Chapter 28: Lucky Encounter
A warm temperature greeted Liam when he opened his eyes. Instead of the intense heat that he should have felt, Liam could clearly feel the comfortable warmth shielding him from the room temperature.
He sat up and looked at where he was. It was a circular room with a dome like ceiling and a hole that went upwards could be seen at the center of the room where a stone like thing at an altar, made out of rocks, floating at the middle surrounded by a small spirits of fire. They were revolving around the floating stone like they were guarding it. It was a big stone that shaped like an egg.
"I think it really was an egg… a fried egg." Liam made a silly remark not feeling the danger he was in. The truth was Liam was really lucky.
If the exploration team didn't show up at the center of the cave then Liam would have seen the guardian of the egg. The egg was the true heart of the cave. It made an ordinary cave into a hot cave that looked like a volcano.
The first explorer and the late emperor named it Vulcan of Terrors because after a phenomenal event that happened, different kind of monsters and beasts evolved around the cave. Later on, spirits of fire showed up like they were protecting their king.
Recently, an explorer made it through until the center of the cave and saw a flower with great magical energy that could help someone breakthrough their limits. But, he didn't tell the emperor about his findings about the guardian inside the center. He also didn't tell something that was more important than the flower.
Luckily, Liam made it through the place where the 'true heart' was at. Now, faced with another stone with an altar Liam felt that it was an entirely different kind of stone because it really was shaped into an egg but it was small. It was only a size of his fist balled.
Liam inspected the wall that he should have entered but he couldn't see the entrance. He also felt the stone he was carrying all this time. He inspected it and gasped.
[Mutated Fire Stone (Rare)]
A fire stone that mutated through the exposure of power near the center. A stone that could absorb heat and evolve.
Different from a normal fire stone, the name itself implied that it mutated due to the heat coming from the egg. Well, he could tell even from where he was standing the heat that even his sweat dried up.
"Should look for other mutated fire stone. A lucky encounter." Liam snickered and looked for any protruding stone. Unfortunately, he didn't find one. Now, he focused his attention at the center of the room.
He didn't feel nor see any danger so he walked towards the altar. Every step he made, the egg emitted a vibration that even Liam could feel. The egg was like a heart beating erratically when excited. The spirits orbiting the egg also grew excited and moved a little faster than before.
When Liam was close, a rock emerged from the magma surrounding the altar. Every step he made, the brighter the egg. Every rock he crossed, the heat intensified. Like a moth drawn to flame, Liam arrived at the very center of the altar. He stared at the egg and stretched his hand.
Like recognizing that there was no harm, the spirits parted and made a way for Liam to touch the egg. Liam felt a beat coming from the egg when his fingertip touched the egg. Liam was surprised and retrieved his hand. But before he could withdraw his hand completely, the egg followed it and drop itself on Liam's palm.
Liam felt surprised and shock with sudden turn of events but he didn't feel any danger so he retrieved the egg and his hand.
[ ??? (Legendary)]
A stone or an egg???
A small description was given by the system when Liam looked at it. There was no other information given to him, it even make him question himself if it really was a stone.
"Even a name… ugh!" Liam grew frustrated the more he think about it. So he discarded any assumptions forming inside his head and studied the altar. The fire spirits were absorbed by the egg/stone and it beat one last time before it settled down.
Liam sighed and looked at the ceiling. He could tell that it was really a huge hole. He could fit himself ten times within the hole with enough space to move. The steps that he came from also disappeared after he took the stone. He didn't know how he should exit the circular room he was in.
After few minutes, he felt a suction coming from the hole above his head. "This feeling, again." Unlike before, Liam was prepared enough not to make a sound, like a scared little boy, and let the feeling flow.
Liam travelled for awhile before it got brighter and brighter. The wall was littered with cracks and flowing magmas that looked like roots. The magma never spilled like there was no gravity pulling it downwards.
"Well, it was a fantasy game. There's no point asking for a reason with every abnormal things I see."
Liam stretched his head, because he was bored being transported for a long time. But, when he stretched his head to the left he saw a glimpse of the end. He stared at it in horror because all he could see was flowing magma!
"And this is how I died…" Liam resigned, closed his eyes and waited for his death.
He heard a splash when he touched the magma, but unlike Liam's expectation, he was unaffected by the heat of the magma. Liam was surrounded by a red aura that protected him from any danger coming from the magma.
While the mutated fire stone protected him from intense heat, the egg protected him from fire damage. The mutated fire stone and egg both sucked the heat from the magma while the rock and minerals were expelled from it.
It continued until Liam saw a solid ground. The magma lake that should have been there was only filled with stone and minerals all over the crater. He could also see a group of flowers near him. When he touched the flower he saw another abnormal item.
[Tears of the Fire Spirit (Rare)]
A flower with an element of fire. The name came from the Fire King Ifrit when a flower that should have burned withstand the heat and absorbed it forming a crystallized flower with a red glow. It contained a lot of fire energy.
Liam collected a total of ten flowers, thanks to his gathering skill he didn't damaged the flower and destroy it or degrade it.
A roar broke Liam from his reverie. Liam turned at the direction the noise was coming from. He saw that a red drake fighting the exploration team. He figured it was them because of the man fighting the drake at the front.
Samuel was fighting the drake with his best. He was littered with wounds and scratches. He looked tired because of his erratic breathing. Blood stained his armor and there's dent on it.
Liam also saw that more than half of the exploration team were scattered into the floor with their bodies burnt. The players who joined the exploration team were either dead or fled. Well, there was no downside on fleeing especially there's nothing they could lose if they failed the quest.
The exploration team moved from the very center to the entrance they came from. It was to delay the drake from minimizing their fighting prowess and restrict the drake's movement. It was a bold and good move, but it also restricted their mages from acting out.
Liam could tell that the drake was a high level one. Based on Samuel's condition it wasn't good to fight the drake. But…
"There's nothing to lose, anyway."