Chapter 265: Calm Before The Storm
In the area surrounded by nothing but snow, a man and an undead were traversing it with nothing but a fire pillar to support. Although it looked calm, it was nothing more than an illusion... Or as some say,
It is a calm before the storm...
’How is that possible... is that more advanced than they are supposed to be... Huh! Why am I even surprised at this point? Haven’t I seen their bridge... Still, that... is that too far-fetched,’
Dhruv couldn’t help but think as he remembered what he had seen when Azarex accessed the memory of the Crystallce sentients.
***
A few minutes ago...
"Inspect," Dhruv muttered after sending some of his mana to his glasses.
[Tier: Ⅱ]
Even though it wasn’t interesting, Dhruv began to note it in his diary for future reference. Noting it, he sent a tiny bit of mana once again, prompting new information...
[Name: Lesser Mage (Crystallce Sapients)’s Core]
As Dhruv’s luck continued to worsen, it took him quite some time to gather all the information he needed about the core. After obtaining the information, he couldn’t help but feel quite disappointed.
’Man, almost all the information on this item is the same as the others’ cores...’ Thinking, he decides to cross-check the information once again. The cross-checking didn’t change the fact as well.
When he was calm enough, it didn’t take him long to realize that he was the one being naive to expect the information to differ from the other cores... when all the cores were the same.
After getting disappointed with the core’s description, he thought of opening the description of the monster. As he was about to send his mana, a thought appeared in his head,
’Would I even be able to access the status of this core or not? I mean I wasn’t the one to kill the monster... huh! Maybe I can’t, and I need to use the glass for that as well...’ The moment Dhruv thinks of using the glasses, a frown appears on his face.
"Well, there is no point in guessing..." Whispering this, he quickly muttered the word ’Status’ while sending some of his mana to the core.
To his surprise, it worked, as the status of the monster appeared in front of him.
--------------------------------
Name: Cruxiyi Mi Nopac
Species: Lesser Mage (Crystallce Sapients)
Core: Tier Ⅱ [19%]
Magic Affinity: Ice (B)
Stats: Strength Lv. 20, Stamina Lv. 25, Agility Lv. 25, Magic Power Lv. 40
Exclusive attributes: Keen Eyes, Tamer
Abilities: Advanced Ice Manipulation Lv. 9
Skills: Advanced Mana Manipulation Lv. 6, Frozen Grasp Lv.2, Better Icy Veins Lv.5, Frosty Touch Lv. 5, Bitter Frosty Breath Lv. 9, Calmer Soothing Aura Lv. 6, Advanced Monster Whisper Lv. 6, Better Shared Senses Lv. 9
Mutation: Frostforged Limbs +2, Frozen Regeneration +6, Icy Gaze +3, Glacial Heartbeat +5,
Skill point: 16
Essence point: 15
--------------------------------------------
Just after reading the first line of the monster’s status, an interesting expression appeared on Dhruv’s face.
"Huh! How come this guy has a name of his own?" Dhruv whispers as he reads the name of the monster.
"Crux-xiiyi Mi Nopac... huh! What type of name is this..." as he whispers these words, something clicks inside his head,
’Name?... Name?’ It didn’t take him long to realize why he found the word so interesting.
And the reason for this was because this is the second instance where he had seen a monster having a name aside from his own species. The first time was when he encountered the monster on the second floor of the goblin dungeon... Goblin Shaman.
’What was its name?’ After thinking for a while, he remembered it as well.
’Ohh! Yes! It was Griznak. If I remember correctly, I don’t think I ever got the real reason as to why the monster had a name.’ Dhruv thought, quirking his eyebrows.
Forgetting about everything in front of him, he couldn’t help but begin to think about why the goblin... the monster from a dungeon had a name to begin with. After pondering for a while, he considered three possible scenarios.
’Maybe the Grec had named him; after all, he was able to talk even before the fusion.’ Dhruv thought.
The first scenario he had thought was that the name was given to him by none other than the real boss of the dungeon... by the past Grec himself.
Even though it seemed like the perfect scenario, Dhruv was thinking otherwise. From his point of view, it was almost impossible to travel back from one floor to another before he opened the portal... and these two were living on a different floor.
The only reason he even considered this possibility was that the Grec had space affinity, and maybe it was possible that he could have traveled back from one portal to another accidentally.
’Nahh! This seems very unlikely...’ Because of the many loopholes present there, Dhruv dismissed this claim and moved to the second one.
The second claim of his was that somehow the monster knew what it meant to have a name and thus named himself... which wasn’t far-fetched after all. I mean how can it be far-fetched when the monster was a full-fledged Shaman who worked in all sorts of curses and that type of shit.
’This could be a possibility but I’m leaning more on the third side..’ Dhruv couldn’t decide between the second and third claims as both of them were equally interesting and worth exploring.
The only reason Dhruv was leaning on the third side was because it was far more interesting than the other two...
’Hmm! Is it possible that some sort of god has named the goblin...’ Dhruv thought as he remembered his third claim.
His third claim was that while doing some sacrifice... goblin gods? had maybe gotten impressed by the Shaman and thus granted him a name. No matter how hilarious it sounds, this was something worth considering as well... at least that’s what Dhruv was thinking.
While he was pondering over the name, his gaze suddenly landed on the screen hovering in front of himself.
’What am I thinking... why am I getting so distracted...’ Rounding up his head violently for a moment, he focused on the screen in front of himself once again.
There was nothing interesting for a while until he got to the exclusive attribute section of the status.
’Two attributes... well, the fellow was quite lucky but unlucky at the same time... I mean, Keen Eyes and Tamer don’t sound that interesting to me at all... maybe the man had seen its full potential if he were to evolve a few more tiers, but unfortunately, that is impossible now... hehehe...’ Dhruv giggled as he thought about it.
Humming to himself, he was calmly reading the skills of the monster when something distracted him...
"MASTER... Look at this..." he heard a very urgent voice coming from the direction where his guardian was standing.
"Huh! What happened... Why are you shouting..." With an expression full of confusion, he asked this question.
"I apologize for my behavior, master... but this is something that needs your urgent care..." Azarex muttered as he began to move toward his master.
"I mean, I will see it... but what is it that got you so hyped up..." Dhruv muttered as he could guess that something very interesting is about to happen in the next minute.
"Master, as I was looking through the memory of the monster... at first, I couldn’t get anything worthwhile as all the visions were of them sitting in this place... but as I began to force myself to dig deeper, I found something interesting that might have happened tomorrow night when they were going back from their post to their home..." Azarex muttered as he fell silent after saying these words.
"This is about their home... Master..." Azarex muttered as he finally shared his vision with his master.
Dhruv’s pupils began to expand as he saw the very first second of the video... and how come he didn’t get surprised when the thing he was seeing is too surreal...
From the monster’s vision, he saw as the crstallce sapient entered into some sort of area that was surrounded by tens of meters high stone parameter. Dhruv saw as monster began to enter the area... from a particular gate that had opened by someone who was inside..
Dhruv saw as the vision in front of him changed completely.
Instead of snow... now his vision was filled with bustling monsters... No people.
"How is this possible.." Dhruv whispered while seeing the video in front of him. How come he can’t be surprised when he sees a literal civilization in a dungeon?
’They are talking, walking, shopping... like humans...’ More complex thoughts began to appear in his mind as he saw the video continue to play.
Before he could finish the video, a sound disturbed him, "Isn’t this dungeon so interesting Master..."
***
"It really is interesting to see that so many more unique things are hiding from our plain sight..." Dhruv muttered as he realized the seriousness of the vision he had seen.
"Azarex, be prepared for anything..." Dhruv muttered as they continued their journey in the realm of snow.
