Chapter 206: Return—Ecosystem

With a new encouraging sign in sight, Auren decides to press on and dive further through the tunnel.Swimming forward and using En, he notices that the somewhat tight tunnel slowly opens up. The walls pull away little by little, until he can sense a larger chamber ahead, one that’s not flooded with water.

Speeding up, Auren reaches the point where the tunnel ends, and he can potentially leave the water.

Carefully keeping up En, he makes sure there isn’t a bad surprise waiting for him before he finally ascends.

As he finally pushes his head out of the water, Auren sees a large, empty cavern. Surprisingly, the cavern isn’t dark. A steady glow fills the space, because the walls, the ground, and even the ceiling above are covered in a sparkling material—large crystal formations spread throughout the entire cavern.

Quartz? Some kind of crystal? Stone? Some kind of ore? It could be anything. I should take a few samples. The fact that it produces light at all feels rare. This shouldn’t be possible, not down here. That must be the source, and it would also explain why there is fish and plant life in here. Let’s look around first.

Auren walks along the edge of the cavern and quickly realises the tunnel he dove out of has transformed into a full underground river. It cuts through the cavern and separates the two sides like a natural border.

Still, he can tell the water is flowing downward. The river grows smaller and smaller as it continues, narrowing into a tighter channel and picking up more and more speed along the way.

At the far end, the water reaches such an absurd angle—and the current becomes so fast—that Auren doesn’t want to risk exploring further. He isn’t sure he could fight his way back up the stream, and he has no intention of trapping himself down wherever the river leads.

That leaves him with the glowing material all around him.

Auren makes sure to pick samples from the ground first, where several formations vaguely resemble stalagmites. He collects more from the walls on both sides, taking a few pieces from different spots instead of relying on a single sample. After that, he looks up.

Can’t reach... so let me try this!

He then uses Eternity and activates Limitless Waters, relying on his ability in Emission to cut off a sample from the ceiling, from crystals vaguely pointing downwards like stalactites. The piece breaks off cleanly and drops into his hand.

That should suffice... if we need more, I can always come back and get it. If these crystals—or whatever they are—turn out to be truly valuable, it might even be worth setting up a mining operation here and digging down from the ceiling or through the side of the mountain. Maybe Elder Rein could do it by himself in a couple of days, since digging seems to be his specialty. Of course, these crystals would need to be important enough for him to actually leave the mountain city. I’ll leave that decision to the others, though.

With the bags Leira gave him now completely full, Auren returns to the river and jumps back into the water.

The added weight doesn’t bother him much. He dives through the tunnels with steady speed, having explored the network to the best of his ability for now, and already knowing the layout well enough not to waste time.

Finally, he ascends again—only to immediately smell the scent of blood, mixed with something that smells genuinely delicious. The contrast is so sharp that Auren picks up on it instantly.

He looks over and sees a large gas cooker in the distance, with a pan on top of it, searing freshly cut fish meat right there on the spot.

Did Leira take that with her? That seems a little excessive. No wonder her backpack was comically large. We had rations and energy bars with us. That should have been enough, but I guess a little freshly roasted fish doesn’t hurt. These piranhas smell surprisingly delicious.

It turns out the others have brought up all the fish Auren killed and butchered them on site. They have also removed all the eggs from the female specimens, storing them in various bottles, pouches, and even bags, whatever Leira can find in her supplies. From what Auren can tell, that isn’t a small amount either—he judges it to be at least hundreds of thousands, as most eggs are extremely tiny.

The question is whether they are viable...

Their bodies, apart from the meat now being grilled, haven’t gone to waste. Leira even kept the light green scales, which shine beautifully in the glow of their flashlights and the stove. She also kept the teeth and some organs, which Auren finds slightly disgusting, even if he understands why she would do it.

Samples over samples... isn’t this overkill? Well, probably yes... but for a researcher, this could be useful. I might have recruited another weird follower.

Eating the roasted, freshly caught fish, everyone has the same expression—aside from Auren and Leira, who look calm and unbothered.

“Is something wrong?” Auren asks, staring at Neffi, Vanessa, and even Eren. “It doesn’t taste too bad. Fairly average, I’d say. Since they’re freshly roasted, these are fine to eat.”

“They taste so ordinary,” Neffi responds, “that it’s slightly disappointing. Yeah, I can’t complain either but I expected something more... unique, you know? I also tried them raw, and let’s just say the taste wasn’t great either.”

“Yeah... not good at all,” Vanessa says, taking another big bite despite her apparent disappointment. “I wanna eat roasted wolf, beaver, bear, or even fox... these are boring... just bland and disappointing..”

“I wonder how they could survive down there,” Eren wonders. “What did they eat?”

“Probably that moss,” Auren guesses. “It grows all over the place, especially in that cavern I visited at the end. Still, they preferred meat, it seems.” He pauses. “Speaking of that cavern... it contained one thing of interest.” He taps the bags. “These were all over the place. At least a dozen tons of them, probably more. As you can see... they have a faint glow.”

Auren then reveals his findings to the others, dropping the crystals onto the ground.

“Interesting,” Leira says immediately, grabbing a small piece. “This cave might be a more important discovery than you think. The moss, the fish, even these crystals—together, they managed to create a functioning ecosystem. These are exactly the discoveries needed to improve people’s lives.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a little?” Vanessa questions her, looking more than just a little doubtful.

“I hate to say it,” Auren says, “but I tend to agree with Vanessa this time... it’s not like fish are a rare commodity. These parts seem full of them, and nobody is competing with us for them.”

“If these fish can be bred, you can set up a farm anywhere, even further inland,” Leira continues. “Since they rely solely on this moss, it also seems to be a highly fast-growing and nutritious kind. As for the crystals, they are something I haven’t seen at all, as they are able to produce light deep underground. This could be a new source of energy.” She looks at the piece in her hand. “I’ll research them, but their worth could be a huge discovery for science. Thankfully, we have scientists and researchers from all over the world here.”

She hesitates for a moment, then continues anyway. “If I understand correctly, Hollow Blade steals... no, acquires information from all over the world, yet it keeps its own research and findings to itself, right? Over the long run, this could lead to a gap in information and research. That would be a huge advantage for Hollow Blade... no. Us.”

That is true... though it makes us sound like thieves. I guess... we are thieves.

“I see,” Auren replies. “Well, it’s good that you’re confident and positive. Let’s rest for a while before we head back tomorrow.”

“Don’t you want to go further?” Vanessa asks. “Explore more? I want to train more as well! This wasn’t enough for me!”

“Of course,” Auren says calmly, not discussing his decision, “but we’ll head back tomorrow. There’s no need to overdo it. As far as I can tell, Leira’s backpack is pretty full already. We also need to report and analyse our findings, then send people here to collect whatever has value.”

“We’ll do more trips, I promise you,” Auren assures her. “Also, we still have the way back. We’ll slightly change our route to cover more terrain, so don’t relax yet.”

“Okay!” Vanessa replies, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

“I’ll stay awake. You should rest now,” Auren announces, activating Zetsu and briefly closing his eyes, Eternity softly held in his hands.

“I’ll relieve you in a couple of hours,” Neffi says, looking slightly guilty.

“I can do that as well,” Eren interjects, while Leira just smiles, seemingly enjoying the group dynamic.

Only Vanessa doesn’t say anything, as she is already dozing off, lying on the ground under a blanket, using a bag as a pillow.

Having eaten, the rest of the group also pulls out blankets and settles down.

Thankfully, the cave isn’t too cold, and they have no real problem enduring a few hours of rest on the hard cave ground.

Auren stays awake, using Zetsu. Exactly as promised, Neffi relieves him after a few hours, allowing him to sleep for a bit.

The next day, fairly well rested, the group exits the cave.

After briefly and unsuccessfully exploring the mountains for a few more hours, they return.

As they make their way back, they encounter no dangerous animals. Still, just when they’re about to reach Landing Point A, Auren spots another monstrous bear in the distance, the same size as the one they encountered yesterday.

“This is mine...!” Vanessa announces, holding back her energetic voice so as not to alarm her target before activating Ren. She concentrates a large amount of Aura on her fist, needing almost ten seconds to fully charge up, her face showing an excited yet also strained look.

Is she aiming this time? I hope so.

Finally, she punches forward. A large amount of Aura shoots out, then almost instantly vanishes in front of her.

A few seconds later, a large, meteor-like Nen object becomes visible in the sky.

The bear, unaware of Vanessa’s Hatsu, doesn’t react in time. It only manages to lift its head upwards, most likely acting on sheer instinct, feeling the hostile Aura, before the fist-like meteor makes direct contact, smashing into its body. It kills the bear in a single hit, violently punching a hole through its chest and setting off an impact and explosion so strong that it tears the body apart. An extremely loud sound echoes through the forest.

It actually sounds like a meteor... and it looks like one too. This huge beast was killed in one shot... and the ground has a crater. It looks like an actual meteor landed here.

“I... I did it! In one shot! See, I can control it after all! I’m improving already!” Vanessa celebrates, cheering loudly and even hugging Neffi. Neffi barely stays calm, visibly resisting the urge to shove her away.

“That was great,” Auren notes. “However... why did you do it, exactly? We could have easily walked around that thing.”

“I... it might have attacked the camp!” Vanessa says, suddenly looking a little embarrassed, trying to justify her rash actions.

“Do you want to clear the entire forest because the animals and beasts might attack us?” Neffi asks, clearly not agreeing with her.

“She isn’t wrong entirely,” Leira notes, defending her. “It was pretty close to our landing point. I think, though rash, her decision was correct.”

“Thank you!” Vanessa says, smiling. “You are kinder than I thought, Leira. I think we’ll be able to get along just fine!”

How simple.... I have to say one thing, however. Her Hatsu is damn impressive. If she uses it on an unsuspecting, preferably stationary target, it’s extremely impressive. Though not easy to use, this is definitely a very potent Hatsu.

Exactly as Leira finishes her sentence, multiple armed soldiers approach, spotting the group.

“Welcome back, Vice-Leader!” they say. “Allow us to collect your... prey and escort you back.”

“See what you can salvage,” Auren says, shrugging, looking at the soldiers stare in shock at the meat paste in front of them.

“Sorry about that,” Vanessa says, rubbing her head.