Chapter 923 To Fort Phoenix

'Why do you want it? Why are you guys attracted to things that draw in mana?' Eldrian asked. Though it seemed his question was not understood. So he simplified. 'Why?'

'Stronger.'

'How?'

'Eat.'

'Mmm, I wonder if Ceph would know anything about this?' Eldrian questioned. Turning to the crystal as he mulled over his thoughts.

[Artificial Magic Crystal]

[Rank 4] 'Oh, this is lower than expected. Magic Crystals are normally Rank 5. Does this mean it is more like a Mov Crystal?'

[Mana: 103k/??]

[A crystal created through artificial means by forcing mana into a singular location. Hardening and crystalizing it. Currently, the crystal is still growing.]

'Growing?' Eldrian wondered what that meant. Asking the little wolf didn't help, it just wanted the crystal.

Stumped, Eldrian reached out to those he thought might know more. Sending a message to Ceph who was too far to reach telepathically—at least, too far to do so comfortably. Thus he sent it through the players and to Ziraili.

Her response came first. [All mana crystals come into existence through the gathering of mana in one location. Denser mana veins allow Mov Crystals to grow, and the densest of veins birth Magic Crystals.]

[As the crystal is now, it is in its early stages of growth. You can tell at what point it is by its color. White means it is too unstable to be used, but can be moved—physically. Do not store it inside a dimensional pocket! It will consume said space and everything inside it.]

[Once it turned purple, it will be stable enough to be stored. However, it will only become equal to Magic Crystals once light shines from within.]

'Yikes. Glad I didn't just throw it into my inventory... though, would it consume it too?' Too afraid to ask, Eldrian instead asked why the Orthrus would want the crystal. And why they came at him when he was Tiering up.

Since he couldn't hop into his soul, and more creatures were coming, Eldrian wanted the answer sooner rather than later. He couldn't very well take the crystal to Kynigo if it was going to bring trouble.

[By consuming something with fast quantities of mana, monsters can evolve. Even among Mythical creatures, there are evolution paths for them to take. A fully evolved mythical creature is as strong, and even stronger than Legends.]

'Wow.' Hearing that, Eldrian immediately asked if this would work for Ceph too.

[Yes.]

'Awesome!' Noticing the little guy impatiently waiting, Eldrian sent it a denial message. 'Sorry, but I have plans for this crystal.'

Yet it did not leave. It was stalking closer. Like a cat, funnily enough.

'I can see you,' Eldrian commented, causing it to freeze for a second. Right before it pounced. Sadly, it was far too slow. Eldrian grabbed the crystal and smacked the pup away.

'Oh, crap,' As soon as he touched it, the crystal started feeding on his mana. So Eldrian let it go. As he did, it naturally floated. About as high as Eldrian's chest. A little off the ground, but not enough to leave it out of reach. This seemed to be something it had in common with a magic crystal, even if it wasn't on the level of one.

Sighing, Eldrian took out a mana crystal, drained it while fighting the Artificial Magic Crystal for mana, and sent Ceph a request to teleport over. Normally left for emergencies, Ceph answered quickly. Appearing beside him as the pup went for its fourth attempt.

Eldrian smacked it away like before. Keeping his strength controlled to not accidentally kill the little guy. Since it was only aiming for the crystal, Eldrian didn't think it deserved death. Besides, at Tier 3, it would not give him XP worth a damn. He would just feel bad.

"What's up?" Ceph asked, watching the small wolf climbing to his feet. Then turning to the crystal. "Is that from Creation?"

"Yeah. Heard you guys can use stuff like this to evolve, want it?"

"No." Ceph replied quickly.

"Huh, why?" Eldrian asked, letting his attention slip. The persistent little guy used that opening to grab the crystal. But before it could bolt, Ceph had grabbed two of its three tails. Causing it to yelp and the crystal to fly from its mouth.

It was at that time that a Hippogriff appeared. 'Huh, never seen one of these before?' Eldrian thought, sending a gust of air at it. About half of his mana was stolen by the crystal though, which only caused the Hippogriff to miss—not to be sent flying.

"Hey, Ceph, can you secure things? I'm too low on mana." Eldrian asked, taking the pup, snapping at the bits, from him so his hands would be free.

Reliable as ever, Ceph grounded the Hippogriff and also summoned a barrier around them. Seeing that, Eldrian realized why this was happening. "Ah! My barrier got taken down when it started drawing in mana!"

He should have realized earlier, however, Ceph's follow up made it clear it wouldn't have been an option. "Wouldn't work. It's draining the mana from my barrier now, instead of our surroundings. Should keep us hidden, but only as long as I have mana... We should move before anything else appears."

Not knowing how much mana the crystal was going to drain, Ceph couldn't comfortably say he could hold out. Even with his 15k mana pool.

As such, the two scurried towards Evale and the scouts. Informing them of what happened as they went to Fort Phoenix until things calmed down. While not uninhabited, the fort only had a few dozen soldiers and occasional diplomats. Eldrian had planned to use it for experiments, though things had taken a different turn.

Luckily, today seemed to be a day where neither Jade nor Levana was about. Meaning only the bare minimum amount of guards were present, too.

Keeping a smaller barrier, tight around the crystal, the two headed directly to the sole magic tower. They paused at the door, Eldrian asking Ziraili if it was safe before entering. Recalling vividly what had happened with his Magic Crystal when he had taken it out in Elomir.

[Check the fort settings.] Came her reply, and Eldrian did. Where he saw the option to isolate any part of the tower—forming a barrier to prevent mana from entering or leaving. Doing so for the first floor, the two entered.

"Why did you bring it?" Ceph asked as soon as things calmed down. The mana in the room was quickly absorbed into the artificial crystal, but thereafter nothing happened.

"Well... It would just have followed us and tried to get the crystal if I let it go."

"Why not kill it?"

"Come on, I'm not a monster. It only wants the crystal. That's hardly a reason to kill it."

"It's because it's cute, isn't it?" Ceph asked, a teasing smile playing on his face as he did.

"Aww... Ummm..." Eldrian couldn't deny it. Killing orcs, goblins, and even devils. Sure. Killing a harmless (to him) little wolf pup. No way. "Maybe I can tame it?"

"Right, I have seen some players with tamed monsters. But those were all evolved monsters, haven't seen even a single bloodline."

"Well, yeah... I mean, it's expensive." Eldrian knew of this function, but had never tried it. Nor had anyone in Phoenix. Considering that tamed monsters couldn't be revived upon death, needed a special contract, food, and care. Well, it just wasn't worth the effort. It might as well not have been an option.

Then again, players in the peaceful empires had taken to it. Especially towards the cuter monsters. And naturally, some tried to train monsters for combat.

Eldrian and Ceph's bond, however, was special. Normal taming didn't have any perks like theirs. It was a massive investment for minimal gain. Thus, with gold still rare and most players struggling to make ends meet, taming had naturally fallen onto the wayside.