Not sure what else to do to get the attention of those above, and not keen on the idea of trying to find this cavern again from the woods, I raised up the hilt of the runic blade and started tapping on the ceiling of the cavern. While I wasn't too worried about damaging the sword, given the runes covering it, I wasn't willing to risk using my full strength, given I hadn't unlocked the rest of the mana orbs yet. Likely, though, what I considered a little force was far enough to reverberate the sound through the ceiling to the chamber above.
What I wasn't entirely sure of, though, was whether the people above me were my allies or not. Just because it made sense for this crystal to be connected to a larger one above didn't mean that was a fact yet. And it could even still be true without the people directly above me being who I thought they were. There could be plenty of chambers between us and the others. I hadn't exactly been tracking how far down we had plunged as I chased Floof. Still, though, it was best to see just what was up there, friend or foe.
“I'm pretty sure I heard Ash's voice,” Noah said at the same moment that Floof started rapidly wagging his tail in excitement.
I hadn't, but I was entirely willing to trust him. It was obvious his and Floof's senses were greater than mine. That was something I would need to work on.
I'd been forced to devote so much of my levels to Constitution in order to help Ash that I was lopsided on my attribute layout. It wasn't the end of the world or anything, but given what we were facing, it was in my best interest to try to keep myself as powerful as I could. I couldn't rely on my previous knowledge pushing us through forever. There were far too many empires and factions competing for me to assume I'd remain the strongest.
Soon, what had been the faint noise above turned into a loud clamor as the ceiling reverberated from something striking it over and over. It was likely they had started mining their way towards us, and soon we could secure this chamber as well. But that left the question of how much further down this crystal extended.
We'd have to continue mining eventually. The names and the crystal had made this no longer a matter of simple curiosity and a possible value later, but into something far more important. For whatever reason, most of us were now intrinsically tied to this place for reasons we didn't yet understand.
A new system notification popped into my view as I waited for the excavation to finish.
__________
Mana Orb
Growth (2)
Second Tier Ability Unlocked
Experience Bank {Persistent, Targeted, Pool}
While active, all experience may be redirected to a pool that multiplies all stats based on the total size of the Experience Bank. Each point of experience invested in this way increases the pool by 0.0001.
Experience Bank Multiplier (1)
Mana Orb
Cognizance (1)
First Tier Ability Unlocked
Devil in the Details {Persistent, Ambient}
All language spoken or written, perceived while under the effect of Devil in the Details, is analyzed by the Cognizance Orb for hidden meanings. It will not reveal what these hidden meanings are, but it will alert the host to the possibility of their existence.
__________
That growth ability had been one of the many things on my mind every time I'd considered attributes recently, but I had no idea how long it would take to finally unlock it. And the fact that I unlocked two mana orb abilities at the same time was curious. It was possible that it had something to do with my proximity to the crystallized mana.
I hadn't had enough experience around natural crystallized mana during my days in system space to be sure of what kind of influence it held over the people and things around it to know for sure. All I knew was that it was an extremely powerful source of mana, and that made it incredibly valuable. It was possible Grimbleflork or Ralph knew more, and as soon as I saw them, I'd see what information I could drag out of their brains.
“What's a mana orb?” Noah asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. That had been an awfully coincidental time to ask that question. “Those are the things in my sword that give me some of my abilities, but why are you suddenly asking?”
“A System notification told me I was beginning to form a mana orb.”
“Well, that confirms a thought I just had regarding how powerful the crystallized mana here was. It's going to be a while before you finish forming it, and it's pretty early for you to even have started, though not anywhere near unheard of. Considering the amount of magic that's been slung around the neighborhood since this started, it's not that surprising, but if we were in fully integrated System-space, a faction would be looking at you with hungry eyes right now,” I replied.
In truth, even with the crystal pushing him, this still meant Noah was far ahead of most people. There were tons of other requirements to get your body ready to grow a mana orb that I couldn't see the increased mana flow in here being capable of pushing Noah past. Somehow, he had done most of those on his own, or at least enough of them that the extra energy within this cavern sparked this first mana orb.
Though part of the reason this was even happening was one of the only benefits of picking an early class. It meant your body adjusted itself earlier to channeling its own internal mana fire, which allowed for a mana orb to take root much sooner than those that waited to level twenty-five. This did mean we'd have to cycle everyone who had already picked a class at level five through the chambers just to see if we could prod anyone else down the same path.
“Adam, that didn't really answer the question,” Noah said, entirely correct.
I had gone off on a tangent due to my own growth and had not even remotely answered what he had asked. Ash would have yelled at me for this one. Noah, luckily, was a lot nicer. “So a mana orb will let you get access to more magic and mana abilities. Each one is different and grows with the person who creates it, and it will be naturally soul-linked as long as it's within you. At this stage, I can't really tell you anything about what magic it'll give you access to, but as it grows, it will gain a name. From there, we can probably take a few guesses.”
Some rubble fell from the ceiling in the far corner of the chamber, followed by an old Goblin yelling. “Who's down there?”
I called back jokingly. “How the hell did you all know I was even down here?” The answer was obviously my own tapping on the ceiling, but it was fun to fluster the old man sometimes. And it was something I hadn't gotten to do in so long.
“Don't make me come down there and wring your damn neck,” Grimbleflork replied.
“Yeah, yeah. But more seriously, can we get something set up to get Lukiss down here as soon as possible? I need him to translate something we found. Also, you're all gonna want to see this, so get your asses down here.”
“Huh? What'd you find, Dad?” Ash said, poking her head down through the hole, looking at us. “Floof! I thought I heard you barking. But I didn't think you'd be down there, considering you're not a cave dog.”
Floof barked back.
“Tom, grab some of your ropes. Glormfin, go find Lukiss,” Grimbleflork barked out the orders.
It took another ten minutes or so of widening the hole before the ropes were tossed down. Grimbleflork, Droffinflelk, Tom, and Ash quickly joined us in the lower chamber the moment they could. All of them looked incredibly eager to see our discovery.
“So Floof led us here after we finished with the wasps, which is a whole other odd story of its own, that I'll explain later. It looks like this is just another part of the natural crystallized mana above. What makes it strange, though, is that it has most of our names on it and most of the names from the neighborhood,” I explained.
Ash and Droffinflelk immediately stepped to the ring of water and started looking the crystal up and down. “Hey, how come my name isn't here?” the younger Goblin questioned.
“Uhh, it's here now! It kind of just appeared as you asked,” Ash said excitedly. “But seriously, what does any of this mean, Dad? Is this as weird as it seems, or do things like this happen in System-space?”
“This ain't normal,” Grimbleflork answered before I could. A frown bigger than any I'd ever seen before appeared on his face. He really didn't like this, and I couldn't blame him.
“Oh, good. More ropes. I take it you’re going to need me down there?” Lukiss asked from above.
“We do. Sorry, we'll get some stairs in place eventually,” Tom answered, sounding like he truly meant it.
I grabbed Lukiss as he slipped down the ropes, catching him before he could hurt himself. Rock Trolls only had two fingers and a thumb, and I had a feeling that wasn't helping with his rope climbing attempts. Once we were done here, it was probably best I carried him back out myself. I'd have to do the same with Floof anyway.
“You okay?” I asked as I sat him down.
“Yeah, just kinda hurt my hands a bit. I'll be fine now. What did you need me to translate?”
“Go through that water ring with Ash and Droffinflelk. There's a bunch of names on the crystal in there. You'll recognize those, but can you tell me what the symbols above them say?”
“I'll try,” he replied, taking several cautious steps forward and slowly pushing himself through the ring of water. Once on the other side, he shook his body, similar to a wet dog, before stepping closer to the crystal.
“So this is kind of strange. I can read the first symbol above each name, but if I look at anything else, it goes blurry. And if I try to read any of the symbols without a name below them, the same thing happens. I've never seen anything like this.”
“Huh. Yeah, that's strange, but it might change as you get stronger in your class. Can you read off everything you see right now?” I asked, wanting to at least know what the symbols he could translate were.
“Yep,” Lukiss replied, beginning to list off everything he could read on the crystal.
__________
The Lost and Returned
Adam Miller
The Renewed of Life
Ash Miller
The Stalwart
Floofington Miller
The Watcher Beyond
Ralph
The Shepherd of Drink
Norman Witt
The First of the Beaks
Koslina
The Warden of Clucks and Howls
Anne Sykes
The Green Preserver
Emma Sykes
The Hoarder of Trinkets
Slinky Sykes
The Druid of Grass
Gregory Thomas
The Sower of Fruit
Rachel Thomas
The Neighborhood Field Cook
Linda McCall
The Cartographer of Change
Robert McCall
The Neighborhood Builder
Thomas Qwell
The Forest Sneak
Noah Andrews
The Thinking Brute
Henry Andrews
The Terrain Dancer
Teddy Andrews
The Mother of the Pack
Jennifer Andrews - Mother
The Neighborhood Phonologist
Lukiss
The Monster Alchemist
Grokiss
The Grandfather of Orphans
Grimbleflork of Greel
The Taster of Gems
Droffinflelk of Greel
The Voice of Mind
Gruther of Shadows__________
“I don't like it,” Grimbleflork said firmly, the instant Lukiss stopped speaking.
“That's not entirely surprising, but no, I do agree with you here. This is something bigger than us, and the fact that we have no idea what it means is pretty unnerving,” I agreed.
“So what do we do about it?” Ash asked.
“I don't know,” I replied.