ROTLE- Chapter 29- The Cave Part I (Patreon)

Inside the cave was dark. There was no bioluminescent moss or trickle of light from a localized ecosystem. It was simply dark.

Aiden led the princess forward with slow steps. He kept his attention on the path with hands and feet. Poking at rocks or elevated grounds, touching ridges as they moved.

“Why didn’t you bring a light?” Elaswit asked in a low, annoyed voice.

Aiden shook his head, smiling.

“Who said I didn’t bring a light?” he whispered back.

“That better not be a smile I’m hearing in your voice,” Elaswit shot back.

For some reason Aiden was finding the conversation hilarious.

He had a light, a single orb in one of the pockets of his soldier’s belts. But he definitely wasn’t going to use it now that he knew there were other people in the cave with them. Not for the first time he wondered if they were going to be competition or assistance.

Aiden preferred none.

From what he knew of the unique quest no group had ever been issued the quest. That’s also why he had always intended on going alone.

Guided by what he remembered of the beginning of the cave from the map he’d gotten from Nella’s room, he led them down a turn. It was tight so that he and Elaswit practically had to shimmy their way through, walking sideways one after the other.

Aiden wasn’t bothered as they came to a crossroad.

Elaswit looked at him, dusting off her her clothes. “Which way?”

Aiden nodded left, then kept on walking. Going right would simply lead them in a loop and send them back to the entrance.

The cave was like a natural maze.

“How the fiddlesticks are you navigating this entire place?” Elaswit asked as they wandered on. “I can barely see you in this darkness.”

“With my hands and feet,” Aiden answered easily. “Did you know, princess, that if you do something like this long enough, you might get the compass skill?”

“No. I did not.”

Elaswit didn’t sound impressed by the piece of information.

“The compass skill is the first step to learning the cartography skill.” Aiden led them down another crack in the wall. “All cartographers have the cartography skill.”

“I would assume they would.”

“And did you know that while expensive, maps grafted by adequate cartographers are rarely if not ever wrong?”

“Lord Lacheart, I feel like you are running up to a point here.”

Aiden wasn’t sure but Elaswit was beginning to sound out of breath. That wasn’t supposed to be happening. He checked his stamina.

[Stamina 99%]

Was the princess’ stamina poor? It wasn’t unheard of for people to have surprisingly low stamina. But she was a [Butcher]. Her class was supposed to have a good amount of stamina.

“The point I’m heading to,” he continued, “is did you also know that all maps drawn up with the assistance of the cartography skill are system sanctioned maps? And all maps drawn up by [Cartographers] have a system feature that allows you read it even in the dark.”

“Lord Lacheart,” Elaswit snapped. “You are getting quite talkative. Get to the point.”

“My point is why do you nobles not have maps drawn up by actual cartographers?” Aiden’s hands patted around a low hanging rock and he bent under it. “Watch your head.”

“Ow!”

Elaswit’s voice echoed and Aiden looked behind him at her. “I said watch your head.”

“Well you said it a little too late.”

“Alright. Just bend, love.”

“I’m bending. Don’t rush me.” There was a pause. “I hate this. This is not an adventure, Lord Lacheart.”

“No one said it was going to be.” He held his hand out to her. “Give me your hand before you go bumping into anything else.”

He stopped when he felt her palm on top of his. There was a part of him that had been expecting her to protest. She was also right. He could barely see her in front of him.

“Lord Lacheart,” Elaswit said with a touch of worry. “Why are we stopping?”

“Uhhh…” Aiden wasn’t sure how to respond. “No reason. I just didn’t expect you to obey so quickly.”

Her hand tightened around his. “And I wasn’t expecting to be called love inside a cave. So everything’s right with the world once more.”

Aiden stiffened and she laughed.

“I would just like to say that I found it cute,” she added.

Aiden grumbled under his breath. Why the hell had he called her love?

“Forget it ever happened,” he said with a touch of embarrassment as he held her hand and continued forward.

“I can’t really say I’m surprised,” Elaswit continued. “Considering the way you’ve been calling me lately, I think it was just a matter of time.”

“The way I’ve been calling you?” Aiden asked, confused. It was difficult navigating the darkness while holding on to her hand. “How have I been calling you?”

“I’m not sure,” Elaswit answered. “But since we left the estate your ‘princess’ has been sounding less like a title and more like an… I’m not sure what the word I’m looking for is exactly. But I know its been nice.”

Aiden frowned into the darkness. They were coming to the end of what he could remember of the map.

How the hell has it been sounding? Princess is princess. Am I suddenly calling it wrong?

“Got it!” Elaswit declared suddenly. “It’s been sounding teasing.”

“Princess,” Aiden said.

“Yes, Lord Lacheart.”

He could here the teasing and the laughter in her voice. It told him that tonight was going to be a long night.

“You’re holding my hand a little too tight,” he told her.

“I know,” she said, slightly embarrassed but not letting go. “People don’t know this but I’m actually a little terrified of the dark.”

Aiden didn’t know that either. “Well, you can think of this as training to conquer your fears.”

Elaswit gave no reply. She was silent for the next few minutes and Aiden was beginning to wonder if he had said something wrong.

You think, he thought as he started navigating unmapped territory. Maybe when someone tells you one of their fears you console them instead of telling them to face it.

But people had to face their fears at some point. For Elaswit, this was the perfect place to face their fears. It made perfect sense.

Yes, but you don’t say that immediately. You empathize first, then offer it up as a suggestion.

Aiden frowned.

Great, now I’m disagreeing with myself.

“Aiden.”

Aiden stiffened a little. The tone of Elaswit’s voice was serious.

“Yes, princess.”

“May I ask a personal question?”

“If I say no, will you still ask it?”

“I will not.”

There wasn’t really much about Aiden’s life that was very personal so he didn’t see why not.

“Sure,” he said. “You can ask.”

“Did you have a girl you were courting back in your world?” she asked. “I mean do you have a girl you were in a romantic relationship with in your world?”

Aiden took a moment to think about his answer.

It was funny how Aiden’s mind went to the three women he’d had relationships with in his past life before settling on Tasha, his ex, the actual only girl he’d dated that was from earth.

“I did not,” he answered.

“That was a significant pause,” Elaswit noted.

Aiden could feel a touch of breeze against his skin now. There was a draft. Which meant that there was an opening somewhere near by.

“It was a pause because it seemed like a heavy answer,” he said. “Now pay attention, we’re going to be moving faster. I don’t want you running into anything.”

“Yes, love,” Elaswit teased.

She wasn’t going to let him live that down and Aiden just knew it. He followed the draft, hand patting against rocky cave walls as he moved. It was very likely that the cave walls had markings for directions but they were useless to him this dark into the night.

“Why?” Elaswit asked suddenly when the draft was getting more noticeable.

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you have a romantic other?”

“Because I didn’t.”

Her questions were making him remember Tasha more, and it was slowly annoying him. Tasha had been his friend. They’d been close. A true friends to lovers young adult story. He still couldn’t understand why she’d kept on making moves on Ted. Even now, so many years later, when he thought of it with an objective mind, he still couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Did she even miss me? He caught himself wondering. I know I broke up with her but…

Eleven years was a long time to miss someone that broke up with you. But now that he thought about it, there was a very minute part of him that wished she’d missed him. There was a part of him that missed her. Not the girlfriend but the friend.

“You’re quiet again, Lord Lacheart.”

There it was again, the teasing tone. Aiden still wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Was the princess flirting or just teasing?

“Yes,” he answered. “It’s what happens when I do this thing called thinking.”

“Maybe Valdan was wrong,” Elaswit said. “Maybe you aren’t mature. Maybe you’re just silently rude. It can sometimes be mistaken as maturity.”

Aiden paused.

She was right. He’d been a little rude to her tonight. But that was only because he had wanted to go on this task alone. That and the fact that he wasn’t accustomed to long conversations about his personal life.

But it was no excuse for rudeness. It was a reason, but reasons were not automatically excuses. That he had a reason for doing something did not justify it.

“I’m sorry,” the words left his mouth reluctantly.

“One more time for the beautiful lady in the back,” Elaswit said, smiling.

“I said I’m sorry. Now can we play the quiet no talking game. I think I hear voices.”

Aiden also saw light.

He led them slowly around a corner and they saw something he did not expect to see. Just beyond them was a clear and open space. It was covered in grasses and wild plants with a clear blue pond at the center.

Bioluminiscent plants filled the place with light and concentrated moonlight streamed in from a high opening that Aiden couldn’t get a look at without entering the open space. The ray of light reflected off the pond to give it a soft bluish visage. The plants were colorful, red, blues, purples and yellows.

It looked like a meadow right out of a fantasy story.

I guess I was wrong about the lighting, Aiden thought as he eased himself down to a crouch behind a large rock.

He pulled Elaswit down with the hand she was still holding and gestured for silence with a finger to his lips.

The meadow wasn’t the only thing that was present.

There were voices, too. And they echoed with every simple word they spoke. Unfortunately, Aiden recognized one of the voices.

“I swear,” the female voice said. “This is getting more annoying each day.”

Elaswit’s grip on his hand tightened and he nodded.

Nella and her team were currently investigating.

…

Nella turned and kicked a large piece of rock that came up to her knee not for the first time. They’d been going in circles since the afternoon when they light streaming in from the high opening was sunlight yellow. Now it was moonlight blue.

And where were they? Nowhere better.

At this point she could make her way back to this little oasis with her eyes closed. Alright, maybe not with her eyes closed. But she knew at least eight different ways to get to this place.

“You’re going to have calm down, Nella,” Ventel said, his voice soft and smooth. “I say we regroup and come back later.”

“I agree,” Drunid said. He was a short burly man, heavily bearded, whose primary weapon was an axe. He wasn’t so short as to be called a dwarf but they often teased him about having a distant relationship to the dwarven race.

“I’ve been out all day,” he continued. “What I need is a bed and a good rest.”

Nella shook her head.

“The problem is right here.” She stamped her foot on the ground. “This entire place is a complete antithesis of everything we’ve seen in this cave. The solution to our problem must start from here.”

“Then we go home, clear our head and start again,” Ventel said. “The cave will still be here when we come back.”

“But some fool could just as easily wander in and get lost or die as far as we know.”

“Which is the odd part about this entire thing,” Chelni said. She was the ranged support of the team. Her class granted her the ability to use spells. “Everytime we come here we find at least one dead adventurer’s body in one of the tunnels, but never any monster.”

“And no one’s seen the kind of creature that’s killed them,” Nella groaned, then sat on the ground in resignation.

“Never seen talon marks that precise,” Folna said.

Folna was the party tracker and their walking beastiary. There was no monster indigenous to the levels below one hundred that he didn’t know. At least none native to Bandiv.

It made Nella consider the possibility that some kind of migration had somehow occurred. Not for the third time she pitched the idea to him again.

Folna shook his head. “I get that we’re basically on the outskirts but monster migrations aren’t that simple. If some new species somehow migrated all the way here, someone would’ve spotted them long before they got to the cave.”

“My worry is that it’s not attacking us,” Chelni complained. “At this point I’ll even fight a monster I know will kill me just to have something to do.”

“The lassi’s right,” Drunid said. “This be the most boring adventure I’ve ever had.”

“This isn’t an adventure,” Nella scowled at the both of them. “This is an investigation to keep adventurers alive.”

“Adventurers die everyday, Nella.” Folna tossed a rock into the pond. “It’s basically the life we’ve chosen.”

The rock dropped into the pond without a sound.

“Can you please stop doing that, Folna,” Chelni said. “It’s very disturbing.”

“What? You don’t like the way I throw?”

“It’s the water, asshole,” Drunid said. “Stone shouldn’t enter water without making a sound. It’s just wrong.”

“You wanna know what’s wrong?” Nella picked up a small pebble. It was smooth and clean. “This entire place. It’s too perfect. Then there’s also the monster.”

“What about the monster?” Chelni asked.

“The fact that it’s attacking adventurers but not attacking us is a problem,” Velnet said. “It means that it’s picking its prey.”

“Which implies some level of intelligence,” Folna added.

Drunid turned and spat in the grass. “I hate intelligent monsters. Assholes the lot of them.”

Nella looked up at the opening and frowned. She could see the moon looking down at them but it was too clear. It was almost as though if she looked hard enough she could see its contours.

Her class [Archer] gave her perks that helped and skills that helped those perks. For instance, [Precision sight] helped her focus on a target without losing it even if it wasn’t stationery. When the skill was in an active state, her attention on her target was practically automatic.

Its passive effect, however, allowed her see better when she focused on something. But by the life of her the moon had never been this clear in her life. It was as if this place was the closest to the moon she’d ever gotten in her life, which was completely false.

The answer’s in this place. It’s got to be.

The mana was too clean. The air was too fresh. And when Drunid drank from the pond against everyone’s insistence that he not do something so foolish, he called it the most watery water he’d ever had the pleasure of tasting.

Nella looked around again and was sure of it. The place was too perfect. That alone was a sign.

The second sign of its importance was how most of the cave paths somehow led back here. She refused to believe it was a coincidence.

The real issue, however, was the single spot in the entire place that felt so horribly eerie.

She turned to Velnet. “Any ideas on the bad feeling we keep getting?”

Velnet moved his attention to a wall. It was covered in green grass as high as seven feet, just like all the walls in this place.

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

Folna walked up to the wall and placed his hand against the grass. “Yup, still does the same thing.”

Nella wasn’t surprised. Any time they touched the wall, their interface lit up with their mana stat and they couldn’t dismiss it.

For the duration of their hand being on it, their mana percentage would just keep fluctuating. Rising and falling.

It was the same with all of them.

Another thing that worried Nella was how they were yet to come in contact with any demonic mana. She knew her party wouldn’t recognize it if they saw it, but the reports of adventurers that had survived described it perfectly well.

But it had also been more than ten days since the last report.

What was the possibility that something had absorbed all the mana?

It was a terrifying thought since the only known creatures that could absorb demonic mana were found in the scriptures and legends. They called it demonic mana because the scriptures described it as the type of mana demons and the Demon Kings to ever walk the face of Nastild used.

It was powerful and destructive, and whenever it started to rise on Nastild, the Demon king would rise with it.

At least that’s what the churchs say.

“I still say we should leave that wall alone,” Drunid said. “Those cracks running all the way up it are definitely not safe.”

Drunid was right. From under the luscious green was a crack that began to spread and branch out the moment it rose out from under the grass. It was as large as hairline fractures and spread like the roots of a tree until it rose as high as the eyes could see, covering the entire wall.

Folna stepped away from it.

“Do you know what annoys me most about it?” he asked no one in particular.

“That it’s got more class than you?” Chelni chortled.

“You’re always a child,” Folna said, shaking his head.

“What annoys you about it?” Nella asked.

If they allowed Folna and Chelni go at it, they could be here for another full day.

“It’s the notification I get whenever I remove my hand.”

“The one about the feature?”

Folna nodded. “It keeps saying I do not meet the requirements to access the feature.”

“Which means what?” Velnet asked. “You lack a skill? You’re not the right class? Your stats are not sufficient?”

“Probably the first one or the last one.” Folna scratched his head in annoyance. “Seeing as you people don’t get the same notification, I’m sure I’ve got the right class. It’s probably the skill that I don’t have or the level.”

“And it’s clearly not magical,” Drunid said. “If it was, Chelni would get a notification, too.”

Folna groaned in frustration and scattered his hair violently. “Fuck it! I’m going home. I hate not knowing. I say we brainstorm on this and let the adventure society know when we come up with an answer. Until then, I need to sleep.”

Velnet walked up to Nella and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I agree. We should all go home and return when it’s bright and clear.”

Nella grumbled something incoherent but couldn’t argue the fact. Her eyes were already groggy.

“What do we do about the spare jepats outside?” Drunid asked.

“I say we sell them,” Chelni said a little too quickly. “We didn’t find their owners so I say it’s safe to assume their dead. No need leaving them out here. Some creature’ll just eat them.”

There was a small argument over the matter that Nella was not a part of. Drunid thought Chelni was nothing but a dishonest conniving thief and Velnet, ever the honorable one, thought they should return the jepats to the adventure society since there was a high chance that they belonged to adventurers.

In the end, they left the clearing with no more answers than the ones they’d had when they went in.

The journey out of the cave was simple. They’d traversed the cave enough times to know which way to go and not to go even in the dark and it didn’t take them long to find an exit.

“Did you guys notice anything at the pond?” Chelni asked when they were outside.

“Like your thieving tendencies?” Drunid sneered.

“Suck it.” She made an obscene gesture at him. “I’m talking about when we were leaving. It felt like we weren’t alone.”

“It always feels like you’re not alone in there,” Folna said. “Try not to think about it.”

…

[Lesser Weave of Silence]

Effect: 15% nullification of sound made.

Duration: 00:00:00.

[Lesser Weave of Silence] has elapsed.

Aiden released his breath and turned to Elaswit.

“Are you alright?” he asked her, genuinely worried.

She was breathing too hard. He’d had to activate the weaving and grab her hand to mute the sound of her breathing so that they didn’t get caught.

Elaswit nodded then audibly gulped in some air. “I’ll be fine. It’s just the darkness, it makes me claustrophobic.”

So the panting wasn’t because of her stamina.

Aiden paused. “Wait. You get claustrophobic in the dark and you begin to hyperventilate.”

She gave him a weak smile. “You could say that.”

“And you still entered a cave with me?”

“I knew I’ll be fine.”

Aiden didn’t know if he should be impressed that she’d gone on for so long in the dark despite her reaction towards it or to be stupefied at the stupidity of the decision.

You were the one that wanted her to face her fears, though.

Aiden frowned.

They were still holding hands, and he released her as he walked into the lit clearing. The moment his feet touched the grass he knew exactly what Nella and her team were talking about. A single breath of air felt like food for the lungs.

And the mana? He could already feel his body regenerating the mana he’d used for the [Lesser Weave of Silence]. That was enough to confirm his suspicion.

“Wait there,” he told Elaswit, pointing at a large rock. “Sit there and don’t touch anything.”

Elaswit frowned but obeyed. “You know the entire kingdom would lose its mind if they found out you were ordering their princess around like this.”

Aiden snorted. “They’d lose their mind if they found out their princess was sneaking about in the middle of the night.”

He walked in the direction of the wall Nella and her team had referred to as eerie. As he approached it, Elaswit was saying something about how sneaking out in the middle of the night was not new amongst noble blood.

Aiden didn’t care about any of that. Instead, he was more focused on the crack in the wall. He leaned forward, studied it.

It had a pattern to it. A single hairline crack sprouting from beneath the grass, branching out and about. There were smaller cracks in between some of the lines, almost imperceptible with the moonlight, but Aiden saw them.

He moved closer, almost placed his eyes on top of one of them.

“Don’t go blinding yourself.”

Aiden started, almost letting out a surprised yelp.

He turned to find Elaswit standing behind him with an innocent expression.

“How the hell did you sneak up on…” Aiden let his words trail off as the answer came to him. “You have the stealth skill.”

“Uh-huh.” Elaswit nodded. “Almost everybody has the stealth skill, Lord Lacheart.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed in a frown. “Didn’t I tell you to sit over there and not move?”

“You did,” she agreed, then shrugged. “Unfortunately, I’m a princess. I’ve been spoiled all my life so now I’m stubborn.”

“Not stubborn enough, apparently,” Aiden muttered, returning his attention to the crack, fascinated. “You sat down in the beginning.”

“So what is it?” Elaswit asked. “You look like you’ve found something.”

“I believe I have. But we’ll have to wait quietly for a while before I can confirm it.”

“Why?”

“Because it might be dangerous and I don’t want your friend and her group busting in here and getting caught up in it once I confirm it.”

“Are you sure you won’t need more hands?”

“I’m sure. Now go back and have a sit while I confirm that this is what I think it is.”

Elaswit gave him some space but she did not sit down. Aiden paid it no attention. He was used to being the leader of his own groups and giving out orders to people who were more than happy to obey. Now, he had to remind himself of the fact that his life was not that way anymore.

He took his time studying the cracks in the wall, peering in as deeply as he could at the lines and cracks. It didn’t take him long to confirm what he wanted to confirm.

“Fascinating,” he muttered. “So this is why people rarely ever solved it.”

“What’s fascinating?” Elaswit asked.

Aiden held his hand out to the crack but did not touch it. “Do you know what an array is?”

“Orders and patterns?”

“Simplistic but correct,” he confirmed. “Now have you heard of natural arrays?”

“I’m guessing its arrays but in nature.”

“Also correct,” Aiden said, a smile touching his lips at the sight in front of him. He’d only ever seen a handful in his life, and the enchanter in him was bursting at the seams with excitement. “Did you know, princess, that most of the things humans create, technological and magical, are inspired by things in nature?”

Elaswit folded her arms. “I guess.”

“In my world, humans created planes to fly because they saw birds flying in the sky. We rode horses, then built carts, then created cars so we could cover long distances. We once lived in caves so we built houses for convenience. We drew pictures and made art because we saw amazing sceneries and wanted to take them home with us or appreciate their beauty.”

“No idea what a plane or a car is, but okay. I got the horse and the cart, though.” Elaswit sounded fascinatingly bored. “I believe you’re getting somewhere, though.”

“Most people don’t know it, but in your world, humans have learned to use magic from nature as well. They watched and learnt and recreated.” Aiden paused, suddenly apprehensive. “I need to see how far this goes. I need to see all of it.”

Aiden stepped away from the crack, looked around the wall. When he found grooves he could use, he started climbing, studying the cracks as he ascended.

“Humans are the greatest innovators and the greatest imitators,” he continued the higher he went. “They find beauty in anything and imitate it. Then, from their imitation, they innovate. A rhinocerous has a horn that pierces so they create implements that pierce so they can kill. Then they learn that they don’t have to get close to kill with these implements if they can simply throw it. Imitation begets innovation.”

Aiden paused at a certain height, a wide smile on his face.

“What have you found, Lord Lacheart?” Elaswit asked from her place on the ground. Her voice echoed throughout the pond.

“The source of human imitation,” he answered, then began his descent.

When he hit the ground, he dusted his hands.

“You’ve said everything,” Elaswit told him. “And yet you’ve said nothing.”

Aiden turned to her. “Humans learn from the world, princess. You get your spells from nature. The lightning in the sky. Volcanic eruptions. The rain. You study the process, feel it, then emulate it.”

He laughed in excitement.

“This!” He turned and gestured at the entire wall. “This is where you get your enchantments. They are rare and few between. This, dear princess of Bandiv, is a natural array of a grandly magical nature. This is a natural enchantment.”

A moment of silence settled between him and her.

At the end of the moment Elaswit cocked a brow. “You’re a nerd, aren’t you?”

Aiden snorted.

“N… no,” he stuttered. “No, I’m not.”

Elaswit placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright if you’re a nerd. Some of us have to be nerds so the rest of us can be cool.”

Aiden sighed. “Whatever. All I’m saying is that the reason for all the confusion is because nobody recognized this wall. There’s probably a smaller number of people than you can imagine that can identify a natural enchantment by sight.”

“If that’s the case, why hasn’t anyone noticed it until now. You can’t tell me all the adventurers are stupid.”

Aiden shook his head. “Not at all. It’s a natural enchantment, which means it grew naturally and over time. The right cracks aligned themselves as they grew until one in a million chances of a pattern was created to form the enchantment. For all we know it could only be a few days old or a few weeks old. I’ll need more time and tools to figure that one out.”

“You’re making enchantments sound far more complicated than they are.”

Aiden laughed. She had no idea just how complicated enchantments could get. The enchantments most people used below level hundred were child’s play. And you weren’t a proper enchanter until you were enchanting in the level two hundreds.

“So how do we activate it?” she asked.

“The right way.” Aiden rubbed his hands together. “I bet we’ll find a bunch of enchanters on the other side of this wall.”

He placed a hand on it, and true to the words of Nella’s teammates, his mana percentage fluctuated.

[Mana 92%]

[Mana 98%]

[Mana 86%]

[Mana 91%]

He frowned at that. That wasn’t an effect of a natural enchantment.

There was only one thing that caused mana fluctuations of this level at lower levels. His mana stat would normalize eventually, though. But from what he knew, the normalization was a characteristic of being summoned. Their mana adapted to demonic mana effects quickly.

I guess they were right, there’s demonic mana behind this wall.

And the natural enchantment was keeping it trapped inside. It was as if nature was somehow protecting itself.

Aiden’s interface flashed infront of him.

[You meet the requirements to use this feature]

…

[You have discovered your first natural array]

A sharp pain pierced Aiden’s heart and his legs almost buckled beneath him.

[Error! Error! Error!]

[You have not discovered your first natural enchantment]

[You have encountered a natural enchantment once before]

…

System repairs recommended.

[Prisoner # 234502385739] stand by for system repairs.

Pending system repairs in progress.

System repairs 02.00%

Aiden looked at the new notifications and frowned. Ever since spotting his first monsters in this timeline the [System repairs] was only at two percent? At this point he had a feeling repairs would be taking place forever.

“Are you alright?” Elaswit asked.

Aiden nodded. “Just some issues I’m sorting out.”

He returned his attention to his interface a new messages popped up.

[Would you like to activate natural enchantment Cavernous guide?]

[Y/N]

There was only one answer to the question. His study of the natural enchantment proved on a surface level that all it did was cause rearrangements on the level of the cave. He didn’t know how long exactly, but he knew that for at least a day the cave would revert back to its original layout.

It was magic on a legendary level.

“Yes.”

Skill [Basic Enchant] is in effect.

Aiden felt his mana drain out of him as its percentage took a nose dive.

[Mana 92%]

[Mana 72%]

[Mana 61%]

[Mana 39%]

[Mana 21%]

The drain didn’t worry him. The only danger surrounding harmful natural enchantments was the fact that during its activation you couldn’t use any mana  skills and it was arguably dangerous to terminate the process before it was complete.

The cracks in front of him lit up in blue lights and he caught Elaswit staring at it in awe.

He couldn’t blame her, all the cracks and patterns lighting up were truly beautiful. Once the enchantment was properly activated, the natural array would return his mana back to him.

[You have activated natural array: Cavernous Guide]

“That’s neat,” Elaswit said suddenly. “I just got the quest. It’s a unique quest.”

Aiden’s lips pressed in a thin line. He’d really been hoping that wouldn’t happen. Worst case scenario, he was hoping it would be like some kind of shared quest where they’d both get the reward at the end.

I guess I’ll just settle for killing more monsters and leveling up, he thought. I really hope there are monsters.

Elaswit frowned. “Aiden, I think there’s a problem.”

Aiden kept his hand on the wall as he looked at her. He found her staring at the empty space in front of her, most obviously her quest.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with a touch of worry when he saw her face.

She looked terrified. As if her worst fears were about to eat her alive. Pale faced.

She looked back at him with the same terror. “It’s asking me to kill gargoyles.”

Well… that’s definitely a problem.

Aiden knew gargoyles. They were nasty things. And they weren’t supposed to show up in Nastild for another two years.

None was supposed to be less than level 42.

Why the hell are gargoyles showing up now?

The creatures were quite literally the first advent of the Demon King.

Does that mean the Demon King is going to show up earlier? Panic warred with logic in Aiden’s head. Is Ted going to be the Demon King sooner than I thought?

“Aiden.”

Elaswit’s voice pulled Aiden from his thoughts.

“What do we do?” she asked.

Aiden didn’t know. For now, he had to help her with the unique quest. Unique quests weren’t quest you just abandoned. You had to either fail it or complete it. Abandoning them could have a great variety of consequences.

In this case, the gargoyles could probably invade the Naranoff territory. And since no one had fought gargoyles in forever, there would be significant casualties before there would be victories.

A new notification flashed in front of him and he realized they were in deeper problems than he thought.

You have triggered a Unique Scenario

[Unique Scenario: Advent of the Demon King 1.]

You have found the first known point of invasion of the Demon King into this world. The young followers, eager to make a name for themselves, have found their way into this world ahead of time. They are paving the way, raising an army. Vanquish the early signs of the Demon King’s arrival before it is too late.

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gargoyle 0/18.]

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gangnar the starter]

[Reward: Unique skill.]

This was a problem.