Chương 239: To The Sunken Mountains I Go

"Mara, you told me that when it came to things like mind attacks and such, you were a lot like an undead, right? They are basically useless against you?"

"Th–They are rather ineffective–tive, yes""That's splendid! You see, we've located a Star Gazer, but those things are basically impossible to sneak up on, and they have some nasty mind-attack abilities–Said mind-attacks come from its huge, pearl-like eye that also acts as its brain… I'll spare you the unnecessary details, but as you might remember, we need the eye of one of those things""Physically, they are quite frail, but they are quick on their legs.

Since you aren't an undead, it shouldn't realise ahead of time that you aren't affected as much as you should be, so once it notices you, just make sure to put on your best act. If you act like it is working, but do not play, it should normally eventually turn to look at you and focus more intently. Once it does that, it will need a few seconds to refocus if you rush it down, meaning that you should be able to get a hold of the creature before it can take off running""I see–ee…

If there is–is only one, why can't Ergonip send multiple undeads of his to surr–ound it?" Leou scratched her chin.

"Well… That's a long story, actually. Star Gazers are technically monsters, but they are a bit special. We don't really know what gets them to be born, but through observation of the stars, they can ascend and achieve sapience, which will cause them to rise into the stars–Basically, the sapient Star Gazers live on a moon… I think it's a moon, it looks like one, at least""Sometimes, they come down. Well, they did hundreds of years ago.

Back then, Ergonip was still alive, and apparently, he sort of hooked up with some princess or queen of some kind, and she made him swear to never hunt down her lesser kind. It wasn't a formal promise, so he isn't literally forced to hold it up, but our resident dusty skeletons literally keep a portrait of her all the time""You haven't seen it yet, but he is always very proud to show it as he speaks of this old romance.

Anyway, the usual guys that we pay for this are not capable of sneaking onto a Star Gazer or handling any amount of mind attack. Not to mention that most of our trustworthy assassins and such have gotten themselves killed, and we don't trust those new ones to actually end up with the goods""... A Star Gazer's eye is incredibly valuable in a variety of fields, after all" As per usual, Leou pulled out a map to show me where exactly I was going to be heading.

I was starting to think that she had a hobby of collecting maps…

"Alright, so this region is a bit… Peculiar and dangerous. I would say that the steep cliffs and mountains are part of the risks, but I know that you don't seem to care much about fall damage""This mountainous region is a bit special, because despite the mountains being incredibly high, the tallest peak doesn't technically reach higher than this tower.

That is because the entire mountain range is situated in a huge depression in the middle of a rocky plain""This place acts as a natural border between Heldinot and the Marshgloom region. You might run into a handful of adventurers, but that isn't too likely.

This mountain range doesn't have much to offer relative to how difficult it is to traverse""Unless–less others show up for the–he Star Gazer" Last time, in my search for the Blood-Curse Tree, I had run into several other people, multiple of whom could have absolutely kicked my ass if they had wanted to. Clearly, the intel about the Blood-Curse Tree had been known to far more than just the organisation, and it could very well mean that the same would be true this time around.

Leou agreed with my sentiment, but assured me that there were no moles at the organisation. The information networks of those other groups simply had to be on par with ours–In any case, I agreed to take on the mission.

My fluffy, soft-to-the-touch friend just so happened to have an outpost dedicated to resource gathering in the Marshgloom region, so she could send flying beasts back and forth without arousing any suspicions–Of course, since I was bringing Xlown along, I would need a ride home this time, as I couldn't carry my girly pop with me through a warp. Leou simply gave me a small enchanted item that I would need to snap, and it would tell her where I was to pick me up.

Thus, the next morning, I was gone from Randlac, and funnily enough, I spotted the halfling and her bunch making their way to the tower right as I was leaving, and… Didn't I eat this guy's arm or something? I swear he looks familiar. You did bite this man's arm right off back in the day. He's also the one who blinded you and subsequently forced us to leave Tolten … I can't believe this shit.

The detective who's on both mine and Xlown's case, the adventurer group I ran into when I met Sylbi, and the freaking assistant is the fucker whose arm I tore off? What the hell kind of coincidence is that? What's next, all of the people whom I have ever wronged all team up to beat the crap out of me like it's a fairytale written for children? If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Hopefully, this mission takes a little while, and they are gone by the time I come back. This amount of coincidences makes me anxious. Like fate itself is holding a crowbar to hit me over the head with. The flight to the unnamed mountainous region took a few days to complete. This place was quite the feast for the eyes, the sight of so many huge mountains sunken into the ground, forming some sort of giant valley in the middle of a wide, open field made of nothing but uneven stone.

I jumped off the beast, landing near the edge of the depression. The stone cracked beneath my feet as I came crashing down. Not quite as solid as I thought it would be…

"Are you al–al–alright in there?" I opened my wide cloak, and something began to move beneath my shirt, a head soon popping out.

"I am just fine, Mommy! Whoa! That's quite the spectacle!" As a matter of convenience, Xlown was using her lack of an actual bone structure to hide inside my ribcage, popping her head out of my shirt as if I had shoved a cat in there instead of my adorable daughter–Speaking of which, Xlown actually had cat ears right now. I didn't even realise she could do that… Though she was definitely quite committed to her bits.

I suppose that she took her status as a clown quite seriously, so once she started doing something silly, she wasn't just going to stop halfway. I rubbed her newfound ears for a little bit before she retreated back inside. What a cutie. Nara, do you think there is a way to make some sisters for her? Right now, with spirits, it seems more appropriate to make them into little sisters, so do you think there is a way to somewhat replicate how Xlown came to be?

I am afraid that Xlown's birth is a remnant of a time before you fully awakened your abilities. As far as I am aware, such a thing is no longer available… The same is true with Coco. They are happy accidents that carried over following your true awakening–In a sense, they are very unique because of this, but who knows?

Maybe this function will unlock alongside a future evolution, or will become associated with a specific form It is hard to tell, your current powers are quite sprawling and can't be predicted at all Mmh… Well, I guess we'll see in the future. Let's focus on the task at hand. I brought Poppy out of the Mindscape and got her to climb onto my hand. I raised my arm straight up, jumped, and lightly pushed her upward, allowing her to then lock herself into place by floating.

She moved a little bit higher on her own and then moved forward to take a better look at the area from a higher elevation.

"I only see… Mountain goats… Big Sis… No other… Sign of life" I recalled her and stepped closer to the edge. Since Poppy couldn't spot anything of interest, I would have explored myself for now… As the name implied, a Star Gazer's main schtick was looking up at the stars, so they naturally sought out the best possible spots to do so. Leou told me that the one here would stand upon the peak of a very specific mountain.

I probably could have tried to jump directly onto it, but with how steep it is, I definitely would have just ended up bouncing and slamming down the side of it–Xlown and I certainly would have been just fine, I am resistant to damage of this sort, and with how malleable her body was, Xlown was nearly immune to blunt force trauma. Alright, let's go. I jumped off the edge and dug my heels against the slope, sliding down toward the bottom of this great valley.

It took a few minutes to get all the way down as I made sure not to accelerate too much, trying to take in the sights and making sure I couldn't spot anything of interest. Although this region was mostly ignored by adventurers and other mostly unemployed folks, it was rumoured to house quite a lot of interesting stuff. Of course, most of those rumours were made-up nonsense designed to trick gullible fools into wasting their time here, but Leou had informed me that there was some truth to it.

First of all, a handful of the mountains were filled with a special kind of mana-infused ore, imbued with an awfully specific and highly unusual element… Well, calling it an element felt weird since it was more of a concept, but when it came to magic and such, all of the 'flavours' were called an element regardless of what it actually was, so fire was just as much of an element as what was present here–Misdirection.

I do not have a flying clue how 'misdirection mana' can be so greatly present in the air to imbue a whole bunch of ores with it, but that is something confirmed, and it causes magical devices and senses to be thrown off quite severely, especially since the different mountains containing these ores are situated in different parts of the valley, so the sources of misdirection come from all over the place.

Additionally, while it was never located due to said misdirection, there were clear traces of a dungeon forming in the area fairly recently. From what I heard, it wasn't something that was known to a lot of people. Otherwise, adventurers would be all over the place looking for it.

Depending on the type of dungeon it was, it could have chest-loads of treasures, natural resources growing in abundance, rare monsters, and even if it had none of those, as long as it was a core-based dungeon, the core itself was worth a whole lot. Even if the dungeon was just formed, the core would be highly valuable. So, just in case, I should be careful, as somewhere in this place, there was probably a dungeon crawling with creatures of various kinds just waiting to be uncovered.

I would rather not improvise myself as one of those dungeon crawlers. … At the bottom of the valley, the environment was a fair bit different from the surrounding rockland. This place was actually quite lush, looking like a jungle, a somewhat sparse jungle, though. I guess I'll try to approach the important mountain. I probably shouldn't linger too close to it, as it might encourage the Star Gazer not to get into its usual spot if it notices me before beginning its nightly star observation. Well.

Nothing out of the ordinary for now.