Chapter 38: Exploring The Underground Burrow

When Lucas had made each talisman, he did so in good faith that they would work as simulated. As he was residing within the West Wing district, there was no means of testing any of his creations.

For a talisman like the beast attracting, testing wasn't exactly necessary. It was already well known that desolate beasts were attracted to the scent of blood, and most of them wouldn't mind having a bite of human flesh. All this increased the odds of the talisman working out, and the only problem was simply the range the scent and aura radiated by the talisman could cover.

A talisman like the aura-erasing was also not difficult to test out. With the current advancements in technology, infrared cameras sold for peanuts. There were also cameras equipped with scent-identifying capabilities. Gas detectors were already a thing back on Earth, so for an advanced civilisation like this, a scent-identifying camera wasn't out of the ordinary.

However, even with all of this, there was no assurance that Lucas could hide away from the Green-Snout Metal mole's senses. He had no knowledge of its extent, and for technology capable of perfectly mimicking the creature, Lucas couldn't afford them. Hence, his products were made using experimental data from his past life.

To decrease the chances of getting detected, Lucas needed a distraction.

Lucas retreated away from the monster and arrived at a different location. Here, he took out a talisman which turned out to be a beast attracting talisman. However, he didn't just activate it. An average beast attracting talisman might work against any carnivorous or bloodthirsty desolate beast, but the major food of the Green-Snout Metal mole was metals. As such, Lucas had to make some small changes to the talisman.

Lucas withdrew a slab of some slightly precious soft metal and chopped off a piece from it. He then crushed it and sprinkled the dust on the centre of the talisman while chanting some mysterious words. By doing this, the talisman would absorb the essence of the metal and attach it to itself. This was seen right away as part of the metal dust was clearly being absorbed by the talisman.

By doing this, once the talisman was activated, it would no longer simply possess the aura and scent of blood, but also the metal used. Lucas didn't consider using the Purple Iridium metal or Red Iris stone even if it was just a slight piece, because the value was way too much to be used as bait. Also, any metal would do and while the aforementioned two would be more effective, there was no difference between 100% and 300% in this scenario. As long as he could draw the beast away, it didn't matter.

After all the arrangements were done, Lucas stepped away and returned to his previous hiding spot from which he then activated the talisman and waited.

It took only two minutes for the Green-Snout Metal mole that was gnawing in a few metal pieces to begin sniffing its nose and turning in the direction of the talisman. A gluttonous gaze appeared on its face as it stated tightly in that direction. The beast seemed to hesitate a bit for whatever reason, but it couldn't hold onto reason again as it stood up and immediately dashed towards the talisman.

'Now.'

Once the Green-Snout Metal mole was away, Lucas activated all three talismans hanging from his body and dashed towards the hole in front. Although the Green-Snout Metal mole was quite fast as it was a third level monster, Lucas was still able to cover the hundred metres gap in time and dive into the hole.

Inside the whole was dark with a cold breeze blowing through it at the moment. Lucas ignored all of this as he kept sliding his way deeper into the hole. By now, the Green-Snout Metal mole should have found out that there was no delicacy and would return back to its meal. If it were a bit cautious, it would check the tunnel, so Lucas had to make sure he had gone far enough to be safe from such a possibility.

The tunnel was long and wide unlike what Lucas had expected. The structure was stable enough to have two Green-Snout Metal moles pass by side by side. When he had gone down for about fifty metres or so, Lucas finally landed on a horizontal surface. Thanks to the special shoes, he barely made a sound when doing so.

The tunnel was so dark that one could barely see their fingers the further they went in. It was only thanks to the lighting from the exit point fifty metres above that Lucas could see the area five metres ahead of him. However, if he wanted to explore the burrow, he would need to be able to see past this distance. Luckily, Lucas had predicted such a scenario.

Mineral lodes were synonymous with underground terrain and cave networks, so Lucas had considered the possibility of low lighting when he made his preparations. However, as the Cicalien Mountains was a danger-filled zone, using something like a flashlight would be a bad idea. Flashlights, however, were not the only solution. Even on Earth, there were night vision goggles and infrared glasses. Lucas had purchased a special goggle equipped with night vision and infrared capabilities from the base station.

As the zone fashioned to accommodate freelancers, equipment such as this was very easy to find anywhere, including at the Guild Centre building.

Armed with the goggles for sight, Lucas began venturing in deeper into the tunnel in a cautious format, least he attracts unwanted attention.

At first, the tunnel was quite simplistic, despite being wide, was just a single underground corridor that led forward for up to three hundred metres. But when Lucas approached the three hundred metres point, he encountered a junction that had three paths ahead of him, all in different directions.

Taking the wrong road would not only cost him time, but might even place Lucas at risk, so he had to consider his options carefully. At one point Lucas had even tried to question the system for help, but it was of no use. In the end, he settled for the path on the right as based on his investigation, was the most frequented path of the three.

The reason why Lucas picked based on such a premise was because the Green-Snout Metal mole would have to regularly return to its home after scavenging for metals or monitoring the area. For that reason, the road which led to its home would be the most used of the three.