With the apatite discovery I find myself in even bigger trouble than the brooch I had taken from Benjamin. I wonder if this bad luck comes from me or comes from the Yates family because if I hadn't been involved with Vania's group, I wouldn't have found myself having to deal with so many problems.
Even though I can't profit from the apatite I will destroy it just to screw up the emerald village. But now I have to think of a solution before Raziel and Ingredi discover the apatite and start to panic. I have to think of a way out before I have to deal with their possible hysteria.
Focus on solving the problem. First, I can't get the apatite out of here because the risk of it being discovered will only become greater so I have to bury this cave, but before that I have to confirm what is inside the apatite even if the item preserved by the apatite is contaminated by, she I have to make sure I can't save what's inside of her.
This would be a more complicated process because I don't have to worry about preserving the apatite, I can just break it and throw it away. It only takes a few minutes to clean the apatite, but before I can catch what's in the center of the apatite, I dare Ingredi and Raziel's voices.
"Ulric! Are you okay there?"
"Can we enter the cave?"
"I'm fine! But don't enter the cave, I'll leave!"
"He is sure?"
"Yea! Do not enter the cave, and Ingredi be prepared to bury this entire cave! I want this meteor buried in such a way that no one will find it again for the next hundred years!"
"OK."
I finish removing the apatite just to reveal the biggest suppression of the day. I hoped to find another ore, a plant, maybe a seed, but I didn't hope to find a cub. In front of me there was a black and furry cub he looked like a wolf or fox at that size and difficult to distinguish the exact species.
If it wasn't for the mana and energy of the life element that the puppy has inside his body, I thought he would be dead, but considering the properties of the apatite he must be in a state of forced hibernation, I don't even know if this puppy will wake up. unless he dies after I get him out of the apatite.
As there is not even a warrior or mage with the life element, the chances of the puppy recovering from hibernation diminished, his life will depend on his own strength, but for me I am happy because apatite cannot corrupt the puppy so how far can I know there's no way for anyone to find out that the puppy has been trapped in appetite for countless decades.
I calmly take the pup and wrap it partially in a clean cloth and retreat from the cave leaving behind all the apatite, to make sure I have circled my wind element to get any apatite particles out of my suit, weapon and the pup. I was actually thinking about getting a mount, I wonder if this puppy ends up recovering, he can become my partner I just have to convince the others of not wanting to sell.
I destroy the raw apatite using my fire and wind element the energy of the life element that was trapped in the apatite is dispersed in the air of the cave so the only apatite that exists in this cave is in the form of dust in this state it should not be able to store plus the energy of the life element. Probably the next harvest of green wheat should be the one that contains the most life element of all the crops that have already been harvested in the emerald village, but it must also be the last harvest of green wheat.
Since the chick is the meteorite's only gain and it belongs to all four. I enter the tunnel and pass Ingredi and Raziel. I nod to Ingredi to close the cave and lead the way through the tunnel, for the next few hours I walked carrying the cub and talking to Raziel and behind us Ingredi calmly collapsed the tunnel.
With the slower speed on our trip out of the tunnel it took a little over four hours to get out of the tunnel the entire time I watched the pup's condition. I don't know whether to be excited or saddened by the fact that the puppy's condition has remained stable, I couldn't even see a difference in his mana or not his breath.
As I leave the tunnel I feel with the cub in my arms and start to explain what happened in the cave since Raziel was desperate to find out, it's a little while before he physically attacks me.
"Well, I won't specify too much about what I found in the meteor and for everyone's safety if you don't know even a mind mage can find out. Let's start at the beginning as Hilda doesn't know what we find under the emerald village."
"As expected, we found the source of the Hilda life element. It was a big meteorite inside a smooth cave, it didn't see anything else in it but the meteorite in it."
"I opened the meteorite just to find something that we shouldn't get into, I won't tell you what it was because just for you to know it increases the danger of ending up dead. You shouldn't tell anyone we found something under the village if you find out what's down there, everyone dies, understand?"
Hilda and Raziel agreed with my request as this were already the initial plan but I had to intensify the danger of the information escaping, but the problem was Ingredi she studied several subjects like me since she also wants to become a rune craftsman so I can see in her face that she's trying to deduce what kind of stories I found downstairs.
"I entered, stop trying to guess what I found down there and it's too risky and just forget that we found that meteorite there isn't even a source of the element of life there anymore so if we stay quiet no one should find the meteorite."
"Is it really very dangerous Ulric?"
"Very much, if they find out what's down there, we'll all end up dead. No matter how much power the Menfis family has, the four of us are going to die if they find out what I found down there so we're never going to talk about what we've done here over the past few weeks again. From the cave I could only retrieve this little black puppy here."
I show the puppy that is still hibernated in my arms, but before I can react Hilda has already caught him and was petting him. Ingredi joined Hilda and both were distracted by the cuteness of the puppy.
"So, the only thing inside the meteorite was the wolf cub Ulric?"
"Yes, there's nothing but useless meteorite rocks and a wolf cub."
"How are we going to split the wolf cub? Are we going to sell it and split the sale price?"
"I doubt we can sell it for a high price as we can't explain its origin so I thought I'd keep it and forgo the rest of the trip's profits, but of course I hope everyone makes their own suggestions for what to do with the puppy and how to share the spoils we gained on this trip."
"I don't particularly care that you keep the cub we wouldn't have found so many resources if it weren't for your ability to track down Ulric treasures. But if you don't get your share of the profits, how are you going to pay for the puppy's feed. Weren't you running out of money Ulric?"
"I have just not a lot of money and I can always get more money doing quests for the guild after passing the institute test."
"It's really a shame I was counting on getting a ridiculous amount of gold coins, an expensive ripeness should help a lot in the test we're going to do next week."
"I think we all already had plans to spend thousands of gold coins to improve our chance of passing the institute's test, not that I doubt our abilities, but it's always good to get a better grade on the test as the institute has the habit of rewarding more those who have a better result during the test."
"Do you have any clue what the Raziel test will be?"
"No, and you?"
"I don't know what it's going to be, but I believe it's not going to be a test of endurance or survival I think it's more likely to be a direct challenge."
"Maybe, but back to know how long will they be playing with a sleeping puppy there?"
"I don't know, but I doubt they'll get back to normal in a short time so I better prepare lunch and start breaking up camp. I want to get out of here today, even if we only have a few hours of travel and enough to get away from the emerald village."
"I agree with you the sooner we leave here the lesser the risk of being discovered."
Raziel and I were breaking camp while Hilda and Ingredi were still distracted by the wolf cub.