Alex, and Alex alone. And yet, at the same time, Alex’s intent to help me was infused into the mana. It refused to listen to me, but its caster told it to listen to me. The mana, stuck between a rock and a hard place, and not without a small amount of coaxing from me, finally defaulted to listen to Alex, and so, with a decent amount of willpower, it submitted to my will.
For a small moment, I played around with the mana. Despite its slightly feral nature, it felt almost sweet. Like sitting on a sand-dune with someone you loved, content, and leaning against them while the wind cooled you down and you watched the sunset together. It was remarkable how detailed a story mana could tell with nothing but feelings and intent.
It also felt tingly—it was still lightning magic, after all.
Alex stopped channeling his mana into me and I broke out my trance. The whole process had taken maybe a second or two. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and focused on the mana. I held it in my mental grasp and split it in two, sending one part of the energy to each of my front talons, where I then split off a stream into each of my claws.
I dodged another root, then glanced back at Alex while Tiki distracted the monster. “Thanks,” I said, “it worked.”
For his part, Alex just grinned widely and said, “Let’s go kill it, then!”
Grinning back at him, and realizing I already spent way too much time this fight chatting with Alex, I spun my neck back around to face the monster and charged. As I rushed towards the monster, my wings folded in to reduce drag and my claws dug into the soil for grip. I had to focus to keep the lightning mana controlled inside my talons and not let it slip out and dissipate into the dirt below.
I dodged as it launched another stalagmite at me. It was much easier this time, as it could only use two of its roots to do so, the other two still being caught up in helping the monster maintain its balance. Within seconds, I barreled into the monster and dug my claws into its bark-like flesh. Without a moment’s hesitation, I pumped all of the stored lightning mana into the bush.
For the first time since the start of the fight, the monster shrieked. All its leaves and branches twitched uncontrollably and it couldn’t fight back. There also came a strange smell of burning wood and roasted pork from beneath my talons.
Pushing the advantage, I didn’t let the monster recover. I tore even more chunks out of its legs and even tried ripping some of its branches away, but it didn’t do much as far as I could tell.
After less than a minute of struggling, the creature finally broke free, only to get shot by an arrow to its… face? It punctured through the protective layer of leaves and struck at something hidden within that made a slight metallic sound when hit. Whatever it was, the monster really didn’t like being attacked there and spun around to face Tiki.
“More mana!” I yelled at Alex, and he channeled more of his lightning magic into me. Bolstered by the sweet and warm sensation of his mana, I jumped at the bush-monster’s back while it was turned away. I crashed it into the ground again, but instead of going for the legs, this time I tore away the leaves and branches until I saw what Tiki had hit.
In the center of the bush was a small spherical core, not unlike what a slime had. It had a small nick already taken out of it, but there was no damage other than that. Well, not yet.
I grabbed onto the core with both talons, but it was well and truly stuck inside the creature. But that was fine, I wasn’t planning on brute forcing this issue, anyway. With barely any effort, I took Alex’s mana and channeled it into the core. The monster shrieked again, but within moments, it stopped moving and the core melted into dust, flowing between my claws like sand, revealing a blue-ish gray crystal. Then the leaves wilted, and the flesh melted into black goo that got all over my talons and scales, but before I could complain about it, it evaporated away, leaving only the small crystal behind.
We checked the area to see if there really were no more of these monsters, then Alex hopped off my back and I handed him the crystal to let him take a closer look when he asked. He shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said, and Tiki, who’d walked over, shook her head.
I didn’t have a clue what it was either.
“It’s a mimic core,” a voice said from behind me and I almost jumped in fright. I whipped my head around and saw our guide walking up to us with a huge grin on her face. I’d forgotten she was here. Fuck, was she going to ask questions about the lightning mana? Channeling mana like that into another person wasn’t normally possible, and I imagined she would be very curious. She continued, “They’re dropped by certain monsters called mimics and are used by higher-level crafters. Mimics are quite rare when it comes to monsters, and these caves are a few of the only places you can find them with any regularity.”
“Oh, so is that why it was called a plant mimic?” Tiki asked and our guide nodded.
Well, that was one of my questions answered. I wondered if she asked the question for exactly that reason? It was likely. I’d have to thank both of them later. They’d been really great about me not having a System and what it all entailed. Maybe I could take them out to a restaurant some time? Something to think about later for sure. For now, I had another question.
“So, if these mimics are such a unique thing about these caves, why weren’t they mentioned in any of the books?” I asked. I’d been thinking about it since the fight began. I’d read a lot of guides about this place, and none of them mentioned it. And while undiscovered monsters down here weren’t too uncommon, something like these mimics would almost certainly have been written down.
The guide scratched the back of her neck. “We removed the information from the library before we announced the excursion. We wanted to test how students would deal with an unknown and dangerous monster. I genuinely didn’t think you’d actually kill it, let alone with so much ease. In fact, you weren’t even supposed to. Part of the test was knowing when you had to ask for help.”
I considered her words for a moment, then nodded. It made sense enough, and did sound like something Scott would come up with. It matched up really well with his ‘push the limits while the stakes are low’ mindset he and I both had.
“Alright,” I said. “Will there be more of these mimics down here?”
“And what are we supposed to do with the crystal now?” Alex added.
The guide thought about it for a moment before answering. “Well, we don’t go to these caves for excursions too often, but usually the guides who kill the mimics get to keep the crystal—it’s one of the incentives to join, actually—so I suppose you can do the same. They’re worth quite a bit, though finding a buyer is hard,” she said, then glanced at me. “Usually anyway. Something tells me you won’t have that issue, however. As for more mimics? There certainly are, but you probably won’t be running into too many.”
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“When you say worth a lot, what exactly do you mean?” Alex asked.
“Hmm, well, when I helped with the excursion the last time, I managed to sell the few crystals I got for about five thousand points each.”
Alex's eyes boggled, and he turned to me with a questioning look. “Is that as much as it sounds like?”
I shrugged. “It depends on what your needs are. For you or Tiki, one of those crystals could keep you fed for about half a year, but I eat about ten times what you eat, so for me it might be enough for about a week or two. And before you ask, we’ll talk about how we split the loot when we get back topside.”
“I don’t need it,” Tiki said. “I get a hefty allowance from home that I haven’t been using, so I have money to spare. You two can split it if you want to.”
Alex looked uneasy at the idea, so I shook my head. “We’ll discuss it when we get back.”
If it were up to me, I’d give Alex my share, but I knew he wouldn’t go for it. It was one of the reasons why he got a job at Viggi’s restaurant, after all. Tiki, for her part, just nodded, dropping the issue.
I stored the crystal away in my chest pouch, together with the lightning cube I hadn’t been able to use in the fight. Alex spotted it, too.
“So, what was that with my lightning mana all about?” he asked. “Why did that work?”
I hesitated and glanced at Tiki, then back at Alex. “In short, I can't make my own yet, but can use existing lightning mana. But the real reason has to do with one of your Skills, so we’ll have to discuss it later. Unless you feel comfortable with Tiki knowing, too.”
Alex also glanced at Tiki, and she flashed him a reassuring smile. “It’s fine if you don’t. I won’t hold it against you,” she said.
“No, no, I trust you enough for you to know the details, but I’d rather do that in private,” he said, then turned to our guide. “No offense, but I don’t really know you.”
I blinked, having almost forgotten about our guide again. I really had to work on my situational awareness. The guide just nodded. “Don’t worry, I get it.”
“Well, we’ll talk about it later, then,” Tiki said. “And if that’s everything, do we want to continue?”
We all agreed, so we gathered all our stuff, checked our gear, updated the map, then continued down one of the tunnels. While we walked, we discussed our gains. Tiki and Alex had both gained two levels. They must have been close to gaining another level already, so the mimic pushed them over the edge, then gave enough experience to level again. Alex also said—with one of the largest grins I’d ever seen plastered on his snout—that one of his Skills had upgraded and that he would tell us about it later when we were back at our camping spot.
The next cave was much the same and was filled with mushrooms and ferns. There also was a single tree, but it didn’t return anything when identified, so it was safe. The monsters here were level 14 rabbits, but compared to the mimic, it was like we were fighting with plushies. They died quickly, and we moved on to the next cave.
Once there, Tiki set up another trap. This time using a bottle filled with something blue. When the monsters from that cave—weasels of some kind—rushed out and triggered the trap, not much happened at first. Then slowly but surely, a layer of ice grew on the floor around it. Some of the weasels slipped but not much more happened. We took care of them and Tiki went to inspect the trap. She deemed it a failure but something that might be refined into something useful later. We then checked the cave, but it didn’t have any mimics either, so we moved on.
And so, our morning continued. Fighting through cave after cave, testing traps, and taking in the sights. The caves eventually turned from ferns and mushrooms to environments not unlike a forest, and then to grasslands. Not all the caves were the same size. Some were only a hundred meters across, while others were almost half a kilometer wide.
This proved to be an issue, as we’d have to walk the whole way back too within the time limit. When we asked for advice, the guide told us which tunnels and turns to take. According to her, this way we would go in a curved line that would make it faster to get back to the main entrance. On top of that, Tiki and Alex also rode on my back together while I ran inside the tunnels. It was incredibly exhausting, since I really wasn’t used to carrying two people and all their gear. Not while running anyway. I’d carried more while we had traveled here last Monday, but I had only walked back then. It couldn’t compare in the slightest to the effort I had to put in now.
The time we saved this way was worth it, though, even if I’d probably be exhausted by the end.
Tiki tested her traps often, but most of her experimental potions didn’t do much or just didn’t work at all. The ones that did work had interesting effects, however. From freezing, to shocking, to one that coated the ground in something incredibly sticky, they were all quite fun—unlike the fire spell. She soon ran out of these, though, and switched to the explosive traps. She decided to save the incendiary and acid traps for some other time.
These traps worked surprisingly well. Once the monsters stood on the metal plate, they were blasted away. Some died on the spot, the shockwave destroying their insides, but many were just smashed against walls or back into the cave, where they lay, disoriented, until we came to kill them. The ones that got flung into the walls didn’t fare much better. Broken bones and necks were the least gruesome results. There was one group of enemies—some form of meat slimes—that got splattered like tomatoes when they hit the walls. It was very gory and none of us understood why a slime possibly needed that many spleens.
Sadly, we didn’t run into too many more mimics—only two. And now that we knew to look for them, we were the ones to ambush them, instead of the other way around. They were still a bit of a fun, challenging fight, but they went down a lot easier and faster than the first. It helped a lot that we now knew to go for the core and smash it as fast as possible.
And since we now had three of the crystals now, we split them evenly amongst ourselves. Tiki protested, but Alex was having none of it. We talked a bit about what we were going to do with the money while we walked, but neither Tiki nor I really had any special ideas. Alex, though, already had a whole thing planned. He wanted to finally make good on his promise to take me out to dinner, then he wanted to go shopping for some new clothes and maybe even get a custom sword made for channeling lightning. I promised him I’d give him some good reference to quality blacksmiths.
Too soon, though, it was time to leave again. We made our way back to the main entrance, only stopping to slaughter the monsters we came across. But many of the caves we passed had been cleared already, and the monsters hadn't yet gotten the chance to reform from the mana, so it didn’t take long for us to get back.
We were one of the last groups, since quite a number of people had to return early because of injuries. And while we didn’t come out unscathed either—Tiki had gotten a nasty cut from a surprise attack, and both Alex and I were bruised badly on one of our legs—we were generally still in fighting shape. A healer quickly healed both of them, then saved me for last. It helped a little, but I’d likely be sore until I got back to campus. At least it didn’t hamper me much.
Once everyone was back, Scott had a small speech about how well we did and to congratulate us for our performance. Then we headed back to the surface. Tiki split off once again while we walked through the maze-like second floor, to go talk with her noble friends. We watched them up ahead while we trailed behind the group—I was tired from the constant running and for once I found it difficult to keep pace. Tiki was arguing with Alfred over something while their group watched with trepidation.
“I wonder what they’re arguing about,” Alex said. “Do you think it’s about her room again?”
I strained to listen in, then shook my head once I had a full picture of what was being talked about. “They’re arguing about the best way to spend their empire’s gold. Alfred thinks they should be spending more on their army and to reward nobles for their contribution to the economy. Tiki is tearing his arguments apart and explaining it should be used to finance the under-funded healer’s guild and to make schools better, instead. So far, I think she’s winning.”
“Huh, it doesn’t surprise me that…” Alex said, then trailed off. He stopped walking and sniffed at the air, then frowned. “Do you smell that?”
I stopped as well and signaled our guide we’d catch up in a moment. She shrugged and continued walking. She knew we could handle ourselves just fine. I hadn’t been paying too much attention to my senses as I was rather exhausted, so I sniffed at the air. I frowned as I caught a whiff of something… strange. It was a little tangy and acrid, not unlike smoke. But unlike smoke, this smell had a bit of a bite to it. I sniffed again, and the smell was stronger. In fact, it was getting stronger by the moment. It smelled incredibly familiar, but I struggled to place it in my memory.
“It’s familiar, but I’m not sure what it is,” I said. “It’s also getting strong—”
My sentence cut off as I took a deep breath. I remembered where I’d smelt it before. It was back in one of dad's friend’s workshops. The man was an alchemist specializing in mining. I also smelled it today, when Tiki was setting that first trap. It was the scent of an explosive. And it was a strong one at that.
I glanced around the cave but couldn’t spot anything, so I dimmed the light of our orb. Then I saw it. Behind the supports up ahead, and even behind us, too, were bombs. Their fuses were lit, and we only had a few seconds left before they would go off, taking the ceiling down with them and burying us beneath the rubble.
With a surge of incredible panic, I threw Alex onto my back. He yelped, but I ignored him as I sprinted away at full speed. And just as I swerved off into a side tunnel, there was a groundshattering boom and an instant later, a shockwave swept me off my talons.