VOL 3 Chapter 50: The dumbest way.
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lordanl
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With Erik's call, Tiberius quickly turned into a kind of dark liquid that fell to the ground, forming a circle. Without hesitating for even a moment, Erik jumped into the circle of darkness, falling at great speed as if into an abyss. At that instant, the egg reached its highest point, and its glow intensified to the extent that it filled the entire place.
[That was close…]
Emerging from the portal of shadows behind a rock at the entrance of the first tunnel, Erik commented in a heavy tone through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon soon replied, her tone equally heavy.
[More than you think. Look at your left hand.]
Surprised, Erik looked at his hand, where he could indeed see his little finger turning gray and hardening rapidly. Eyes wide in shock, Erik quickly looked at Tiberius, who had just reformed, and ordered in a solemn tone.
[Get us out of here. I need to find a way to heal myself.]
Obeying the order, Tiberius once again became the circle of darkness, through which Erik quickly jumped. Appearing from the shadow of a fallen tree near the river, Erik watched with a grave expression as the petrification slowly spread across his hand. The starry-haired boy quickly conjured different runes that began to emit a faint light as they danced around his hand.
At the same time, Ebonique flew out from Erik's head and grew in size, reaching three meters in length, then fixed her gaze on Erik's half-petrified hand. With a solemn voice that tried to keep her anger in check, Ebonique asked, black lightning crackling around her body.
"Can you heal it, Erik?"
"It doesn't seem so." Erik replied seriously, watching as—even though he had used the most powerful light-affinity healing spell he could cast—the petrification continued to advance slowly. Then he added thoughtfully.
"But it seems I can hold it back. The progress has slowed down quite a bit. I think it will give me time to create a potion. But more importantly…" Just after speaking, Erik looked up and asked, carefully studying Ebonique.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Ebonique responded with a warm voice, but it quickly turned serious as she added.
"There's a better way to deal with that petrification."
At that moment, the black electric bolts around the dragon increased in power. The sight of the violently crackling black lightning caused an idea to come to Erik's mind, and he couldn't help but comment in visible surprise as he deactivated the runes around his hand.
"Does your unique ability work for this too?"
"More or less." Ebonique replied as she stretched her right claw toward Erik, where the black lightning was gathering, and continued explaining.
"Since I can separate mana into its base components, I can destroy most spells, and this 'petrification curse' is nothing more than a type of spell. Although that would only stop its progress—you'll still need to heal the petrified parts."
"I see."
Erik nodded in understanding, at which point Ebonique touched his hand with her claw charged with black lightning. Soon, Erik felt a slight numbness in his right hand, and the petrification stopped completely, though two of his fingers and about 20% of his hand had turned to gray stone.
"How are you, Tiberius?" Setting aside his hand, Erik turned to look at the wolf as he returned to his true form and asked with concern.
The wolf let out a sad whimper and fully shifted back to his real form, revealing that a large part of his upper fur and his tail were turning to stone. Erik immediately turned to look at Ebonique, but the dragon was already stretching out her right claw, charged with black electric bolts, toward the wolf.
"Thank you, Ebonique." Erik said sincerely as he watched the imposing dragon surrounded by dark electric arcs. Ebonique replied calmly.
"There's no need to thank me. Your people are my people. Besides, I personally trained this wolf. He's almost like my disciple, so I can't let him die."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. You really are like the 'master' of Kaiser and Tiberius." Erik commented with a small smile as he looked at the black wolf. But the star-haired boy's expression soon turned solemn, and reaching his hand out to Tiberius, he continued.
"But putting that aside, what was that egg, really…?"
"I have no idea." Ebonique replied calmly. "But luckily you realized in time. Otherwise, we could have ended up like the other statues."
"You know, now that I think about it, I don't really believe those statues were actually people." Erik said thoughtfully, starting to explain with a hand on his chin.
"Although for a moment I thought so, and it was almost a clue. Remembering the statues, their bodies were too similar to each other, as if they had been mass-produced. If they were people, there should have been more variation."
"I see…" Ebonique said as she withdrew her claw from Tiberius, having finished destroying the petrification 'curse,' and then asked.
"But what are we going to do now?"
"We still have to go back and check the third tunnel." Erik said, conjuring a large number of runes around Tiberius.
"…" Ebonique was silent for a few seconds, clenching her teeth in frustration, but soon spoke in a dark voice.
"You almost died just a few moments ago, Erik."
"And if I don't manage to understand this place, I'll end up dead anyway." Erik explained, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that the healing spell was working on Tiberius, and soon added.
"Checking out that cave is actually the least dangerous thing for us to do. Besides, we still need to figure out how to set up the lookout post for the basilisk. Its awakening can't catch us off guard."
"…" Ebonique fell silent as she looked at the waterfall. After a few seconds, the dragon sighed and spoke with a bit of resignation.
"I suppose you're right… But promise me that we'll run at the first sign that something's wrong."
"Do you think I'm brave enough not to run?" Erik asked, a bit amused, and added as he conjured runes to heal his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm taking these risks because they're unavoidable. I'm not a reckless fool who puts his life on the line at every chance."
"I hope that's true…" Ebonique replied, letting out a sigh as she shrank down to hide again in Erik's hair.
"It's true." Erik said confidently as he watched the petrification start to disappear from his hand.
...
Once his hand returned to normal, Erik fed Tiberius a good amount of mana, and then carefully ventured back into the cave. Soon, he found himself once again in front of the colossal basilisk, which didn't seem affected by the egg's movements—a real relief. After watching the basilisk for a few moments, Erik set off toward the third tunnel.
Completely hidden by Tiberius's darkness, Erik advanced through the third tunnel with great caution—much more than with the previous two. The tunnel seemed quite long and a bit darker, but aside from that, it appeared to be a normal tunnel. Along the way, Erik didn't find anything out of the ordinary—just rocks and darkness as far as he could see.
After a while, Erik finally saw the end of the tunnel, where, to his surprise, he found what looked like a descending staircase carved into the stone floor. Curious, Erik went down the stairs, gripping Tiberius's fur with one hand and one of his machetes with the other, until he finally reached the bottom.
At the end of the tunnel, Erik found what appeared to be a sort of circular pool in the ground filled with dark water. Around the pool, there was a large number of Aegis system runes carved into the stone, releasing a faint purple glow. Meanwhile, on the walls, there were a few smooth crystals that shone with intense iridescent hues—mana crystals of the highest purity.
[An exit…?] Filled with disbelief, Erik commented through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon quickly asked, full of happiness and excitement.
[Is that what we need to get out of this place?!]
[It's very similar to the place where the initial explorers exited. Although at the same time, it's different.] Erik said as he carefully studied the densely carved runes around the dark lake and continued explaining.
[First of all, the exits they found were outdoors, in what seemed to be half-destroyed temples. But more importantly, the 'pools' didn't have this dark water. According to the data I read, the pools contained a kind of ghostly, illusory purple fire, and that was what would activate to create the exit portal.]
[So it's not an exit?] Ebonique asked, a hint of disappointment in her tone. Erik replied thoughtfully.
[I don't know. It looks a bit similar, but there are also clear differences. Besides, even if it is an exit, it would probably take about six months to activate—just like the ones the initial explorers used. If it ever activates at all… Maybe we should get closer and check it out more carefully…]
[No!] Ebonique 'shouted' urgently, and soon added with visible concern.
[You almost died from petrification just a while ago. We've seen what's here—now it's better to find someone else to test the waters. You could even bring an animal for that. Anything, as long as it's not you who tries it!]
[… You're right. I got a bit carried away.]
Pulled out of his thoughts by Ebonique's 'shout,' Erik commented a bit sheepishly. He really did seem like a reckless person with no fear of death at that moment. But soon the star-haired boy recovered and spoke seriously.
[For now, let's head back. Let's check on the basilisk and figure out how we can set up a lookout post here.]
After taking one last look at the strange pool, Erik went back through the tunnel, soon arriving once again in front of the basilisk. At that moment, Ebonique asked while watching the basilisk from Erik's hair.
[How much longer do you think until it wakes up?]
[I have no idea.] Erik replied calmly as he took a wooden tablet and a piece of charcoal shaped like a pencil wrapped in leaves from the back of his pants, then explained.
[But the fact that we can get this close, even with Tiberius hiding us, can only mean that the basilisk still has some time left before it wakes up. After all, even the most incompetent Arcane-Peak should be able to sense us easily.
[Besides, according to Frank's story, the basilisk only attacked instinctively because his Ethereal Projection came into direct contact with it, and even then, it seems it wasn't instantaneous. So, it shouldn't be a matter of just a day or two. Or at least, that's what I hope.]
[I see… And how are you going to figure out how long it will take to wake up?] Ebonique asked, poking her head out a little from Erik's hair to see what the young man was starting to write on the wooden tablet with the charcoal.
[Well, I really don't know much about devourer basilisks, so it won't be easy.] Erik said thoughtfully as he wrote as small as he could on the wooden tablet. [So, we'll have to do it in the dumbest way possible.]
[The dumbest way?] Ebonique asked, a bit confused. Erik nodded and explained.
[Yes. The dumbest way—by brute force. We're going to record everything about the basilisk at regular intervals and then check for changes. But since we don't know what's important, we'll have to record absolutely everything we can observe. Things like its glow, how close we can get, the rhythm of its breathing, and so on. That'll let us see what's changing and how fast it's happening.]
[At the same time, since we don't know what an awakened basilisk looks like, we'll have to collect data from a good number of magical creatures before they wake up. Even though it won't be very precise, that way we can get an idea of what we should be looking for. Along with the rate of the recorded changes, estimate how long it'll take for it to wake up.]
[That's why you need the lookout post.]
Ebonique commented, realizing the method was actually pretty clever rather than dumb, as Erik had said. The star-haired boy replied as he pulled out the quartz pendulum he'd made earlier from his pants pocket—also known as the 'homemade mana detector.'
[Exactly. Since I have to take care of the potions and the equipment, I can't be here all the time. Someone else will have to do it, and we need the measurements to be as precise as possible. So even though I call it a 'lookout post,' it'll actually just be a few markers I'll leave so the others can use them as reference.]
[You're really smart, Erik…] Ebonique commented with genuine admiration in her tone, mixed with a hint of fascination, as she watched the pendulum swinging from Erik's hand. The star-haired boy chuckled softly and replied, a little amused.
[I don't deserve that much credit. This is the method humanity has used since the beginning to try to understand the unknown—I'm not inventing anything new.]
[…]
Ebonique fell silent upon hearing Erik's answer. Occasionally, her beloved contractor's excessive humility was a bit annoying for the dragon. She wished he would be a little bolder and take the credit he deserved with pride.
But at the same time, Ebonique was fully aware that this mindset was exactly what made her Erik who he was. Someone she was drawn to like a moth to a flame—a pull that went far beyond how special his existence was.
…
After Erik checked the basilisk from every angle and wrote down his findings on his wooden tablet—which ended up completely covered in dense writing—the star-haired boy let out a sigh and stretched lazily. As he put the tablet and charcoal pencil back into the back of his pants, Erik commented calmly.
[It's done. Now we continue with the 'lookout post' before going to take a bath.]
[You're really going to bathe?] Ebonique asked, a bit surprised, since she knew Erik usually used a spell to clean himself two or three times a day. Erik replied in a calm tone as he looked around the cave.
[Of course. I've been working non-stop since I got to these ruins—I deserve a little break.]
[You're right about that; you deserve a long and relaxing rest.] Ebonique said affectionately, making Erik laugh a little.
…
After circling the cave a couple of times, Erik managed to carefully move some rocks to create several reference points he considered important. He used stones of different sizes and shapes to distinguish each spot, marking places for data collection, distances to approach, the extent of the basilisk's scale glow, and more.
Once everything was ready, Erik left the cave, passed through the waterfall again, and landed on the riverbed. After confirming with his Mystic Awareness that there was nothing strange in the river, he took off all his armor and left it under a tree. Then he got into the river, laid down near the shore, and let the rushing water massage his tired body.
But even as his body was relaxing, Erik couldn't help but let his mind wander through all his worries and survival plans. At the same time, he couldn't help but think of his beautiful masters and his strange but equally endearing personal maid.
(Maybe right now they're looking for a way to get us out of here…)
"Ebonique, were you finally able to contact Ignis and inform my masters?" With his eyes closed, Erik asked his trusted contracted spirit, who was gently massaging his scalp with her claws, causing a very relaxing tingling sensation.
"Yes. But communication isn't easy." Ebonique replied in a calm voice. "I was barely able to send a message, but that was before we knew this was a trap. Ignis only knows that you lost your magic artifacts… Should I try to send another message?"
"Could Hiyori or another spirit send a message like you?" Erik asked in a calm voice. Ebonique stopped her massage for a moment, uncertain how to answer. After a few seconds, the dragon replied softly.
"… Without someone like Ignis on the other side, it's difficult."
"Then it's better not to say anything for now—at least until we find a way for others to send messages out without relying on Ignis." Erik said after a small sigh, then added.
"Although if those outside knew the real danger in here, it would make cooperation easier, since no one would want to risk losing the best of their young generation. But with no other 'witnesses' than us, it'll be hard for them to believe. They'll probably think it's a lie—a desperate attempt to get them to mobilize and save me. Which would end up doing more harm than good." With a bitter smile, Erik added in a heavy tone.
"Knowing my masters, if they found out what's really happening here, they might rush the fortress guarding the entrance without a second thought. And that would be disastrous. Not only could it spark a war that would endanger the whole galaxy, it would also close off any possibility of getting us out from the outside."
Erik splashed water on his face, as if trying to erase that image from his mind. Then he continued in a calmer tone.
"I'm one of the weakest here, but my profile is high, and it seems like a lot of people want me dead. My masters know this, and I'm sure they're already looking for a way to rescue me. But this ruin… not even the legend-levels were able to fully understand it.
"That's why they need to stay calm—with a clear mind. If we tell them everything right now, it'll only upset them and won't do any good. As long as they know I'm in danger and need to get out, that's enough. That'll keep the sense of urgency without clouding their judgment."
"You're right, it's best if they can stay calm and look for a solution." Ebonique agreed, focusing once more on the massage, while Erik let out another sigh and then fell silent.
***
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With Erik's call, Tiberius quickly turned into a kind of dark liquid that fell to the ground, forming a circle. Without hesitating for even a moment, Erik jumped into the circle of darkness, falling at great speed as if into an abyss. At that instant, the egg reached its highest point, and its glow intensified to the extent that it filled the entire place.
[That was close…]
Emerging from the portal of shadows behind a rock at the entrance of the first tunnel, Erik commented in a heavy tone through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon soon replied, her tone equally heavy.
[More than you think. Look at your left hand.]
Surprised, Erik looked at his hand, where he could indeed see his little finger turning gray and hardening rapidly. Eyes wide in shock, Erik quickly looked at Tiberius, who had just reformed, and ordered in a solemn tone.
[Get us out of here. I need to find a way to heal myself.]
Obeying the order, Tiberius once again became the circle of darkness, through which Erik quickly jumped. Appearing from the shadow of a fallen tree near the river, Erik watched with a grave expression as the petrification slowly spread across his hand. The starry-haired boy quickly conjured different runes that began to emit a faint light as they danced around his hand.
At the same time, Ebonique flew out from Erik's head and grew in size, reaching three meters in length, then fixed her gaze on Erik's half-petrified hand. With a solemn voice that tried to keep her anger in check, Ebonique asked, black lightning crackling around her body.
"Can you heal it, Erik?"
"It doesn't seem so." Erik replied seriously, watching as—even though he had used the most powerful light-affinity healing spell he could cast—the petrification continued to advance slowly. Then he added thoughtfully.
"But it seems I can hold it back. The progress has slowed down quite a bit. I think it will give me time to create a potion. But more importantly…" Just after speaking, Erik looked up and asked, carefully studying Ebonique.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Ebonique responded with a warm voice, but it quickly turned serious as she added.
"There's a better way to deal with that petrification."
At that moment, the black electric bolts around the dragon increased in power. The sight of the violently crackling black lightning caused an idea to come to Erik's mind, and he couldn't help but comment in visible surprise as he deactivated the runes around his hand.
"Does your unique ability work for this too?"
"More or less." Ebonique replied as she stretched her right claw toward Erik, where the black lightning was gathering, and continued explaining.
"Since I can separate mana into its base components, I can destroy most spells, and this 'petrification curse' is nothing more than a type of spell. Although that would only stop its progress—you'll still need to heal the petrified parts."
"I see."
Erik nodded in understanding, at which point Ebonique touched his hand with her claw charged with black lightning. Soon, Erik felt a slight numbness in his right hand, and the petrification stopped completely, though two of his fingers and about 20% of his hand had turned to gray stone.
"How are you, Tiberius?" Setting aside his hand, Erik turned to look at the wolf as he returned to his true form and asked with concern.
The wolf let out a sad whimper and fully shifted back to his real form, revealing that a large part of his upper fur and his tail were turning to stone. Erik immediately turned to look at Ebonique, but the dragon was already stretching out her right claw, charged with black electric bolts, toward the wolf.
"Thank you, Ebonique." Erik said sincerely as he watched the imposing dragon surrounded by dark electric arcs. Ebonique replied calmly.
"There's no need to thank me. Your people are my people. Besides, I personally trained this wolf. He's almost like my disciple, so I can't let him die."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. You really are like the 'master' of Kaiser and Tiberius." Erik commented with a small smile as he looked at the black wolf. But the star-haired boy's expression soon turned solemn, and reaching his hand out to Tiberius, he continued.
"But putting that aside, what was that egg, really…?"
"I have no idea." Ebonique replied calmly. "But luckily you realized in time. Otherwise, we could have ended up like the other statues."
"You know, now that I think about it, I don't really believe those statues were actually people." Erik said thoughtfully, starting to explain with a hand on his chin.
"Although for a moment I thought so, and it was almost a clue. Remembering the statues, their bodies were too similar to each other, as if they had been mass-produced. If they were people, there should have been more variation."
"I see…" Ebonique said as she withdrew her claw from Tiberius, having finished destroying the petrification 'curse,' and then asked.
"But what are we going to do now?"
"We still have to go back and check the third tunnel." Erik said, conjuring a large number of runes around Tiberius.
"…" Ebonique was silent for a few seconds, clenching her teeth in frustration, but soon spoke in a dark voice.
"You almost died just a few moments ago, Erik."
"And if I don't manage to understand this place, I'll end up dead anyway." Erik explained, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that the healing spell was working on Tiberius, and soon added.
"Checking out that cave is actually the least dangerous thing for us to do. Besides, we still need to figure out how to set up the lookout post for the basilisk. Its awakening can't catch us off guard."
"…" Ebonique fell silent as she looked at the waterfall. After a few seconds, the dragon sighed and spoke with a bit of resignation.
"I suppose you're right… But promise me that we'll run at the first sign that something's wrong."
"Do you think I'm brave enough not to run?" Erik asked, a bit amused, and added as he conjured runes to heal his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm taking these risks because they're unavoidable. I'm not a reckless fool who puts his life on the line at every chance."
"I hope that's true…" Ebonique replied, letting out a sigh as she shrank down to hide again in Erik's hair.
"It's true." Erik said confidently as he watched the petrification start to disappear from his hand.
...
Once his hand returned to normal, Erik fed Tiberius a good amount of mana, and then carefully ventured back into the cave. Soon, he found himself once again in front of the colossal basilisk, which didn't seem affected by the egg's movements—a real relief. After watching the basilisk for a few moments, Erik set off toward the third tunnel.
Completely hidden by Tiberius's darkness, Erik advanced through the third tunnel with great caution—much more than with the previous two. The tunnel seemed quite long and a bit darker, but aside from that, it appeared to be a normal tunnel. Along the way, Erik didn't find anything out of the ordinary—just rocks and darkness as far as he could see.
After a while, Erik finally saw the end of the tunnel, where, to his surprise, he found what looked like a descending staircase carved into the stone floor. Curious, Erik went down the stairs, gripping Tiberius's fur with one hand and one of his machetes with the other, until he finally reached the bottom.
At the end of the tunnel, Erik found what appeared to be a sort of circular pool in the ground filled with dark water. Around the pool, there was a large number of Aegis system runes carved into the stone, releasing a faint purple glow. Meanwhile, on the walls, there were a few smooth crystals that shone with intense iridescent hues—mana crystals of the highest purity.
[An exit…?] Filled with disbelief, Erik commented through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon quickly asked, full of happiness and excitement.
[Is that what we need to get out of this place?!]
[It's very similar to the place where the initial explorers exited. Although at the same time, it's different.] Erik said as he carefully studied the densely carved runes around the dark lake and continued explaining.
[First of all, the exits they found were outdoors, in what seemed to be half-destroyed temples. But more importantly, the 'pools' didn't have this dark water. According to the data I read, the pools contained a kind of ghostly, illusory purple fire, and that was what would activate to create the exit portal.]
[So it's not an exit?] Ebonique asked, a hint of disappointment in her tone. Erik replied thoughtfully.
[I don't know. It looks a bit similar, but there are also clear differences. Besides, even if it is an exit, it would probably take about six months to activate—just like the ones the initial explorers used. If it ever activates at all… Maybe we should get closer and check it out more carefully…]
[No!] Ebonique 'shouted' urgently, and soon added with visible concern.
[You almost died from petrification just a while ago. We've seen what's here—now it's better to find someone else to test the waters. You could even bring an animal for that. Anything, as long as it's not you who tries it!]
[… You're right. I got a bit carried away.]
Pulled out of his thoughts by Ebonique's 'shout,' Erik commented a bit sheepishly. He really did seem like a reckless person with no fear of death at that moment. But soon the star-haired boy recovered and spoke seriously.
[For now, let's head back. Let's check on the basilisk and figure out how we can set up a lookout post here.]
After taking one last look at the strange pool, Erik went back through the tunnel, soon arriving once again in front of the basilisk. At that moment, Ebonique asked while watching the basilisk from Erik's hair.
[How much longer do you think until it wakes up?]
[I have no idea.] Erik replied calmly as he took a wooden tablet and a piece of charcoal shaped like a pencil wrapped in leaves from the back of his pants, then explained.
[But the fact that we can get this close, even with Tiberius hiding us, can only mean that the basilisk still has some time left before it wakes up. After all, even the most incompetent Arcane-Peak should be able to sense us easily.
[Besides, according to Frank's story, the basilisk only attacked instinctively because his Ethereal Projection came into direct contact with it, and even then, it seems it wasn't instantaneous. So, it shouldn't be a matter of just a day or two. Or at least, that's what I hope.]
[I see… And how are you going to figure out how long it will take to wake up?] Ebonique asked, poking her head out a little from Erik's hair to see what the young man was starting to write on the wooden tablet with the charcoal.
[Well, I really don't know much about devourer basilisks, so it won't be easy.] Erik said thoughtfully as he wrote as small as he could on the wooden tablet. [So, we'll have to do it in the dumbest way possible.]
[The dumbest way?] Ebonique asked, a bit confused. Erik nodded and explained.
[Yes. The dumbest way—by brute force. We're going to record everything about the basilisk at regular intervals and then check for changes. But since we don't know what's important, we'll have to record absolutely everything we can observe. Things like its glow, how close we can get, the rhythm of its breathing, and so on. That'll let us see what's changing and how fast it's happening.]
[At the same time, since we don't know what an awakened basilisk looks like, we'll have to collect data from a good number of magical creatures before they wake up. Even though it won't be very precise, that way we can get an idea of what we should be looking for. Along with the rate of the recorded changes, estimate how long it'll take for it to wake up.]
[That's why you need the lookout post.]
Ebonique commented, realizing the method was actually pretty clever rather than dumb, as Erik had said. The star-haired boy replied as he pulled out the quartz pendulum he'd made earlier from his pants pocket—also known as the 'homemade mana detector.'
[Exactly. Since I have to take care of the potions and the equipment, I can't be here all the time. Someone else will have to do it, and we need the measurements to be as precise as possible. So even though I call it a 'lookout post,' it'll actually just be a few markers I'll leave so the others can use them as reference.]
[You're really smart, Erik…] Ebonique commented with genuine admiration in her tone, mixed with a hint of fascination, as she watched the pendulum swinging from Erik's hand. The star-haired boy chuckled softly and replied, a little amused.
[I don't deserve that much credit. This is the method humanity has used since the beginning to try to understand the unknown—I'm not inventing anything new.]
[…]
Ebonique fell silent upon hearing Erik's answer. Occasionally, her beloved contractor's excessive humility was a bit annoying for the dragon. She wished he would be a little bolder and take the credit he deserved with pride.
But at the same time, Ebonique was fully aware that this mindset was exactly what made her Erik who he was. Someone she was drawn to like a moth to a flame—a pull that went far beyond how special his existence was.
…
After Erik checked the basilisk from every angle and wrote down his findings on his wooden tablet—which ended up completely covered in dense writing—the star-haired boy let out a sigh and stretched lazily. As he put the tablet and charcoal pencil back into the back of his pants, Erik commented calmly.
[It's done. Now we continue with the 'lookout post' before going to take a bath.]
[You're really going to bathe?] Ebonique asked, a bit surprised, since she knew Erik usually used a spell to clean himself two or three times a day. Erik replied in a calm tone as he looked around the cave.
[Of course. I've been working non-stop since I got to these ruins—I deserve a little break.]
[You're right about that; you deserve a long and relaxing rest.] Ebonique said affectionately, making Erik laugh a little.
…
After circling the cave a couple of times, Erik managed to carefully move some rocks to create several reference points he considered important. He used stones of different sizes and shapes to distinguish each spot, marking places for data collection, distances to approach, the extent of the basilisk's scale glow, and more.
Once everything was ready, Erik left the cave, passed through the waterfall again, and landed on the riverbed. After confirming with his Mystic Awareness that there was nothing strange in the river, he took off all his armor and left it under a tree. Then he got into the river, laid down near the shore, and let the rushing water massage his tired body.
But even as his body was relaxing, Erik couldn't help but let his mind wander through all his worries and survival plans. At the same time, he couldn't help but think of his beautiful masters and his strange but equally endearing personal maid.
(Maybe right now they're looking for a way to get us out of here…)
"Ebonique, were you finally able to contact Ignis and inform my masters?" With his eyes closed, Erik asked his trusted contracted spirit, who was gently massaging his scalp with her claws, causing a very relaxing tingling sensation.
"Yes. But communication isn't easy." Ebonique replied in a calm voice. "I was barely able to send a message, but that was before we knew this was a trap. Ignis only knows that you lost your magic artifacts… Should I try to send another message?"
"Could Hiyori or another spirit send a message like you?" Erik asked in a calm voice. Ebonique stopped her massage for a moment, uncertain how to answer. After a few seconds, the dragon replied softly.
"… Without someone like Ignis on the other side, it's difficult."
"Then it's better not to say anything for now—at least until we find a way for others to send messages out without relying on Ignis." Erik said after a small sigh, then added.
"Although if those outside knew the real danger in here, it would make cooperation easier, since no one would want to risk losing the best of their young generation. But with no other 'witnesses' than us, it'll be hard for them to believe. They'll probably think it's a lie—a desperate attempt to get them to mobilize and save me. Which would end up doing more harm than good." With a bitter smile, Erik added in a heavy tone.
"Knowing my masters, if they found out what's really happening here, they might rush the fortress guarding the entrance without a second thought. And that would be disastrous. Not only could it spark a war that would endanger the whole galaxy, it would also close off any possibility of getting us out from the outside."
Erik splashed water on his face, as if trying to erase that image from his mind. Then he continued in a calmer tone.
"I'm one of the weakest here, but my profile is high, and it seems like a lot of people want me dead. My masters know this, and I'm sure they're already looking for a way to rescue me. But this ruin… not even the legend-levels were able to fully understand it.
"That's why they need to stay calm—with a clear mind. If we tell them everything right now, it'll only upset them and won't do any good. As long as they know I'm in danger and need to get out, that's enough. That'll keep the sense of urgency without clouding their judgment."
"You're right, it's best if they can stay calm and look for a solution." Ebonique agreed, focusing once more on the massage, while Erik let out another sigh and then fell silent.
[That was close…]
Emerging from the portal of shadows behind a rock at the entrance of the first tunnel, Erik commented in a heavy tone through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon soon replied, her tone equally heavy.
[More than you think. Look at your left hand.]
Surprised, Erik looked at his hand, where he could indeed see his little finger turning gray and hardening rapidly. Eyes wide in shock, Erik quickly looked at Tiberius, who had just reformed, and ordered in a solemn tone.
[Get us out of here. I need to find a way to heal myself.]
Obeying the order, Tiberius once again became the circle of darkness, through which Erik quickly jumped. Appearing from the shadow of a fallen tree near the river, Erik watched with a grave expression as the petrification slowly spread across his hand. The starry-haired boy quickly conjured different runes that began to emit a faint light as they danced around his hand.
At the same time, Ebonique flew out from Erik's head and grew in size, reaching three meters in length, then fixed her gaze on Erik's half-petrified hand. With a solemn voice that tried to keep her anger in check, Ebonique asked, black lightning crackling around her body.
"Can you heal it, Erik?"
"It doesn't seem so." Erik replied seriously, watching as—even though he had used the most powerful light-affinity healing spell he could cast—the petrification continued to advance slowly. Then he added thoughtfully.
"But it seems I can hold it back. The progress has slowed down quite a bit. I think it will give me time to create a potion. But more importantly…" Just after speaking, Erik looked up and asked, carefully studying Ebonique.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Ebonique responded with a warm voice, but it quickly turned serious as she added.
"There's a better way to deal with that petrification."
At that moment, the black electric bolts around the dragon increased in power. The sight of the violently crackling black lightning caused an idea to come to Erik's mind, and he couldn't help but comment in visible surprise as he deactivated the runes around his hand.
"Does your unique ability work for this too?"
"More or less." Ebonique replied as she stretched her right claw toward Erik, where the black lightning was gathering, and continued explaining.
"Since I can separate mana into its base components, I can destroy most spells, and this 'petrification curse' is nothing more than a type of spell. Although that would only stop its progress—you'll still need to heal the petrified parts."
"I see."
Erik nodded in understanding, at which point Ebonique touched his hand with her claw charged with black lightning. Soon, Erik felt a slight numbness in his right hand, and the petrification stopped completely, though two of his fingers and about 20% of his hand had turned to gray stone.
"How are you, Tiberius?" Setting aside his hand, Erik turned to look at the wolf as he returned to his true form and asked with concern.
The wolf let out a sad whimper and fully shifted back to his real form, revealing that a large part of his upper fur and his tail were turning to stone. Erik immediately turned to look at Ebonique, but the dragon was already stretching out her right claw, charged with black electric bolts, toward the wolf.
"Thank you, Ebonique." Erik said sincerely as he watched the imposing dragon surrounded by dark electric arcs. Ebonique replied calmly.
"There's no need to thank me. Your people are my people. Besides, I personally trained this wolf. He's almost like my disciple, so I can't let him die."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. You really are like the 'master' of Kaiser and Tiberius." Erik commented with a small smile as he looked at the black wolf. But the star-haired boy's expression soon turned solemn, and reaching his hand out to Tiberius, he continued.
"But putting that aside, what was that egg, really…?"
"I have no idea." Ebonique replied calmly. "But luckily you realized in time. Otherwise, we could have ended up like the other statues."
"You know, now that I think about it, I don't really believe those statues were actually people." Erik said thoughtfully, starting to explain with a hand on his chin.
"Although for a moment I thought so, and it was almost a clue. Remembering the statues, their bodies were too similar to each other, as if they had been mass-produced. If they were people, there should have been more variation."
"I see…" Ebonique said as she withdrew her claw from Tiberius, having finished destroying the petrification 'curse,' and then asked.
"But what are we going to do now?"
"We still have to go back and check the third tunnel." Erik said, conjuring a large number of runes around Tiberius.
"…" Ebonique was silent for a few seconds, clenching her teeth in frustration, but soon spoke in a dark voice.
"You almost died just a few moments ago, Erik."
"And if I don't manage to understand this place, I'll end up dead anyway." Erik explained, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that the healing spell was working on Tiberius, and soon added.
"Checking out that cave is actually the least dangerous thing for us to do. Besides, we still need to figure out how to set up the lookout post for the basilisk. Its awakening can't catch us off guard."
"…" Ebonique fell silent as she looked at the waterfall. After a few seconds, the dragon sighed and spoke with a bit of resignation.
"I suppose you're right… But promise me that we'll run at the first sign that something's wrong."
"Do you think I'm brave enough not to run?" Erik asked, a bit amused, and added as he conjured runes to heal his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm taking these risks because they're unavoidable. I'm not a reckless fool who puts his life on the line at every chance."
"I hope that's true…" Ebonique replied, letting out a sigh as she shrank down to hide again in Erik's hair.
"It's true." Erik said confidently as he watched the petrification start to disappear from his hand.
...
Once his hand returned to normal, Erik fed Tiberius a good amount of mana, and then carefully ventured back into the cave. Soon, he found himself once again in front of the colossal basilisk, which didn't seem affected by the egg's movements—a real relief. After watching the basilisk for a few moments, Erik set off toward the third tunnel.
Completely hidden by Tiberius's darkness, Erik advanced through the third tunnel with great caution—much more than with the previous two. The tunnel seemed quite long and a bit darker, but aside from that, it appeared to be a normal tunnel. Along the way, Erik didn't find anything out of the ordinary—just rocks and darkness as far as he could see.
After a while, Erik finally saw the end of the tunnel, where, to his surprise, he found what looked like a descending staircase carved into the stone floor. Curious, Erik went down the stairs, gripping Tiberius's fur with one hand and one of his machetes with the other, until he finally reached the bottom.
At the end of the tunnel, Erik found what appeared to be a sort of circular pool in the ground filled with dark water. Around the pool, there was a large number of Aegis system runes carved into the stone, releasing a faint purple glow. Meanwhile, on the walls, there were a few smooth crystals that shone with intense iridescent hues—mana crystals of the highest purity.
[An exit…?] Filled with disbelief, Erik commented through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon quickly asked, full of happiness and excitement.
[Is that what we need to get out of this place?!]
[It's very similar to the place where the initial explorers exited. Although at the same time, it's different.] Erik said as he carefully studied the densely carved runes around the dark lake and continued explaining.
[First of all, the exits they found were outdoors, in what seemed to be half-destroyed temples. But more importantly, the 'pools' didn't have this dark water. According to the data I read, the pools contained a kind of ghostly, illusory purple fire, and that was what would activate to create the exit portal.]
[So it's not an exit?] Ebonique asked, a hint of disappointment in her tone. Erik replied thoughtfully.
[I don't know. It looks a bit similar, but there are also clear differences. Besides, even if it is an exit, it would probably take about six months to activate—just like the ones the initial explorers used. If it ever activates at all… Maybe we should get closer and check it out more carefully…]
[No!] Ebonique 'shouted' urgently, and soon added with visible concern.
[You almost died from petrification just a while ago. We've seen what's here—now it's better to find someone else to test the waters. You could even bring an animal for that. Anything, as long as it's not you who tries it!]
[… You're right. I got a bit carried away.]
Pulled out of his thoughts by Ebonique's 'shout,' Erik commented a bit sheepishly. He really did seem like a reckless person with no fear of death at that moment. But soon the star-haired boy recovered and spoke seriously.
[For now, let's head back. Let's check on the basilisk and figure out how we can set up a lookout post here.]
After taking one last look at the strange pool, Erik went back through the tunnel, soon arriving once again in front of the basilisk. At that moment, Ebonique asked while watching the basilisk from Erik's hair.
[How much longer do you think until it wakes up?]
[I have no idea.] Erik replied calmly as he took a wooden tablet and a piece of charcoal shaped like a pencil wrapped in leaves from the back of his pants, then explained.
[But the fact that we can get this close, even with Tiberius hiding us, can only mean that the basilisk still has some time left before it wakes up. After all, even the most incompetent Arcane-Peak should be able to sense us easily.
[Besides, according to Frank's story, the basilisk only attacked instinctively because his Ethereal Projection came into direct contact with it, and even then, it seems it wasn't instantaneous. So, it shouldn't be a matter of just a day or two. Or at least, that's what I hope.]
[I see… And how are you going to figure out how long it will take to wake up?] Ebonique asked, poking her head out a little from Erik's hair to see what the young man was starting to write on the wooden tablet with the charcoal.
[Well, I really don't know much about devourer basilisks, so it won't be easy.] Erik said thoughtfully as he wrote as small as he could on the wooden tablet. [So, we'll have to do it in the dumbest way possible.]
[The dumbest way?] Ebonique asked, a bit confused. Erik nodded and explained.
[Yes. The dumbest way—by brute force. We're going to record everything about the basilisk at regular intervals and then check for changes. But since we don't know what's important, we'll have to record absolutely everything we can observe. Things like its glow, how close we can get, the rhythm of its breathing, and so on. That'll let us see what's changing and how fast it's happening.]
[At the same time, since we don't know what an awakened basilisk looks like, we'll have to collect data from a good number of magical creatures before they wake up. Even though it won't be very precise, that way we can get an idea of what we should be looking for. Along with the rate of the recorded changes, estimate how long it'll take for it to wake up.]
[That's why you need the lookout post.]
Ebonique commented, realizing the method was actually pretty clever rather than dumb, as Erik had said. The star-haired boy replied as he pulled out the quartz pendulum he'd made earlier from his pants pocket—also known as the 'homemade mana detector.'
[Exactly. Since I have to take care of the potions and the equipment, I can't be here all the time. Someone else will have to do it, and we need the measurements to be as precise as possible. So even though I call it a 'lookout post,' it'll actually just be a few markers I'll leave so the others can use them as reference.]
[You're really smart, Erik…] Ebonique commented with genuine admiration in her tone, mixed with a hint of fascination, as she watched the pendulum swinging from Erik's hand. The star-haired boy chuckled softly and replied, a little amused.
[I don't deserve that much credit. This is the method humanity has used since the beginning to try to understand the unknown—I'm not inventing anything new.]
[…]
Ebonique fell silent upon hearing Erik's answer. Occasionally, her beloved contractor's excessive humility was a bit annoying for the dragon. She wished he would be a little bolder and take the credit he deserved with pride.
But at the same time, Ebonique was fully aware that this mindset was exactly what made her Erik who he was. Someone she was drawn to like a moth to a flame—a pull that went far beyond how special his existence was.
…
After Erik checked the basilisk from every angle and wrote down his findings on his wooden tablet—which ended up completely covered in dense writing—the star-haired boy let out a sigh and stretched lazily. As he put the tablet and charcoal pencil back into the back of his pants, Erik commented calmly.
[It's done. Now we continue with the 'lookout post' before going to take a bath.]
[You're really going to bathe?] Ebonique asked, a bit surprised, since she knew Erik usually used a spell to clean himself two or three times a day. Erik replied in a calm tone as he looked around the cave.
[Of course. I've been working non-stop since I got to these ruins—I deserve a little break.]
[You're right about that; you deserve a long and relaxing rest.] Ebonique said affectionately, making Erik laugh a little.
…
After circling the cave a couple of times, Erik managed to carefully move some rocks to create several reference points he considered important. He used stones of different sizes and shapes to distinguish each spot, marking places for data collection, distances to approach, the extent of the basilisk's scale glow, and more.
Once everything was ready, Erik left the cave, passed through the waterfall again, and landed on the riverbed. After confirming with his Mystic Awareness that there was nothing strange in the river, he took off all his armor and left it under a tree. Then he got into the river, laid down near the shore, and let the rushing water massage his tired body.
But even as his body was relaxing, Erik couldn't help but let his mind wander through all his worries and survival plans. At the same time, he couldn't help but think of his beautiful masters and his strange but equally endearing personal maid.
(Maybe right now they're looking for a way to get us out of here…)
"Ebonique, were you finally able to contact Ignis and inform my masters?" With his eyes closed, Erik asked his trusted contracted spirit, who was gently massaging his scalp with her claws, causing a very relaxing tingling sensation.
"Yes. But communication isn't easy." Ebonique replied in a calm voice. "I was barely able to send a message, but that was before we knew this was a trap. Ignis only knows that you lost your magic artifacts… Should I try to send another message?"
"Could Hiyori or another spirit send a message like you?" Erik asked in a calm voice. Ebonique stopped her massage for a moment, uncertain how to answer. After a few seconds, the dragon replied softly.
"… Without someone like Ignis on the other side, it's difficult."
"Then it's better not to say anything for now—at least until we find a way for others to send messages out without relying on Ignis." Erik said after a small sigh, then added.
"Although if those outside knew the real danger in here, it would make cooperation easier, since no one would want to risk losing the best of their young generation. But with no other 'witnesses' than us, it'll be hard for them to believe. They'll probably think it's a lie—a desperate attempt to get them to mobilize and save me. Which would end up doing more harm than good." With a bitter smile, Erik added in a heavy tone.
"Knowing my masters, if they found out what's really happening here, they might rush the fortress guarding the entrance without a second thought. And that would be disastrous. Not only could it spark a war that would endanger the whole galaxy, it would also close off any possibility of getting us out from the outside."
Erik splashed water on his face, as if trying to erase that image from his mind. Then he continued in a calmer tone.
"I'm one of the weakest here, but my profile is high, and it seems like a lot of people want me dead. My masters know this, and I'm sure they're already looking for a way to rescue me. But this ruin… not even the legend-levels were able to fully understand it.
"That's why they need to stay calm—with a clear mind. If we tell them everything right now, it'll only upset them and won't do any good. As long as they know I'm in danger and need to get out, that's enough. That'll keep the sense of urgency without clouding their judgment."
"You're right, it's best if they can stay calm and look for a solution." Ebonique agreed, focusing once more on the massage, while Erik let out another sigh and then fell silent.
***
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With Erik's call, Tiberius quickly turned into a kind of dark liquid that fell to the ground, forming a circle. Without hesitating for even a moment, Erik jumped into the circle of darkness, falling at great speed as if into an abyss. At that instant, the egg reached its highest point, and its glow intensified to the extent that it filled the entire place.
[That was close…]
Emerging from the portal of shadows behind a rock at the entrance of the first tunnel, Erik commented in a heavy tone through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon soon replied, her tone equally heavy.
[More than you think. Look at your left hand.]
Surprised, Erik looked at his hand, where he could indeed see his little finger turning gray and hardening rapidly. Eyes wide in shock, Erik quickly looked at Tiberius, who had just reformed, and ordered in a solemn tone.
[Get us out of here. I need to find a way to heal myself.]
Obeying the order, Tiberius once again became the circle of darkness, through which Erik quickly jumped. Appearing from the shadow of a fallen tree near the river, Erik watched with a grave expression as the petrification slowly spread across his hand. The starry-haired boy quickly conjured different runes that began to emit a faint light as they danced around his hand.
At the same time, Ebonique flew out from Erik's head and grew in size, reaching three meters in length, then fixed her gaze on Erik's half-petrified hand. With a solemn voice that tried to keep her anger in check, Ebonique asked, black lightning crackling around her body.
"Can you heal it, Erik?"
"It doesn't seem so." Erik replied seriously, watching as—even though he had used the most powerful light-affinity healing spell he could cast—the petrification continued to advance slowly. Then he added thoughtfully.
"But it seems I can hold it back. The progress has slowed down quite a bit. I think it will give me time to create a potion. But more importantly…" Just after speaking, Erik looked up and asked, carefully studying Ebonique.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Ebonique responded with a warm voice, but it quickly turned serious as she added.
"There's a better way to deal with that petrification."
At that moment, the black electric bolts around the dragon increased in power. The sight of the violently crackling black lightning caused an idea to come to Erik's mind, and he couldn't help but comment in visible surprise as he deactivated the runes around his hand.
"Does your unique ability work for this too?"
"More or less." Ebonique replied as she stretched her right claw toward Erik, where the black lightning was gathering, and continued explaining.
"Since I can separate mana into its base components, I can destroy most spells, and this 'petrification curse' is nothing more than a type of spell. Although that would only stop its progress—you'll still need to heal the petrified parts."
"I see."
Erik nodded in understanding, at which point Ebonique touched his hand with her claw charged with black lightning. Soon, Erik felt a slight numbness in his right hand, and the petrification stopped completely, though two of his fingers and about 20% of his hand had turned to gray stone.
"How are you, Tiberius?" Setting aside his hand, Erik turned to look at the wolf as he returned to his true form and asked with concern.
The wolf let out a sad whimper and fully shifted back to his real form, revealing that a large part of his upper fur and his tail were turning to stone. Erik immediately turned to look at Ebonique, but the dragon was already stretching out her right claw, charged with black electric bolts, toward the wolf.
"Thank you, Ebonique." Erik said sincerely as he watched the imposing dragon surrounded by dark electric arcs. Ebonique replied calmly.
"There's no need to thank me. Your people are my people. Besides, I personally trained this wolf. He's almost like my disciple, so I can't let him die."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. You really are like the 'master' of Kaiser and Tiberius." Erik commented with a small smile as he looked at the black wolf. But the star-haired boy's expression soon turned solemn, and reaching his hand out to Tiberius, he continued.
"But putting that aside, what was that egg, really…?"
"I have no idea." Ebonique replied calmly. "But luckily you realized in time. Otherwise, we could have ended up like the other statues."
"You know, now that I think about it, I don't really believe those statues were actually people." Erik said thoughtfully, starting to explain with a hand on his chin.
"Although for a moment I thought so, and it was almost a clue. Remembering the statues, their bodies were too similar to each other, as if they had been mass-produced. If they were people, there should have been more variation."
"I see…" Ebonique said as she withdrew her claw from Tiberius, having finished destroying the petrification 'curse,' and then asked.
"But what are we going to do now?"
"We still have to go back and check the third tunnel." Erik said, conjuring a large number of runes around Tiberius.
"…" Ebonique was silent for a few seconds, clenching her teeth in frustration, but soon spoke in a dark voice.
"You almost died just a few moments ago, Erik."
"And if I don't manage to understand this place, I'll end up dead anyway." Erik explained, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that the healing spell was working on Tiberius, and soon added.
"Checking out that cave is actually the least dangerous thing for us to do. Besides, we still need to figure out how to set up the lookout post for the basilisk. Its awakening can't catch us off guard."
"…" Ebonique fell silent as she looked at the waterfall. After a few seconds, the dragon sighed and spoke with a bit of resignation.
"I suppose you're right… But promise me that we'll run at the first sign that something's wrong."
"Do you think I'm brave enough not to run?" Erik asked, a bit amused, and added as he conjured runes to heal his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm taking these risks because they're unavoidable. I'm not a reckless fool who puts his life on the line at every chance."
"I hope that's true…" Ebonique replied, letting out a sigh as she shrank down to hide again in Erik's hair.
"It's true." Erik said confidently as he watched the petrification start to disappear from his hand.
...
Once his hand returned to normal, Erik fed Tiberius a good amount of mana, and then carefully ventured back into the cave. Soon, he found himself once again in front of the colossal basilisk, which didn't seem affected by the egg's movements—a real relief. After watching the basilisk for a few moments, Erik set off toward the third tunnel.
Completely hidden by Tiberius's darkness, Erik advanced through the third tunnel with great caution—much more than with the previous two. The tunnel seemed quite long and a bit darker, but aside from that, it appeared to be a normal tunnel. Along the way, Erik didn't find anything out of the ordinary—just rocks and darkness as far as he could see.
After a while, Erik finally saw the end of the tunnel, where, to his surprise, he found what looked like a descending staircase carved into the stone floor. Curious, Erik went down the stairs, gripping Tiberius's fur with one hand and one of his machetes with the other, until he finally reached the bottom.
At the end of the tunnel, Erik found what appeared to be a sort of circular pool in the ground filled with dark water. Around the pool, there was a large number of Aegis system runes carved into the stone, releasing a faint purple glow. Meanwhile, on the walls, there were a few smooth crystals that shone with intense iridescent hues—mana crystals of the highest purity.
[An exit…?] Filled with disbelief, Erik commented through his contract with Ebonique. The dragon quickly asked, full of happiness and excitement.
[Is that what we need to get out of this place?!]
[It's very similar to the place where the initial explorers exited. Although at the same time, it's different.] Erik said as he carefully studied the densely carved runes around the dark lake and continued explaining.
[First of all, the exits they found were outdoors, in what seemed to be half-destroyed temples. But more importantly, the 'pools' didn't have this dark water. According to the data I read, the pools contained a kind of ghostly, illusory purple fire, and that was what would activate to create the exit portal.]
[So it's not an exit?] Ebonique asked, a hint of disappointment in her tone. Erik replied thoughtfully.
[I don't know. It looks a bit similar, but there are also clear differences. Besides, even if it is an exit, it would probably take about six months to activate—just like the ones the initial explorers used. If it ever activates at all… Maybe we should get closer and check it out more carefully…]
[No!] Ebonique 'shouted' urgently, and soon added with visible concern.
[You almost died from petrification just a while ago. We've seen what's here—now it's better to find someone else to test the waters. You could even bring an animal for that. Anything, as long as it's not you who tries it!]
[… You're right. I got a bit carried away.]
Pulled out of his thoughts by Ebonique's 'shout,' Erik commented a bit sheepishly. He really did seem like a reckless person with no fear of death at that moment. But soon the star-haired boy recovered and spoke seriously.
[For now, let's head back. Let's check on the basilisk and figure out how we can set up a lookout post here.]
After taking one last look at the strange pool, Erik went back through the tunnel, soon arriving once again in front of the basilisk. At that moment, Ebonique asked while watching the basilisk from Erik's hair.
[How much longer do you think until it wakes up?]
[I have no idea.] Erik replied calmly as he took a wooden tablet and a piece of charcoal shaped like a pencil wrapped in leaves from the back of his pants, then explained.
[But the fact that we can get this close, even with Tiberius hiding us, can only mean that the basilisk still has some time left before it wakes up. After all, even the most incompetent Arcane-Peak should be able to sense us easily.
[Besides, according to Frank's story, the basilisk only attacked instinctively because his Ethereal Projection came into direct contact with it, and even then, it seems it wasn't instantaneous. So, it shouldn't be a matter of just a day or two. Or at least, that's what I hope.]
[I see… And how are you going to figure out how long it will take to wake up?] Ebonique asked, poking her head out a little from Erik's hair to see what the young man was starting to write on the wooden tablet with the charcoal.
[Well, I really don't know much about devourer basilisks, so it won't be easy.] Erik said thoughtfully as he wrote as small as he could on the wooden tablet. [So, we'll have to do it in the dumbest way possible.]
[The dumbest way?] Ebonique asked, a bit confused. Erik nodded and explained.
[Yes. The dumbest way—by brute force. We're going to record everything about the basilisk at regular intervals and then check for changes. But since we don't know what's important, we'll have to record absolutely everything we can observe. Things like its glow, how close we can get, the rhythm of its breathing, and so on. That'll let us see what's changing and how fast it's happening.]
[At the same time, since we don't know what an awakened basilisk looks like, we'll have to collect data from a good number of magical creatures before they wake up. Even though it won't be very precise, that way we can get an idea of what we should be looking for. Along with the rate of the recorded changes, estimate how long it'll take for it to wake up.]
[That's why you need the lookout post.]
Ebonique commented, realizing the method was actually pretty clever rather than dumb, as Erik had said. The star-haired boy replied as he pulled out the quartz pendulum he'd made earlier from his pants pocket—also known as the 'homemade mana detector.'
[Exactly. Since I have to take care of the potions and the equipment, I can't be here all the time. Someone else will have to do it, and we need the measurements to be as precise as possible. So even though I call it a 'lookout post,' it'll actually just be a few markers I'll leave so the others can use them as reference.]
[You're really smart, Erik…] Ebonique commented with genuine admiration in her tone, mixed with a hint of fascination, as she watched the pendulum swinging from Erik's hand. The star-haired boy chuckled softly and replied, a little amused.
[I don't deserve that much credit. This is the method humanity has used since the beginning to try to understand the unknown—I'm not inventing anything new.]
[…]
Ebonique fell silent upon hearing Erik's answer. Occasionally, her beloved contractor's excessive humility was a bit annoying for the dragon. She wished he would be a little bolder and take the credit he deserved with pride.
But at the same time, Ebonique was fully aware that this mindset was exactly what made her Erik who he was. Someone she was drawn to like a moth to a flame—a pull that went far beyond how special his existence was.
…
After Erik checked the basilisk from every angle and wrote down his findings on his wooden tablet—which ended up completely covered in dense writing—the star-haired boy let out a sigh and stretched lazily. As he put the tablet and charcoal pencil back into the back of his pants, Erik commented calmly.
[It's done. Now we continue with the 'lookout post' before going to take a bath.]
[You're really going to bathe?] Ebonique asked, a bit surprised, since she knew Erik usually used a spell to clean himself two or three times a day. Erik replied in a calm tone as he looked around the cave.
[Of course. I've been working non-stop since I got to these ruins—I deserve a little break.]
[You're right about that; you deserve a long and relaxing rest.] Ebonique said affectionately, making Erik laugh a little.
…
After circling the cave a couple of times, Erik managed to carefully move some rocks to create several reference points he considered important. He used stones of different sizes and shapes to distinguish each spot, marking places for data collection, distances to approach, the extent of the basilisk's scale glow, and more.
Once everything was ready, Erik left the cave, passed through the waterfall again, and landed on the riverbed. After confirming with his Mystic Awareness that there was nothing strange in the river, he took off all his armor and left it under a tree. Then he got into the river, laid down near the shore, and let the rushing water massage his tired body.
But even as his body was relaxing, Erik couldn't help but let his mind wander through all his worries and survival plans. At the same time, he couldn't help but think of his beautiful masters and his strange but equally endearing personal maid.
(Maybe right now they're looking for a way to get us out of here…)
"Ebonique, were you finally able to contact Ignis and inform my masters?" With his eyes closed, Erik asked his trusted contracted spirit, who was gently massaging his scalp with her claws, causing a very relaxing tingling sensation.
"Yes. But communication isn't easy." Ebonique replied in a calm voice. "I was barely able to send a message, but that was before we knew this was a trap. Ignis only knows that you lost your magic artifacts… Should I try to send another message?"
"Could Hiyori or another spirit send a message like you?" Erik asked in a calm voice. Ebonique stopped her massage for a moment, uncertain how to answer. After a few seconds, the dragon replied softly.
"… Without someone like Ignis on the other side, it's difficult."
"Then it's better not to say anything for now—at least until we find a way for others to send messages out without relying on Ignis." Erik said after a small sigh, then added.
"Although if those outside knew the real danger in here, it would make cooperation easier, since no one would want to risk losing the best of their young generation. But with no other 'witnesses' than us, it'll be hard for them to believe. They'll probably think it's a lie—a desperate attempt to get them to mobilize and save me. Which would end up doing more harm than good." With a bitter smile, Erik added in a heavy tone.
"Knowing my masters, if they found out what's really happening here, they might rush the fortress guarding the entrance without a second thought. And that would be disastrous. Not only could it spark a war that would endanger the whole galaxy, it would also close off any possibility of getting us out from the outside."
Erik splashed water on his face, as if trying to erase that image from his mind. Then he continued in a calmer tone.
"I'm one of the weakest here, but my profile is high, and it seems like a lot of people want me dead. My masters know this, and I'm sure they're already looking for a way to rescue me. But this ruin… not even the legend-levels were able to fully understand it.
"That's why they need to stay calm—with a clear mind. If we tell them everything right now, it'll only upset them and won't do any good. As long as they know I'm in danger and need to get out, that's enough. That'll keep the sense of urgency without clouding their judgment."
"You're right, it's best if they can stay calm and look for a solution." Ebonique agreed, focusing once more on the massage, while Erik let out another sigh and then fell silent.
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