Chapter 7: More Enemies

As Mar keeps exploring the cave, he keeps count of how many slimes he has killed, "That was the 7th one", he recalls. Mar picks up his bow from the ground where he placed it to fight the 7th slime. Whenever Mar gets into a fight he has to either use his bow or place it on the ground so that he can use his dagger for combat. Mar has nothing that will help him carry the bow on his back, his cloak his no place to accommodate the bow.

Mar keeps walking through the tunnel of the cave and continues to fight various slimes, as he keeps going, he sees more variety in the slimes, some are faster while others are bigger. Usually the smaller the slime the faster and the bigger the slower. This was at least a pattern that Mar had seen up until now. Until, he faces slime number 12. This slime is bigger than any other Mar has seen and Mar quickly abandons the idea of using a dagger to kill the slime.

To kill a slime, you have to break the "core" inside of the monster. If the slime is too big it becomes borderline impossible to reach into the monster without getting your hand, forearm or whole arm burnt by the corrosivity of the slime. Even if Mar was willing to burn his whole arm, his dagger has been turned into a stump and is now just useful as a tool to bash into the cores of the slimes. This forces Mar to use his bow, with the two arrows remaining and the path to the rest of the cave blocked by this huge slime, Mar had to use one arrow.

*Pituiiiii*

Mar hears the huge slime spit and he hears a whistling as it flies straight past his ear. Thankfully the monster was far enough away that Mar was able to dodge at the last second. The spit was fast and from the sizzling Mar can hear behind him, he could tell it was not fun to get hit by. Mar instantly takes the initiative and decides to charge a destructive shot arrow. He reasons, "if the arrow is going to get destroyed by the corrosion anyway, why not make sure that I get a good hit on the slime." Mar gets into a stance, takes an arrow from his quiv—

*Pituiiiii*

Mar is interrupted by the slime spitting again and immediately dashes to the side, with his left hand on the bow and his right holding an arrow. This slime seems to spit much faster than the others and Mar knows he doesn't have much more time before the next projectile makes its way towards him. Mar quickly nocks the arrow and charges it with the unknown power. It feels easier to charge the bow and the arrow with the power, as if he has gotten better at using it. Mar lets go of the arrow and listens for the sound of the slime's core shattering.

*Crrkkk*

The core has been broken and Mar has discovered something. When Mar was using the unknown power to charge the destructive shot, he had to circulate some of the power throughout his body to get it into his fingers where his bow and his arrow were. While he was circulating it some of the runoff energy was making its way to his eyes and he was able to see more clearly in the dark. Mar tried to push some of the unknown energy towards his eyes and notices that he can not only see in the dark but he can see more acutely and almost, zoom in on things he is looking at. As an archer, this is a very important new skill. Mar looks around the tunnel and realizes that the huge slime had been guarding an entrance to a small cavern.

This small cavern seemed abandoned, as if someone had previously lived here. Mar takes step after step, taking in his surroundings. The small cavern almost looks like a mineshaft, with strong wooden scaffolding everywhere, supporting the cavern and making sure it wouldn't cave it on itself. Four metal support beams can be seen between the center and each corner of the rectangular cavern, holding up the scaffolding. The support beams look odd to Mar's eyes and he gets closer to take a more detailed look. Mar taps on the metal beams and figures out what was troubling him, "these beams are made of solid metal! They look as if someone who didn't care about the material cost put these in, something of solid metal, this size would be incredibly expensive.

Back on earth natural resources had slowly been running out and governments around the world slowed the procuration of such materials. This was done carefully, they made sure that the people would still survive and not have to worry about lack of resources, however, things that weren't as expensive before became astronomically so. Prices for mundane things like kitchen knives tripled as a result of the limited mining that the new world order established. Metals, among many other things, became more expensive, Mar didn't even want to think of how expensive these metal rods would be.

Mar thinks about what kind of person would buy such a thing, when he suddenly has a thought, "what if, this unknown power, can create... A metal beam of this size couldn't have been transported here through the windy tunnels I had crawled though. The only way this could have been done is if it was made here with the unkn— no. If it was created here, with the unknown power. A shiver is sent down Mar's spine and he mutters under his breath, "what are the limits, how far can you go with this power, even, the power of creation is in my hands!"

A voice snickers and then says, "Well, I wouldn't say it would be so easy for a human, but for one of my kind, indeed, the limits of magic are truly boundless."