Bending her knees, Hikari launched herself into the night sky. The jagged rocky formation offers ample spots for her to anchor her foot, allowing her to thrust herself above the ridge line.
It was a dreamy scenery from the air. The full moon illuminates the fog and the grey rocky surface.
The freezing wind brushed against her face as she glided through the air. It doesn't bother her one bit.
She reached the opening to the mana vein. It was exactly as Rey described, a humongous bottomless hole.
Hikari sat down in a meditating pose just over the opening. Just as Sheela had taught her, she focused all of her senses into the ground, mapping out in her head the entire layout of the surrounding area.
The hole was astoundingly deep. Her radius of detection extended all the way to the neighboring wyvern peak, but she has yet to find the bottom of the hole.
She then stood over the hole and peered down into it.
She could see it. At the very bottom, a vertical brilliant blue vein illuminates the entire area. It was quite the distance, but she could make out what looked like a fuzzy surface. Perhaps it was vegetation or just an illusion caused by the mana concentration.
But it was a very long way down indeed. She scanned the walls of the hole to plot a way down.
Falling from a great height is not an issue for her, but given she has no knowledge of what awaits her below, it's best not to be rash.
The uneven surface offered plenty of landing spots, big enough even for her. Cautiously, she unhoisted her pickaxe and began her descent.
As she landed on each spot, she used her earth bending to strengthen and reshape the stone into a decent platform. And then mark it with a trace amount of RazenHeir flame. The trail of flames would be her way back out to the surface.
Whenever there is a large gap. She would stick her pickaxe into the wall midway, breaking her fall. Then she'll create a landing platform of her own before continuing.
Down and down she goes, dozens of metres at a time. The further she descended, the brighter the light and the stronger the mana presence got. It felt like dropping into the mouth of a frost volcano.
She slipped on a platform, regaining her balance only by sticking her pickaxe into the wall.
Moist stone. There's underground water. She took out a pair of studded leather pads from her satchel and pasted them onto the soles of her boot for extra traction.
She was now close enough to the bottom that she could now see clearly a lush garden, teal grass and fern as a base, filled with flowers and fruit of a myriad of vivid colors.
Hikari finally landed on the grass. It was soft. Just like those around the RazenHeir estate. Yet the entire garden was freezing cold. In fact the ground just below the grass was covered in a layer of snow.
Her salamander armour, instead of drawing heat from her body, had now switched to releasing its stored heat to keep her warm.
She plucked a fruit from one of the bushes. It was star shaped, hard as a pear, rich in mana. HIkari opened her harvest sack on her back and tossed it in.
It's too risky to eat something that she does not know. Might even be poison. But it definitely looked like something that would fetch a decent price if she could return with it.
Then she came across a crystal formation about the size of her palm. Its glow alone tells her that it is of pretty high grade. She broke off the spikes and tossed them into her harvest sack.
"Now where is that mana vein?"
She turns her attention to the most overwhelming mana presence in the pit.
The brilliant blue glow that she saw from above. A crystal formation the width of a tavern. Protruding out of the ground, its reflection shimmering on the frozen walls on either side.
It was a gold mine. The mana from that vein could easily exceed the tax revenue of an entire territory. A shame that the RazenHeir house would not get to claim it. But she would claim enough for Ria to balance the books for now.
But first, she began surveying the surroundings. The strong mana presence in the area was messing with her mana sense. And the snow made it harder to use her sand bending.
She drew her sword and began slicing away at the vegetation.
It was nothing but slow underneath.
And then, she found a dead body.
She immediately unbuckled her harvest sack and drew both her main sword and off hand short sword.
It was dead silent. She slowly turned, maintaining her stance. Her eyes peeled for the slight movement.
More dead bodies, buried under the vegetation preserved by the ice. Slowly, she used her telekinesis to remove the snow and leaves to get a closer look while maintaining her defensive stance.
A deep hole right through the chest. The creature uses puncturing attacks. Very potent as its victim was wearing imbibed armour.
Another body severed in two with a level of precision which she herself would require a very finely sharpened sword to execute.
She sensed more than a dozen bodies buried beneath the snow. A full party wipe.
It was certainly not the work of a wyvern.
In fact, she spotted a wyvern corpse. Its wings punctured, stab wounds on its back and sides but not its front.
A high level assassin perhaps? A clash between two raiding parties?
Ke…. ke… ke… A clicking sound. It was difficult to determine the source as it echoed through the underground. Hikari was on guard.
Ke… ke… ke… keke… keke… The clicking grew faster and faster. And then it slowed down. A cluster of spike vines quietly slithered out of the ground behind Hikari. A long drill formed on its end and aimed for Hikari.
Stab! A flying dagger hit the creature from above. The creature shrieked in agony.
"There you are."
Swoosh. Hikari turns around and swings, but it whiffed. Her throwing dagger dropped in the snow.
She caught a glimpse of the creature as it retreated.
Ke… ke… ke… keke… keke… The clicking sound echoed throughout the cavern.
Hikari switched to a relaxed stance, her swords on either side, her torso wide open for attack. Against a nimble foe, a stiff stance is exactly what it wants.
The creature skitters past her left, briefly revealing itself before blending back into its surroundings. And then her right. And then across her field of view.
Hikari did not respond to its taunts.
Kekeke… ke… ke… keke… ke… ke… The maddening clicking sound continued. Faster then slow, then faster again.
And then it stopped abruptly.
In an instance, Hikari ignited her main hang sword and swung. A deafening clank echoed through the cavern.
The creature was thrown back by the parry. It blended back into its surroundings. However, its sword was still burning in plain view.
Within the next instant, several flying daggers hurled towards it. The creature bobbed and weaved as the daggers constantly shifted their trajectory, chasing it around and around the cavern.
It attempted to parry the daggers, but the flames just stuck to its swords even more.
Hikari threw her offhand sword in a spinning boomerang, the creature barely parried it and barely dodged the on coming daggers.
Unable to shake off the daggers, it tossed away both swords, allowing it to once again blend into the surroundings.
"Clever"
The flaming daggers returned to Hikari, hovering around her forming a protective barrier.
Their flames burning more brightly than ever before from the mana in the air.
Then, a hail of tiny spines rained down on Hikari. She blocked most of them with the broad side of her twin swords.
The rest hit against a wyvern skin armour, reinforced by a telekinetic forcefield with a layer of king salamander armour underneath, and skin many times harder than steel beyond that.
Spray attacks stood no chance of piercing through.
Hikari unsheathed a steel ball. It was clear that she was not up against a heavily armoured foe which requires blunt attacks. But she has an idea.
She hurled the ball against the frozen wall. The sound of ice shattering rumbled the entire cavern. A deafening shriek could be heard.
"You don't like that do you?"
Hikari bashed the ball against the wall again. The creature shrieked in agony.
Again and again, Hikari bangs the walls, trying to annoy the creature to death.
Until the clicking stopped. The cavern was silent.
Hikari swung her sword, a deafening clank, a blinding wave of flame.
The creature's frail body was incinerated, its drill which it used in its last gasp attack dropped into the ice.
It dropped something else too, a dark pulsating crystal.
Hikari picks it up, it stings her hand as she holds it.
"Curious. I have never seen this before. Wonder if it sells."
She drained it of mana as it seemed to be arcing a strange power before keeping it in her harvest sack. Otherwise, it might not be safe for her companions.
But now for the real prize. She made her way to the mana vein. Her heart was pounding faster than when she fought the beast guarding the veins.
Up close, the mana presence was so strong that it pierced her skin.
"Been a while since I leveled up."
She sat down and meditated in the dense mana.
—----- Hikari —-----
Mana : 802 -> 864