The ground beneath his feet was soft, the air damp but surprisingly not unpleasant or foul smelling. Jack’s senses drove him forward, his footing sure as it could be given the circumstances. He could not see it yet, but he could feel that there was a light source ahead— perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps his stats worked in mysterious ways, either way, it didn’t matter. The system had stone as far as to create a formation to replicate the sun’s effects, so he doubted that it would force them to fight in an area without light, at least not until their stats could surmount the weakness.

A few seconds later the darkness finally abated, Jack was able to see his reflection staring back at him in the sheen of a light blue crystal ore of sort, that lined the curving cavern walls on either ends. The material emanated a muted azure glow, but that only seemed to magnify its slightly translucent crystalline beauty. Jack could derive no resemblance from any material existing on Earth, but due to its azure color it likely had something to do with Qi. Perhaps the material used to create the [Qi Replenishing Pill] was derived from this material, or it was some sort of Qi Battery that could be used to create weapons. He had no idea, but it would be worthwhile to see if there was any method of extracting it.

For now though, he chose to move onward. There would be time to explore when the cave was determined to be free of hostiles. Thankfully, the cave was big enough for Sarah and Jack to comfortably walk with a fair distance between them for maneuverability, easily stretching for another ten meters on either side with them walking in the center.

The cave stretched out into the distance for four or five kilometers, in a straight line after the initial bend, before careening off to the right. Surprisingly, no entity or other eldritch abomination came leaping at him; the cave seemed empty, covered in the azure crystals on either side of the cave walls and the ceiling.

The floor was soft earth, dotted by large clumps of circular crystal deposits that seemed different in shape, size and density from the one’s embedded in the wall, but so far Jack saw no signs of any hostile lifeforms.

“Wow,” Sarah whispered, marveling at the luminescent ore deposits that cast a blue hue on her face.

A few minutes passed as Jack and Sarah continued to walk forward at a glacial pace, their weapons drawn and ready for combat, but nothing of note happened.

“Odd,” Jack whispered back to Sarah, finding the calm atmosphere almost eerie. This entire cavern structure was completely deserted, but the system had clearly mentioned that there would be a challenge waiting for them. Was the crystalline ore the unique reward it was talking about?

Just then, Jack detected movement out of the corner of his eye, immediately attracting his attention. The circular chunks of ore scattered around the floor that he had ignored so far, because they seemed to be embedded into the ground, started trembling violently .

“Sarah!” He exclaimed, catching his partner’s attention. What had started as a phenomenon limited to one chunk of ore, spread to three others in quick succession, before loud popping sounds started echoing out, followed by cracks in the ore. A second later, the outer layer of all four chunks of ore shattered violently, revealing a five feet long creature that resembled a predatory feline in terms of shape, closest to a wild panther. Its sharp crystalline claws jutted out intimidatingly from its paws, the limbs and the body a series of intermeshing polygonal surfaces that only added to the creature’s geometric beauty. Two brilliant red gems were socketed in place of organic eyes, its jaws wide open, a series of thin, interlocking teeth that resembled stalactites, terrifying at first glance.

You have discovered: Gemstone Beast, Level 4 [Elite].

Sarah had repositioned herself behind Jack the moment she realized there were four beasts encircling them, two in the front and two behind.

Jack on the other hand, did not hesitate any longer, his sword flaring with [Qi Sword] before he violently slashed out in the direction of the first [Gemstone Beast] he had spotted, casting [Qi Projection]. Two points of Qi depleted instantly, as the luminescent blade of Qi arced through the air, striking the [Gemstone Beast] viciously. Sparks flew in the air as his Qi collided with the beast’s hard exterior, penetrating deeply into its abdomen before fizzling out, unable to bisect the creature in half.

A high-pitched shrieking voice was released from the beast’s mouth, sounding more mechanical than animalistic. Now that the skill had leveled up to level 1 and his Qi had only been reduced to 13/15, he barely felt the fatigue he had at using the skill for the first time.

Jack was about to fire out another slash in the beast’s direction, when he felt a tingling sensation near the right side of his chest, a warning brought by his perception stat. He turned his gaze to the right, facing the other, unscathed [Gemstone Beast] on his end. The beast’s jaws were wide open, a glowing azure radiance accumulating at the back of its throat.

“Dodge!” Jack screamed in horror, as he dove to the side without any hesitation. He felt a beam of pure Qi blow past him, easily matching the speed of his own [Qi Projection] attack. A burning, intense sensation tore at his left arm, enough for it to cause him clear discomfort. The pain intensified when he rolled forward to get back on his feet, causing him to let out a muffled groan out of the pain.

Getting back onto his feet, he realized that his left arm had been dyed in his own blood, a small chunk of flesh missing from the impact sight… almost as if a bullet had gazed him, but a few times its size in diameter. His gaze then shifted to Sarah when he realized that he still had control over his left limb, the wound nowhere near fatal.

On the other end, Sarah seemed unscathed as she got back on her feet, but diving forward had reduced the distance between her and the beast.

“Charge. Don’t give them time to fire off another energy attack!” Jack screamed a command out, as his own sword once again flickered with the glow of [Qi Blade].

“Die,” Jack whispered under his breath, not one for much theatrics, as she slashed his sword in a sideways sweep. He could have targeted the beast that had fired off the Qi attack, but chose the one he had wounded earlier instead, as it limped away from him. Jack had noticed, much to his shock, that the [Gemstone Beast’s] wound was closing up on its own, slowly but surely.

This time his aim struck true, cutting deep into the Gemstone Beast’s abdomen from a different angle, until its body could not longer bear the pressure; shattering into a thousand smaller gemstones and collapsing onto the ground, making Jack wonder if the being was alive to begin with or just a construct of some sort.

He didn’t get much time to ponder on that topic, as the second beast charged at him, swiping at him with its sharp claws.