Ever since the incident with the beast tide near the beginning of Anton’s cultivation journey, the forests stretching north from the Order’s land were monitored more carefully. After eighty years, a similar incident had never happened- though there were times larger numbers of creatures had built up. Elder Tshering had continued to monitor the area along with others, though smaller buildups were still allowed for the sake of organizing larger hunts for younger cultivators to get some practical experience.

This year Anton was watching over the event, keeping an eye out for anyone in danger and subtly nudging things in their favor. His arrows were tiny flashes of light, leaving only small puncture wounds. A careful disciple might notice something after the fact if they checked over the body, but it would be simple to convince themselves the creature had pierced itself upon thorns or the like. Interfering subtly was for the purpose of not allowing the disciples to be too comfortable- they needed to experience the fear of deadly combat without the danger, if possible.

Losing people because they got a bit unlucky in a battle would be a waste, and they would come to understand their limits more thoroughly if things felt close to their loss. And for the sake of larger incidents where they were truly out of their depth, they had signal flares. He could more openly assist people who called for help, though if he judged they should have been able to handle the situation they would be chastised later.

Other elders and disciples were on standby to help with different situations, such as healing if people were grievously wounded or poisoned. Besides, even Anton couldn’t keep tabs on hundreds of people split into various groups all at once- though it was simple enough for him to keep tabs on a few at a time, checking for immediate dangers.

He continually swept back and forth, monitoring the progress of every group as he briefly locked onto their energy. There was one group that seemed to be in no danger, but he lingered for a moment when he realized two of them were missing. Focusing on the area around them, he noticed agitation in the movements of the remaining companions- quickly bringing him to focus on a nearby hole.

A thin arrow of light went streaking from his bow- towards another location. Someone had gotten in over their head and needed a boar to stumble so they had a chance to get back to their feet.

The hole turned sharply downward- more of a vertical shaft than a simple pit. It vaguely reminded Anton of Droca, though the structure was much different, and more sized to fit a person than a giant many-legged lava dwelling lizard.

“Some disciples have encountered something odd,” Anton commented to other nearby elders, ready to replace others coming back from a shift of watching the disciples. “I’m going to go check it out.”

He couldn’t precisely explain where it was, so going himself was the best option- and it didn’t really hinder his ability to continue with his duties. A handful of spectral bows floated along with him, turning towards various incidents but not needing to be used for the moment. Anton moved quickly towards the group. He could sense those who had fallen were injured but alive, and no enemies in the immediate vicinity. By the time the flare went up from their location, he was halfway there.

It was a group of five, two had fallen and three remained above. “Grand Elder Anton!” one of the women said as he approached. “Two of us have fallen down a strange break in the ground! We weren’t sure what to do…”

The grumpy old man that occasionally liked to show up inside Anton said that kids these days were so coddled, with their signal flares instead of having to send someone running back through monster infested forests to deliver a message. The grandfather inside him just pat all three of them on the head. “It’s alright.” He stepped over next to the hole. “How are you doing down there?” The response was a groan of pain. It was a pretty far fall, and one of them had broken at least an ankle, maybe more. “Alright, I’m coming down,” Anton said. He turned to the others, pulling a rope out of his storage bag. “Tie this to a tree.” They should have had their own rope, but either they forgot about it or decided they didn’t need it for some reason. But having rope was always good.

After handing the rope over, he jumped down the hole. It was what, a meter and a half wide? It wound back and forth some, and some places had clearly had some protruding stone that was recently broken off. After a good handful of seconds of falling, Anton landed next to the two, slightly altering his trajectory as he slipped into the larger chamber since they were directly below.

“An odd place,” Anton said. He could sense three other passageways going off from where they were, but it was strangely regular. Yet upon first inspection the walls felt like natural stone, irregular in shape. He turned to the two disciples, a man and a woman. Now that he was able to actually see them, the man was in a much worse state than he’d thought. He had more than a couple breaks, and that included some ribs. “Hold still, okay?” he placed a hand on the man’s chest. “I need you to lower your energy defenses before I can help.” He didn’t, really, but forcing his way through the man’s energy would just make it more unpleasant for him.

“Okay,” the man nodded with a pained look on his face, speaking clearly not helping him.

When his energy retracted, Anton focused many strands of his own inside, anchoring on various points on the man’s ribs. Then he yanked, all at once, setting everything back in its place. The man’s scream of pain was understandable, but Anton held him still to prevent him from hurting himself. After a couple moments, the man’s scream of pain stopped.

“Take this,” Anton pulled out a small pill. “Use your energy to distribute the medicine to the various breaks, and remain sitting.” Anton began splinting what he could of the man, while he turned to the woman. “We’ll need to set that ankle as well.”

In a couple minutes, the two were both taken care of. Anton might not consider himself a doctor, but he’d studied plenty about healing… and simple things like this were something he could have handled with only minimal knowledge to begin with.

The rope was tossed down the hole at about the same time- rather slow by his estimation, but at least they’d gotten around to it. Not that he was going to use it for the moment. He reached out to the pair, grabbing them around the waist while he supported their bodies with an even coating of energy so they would not jostle about. Then he leapt up into the tube, pushing off of alternating sides to continually raise himself up. When he got to the top he dropped them off away from the hole.

“You should head back,” he said to the team. “These two won’t be able to support themselves, and a team of just three is at risk. When you arrive back at the sect you can join up with others and return, if you wish. As for this… discovery… I shall do some preliminary testing to see if it is safe. Since you discovered it, you will have the first right to explore it, if it’s within your capabilities. Either way, you’ll receive some merits for the discovery.”

“Thank you, Grand Elder Anton,” said each in turn, except the man with all of the broken ribs. He was being placed on a stretcher- a simple tool consisting of supports crossing around a large piece of cloth. It would be more comfortable for the man that way.

Anton used a communication plate to describe his approximate location back to the main sect. He seriously doubted that the cave system would be dangerous to a Life Transformation cultivator, especially if he was cautious, but he waited for others to arrive nonetheless, while watching for other problems around him.

Hoyt and Velvet showed up along with a handful of others at different cultivation levels. That was probably excessive, but if nothing happened it was just a small part of a single day. While they could be tackling important matters with their power, fortunately things that required the attention of Life Transformation cultivators were rather rare.

“So what is it?” Hoyt asked, scanning the hole.

“I was able to probe a significant distance into these tunnels,” Anton explained. “Several kilometers, at least. I didn’t specifically notice any threats, but it’s not exactly optimal for me to shoot arrows in there.”

“Not optimal for an axe, either,” Hoyt commented. “But I’ll manage just fine.”

“There’s a lot of rust,” Velvet commented as she looked down. “And rubble.”

“Seems like a normal amount of rubble to me,” Hoyt said. “Since there’s a big open hole here.”

“It just broke open, though,” Velvet said. “See down to that layer a handful of meters down? It’s mostly dirt and then some different stone.”

Anton nodded, “I’d been noticing some of the same myself. Not sure what it means though. It feels… strange.”

“I agree,” Hoyt said. “Which is odd because it’s just… tunnels. I don’t feel the unease of danger, though.”

“Which means it might be well hidden,” Velvet said. “But we have to check it out at some point, right?”

“Absolutely,” Anton said. “I mostly didn’t want to go wandering off on my own. I’m sure the disciples that found this place could have eventually led people back here, but this was quicker.” He’d also needed to make sure other people were ready to take over for him. Kseniya would be watching for the signal flares, at least.

As Anton took a more leisurely climb down the rope with some light- besides just what came from directly above- he noticed that the discoloration of rust was in a regular pattern. Circles that might have once been metal bars sticking into the stone on either side. At the bottom, along with rocks and dirt, there was more rust that had probably once been some of the crossing bars, though it was unclear what they were for… or why they would be in what otherwise seemed like a natural cave.

The few tunnels heading off in different directions mostly remained horizontal, though one sloped deeper. They first started with one of the other two, which went to opposite sides, more or less straight tunnels leading away from each other. Occasional stalactites and stalagmites barred their way, forcing them to squeeze past or break through.

Now that he was actually down below again and focusing on it, Anton noticed a slight curve. And in a relatively short time, they found themselves in another similar chamber to their entrance, complete with the tunnel sloping down and the opposite entrances… and something going towards the surface. This one didn’t actually reach the surface, but a few spikes of thin, rusted metal indicated it was much the same as the other.

Continuing in the same direction led to a collapsed portion of the tunnel, stretching at least ten meters or so. Anton didn’t push his senses further than that, because while they might be able to dig it out in a reasonable amount of time, it was unlikely they would find anything new.

“Seems we should head down,” Anton gestured to the steeply sloped tunnel going down. “Should we try this one, or the first one towards the entrance?”

“Sense any difference?” Hoyt asked.

“Hmm, this one actually appears to be blocked in a few places. Nothing we couldn’t push through, but…”

“The other it is,” Hoyt declared.

It didn’t take long to make their way back, though the tunnels were uncomfortably short for a person to walk upright. Their heads just about touched the top of the curved tubes which certainly weren’t natural, but also didn’t feel constructed with their unevenness.

They eventually came out into a larger chamber, with dozens of tunnels sloping into it, as well as more comfortable mostly rectangular tunnels, though those too were uneven and had the same stone strewn throughout making passage difficult. It seemed they served no purpose, but the vaguely rectangular tunnels at least seemed like they should have been made by people- and the whole arrangement was too regular to simply be random.