The next few hours, Sydra worked on reading through the folders and figuring out as much as he could about things that the Star Observatory had discovered. The Star Observatory was the name of the building that they had just left. Opening a new folder, Sydra was excited that it had information about the crystals he and the others had used to raise their auras.
'Let's see here, the crystals were called Aura collectors, and they were all created by someone's power. It says here that the guy's name was Tyron and he could condense the aura that flows through the air around us. The only downside was that his power didn't give him any offensive abilities, and he was only good for raising the powers of others. Eventually, he was killed by another group of people who feared the balance of the ten groups would rise in the Star Observatory's favor.' Sydra read through the folder and sighed, thinking about how people always feared those that had more power than them.
"Luckily now more people are unafraid of differences in power, otherwise SSS-Rank people would never exist. As long as no one thinks I am a threat to their plans I should be fine, just have to keep a neutral stance in everything..." Sydra sighed again as he put the folder back inside the cabinet. Deciding to take a break, Sydra returned to his body, only to find a stack of cards falling off his head.
"Oh man, l worked hard on that," Erich grumbled as he began to pick up the cards off the ground.
"Haha, I told you that it would fall," Cidre laughed as he knelt to help Erich out. "Were you able to finish what you needed inside your Arbor Sanctum?" He asked as he handed his cards over to Erich.
"Yeah, and I met a cute girl while I was in there. Turns out one of the seeds I planted a while ago devoured the other seed's life force and grew at an astonishing rate. She called herself a Devouring Willow and her name is Marie, and what's cool is that she can already project her spirit form," Sydra said, excitedly explaining what had happened between his and Marie's encounter.
"Oh? So is she stuck on your island now, since that is where her tree is stationed? Also, I don't understand how she can project a spirit form, I thought the spirit form could only appear after the item grows to a certain maturity. And when it is born it starts as a baby, or am I confused about this?" Robert asked, glancing over at Sydra who was rolling his eyes. Based on how the importance of an item differed, so would their maturity. If a child carried a blanket into his adulthood then the maturity of the spirit born from that blanket would have also grown. Also, spirits born from items, plants, water, and all other things wouldn't always have a human form. There was a famous overlord a few thousand years ago that had been born from a lava river, and ended up turning into a suit of molten lava armor in the shape of a crab that could often be seen around that area.
"Different items, different experiences. I may have started as a baby when I was born, but I also didn't absorb the life force of other trees as I grew up. Marie, on the other hand, absorbed the life essence of the others seeds I planted, and this caused her consciousness to mature much faster. If I had to guess what her age is, I'd say it is around twenty-three, so around three years older than me. Of course, I have more life experience than her, as I spent the last twenty years encountering unique situations," Sydra said as he picked up some of the cards that had fallen onto his lap and handing them to Erich.
"Oh, that makes sense... I guess," Robert said, before turning back to look at the screen, still very confused.
"Anyway, where are we now? I've been gone for a few hours so we should be close to halfway now, right?" Sydra said as he pulled out the map and calculated the speed that they were traveling to the distance they traveled in each hour. He had marked down distances on the map back while they were still preparing to leave.
"That's right, I'd say we get to the next set of ruins before the end of the day," Robert said before everything went black and the Fluttershi came to an abrupt stop.
"Ahh!" Cidre yelled as he was thrown to the floor with Erich landing on top of him.
"What da hell?!" Sydra yelled as he looked at the black screen in front of him. Fortunately, his seat had gravity runes engraved on it that would activate when the Fluttershi stopped abruptly.
"I think we entered a spatial tear and we're teleported into a cave," Robert said as he turned off the Fluttershi and opened the door. Stepping over Erich and Cidre, Robert turned on his lantern and illuminated the area around the vehicle. They were inside a dark cave, that was covered in grey stalagmites. After helping Erich get off Cidre, Sydra pulled out his lantern as well, before passing everyone their backpacks and weapons.
"You know, I don't think my bow is going to do much in this cramped cave," Cidre said as he handed the bow back to Sydra. "Do you have a sword I could use?"
"Sure, I wasn't aware you knew how use any other weapon," Sydra said as he sent the bow back into his Arbor Sanctum before choosing a sword that would work for Cidre. In the end he pulled out a medium-sized sword that had a light blue edge with a white handle. "Will this work?" Sydra asked handing the sword over to Cidre, who gave it a few practice swings.
"Yeah, that's perfect. Dang, where do you get all these cool weapons from?" Cidre asked as he walked around the cave swinging the sword.
"I'm constantly stocking up on weapons I come across. In the future, when I build my guildhall, I also plan on having a weapon room, mostly filled with daggers, but other weapons as well," Sydra said as he began looking around the cave for a tunnel that would lead them out of there.
"I think I found something over here," Erich said as he shined his light on a small hole that was in the corner of the room. Seeing no other way out of the cave, everyone walked over and looked at the small hole. Getting down on his knees, Cidre peered into the hole and nodded.
"This hole does lead to another cave, but it is too small for me to fit through," Cidre said as he looked around at the others, before frowning. "Actually, I think only Sydra could fit through this hole, as the rest of us are just too muscular,"
"Oh? I guess that means we have to go into the Arbor Sanctum as Sydra makes this trip on his own," Robert said, placing his hand on his chin and slowly shaking his head. "Sorry,"
"Haha, it's no worries..." Sydra laughed unenthusiastically, before sending the others into his Arbor Sanctum along with the Fluttershi and his backpack. Getting down on his hands and knees, Sydra covered them with bone armor so that the sharp rocks wouldn't cut him. Grumbling quietly, Sydra slowly pushed his body through the long tunnel, having some spiders carry the lantern a few feet in front of him. Half an hour later, Sydra was pulling his hips through the end of the small tunnel and looking around at the new area he was in.
"...acking Sydra so long to finish... Hey Sydra, I see you managed to get all the way through the tunnel," Cidre said, before he started whistling nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry, did you have to wait long?" Sydra said sarcastically, as he tossed Cidre his backpack a bit roughly. Handing the others their weapons and packs again, the group once again began to search the cave they were in now. It was a bit larger than the last cave, and when they found the tunnel this time they were happy to see it was much wider.
"I wonder where this goes," Erich said as he stepped around a large stalagmite. Continuing to journey forward, the group began seeing small blue crystals sticking out of the walls. Picking up one of the crystals, Sydra felt a slight vibration come from the crystal before it shattered into pieces.
"That was interesting, but I wouldn't recommend picking up any more of the crystals. Were not sure what they are made from, and it's better to be safe than sorry," Robeeet warned as Sydra nodded his head in agreement. The vibration from the crystal had caused a small cut to form in the bone armor around his hands, which went to show the sharpness of the crystals. During the next hour, the group noticed that the crystals were appearing more and more often, before the entire wall was covered in them.
"Hey, do you guys see that light up ahead of us?" Cidre asked, turning off his lantern so he could see better. The others followed suit, and noticed that a couple hundred meters in front of them was a faint glow. Turning back on their lanterns, the group quickly covered the distance and stopped at the end of the tunnel.
"Is that... A castle made from crystals?" Robert asked as he gazed at the large castle in front of them.