"I can't fathom a living creature outside of the ocean that is that monstrous."

  "Even seeing one, you'll still have a hard time coming to terms with it. Let's get going. We've dawdled long enough. Show us the way, please."

  Four small drones dug themselves out of the ground, shaking themselves free of the dirt that clung to their bodies. I was unsure where the rest had gone off to during the fight, but we began to follow them once more.

  As we moved south, the forest began to show signs of the improvements I had seen before. The plant life was larger and more vibrant. The trees were thicker and taller, quickly blocking my view of the surrounding area.

  Fifteen or so minutes later, something small and bright colored caught my eye to my right, and when I turned to look, nothing was there. I was about to continue forward when I spotted a large bed of flowers in a perfect circle. I ran towards it.

  I stopped at the bed's edge and looked around, nothing. That tiny movement had to have been a Fairy, I was sure of it. I bent down to examine the flower bed more closely but couldn't see any movement or flowers that looked separated from the real ones.

  "Hello? Anyone around?"

  I waited and was about to speak again when the Axoli came behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "They haven't been around since the Mana Explosion. Now I know what skill you couldn't say."

  "You've known about the $!&#*@?. What the fuck?"

  Lastaf began to laugh. "Yes, I know of the forest's keepers. When you travel as much as I have, you sometimes stumble upon them"

  "I wanted to ask them how Beema is doing. They took her before we went into the hive."

  "Beema?"

  "Yes, she was a child of the Beastkin. The %&#(@ said she would grow to be a Druid. They took her to what I assume was their realm when the hive attacked Ray'tha. That is so damn annoying, forcing you to speak gibberish."

  "Just call them the keepers of the forest. A Druid, you say. Wonder what they will teach her. Come, we mustn't dawdle."

  I got up and began walking towards the waiting four drones. We only walked a few meters before a tearing sound came from behind. Lastaf's blue armor flashed into existence, and an ice lance formed in the palm of my hand. I hadn't even thought about the construct for it that time. It automatically appeared.

  We turned around to see a rainbow-filled tear form above the circle of flowers. Then the tear snapped shut with an audible 'snap. Where the tear had been now floated what I could only describe as a sliver of pure light but in a solid form. It had an iridescent teal color and filled me with warmth with just its sight.

  I turned to ask Lastaf what the hell was going on and found him kneeling to the object. His eyes to the ground. What in the hell? I looked back at the shard of light and walked over to and poked it. I felt my body relax and fill with something I couldn't describe upon my touch. I reached out and grabbed the hand-size shard.

  The feeling left me as I removed the shard from its suspended place in the air. I looked down to see the glow had faded and now a shard of glass or crystal with the same iridescent teal color rested in my palm.

  I turned to see Lastaf staring at my hand before speaking. "You truly do have a Hero's class. You just picked up what I would only assume was a Divine Shard without the aid of an onyx box. The keepers of the forest have entrusted you with something most couldn't fathom."

  "Ok, that's a bit much to unpack. Could you go back and explain everything for me like I was a youngling?"

  Lastaf barked out a laugh. Divine Shards are pieces of a Divine Core, the highest rank of available cores. Those cores hold so much power that they shatter when the creature, god, deity, almighty, or the extremely powerful dies. Just that piece alone could level an entire city or buy said city and the kingdom it resides in."

  "Onyx box?"

  "A box created with an Onyx Core, the second-highest ranked core. It's one of the few materials that can conceal and hold the power of a Divine Shard."

  "So why give me this shard?"

  "I would assume, The Darkness. This frightens even me, Zeal, not going to sweet coat it. This Darkness must be a more serious threat than we realize if they are giving you this for aid."

  "How do I use it?"

  "No clue."

  "That. That doesn't help at all!"

  Lastaf shrugged. I placed the shard into my hip sack with my books. I was happy it hadn't exploded. I felt as if I was carrying a Null Device on my hip that could go off at any moment. Reaching the drones, they turned around and made their way south.

  I turned to glance at the bed of flowers once more and watched in shock as they began to wilt and die before they sank into the ground. The wonders of this world, I thought. If I played my chips right, I had lifetimes to explore and learn the secrets of anything I wanted. I believe I knew what the old Axoli in front of me must feel being able to learn things about a Classless Hero and getting a chance to meet a hive's queen.

  We followed the four drones for hours before I began to feel a tang in the air. Maybe tang wasn't the right word. It was as if the very air held power. It felt like what some had described they felt right before a lightning bolt hit them. That was the best way I could put it. I was about to ask Lastaf about it, but he spoke before I could.

  "The density of mana will grow stronger as we get closer to the hive. The forest, plant life, and animals have all taken in this new energy source. I'm sure you noticed the changes to the forest as we traveled."

  "I had wondered about that before. My spell created all this mana?"

  "I would assume so. That spell you used at the hive, created what most call a Mana Well. A self-sustaining area of magic. If it wasn't so far below the surface and unstable, I'm sure there would have been those to come and try to tame it, building a city around it. Could you replicate the spell you used?"

  "I could. However, if I released that spell on the surface, there would be much destruction in every direction. The loss of life would not be worth the power of this Mana Well. It'd possibly be unstable as well."

  "Do you remember the construct you used? Maybe I could help you refine it. I'd do anything in my power if you could create a stable version."

  "What would you do with a Mana Well, Lastaf?"

  "The Axoli homeland is a floating island far to the south. Well, maybe southwest now. It's been years since I've been back home. Our Island has a Mana Well, but it has been slowly losing its sustainability over the past few decades, and our island is slowly descending. It will crash sometime in the next hundred or so years. I would very much like for that not to happen.

  This Mana Well to our south is the first new well to be discovered in ages."

  "How are the wells normally made?"

  "Can't say. I heard of one being made when a high-ranking adventurer blew himself up in an experiment, resulting in the birth of a new well. Or the new well sprang up and sucked him in, causing the explosion. No one can say for certain."

  I thought back to the fusion fireball spell I had used, and when the construct clicked once more, my brain was enveloped in brief but searing pain before a box came into view.

  [ RESTRICTED SPELL ]

  Chapter 36

  The pain forced me to my knees, and the alarmed Lastaf rushed over to me and helped me to my feet. "I tried to remake the construct, and a searing pain filled my mind before a 'Restricted Spell' notification popped up, Lastaf," I said, trying to gain my breath back.

  "The system has blocked you from using it?"

  "Seems like it. That was my trump card. If we couldn't kill the Darkness or the queen, I would have used it to finish the job."

  "It is possible. The system found your loophole of using a low amount of mana and low tier spell to create such horrific damage and now requires the spell to use more mana. I have never heard of a spell being restricted before. Most Classes get their spells automatically when they reach the requirements for them."

  "Well, If I'm to help you with your home, that will be the first step."

  The Axoli smiled and nodded, no words coming from the man. As the air grew tangier, is that even a word? As the tang grew, I could see the forest begin to thin out and a large area with no trees in the distance.

  When we reached the area, I was speechless. There was now an incredibly vast hole in front of us, easily five kilometers in diameter. At the center of the depression was a sphere of prismatic colors floating above the ground at the hole's bottom.

  "The sphere!! That's what brought me here!"

  "What?! That's a Mana Well. You're saying you had a Mana Well, where you were from?

  "I guess? Our ship calculated it had been at the center of the Drow's planet. The anomaly that I investigated and what put me on the rainbow bridge and here. This one looks far smaller than the one from back then."

  "Smaller? How much smaller?"

  "The sphere back home was a kilometer in diameter."

  "By the divine, the power that must have held. I've only heard about wells up to twice the size of the one below. I can't fathom something as powerful as what you describe."

  Our conversation was interrupted as a wave of something exploded out from the well, knocking me backward off my feet. Lastaf didn't seem to budge a hair.

  "What was that?"

  "The well is unstable and expels a large amount of mana at random intervals. It's why even though hundreds of parties have come to claim this well, they returned from where they came. Expulsions of mana on that scale could destroy buildings and any mana-sensitive equipment and experiments. This well is useless to anyone."

  "How has the hive survived them?"

  "That is a great question."

  I looked around and found the drones off to the side waiting for us. Once they sensed us moving towards them, they traveled east and around the massive crater. Reaching the other side, we once again traveled south.

  Less than half an hour later, we came to a small cave inside what I thought to have been a small earthen mound. The hole was barely a meter in diameter.

  "Well, I don't want to crawl through that. Can you use your Sewer Tunnel spell?

  "Not calling it that."

  I began to cast my Enforced Tunnel spell. That was a better name. I used the small tunnel to guide me as we began to walk into the earth. I quickly realized that these bugs had no clue what a straight line was. The tunnel zigged and zagged many times as we made our descent.

  I had to sit and rest a few times to regain my mana before going further. Looking at my magic map, I was surprised to see the tunnels in orange on the underside of the map. Willing the surface to rise higher, I could see our position with the green you are here orb. About two kilometers away, I could see the crater. Below the crater, the tunnels and prisons we had come through now showed in a shade of red.

  "System glitch. It knows you were there but has no records of the updated area." Lastaf chimed in.

  "I would guess it's pure crystallized stone and glass at this point."

  "Glass? Why would there be glass?"

  "The temperatures of my spell possibly reached those of the center of the sun. It would

  turn almost everything into glass that wasn't outright vaporized. I'm sure the hive was incredibly large, but the volume of space inside the crater. That volume of space vanished below it."

  "Incredible. A single spell of that magnitude could take out an entire city in the blink of an eye. I've only heard of the Tier 7 Meteor spell that took a multitude of casters to construct. The spell took out the walls of Asmodeus that stood the test of time. Your spell would put it to shame as if it was a candle's flame."

  Recharged, I began to make tunnels that turned back towards the crater at an angle going far underneath the Mana Well's location. As we traveled deeper into the earth, the temperature began to rise. Lastaf waved his hand, and a blue crystal rune began to float above our heads. The air was instantly cooling down.

  "So many things I want you to teach me."

  "In time. You have so much of it. Why rush?"

  I was in a better mindset now that I wasn't sweating profusely. The blue rune floating above was remarkable. I wondered if he could create a heating one as well. Could they use these runes for indoor cooling and heating? So many possibilities.

  Many segments of non-straight tunnels later, we entered a massive illuminated cavern. The ceiling above was covered in a rainbow of colors. "Are those crystals glowing?" I asked.

  "Glitter gems," was all he said before flying into the air.

  I watched the pink blur shoot up towards the crystals, his blue Warhammer appearing in his hands as he reached a large yellow crystal. The sound of a crack reached my ears as I noticed the entire crystal began to fall. I turned and ran when I realized how high up the crystal had been. It would create its crater when it crashed down.

  I dove behind a large rock and held my hands over my ears. A few moments passed. I had felt no impact or heard one. I poked my head out from the rock and looked at the massive glowing yellow crystal lying on the floor of the cavern. Lastaf was now sitting on a wooden chair with a hammer and chisel in his hands. Where the fuck did the chair come from?

  I walked over to the now grinning Axoli. "Care to explain?"

  "Glitter gems are a special kind of crystal that absorbs ambient mana and converts it into light. This entire crystal alone is worth more than a platinum coin. Above us is an incredible fortune, Zeal. I'm going to break off some shards for use."

  I sat down on a nearby rock and studied the cavern. The four drones huddled together not far away. Lastaf kept at the chiseling for fifteen minutes before declaring he was finished. I looked over to see the crystal intact. Then the Axoli hit the side of the massive crystal with his fist, and the entire thing shattered into thousands of pieces. He then crawled on hands and knees, picking up handfuls of the shards before disappearing them into the pouch at his side.

  I got up and walked over and bent down, picking up a few of the palm-sized shards. Looking down at the others, I saw that they were all the same size and shape, each illuminating its surroundings.

  "If you have room, toss a bunch into your bags. They will almost always fetch a reasonable price. I need to let Horrow know about this place. Could help the village out now that they aren't selling Gnit parts."

  I grabbed around twenty of the glowing yellow shards and tossed them into my bag. Standing up, I watched Lastaf put almost half the entire crystal into one of his bags at his side. How much could his magic bag hold?

  Sensing us coming toward them, the drones arranged themselves in a line and began walking to the cavern's back.

  Roars echoed off the cavern's walls as we passed the middle of the floor. The sounds coming from multiple directions.

  "I sense at least seven. I may not be able to protect you, Zeal. Do what you must to survive."

  The blue armor snapped around his body. His massive Warhammer's shaft once again rested on his shoulder. Movement from my right pulled my attention, and I let out a scream. A spider, easily twice as tall as those from the surface, was rushing towards us. The multi-color light from above reflects off its many eyes giving it an almost hypnotic look.

  Lastaf shouted something, but it didn't register. The next moment I felt the vibrations through my feet and whirled around to find three more of the gigantic creatures of death coming towards me. I snapped out of my panic and began raising tall stone pillars to block them. I got the fifth up just as they came in range, and the bastards simply began to climb up and over the raised stone.

  I didn't hesitate. A blue Fireball rested on my palm for a fraction of a second before it howled forward towards the front spider. The ball exploded, taking the front portion of the spider with it. The rest of its body dangling on the side of the pillars, spewing ichor and parts down onto the floor.

  I launched the second blue fireball at the next spider, but it jumped forward and above me out of sight. The Fireball hit the pillars with a thunderous crack, and stone shards flew in all directions. Some shards seemed to have hit the third spider coming over one of the pillars, severing a leg. The spider tried but failed to compensate for the loss and tumbled down to the stone floor with a sickening crunch.

  I was about to turn around when I began flying to the side. I crashed into a stalagmite. The pillar of calcium gave away as I continued to fly and slam into the floor, tumbling around a few times. My entire body screamed in pain. I lifted my head towards the rushing spider and willed multiple spears of ice to erupt out of the floor. The construct seemed to create itself and click. The many shards of pointed ice rushed upwards and outwards from the floor. The spider's momentum prevented it from stopping which resulted in its impalement.

  I felt my chest burn a moment before I caught the sight of the spider turning into blue dust. The system must have concluded my fight was only with these three and not the others I could still hear battling it out with Lastaf.

  My body, wracked with pain, forced me to pull myself towards the bright blue core.

  [ System Notification ]

  Rank A Azure Core has given 56 Energy

  38 Energy converted to 380 Mana

  Respiratory System: 68/200

  I laid there a moment before I heard Lastaf's shouts. With my wounds still slowly regenerating, I stood and began limping towards the sounds of battle. I veered to the left and snatched the two other cores near my broken stone pillars.

  [ System Notification ]

  Rank A Azure Core has given 56 Energy

  Rank S Azure Core has given 64 Energy

  - no Trait gained

  Respiratory System: 188/200

  My musings over the core's values were cut short as a spider's massive body went flying over my head, crashing into one of my pillars. I looked towards its origin to see Lastaf fighting four more of the overgrown monstrosities.

  I formed four advanced ice spears above my head and willed them to launch towards the circling spiders around the Axoli. Two pierced the back of the closest spider's soft rear, it going down with a shriek. One lance went high, missing its mark. The last spear impaling the side of another. That spider roared in pain but kept trying to swipe at Lastaf with its front legs.

 

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