After noticing the cave that Druak found Isacc began to get rather curious. As he looked at the entrance he gradually approached the entrance with a giant grin on his face.
Druak quickly grabbed Isaac's shoulder, preventing him from going through the cave. "Hey be careful, there might be something in there that could be incredibly dangerous."
"Don't be such a scaredy cat, I'll protect you so don't worry."Isacc responded with a giant grin on his face as he strutted towards the entrance.
Druak couldn't help but laugh at what Isacc had said. He decided not to comment on it however as he knew that Isacc would regret what he had said later.
Druak was much more cautious compared to Isacc as he decided to sneak into the cave instead, trying to avoid anything that could attract unwanted attention.
As they entered the cave they realised that it was actually much brighter than they originally thought. This was due to the lava pools sprawled throughout the cave illuminating everything.
They had entered a deeper part of the cave and the sound of lava drops hitting the pools could often be heard however, a particularly loud splash caused Isacc to jump.
Druak looked at Isacc with a giant grin on his face."Great job protecting me, I knew you could do it."
Isacc had slumped his shoulders over trying to hide his face as he was too embarrassed from what had just transpired.
He couldn't believe he had jumped at the noise of droplets of lava, and what made it even worse was his comment before they entered the cave.
After Druak had gotten his revenge on Isacc they continued their search for anything of value that could be inside the cave.
This continued for quite some time and they were fruitful in their search as they managed to find some crystals as well as other minerals. But still, Druak was getting frustrated as he couldn't find what he was looking for.
While looking Druak tried to be as discreet as possible due to him not wanting to disclose his plans to Isacc.
As they wandered around Druak gradually drifted away from Isacc as he wanted to continue searching away from prying eyes.
Once he was some distance away from Isacc he began to look around the cave and noticed a small crack in the wall, just big enough to fit a person through.
He began to feel conflicted. He wanted to see what was beyond the crack in the wall but also knew that this cave could be covered with traps and he had no plans of dying again any time soon.
It didn't take him long however as he was far too curious and needed valuable material.
Druak still decided to be cautious as he knew that even if something was on the other side of the crack it wouldn't matter if he was already dead.
The first thing he decided to do was check the entrance of the crack for any possible magic traps, this was done by using a small orb of mana.
Druak began to close his eyes, focusing on the flow of mana escaping from his mana veins.
The mana orb began to move towards the crack in the wall, while Druak made sure his mana continued to flow through it. This was done to keep him safe from any possible traps the mana could set off.
As the mana orb approached the wall beads of sweat began to drip from Druaks face as the orb continued to get closer and closer. But no traps were set off.
He wiped off the sweat that had accumulated on his brow and approached the crack in the wall, feeling comfortable enough to go through it.
As he went through he was rather surprised to see what seemed to be an enormous cavern filled to the brim with lava.
Druak decided to inspect the cavern more and noticed that traces of mana were felt throughout the cavern, but this made no sense. The cavern looked as if nothing had been touched for decades so how could it be possible for there still to be traces of mana.
The only explanation Druak could come up with was that this cavern was inhabited by a magical being that surpassed anything he had ever seen.
As Druak was admiring the magical prowess of this individual he suddenly felt a surge of aura however, this aura was quite some distance away.
As he looked towards this unfamiliar aura he noticed something. It seemed as though the aura he was feeling came from some kind of shiny object that was at the furthest part of the cavern
Druak tried to see what it was but as he hadn't learned any kind of mana or aura circulation skills his vision still wasn't good enough to tell what the shining object was.
Druak knew it was valuable from the aura that it exuded but couldn't tell what exactly it was. It was clear it was used for weapon-based classes as they were the classes that normally used aura instead of mana.
Druak decided it was best for him to leave this for now as there was no way for him to reach the item. He went back through the crack in the wall. Once on the other side, he stared at the crack in the wall for a while, and just as he was about to walk away he could hear the voice of Isacc.
Isacc had noticed Druak and decided to talk to him."What are you looking at, anything good."
Druak quickly darted away and turned towards Isacc."Uh no, was just curious about why we haven't seen any creatures here."
Isacc tilted his head to the side."What do you mean, isn't this normal."
Druak put his hand to his chin."I guess that makes sense, you never did like learning about anything that wasn't to do with fighting. Wait till you are at the academy I'm sure they'll teach you there."
'Guess I'll have to leave that treasure for now.' Druak signed and wandered further into the cave cutting off Isacc from asking any more questions.
As Druak and Isacc were walking through the cave they were busy talking, this caused Isacc not to pay enough attention and trip up on a poking-out rock.
*Thud* The sound reverberated throughout the cave even causing some stalagmites to fall to the ground.
Once releasing Isacc had fallen over Druak went straight over to help him up.
As Druak helped Isacc up he notices a red crystallized rock right where Isacc fell.
"DURA CRYSTAL, it's a dura crystal."Druak was in shock, he had been looking for hours and all it took was Isacc falling over.
Druak walked up to Isacc and put a hand on his shoulder."Thank you, thank you for always being such a clumsy oaf."
He then proceeded to try to cover his grin as he walked off towards the dura crystals.
"Your wel..., wait what did you just say." Isacc's eyebrows furrowed slightly but he ended up ignoring the comment as he couldn't quite hear it and he was also surprised to see dura crystals.
In a cavern not so far from Druak and Isacc was the silhouette of a creature, this creature was completely surrounded by lava pools which illuminated all around it.
As this creature lay atop a cluster of rocks a loud noise caught its attention.*Thud* Its head shoots straight up.
The creature began to sniff the air around it, seemingly trying to distinguish what caused such a loud noise.
It seemed as though this creature recognised the smell as it instantly slivered into a nearby pool of lava. *Splash*
Druak and Isacc began to grab as much of the dura crystals as possible. They didn't have any excavation tools so they could only grab the loose crystals.
"How much do you think these are worth." Isacc asked with a glint in his eyes.
"I'm not sure, with this much you could probably get at least a silver ranked class skill." Druak responded.
Isaac had a massive grin on his face."So I might be able to get a better class then."
Druak shrugged."Who knows, depends on if you can actually learn the skill."
He knew that just because you wanted to change into a higher-ranked class doesn't mean you will.
Druak knew this from his past, when he was 25 he tried to improve his class from silver to steel and failed.
He was unable to learn the skills as he was too old at that time and also didn't meet the requirements.
This left him stuck in a silver-ranked class till he died.
However, it would be different this time. He had learned a great deal from his past and planned to put it to good use in the academy.
As they grabbed the last of the dura crystals a loud rumbling could be heard from within one of the lava pools.
Isacc decided to approach it to find out what it could be.
As Isacc approached Durak realised that the only thing that noise could be was ...
"ISACC RUN."Druak ran as fast as he could towards Isacc.
As soon as Isacc heard the shouts he turned around.
*SLASH*
Before Isacc could react a ginormous serpent appeared before him.
This had been the serpent they faced once before and it seemed to have found them once again.
He was frozen stiff. It leaped straight towards Isacc, its mouth wide open.
Isacc didn't move a muscle as the creature slowly inched closer and closer. The snake's mouth was mere centimeters from his face.
Druak tried as hard as he could to reach Isacc, sprinting as much as he could, but he knew he couldn't make it.
[I CAN HELP YOU... FOR A PRICE]
An ominous voice echoed throughout Druak's ears.'I'll do anything just save my friend.'
[YOU HAVE AGREED... NOW YOUR BODY IS MINE]
"Wa..."
Druak disappeared into thin air.. and just as he disappeared he then reappeared in a cloud of black mist.
"PUNY WORM...." Druak was now in front of the snake's jaw.
*Hissss* The serpent's eyes grew red as it changed its target from Isacc to Druak.
The giant serpent charged straight toward Druak mad with rage. However, something the serpent hadn't expected happened.
As the serpent charged at Druak so too did he, but his speed was much faster.
*Crunch* The serpent yelled in pain. Its spine had been crushed with a single hand, it had died almost instantly.
[What is this... it's pathetic. How could he have struggled so much with this.]
Isacc had already passed out from shock due to fear of dying.
A black mist appeared around Druak as his clothes began to shift into a black cloak with two wolf skulls adorned on the shoulders.
[Now time to get to work, guess this worm will have to do for now]
Druaks body disappeared along with the remains of the serpent, leaving Isacc sprawled out on the floor.