Chương 84: Hidden Chamber

"That was exciting," Ethan said as he sheathed his daggers and looked around the chamber.

"Should we retrace our steps to find where the Aerico came from? Or explore outside the cave?"

"Backtrack."

"Outside." Everyone spoke at once, and the group was split in what they wanted to do. Damion, Matthew, Ethan and Arica wanted to explore the cave more, while Travis and Theodore wanted to explore the outside.

"We should make sure each place we go is as completely explored as possible," Damion reasoned.

"These Aerico came from somewhere. There could be nothing else back there, or there could be rare resources. Either way, we need to know where they came from so the next group doesn't get ambushed like we were."

"Why don't we split up?" Theodore offered.

"Me and Travis can scout around up here and then you can join us."

"We don't know what is up there. It would be best if we stick together," Matthew said firmly. Theodore looked like he wanted to continue to argue his point to split the group up, but when he looked at Travis and saw that he was making his way down the rope already, Theodore gave up and followed him back into the cave.

"The cry from the Aerico Brood Mother obviously enraged the Aerico, so it is possible the Aerico either broke out of a hidden room to come the Brood Mother's rescue or there was simply a chamber we missed," Matthew said.

"Which do you think is most likely?" Ethan asked.

"That there is a chamber or passageway that we missed. We heard the Aerico running, but we never heard any crashes or felt the ground quaking like they had to break through a wall. I think that, like in the chamber with the Rock Crabs, there was another hidden passage."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Theodore asked impatiently.

"Let's get going."

"Arica," Damion said turning to the spatial mage.

"Right," Arica immediately started collecting the corpses of the Aerico into her personal spatial storage. Only once all the corpses were collected did the group start heading down the passageway towards the chamber with the Rock Crabs.

"Look at this," Travis said as he angled his lantern to shine down an alternative passage. This passage went off at an angle and the entrance to it was curved, disguising the entrance. If you were coming from the other direction it would look like a light bulge with a dip on the end along the wall, making it all but impossible to spot the hidden passage unless one looked at it from the opposite direction.

"Good eye," Damion said as he started down the new passageway.

"See the flesh stuck to the walls? It looks like the Aerico moved through here in a hurry. I think we are close." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Travis and Arica grimaced when they saw the strips of flesh that had been ripped off as the Aerico rushed through the passageway earlier. They agreed with Damion's assessment that this was the right way to go, but they did not want to look at the evidence.

As the group traveled down the passageway they did not notice anything of value, but once they reached the chamber at the end of it, they were quickly impressed by what they found. Embedded in the walls were a dozen chunks of crystal that seemed to suck in the light from their lanterns as it passed over them.

"Is that what I think it is?" Arica said as she put down her lantern to examine one of the crystals.

"If you think it is a lode of Magic Absorbing Crystal, then you are quite correct," Matthew said as he placed a hand on one of the crystals before taking it off.

"I can't store these in my spatial storage," Arica said as she took a pickaxe and Damion's bag from her storage and handed them to Damion. Damion set his pack on the ground and used the pickaxe to strike the wall near one of the Magic Absorbing Crystals. He did not hit the wall hard, just enough to test how secure the crystal was in the wall and to his surprise the crystal popped right out of the wall.

"Will these effect the spatial stretching of my bag?" Damion asked as he picked up the crystal he had knocked free and felt mana being pulled from his hands into the crystal.

"Your bag doesn't produce mana, so it should be fine. Just wrap them in a cloth and stick them in. Without direct contact to your bag, they shouldn't be able to drain its magic," Arica explained.

"Why can't you store them?" Ethan asked as he freed another crystal from the wall.

"Because to store something in my space, I have to surround it with my mana. I can't surround something that absorbs all mana it touches."

"Are these valuable?" Damion asked as he freed another crystal and laid it on a blanket he had pulled from pack.

"Moderately," Matthew answered.

"There is not a lot of use for them other than training or imprisonment." Damion quickly understood these Magic Absorbing Crystal's uses. By making restraints or lining a jail cell with them, you could prevent a mage from being able to use their magic to escape. For training, they would be useful in training rooms to absorb errant spells to prevent damage to facilities. And Damion had a feeling that the bracelets he wore for training from Ms. Teft had a bit of this crystal worked in somehow.

The crystals certainly had their uses, but Matthew was right, they were limited. The existing stockpile of Magic Absorbing Crystals would greatly affect the value. If stocks were low, then these would fetch a decent price, but if there was a large surplus, there would be little demand for them and the price would drop. Once all the Magic Absorbing Crystals were pried from the cave walls and loaded into Damion's backpack, the group set off back to the chamber with the dungeon core.

Damion set his pack down and started off towards the rope to climb out of the cave but was stopped by Travis.

"Aren't you going to keep your pack with you? What if we find more Magic Absorbing Crystals, or something else Arica can't store in her personal space?"

"You are welcome to carry the bag if you want, but it would be a bit of a liability to try and carry it and fight with it on," Damion told him. When Travis moved to the pack and gave it a tug to test the weight he nearly pulled himself over. Damion had to turn away so the mage would not see the amused grin on his face. Damion had long gotten used to the weight of his fully loaded pack, for anyone else, the pack was unreasonably heavy, and they could easily hurt themselves if they tried to move it unprepared.

Damion made his way up the rope to the hole in the cave wall and stepped into the light. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the light, and when they did Damion found he was in a forest quite similar to the Benault Forest where the real dungeon was located. The question Damion had though was, what were they going to encounter in this replica of the Benault Forest?