Chapter 38 Cave Exploration

Once we were inside the cave, it got extremely dark. The only light was coming from our backs, and that was only generated through luminense. However, that light was getting dimmer as we walked down the slope. Astra took out her own luminense light source, and activated it by pouring mana through the magic circles. This produced light, and allowed us to see into the cave. However, the light didn't go very far, and seemed to get dimmer the further we went into the cave.

"Something is suppressing light here," I say once I notice this. I am a little confused, since there is nothing that is known to suppress light. The dark element would only suppress light when there is more of it, but I can't feel the presence of the dark element here. As such, I am confused on how our light is being suppressed.

"How is that even possible? I don't even feel the dark element here." Ana asks in response to me. It seems like even to her, light can only be suppressed by a greater darkness.

"Okay, we don't know why our light is being suppressed. Let's just stick to the walls for now. Out there, our light should be less suppressed, and even if it isn't, we'll be able to use the walls for guidance." Astra replies, trying to stop our earlier conversation and focus us on our goal, exploring the cave.

"Okay." "Yes."

With unanimous consent from all of us, we head back the way we came. As we do so, our light slowly expands its area of coverage. Then, we arrive at the hole, and begin to walk along the wall. We slowly moved along the wall, and I could somewhat tell that it was curved. I'm not sure if all the walls are curved, but everything we have seen so far is curved, barely. We continue walking, but there's nothing much to see, unless you count the occasional patterns on the floor. They seem familiar in some way, but I don't see why. Soon enough, I begin to feel peckish. I can only assume that a lot of time has passed.

"Anyone else getting hungry?" I ask aloud.

"Yes." "I am." These were the responses I got from Ana and Astra respectively.

"Since we are all hungry, let's take a break and eat." I say, and once seeing nods stop walking. Once I stopped, Astra and Ana also stopped. Astra has the magic bag, so she opened it up to take out the contents. Once she opened it up, she was wearing a confused face.

"What's wrong?" I ask once seeing her confused face.

"The magic bag, it isn't full," she replies.

"Huh?" Ana mutters in reply before going over to Astra to look at the magic bag. Once she goes over, a similar expression comes onto her face.

"Let's make sure we have all our food. If we are losing a portion of our food, we should leave immediately." I say seriously.

Losing food is a horrible thing to happen, especially since we don't know why it happened, or what is in the cave. Once I finished talking, we began to take stock of our current food. However, we still have enough food to last three weeks, which implies that our bag just had an increase in size.

"Anyone have any ideas?" I ask. I have one idea, but we will have to test out something before my idea can be confirmed.

"Nothing." "I've never seen anything like this."

Both of them replied to me in such a manner. I was hoping that they would have some sort of clue, so we wouldn't have to try out my idea. After all, my idea may get us lost. Either way, I decided to say my idea, so we could at least try to think of why this is happening.

"I think it might be related to the reason our light is getting suppressed. If I'm not wrong, our bag will get bigger the more our light is suppressed. Also, this cave doesn't seem to be naturally formed. The walls are too smooth, and the curve is too perfect for this to be natural. As such, this entire room should just be a circle, or oval." This was my idea, we are in a created structure, whose purpose is still unknown, and the closer we are to the center, the more changes we will experience.

"How do you want to go testing out your idea?" Astra says. "After all, I've got nothing better."

"We should just continue our journey along the wall. If it really is an oval or circle, we will eventually head back to our cave." I replied. "As for the relationship between the dimming light and the increased storage, let's leave this for later. We might get lost if we leave the walls. While learning is important, our safety is more."

"I can't agree more," Ana replies.

"Well, we will confirm your idea sooner or later," Astra says. "I don't think confirming it later will have any changes. However, once we get through half of our food, we head back. As you said, our safety is the most important."

We then continue on our journey through this part of the cave. Even though it is almost confirmed to be unnatural, I still keep thinking of it as a cave. Again, as we walk we see practically nothing, with the only exception being the patterns on the floor. Even though I say patterns, they are just lines. The lines are sometimes curved, straight or jagged. However, they are pretty far from one another. We are usually forced to eat 3-4 times before we see another line. Also, the only reason I know they are different is because I spent some time following a couple of the lines. This detour would usually force us to eat 1-2 times. Soon we had eaten 1 weeks worth of food. However, we still don't know anything new.

"I don't think we'll find anything new," I say once we have gone through one weeks worth of food. "I say we head back now."

"Agreed," Ana says. "We'll just be seeing more of the same thing. I don't feel a point in staying."

"Okay then," Astra says.

With that, we then turned back. The return trip was easier, and we also used a lot less food. In fact, we only ate 5 days worth of food. I'd say we lost a lot of time when I tried to follow the lines. We had also already confirmed that the size increases as the light dims. We had done this when I had followed the lines. It also seems that as one moves towards the center of the oval or circle, the lights would dim further.

"Before we leave, let's all try using spells," Astra suddenly says once we are at the entrance to our cave.

She had suddenly come out with this idea, and I found no reason to reject her. After all, we have gone with my ideas so far. I'm not sure what this would do, but I'm willing to try it out. After all, new information about this place would be accepted. As such, I began to chant one of my spells. I decided to go with a simple one and just use a wind blade.

"O spell of wind come forth as a blade to cut down my opponent."

The spell formed normally. It might have been slower than usual, but I am not sure. However, the spell shot from my hands at an extremely fast speed. A couple seconds after the spell had formed, I could no longer see it. This speed was abnormally fast, as a wind blade could not travel that fast. I looked over at Ana and Astra, and their spells had similar characteristics to mine. They had also used more spells since they didn't need any time to chant. Nevertheless, all of their spells were faster than what they would normally be.

"So, what is your idea Astra?" I ask. I have no idea what this shows, but I'm sure Astra does, or at least has an inkling. After all, she was the one who wanted to test spells in the first place.

However, she shakes her head as she says, "I wasn't expecting this. I was thinking that our casting speed would be impeded in some way. That would in turn show us that there is an abnormal concentration of a different elemental mana. After all, it takes longer to turn elemental mana into another element than it does to transform static mana into an element. However, our casting speed remains the same, meaning that the mana in the air is static mana. I have no idea why our spells are faster though."

"So we just have a bunch more questions than answers, which does not help us," Ana says. "Let's go back, and think over this before heading back. At least Sylvi can get his room back, since there are no demonic beasts in the room."

"Yeah, that is a good thing," I say as we head through the hole into my room. However, when we get into my room, there is a sense of incongruity. It's like my room is missing something that should be there.

"What's wrong?" Ana asks me, apparently sensing something is wrong with me.

"I don't know," I reply dumbfounded at how she knew, and at the sense of incongruity. I took some time to gather my thoughts, and try to find out what is causing this feeling.

"It just feels like something is out of place," I say after a little while of contemplation, which gained nothing.

"Well, I'm sure it will come back to you," Ana says as she leaves the room.

"I would hope so," I say as I follow her out. Astra had already left a while ago, presumably to put away the remaining food we had. Ana and I went to the living room, and waited for Astra, before we would begin our discussion. Soon, Astra came from the stairway that led to the dismantling/storage area. The, presumably empty, magic bag was still in her hands, as she came over and sat at the table.

"Let's gather all of our info.." I begin to say as I try to wipe the dust from the table. However, there was no dust on the table.

"Sylvi." "Sylvain." Astra and Ana say a little while after I stop talking with concern in their tone.

"Sorry, I just realized why I was having a sense of incongruity," I replied after hearing the concern in their tone. "There was no dust in my room. However, we had been inside the other book for close to 2 weeks, so dust should have piled up."

After I say this, Astra and Ana look around the room. I'm sure they were looking for dust, but none was to be found.

"Okay, let's get back and gather all of the information in the other part of the cave," I say after they had a thorough look around.

"Yep." "Sure." These were the responses that I was given.

"Okay, the first and most important thing is that this other cave is not natural. The walls are too smooth, and there are precise lines on the floor, indicating it was made by something. The next thing would definitely be the cave's ability to suppress light, and how it is doing so without the use of the dark element. Also, the cave seems to be circular in shape, and the light suppression seems to get stronger the closer one gets to the middle. However, we need to see if it can only suppress the light element, or light in general. The next thing would have to be the increase in the magic bags size, and how it also seems to get larger the closer one gets to the middle. We also need to see if this only works with magic bags, or if it could work with regular bags. Finally, the last thing would have to be our spells increase in speed. We need to test other spells to see the exact effects. Is there anything else?"

"I say we also add the difference in time," Astra says. "We should also test out the exact difference in time, and if it also changes if we are closer to the center."

"Yeah, I feel like that is important," Ana immediately agrees.

I didn't agree right away, as her words got me thinking about something. What if all the effects that we experienced were just byproducts of messing with time. I have no evidence to back this up, but I can't stop thinking in this direction. There is no basis for this idea, and it was only a gut feeling. However, I would keep this in mind as we research more.

"Anything else to add?" Astra asked, causing me to stop thinking about my idea.

"No, I think we covered everything," I replied. "I'm sure we'll add more as we continue exploring."

Once I had finished talking, my stomach growled, making its hunger known. As if a signal, Astra and Ana's stomachs also began to growl. This dyed their faces red, causing me to laugh, which just caused their faces to turn even redder.

"What time is it?" I ask once I contain my laughter. "Also, who will be cooking?"

Once I ask my question, Astra immediately heads outside to check the time.

"You should cook for laughing at us," Ana says in a clearly displeased tone. I know that I will have to cook, or else she will be displeased for the rest of the day.

"If you are okay with my food, then I will surely cook for you," I say as pretentious as possible. I do this, since it would usually help clear up Ana's bad mood. At the very least, she will play along which will distract her temporarily.

"Who do you think you are?" Ana then says, copying my pretentious tone. "It should be your honor to cook for me, and you just throw it away."

She was probably going to say more, but laughed and messed it up. Her laughter was infectious, and caused me to laugh as well. At least for now, her bad mood had been avoided. While we were laughing, Astra came back from outside.

"The sun is high in the sky, so it should be lunchtime," she says as she returns.

"Okay, I'll get to cooking then," I say to both of them. "Go on and do your own things. I'll call you when I finish cooking."

"Okay." "Yes."

With that, the both of them left to do their own things. I'm guessing that they are probably going to move back into their rooms, but I am not sure of that. Once they left, I went down to the storage area to see the ingredients we have. We had a lot of meat, and also plants that I don't know much about. I'm sure those plants were picked by Ana to help her test out new things. I'll just leave them there, since I have no clue on how to use them. The meat we have is salted, and smoked to preserve it better. While it does preserve it, it also interferes with the taste. While I do like my food salty, the amount used to preserve food is just too much. The best way to fix this, would be to make it into a soup. That way, the water will absorb the salt from the meat, and not affect the dish too much.

To add to the soup, I also put in some potatoes and carrots. I could copy Ana, and add dough to add substance to the soup. However, making and forming the dough would take too much time, so I won't do that. I also don't feel like thickening the broth, since finely cutting the potatoes would be too much work. I'll just cut up the potatoes, carrots, and meat, and then throw them into the water. I also add some herbs and spices to add a different flavor.

With that decided, I grabbed all the ingredients that I needed. I then brought them upstairs, and placed them on the counter next to the heating magic circle. I then got a big pot, and brought it to the underwater river. I could have used my water spell, but I feel like it would take more time to empty my mana. With the water gathered, I had everything needed to cook today's lunch. I cut up the meat, potatoes and carrots. I didn't really pay attention, and only cut them into smaller pieces. Once that was done, I set them aside. I had to cut up the herbs and spices, to flavor the water. I finely cut up the herbs and spices, and only stopped once they formed a powder-like substance.

I set it aside as well, and then began to activate the heating magic circle. The pot of water had already been placed underneath, but since I only began now, it took some time for the water to heat up. As the water heated up, I would add in the powder like herbs and spices. I would also taste and adjust the soup as I go. Soon, I felt like the soup was perfect. Of course, it still needed salt, meat, potatoes, and carrots, so I just dumped them in. Then I placed the lid, and let the soup boil. I also increased the heat, and checked the soup periodically.

"Astra, Ana, lunch is ready," I said once I felt like my soup was done.

After I stopped channeling mana into the heating magic circle, I left the pot where it was, as it was too hot to move. Astra and Ana came into the room after my yell, and sat at the tab. They were obviously expecting the food there, as we usually serve it to each other at the table.

"Sorry," I say apologetically. "The food is over here. I can't move it because the pot is too hot. I also immediately called you once it was done, so I had no time to serve you guys."

I looked at the two of them, but they didn't get up from their seats. I sighed, realizing that I would have to serve them. After sighing, I got out three bowls, and filled each one of them with soup. Once that was done, I placed spoons into the bowls, before bringing them to Ana and Astra.

"Here you go," I said to them once I brought over the food.

With that, the three of us begin to eat the food. It was still hot, since I had just finished creating it. I might have also added too many spices, as the herbal taste was nowhere. However, I still liked it. We ate in silence, and soon finished our food. Astra finished first, since she is better with heat. I finished second, and gathered our dishes. Then Ana finished, and I gathered her dishes as well.

Once I had gathered all of our dishes, I went back to the storage room. There, I began to wash the dishes in the underwater river. Once I finished, I left them to dry by the river bed before heading back up.

"So what are we talking about today?" I ask once I get back to the table.

"I got nothing." "I was just moving back into my room."

"Well, if there is nothing to discuss, I'll be leaving then," I say after they respond. "I would like to clean out my room. I also want to think about some things. However, before I go, when are we going to begin our test?"

"Let's do that in a couple of days," Astra says. "Let's all do our own things for now."

"Okay." "Fine by me."

With that as my last words, I head to my room. Once there, I begin to clean up. It's been a while since I've cleaned in here, and there's a lot of fur. Astra and Ana must have shedded a lot while they were in my room.

"O spell of wind come forth as a breeze to blow away my opponents."

This spell helped to gather all of the fur, and dust that I may have missed, and blow it out of my room. I continued to chant it, and continued to blow away everything. I would have loved to blow it outside of the cave, but I'm still worried about Diego. I'll just blow it out of my room for now, and let Astra burn it later. The breeze spell has helped me clean my room. My room also wasn't that dirty to start with, so it didn't take much time. Once I had finished cleaning, I began to work on magic circles once again. I still want to figure them out, but I am not going anywhere.

As such, I decided to go back to the basics, and think of everything I know about magic circles. The first thing I know is that they can be used to replace an elemental affinity. They can also be used to gather ambient mana. They are composed of different perfect shapes. They also use the mana within an object to work. This means that they use the ambient mana in the atmosphere, and in the material to actually work.

"Sylvain, what's for dinner?"

While I was trying to think of anything else I know about magic circles. Ana called me. It seems like she is hungry. I guess that I had lost track of time, as it was already time for dinner. I'm glad I made a huge pot of soup, otherwise I would have to cook something now. At least for now, I can just reheat the soup. I head outside, and grab the leftover soup that is still on the heating magic circle. I channel my mana through the magic circle, and heat up the soup. I then grabbed more bowls and spoons, and served them. We once again eat in silence, and then leave after we finish eating. We had already established that we had nothing to discuss at lunch, so there would be nothing to discuss at dinner. As such, once I finished washing the dishes, I went back to my room.

Once in my room, I began to practice my multitasking skill, and my use of only one element through our mana links. I was trying to do 5 tasks simultaneously, which consisted of using 4 different spells, while also thinking about magic circles. However, my mind wouldn't stay on magic circles, and would always drift to one of the 4 spells I was casting. I felt like I was getting better at using only one element through our mana links. I also doubled the amount of time I would usually spend on these things, to make up for yesterday, before heading to bed.