Just as Aeron finished collecting all the fruits from the trees, the notification of the Phantom Spark upgrade rang.
[Phantom Spark upgrade complete.]
[New Feature: Killing a Haunt of C-grade and lower will drop a Haunt Material with a 50% chance.]
[New Feature: Killing a Haunt while Purify of Phantom Spark is active will have a 50% chance of turning the Haunt into its Haunt core on top of gaining usual Phantom Points.]
[Storage capacity has been increased to 100 units.]
[Chance of obtaining Phantom Gear/ Phantom Ability after killing Haunts has been increased for E, D, and C ranked Haunts while Purify of Phantom Spark is activated.]
"It didn't unlock the chance of getting loot from B-rank Haunts, but it doesn't matter I guess," Aeron remarked nonchalantly. "I am not planning on going against B-rank Haunts anytime soon. Not until I've become a proper C-rank Phantom Hunter with my complete set of Phantom Abilities."
Lapis nodded in agreement. [Yep. B-rank Haunts are significantly more dangerous compared to the C-rank ones because each B-rank Haunt possesses an additional unique trait which typically a C-rank and below-ranked Haunts don't possess.]
"Such as/Like what?" Aeron asked while he began storing the plants effortlessly. Just a single touch and a plant would enter his Storage with perfect uprooting.
[They possess a Transformation trait. Each B-rank and higher Haunt has a unique one, specific according to them. You'll witness it when you encounter one.]
"Got it."
With that, Aeron had also finished collecting everything from the garden. And since everything in the garden was in order and arranged as if someone had meticulously grown those resources, the things Aeron received were also in an accurate quantity.
There were a total of fifty plants, consisting of five of each kind, so now he had ten types of plants with five of each variety.
Lapis smiled.
[All Grade 2 or 3 resources. We'll make a good amount of money from these.]
"I want enough to be able to settle in the core city area with Rosalie and support her study."
[That will require more resources than what you have.]
"Good. We'll earn them today. So let's finish this Dark Ruin," Aeron said before he sat crossed his legs, and closed his eyes, entering into a meditative state.
After having completely recovered his energy by actively absorbing it from the atmosphere in this garden in two minutes, he stood up.
Leaving the garden, Aeron resumed his journey towards the only path that led him deeper into the Dark Ruin from the huge cavern.
The glowing moss stuck to the wall dimly illuminated the wide path.
After he had walked for another ten meters, while Aeron was able to hear the sound of rushing water, there was nothing he could see ahead except for the rocky wall.
Nonetheless, as he arrived before the wall, he discovered that there was an empty gap that spanned about five meters from the edge to the wall.
Indeed, the empty gap of five meters was a hollow space, a cavern that was around ten meters below the ground beneath his feet and as he gazed below, Aeron noticed a small river creek that flowed from the left.
[It seems that the next area lies below.]
"Yep," Aeron confirmed before leaping down and landing half a meter in front of the edge of the creek where he was met with an unexpected scenery that startled him.
"Huh?"
Lapis also shared his surprise before she muttered. [But it's empty.]
The fifty-meter-long area ahead of him was dotted with six huts on the hard, grassy plain ground with trees in the surroundings.
At the very end lay a pond and a small waterfall, indicating another area there.
"I feel a bit strange," Aeron remarked as he narrowed his eyes while cautiously making his way towards the pond.
[Like what? This seems like a pretty empty area to me as I can't sense any kind of presence here.]
"I don't know. It's just a gut feeling," Aeron said before he wandered past all the huts before arriving at the pond.
"This water in the pond also feels somewhat strange," Aeron muttered before curiously dipping his hand in the water and soon felt a strange sensation course through him.
A curse escaped his lips as he experienced a strange pain in his bones, prompting him to quickly take his hand out…only to find out that the part of his hand which he had dipped in the water, particularly his fingers, lacked any flesh or blood.
"W-what the hell?!" Aeron's eyes widened in shock as he took a step back and mumbled. "Am I fucking seeing things?"
Lapis's expression also turned somber.
[Quickly use your spirit energy and envelop your hand. Its basic nature simulates your recovery and it's faster for healing fresh injuries.]
Backing away from the accursed pond, Aeron enveloped his hand in a membrane of spirit energy, just as Lapis advised.
While he could see that the flesh on his finger, blood, and the rest of the structure were slowly regenerating, Aeron couldn't help but sweat bullets and grit his teeth since the process was accompanied by intense pain.
"This is fucking crazy," Aeron muttered. "My hand was even Fortified, yet only my finger bones remained even after it was only inside the water for not even two seconds."
[That water is cursed. Dangerously cursed. If anyone was foolish enough to go ahead and jump into the pond or try to go up the waterfall without checking the water…] Lapis' voice trailed off ominously.
[Well, death is a certain outcome for sure.]
"This seems like a perfect suicide spot," Aeron wryly chuckled. "Jump inside and die in two seconds without feeling any kind of pain."
Lapis winced before redirecting the conversation.
[Anyway, let's bring our attention back to the huts.]
Giving a nod, Aeron walked five meters away from the pond before coming to a hut that was located on his left.
As he looked around, Aeron noticed that all huts were of the same size—three meters tall and had a diameter of four meters, their walls made with fiber such as grass, leaves, and branches with the use of some proper technique.
He arrived before the first hut's closed leaf door that was covered in such a way that he couldn't see inside.
"I can sense that there's something inside," Aeron said before opening his Field enough to cover the hut but shook his head a moment later. "But I am not able to sense any kind of presence in my Field."
[If you feel that there's something inside, then there's definitely something inside.]
Lapis affirmed in a rather confident manner.
[Trust your guts in situations like these where you can't even properly make any assessments and only feel your instincts tingling.]
"Right," Aeron agreed before stepping back and deciding to meditate to accelerate the recovery of his injury and replenish the energy being used up to recover his injury.
[You'll be going solo often, so it would be wise to have a recovery-type Phantom Ability and even a crude scout-type.] Lapis suggested.
"Yeah. I can't just proceed ahead while relying on the Flamehunt Rambe and makeshift powers," Aeron nodded while his eyes remained closed. "That's also why I am already making my next Phantom Ability based on an idea I got. It's a movement-type Phantom Ability."
"I don't know how I'll create my recovery-type Phantom Ability, so I'll appreciate your help in that regard," Aeron cheekily added.
Lapis chuckled.
[Alright. We don't need to hurry about it, so let's finish them here. I can teach you a C-grade recovery-type Phantom Ability, but it will be up to you if you are able to create it or not. Know that it will be more complex than your Flamehunt Rambe despite both of the abilities being a C-grade.]
"Sounds good, but let's finish this movement-type Phantom Ability first. Since I can transmute spirit energy into the wind, that will be the main attribute of the ability."