Chapter 100: Shiny thing

Chapter 100: Shiny thing

For the next week, Chance and Bella traveled through the Ancient Vault. They investigated several ruins and checked out four more floating islands. Much of the area had already been cleared out before the two of them had gotten there, but they still stumbled upon a fair amount of gold and pills.

Even though they did end up finding a few more pieces of equipment that had traces of Essence on it, they elected not to take it. Carrying the extra loot around would have painted an extra target on their backs and, more than anything else, that seemed to be what got cultivators killed.

Over their week, the two watched easily twenty or thirty fights go down between other cultivators. Many of them poured out so much Essence during the battles that Chance estimated they were Rank Fours at the absolute lowest.

That didnt stop them from killing each other like dogs. Every single fight filled Chance with distaste. It wasnt anything like the battle in the arena hed had with Wren, or his duel with Seleth.

It wasnt like he had notions that battle was anything but a struggle for victory, but the manner in which he saw the other cultivators rip one another apart in exchange for an artifact with so little power that it was probably little better that the urumi wrapped around his wrist made him feel ill.

Men that had been allied turned on each other midway through the fight, grabbing their former allies gear and fleeing to safety, only to be chased down by a group of other cultivators and killed as well.

People would go from joking and laughing to fighting to the death over what Chance wouldnt have paid more than a few hundred gold for in Gleam. If there was some sort of grand Karmic scale weighing the entire event, Chance got the feeling that one end of it would be plummeting through the floor.

He and Bella mostly kept to themselves, and their lack of any interesting belongings made them far less interesting. A few cultivators paid them some attention when they grew close enough, but luckily none cared enough to bother them.

Its kind of depressing, Chance said as they made their way up a winding path toward a set of a dozen floating islands, all interconnected by swinging rope bridges. I thought people were better than this.

Im just glad we didnt take all that stuff from the first island, Bella said, shaking her head. We would have been fighting nonstop if we wanted to keep it, and thats assuming we didnt just killed by some asshole flying by and blasting us. Dont feel too bad about this, though. Everyone here only showed up because they wanted to get their hands on more power.

Thats pretty much what all cultivators do.

Fair, Bella admitted. But theres more than one way to get strong. Entering what is essentially a huge death battle with a few limited exit points pretty much summons every monster in the immediate area like a glowing beacon. This isnt how the whole world is.

Chance laughed and gave Bella a small smile. Thanks.

For what?

Trying to make me feel better. You dont have to, though. We cant control other people. I would have liked to be able to do more for the ones that didnt deserve the trouble, but youre right everyone chose to come here.

Bella grimaced and glanced to the side. Was it really that obvious?

The thought is appreciated anyway. It isnt something you can control. We should just

A loud explosion rocked the mountainside, ripping through the relative silence and buffeting Chances hair back as a shockwave followed after it. One of the islands floating in the group above them shuddered violently and pitched, bobbing in the air and threatening to fall.

Someone won, Bella finished with a nod. Lets be careful. Ill go first. If its anyone that looks too dangerous, theres no point fighting them if we can avoid it. It isnt worth it.

Chance nodded and Bella took the lead. They stepped onto the next rope bridge and golden mist swirled around both of them as Chance drew on it, making sure they wouldnt find the one rotten plank waiting for someone unlucky enough to stumble upon it on their way over.

All the islands on the way over to the main one were deserted. No signs of anyone having investigated the area were present, nor were there any items or patches of Essence to catch Chances attention.

They were empty for all intents and purposes aside from the castle. They had no difficulties in crossing the remainder of the bridges, and the two soon stood at the front of the burning building.

The two double doors stood askew, one of them blasted off its hinges and the other hanging at an angle. A thin stream of smoke filtered out from the top of the castle and joined the plume rising into the air.

Thats reassuring, Bella muttered as they approached the entrance. She peered inside and Chance poked his head over her shoulder.

It looked like a castle. There wasnt much else to say. There was an old red rug that had probably once been beautiful, but it was now bleached white by the sun and crushed down by thousands of feet.

The walls were stained as if there had once been tapestries that had protected them from the sun, but someone had stolen them some time ago and left slightly discolored patches in their wake.

At the back of the entrance hall of the castle was the source of the smoke, where a large hole had been blasted through the floor. Deep within it, something glittered with both light and Essence.

Even though Chance could tell the Essence had absolutely nothing to do with anything he cultivated, the pull coming from within the hole was strong. If Bella hadnt been there, he would have been tempted to try and take whatever it was for himself.

The two of them crept toward the hole, their Essence at the ready. Even if there wasnt someone already there, it wouldnt be long before someone was.

What is that? Chance wondered softly.

I dont know, Bella whispered back. But I want it. Really badly. Do you think its using some form of mental influence?

They drew up to the edge of the hole and Chance squinted into the smoke, trying to make something out within it. Im not really an expert on this stuff, but I dont think things that use mental influence typically wants you to think about said mental influence.

What if thats part of its strategy?

Do you want the shiny thing or not?

I want it, Bella grumbled. I was just being careful.

Then lets go, Chance replied, calling on his Essence and feeling the rush of it as it flowed through his system. A grin slipped across his face and he spotted a dry spot on the ground within the hole that would make for a safe landing. Its at the bottom of this pit somewhere, and the faster we get to it the better.

Then he jumped.