Goals To Fulfilled

Feeling comfortable in her atmosphere, Alice didn't hesitate to speak her mind. She dreamily sighed as she said, "I know we all need this. But I'm really hoping for this to change my life. You two know this. But long story short, it practically felt like every day, for the last years, everything I did was compared to my Advanced Mage of a sister. Just because of our blood, if I weren't as specular as her, I might as well be the inferior sister. I hope my parents and her can finally look at me in a light after this..." 

"Oh, how very noble Alice." Jerry snorted, his tone teasing as he heard this many times before. 

"Of course it's noble. At least more impactful than a guy wanting all of this just to prove himself to a girl who rejected him." Alice giggled with a soul-stunning smile. 

"You-" Jerry nearly faltered in his step. 

"Eh? That girl really must mean a lot to you then." Jane spoke without any teasing in his tone. She was simply genuine in her question. 

The pureness couldn't really annoy Jerry. He mumbled a bit before saying, "It's not that I really want her back or anything. Just, she left me because I was too 'weak' as she put it. Despite the fact, well, it's no matter. All that matters is getting all this stuff so I can finally move past her." 

There was a short lull of silence before Glenn decided to speak his mind. "I'm out here for no other reasons than that my family desperately needs the money. We kind of a big one, and my Mage Enforcer salary alone isn't quite cutting it. And I don't want to wait until I get a promotion only for something tragic to happen. Haah...well, what about you all? You all seem to be well off." 

Directing his attention to the others, Harvey, Jane, and Kane shared a look with each other. Their goals in doing this honestly weren't that deeply intertwined with their personal lives. But the fires of determination still fueled their souls. 

Harvey was the one to say, "I guess you can just say we're here for the good of the city. I can at least say for me that I haven't thought that far out into the future." 

"Same for me. I know I should change my going-with-the-flow mindset, but it's just too easy to fall back. Hopefully, this can be the wake-up call I needed." Kane sounded hopeful. 

"Well, unlike all of you, I am really curious about the history we can uncover. Learning about the past can help our future." Jane simply smiled. 

"Same for me. Good for the city." Ervin gave out his plain reasoning. 

That whole conversation went by in a blur for him. He really only gave vague attention as they are a team and synergy between them needed to be good if they wanted to rely on each other. 

The following conversation was when Ervin decided to fully tune out until they arrived. What was said needed to be said for him. 

Ervin didn't know how long they walked for. But after some time, Jerry had finally stopped walking. 

Their footsteps stopping left an eerie silence to permeate the atmosphere. There wasn't even the slightest hint of noise from any Demonic Beast in the surrounding area. 

The dim light of twilight seemed to also die down in this specific spot. Everyone in the group promptly expanded their Magical Senses. The Early Stages could only cover up to 10 meters while Ervin had a full scale of 25 meters. 

Their Magical Senses weren't at an extremely deep or complex level. But it was enough to at least detect life-signature auras of any kind. 

In the Early Stages, they truly couldn't detect anything else besides some of the bigger trees and plants. Only Ervin could just barely detect the faintest source of magic flowing out of one specific spot. 

His attention directly turned towards what seemed to be a cave to their right. 

The dreary darkness of the cave even gave the ever-calm Ervin a bit of chill. Walking in seems like taking a step into an abyss filled with unexpected dangers. 

Whatever was in there had to be their target. Nothing else around here looked out of the ordinary besides the cave. 

The others began to gather their attention on the cave. Their expressions turned curious intently analyzing the only anomaly here. 

Ervin suddenly spoke up to confirm their thoughts. "I'm not sure if anyone else can sense it, but in there, I detect just a faint scent of magical energy. Your source did say we would have to look around the general area, right? I'm willing to bet this cave can be a good start." 

"I see..." The others heavily pondered Ervin's words. He had the most credibility among them all. 

Just his Middle Stage magical prowess alone already gave him more trust than anyone else in the group. 

"Truthfully, we are going to get a bit tight on sprays very soon. We need to make this search as quick as possible. What does everyone else think of going in first?" Alice calmly asked. Her mind was already decided. 

So was everyone else when they heard of reasoning. They all simultaneously nodded with Glenn saying, "Alright. Let's not waste time then." 

Without any more words, the group took brave steps straight into the dark cave. 

There was no one person taking the lead at first. Everyone huddles close together for any chance of danger. Their bodies tensed to an insane degree, anything small in the environment would be enough to set off their fighting instincts. 

The first step into the cave they were only met with blinding darkness. 

Non-mages would be struggling at this point. But even an Early Stage Novice Mage can use the flow of their Mana to slightly enhance their visions within the darkness. 

The group strained their eyes for any detail they could pick up. 

Ervin focused on any crumb of stronger Magical Energy flow. 

There was only a brief lapse of a second. 

A few moments later, Ervin's Magical Sense detected a source meters ahead of them. 

His danger instincts weren't going off at this time. But Ervin knew better than to relax his guard. Going down could be a risk. Some Demonic Beasts are prone to laying traps, though it's very rare. 

However, standing around here will do nothing for them. 

"Alright. I just detected something going down this path. I can take the lead, but we'll move very slowly. Any objections?" Ervin's calm voice soothed into the others' ears. 

The risk of going further in the darkness did slightly chill the others. Nobody here was willing to expand precious Mana for vision when they could be wasting it for nothing. 

Hearing that Ervin was willing to take the lead did cause them to feel some sort of lead. A brave person fearless about stepping into danger can sway the heart and soul. They began to subconsciously place more of their hopes on Ervin. 

"Alright." The others simultaneously nodded without any disagreement. 

No hesitation was within Ervin as he stepped up to the front of the group. He continued down the same path his Magical Sense was pulling him towards.

Every step they took only heightened the nerves running through their bodies. 

When they reached deep enough, it was only then everyone could spot a faint glimmer of red in the distance. 

Everyone's eyes began to widen. 

"Magic...should we go on?" Kane wearily asked. 

Now everyone could sense the flow of Mana rippling out of this cave. The value they're looking for could be there. But this could also mean something entirely different and dangerous to them all. 

"Let's check it out. If there's any sign of danger, I'll say and we'll quickly run out." Ervin's tone didn't wave with his unbreakable confidence. 

He seemed like failure wasn't an option for them nor would anyone have the possibility of getting hurt. 

Further hope flow began to rise in everyone else. They silently nodded as they didn't want anything unexpected to jump out at them. 

Step by step they slowly inched close to this red light. 

Ten meters away the group could finally see just what was emitting the red light. 

The group froze, eyes widening even further at the scenery before them.