The Innkeeper

This time, Lex did not bother warning Ptolemy and the rest for he had understood that their resilience was beyond what he imagined. He grabbed Barry, used Falcons relief, and sped back as fast as he could.

As they moved back, and their view of the tunnel increased, their pupils constricted!

The fight, so far, had been in a realm that Lex could understand. The students were hitting the Druk with all their strength to hurt it, while the Druks' abnormal defense kept it safe. Any tactics or strategies employed still made sense to him, and the way they manipulated the inexperienced Druk to flip him over, and put him in his most vulnerable position also made sense.

But there was a fundamental fact that Lex overlooked, simply because he was used to being around extremely powerful cultivators. Up until the Golden core realm, cultivators gained access to greater and more powerful techniques that allowed them to do increasingly incredible things. However, in the Nascent realm, things became more complex.

Yes, Nascent level cultivators could, of course, use more powerful and destructive techniques than Golden core ones. But, in that realm, their strength transcended realms such as simple physical damage. Even something as simple as a flame produced by them would carry a sense of profoundness anyone other than the desensitized Lex would sense.

But, irrespective of how desensitized he was, currently he could feel it. The various metals that had been pulled out of the tunnel walls, which everyone had been ignoring up until now, surged as if they had come to life and formed a tsunami of liquid metal!

But more than the physical intimidation of a giant wave of molten metal, hurling towards you, the wave had a sense of oppression that pressed on Lex's very existence. Even as Lex retreated and tried to get away, he was reminded of the coercion he faced against the Kraven on his first day in this realm.

There was nothing about this oppression that Lex could defend against, as it touched on matters beyond his understanding. A part of him also suddenly understood why the Inn was so spectacular. When the difference between two beings was too vast, even without them doing anything, the lesser being would naturally be oppressed. The Inn prevented that and created a safe environment where everyone could interact safely as equals.

But this understanding was fleeting. Currently, Lex was running for his life!

He did not turn to see how Ptolemy and the rest would react to the attack, he was sure they had contingencies; he was only concerned about saving his skin! If they hadn't left their lizard mounts outside the tunnel, he might have escaped quicker, but the entrance of the tunnel was too small and narrow, and so now he had to rely on his two feet.

"Let me," said Barry, as soon as he realized what was happening. Instead of being pulled along by Lex, he grabbed the latter and ran at a speed dozens of times faster than Lex! In a few seconds, they had completely escaped the battleground.

"That was… really something," Lex said, as he tried to catch his breath.

"Yeah, it really was. I had heard rumors about your incredible foreshadowing ability, but seeing it in action as something else entirely."

"My what?" asked the distracted Lex.

"Your foreshadowing ability. Your ability to sense danger. I heard that when we were ambushed on the first day, you detected the attack beforehand and managed to warn Ptolemy. This time again, you detected the Druks attack before anyone else."

"Oh, that. It's just a gut feeling, no ability or anything," Lex said dismissively. Barry did not comment further, but all it took was a single look to detect that he had other thoughts on the matter.

"What now?" Lex finally asked once he had gotten over the shock of the coercion. Mentally, he was planning out how he should get Barry to help him find the Spirit well. However, it seemed like he didn't need to do anything.

"They'll take care of the Druk, don't doubt them, but it might take some time. My objective, however, has always been to find the Spirit well. Since we've already gone deeper into the tunnels, I suggest we don't waste our time and continue searching. I'll leave covert tracks so that the main group will be able to follow us once they're done."

"I agree," Lex said promptly.

Barry opened up his own backpack and took out a pair of black gloves and a few items to help him find the way, while Lex took out his Fancy monocle and put it on.

Barry put his right arm against the tunnel wall and started to slowly move forward. The descending slope in the tunnel slowly started to get steeper until it was almost at a forty-five degree angle. While not ideal, it was not able to stop their progress forward, yet soon they encountered a problem.

It was not the usual, left or right diverging paths in the tunnel, but a direct vertical drop on one side and another descending slope on the other.

Personally, Lex felt they should go directly down, as based on his understanding, the well should be somewhere deep underground. But, in this instance, Lex didn't need to guess, as he had the luxury of being guided by an expert.

In this case, it turned out Le's instinct was correct, and Barry grabbed hold of Lex before slowly descending the vertical drop.

"How do you tell what way to go?" Lex asked after they finally reached the bottom, only to be welcomed by a few diverging paths.

"Spirit stone mines," Barry began to answer, absentmindedly, as his focus was still on determining their path, "are formed due to a few recurring reasons. Two of the most common reasons for such mines to form are due to two different kinds of ores, Orichalcum and Deatite ores. Both are naturally formed ores, but they both behave exactly opposite to one another. Orichalcum, in its natural state, greedily absorbs spirit energy. When enough of it is found together, and absorbs enough energy, the ore automatically turns into spirit stones."

Lex was suddenly reminded of the 'Red Gold dust', a specific kind of metal found on Mars used by the Morrison family that was great at absorbing spiritual energy. He wondered if it was the same thing.

"Deatite, on the other hand, is an excellent insulator for spiritual energy, and blocks, or in some cases, even traps spiritual energy when it encounters it. Eventually, if enough energy is absorbed, spirit stones naturally begin to form automatically.

"There are a few more ways in which mines are formed, but they are relatively rare. Anyway, this is not an exact science as more often than not, these ores can be found without the presence of any mines, but if you ever suspect the presence of a mine, just go to the area with the highest concentration of these ores. If such a mine exists, it's bound to be located there. Of course, detecting specific ores through several layers of dirt and rocks and other materials is not so simply achieved. Even I need special tools."

Lex asked no more, but he tried to use the monocle to pick up traces of these ores Barry mentioned. He did not see the names, but the monocle detected many ores qualified as unknown, one of which Lex suspected was either one of the ores Barry was talking about. This was good, he had discovered another way to search for mines.

*****

Goli forest, Inside a wooden hut in the middle of the forest

A massive snake with a body made entirely of hundreds of tree branches was slithering around in circles. Goli was furious, but there was not much it could do for now. The cursed human had some kind of evil flame that could not only feed on Goli's own flames but could even attack any of Goli's spirit attached to any plant Goli controlled. Until he found a solution to that flame, attacking the humans would only end up hurting it instead.

There was a knock on the door of the hut, breaking Goli from his reverie. But, more than curious, Goli felt afraid. What kind of entity could reach his hut without him even realizing? He could even think of one.

Before his thoughts could continue, the door to the hut fell onto the ground, and in walked the most lascivious rose bush Goli had ever seen.

"Aunty Jeena," he croaked, chills running down his wooden spine. "What brings you to my humble home?" He could not stop his voice from quivering or his body from trembling. The smell of roses filled his hut and Goli, despite his subdued plant nature, started to feel urges that were more… human than plant.

"Little Goli, you've grown so big," the bush whispered as it ran a thorny stem across the wooden snake. "And I heard Little Goli wants to grow up. Do you want your good old Aunty to help you… become an adult?"