55: Cold Reception

We waited, letting the silence of the cave linger, listening for the slightest sound of movement. When none came, we advanced.

Milo dismantled the spikes that had blocked the creature from flanking us and conjured another orb of light, sending it drifting into the middle of the cavern. As we passed, I stored the corpse—there could be something valuable, and if we needed to retreat quickly, we wouldn’t have the luxury of picking it up.

I stayed in the middle of the group with Crisplet beside me. His flame burned a deep crimson, almost demonic in colour, unsettling in its own right.

The cavern floor was littered with bones, and the air hung heavy with the stench of death. Still, no sign of life stirred. No one lowered their guard as we hugged the cavern wall, checking carefully for branching tunnels or hidden ambushes. Only after a thorough sweep did Hari finally relax, though his weapon never left his hand.

“I’m going to need to get my shield repaired,” he muttered, inspecting the deep gouges left by the Chironid.

“You nearly killed me with shock when I saw you get cut down!” I snapped at Liane, glaring at her.

“You’ve seen my decoy before! But it’s good to know you care,” she replied with a chuckle.

“Not like that I haven’t,” I grumbled. I’d only ever seen her use Decoy for mischief—sneaking into wagons while her image stayed on horseback—not in the middle of a fight.

“Could we check out that glowing vein?” I asked, pointing across the cavern. Curiosity gnawed at me; I had no idea what it was, only that it pulsed brightly with light.

“Sure, let’s head over there,” Hari agreed, taking the lead.

The group kept formation as we crossed the dark cavern. It stretched far above and plunging deep below, like a vein of light carved through the stone. When we reached the cavern wall I’d pointed out, Milo cast an orb of light so we could see the area clearly.

I deactivated Arcane Foraging and peered closer, attempting to find the source without the blue glow.

It was Milo who spotted it first. I was looking in the right area, but I mistook it for a reflection from Crisplet’s fire. There were deep red crystals appearing occasionally across the rock. Activating my foraging again confirmed it—there must have been a huge vein of the stuff running through this part of the mountain.

“I don’t know if it’s possible, but there’s a massive vein of this running through the mountain here. Can you move some of the stone with your magic so we can break some off?” I asked.

The others were looking at it as well, but no one said they knew what it was. Milo glanced around. “I can move some, but we won’t be able to get the whole thing. I don’t have enough mana for that, unfortunately,” he said, before placing his hands on the stone wall and shifting it so more of the crystal appeared.

The new challenge was how to break some off, even with it exposed. As I stared at it, confused, Hari stepped forward.

“Leave this to me—I already need to repair the shield.”

He smashed the base of his shield into the crystal until a large chunk, about double the size of a fist, broke free. After looking it over, I stored it to get the name.

Would you like to store [Rare] Pyrrhosite Crystal x1 for 5 mana? Yes/No

Selecting Yes, the crystal vanished.

“It’s called Pyrrhosite, and apparently it’s of rare quality,” I said, looking around to see if anyone was familiar with the name.

When I was met with equally confused looks, I shrugged. “Maybe it’s in that book I got? I’ll have to check later.”

“You said it’s rare though?” Milo asked, still looking at the wall.

“Yeah?” I was confused why it mattered. Was he going to get it all out? It looked massive.

Instead, Milo manipulated the stone again, covering it up fully and marking the wall with a shape.

Wait… was that—

“Did you just mark the wall with the picture of a cat face?” Jen asked, her hand covering her face to hide her laughter.

Liane made no such attempt and snorted aloud.

“Why?” I pleaded, staring at the cat face in the stone.

“To mark where it is. It’s the new ‘Trevor was here’ mark,” Milo said, making exaggerated hand motions across the face while chanting the words. “I figure we mark it, Hari can note it on the map, and if we find out it’s super valuable, we come back and clear it all out—make ourselves rich.”

“We’ll need to seal the cave mostly, or another creature will move in here. We were lucky this was a small Chironid. They get much larger,” Hari said, looking around.

Milo nodded. “That won’t be a problem. I’ll seal it up when we leave—and put a giant cat face on the rock!”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“NO!” I protested, but the damage was done. Both Liane and Jen were giggling while nodding in agreement.

We searched the cave one last time, checking for anything of note. On our way out, we looked at the Galvonson to see if anything valuable remained, but honestly, it was just scraps of rotting meat at this point, so we moved on.

Milo didn’t put a giant cat face on the closed cave entrance in the end. Hari mentioned that after our recent run-in with the dragon, such a mark might draw its ire if it noticed. The thought of contending with the Dragon-kin it could send persuaded Milo to use something else.

Instead, he carved a crude drawing of Crisplet into the stone, marking the location. Much to Crisplet’s amusement, the little flame elemental floated up near it and… struck a pose?

Yes.. He was definitely striking a pose.

When we left the cave, I once again activated Arcane Foraging to see if there was anything in the area—but there was nothing. It was odd, because when we’d travelled through the forests on the way to Boltron, the whole place glowed blue. Now, the only thing glowing was that vein of Pyrrhosite.

Getting down was just as bad as going up—worse, even. I’m sure the only reason I made it in one piece was that Jen held my shoulder the whole way; I felt like I might slip with every step. Once we made it down, the descent became much easier, since the ground was already compacted and we could just follow the path.

“So, was that creature particularly dangerous for the mountain?” I asked curiously.

“No, not really. Chironids are fairly common once you get about halfway up. They pack a lot of speed and physical power but lack magic. Once you go higher and start facing creatures with the same level of melee finesse and magic, that’s when it gets dangerous,” Jen explained.

“They’ll give me nightmares,” I said with a shiver. “Uh, so now that we’re heading back, how are we going to deal with the meal I need to cook?” I asked curiously, making conversation on our way down the mountain. Honestly, with the barren landscape and no signs of life at all, I was bored.

“Not sure,” Hari said thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine you need to cook the whole thing, and we’ll likely need to involve the guild due to the money on the line with that one, but also to ensure it’s kept secret.”