Chapter 14: Exploring the biggest mountain

Three months have passed since Reeves began learning the magus path at the same time he tried to relearn cultivation. Reeves made tremendous progress but reached a bottleneck. The Spiritual Qi wasn't so dense here his progress was limited. He was at the peak of beginner Magus Realm and Spiritual Qi Condensation Realm close to their next stage.

"Findir, I'm unable to progress further. It's hard to do both paths simultaneously. I'm at a bottleneck and can't break through it. Let's discover and explore our surroundings!"

"Well, I'm also at a bottleneck. I'm so close to breaking through the six stage of the master Magus realm."

"We should look where we want to build the sect. My idea is here in the flatlands."

Reeves didn't like the idea at all and said. "I think that's too open here. It only needs to be someone in the Grandmaster or Nascent Soul Realm who happens to be flying overhead. Then we would be history."

Findir replied. "We should still consider building something here, even if it is not our headquarters. It would be perfect to build a big city. For example, we could move people here."

"Now let's look at the five gigantic mountains. It covered them with fog, which makes the whole thing even more mystical. Don't you think so too? We won't be able to train any further for the time being, anyway. We need a distraction. Maybe we can find a solution to our problem!"

"I think the idea is bad. Who will save you when a danger comes that is far stronger than me?"

"Well, I can give you some moral support. Besides, Erran said that there is no one stronger than you nearby. So we should be safe for now."

"All right, but I'm warning you, don't make any catastrophes. We're just looking at the area. If I'm in a tight spot you have to flee here, understand?"

Reeves nodded.

Both set off on the largest of the five mountains. The closer they got to the mountain, the denser the forest became. The fog also made it harder to see 10 meters ahead.

"Reeves, stay close to me! Even I find it hard to see through this dense fog!"

Suddenly, they found old structures overgrown with grass.

Reeves was excited. "It seems that someone before us had the same idea to populate the mountains. These structures look magical. This is not a human construction method that I know of."

"You are right. No matter what it was, it has been destroyed for a long time." Findir walked further to the mountain.

"Wait a minute, Findir. You see, the big debris there. It looks partly like a huge entrance to something."

"Hmm, you're right. There seems to be something behind it. Let me push the enormous stones away with my magic."

Findir said something in her language. Suddenly, the stones flew and moved to the side.

"What did you say? Was that a spell?"

"Yes, that was a spell. You'll be able to do that someday. But it's no use for me to explain that to you. It's far beyond your ability. You don't even have a mana core. So forget it. I will not teach you yet."

Reeves thought 'Magic is pretty cool. Unfortunately, I can just manipulate the lightning particles. I wonder when I can finally learn such a spell! I find cultivation better than magic so far. With cultivation, I can at least already destroy things and strengthen my body. Ha, I hope I will not regret learning magic. At the same time, I could have worked much further on my cultivation.'

Slowly, one could see an entrance to the mountain interior. The gate seems to have been destroyed. Both went into the entrance. "Let me apply a light orb spell. Here it is way too dark" The light has brought many skeletons to light. They found skeletons that look like small stature people. Elfs war swords were scattered on the ground. However, no elf corpses were to be seen. A fight obviously took place here. Findir does not remember any event about this incident. Reeves and Findir go deeper into the hall. The hall had immense columns that supported the mountain. Some columns were destroyed and fell down.

Reeves asked Findir "What happened here? Why are there so many skeletons here? This hall is so big, thousands of giants could live here. But this does not fit with the skeletons found."

"I don't know myself what this place is yet. In any case, it seems to be ancient. The elf swords were not from our time. They look much purer and stronger. "

Reeves found a book held by one of the dead skeletons. "I found a book here. Let us see if there is some information about this." Reeves strangely looked at the letters. "Findir, I can't read this. Is this maybe Elfish?"

Findir looked at this and rejoiced. This is an ancient dwarven language! "It's not from the Elfs. This is from dwarfs!" She can only read a few passages. Dwarves were considered extinct. Because of the advancing time, the language was almost forgotten. Findir translates the passages into the language of Reeves.

[They come. The evil with their concentrated power. They are unstoppable and their empire is getting bigger and more dangerous every day.

The sacred realms have been sunk. An army of evil rolled through the world. We, the last surviving dwarves, are hiding.

Unholy creatures broke our gates. They are immortal. Evil humans who suck the blood out of you coming closer. Elfs who were corrupted assassinated their kind and dragons who turned the surface into ashes. The world is in chaos.

Our end is near, only our children remain waiting in the dark until the horror passes.]

"I think that dwarfs really did not survive. This facility should be their sanctuary.This is bad news. We thought we had saved them. We always wondered where they were hiding."

"The sentences sound disturbing. Humans that suck blood. Are they vampires or cannibals? And since when were elfs corrupted?"

"These are not cannibals. These are corrupt humans who have used Demonic Qi. They suck the blood out of all living beings to become immortal and are as good as unkillable. They are just as bad as necromancers. And yes, they are called vampires. The blood cultivators. They are not as strong as a necromancer. There were corrupt elfs. However, they were rare. They are the ancestors of orcs."

"Orcs, what are orcs?"

"These are also one servant of demons, like vampires. They are the footfulk of demons. They are usually the first to go into battle."

Reeves asked with a curious expression. "Well, I don't see any orcs here and I can't feel any Demon Qi. So what happened here?"

"I don't know either, unfortunately. What puzzles me is the last sentence. What does he mean by children waiting in the dark?"

Reeves tried to persuade Findir to leave this place. "That doesn't sound like a good thing. We should seal the entrance and let the dead rest."

"No, I can't do that. I have to find out what happened to the dwarves. Let's go deeper. Maybe we will find something."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Findir. The last sentence could mean anything. To me, it sounds more like something bad. I have no interest in losing my cultivation again."

"Well, you can wait outside until I'm done exploring."

[...]

"Why so quiet? As I thought, you probably have no choice but to explore further with me." Reeves couldn't say anything. Only Findir could protect him from her high Magus realm.

They went deeper and found a steel door with engraved writings. Findir said." These should be runes. Unfortunately, I can not read them."

"Please do not let us open these doors, Findir. There could be another catastrophe behind it."

"Maybe, but maybe not."

"Then at least call Erran. This is a number too big for us."

"No, Erran meant we should survive in the wilderness alone. To ask for help now would hurt my pride."

"Are all Elfs so proud? That is suicide!"

"Why should we not be proud? We keep the peace and protect the giants and humans. Besides, this is about something bigger. We need to find out how the dwarves died."

"Ever thought that they have something locked behind it? It could be something evil!"

"Why so pessimistic, Reeves? If they had, there would be a formation here that would stop us."

Findir cast an earth spell instantaneously and destroyed the massive door. Only now Reeves realized that Findir is an earth magus. Findir first went into the room, but it was empty except for two strange stones standing in the middle of the room.

Findir laughed at Reeves and said. "See Reeves, there is nothing except for stones. Do not tell me you are afraid of stones."

Reeves couldn't believe it. Something was wrong with the stones. Why are the stones alone in the room? He went to the stones to inspect.

'They are looking like normal stones.'