Eventually, they could soon see waterweeds swaying and rocks studding the lake floor, and between two of these rocks was a gap in the lake wall.
Evan slipped inside and Eliza followed, encountering the interior that was lit by a bluish glow cast by some strange aquatic plants.
Appraising those plants to be sure they were the ones he was after, Evan swam over to them and coated his palms in aura before uprooting a few of them, as doing so without energy was nigh impossible.
He tossed them into his inventory, mentally marking another item off his list of required materials for the vanquisher weapons, and then cutting a few other plants for Milena to use and increase the quality of her water energy infusion.
The cave continued for a while, going farther and farther down, and they two swam on as fast as any fish.
Eventually, they arrived at a branched path, and Evan, having known the route already, picked the left path without hesitation.
Just when Eliza was about to ask him how much more they had to swim, Evan turned at a corner and stopped, and the smile on his face told Eliza they had arrived at their destination.
Their path was blocked by a large white set of double doors, glowing with the light of multicoloured runes, and enchantments along with a few natural multi-energy formations and arrays.
Evan swam to the door and placed a palm on it, before pulling out a strange multicoloured stone from his inventory and crushing it in his palm.
He then channelled the energy that escaped the shattered stone into the door and the light of the multi-energy arrays and formations died down.
He pumped his fist in joy and pushed the doors open, revealing a massive spherical room, half-filled with water.
Evan and Eliza swam to the top, finally emerging from the water after an hour and with slightly laboured breathing.
"We have arrived, at destination 2."
Those were Evan's first words after emerging from the water, before he sawm towards the nearby shores and lay on the ground.
Eliza came up a moment later, squeezing off the water in her hair as she asked.
"How many more 'destinations' do we have?"
"Just one more.
Or rather, we have to go through destination 2, to get to destination 3."
"And this place is destination 2?"
She looked around at the icy cave they were in as she asked, taking a moment after to admire the breath-taking sight.
Everything in this underground cavern was ethereally beautiful, starting from the expansive lake of pristine clarity stretching out, its water infused with an otherworldly luminescence.
Dancing beams of iridescent light refracted through the translucent ice, casting a mesmerizing glow upon the submerged surroundings.
The walls of the cavern, adorned with frozen stalactites and stalagmites, sparkled like a crystalline tapestry. They glistened with frost and delicate formations, and cascading waterfalls of frozen tears adorned the chamber, their icy tendrils seemingly defying gravity.
Turning to the other side, she saw what was most likely their destination, an entrance of majestic grandeur with a regal aura.
Carved from a fusion of ice and ancient minerals, the gateway stood tall and proud, its intricate designs whispering tales of forgotten civilizations. Ornate ice sculptures adorned its archways, depicting mythical creatures frozen in a moment of eternal majesty.
"let's take a few moments to rest and restore our energies before we move on. We're gonna need it."
Evan spoke as he got up from the ground and pulled out a hair dryer from his inventory and handed it to Eliza who was clearly dismayed about how wet her hair had become.
"Thanks."
"No biggie.
Still, why did you let it grow that long anyway?"
He asked as he pulled out the portable changing booths again, citing how long Eliza's hair had become recently.
Normally, she usually cut it whenever it got to around mid-back length, but for some reason, she let it grow till it reached her waist.
"No particular reason. I just didn't see cutting it as a priority so I kept pushing it back and here we are."
She shrugged her shoulders in reply while drying her hair, but it reached a stage where she could no longer do that on her own and Evan had to assist her with it.
"As I said before, we're really gonna have a look through your inventory when we're done here."
Eliza remarked as she sat on the couch that Evan pulled out of his inventory, wondering why on Aidos he had a couch there in the first place.
"Not gonna lie, but I really don't know what half the things in there are. I just keep tossing things and eventually, I ended up with tons of random stuff.
And since it's based on how much energy I have, I have a whole lot of space inside it."
Such was the reply Evan gave as he switched off the hair dryer and changed the magic stone powering it before turning it one once more to complete the drying process.
"Now then, although we may not feel the cold because of our strong bodies it's gonna eventually get to us if we stay out like th-where are you going?"
Evan cut his statement short when he noticed that the spirit trio with them, Kayla, Kuro and Milena had all manifested their physical bodies and were moving in the opposite direction of the icy shrine entrance.
[We saw shiny stuff on the other side, so we're gonna go check them out.]
[Kayla dragged me along.]
[I'm going to keep Kayla in check.]
[…Um, guys, why are you all making it seem like I'm the only one interested?]
Kayla asked with a slightly dejected voice when she heard the reply Milena and Kuro gave, but the two of them only looked at her with raised brows and asked.
[[isn't that the truth?]]
They most certainly did not share her desire to explore the other parts of this massive cave.
"Oh, those shiny stuff are most likely condensed Ether stones.
Basically, the Ether version of magic stones."
[Ohh….! Is it valuable?]
"They're just as valuable as magic stones are.
Not everyone can use magic, you know? And some people are capable of using both energies so both of them are useful."
Evan replied as he picked out his clothes for his inventory while Eliza turned in the supposed direction of the Ether stones with a hint of longing in her gaze.
"Ether, huh?
It'd be a lot easier for me to control Life Essence if I could use it."
It should be noted that, unlike Evan who could use both Magic power and Aura, Eliza was stuck with just Magic power, and the girl desired to have more options, in case she ever found herself in a situation where Magic was useless.
"By the time we're done here, you'd be able to use it."
"Wahat?"
Seeing the expression of shock on the girl's face upon hearing his words, Evan chuckled lightly before replying.
"The spoils of our Destination 2 include a few things that would affect your Energy Core and help you awaken said energy type.
If you don't awaken it by Destination 2, you would definitely awaken it at Destination 3."
The thought of just how much his energies were going to increase in quantity and quality after they were done with the third destination brought a smile to Evan's face.
'And we have the perfect punching bags outside to help us test them.'
"Just where exactly do you plan on taking us to?"
"Somewhere special."
Evan casually replied to Eliza's question as he stepped into the changing booth, leaving Eliza who only before doing the same.
As for the spirits, they went on to go pick up the Ether stones, along with the strange metal ores, precious stones and rare plants that they found there.
When Evan and Eliza came out after changing, they were met with a few piles of rare materials that would make alchemists and blacksmiths kill each other just to acquire them.
There were also a few fruits from some special icy trees that Evan recognized from the game. He picked one up and took a bite, his eyes widening at the magnificent taste.
"Do you even know what those are?"
"Yep."
Evan replied as he took a bite from another crystal blue coloured fruit that was emitting an icy mist, turning over to Eliza to continue speaking only to notice she had changed her outfit.
She was wearing a black turtleneck shirt with a grey undersleeve, a grey mid-thigh length skirt and black leggings under simple black leather flat shoes.
Her usual black arm bracelet that had a gem bearing the same colour as her eyes was nowhere to be seen, presumably hidden under her shirt, but she had a single wide bracelet on her wrist, intricately designed with a few diamonds and sapphires.
As for her long blonde hair, she tied it into a side ponytail with a ribbon on the left side, with hair strands hanging on either side and most of her bangs swept to the right side.
"You changed too?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l