Colt looked around at the mountain before him that is filled with greeneries. But as he raised his head and looked up at the Mountain Peak, he saw flashes of lightning and his ears picked up the sound of rolling thunder.
"This place seems rather dangerous."
The Thunder Tiger Mountain has a long history that ends in the coming three years. The Thunder Tiger Mountain is said to house the Terrestrial Beast God that controls the earth.
The Terrestrial Beast God is a mythical class beast that rules over terrestrial beasts. It is said that its roars make the world tremble. The Terrestrial Beast God fought with the Aerial Beast God that controls the element of lightning and rule over the aerial beasts.
It was said that their clash resulted in lightning to never disappear from the peak, like a God overseeing the world.
Colt remembers the events of where to get the book and how to get it, but he was not aware of this danger. In the novel, it was simply said that the archeologists trying to find it "were prepared".
The author merely said where the Key in the mountain was and where the keyhole was, but then it returned to the nearby MC's point of view who witnessed the powers of the book. It was said that the archeologist who ventured to the ruins that day was very unlucky because it was such a coincidence that it was on that very day that the book became rogue!
The rogue book just happened to go off that very day, killing the archeologist and his team.
'Well, I'm going to take this book so no one will get hurt.'
According to the book, not only was the mountain carved, but the heavens were also destroyed.
The lightning of the mythical beasts exploded and spread across the continent, thus starting the arc of Vol. 7 where Yrva will help the MC gather the lightning. From what Colt heard, Yrva became someone badass after absorbing the purple lightning.
But at the moment, the book has yet to go rouge and devour the mountain peak so it is currently still tucked away in the ruins within the mountains. He is aware where the path that leads to the entry of the ruins but he can't get to it because when one reaches a third to the mountain, then he shalt be struck by the lightning.
"I should have prepared if I knew it would be like this."
Colt was hesitant to return, but it would appear that he had no other choice than to do so.
'It appears my knowledge about the story is showing its holes.' Colt shook his head. When he was reading up on this place, Colt had to stop halfway through because he had to save Hylda, 'I better come back later. The city is nearby, I should be able to gather enough information and material to venture to the peak.'
"Mina, I'm going back, for the time being, I failed to prepare something so I'll– what is that?
"It's Lightning Absorbing Orbs."
On Mina's hand were purple marble-sized orbs. They are shimmering in the same purple hue as the lightning that writhed atop the heavens.
"I already made preparations. Take this one and we'll head to the peak. These Lightning Absorbing Orbs will let us bypass the lightning. Even if lightning strikes at us, we won't be able to feel anything other than a gust of wind." Mina handed Colt the all-important, all-expensive Lightning Absorbing Orb.
Looking at the Lightning Absorbing Orb, Colt realized something, "How did you know I was going to the peak? I remember I never mentioned going up to the peak?"
"Do you not remember when went to the teahouse? You said you wanted to go here for vacation so I reckoned if that is the case then I thought you should also want to see the peak. So, I bought these two from my master, I got it for cheap, she said its original prize is 2,000,000 Priba each, but she gave it to me for 2,000,000 for two. It was a steal."
Mina only have two Lightning Absorbing Orbs, each one costs 1,000,000 Priba. A fortune amongst the masses. Only Mina and Colt could go up to the mountains.
"Vice-Captain Lopre, it seems like you and your men will have to stay here and wait for us."
Lopre was hesitant to leave Colt's side. But as he saw Mina being with him, he somewhat felt relieved. Although Mina's strength as a Healing Mages is not so impressive against too many opponents at once, Mina was still strong enough to take care of one or three enemies at once.
'She's not the Queen in name alone.'
The Dragonheart Academy was the best academy in the Kingdom. They did not receive such title just for its progressive outlook on social standings but also because they train the best of the best.
The best of each path goes to the academy to pursue their dreams, and those who become the Representative of a Class are hailed as the strongest of that path. Mina is the strongest, and she achieved this by beating down every single opponent that stood in her way.
She is strong, and very much experienced in the way of fighting, 'She can protect the young master.'
These are the thoughts of Vice-Captain that if heard by Colt will cause massive damage to his pride which will be accepted as the truth after a few seconds. In the end, Lopre gave a thumbs up to Colt.
"Mina, let's go."
With a cat on his shoulder, Colt took Mina's hand and began going up the mountain. Going through the lush greeneries of the surrounding, Colt and Mina felt like they were going on a romantic walk.
No one went to disturb them not even beasts. Mina made sure to bring the strongest beast repellant to ensure nothing will come their way. It is okay to splurge if she can stay by Colt's side.
The more they went up the thinner the foliage became. And soon enough, after an hour of trekking, Colt and Mina saw a barren land where no greeneries could be found.
A desolate plain where the lightning made sure that the ground will not bore anything with life. There is no beast at the peak for the lightning kills everything and everyone around. The lightning killed everything before any life could blossom.
The rolling thunder echoed in Colt's ears. The strong rumbling of the thunder and the fierce lightning writhing beyond the curtains of ominous black clouds made Colt's heart tremble.
The purple lightning was like a serpent swimming in the dark sea of clouds, lurking about as it waited for something to prey upon.
It didn't take long for it to find prey.
BooM!
Lightning struck and went for Colt and Mina. It was too fast to dodge or even react to. It was clear that Colt and Mina would be struck by lightning.
But as the lightning reached him and he flinched, the bolt of lightning inches away from him. He opened his eyes as he felt a strong gust of wind came with the lightning. It passed his face and then the purple lightning circled around him and Mina before being absorbed the Lightning Absorbing Orb.
In trepidation, Colt was in awe of this world's laws.
"This is amazing." Colt could not help but comment. The sight was simply too surreal for someone who is not of this world.
Mina chuckled as she saw Colt's shining eyes. She looked down checking if there the thing she wants was created. To her luck, there was a glowing purple crystal shard the size of a fingernail.
"Lucky me." She smiled as she picked it up.
"Is that the ore you are talking about?"
"Yes, it is. This is a Purple God Shards. It is from the remaining the Aerial Beast God's lightning. It's really useful." Mina answered as she placed the shard inside a bag.
"Hooh, so it's useful to mages? Then why aren't there anyone selling it? If it is so useful surely there are people who are in need of it, right?"
If one thing is in demand then it should be in the market. If there are people who will buy this stuff then shouldn't there be a market for it? That's the basis of the economy, so Colt found it weird that they had to come all the way here to gather some of it themselves.
The answer came with soft laughter, "Oh, don't get me wrong, I say useful but it is only useful for me and my master. In the world, only the two of us are using so no one actually sells it. Though it was said that back in the day many people thought this was of value and tried selling. But because of its course and hard to control attributes that often cause the death of those who tried to manipulate it. No one really does research on it any longer."
"Is that so. Then with this shard, are you done? If that is so then why not go back down? It's dangerous here, after all."
"Of course not, I still have to collect a lot of shards."
Hearing that caused Colt raise a brow, "Is that so? I'll help you, how many do you need?"
"Really? That would be a lot of help. I only need a little, around 10,000 or so should be enough. I knew I could count on my dearest."
As Colt heard those words, a stiff smile appeared on his face and that smile never wavered as they reached the peak.
Time passed very slowly, but also very quickly at the same time. The job is to collect ten thousand shards.
It was a tedious and hard job that started in the morning and ended when the time reached 12:47 in the afternoon.
"We're finally finished!" Colt celebrated as he looked at the ten bags of Purple God Shards containing a thousand shards each, "I thought it would take the whole day! But it appears that the Gods smiled down upon us."
"Yes, we are very lucky indeed." Mina smiled as she met the required number of shards with interest to boot, "I didn't think we'll be able to find so many at the peak."
Colt was very thankful to the Gods that a number of Purple God Shards were at the peak of the mountain. For the past decades, the peak had been left alone for so long that a great number of shards had been left untouched.
They didn't just collect 10,000 shards, but around 25,000 shards instead. Colt looked at the bags by Mina's side and smiled at what he had achieved. As he laughed, Colt was healed by Mina and whisked his exhaustion away.
'Okay, it is time to find what I came here for.'
He got up and walked around the peak. The mountain peak wasn't steep making it easy for Colt to walk around. He looked around as Mina looked at him and asked, "Hmm? Are you looking for more Purple God Shards, Dear?"
"Ah no, I am looking for the...Key! Here it is!"
Mina looked at Colt with interest as she watched him go around the peak and when she saw him celebrating, she was more interested in his expression rather than what he found, 'How cute.'
Colt stopped before a pile of red rocks. Before him was a red rock sticking out from the ground. Colt took his sheathed sword and began digging through the ground as he unearthed the rock.
He dug through it some more and finally, Colt got it. When it was buried, only the smooth and round surface could be seen. It was just like a bald head that's about the size of an apple. But as he got it out of there, it was no longer just a simple rock but a key that resembled an ice pick or a dagger.
The red top is merely the pommel and the five-inch rounded blade was something else entirely.
Colt picked up the key and went up to the very top where the mountaintop was as pointed as a lightning rod. Once again, Colt used his sheathed sword and then bashed the mountaintop and destroyed it revealing a rounded keyhole!
'Here it is…' a hole could be seen, and its size perfectly fit the key he had found!
Colt stabbed the key to the keyhole and the mountaintop trembled!
As it did, Colt looked around and saw the ground a few meters away terraforming as the peak shook.
"What's happening?" Mina asked as she went to Colt's side so she can protect him. But as she followed Colt's eyes, she was dumbstruck, "T-that's."
Around twenty meters down, Colt saw a part of the mountain open and became the entrance to the ruins.
"I found the entrance!"
All the while this happened, Fluff who remained still the entire time it was with Colt had its ears perked up as it looked down at the bottom of the mountain.
'Nya?'
Something was wrong, it could tell at least that much.