Master Of None

Chapter 2817: 2817. A protected Legacy

”I canʼt say anything I have seen is useful. Even the body of this undead thing is… we canʼt use it.” The bones without undead mana were brittle and Gil had lost all his enthusiasm for being able to use it as a new unique material for arrows. He had thoughts that an undead arrow might be something used to scare away monsters that would normally not be afraid of other elemental arrows. The undead were scary, it was just a fact for most monsters, even the more stubborn ones.

”So basically that spider might have been in there alive, they broke in and killed everything or forced them to be trapped then fled because there was no food. Then the ones left behind became undead hunter spiders trying to eat the undead that came from the attack of the living spiders?” The shake of Gilʼs head said that this would be harder to explain to some people than they imagined.

”Their cycle of life is to consume the dead or poison others until they die themselves and become an even more troublesome monster. We are here and learning enough to pass on this knowledge before anyone else gets here. This is something that could happen to the dwarves and miners who venture in to cave systems here.”

With Suu pointing all this out, she was making the point that the knowledge of these spiderʼs existence would prevent a lot more trouble than running in to them. Anyone that made camp or tried to create a temporary mining village would find themselves in a lot of trouble. They all could imagine how terrible going to pick up a cart of ore only to find an undead mining camp would be.

”I think we should focus on everything here. And by that I mean a whole lot of nothing here.” Remey pointed out that some of the cuts and drag marks on the ground were definitely not from the monsters.

”You believe that the mages survived and tried to flee in to the cave system that the spiders came from?” Onyx carefully examined the cuts and he did think that it seemed to be rushed damage from magic use instead of attacks without focus. The webbing had actually preserved the damage to better examine it than if it was left open to the dust and time.

”Where else could they flee?” With a soft hum, the light mana in Walkerʼs light orbs was enhanced by Alice and the entire room was made much brighter. She had walked back a ways and met the groups of guards and adventurers to buff them again. She prevented them from more damage related to any living undead since they could more easily purify them.

However, she has also seen that a lot of items in the rooms being explored were scraps or broken pieces. It appeared that the people who had hidden and lost their lives had not been able to procure much research left behind. A few stone tablets with runes on them and some surprisingly intact robes. Otherwise it was still left in the air.

”I will check the cave with Midnight. We can look while all of you handle this area. I donʼt want to go in there with everyone only to find that we walked right back up to the surface while everyone here is without assistance.”

They all understood that the remaining monsters and undead here might be too much of a challenge for the adventurers and guards here. They could handle the weaker ones but if there was another undead hunting spider like they had fought there would be a lot of death instead of learning.

It was clear with the guards moving in to the room that they had already taken what they learned and were utilizing the skills well. They moved with heads on a swivel taking in every bit of detail they could about the room and even the ceiling. They were keeping their focus on aspects of dangers instead of just what might be valuable to their exploration.

In doing so they would stand as examples for the younger guards they would train in years to come. Even the youngest and least experienced adventurers were watching the guard captains who moved with control and purpose in everything they did. Just witnessing it was enough to set the younger adventurers on a path to the next level.

Walker used some earth mana to close the path to the caverns behind him while Midnight breathed in deeply to release a small dragon flame and burned away more of the bone threads. She was looking carefully at the trial of threads leading up a nearly vertical cavern. It had the breeze that Walker noticed moving from it proving that it most likely went right up to the surface.

But, Walker and Midnight both noticed that the scrapings from whatever was moved headed away and down a side cave. It also had very few threads around it due to the broken state of stalagmites. From what Walker could gather, items were pushed past it and broke a lot of what was there. Over time the cave recovered but the damage was still evident. Although the stalagmites around deterred the spiders from traveling there. Along with the lack of air proving to be a sign that prey was not there too.

”They were smart to head that way and hide. But looking at this, they didnʼt survive.” There was a single arm bone on the ground from a limb lost. It was very decayed and the bone was brittle, almost as if it was waiting for the right time to fully turn in to dust.

Following the scraped ground, Midnight sniffed showing a disgusted look. The smell of decay was back and it seemed a little more potent. However, she also looked like she was unhappy to be seeing that there was not an opponent ahead in the dripping cavern opening.

A dim pool of water was right in front of them, in the water a skeletal body lay half submerged while a few bones from another were scattered around. Both had perished here after fighting something and left behind by whatever had finished them off. Most likely a spider at the time. There was also evidence that monster bodies had decayed here too, reasons why other spiders might not have come here either.

Beneath the water, small statues were resting in the water. Some murky while others appeared to be somewhat damaged by forceful moving.

ʼStatue array of the natural earth mage

This is a set of statues made to mimic the greatest leaders within the natural earth mage faction. Over time, these were heroes in name by their people only who allowed for many to survive. Their actions led to the establishment of the earth tower as it is and will always be.

Their methods of merging with elemental spirits from the earth electrical plane allowed for them to grasp the flow of nature. They began to build up knowledge about what earth mana is at its core and how it is the foundation for the world. It is also why they were able to create unique alloys of earth, stone, and metal to perform arcane forging, arcane crafting, and arcane rune smithing.

These states when properly lined using naturally formed earth runes will present the knowledge trapped within. The ancient earth spirit will be released and able to meld with one deserving and able to channel that mana. The ritual needs…ʼ

”They didnʼt try to escape, they were looking for a way to hide their legacy so that others would be able to find it later on. They did everything to preserve a way of survival. Now we can help them find that legacy and pass on their knowledge. The requirements… we can meet them, but itʼs not something we should take. It should be offered to someone who will make their own path.”

Midnight huffed in agreement while she stepped in to the water and began helping Walker retrieve the eight statues. All carved in amazing detail and barely broken at all. He could sense the mysterious earth mana within and knew it was a mana relayed to the foundation of earth.

It was like looking at the mana of something that gave up pure earth mana to replace it as the essence of earth mana within the world. A subtle change but one that reflected the balance and bond of what earth mana of the world could be when untamed and flowing without care.

If Suʼs partner who had the title reflecting their bond with the will of the world in terms of earth mana met with this spirit, would they get along? Or is this something so unique that it wouldnʼt even come to be seen as a member of the spirit race nowadays?

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