I wandered over to the Axoli, who was hacking at the spider’s face. “What the hell are you doing, Lastaf?”

“I want to examine the brain and other organs of this creature. I’ve never seen nor read about any chiton-based creature getting this large before. Their massive size would be a hindrance for a creature made to fight.” The Axoli said as he continued to hack and cut into the creature.

I watched the forest around us as he worked. Then I spotted the telltale sign of his bright pink ferns beginning to dart back and forth, unlike their regular rhythmic movements.

“What did you find?”

He looked back at me and squinted. “Reading me like a book already, are you?” I believe I figured out how they’ve become so massive. I believe this here, next to the heart, is some type of mana-infused organ that does something to the structure of their body. I just can’t tell what. I can detect faint traces of mana traveling from the organ to the rest of the body. It’s almost like an artificial mana vein network.

If this Darkness uses the hive’s queen as its personal soldier factory and can produce these massive abominations, they could take this entire continent. A swarm of these would raze a city in an instant. Only a handful of high-ranking adventurers could come close to stopping a swarm of these anywhere near here. I could take four, maybe five, before I’m tapped.

How many of those Tier 2 Ice Lances can you construct before you’re drained?”

“I conjured one and tossed it into the forest and looked at my status screen, watching my mana. It took a minute, but it ticked once after the full minute. That upgraded spear cost fifty mana, and they barely penetrate their defenses. I could cast around thirty-five before I’m drained completely.”

“Then a lesson one on Mana. Once your body begins to acclimate itself with its newfound energy source, going under about twenty percent of your total is when you begin to feel that drain. In doing this, your body’s movements will begin to slow down. Even your thought process can become compromised.

Lesson two. If you drain your mana entirely, your body will cannibalize itself to compensate for the expenditure. This is a fast way to burn out your mana channels and lose your magic entirely or just keel over dead. There aren’t many methods of fixing your channels outside very expensive alchemy potions if you do this, so be careful.

So, you’re looking at less than thirty of those icicles. You may want to start using that magical hammer you keep on your belt instead and keep your Mana ready to use your blue fire I’ve heard about.”

Before speaking, I shook my head and looked towards the blue sky between the tree’s branches. “I’ve had both happen already. When I nulled the hive, I burnt out my channels. It cost me a staggering five hundred energy to fix them. I’m honestly unsure if using the Mana cost on the spell killed me or the spell itself did, on second thought.

I’ve heard Kiszo speak of an Adventurer’s Guild, and now you speak of high-ranking members being able to take out swarms of these guys. What is an adventurer, and what does their guild do? I understand the concept of an adventurer, as someone who likes to travel and seek fortune, but what does a guild of these people do? Are they just those who fight monsters?”

Lastaf pulled a rag and canteen from his bag and cleaned off his hands. His hands went from a dark crimson red to light pink again. “The Adventurer’s Guild was set up a very long time ago to organize those who, as you mentioned, like to travel and seek fortune. The guild’s founders intended for the guild to be a place for those who wished to defend their towns or strike out and eliminate threats before they became a problem.

It used to be the best place to learn how to progress in your class and even learn the arts of magic. Now, it’s just a place to find work and the latest gossip. You’ll be ranked on your Stigmata and a duel with a representative from the guild when you join. This rank will allow you to take what they call quests for your rank or lower to complete for coin. Of course, the guild takes their cut off the top.

The high rankers I referred to include Horrow. He may not look it, but that minx could move a small mountain. He became chief of his village to occupy his time in his retirement. Don’t get me wrong, he is incredibly strong, as well as the others I refer to, but those on the mainland make Horrow and the rest of us look like these Gnit drones we’re following.

Do you know the ranking system of cores? The guild’s ranks follow the same structure. Horrow is the equivalent of a higher Class Citrine Core in the rankings, yellow or the fourth of ten ranks.

I’ve seen his Titan’s class armor grow to over ten meters in height. I stood by while he cleaved a charging Draklagoon clean in half. Those who are Amber-Class adventures can be a magnitude more powerful at the fifth rank, and there are still those in the five classes and ranks above that.”

“What’s a Draklagoon?”

“Massive lizards that roam the plains far to the east of here. Easily twenty times the size of these Gnits.”

“I can’t fathom a living creature outside of the ocean that is that monstrous.”

“Even seeing one, you’ll still have a hard time coming to terms with it. Let’s get going. We’ve dawdled long enough. Show us the way, please.”

Four small drones dug themselves out of the ground, shaking themselves free of the dirt that clung to their bodies. I was unsure where the rest had gone off to during the fight, but we began to follow them once more.

As we moved south, the forest began to show signs of the improvements I had seen before. The plant life was larger and more vibrant. The trees were thicker and taller, quickly blocking my view of the surrounding area.

Fifteen or so minutes later, something small and bright colored caught my eye to my right, and when I turned to look, nothing was there. I was about to continue forward when I spotted a large bed of flowers in a perfect circle. I ran towards it.

I stopped at the bed’s edge and looked around, nothing. That tiny movement had to have been a Fairy, I was sure of it. I bent down to examine the flower bed more closely but couldn’t see any movement or flowers that looked separated from the real ones.

“Hello? Anyone around?”

I waited and was about to speak again when the Axoli came behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “They haven’t been around since the Mana Explosion. Now I know what skill you couldn’t say.”

“You’ve known about the $!&#*@?. What the fuck?”

Lastaf began to laugh. “Yes, I know of the forest’s keepers. When you travel as much as I have, you sometimes stumble upon them”

“I wanted to ask them how Beema is doing. They took her before we went into the hive.”

“Beema?”

“Yes, she was a child of the Beastkin. The %&#(@ said she would grow to be a Druid. They took her to what I assume was their realm when the hive attacked Ray’tha. That is so damn annoying, forcing you to speak gibberish.”

“Just call them the keepers of the forest. A Druid, you say. Wonder what they will teach her. Come, we mustn’t dawdle.”

I got up and began walking towards the waiting four drones. We only walked a few meters before a tearing sound came from behind. Lastaf’s blue armor flashed into existence, and an ice lance formed in the palm of my hand. I hadn’t even thought about the construct for it that time. It automatically appeared.

We turned around to see a rainbow-filled tear form above the circle of flowers. Then the tear snapped shut with an audible ‘snap. Where the tear had been now floated what I could only describe as a sliver of pure light but in a solid form. It had an iridescent teal color and filled me with warmth with just its sight.

I turned to ask Lastaf what the hell was going on and found him kneeling to the object. His eyes to the ground. What in the hell? I looked back at the shard of light and walked over to and poked it. I felt my body relax and fill with something I couldn’t describe upon my touch. I reached out and grabbed the hand-size shard.

The feeling left me as I removed the shard from its suspended place in the air. I looked down to see the glow had faded and now a shard of glass or crystal with the same iridescent teal color rested in my palm.

I turned to see Lastaf staring at my hand before speaking. “You truly do have a Hero’s class. You just picked up what I would only assume was a Divine Shard without the aid of an onyx box. The keepers of the forest have entrusted you with something most couldn’t fathom.”

“Ok, that’s a bit much to unpack. Could you go back and explain everything for me like I was a youngling?”

Lastaf barked out a laugh. Divine Shards are pieces of a Divine Core, the highest rank of available cores. Those cores hold so much power that they shatter when the creature, god, deity, almighty, or the extremely powerful dies. Just that piece alone could level an entire city or buy said city and the kingdom it resides in.”

“Onyx box?”

“A box created with an Onyx Core, the second-highest ranked core. It’s one of the few materials that can conceal and hold the power of a Divine Shard.”

“So why give me this shard?”

“I would assume, The Darkness. This frightens even me, Zeal, not going to sweet coat it. This Darkness must be a more serious threat than we realize if they are giving you this for aid.”

“How do I use it?”

“No clue.”

“That. That doesn’t help at all!”

Lastaf shrugged. I placed the shard into my hip sack with my books. I was happy it hadn’t exploded. I felt as if I was carrying a Null Device on my hip that could go off at any moment. Reaching the drones, they turned around and made their way south.

I turned to glance at the bed of flowers once more and watched in shock as they began to wilt and die before they sank into the ground. The wonders of this world, I thought. If I played my chips right, I had lifetimes to explore and learn the secrets of anything I wanted. I believe I knew what the old Axoli in front of me must feel being able to learn things about a Classless Hero and getting a chance to meet a hive’s queen.

We followed the four drones for hours before I began to feel a tang in the air. Maybe tang wasn’t the right word. It was as if the very air held power. It felt like what some had described they felt right before a lightning bolt hit them. That was the best way I could put it. I was about to ask Lastaf about it, but he spoke before I could.

“The density of mana will grow stronger as we get closer to the hive. The forest, plant life, and animals have all taken in this new energy source. I’m sure you noticed the changes to the forest as we traveled.”

“I had wondered about that before. My spell created all this mana?”

“I would assume so. That spell you used at the hive, created what most call a Mana Well. A self-sustaining area of magic. If it wasn’t so far below the surface and unstable, I’m sure there would have been those to come and try to tame it, building a city around it. Could you replicate the spell you used?”

“I could. However, if I released that spell on the surface, there would be much destruction in every direction. The loss of life would not be worth the power of this Mana Well. It’d possibly be unstable as well.”

“Do you remember the construct you used? Maybe I could help you refine it. I’d do anything in my power if you could create a stable version.”

“What would you do with a Mana Well, Lastaf?”

“The Axoli homeland is a floating island far to the south. Well, maybe southwest now. It’s been years since I’ve been back home. Our Island has a Mana Well, but it has been slowly losing its sustainability over the past few decades, and our island is slowly descending. It will crash sometime in the next hundred or so years. I would very much like for that not to happen.

This Mana Well to our south is the first new well to be discovered in ages.”

“How are the wells normally made?”

“Can’t say. I heard of one being made when a high-ranking adventurer blew himself up in an experiment, resulting in the birth of a new well. Or the new well sprang up and sucked him in, causing the explosion. No one can say for certain.”

I thought back to the fusion fireball spell I had used, and when the construct clicked once more, my brain was enveloped in brief but searing pain before a box came into view.

[ RESTRICTED SPELL ]