Chương 38: Neotoma

Once Vasser recovered completely, the two proceeded deeper into the mine. This time Kayzen took the lead and scouted as far as he could. Even though his range of perception was limited, he could at least find out any trap the Archwolves had laid out. Minutes trickled as they moved through one tunnel after another. But surprisingly, there were no traces of the Archwolves. It was as if the trap they encountered was a random encounter.

"This makes no sense. Why didn't they lay out any more traps afterwards?" Vasser asked as she frowned at the empty surroundings. The mine was clearly emptied of all of the valuable materials. What were they trying to protect by barricading the entrance then?

"Perhaps it wasn't a trap meant for those coming in, but rather, for those coming out. Maybe they discovered some strong native creatures and ran away. In order to escape from the pursuit they might've laid out traps at the top levels." Kayzen spoke about the hypothesis he had in mind. As the two chatted along, they arrived at a whole new region of the mine. Unlike the earlier barren environment, this place was full of flora and fauna, something that shouldn't exist inside an underground mine.

At least not in such a quantity. Kayzen's range of perception also increased by a few meters. The flow of Ether here was more gentle compared to outside. It was similar to being in the eye of the storm. All of these were secondary concerns though. In Kayzen's eyes, this place was a literal treasure trove. He told Vasser to stop for a moment and squatted before the corners of the mine. There, goopy mucus-like things were stuck on the wall. Some were sticking out from the ceiling of the mine as well.

It looked disgusting like dripping snot. However, this thing was valuable. Kayzen took out a spatula from his backpack and collected the gooey structure into a petri dish. Vasser came over in curiosity and looked at the substance in the petri dish. Noticing her gaze Kayzen explained, "These are called snottites, or slimy microbes in general. They're a single-celled bacteria that feed on sulfur compounds, and more importantly, they excrete highly acidic substances as a waste."

Kayzen didn't really need it since he already had acids as well as his various abilities that could do a similar thing. However, having more materials was never a bad thing.

"Are you going to collect all of them?" Vasser asked while pointing at the various strange things in the mines. It all looked the same to her eyes, but she knew that Kayzen would be able to find something useful from them.

"Naturally, it won't take long." Although they were in a hurry, the two didn't mind and instead focused on collecting the things. After all, sharpening an axe wouldn't slow down the cutting of wood. Kayzen picked up the microbes while Vasser went to the other side. There, a glowing fungi was growing on the wooden beam. She didn't know how to collect them properly, so she just broke off the beam and dragged it to Kayzen.

"Here, I found this." For a moment Kayzen didn't recognize what species it was, but as he read its records, the answer became obvious. It was a mine mold that grew on biological waste and food scraps. Back in the old days, inhaling the spores of these was a lethal threat for the miners. The fungus would grow inside a human's lungs and cause them to die of various illnesses. Right now there were a lot of medicines developed to counter that, but they weren't made for the mold that had mutated.

This could become a fatal hazard or a fatal weapon depending on who used it. As Kayzen looked at the things they had found, a clearer picture formed in his head.

"Bring me to that area," he told Vasser.

"Sure, here." As the two went there, the things were as Kayzen had imagined. He looked at Vasser and explained what he had in mind. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"In nature we often find poison and cure close together. This mine should have its own ecosystem, and what we found are just two parts of it. I plan to collect all of them, and maybe we'll find out how they are evolving."

"Sounds good. What do you want me to do?" Vasser asked. Kayzen pointed at the place where the wooden beam was and asked her to dig out some layers of soil. He asked her to be careful since what he wanted to find beneath were living organisms, precisely springtails that ate fungal spores, bacteria, and other rotting material. While she was busy doing that, Kayzen focused on finding another thing. The last piece that would complete the ecosystem of this mine.

The slimy bacteria and parasitic fungi were responsible for creating nutrients out of the mine's reserves and other man-made waste. However, there was one more source of nutrients: what was outside of the mines. The creatures responsible for them were called cave crickets. They were hunchbacked, wingless insects with massively long legs and antennae. Kayzen knew their habit very well. They lived in the mine but foraged outside at night. They were crucial nutrient bridges as they brought food from the outside.

Finding them could be difficult since they were completely silent like assassins. Of course it was no trouble for Kayzen. He spread out his roots of perception into the ground and sure enough, he found them. Not the insects themselves, but rather, their oval-shaped white eggs. They were bigger than they should be, but that wasn't surprising since all life on Erde was evolving. Kayzen carefully picked them up and placed them in a leather bag.

He had realized that he could place things like microbes and fungi into the Hemogaster backpack, however, the same couldn't be done with other living beings such as insects, animals, and the like. SKreek Just as they were collecting the samples, an intruder appeared out of nowhere. A Fiend class Archwolf crawled over and shot its web at the duo. Since Kayzen's range of perception was limited here he wasn't able to notice in advance. Not that it mattered. A Fiend was nothing in front of their current strength.

With a single punch Vasser disposed of the alien.

"Let's get going," Vasser gave the sample to Kayzen and took the lead. As the two walked deeper into the mine they heard the sounds of an ongoing fight. Just based on the Ether waves alone, it was apparent that the ones participating were at least on the level of a Ravager. Kayzen scouted the multiple tunnels heading downwards, and in the end, picked one that had the most turbulent flow of Ether. At the end of the tunnel lay a wide cavern that was lit up by glowing metals.

One glance was enough to tell that this place wasn't made by nature.

"Are those rats?" Vasser asked while looking down. A bunch of Archwolves fighting against what looked like rats. It was hard to imagine that the aliens who were giving the mercenaries a tough fight were now being overwhelmed by a rat tide. Indeed, humans weren't the only ones who were evolving. Kayzen looked at the rats who seemed to be wearing copper armor. Thanks to the various books he had read in Greenford, he immediately realized what they were.

"They should be Neotoma, or pack rats in general. There was nothing special about them except for the fact that they were known for building complex nests." Vasser was about to touch the wall in order to observe it when Kayzen added, "They preserve their nests for thousands of years by crystallizing their urine." This sentence was enough to make her flinch back.

"You should have said that before!" Kayzen chuckled at her response and squatted down to look at the ongoing fight below. There was no reason to support either side when they could sweep in in the end and kill both of them. Neither the rats nor the aliens were going to cooperate with humans. So, it was better to get rid of them and gain some useful materials while they were at it.

The Archwolves were able to trap most of the rats with their multi-layered webs, but at the same time, the rats had evolved in a way where their skin had become metallic in nature. Not only did it give them unparalleled defense, they also used it to ram at the Archwolves. The aliens' feeble bodies were thrashed by the horde of rats.

"Keep an eye out. I'll create a new Hex."

"Go on." Kayzen left his back to Vasser and took out the parasitic fungus they had just collected. Seeing the aliens and the rats fight had given him a new idea. He could use the parasitic fungi and integrate its records into his debuffing authority. With that, he'd be able to clear out a large area at once without directly revealing their presence. He took out the wooden log infected by mine mold and layered it with the bloodline essence of the Archwolf.

He didn't have a medium that would directly connect with the rats, but that wouldn't be necessary since they were right in front of him. The medium for Hex was thus complete. For the source, he used his own records as well as both of his authorities as the Warden of Records. This time his role was to act as a support and bring out the lethality from the mold. It was already able to feed on discarded organic matter and infect the respiratory system of living beings. All Kayzen wanted was to accelerate this process.

This would have been difficult if it was a month ago, but now, Kayzen had sufficient experience to do something like this on the spot.