I had the powerful torch I’d purchased for my last underground mission, however, I soon found that I didn’t need it. The walls of the cave were covered with a creeping moss that glowed with an odd, purple light.
It was enough to see by, though barely, and would allow me to move without alerting anything with the light of my torch. The moss light continued as I went deeper. if anything it became thicker as I moved away from the entrance.
It was only minutes later that I encountered the first Beast, a bone-white mole creature that burst from the wall and barreled me over. It was larger than most dogs and heavy enough to keep me pressed down onto the stone floor as it scrabbled at my chest.
While blunt, its claws were still able to do significant damage before I stabbed it through an eye with my blade. I was more careful after that, as the beast hadn’t shown up on my scanner at all.
I wonder if it’s the Psi energy, I mused as I glanced down at the device. This wasn’t the first time that my scanner’s performance had been weakened, and it felt like a common thread throughout all of the instances was areas with stronger energy to them.
This cave definitely counted as the energy pulsed strongly through the cave. I could feel the rift too, powerful but indistinct. It was deeper than I had expected, seeming to project its power far further than any wild rift I’d encountered before.
I had a few ideas on why that might be but put them aside as idle speculation for now. The cave branched frequently into passages whose size and direction seemed to have no rhyme or reason. I had to be very careful that I didn’t become lost and wander down here till my supplies ran out.
Hours turned into a day, and then two as I wandered the cave system. I found many wonders, caverns glittering with crystals, underground rivers that flowed into waterfalls, and mushrooms that towered above me, yet I still felt no closer to the rift itself.
I don’t understand how it’s so strong, I mused as I bandaged up my latest wounds. A swarm of bloodsucking bats had descended from the towering darkness above me, intent on tearing open my skin and sucking me dry.
Taking them all down had been a chore and a half, with only Skin Hardening stopping me from bleeding out. Whatever was going on with this rift, it seemed to be making the beasts here stronger than normal.
I had at first thought that it was simply a rift that had reached full power and been left alone, however, the sheer presence it gave off suggested otherwise.
Could there be different levels of the rift? The Arkathians had clearly chosen some of them to encase in ritual chambers, perhaps they picked the strongest ones and left the others? That begs the question of what makes them different.
The most obvious answer I could think of was that they might grow stronger over time if they weren’t used. Every wild rift I’d come across had one or more beasts drawing power from it.
In some cases, this was simply to grow stronger, such as with the worm I’d fought at the first wild rift, while in others it was in a more direct fashion, as with the wolves. Perhaps if one were left alone, it would increase in strength indefinitely.
Unfortunately, I was running out of time to figure it out on this trip. I’d packed lightly as I was planning on meeting up with Linnea after a week and was getting low on supplies. Besides this, I didn’t want to leave her waiting and wasn’t even able to send her a message.
The communications network on this planet was pretty good with almost everywhere having coverage, however, it seemed that deep in the earth was finally a place that was cut off.
Today, I decided with a nod. If I don’t find it today, I’ll head back up to resupply and get help. Somehow, having a time limit in place made me feel even more determined, and I bent to my search harder than before.
The most confusing thing was how the rift’s power seemed to pulse throughout the caves with no clear source. I had long realized that its power was the cause of the glowing moss that clung to nearly every surface.
That showed its power was present throughout the entire cave network that I had explored over the last two days. It was an insanely large area, and yet no part of it had a stronger sense of power than any other.
Something has to be distributing the energy, I mused, staring around before an idea hit me. Could it be the moss? Fungus can group into a single entity, right? Could it act like some kind of network for Psi Energy? A kind of living wire network?
It was an interesting theory, but one that was hard to test. This kind of natural phenomenon was the complete opposite of my Technokinesis ability. It was possible that I could have tried to attune to it when I had my old Item Attunement ability, however, that path was lost to me now.
So the only way might be to explore the whole place, I thought with a sigh. While I loved exploring, it was hard, dangerous work down here. The place was crawling with beasts of all sorts, the highest density I had ever found.
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This made the expedition quite lucrative core-wise, however, it left me feeling on edge every moment. I’d even had to go back into full-dive temporarily after burning the last of my fuel the first night.
That meant I at least woke up when something started chewing on me during the night, though it still didn’t make the experience any more pleasant. The omnipresent purple light could be hard to stand as well, being identical during both day and night.
Still, what I had found already made it worth it. The rift itself might be eluding me, however, I had found a wealth of mineral deposits that would be a great boon to my lands. If I could clear the caves out and place a village up by the cave entrance, I felt like a very solid mining operation could be set up.
Given the sheer size of the cave network, which had so far seemed to extend in almost every direction, I might even be able to place multiple villages if I could find more entrances.
Maybe we could even create some kind of connected mine cart network between them? I wondered as I glanced around, That would let us connect them without having to travel on the surface.
While the caves were certainly dangerous, they could at least be walled off in sections to create safe areas. That would be much harder to do on the surface, particularly when you considered the massive birds that made the mountains their home.
“But first I have to find the bloody rift”, I muttered in frustration. I was pretty sure that the monsters would calm down after it stopped pumping so much energy through the place. Without changing that, it would be far too difficult for normal people to mine down here.
It was nearing the end of the day when I finally had an idea, though a rather crazy one. Pulling out my old Plasma Pistol I empowered a shot and fired at one of the more sturdy walls before I could think better of it.
The massive plasma bolt splashed over the moss covering it, burning the wall clean. For a moment I thought I’d done nothing except risk a cave-in, then a wave of purple light came from my left.
It pulsed along the moss that had been outside the blast radius, before pouring into the scorched area. Before my eyes, more moss formed across the wall, traveling from left to right until it reconnected on the other side.
Right then, I mused as I stared at the once more pristine covering. I would say that means the rift’s power is stronger to the left then. It was certainly a clue to move forward, however, it wasn’t the immediate find that I’d hoped for today.
While part of me wanted to push ahead alone, to keep searching until I found my target, the rest of me saw reason. There was no point in worrying Linnea for this, not when I could just return with her later.
Nodding, I turned and began to make my way back through the maze of corridors. While I had no communication with the outside world and some of my scanner’s features were limited, I still had a powerful computer strapped to my wrist.
With it, I had been able to map the cave network in fairly accurate detail, and it was this map that allowed me to ascend back toward the surface. I still got lost a few times where I’d done a poor job in recording the area, however in the end I made it back to the cave entrance.
I actually started sprinting as I saw my first real light in days, laughing as I went. Moments later I burst out of the cave, staring around me with a new appreciation of the surface world.
Before me, the land sloped down to the flowing river, with the higher mountains framed on my left. And to my right, a hulking figure dragged itself toward me with a fierce screech.
"Oh come on", I sighed with a groan as I pulled my Psi pistol out. Was just one minute of peace too much to ask for?
The Beast approaching looked like a larger version of the little Wyverns I’d fought outside the cave entrance. A much larger version that I was pretty sure out massed most cars back home.
Far from the little creature’s agility, however, it dragged itself along the ground using a clawed wing to aid its single leg. Its other wing hung simply beside it as it advanced in an almost pitiful fashion.
There was nothing to pity about its enraged gaze, however, nor the fanged maw it extended forward with every limping step.
Injured but dangerous, I mused as I aimed toward it. I could run, but I need this entrance when I come back. I also can’t leave it here if I’m going to build a village.
It was something of a hard choice now that I knew all the Beasts were real creatures as well. They might be twisted, but they still felt pain when I fought them. It was almost enough to make me back off and run, I would be surely fast enough to escape.
My responsibilities weighed on me, however, and I knew that this was an amazing location that would help my land and the people in it. Sorry Beast, I thought with another sigh, but they have to come first.
With that, I empowered my Psi Pistol and fired a shot, taking the slow beast straight in the head. The shot exploded across its face, before clearing to show its scales were barely scorched.
Bloody hell, I thought as I switched to focusing on its wings. This might not be so easy after all.
I soon found that the scales on its body were able to shrug off even my empowered shots with only its bat-like wings being vulnerable. That didn’t help to kill it, however, only leading to me crippling the poor creature to the point that it couldn’t drag itself anymore.
Unwilling to simply leave it to suffer, I bound it in place with Ethereal Roots before charging forward with my Psi blade. An empowered strike glowed with power as it sliced forward, leaving a deep cut on the creature’s side.
I almost sighed with relief at the proof that I could hurt it, only stopping myself due to the seriousness of the fight. I was sure that this Beast would have torn me to pieces if it was at full strength, and even weakened, it was bursting out of my roots only seconds after I cast them.
Still, the fight was anti-climactic in the end as re-upped the roots and clambered onto its back. The creature’s scales were rough enough to climb, and I was able to make my way up to the back of its neck.
Once there, I put everything I could into a single strike, empowering my blade to be stronger than ever before. With the dagger glowing a bright purple in my hands, I drove it downward before sawing to the left to sever the Beast’s spine.
It collapsed almost silently after that and I moved forward to stab it through the brain as well, to make sure.
Bloody hell, I thought again as I slid off the creature and began to examine its wounds. Its right wing looked to have been broken by some kind of great force, while its left leg was simply gone.
I was no doctor, but it looked like both injuries had happened fairly recently. Definitely, time to get Linnea, I mused as I considered the kind of strength a needed to do this to the wyvern at full power. Might be time for some upgraded equipment as well.