Saying that he was going to explore this cave wasn't just something he blurted out from excitement… well, that isn't entirely true, but Yune did have other reasons for exploring the cave.
Before Yune had made the decision to explore the cave, he had been thinking about how he would be able to get up to the surface again. Of course, Yune knew of one way to make it out of this cave: swimming back to the surface the way he came in from.
But Yune would rather choose a different way out if possible.
Somewhere in the water, which was devoid of any light because it was so deep down, still dwelled a monster. So, Yune didn't want to go anywhere near the water for the time being.
So, that was when Yune decided to try and find another way out somewhere in the cave. Being able to explore the cave just came as a pleasant bonus.
Even though Yune was full of curiosity and excitement, he was still slightly scared of what he might come across in this cave.
Having postponed it long enough, Yune took a deep breath and stood up.
'Let's do this!'
Slowly making his way forward, Yune kept his right hand on the wall and decided to follow it. This was a method he read about in a book for escaping a maze. With this method Yune could also find his way back, which was a worry for Yune who still couldn't see well.
So, even though this might not be the quickest method, it was the safest.
After a long while of walking, Yune hadn't encountered anything yet, not even a turn in the road. In this silent cave, all that Yune had done was slowly walk in a straight line while holding close to the wall.
The minutes soon blended into hours as Yune kept moving forward without even the slightest change of environment.
'Am I going in one big circle?'
This was definitely not the case as Yune had constantly held his right hand on the wall, but he couldn't help but question himself as he hadn't encountered anything in hours.
After a few more hours, Yune suddenly stopped in his tracks as he thought to have heard a faint sound in the distance. Standing motionless, Yune put his ear to the wall of the cave. He stood there for a few minutes, but he didn't hear even the slightest of sounds again.
'I must have made that sound up in this pure silence.'
Continuing to walk, Yune had contemplated to pick up his pace many times, but he had held back this urge every time as his rational mind took the upper hand, prioritizing safety.
But this urge got stronger and stronger as time passed, his rational mind almost not being able to hold it back anymore. And then, this urge got the better of Yune when, for the first time in hours, he spotted a change of scenery.
Somewhere in the distant Yune thought to have seen a faint glow.
Excited to something else besides darkness and stone walls, Yune immediately picked up his pace, not entirely holding onto the wall anymore. With every step he took, Yune saw the light getting brighter and brighter and was now basically running towards it.
Getting closer to it, Yune noticed that the light was coming from a cove. Turning the corner, Yune's eyes widened from joy as he finally saw the source of this light.
'Mana gemstones! Dozens of them!'
There was no mistaking it. Even though Yune had never seen one in real life, he immediately knew that this were mana gemstones, an ore that has naturally formed into a mana crystal.
Blinded by greed, Yune could think of nothing else besides wanting to collect these these mana gemstones. Walking up to one, Yune put his hand on it and tried pulling it out. But this obviously didn't work as he only had his bare hands.
But as soon as Yune put his hand on the mana gemstone, a warm feeling entered his body making its way to his chest. Yune was absorbing the mana from the mana gemstone, and it wasn't a small amount of it.
Filling his body with more and more mana, it reached the amount that Yune could normally store. But it didn't stop there. It just kept flowing into Yune's body without the slightest intent to stop.
Yune didn't know how exactly mana gemstones worked, only knowing that mana crystals could increase someone's mana quantity. And frankly, Yune didn't care to find out the theory behind it as he was experiencing it first-hand.
The feeling in his chest was getting warmer and warmer as his mana became denser around his chest. It felt like it was pushing against some invisible barrier, which desperately tried to keep the mana in place.
But then, this barrier suddenly broke and the warmth inside his body disperse a little further in his chest as it was replaced by an even bigger barrier, able to hold even more mana.
Surprisingly, this was a fast process. After only around thirty seconds, Yune couldn't feel anymore mana flow inside his body.
Opening his eyes, Yune could see that the mana crystal wasn't emitting a glow anymore. However, Yune wasn't sad at all as there were many more mana gemstones he could absorb.
Wasting no time Yune quickly made his way to another mana gemstone and put his hand on it, absorbing the mana from it.
When Yune was nearly done absorbing all the crystals, his mana had almost doubled.
His face exuding satisfaction, Yune moved to yet another mana gemstone and put his hand on it. Immediately, mana started flowing inside his body. But he thought to have also felt something else, something he hadn't felt from the other crystals.
It felt as if the mana gemstone was pulsating. This feeling only became stronger and stronger as time passed. Yune's smile widened as he thought that this mana gemstone might be special, containing more mana.
But Yune's smile quickly vanished as the mana gemstone stopped glowing, but still felt something pulsating. Even when he took his hand off the mana gemstone, the pulsation was still there-
No, it was a tremor.
At that moment, Yune's blood immediately turned cold as he realized what this meant. Something was walking in the cave, and that something was most likely a monster…
Concentrating on the tremors, Yune's expression turned from bad to worse. Every second the tremors were getting louder and louder.
'No, is it coming towards me?!'
Thinking this, Yune's body shot into action as he began running in the direction he came from. At least he knew this direction would be safe.
But Yune had made it pretty deep into the big cove following the mana gemstones. Before Yune even managed to make it out of the cove, he was suddenly frozen in place as a massive figure peeked around the corner. The figure was at least three meters tall and almost as wide, looking like one big shape.
As it made its way around the corner, Yune's fear was only heightened, his heart beating out of his chest as the monster resembled one of the apex predators on earth, a bear. Standing on its powerful stocky legs, its height was only accentuated. The bear was covered in fur as black as the night, the only features Yune could see were its bloodshot eyes, its long snout lined with big sharp teeth adapted to rip apart flesh and break bones effortlessly. And its big clawed paws weren't any less deathly.
Face to face with the bearlike monster Yune had to put his hand over his mouth to suppress a gasp from leaving his mouth. Hoping, praying, that it wouldn't spot Yune.
But it wasn't successful. The slightest sound came from Yune's mouth, which was enough to alert it. The bearlike monster instantly snapped its head, locking eyes with Yune.
Yune didn't dare to move a muscle in the slight chance that the bear hadn't seen him yet, or better yet, in the chance the bear was blind as Yune knew that there was no way he could defeat the bear. There was just no way.
Even if Yune had received a mark and gained the power of gravity, defeating a monstrosity was just impossible. For now, at least, not even having been marked for a day.
But not even a second later, his last bit of hope shattered as the bear didn't lose eye contact and started dashing towards Yune, quickly closing the distance between them with its powerful stocky legs.
There was no way Yune could fight something like that. The decision in his mind to choose between his flight or fight response had never been made so quickly as he immediately turned around and activated his mana to decrease his weight, running away as fast as he possibly could.
One thing Yune knew from bears is that they are fast, deceptively so. But, Yune had no time to think about this, just desperately focusing on straining every last muscle fiber to run just a little bit faster.
Huge tremors followed behind Yune as the bear took chase. Every tremor making Yune flinch as he could be brutally mauled any second, either by the bear's claw or mouth.
Running like his life depended on it, a glimmer of hope made its way in Yune's mind as the tremors became a tiny bit less loud. Snapping his head back for an split second, Yune could see that he was gaining distance. Yune couldn't help but let a nervous laugh escape from his mouth.
'I can outrun the bear! I just need to keep runni-'
Not even having finished this thought, his glimmer of hope vanished as he suddenly saw an even darker darkness on the ground only a few meters in front of him.
Just barely being able to stop his momentum before this darkness, Yune stared down into the nothingness of a ravine of some sorts.
Looking around him, putting his mind in overdrive, it wasn't looking good. Both to the left and right of Yune were cave walls, in front of him a ravine he couldn't see the bottom of and behind him the bear charging at him like a bulldozer.
Yune clenched his teeth as his best option was to turn around and face the bear, which was comparatively the least deathly... Quickly making this decision, Yune turned around to see the bear was only a few meters away.
But then it suddenly stopped and stood up on his hind legs, showing his teeth as if mocking Yune.
"Yes! Give me some time to think, you stupid BEAR!"