Brian’s hands were bound, but he wasn't overly concerned. He saw it as a natural reaction and still trusted Mandrix's character. Turning his gaze to Mandrix, he decided to test his new Valtite Identification ability.

[Aestari (Flicker) - lvl ???]

Aestari as in not human? He also wondered why now he saw ‘Flicker’ after the name, maybe it was because the Oculus Core upgraded his Identification ability, but what did it mean. This must be like the typical RPG ‘identify’ ability. Focusing for too long on the energy signatures made his eyes sting, so he tried not to overdo it. Maybe that was what the ‘WARNING’ meant.

‘DING’ Your untrained potential has been harnessed. Intelligence enhanced. +1 to Intelligence stat. Untrained potential: 1.

Maybe there's no way to control where my free points go, if just thinking about stuff uses them up. Brian shook his head, exhaling audibly.

Mandrix started to lose it. He paced back and forth, scanning their surroundings. "Holy shit, you really are not aestari."

Brian forced a grin. "Let's assume, hypothetically, that I'm not. Would that be a bad thing?"

Mandrix scowled. "I have no idea. I've only ever met Aestari or monsters, never a non-Aestari person." He paused, his face growing serious. "But I'm still figuring out the repercussions for you destroying my valtite core."

With the same forced grin, Brian simply stated, "Sorry." Brian's features became somber as he looked at Mandrix, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I get it, really," he said softly. "This one time, I unplugged and opened up my gaming PC to clean it, and when I plugged it back in, it wouldn't turn on."

Brian’s stare glazed over, remembering his past. "It was a dark time for me, you know? I felt like I'd lost a part of myself – a connection to an entire world."

Brian sighed and continued reminiscing about the experience. "But eventually, I learned from my mistakes, and I fixed it. It wasn't easy, I had to drive twice to the computer part store. It was a one hour drive, but it was worth it."

Brian looked back at Mandrix. "Maybe we can find a way to fix this too. I know it's not the same, but we can figure it out together."

Mandrix jaw dropped. “Brian. What the fuck are you talking about?” He took a moment to gather his thoughts, giving his head a quick, invigorating shake. “Listen, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE IN ALL OF VALTERIA ACCIDENTALLY BREAKS A VALTITE CORE! Let’s just get out of here, and meet up with my friend, I don’t have the heart to leave you here, but I will drop you off at Arcasium so that you can do whatever you want.”

“Thank you Mandrix, you are a really good guy” Brian said with heartfelt sincerity. "So, just to clarify, is Valteria a city, a country, or a planet?"

Mandrix’s eyeballs were about to roll off his skull while he let out an exaggerated sigh.

They continued wandering the cave, Mandrix didn’t seem bad at all, he might be rough around the edges, but he knew

what he was doing.

As he followed Mandrix, his hands bound, Brian went over all of the system’s new information. He now had three points of untrained potential. His valtite had decreased slightly, likely due to the use of Chronal Gaze. He also confirmed that all of his other stats had increased. After gaining three levels, he was confident his body was becoming stronger.

Brian felt an itch to jump and test his strength stat. However, he didn't want to agitate Mandrix, nor did he want to risk randomly assigning his points. As a bit of a min-maxer, he preferred to be strategic.

"Something's off" Mandrix frowned, rubbing his chin. "These caves look different."

Brian glanced around at the seemingly identical walls, puzzled by Mandrix's observation. How could he discern any difference when they all looked the same? He shrugged, dismissing it as another good reason to follow Mandrix.

"Damn Spectrasight," Mandrix growled, shaking the device in frustration. "Can't pick up the right path."

Brian playfully tapped the stalactites with a hesitant hand, making sure there werent any stactgoyles around as he waited for Mandrix to lead the way.

"The orange energy thingy looks different through the different paths, does that help?" Brian felt the heat from the Oculus Core embedded within his eyes.

"Ah right, the Oculus Core," Mandrix nodded. “So, can you tell which way Serdan is?”

Brian’s eyes scanned every path.

[Valtite Signature Detected, ‘Flicker’]

“To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m looking for. But there's definitely someone on the right side of that crevice." He pointed to the right, then lowered his hand, "Wait, how do we know it’s not another monster?”

Mandrix walked towards the path that Brian had pointed out. “We’ll only take a quick look.”

"Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual," Mandrix advised, his voice lowering to a cautious whisper.

Brian was dumbfounded. Everything he has seen has been unusual, how could Mandrix have the nerve to say that?

“Brian, I think you might be right. Serdna should be around here somewhere," Mandrix mused. “Are you sure you can’t tell if the signatures belong to someone or to a monster?”

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Brian squinted, trying to differentiate between the valtite energy. The Oculus Core thrummed in his head, feeding him information that was overwhelming. "I have no idea how to tell if they're different," he admitted.

"Let's hope it's not a grivaxian." Mandrix grunted, adjusting his grip on his sword as they cautiously moved forward.

When they approached a corner, Brian noticed a brighter light emanating from around the bend, and his fingers twitched. Mandrix must have sensed his fear, because he held up a hand to signal caution. He leaned in close, his breath warm against Brian's ear as he whispered, "Don't make any noise. Stay behind me."

They crept forward, until they finally rounded the corner. Then a sigh escaped their mouths when they saw the source of the light: a bonfire crackling merrily in the center of the cavern. Around it sat what appeared to be two civilized individuals, their faces illuminated by the flickering flames.

As they approached the bonfire, Brian noticed the two characters finishing up their meal. The male, undoubtedly a hipster, sported black hair combed to the right side, shaved sides, and a meticulously groomed goatee – the kind of guy who probably drank IPAs exclusively. His forehead was generously sized, perhaps to accommodate his refined taste in beverages. Seated next to him was an elegant woman with short black hair, exuding an undeniable air of a warrior. Both of them wore gear similar to Mandrix's, including those valtite scanning goggles.

[Aestari (Trace) - lvl ???]

[☠︎□︎ ✞︎♋︎●︎⧫︎♓︎⧫︎♏︎ 👍︎□︎❒︎♏︎⬧︎ 👎︎♏︎⧫︎♏︎♍︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎]

A piercing headache began to throb behind the bridge of Brian’s nose, forcing him to stop focusing on valtite energy signatures. And it was like something impossible to describe was trying to tell him something.

[Energy Level: Very Low]

He noticed his valtite pool in the single digits.

The man had to be Serdna, Mandrix's friend, and he had just polished off a bowl of... well, something. Its purplish look hinted at a grivaxian culinary delight, but Brian wasn't sure. After all, this was a place where the unexpected seemed to be the norm.

"Hey, Serdna!" Mandrix called out excitedly, recognizing his friend. Serdna, taken by surprise, choked on his drink, sending a spray of purple liquid hissing into the bonfire. Sparks erupted from the flames, casting a cascade of dancing shadows and a fiery performance.

The warrior woman managed to avoid the spill with lightning-fast reflexes. "Yikes, that was close!"

"Damn it, Mandrix! You always know how to make an entrance," Serdna sputtered, wiping his mouth.

Mandrix put his large hand on Serdna’s shoulder. "Did you find the valtite core?"

Serdna's fingers drummed nervously at his side, and he lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. "Well, about that... I kind of, uh, accidentally broke it."

“FUCKING SHIT!”

Mandrix threw his hands up in frustration. "Serdna, how could you let this happen? I wanted a vacation, and now we have to keep scavenging for who knows how long!" He glared at his friend before asking, "Do you even know which core you destroyed?"

Serdna scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, it scanned as the ‘Interdimensional Core’. I killed a grivaxian and was about to secure it when a bunch of grivaxian soldiers appeared out of nowhere! I got startled and started shooting everywhere and accidentally, BOOM!… hit the core." He chuckled nervously as he enacted the situation with his hands. "The core started shaking, sparks flying around it, and vibrating like crazy, and it felt like the entire cave was going to rain down on me, so I made a run for it. Oh, and good thing I did because when I looked behind, the core had exploded and wiped out all the grivaxians!"

Mandrix slammed his fist into his palm. "I knew it!" He then turned to Brian. "Brian, I’m sorry. I've been pretty rude to you, but I knew something was off about you. Fella, you're from a different universe!"

Uniting Brian’s hands, he continued, his voice rising with excitement. "The government didn't want us to know the Interdimensional Core could do that… always trying to control us! I’m going to unmask them, but they’re on to me," Mandrix mumbled under his breath.

Damn Mandrix is worse than Max. Brian interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "You know, where I am from something like this only happens in dream… or nightmare. How can it be possible, man."

Mandrix, unhesitatingly, whipped out his enormous sword and held it against Brian's neck. Serdna and Xezia raised their arms, bracing themselves for a potential altercation.

"Do you want to take the chance that you're dreaming?" Mandrix challenged.

Brian swallowed hard, feeling the cold steel of the blade against his neck. “I am 100% convinced,” he said, nodding slowly. "I’m in another universe."

Mandrix sheathed his sword, with a satisfying swish the high-tech scabbard suctioned it into place. Brian exhaled, placing a hand on his neck, grateful that the standoff had ended without incident.

Serdna pressed a button on his futuristic goggles and scanned Brian. "Oh, he's got a monster's valtite signature," he muttered, gritting his teeth. "That's not good."

Brian frowned. "Hey, that's not a very nice thing to say!"

The woman, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. "No, it's not."

Brian's head jerked a little. "Oh, it isn't? could you elaborate, I mean… for those who don’t know?"

Xezia shook her head. "Exactly. If the high director finds out about you, they'll either kill you or lock you up in a cage and dissect you."

Brian nodded in agreement. "Yeah… we definitely don't want that."

Mandrix snorted and looked back at Serdna. "And you're Xezia, Serdna's ex, right?"

Serdna laughed, flushed red and tried to signal Mandrix to leave it alone with a discreet hand wave on Xezia's blind spot.

Mandrix blinked. "Why are you waving at me?"

Brian tilted his head and facepalmed.

Serdna cleared his throat. "Xezia is a friend. We found each other here, can you believe it! She was also dispatched to Reptiscale Caverns to stop the grivaxian invasion."

“This must be plenty serious. I’ve never seen the government assign so many decimators to a single mission.”

Xezia smiled. "Maybe we can work together. I found a place full of fragments, and I see Mandrix has had some bad luck with cores."

Both Brian and Serdna rubbed the back of their heads and looked away, embarrassed.

Mandrix hesitated but decided to entertain the idea, "I'm listening."

Xezia explained, "I couldn't retrieve the fragments because an army of grivaxians started migrating through the area. Though,I saw some strange territorial behavior." She pondered. “No wonder, why the directorate is so worried.”

Mandrix's eyes lit up. "Well, it's settled then. I've got no cores and need money, so fragments sound fantastic. We’ll gather them before we decimate the grivaxians."

At the end of the conversation, Brian raised his hand. "Excuse me, is there any chance that we can go someplace safe first? I’m not much of a hiker, I’m more of a stay at home and play video games all day type-of-guy… Also, I can’t fight those alligator-men, like you guys. I need to grind some levels!"

"Levels? Ha!" Mandrix scoffed. "Considering your situation, I'd say you don't have much choice but to stick with us."