Under the light of magic tools this cave is very complicated to illuminate correctly, it has so many stalactites, stalagmites and the shape of the tunnels are very deformed. The light cannot completely illuminate the cave and this makes my companions nervous and apprehensive, moments like this I feel very good to be able to see with my eyes, the dark and easily circumvented because of the light that comes from the mana and elemental energy of the environment.
The information we received when we took the mission was pretty accurate, apart from the fact that I didn't record it about this gray elemental energy. The really few magic beasts in the early part of the cave and the cave report says that in my cave the number of enemies will not increase much.
Only at the bottom of the cave are many enemies because of the black rock worms that live here with the lizards. Unlike dark rock armor lizards, black rock worms only reproduce rapidly in large numbers, their individual and weak power is a common feature of this type of magical beast that uses swarm tactics to hunt its prey and defend its nests or hives.
Killing a tier two black rock vermin nest is harder than killing six tier three strong magic beasts. A worm nest has a ridiculous number of worms led by a queen who is capable of producing several worms in a short time when she feels threatened by replenishing the dead, if not for her increasing the difficulty cleaning a worm nest would be almost 50% easier.
But during our brief exploration of the early part of the cave we killed nearly a dozen dark rock armored lizards, this did wonders for Gloria and Hilda's mood.
Even though that's a good thing, I'm still annoyed that they get so much pleasure from crushing and shredding the poor tier two lizards, I'm not a sympathizer of magical beasts or magical beasts, but I take pleasure in crushing weaker enemies that present no challenge. for you is wrong.
I've discovered that I love fighting and even without realizing it I sometimes end up smiling like a maniac sometimes when I'm having an exciting combat, but that only happens when I'm facing strong enemies that make me feel like I could die by their hands or their claws.
I feel like having fun with the slaughter of beings weaker than me or when I hunt for food and a line I mustn't cross.
The unfortunate victims of the mad wars didn't give me even a very important information about the gray elemental energy that entered their bodies. In one of them there was not even a trace of elemental energy, which I think now is new information.
One of the lizards didn't have the elemental energy inside its body, but it lived in the same environment as the others, and it proves that the elemental energy isn't just entering its cup because it lives in the cave for a long time.
It must get inside their body when they feed off the rocks or whatever other food, they eat here that might be containing some of that gray elemental energy.
I also didn't see a feature of this elemental energy other than slightly strengthening the hardness of one of the lizards' body parts, my best loot was four claws that I took from the paw of one of the lizards, its nails are usually hard as stone and they don't have a very great penetrating power because their tip is not very sharp.
But the claws I've sinned that have the gray elemental energy inside it have a harder surface and their tip turned out to be slightly thinner and even harder than the rest of the first layer of the lizard's claw. The difference between the claws on each lizard's paws is pretty obvious when you look closely, so I ended up taking the eight claws on the lizard's front legs.
Really interesting, I wanted a lot deeper to try and find some ore from the cave to see if it has that elemental energy inside it, but unfortunately, we have to go back to the cave entrance because it must be dark by now.
I think if you get some pieces of it or parts of the magic beast that contain a good amount of this gray elemental energy, they would be able to create high quality weapons and armor or this one with some good properties.
Since I have no idea what kind of property could be born from equipment that contains a large amount of this gray elemental energy. On my way back I reflected on my gains for today as I played with one of the pointed claws.
The stalagmites that serve as a barrier to the desert wind are really useful, with the help of a thick cloth the tents and campfire are not hit by an area wave when the wind is wild outside like during that night.
"Looks like we got to the cave just in time, a sandstorm seems to be passing through this area of the desert."
"It would be really bad to have to spend the night in my desert mine during a sandstorm like this, Alice. Ulric why are you playing with that claw?"
Hilda throws herself onto my shoulders and takes the lizard claw from my hand and starts studying it.
"Why don't you try to find out what's different about her?"
"Hmm. What's different about her? It requires a normal, hard, fine-pointed, sharp magic beast claw and can tear the flesh of a weak or distracted warrior."
"What's wrong with this claw and exactly what you've listed as its characteristics."
"Like this?"
"Sharp! This claw is from a beast of the earth element, it shouldn't be sharp or have a fine point."
"Gloria is right. As expected of an earth element warrior, a tier two dark rock armor lizard's claws are less hard than this one and its tip is wider and less sharp, the sharpest part of dark rock armor lizards just looks like when they reach level three when sharp stone spikes form over their outer armor, the more spikes the closer to reaching level four the dark rock armor lizard is."
"Compare that claw to that Hilda."
I handed the normal claw to Hilda. With both in her hand it didn't take Hilda long to get my point, the claws that came from the same lizard are very different when examined closely and not during a battle where warriors don't care to notice these tiny details.
If I hadn't been able to see the gray elemental energy glowing in the lizard's paw, I wouldn't have noticed that the claws on that paw are different, without touching it directly and basically impossible to notice anything about it in the dark environment of the cave.
Maybe that's why I don't record this kind of mutation, not a lot of them happening and if you're not lucky enough to get the material contaminated by this gray elemental energy you don't have a chance to notice that there's anything different about the lizard.
I'm curious to see if this elemental energy becomes more present in the deeper parts of the cave.
"This is amazing. They are really different, but they came from the same lizard, they came from the same lizard didn't they, Ulric? I just remember you gluing the claws of one of the level two lizards I killed."
"Yes, they come from the same lizard."
"Are these claws really different?"
"Here, take them."
Hilda passes the claws to Alice and Gloria is also beside her looking at the claws wanting to feel the difference between them. Even Zephyr, who was farther away, cleaning himself to eat the soup being prepared on the fire, only got up wanting to see the different claws.
It didn't take long for everyone to have their chance to notice the difference between the two claws that should be the same or much more similar.
"How did you realize that Ulric, only when I took the two in my hand did, I realize they were different in the dark?"
"I used the flashlight that I have with me to see the lizards' bodies after I noticed that there was something slightly different about the magical beasts in this cave. As I said after you killed the first magical beasts that were rather slow, I studied the bodies of the other lizards looking for any anomalies."
"Okay, but doesn't that explain how you noticed that some of the lizard's claws were different from the others?"
"I practice an aura art of the support type for my eyes. It helps me to have a better vision and poor ability to focus on small details up close, I achieved good results with this art so I was able to see that the tip of the claws of the front legs of one of the lizards was slightly different when I held them. I lit directly."
It wasn't just Gloria who was interrogating me who was surprised by my explanation. Even Hilda who knows that I'm a person who uses the bow as a main weapon and not as a secondary one of less importance.
"Serious? Do you really practice this kind of art?"
"I am an archer; you have seen me use the bow many times when facing the wild beasts of the desert or during travel. I just didn't sweat my bow against the owls as it was complicated to use it against them in mine in a dense forest like that, and normally I practice an art that improves my eyesight."
"Okay, but these arts are not even popular with archers of our level because they take a long time to give results without a lot of aura to cultivate them."
"True, and it was a big surprise to discover that I have a knack for cultivating it. The secret lies in finely controlling the aura and applying it at a pace that your body can better absorb my aura, it was pure luck."
"That's not luck, and ridiculous to think so! You don't know how much effort and resources I put into my art I use to strengthen my body's natural resistance and defense, only to not make much progress in my aura art. This kind of art must not be easy to cultivate!"
"Calm down Gloria. Our arts are very different, you can't compare your art to mine that strengthens a very small part of the body in a very simple and limited way. Your art must be many levels more complex than my art, to affect your entire body in various ways without major side effects, and her threshold must be much higher than my basic art."
"What al brothers eat? Looks like the soup is ready."
"Alice is right, we better go eat."
Gloria's death glare is still focused on me throughout the entire meal, it seems like she's using aura art to strengthen the body and something complicated for her. I think she didn't even hear me right when I warned everyone about the level three magic beasts we were going to face tomorrow, they may have mutated even more than the level two ones and that could be dangers if we're unlucky.
Escaping Gloria's field of vision, I spent the rest of the night in my tent with Hilda resting for tomorrow.