Chapter 571
Ajax wasn’t surprised when nothing tried to ambush him on his way out of the high Mana density area, while the higher Mana density meant that there were a lot more monsters than there had been around the dungeon all of them were still around the low to mid eighties with a few knocking on the door to level ninety
Using the ingredients found in the high Mana density area Ajax started crafting a few underwater breathing potions, he was glad the ingredients he found could be used like that, unfortunately it worked that way by mostly using the secondary effects of the plants found and accentuating them during the brewing of the potion. This meant that the end result would not only be hard to obtain reliably but there would also be a long downtime between doses or he would risk an overdose. The overdose wouldn’t poison him but it could affect the potion.
It wasn’t long before Ajax finished brewing five successful doses, he guessed it would be at least three hours between doses but he wouldn’t push it just to be on the safe side, the potion should give him ten minutes of underwater breathing and that should be enough for him to make it past any underwater sections of the cave tomorrow.
But before he ventured into the depths Ajax still had another lap of the area to take, this time in the middle of the night. Much like the regular jungle nocturnal predators were very much a thing and Ajax wanted to know what lived and hunted in the area, after all he didn’t know when he would exit the cavern or what state he’d be in when he did so.
This lap of the area took a bit longer for Ajax to do, almost all nocturnal creatures had at least one Stealth Skill and that meant he had to take more time to make sure he got a good look at all of them and that he wasn’t missing anything. By the time he was done the sun was almost rising.
None of this bothered Ajax, knowing there was nothing around that could threaten him he headed straight for the waterfall eager to explore the hidden depths. One thing that did put Ajax on guard was that none of the maps he had mentioned anything about the waterfall or the cave, it had clearly been here for centuries yet it seemed like it didn’t make it in any of the records about this place.
Looking behind the waterfall the cave entrance was large but the only tunnel he could see leading deeper was small, not even twice as wide as he was, and it was flooded. Taking one of his freshly brewed potion Ajax stored any of his clothing and remained in his armor, it was mildly uncomfortable but he didn’t want to get everything soaked, the added weight could matter not to mention the opening it would provide to any water specialized monster he might find in the tunnels if his clothing was soaked.
The first thing Ajax picked up on as he swam down the tunnel was that this was clearly a naturally formed tunnel, at two points he had to use his Earth Mana to widen the tunnel so he could comfortably pass through. Thankfully the flooded section ended about four minutes in long before his potion had expired, more than that it was a straight shot without any side tunnels that could throw him off on his return, this was most likely a result of it being flooded and not just having water running through eroding away the rock. In the chamber with the small pool at the bottom of which lay the tunnel however Ajax found himself presented with two paths he could take.
One of the paths he could take was similar to the one he took on the way here but the other was clearly made by something, it was too uniform of a tunnel for it not to be. It barely took a moment for Ajax to decide to go down the path that was made by a creature, not because he was looking for a fight so much as this path led in the direction of the center of the area.
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Before he started heading down the tunnel however Ajax started to more actively use the pathfinder tool. It was specifically designed to explore caves and Ajax wanted to make sure he wouldn’t take a wrong turn if he had to run from something that he might find in the depths.
It didn’t take long for the tunnel to start branching off, clearly this wasn’t just a single tunnel but more of a burrow formed by a series of connected tunnels . Instead of blindly pushing forward Ajax stopped for a moment. He knew that there should be a way to use Vibration Mana for some form of echo location scouting and this was the perfect place to try it out. The high Mana density in the area would make the rock all around him study enough not to throw off the sound.
After a few attempts followed by a bit of exploration Ajax was starting to get the hang of it. He couldn’t map anything with his new application of Vibration Mana but one thing he did manage to figure out was if the path led to a dead end. There was something different about the vibrations coming back if they had nowhere to go. If he was asked what it was that was different Ajax had no idea how to explain it, he wouldn’t even know how to teach this to someone other than by doing and building up an instinct for it.
The pathfinder was priceless during his exploration, it was clear that whatever creature or creatures lived in these tunnels they had been busy digging out a large set of interconnected tunnels, twice so far Ajax had found himself having done a full circle before he headed on deeper towards the center of the area.
More troubling than the tunnels however was the literal shit Ajax found around the tunnels. He wasted no time placing it all in one of the spacial rings he had brought with him, but if the Mana density in the excrement was anything to go by the creature living here was at the very least a deadly threat to him. The only reason Ajax chose not to instantly turn back was that there was no trace of Earth Mana to be found in the creatures shit, this would mean that he would at least be able to use all the rock they were surrounded by to form a series of walls so that he could run away from it if it was too much. The only issues being if there was more than a single one of the creatures here.
Another thing Ajax picked up on as he continued to explore the tunnels was that he was slowly but surely going deeper and deeper underground. This had some real significance as it meant whatever was creating the high Mana density area clearly had a lot more power than he had originally thought.
It was around half an hour later when Ajax was nearing the limit in terms of connected waypoints the pathfinder could place when Ajax was sure that the center of the area was in the cavern up ahead, the ambient Mana had been slowly picking up and in the room ahead Ajax’s [Mana Syphon] placed it around level one hundred and eight for a dungeon floor.
Entering the cavern Ajax was surprised at what he found. The most obvious was the smell of the place, it was covered in shit by whatever creature called this place a home. Thankfully for Ajax the creature or creatures weren’t anywhere to be seen. After blocking out the smell and starting to collect as much of the natural fertilizer as he could, Ajax's attention locked on to something.
Unlike the rest of the tunnels these cavers had the walls slowly mined out, more than that he could sense a very Mana rich metal vein running through the walls of the place. On the few bits of exposed metal that he did sense Ajax noticed they were all covered by moss.
In all his years studying alchemy Ajax hadn’t encountered anything like that moss. According to [Sense Mana] it was the moss that was responsible for the high Mana density area, it was eating the metal and releasing large amounts of Mana as a byproduct of feeding ever so slowly on the metal vein.
Ajax wished that he had more time to examine both the moss and the metal it was feeding on, unfortunately his time had been cut short when the tunnel on the opposite end of the cavern was suddenly blocked by a large rodent.
The creature looked like a mix between a hamster and a mouse with sharp claws like a mole. More immediately important to Ajax however was the simple fact the creature was level on hundred and seventy, something he didn’t need [Judge Threat] to tell him would be a death sentence if he chose to fight.
Ajax didn’t make a sudden move, slowly backing away from the room and towards the exit tunnel, he could feel the beady eyes of the rodent following him all the while. Ajax unfortunately couldn’t get a sample of the moss, he simply couldn’t put it inside the spacial ring while it was still alive so he settled for the next best thing, he collected a small sample of the metal the moss was feeding on.
The moment he put the piece of metal in his ring the rodent let out a ear spliting wail before it charged towards Ajax, clearly the rodent had been feeding on the moss and it was very much against Ajax taking anything that related to its food supply in any way.