The cave was much larger than it looked on the outside. Mane and Lily had been walking for a good part of half an hour, yet there were still no signs of the beast or the Revival Grass stalks. Not only was the cave long, it was wide and tall. For even the Crystal Monkey that was as several times bigger than the biggest human being in the world and stood at a height of over 10 feet tall when stooped was able to comfortably walk upright in the cave.
"This is no cave. It's like a tunnel." Hildegarde who was seated on Mane's shoulder grumbled as though she was the one doing the walking. Mane smiled wryly when he heard her words. Tunnels were artificial. They were either made by large creatures with the capability to dig so well and so deep that the end products were nothing short of incredible, or they were made by man. But this wasn't made by either. It was a natural landmark, and so it was a cave. But it was so abnormally large that anyone who used it would have thought it was a tunnel. As for why Mane was certain it was a cave, it was because Revival Grass only grew in 'untainted' areas. That is, they only grew in parts of the world that hadn't been touched by human or beast hands. The Dark Valley was certainly a place that remained untainted by human hands, but it was filled with beasts. If the Revival Grass was able to grow in this cave, that meant that this cave was a thing of nature, and that there were no beasts occupying it. Only the Guardian of the Revival Grass could live so close to it and not destroy it. Of course Hildegarde knew this as well, but she was bored because she was promised a good fight, yet all she got was meaningless trekking for over 20 minutes.
*Uh Hah Wo Wu*
Silver bent down slightly and gestured as quietly as he could that they were almost at the end. They were almost there. Soon, they would get to meet the Guardian Beast and see the Revival Grass.
"You are very cautious of this creature, aren't you?" Mane found it amusing that Silver was being so careful. The first time this beast had met them it roared loudly as though the entire valley belonged to it. Yet here it was now, being so considerate towards intruding on the habitat of another.
Lily found Silver's reaction amusing as well. She smiled slightly as she watched the large beast scratching its head in embarrassment. Yet within those embarrassed eyes, she saw hesitation and panic. And this confused her. It was one thing to be cautious and fearful of whatever was at the end of this cave. But why the hesitation. Was it that Silver didn't want them to confront this beast at all? Or was there something else?
Mane didn't see the hesitation in Silver's eyes. For the first time in a long while, he had let his guard down. His mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of his unconscious friend. So much so that he didn't realise that something was off about this entire ordeal.
"There is light ahead," Mane stated with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Lily who was next to him was just as surprised by their discovery, and Hildegarde who was seated on Mane's shoulder suddenly frowned. Dark Valley was pitch black. There was no area in this valley that wasn't filled with darkness. To be able to generate light in the darkness could only be done by means of artificial sources. And one of these artificial sources was Light Grass.
This plant could light up a small area for about 30 minutes or so before dying out. But that was only if it was plucked from its main tree. That's right. The Light Grass was the flower of a tree called Light Tree. Usually Light Grasses would always be alight. When one plucked them off the Light Tree, they would lose their brightness, and only when activated with blood will they shine dimly for half an hour. But if they were maintained on the main tree, they could light up a place for decades, centuries, millennia, and even forever, as long as the Light Tree remained. The Three Great Races of course tried replanting the Light Tree in the outside world. The Barbarians apparently uprooted an entire tree with their powerful physical strength and replanted it, but the tree died. Ancients and Elementals took seeds from the Light Tree and also planted them, but those didn't survive. After countless tries, all of them failures, all three races reached a consensus: the Light Tree couldn't survive outside Dark Valley.
The light that was peering through the shadows and reaching for them was very bright. It far overshadowed the small illumination that the Light Grass suspended before Mane and Lily gave. It seemed this light was the source of the faint glow at the entrance to the cave. The Light Grass was the only source of light in Dark Valley. The three Great Races had explored most of the area except the area around the out of bounds Immortal Tree, and they had found no other living thing with the ability of the Light Grass. And that meant that this light was likely from Light Grass. And from its brightness, there were surely several of them. And that meant that…
"That is light from a Light Tree," Mane and Lily both said the same thing, at the same time. Lily had a confused expression on her face, and so did Mane. Revival Grass couldn't grow in a place tainted by human or beast. Light Trees had been widely studied by the three Great Races, and Ivor had happily shared the findings with Lily and Mane when Lily asked. So both were aware that Light Trees grew above ground. Meaning, they grew in the open, and not in caves. For a mature light tree to be here meant that it was transported the same way the Barbarians did. And although Light Trees couldn't be grown outside Dark Valley, transplantations within the valley itself didn't harm the plant.
"But if that is a transplanted Light Tree, how does the Revival Grass grow here?" Lily asked the question that had not only nestled in Mane's mind, but gnawed away at Hildegarde's reasoning as well. Based on what they knew so far, things just didn't add up. They were confused, and in their confusion none of them saw that Silver was getting increasingly restless the closer they got to the source of the light. His anxiety reached the peak once they reached their destination, and all the pieces that weren't quite right; every puzzle piece that didn't fall into place finally did once Mane and Lily saw everything.
"So that is how it understood human speech," Hildegarde smiled bitterly and said, and Mane nodded his head. Lily who was next to him had an unsightly expression on her beautiful face. For she too was highly intelligent, and understood everything once they got here.
"And this must be the first time you have been done in by a beast," Hildegarde added, and Mane's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. It was exactly because it was a beast that he had let his guard down. After all, who would expect that a beast would be this cunning?
Before them, at least a few dozen meters away, was a beautiful plant that sprouted several colorful flowers. These flowers were like small suns, with each of them producing piercing rays of light that the creatures underneath the tree bathed in. Yes, there was more than one beast. There were 11 beasts to be exact. And none of them were what Mane or Lily expected to see.
For starters, Mane thought that whatever beast was guarding the place was something that had the ability to hide its aura. He was wrong. For the beasts before him all had their auras restricted. Before Mane got here, he only sensed one life aura. As for the other ten, he didn't sense them at all. For some reason, his Trace skill had been tampered with! In fact, it wasn't just his skill; even Hildegarde had been affected just by being with him. She also could only sense one beast. But standing right before the beasts, he was able to sense their auras. Putting the pieces together, there was only one culprit.
"Silver" Mane furrowed his brows and called the name of the beast that had led them here. Silver had an apologetic expression on its face as it made its way to the other 11 beasts that stood beneath the tree.
Hildegarde had mentioned before that it was remarkable for a beast that was cut off from the outside world to understand human speech so well. Mane had wondered about that, and he was sure that Lily who was just as bright and curious as he, had similar questions. Yet none of them could had the answers and had just let them be. Since Silver couldn't talk they just let it slide. But now they knew why. Silver was a trickster. It was likely that it had led many humans to this very place, and over time it had picked up the human language. Why were Mane and Lily so certain of their reasoning? The answer lay in the appearance of the other 11 beasts.
All of them were Crystal Monkeys! Every…single…one…of…them!
The creatures that were thought to be extinct had a dozen of their race hiding in a small cave. Of the eleven, most of them were just as large as Silver, and they shared a similar level of strength. 5 of them were at the 6th stage of the Earth Realm. 3 were 7th stage Earth Realmers, and 3 were 8th stage Earth Realmers. There was only one beast here that was different from the rest. It was the reason why almost all of them were similar to Silver, yet not all of them were the same as Silver. And that was because of the appearance of this beast.
It was also Crystal Monkey. That bit could easily be discerned just by looking at the thing. But it didn't possess the white shiny crystal bodies that the others shared. Its body was entirely emerald green, much like the color of Lily's eyes. It was at least double of Silver's height, standing at a height of 20 meters on its legs! Its aura was the strongest and it was undoubtedly the leader of the group. For it was a Legendary Class Magical Beast! The aura of a 5th Stage Heaven Realmer was abundant in this space because it was the aura of this beast, and the aura of life Mane had felt particularly came from this beast.
*Roar*
It gave a mighty roar filled with power when it cast its eyes on Mane and Lily, and Lily unconsciously shivered. Not only was the beast several times stronger than her, it was intentionally trying to intimidate her. She didn't have the power nor the will to resist the fear that naturally clutched for her since she wasn't an active fighter and hated violence.
Mane's expression grew stern, and his eyes flashed with a strange glow. He stretched his hand, and one of his heavy swords flew out of its sheath and landed in his palm. Just when he was about to strike another roar was heard, and a beast several times smaller than the Legendary Class Emerald Crystal Monkey appeared between both sides.
"Silver?" Mane lifted one of his brows in surprise. The beast that had gotten in the way was Silver. It unleashed its aura as an 8th Stage Earth Realmer and roared a few times to the leading Legendary Class who was just as confused as Mane was.
"It seems it isn't a totally heartless creature," Hildegarde smiled and said. Indeed, the hostility of the Emerald Crystal Monkey died down when it sensed Silver's aura. It had a surprised expression on its face, and kept speaking to its kin, possibly asking about how Silver broke through. And Mane was certain that this was the discussion because Silver pointed at him and then at himself as if to say, "He did that to me."
Silver seemed to have quite the status here, for the Emerald Monkey stopped its intimidation, and Lily recovered herself.
"Lily," Mane grasped the shoulders of the girl he adored when he saw that she was back to herself.
"Mane," Lily blushed slightly from being so close to Mane. Their faces were literally only a few inches apart and she could feel his breath.
"Listen to me," Mane stated seriously, not at all aware that he was causing the heart of the Elemental Princess to beat in anything but a rhythmical sequence.
"Try to analyse all that had happened with Silver and present the truths before the scholar manual I gave you. That way you will break through."
Mane had gained a small stage in his strength as a scholar just now. And he was now at the middle stage of the Mid-Stage Scholar Realm. This was because he had put everything he had experienced right now together and presented them to his manual. Lily surely had reached the same conclusions he had, and she would certainly gain more if she were to present her findings.
"Okay," the blush that was creeping onto the sides of Lily's face disappeared, and she became serious. She nodded her head and proceeded to do just that. Since it was her first time, it would take a while.
Mane turned to face the Emerald Crystal Monkey. The reason he could be so bold as to tell Lily to train was because the beast had no intention of fighting him now. Rather, it was looking at him with appreciation.
"You are very talented, Silver," Mane grinned and said. Silver beat its chest in pride as if to say, 'of course I am.'
"Could you undo your skill now?" Mane's voice travelled to Silver and Silver alone. He couldn't say it out loud because it would interfere with Lily's process since it was part of the truth she was presenting.
*Roar*
Silver roared and nodded its head. Mane felt the shackles around Trace fall off, and he was finally whole.
"It is an impressive ability," Hildegarde admitted and Mane nodded his head. Silver was highly talented. It was only a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast, yet it already had four skills.
Earth Manipulation: Armor
Earth Manipulation: Cannons
Earth Manipulation: Weapon Creation
Distort