Chapter 16 – Crystal Cavern.

Chapter 16 – Crystal Cavern.

Identification:

Petty Light Crystal

A crystal filled with a minuscule amount of the light element.

‘Hm... What about this bigger one?’

Identification:

Lesser Light Crystal

A crystal filled with a small amount of the light element.

‘It doesn’t seem like I can store them though. I bet they would probably come in handy inside the tunnels as those Ant things don’t seem to like the light. They are fine with those other glowing bugs though, I guess it's the light element part and not the actual glow?’

Rusty had arrived at a strange area filled with various light sources. There were crystals coming out of the ground and walls. Everything in this place was being illuminated but something similar to his Basic Elemental Charge skill. Thanks to this effect, a safe zone was created where no monsters wandered in. Even after waiting more than an hour, no ants dared to jump down the waterfall.

‘I can store these though... at least the petty ones?’

Identification:

Petty Mana Crystal

A crystal filled with a minuscule amount of mana. Can be used to restore MP.

The light crystals were producing a white light while the mana crystals were shining in a paler blue color. To his surprise, his magic points were for some reason recharging at a much faster pace than before. He deduced that it was thanks to these many blue crystals that were exuding magical energies.

‘But how do I use these to restore my MP?’

After realizing that he was relatively safe, he explored the area and found these two resources. The white glowing light crystals could provide him with a place to rest and run away to, while the blue ones could perhaps make battles easier. Basic Power Thrust and Slash were his two main attacking skills but they needed MP to be used. After a few swings, he would be drained of that resource and need some time for it to recharge.

His identification skill suggested that it might be possible to use the smaller blue crystals in some manner. Thus, he decided to test this by using up most of his mana while away from the area with the mana crystals. There was another path leading out that eventually turned into a dark corridor that the passive effects could not reach. There he held one of the small mana crystals to see if it would do something.

‘It’s not really doing anything? I was recovering more mana back in the crystal cave...’

Rusty wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong or how to tackle this issue. He tried holding the crystal closer to his body and even attempted to place it inside his own metallic body. These attempts went unrewarded as nothing seemed to be happening but then, with some luck he managed to figure it out.

When he attempted to retrieve the crystal from within his body, he fumbled a bit. The shiny stone landed on the ground and cracked slightly. It seemed that these strange minerals were quite brittle and even a small fall would cause some damage to them. However, once some cracks were revealed, a tiny amount of strange blue mist emerged for a second.

‘Oh? My MP bar jumped up by a few points?’

The moment his body came in contact with this blue mist, he recovered some magical points. To further test this incident, he picked up the cracked stone and crushed it into fine powder. This produced a more intense mist that somehow was sucked into his metallic body and quickly restored his MP to full.

‘So that’s how you do it! Just crush it and it’s done!’

Rusty cheered at his new discovery and quickly made his way back to the cave filled with these crystals. He was able to store the smaller ones that were about the size of his thumb in his stash tab.

Would you like to store Petty Mana Crystal inside of your inventory?

When he focused on the mana crystal he was eventually given a prompt by the world's system. Under the window with the message, there were two buttons, one in red that said no and one in green that said yes. He had learned that he could either will it to be activated or press it down with one of his metallic digits. For some reason that he didn’t fully understand, it felt better to poke at it with his digit instead of forcing it with his mind. It was also a bit faster when he didn’t have to focus his brain too much.

A Petty Mana Crystal has been added to your inventory.

It was time to embark on a new quest to become stronger. He knew that he needed to be careful as this was a truly new place without any allies. Previously he could use other monsters to hide himself but now, his situation was more similar to the adventurers he had defeated. It was probably best if he learned from their mistakes and didn’t dive in too deep.

‘Is there something that can aid me to not get lost?’

Before venturing out he created a simple map of the areas that he had encountered here. He continued to add things to the well-lit walls and this caused him to notice something. In the dungeon above, the walls and ground tended to mend itself but it didn’t seem to be the case here. Even after more than half an hour had passed, he couldn’t see any changes to the scratches that had been created.

Rusty wasn’t sure if it was possible that he had left the dungeon he was born in or that something else was at play here. Perhaps this crystal cave area was unique, but he would only find out once outside. There was a possibility that these white and blue crystals had something to do with it, but he couldn't be sure. Thus the first thing he did was begin marking the walls after leaving his new lair. If the markings that he left remained in place, then it would mean that he was perhaps not in a dungeon anymore.

He didn’t need to go far to arrive at a new location, this one also near some water. It was a larger chamber with a high ceiling and a place with many stalactites hanging up from the ceiling. To his surprise, he was not alone here as some monsters resided in this place, different ones than the Minuscule Myrm Ant Drone he encountered.

Classification:

Lesser Giant Centipede L2 F-

Type:

Insectoid

The first monster he noticed was quite long, with many tiny legs coming out of its body. The centipede had a glossy, dark exoskeleton and its numerous legs produced a clicking sound as they skittered across the ground. At first, he thought that this thing was swiftly moving towards him so he drew his sword but it stopped in its tracks.

‘What is it doing?’

This monster was about as long as three drone ants put together and was certainly stronger, but it was still something that he could probably handle. It supported the rear of its body with some of its legs while rising up to make itself taller. After using some mandibles to produce some strange sounds, it retreated towards the small river in the middle of this chamber. At this point, Rusty had already prepared his sword to strike this large insect but instead of lunging forward, it just retreated without doing anything.

‘What are they all doing?

The Lesser Giant Centipede wasn’t the only monster here, as there were others of different types. Rusty saw some slug monster not that far away, slowly crawling over to the river and placing its head inside. Some of the ants were also there doing the exact thing at this flowing river. While Rusty didn’t need any food or liquids, the other creatures did. It seemed that they were all gathering in this large cave area to do this and not attacking each other while doing so.

‘They are getting along? But not quite...’

At first, he thought that these large insects were just part of the dungeon, much like he was with the skeletons and zombies. He was unable to attack the other monsters either, but he considered himself to be a bit more unique. The ones here were clearly on edge, and some of them were even hissing at each other. This area was perhaps some type of safe ground where these monsters didn’t want to attack each other.

‘There are a bunch of them here but they don’t like each other...’

He was not sure how this truce came about but instead of making any sudden movements he just watched. The monsters seemed to act in a sort of pattern. They would hiss at each other before going towards the flowing river from which they would quickly drink and retreat. There were many of them here and each type slithered or crawled into a different corridor.

Eventually, a thought crossed his mind, and he quickly started identifying more of the monsters, searching for ones that would be the easiest to slay. Most of them were of similar strength and ranged from the F- rank to the F+ rank, with the weakest of the bunch being the ants that he had encountered previously. The only reason the other monsters seemed to be afraid of these ants was their sheer numbers.

Classification:

Lesser Giant Beetle L3 F+

Type:

Insectoid

‘Those ones look the hardest, would I be able to damage it with my sword?’

He concluded that going after the ants would probably be the easiest at first. They were the only monsters that were below F rank and he could kill a drone with one swing. While they would quickly try to attack him together, as long as he didn’t enter their lair fully, he would probably be safe.

‘Yes... this is probably the best plan... I will slowly conquer this place and after I evolve...’

His body began to shake with anticipation as this place was providing him with an almost perfect hunting ground. There were various monster types that he could face and slowly build up his levels. He could start with the weakest and slowly build himself up towards stronger ones. It was time to begin his conquest of this area and make himself the strongest.

Rusty was now determined to establish his dominance in this new cave system. Carefully observing these monsters would give him important insight into their weak points. He made sure to look for softer-looking spots in their bodies he could sink his blade in. Most of them used their mandibles as main weapons but other ones like the slugs seemed to use something akin to acid instead. The hunt had now begun and he would rise above all.