Crystal

My little episode had calmed down. Erin was still there, lightly patting my head.

My eyes searched for something in the ceiling.

"Erin... I am going to leave."

Erin had a small frown.

"...Why?"

My eyes narrowed.

"I must become more powerful, so that I can protect everyone."

Erin smiled bitterly.

"...The other me will probably appreciate that."

The healing spell my mind was casting finished. My body felt a little better, and to my surprise, half of my hand grew back.

It was a weird sensation having only stubs as fingers. My mind continued to cast another healing spell.

The corner of my lip twitched.

"...Could you tell everyone else that I left?"

Erin pouted.

"...Ok."

Erin looked at me silently, while my mind was casting the healing spell.

My mind was able to finish the second healing spell, and my hand had fully regrown.

With that, I sat up in bed.

Erin's eyes widened.

"What are you doing! Are you not injured?"

My head shook.

"I can heal myself, my hand is already back, see?"

My left hand was pulled out from the covers and flexed a few times. Erin blinked as if to make sure she was seeing this correctly.

"...You are leaving now?"

I nodded.

Erin tilted her head.

"Not even going to say goodbye to everyone?"

My head shook.

"Sorry, I just don't want to waste any more time."

Erin had a long look at me.

"...Is this goodbye then? I hardly even got to know you."

A small sigh slipped out of me.

"Yes... Tell Alyx that her Evil Null spell can make the eagles and other wildlife edible, you can probably get a good amount of food from them."

Erin smiled softly.

"Ok... don't let what is ahead of you distract you from what is in front of you."

My finger scratched the side of my head.

"Uh, ok?."

...

My body was resting on a tree, in my hand was a wooden stake and there was a wolf coat draped over me.

I was unsure of what to do, so ideas and plans were being formulated in my mind.

The pedestal from before was empty...

Osric and Mark were at that place before, did they get anything that was previously on the pedestal?

An image flashed in my mind. It was a kid holding a knife and piece of meat while standing over a corpse.

People fight each other for what they deem valuable and it didn't feel like Osric and Mark were exactly friends...

So... maybe the pedestal was always empty?

...How were they able to leave so easily then?

Ah, whatever.

When the gemstone was put in the indent of the pedestal, there seemed to be some changes. However, it appears the gemstone either was not strong enough or was not the proper object required to activate whatever mechanism it was.

It seems that was a dead end until I could find something for it.

The only other thing to be noted was that cave...

There was that strange hole that led somewhere, but there was no easy way to get in.

...Unless I teleported inside.

The teleportation for whatever reason did not need mana, so despite being in a manaless place, it should be fine.

A lingering bit of fear remained from the last incident. If the teleportation was done poorly, there would be severe consequences.

My hand was on my chin when a sudden shriek made my ears hurt.

There was an eagle diving me.

For a moment, the vision of when the man in black clothes charged me appeared in my head.

My hand holding the stake slowly raised.

The eagle was only a meter away, then my figure disappeared.

My figure reappeared in the middle of the air, while the eagle behind me was bleeding from its head and falling to the ground.

My body also fell, in a panic, my limbs flailed aimlessly.

Thankfully, my fall was broken by the snow.

After getting up and shaking my head, my eyes looked once more towards the eagle, then came my decision to find the cave.

...

In my pocket were two peppers encased in ice, and there were two cooked bunnies in my hands.

My feet were carefully treading the side of a mountain, sometimes pulling back the foot that was just put down.

Suddenly, my foot simply pushed through the snow. Before my balance was lost, my foot pulled back.

After taking a deep breath, I jumped in.

The fall lasted a few seconds.

My feet hit the ground hard and my knees buckled.

After a few moments, I walked down the cave.

There was a three-horned demon that was already dead. One of my hands held on to a stake, while the other was awkwardly holding two bunnies.

The stake moved aside the demon's wrinkly and pale skin. There was a large translucent gemstone.

My mind attempted to draw mana from the gemstone, but there was none inside.

After putting it away, my eyelids started to unconsciously flutter.

I backtracked, to avoid any lizards. After eating a rabbit, my body laid down and sleep came naturally.

...

At some point, my eyes flew open. The rabbit that I still had was cold, but I ate it anyway.

With that, my cave exploration session continued.

Down the tunnel were a few lizards here and there, but they did not pose any significant problem.

Soon I came to a fork, without much thought, my feet spun towards the left one.

There was a group of three lizards, but the encounter did not have any major issues.

One of the lizards attempted to lunge at me, but with a sidestep, my stake pierced its head while in midair.

The other two followed up but were unable to catch up to my figure. After dodging out of the way, my stake pierced the lizard's head before it hit the ground.

My foot kicked the other lizard that was about to attack me. The kick did not push the lizard far but bought time. My stake was pulled out of the lizard and was successfully stabbed into the last lizard after it lunged at me.

The journey down the tunnel resumed.

Soon, a clearing was reached. My hand touched the left side of the wall and I began walking, my eyes focusing on the wall.

It did not take too long to reach the hole in the wall once again. My body crouched down and my eyes searched for a crystal, which was found after my hand patted the ground a few times.

After tearing a cloth from my clothes, it was used to tightly wrap the crystal onto my arm.

My vision suddenly spanned the whole cave.

The countless lizards appeared in my vision.

My eyes examined the lizards that were in my vision.

Some lizards were eating where the black grass was sparse. There were also two larger lizards closer to the middle that were attacking one another while on top of a small hill with a decent amount of black grass.

As for the biggest lizard, it was just laying at the end of the cave with its eyes closed. There were no other lizards nearby.

It was like a king. I guess a fitting term was lizard king.

My eyes turned back into the hole in the wall.

Honestly, I just didn't want to teleport and was stalling for time.

For what stalling for time would do, I did not know.

A deep breath slowly filled my lungs.

My eyes widened and my pupils constricted.

My hand was slowly raised, then a tight feeling wrapped around me.

As expected, the teleportation went through despite the lack of mana.

My breathing was uneven, but my feet were standing atop the partially crystalized room.

No problems occurred.

I then walked down the pathway. As my steps echoed, the crystals filled more of the surroundings and shone with a deeper sheen.

There was no mana in the air, but for some reason, there was a sensation as though it returned.

My mind tried to draw in mana and confirmed it didn't, however.

After stumbling, I realized that my body was wavering. This didn't seem to be a good thing, but I paid no heed.

My breathing gradually became heavy and there was a ringing pain in my head.

There was a sense of urgency to turn back, but there were slight fluctuations that ignited my curiosity.

This time, a clear force opposed my advancement.

It was as if my steps were trying to oppose gravity itself.

Gradually, these fluctuations became visible, distorting the images in my sight.

They were emanating from a black crystal that was floating in the air. It was surrounded by many different large black crystals, and any semblance of rock disappeared.

A cough forced its way through my throat.

Although my curiosity was satisfied, a carrot was now hanging in front of my face, just out of reach.

After a sigh, I made my way back.

After reaching the hole again, my eyes widened, pupils constricted, and my figure suddenly appeared across the wall.

...So close yet so far.

My eyes looked back to the king lizard. It was resting as it always was.

But... Now that I think about it, the crystal that released those huge fluctuations should be right behind the king lizard, yet it didn't seem to be affected.