As soon as the ding had sounded and Jason knew the fight was over he looked over at his father who was standing just behind him. His father had not moved since the first few moments of the fight.
"You truly are something special Jason. I was only planning on letting you get some practice before finishing it off myself, but you basically handled it all on your own. It's ridiculous a 10-year-old just defeated an ogre." Garion spoke while shaking his head with a hand resting on his forehead. After letting out a sigh he spoke again "That was blistering slash, how can you possibly know that skill? You do know it took me years to learn that and even more to get it to that level."
Jason felt a little bad that his father looked a little downtrodden. "Well, actually that was all thanks to your gift," Jason said gesturing to his sword. "While I'm holding it I can use the skill. In fact, it was really only thanks to the skill that I could defeat the ogre at all. I couldn't cut it myself it actually left me a little frustrated."
"Wait did you say you could use the skill just from holding the sword?" The shocked look still remained on Garion's face.
"Yeah, the system lets me use it temporarily."
"Huh, no wonder system holders are so much stronger."
Rather than improving his father's mood, Jason seemed to be making it worse. So he tried a different approach.
"Dad you were amazing, I knew you were strong but that ogre seemed to be nothing to you! It was as if you were dancing around it." His father seemed to perk up gradually as Jason continued to praise him.
"Well, I mean it was quite weak for me I could have defeated it with little effort you know"
"Wow, Dad!" While he felt this dynamic was a bit odd, Jason wasn't exaggerating. He was amazed to see his father fight. Now he wanted to see him fight something that was more challenging. The chance to learn from him was just too appealing.
As Jason's adrenaline rush started to fade he realised how tired he was and they decided to take a short break. It was no problem as Garion still needed to deal with the ogre's corpse. Like most monsters, some parts of an ogre's body could be used or sold. For example, the thick skin of an ogre was often in demand to make all sorts of things. As such it would be a waste to leave it.
Jason used the break to check his status. He hadn't expected to see that he received an EXP bonus for killing the higher levelled ogre, but it made sense considering that while hunting he had started to gain less EXP from lower-level animals. It was a key reason his level hadn't changed much of late, so getting 3 levels in one day was very pleasing. Apart from that not much of his status had changed. His stats had gone up as usual and he had received the usual allocation of 8 stat points and 2 skill points for each level increase.
As he sat there his mind was really only half on his status. The other half was focused on the feeling he had that still hadn't gone away. He had expected that the moment the ogre was defeated this new sense would have disappeared but it was in fact even stronger. It was calling on him to explore even deeper into the cave.
Staring further into the tunnel he didn't see much just more darkness. He couldn't see how much further the cave went, but he was certain that's where this feeling wanted him to go.
"Hey Dad can we explore deeper into the cave, I feel we haven't found everything yet."
Garion was hesitant at first but having seen Jason's display earlier he was pretty confident that they would both be able to escape if anything went wrong.
"Okay just let me finish up with this then we can search further, but I'm not sure what else we could possibly find." Garion would come to laugh at those words.
Having rested for a while and having stripped the ogre of everything useful they set out deeper into the cave, now with a torch in hand. As they went deeper the tunnel seemed to steadily expand. After a few minutes, the tunnel suddenly joined into a large cavern. Stepping foot inside they were careful as they worried a monster may have made this place home. Yet they found nothing. The cavern was completely empty. They walked to the far end to find that it was a dead end. They had come to the end of the tunnel.
Jason was perplexed his reading of his new sense had been wrong after all. He sat down in the middle of the cavern annoyed that he had wasted both his and his father's time. While he did so, his father was exploring around to see if there was anything hidden, not keen to give up just so easily. As Garion got close to the walls he noticed something strange. The walls seemed to be reflecting back the light of his torch ever so slightly.
"Hey, Jason come look at this," Garion called out.
Jason's hopes were raised so he ran over. As soon as he made it to his father's side he noticed the same thing his father did and he decided to try something. He placed his hand on the rock and used his [Vision of Rylax] skill.
[Cooperite]
[An ore, which can be used to give Platinum a rare and versatile metal that is desired by many due to its strength.]
"Dad this is Platinum ore."
"What?!" His father exclaimed. He continued to walk around the walls of the cave as he did so he realised that the shiny stone seemed to stretch all the way around.
This time it was his father's turn to drop to the floor. Platinum was amongst the most valuable materials in the Heroic Realm. While the mythical materials Orichalcum, Mithril and Adamantite were more valuable they were extremely rare, not only on this continent, but across all the continents. Given that platinum could be used to create weapons and armour it was in high demand in this world where strength was a must. It was worth even more than diamond and far more useful. Platinum mines were the national treasures of any state and could immediately improve the power of a nation and army.
As all these thoughts ran through Garion's head he tried to figure out how they were going to deal with this discovery. He wasn't convinced that ignoring what they had found wasn't the best choice. This may not just change the lives of the villagers but also affect the entire kingdom of Ovar. Most importantly to Garion, he was worried that it would bring unwelcome eyes upon his family.
He got up after thinking things through "Jason I think we should head back, we need to mark the path here so we can find this place again. When we get back I think it's best that we don't tell anyone about this for the time being. I want to talk to your mother first."
Although Jason wasn't really sure why they needed to do so, Jason trusted that his father had a reason. "Whatever you think is best Dad."
They quickly walked out of the cave and emerged outside. Peeking through the canopy the sun was now far lower in the sky. They took the most direct route out of the forest occasionally marking a tree along the way with a notch. Garion knew the forest fairly well and could navigate it even at night, but it was a confusing and wild forest, he could only head in general directions rather than find specific points.
This time they were far less quiet and were instead trying to move as fast as possible. Garion had warned Jason that the parts of the ogre corpse they now carried may attract another monster. At this faster pace and on this more direct route it took less than an hour to be free of the forest. Making note of where they had left the forest they started making the journey home. They were careful not to bump into anyone so as to avoid any questions about where they had been.
Arriving home Amelina was already waiting for them at the doorstep, from the fact she was alertly waiting for their return it was clear she had been worried. Even though she looked worried she did not look helpless rather she looked ready to rush to the forest if need be.
"Jason, how are you? You didn't get hurt did you?..." She swallowed Jason up in a big embrace. It immediately made him feel safe, which only made him feel more guilty she had worried about him.
"Don't worry Mum I'm completely fine. I didn't get hurt at all. I even managed to defeat an ogre all on my own." Jason said interrupting her.
"Oh did you now," Amelina said giving a hostile look to her husband who stood to the side scratching his head and pretending he didn't notice her stare.
"Come on in both of you, it seems we have a lot to talk about" she said putting extra emphasis on the words "a lot" and continuing to glance in Garion's direction. Jason gladly followed her into the house while Garion came after a little sheepishly.