During the fight Arath discovered something strange, that ability didn't actually come from him, it felt alien. His control over it was limited as he was not the origin of it, now that it occured again his senses told him that a certain array on his chest was the trigger.

'I wonder what exactly this is, it seems to be a consequence of what had happened in the Awakening Hall. The question is why did this happen? I certainly wasn't summoned, so why do I have the same seal?' He asked himself dodging and parrying attacks coming at him from all sides. 'After the events that took place there my powers multiplied and increasing my strength became much easier. I just wonder how to turn this power on at will.'

Whenever he found an opening in the enemy lines another corpse fell down creating an even larger pool of blood. Soon his companions joined him and together took down every last enemy. The blind ghouls gave off a terrible smell when dying so Carl, experiencing such a situation for the first time, went to a corner to puke. Arath made sure all creatures were dead to not be surprised by a claw in his back and proceeded to make sure that they were alone, meanwhile the rest of the team opened their bags and began collecting the crystals. The sheer amount of the riches found in this cavern made them all sweaty and excited and once Arath told them the price of most of them their eyes almost fell from their sockets. For just one pouch of these one could buy an apartment and live carelessly for a month. The youth greedily stared at the walls swallowing their saliva and only after calming themselves down and reclaiming control over their trembling hands could they excavate the crystalised money. When they reached their limit and nothing could be squeezed into the bags anymore their madness reached it's peak and they filled their pockets and every empty space with the stones. After they were finished, over half of crystals were still remaining so the group left the room with many regrets. Arath and Ben tried to cover te entrance to this gold mine with loose stones so nobody else could claim it and set off back to the entrance. In high spirits they talked cheerfully and their footsteps became as light as a feather.

"We will share it equally. All of you did a good job and deserve a reward, let me just give you one piece of advice. Don't flood the market with so many crystals at the same time if we want to earn some good money. Sell it slowly, in batches, and if given a chance make some good long term deals. If a trader doesn't have enough money on him to buy it or he isn't sure about the deal you can always exchange it for some good equipment. Smarter vendors will try to get it out of you where you found this, don't even mention it, just leave their shop and go to the next. You make the conditions." Arath lectured his teammates.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The road was relatively safe, on their way back they met few smaller Cave Spiders that didn't pose any danger and after an hour they arrived back at the room with fountain. It was surprisingly well-lit as dozens of light crystals were hanging from the ceiling. One group left from the right corridor the same moment Arath's team left theirs, they were carrying someone on a strecher and two other people were injured. It was hard to see whether the lying person was dead or just incapacitated but a sudden scream of pain dispelled all doubts.

"We need a healer, help quickly!" One of the injured person's companion exclaimed as soon as they entered the room, yet no one stood up. "Somebody, please. We can pay beforehand with gold!"

Only the last sentence convinced a girl in her early-twenties who excused herself from a group with which she was training. She approached the injured, took her payment and put her hand on the wounded in order to use her power. It didn't actually look like other kinds of magic and the only way to see that she indeed was using her ability was the expression of the man on the stretcher. It looked as if he was in a bathtub enjoying a hot bath. In under a minute all wounds were closed and blood stopped pouring out. The moment the girl took off her hand he fell unconcious and seemed to have lost all his strength. Healer said few words only to leave as if nothing had happened.

"Ben, do you know any healers?" Arath turned around to face his companions and asked. "We might use one in the near future."

"Let me think. I think I shared my room in the first few days with someone who later on awakened the Healing Element."

"What are they like?"

"He was always serious and never let his guard down. I didn't see him smile or show any kind of emotion, not even once." Ben described the healer. "He seemed to be reliable but I didn't really get to know him."

"Ask him if he doesn't want to join us."

"Sure, but don't get your hopes up. The two of us joined you because we didn't have any other reasonable choice."

They passed by other groups of either Heroes or mercenaries and ignored their comments and curious gazes. Once outside the Tower, Arath sent off Ben and Carl telling them to rest well and decided on the next date when they would enter the dungeon. They were to meet the day after tomorrow ready to venture even deeper in order to fight stronger creatures and raise their coordination as a team and gain proficiency in their abilites. Although cultivation was the most popular way to strengthen oneself, constant use of magical energy also improved bodies. In a fight all muscles and bones were forcibly fused with energy so obviously it had an advantageous effect on one's abilities.