Around the fire, other than him and Faelan, another half dozen Stone Breakers appeared. They were a benevolent and simple race filled with smiles, but as shown earlier, just because they were kind didn’t mean they were pushovers. After arriving, they nodded toward Crow and Faelan.

“So why Barny?” Crow asked, sparking a round of laughter.

“My son is a soft-hearted fool. So I needed to toughen him up. It’s been several years. How have you been, boy?”

“Sir, may I know your name? Rockbrain never introduced us and always referred to you as Hardhead.”

Sounds of laughter echoed through the chamber, and the old man roared in mock anger.

“I’m Grack Bigstone, but behind my back, my children call me Hardhead,” Grack stated with a hand over his fist. It felt like an official greeting, but it wasn’t like any he’d heard before. “We are a race with few formalities, so you can call Grack, Boss Bigstone, or Hardhead—it depends on your familiarity with me.”

“Why do I feel that the last part is a trap?” Crow chuckled.

“What are you two doing here?” Hardhead asked while smiling dangerously at Crow.

“Attempting the fastest route to the Stars of Ascension.”

“There is another set of tunnels to the north that is faster…?”

“Oh, right? I meant the fastest route where the Scath has the lightest presence. The northern and southern tunnels have the highest density, and we avoided those routes.”

“Ah, that’s probably our fault. You chose the most dangerous path because we’ve held them back here. But… you said Scath? Does that mean you know what these things are?”

Crow told them about the Scath and their origins. He hid nothing from them and explained all he knew. By the end of it, the Stone Breakers lost their smiles and seriously asked questions.

“May I ask why you are here? Isn’t your clan on a higher floor?”

Hardhead sighed. “Let me explain the situation first. Someone, maliciously or otherwise, mined a section of the tunnels we’ve explicitly marked as forbidden lands. I believe it was malicious because they opened a backdoor into some grand formation we weren’t even aware existed. It wasn’t recorded in our histories, so we knew nothing about it. We only know that we were supposed to avoid the depths in that part of this realm.”

“Do you need our help?”

“No. You continue on your path. We all have higher-level Shields, so this shouldn’t take much, and you’ve already helped us. Never underestimate the value of knowledge, isn’t that what you just told us?”

“I did?” Crow laughed.

“That was you playing that music last night, right?”

“It was.”

“Whatever song that was, it terrified those things, and they fled the area. One of their artifacts created this darkness, and we have someone with an affinity to Dark Mana trying to refine it. If all goes well, it’ll be in our possession by the end of the day. My son is below with a small army, trying to clear a path so they can use the Nightstone to rebuild the wall, blocking the areas they escaped.”

“Is that why your clan is down here?”

“I told you before that we aren’t big on formalities, but our entire race has a scripture with a few laws that we call the Stone Breaker Honor. The first law is that in times of trouble, we must put aside all grievances and band together to face a threat to our race. Typically, those shadows would leave us alone, but they occupied the Granite Hall, a pseudo-holy land.”

“Pseudo? What does that mean?”

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“We don’t mind people visiting, as it’s not like an ancestral ground or anything. Our youngsters pilgrimage toward the location during a certain time of year. Any kid without a Shield and above the age of twelve can go. It becomes a three-day party, and many youngsters lose their virginity there. You can understand why we hold it sacred in our hearts—sentimental reasons.”

“I think you underestimate the importance of that place. Tradition, rituals, karma, and spirit bind places to us and provide them with spirituality. It gives them power and turns them into sacred lands. Did you notice anything special besides the bonds and sentimental things when visiting? Like more and more kids losing their virginity, a spike in pregnancies, or maybe more of your people awakening?”

“That…” Hardhead looked at his companions, and Crow could see they were also shocked. “So you are saying our children have a greater chance of awakening if they attend that gathering?”

“I’m not claiming that, but rituals—mana or otherwise—have power. Based on your looks, I assume recent years have been good for your clans. Places have power, especially if they spilled enough blood.”

“No one died there,” a Stone Breaker claimed, and the others laughed.

“Idiot! He’s referring to virginal blood.”

“This theory of yours, does it hold true for other locations? And why do you believe all this?” Grack asked.

“I’m a Druid with an awakened bloodline which gives me the status of a Bard. I’m obligated to pick a topic of study as my life’s work—a legacy to leave behind for our people. I’ve been focused on the Ecology of Existence, and this type of thing is the reason I study what I do. Or at least trust my theory related to it. A location’s historical events, big and small, impact it in unforeseen ways. Slowly, you’ve tempered that region as a type of holy land. It probably would aid anyone that visited, not just your people.”

“Is this something you can keep secret, little brother?” An older Stone Breaker asked, coming out of the shadows. In his hand, he held a crescent-shaped object that contained an extremely dense amount of Dark Mana.

“Of course,” Crow mumbled, his eyes breaking contact with the object. “This is your land, and I have no wish to see it sullied. Rockbrain is like a brother to me, so I will do nothing that will harm him or his clan.”

“And her?”

Crow laughed. “She’s my lover and rarely speaks to me, much less a stranger. Don’t worry; she’ll remain quiet.”

Song Xue nodded in agreement.

“Thank you for the knowledge us rock brothers owe you one.”

“If I may, I have one request.”

“Please, speak,” the elder Stone Breaker said.

“Do you have maps of this floor and the ones above? I imagine they are more detailed than those used by humans.”

“We can’t give them to you, but as a Bard, I’m sure that’s not a big deal if you are allowed to see them, right?”

“Correct,” Crow nodded.

“Grack, allow him to see the detailed maps without the resources listed. Point out the forbidden areas and xenophobic clans, so our little brother here doesn’t run afoul of our conservative brothers.”

“Yes, father.”

“Woah, he’s your father?” Crow shouldn’t have been surprised because he could see both had a similar shade and style of stone-body that Rockbrain had. Even some runes carved into their bodies were identical.

“Ah, sorry, manners. I’m Monte Bigstone, but behind my back, my son calls me Whetstone.”

“Because of your sharp wit?” Crow guessed.

“No,” Grack laughed. “Because he got beat up by a Stone Mantis and became its whetstone.”

“Bah!”

“Is this a tradition? Your children provide a nickname for their father?”

“That’s right. It is a way for the child to name their father if their name isn’t suitable,” Grack laughed. “The same for mothers.”

“No wonder Rockbrain calls you Hardhead. Wait… does Rockbrain have a child? Woah! What did he call his kid to get such a nickname?”

“Alibi.”

“Huh?”

“It’s his daughter’s name. Every time something happens in the clan, he shouts, ‘I have an Alibi,’ which mortifies her. Hell, that stupid grandson of mine mortifies me. He deserves his nickname.” Monte grumbled while the rest of the clan laughed so hard they were wiping tears from their eyes.

Faelan was giggling beside him, and Crow laughed without doubting their words. It sounded just like Rockbrain, who once tried to hit on Nin with a cheesy pick-up line that made everyone who heard it cringe.

They spent another thirty minutes talking before they brought the maps out. Before they started, Crow asked Acco to bring Mara and Otto out. When the two appeared, Grack nodded as if understanding Crow’s secret. Crow didn’t like deceiving the honest Stone Breakers, but his secret was too sensitive. Using Acco as the screen effectively explained the scenario without uttering a word.

Grack showed them the maps—floor by floor—and explained places Crow should avoid, clans worth visiting, and other wonders they shouldn’t miss. Mara memorized everything alongside him. Now that her Sage’s Mind was operating, Crow wanted her to have the same knowledge so they weren’t solely dependent on him.

“Follow those paths I marked, and you can traverse each floor quickly. When you reach the eighteenth floor, come visit and stay awhile. We’ll even throw you a big party.”

“Will do. Stay safe and never underestimate the Scath. The leaders rarely appear, but when they do, their strength is several times more powerful than their lesser counterparts.”

As they left, Crow knew that the only problem with the maps was it wasn’t all that helpful in the dark unless he had landmarks to assist him in navigating. Still, it was enough to guide them and was way more detailed than the maps they used.