For a second, Red thought he had reached the surface. The chamber was so big, the boy had a hard time seeing the other end. The moonstone veins here were so bright and enormous that there was very little rock surface left in complete shadow. It followed the trend he had been noticing - the further down he went the more ore he would find.

These stones, however, almost seemed different compared to the ones Red had seen thus far. In the quantity and density that they currently were in, some sort of transformation was happening. The color of the vein was more vivid, and the light was far stronger than what could be explained by sheer numbers. It was as if the ores were breathing. Almost as if they were alive. The boy didn't know why, but it was dizzying to look at them. Thankfully, though, the crimson aura he was swimming in didn't let him have direct eye contact with the radiance and he was eventually able to look at the rest of the room.

Enormous rock pillars held the ceiling of this cavernous kingdom up, spreading across the area and separating it into sections. Large mushrooms, fungi, and moss growth decorated the stone surfaces. The vegetation had vivid colors, which were all painted crimson through his aura, and glowed as brightly as the moonstones. It gave the underground a touch of life Red had never thought possible before.

The centerpiece of all this was the stream. The boy was able to smell the moist air from very far, a refreshing sensation clearing his mind. It was wide, about thirty meters across, and stretched throughout the whole chamber. The tributary snaked around the rock pillars, vegetation surrounding the areas where it touched as it granted life in this hostile underground.

Red followed the course of the stream to the center of the cave, where it flowed down into a massive hole as a waterfall. The boy wasn't even able to see the bottom of the pit from his position, but the sounds of the water crashing down onto the floor sounded distant enough for him to gaze in awe.

'How deep does this place go?'

The youth didn't know, and he didn't feel compelled to find out. Instead, he focused on the place within his reach, the expanse which surrounded this bottomless pit.

As his eyesight adapted to his environment, things that hadn't been clear at first emerged in his vision. Giant insects, countless multitudes of them. Even these enormous monsters seemed small compared to the cave they resided in, but Red didn't let himself be fooled. They were immense, a lot of them the size of the strongest creatures he had encountered before — some even bigger — and the majority of those had glowing green eyes too, an indication of their strength.

Scorpions with exoskeletons that were broader than Red was tall, colonies of thousands of small round insects feeding on moss, beetles with vicious horns that were more extensive than their own body. The boy was even able to see what looked to be another species of spider, except this one was much larger than the ones he had witnessed in the previous chamber. These types of creatures stood everywhere he looked, some even engaging in combat at that exact moment, their clashes echoing through the chamber. Red eventually had to give up on counting - every second more lifeforms revealed themselves to him. It was the most fascinating sight he had ever seen in his entire life, but it was also the most dangerous.

The youth suddenly had an inkling as to why Viran didn't continue forward. It was pure suicide.

The density of Spiritual Energy in the air became stronger too. It couldn't compare to the amount provided by the blob, but it was much more substantial than what Red had ever found near the surface. This was probably the deepest he or any other slave had been in the underground. Yet judging by the bottomless pit in the middle of the cavern and the dozens of other passages spread through that environment, it was merely a fraction of the total expanse of this place.

The boy felt a morbid curiosity consuming him. What awaited the human further down? What kinds of other monsters existed deep into these caves? If their size kept increasing, how big would they get?

Red tried to hold himself back, remembering Viran's advice. The youth was on a tight schedule - he didn't know how long this energy in his body would last, or even if this red aura would protect him against these monsters. He needed to be careful, remain unnoticed and hopefully leave this place as soon as possible.

The stream flowed from a smaller passage, at least relative to the cave, and Red couldn't see where it led him or how long it stretched for. However, if Viran was to be believed, and surprisingly his words had all been truthful up until now, this would be his path to the surface. Or so he thought.

There was no more time for planning. He needed to move. Even now Red could see a red mist evaporating from his skin, similar to what the old soldier had gone through. This indicated that the Spiritual Energy was leaving his body, and the boy didn't know what would happen once all of it was gone.

The youth started to jog carefully along the edges of the cave, hoping to stay out of sight while maintaining a steady pace as he traveled to his destination. However, this didn't come to be. As soon as he had walked further into the expanse, it was like Red had become a beacon of light indicating his position to every monster.

One insect in particular that he thought to be harmless, screeched in terror as soon as he approached. This seemed to alarm the rest of the fauna of the cavern, who immediately discovered his presence.

Surprisingly, though, the results were more favorable than he would have guessed. Bigger creatures tried to approach him, but they all retreated as soon as they caught sight of the human. Moving forward, the monsters all strived to keep out of the youth's way, in a similar fashion to the colony of spiders, dreading to even come close to the crimson aura surrounding him. He had hoped the effects of the stone would have worked on every beast he came across, but he didn't want to risk it. Now it seemed, the red gem had decided for him.

Red saw no more point in sneaking around. Diverting off his original route, he made a bee-line for the river, pushing his muscles to their extreme. Aches started to reappear all over his body, particularly in his left shoulder. The youth didn't even know how long he would need to travel for but he needed to use this aura while it was still available. The boy doubted he would have another chance to escape.

Beasts all scattered in a panic as soon as Red approached them, and he swiftly arrived on the edge of the stream. He didn't stop to examine the water, immediately changing directions and following the tributary upstream. Yet, even after five minutes of running at full speed the youth still was just over halfway through the cave to his goal. The sheer size of this place continued to surprise him, and his initial and hasty estimations had failed him.

To make matters even worse, Red started to feel the strain of his body return and his speed diminished with it. Weakness began to take over, and every step became heavier than the last. The youth gritted his teeth and looked down at the stone in his hand. The glow had diminished even further over the last few minutes but at least the monsters didn't seem any less scared of the aura.

Hesitation crossed over his mind as the boy thought about repeating the same infusion process to boost his power. However, in the end, he decided against it.

'Not yet.'

The boy had no way of knowing how long this effect would last, so he couldn't risk having it disappear while he was in the middle of a jungle of creatures that could easily kill him. Red may have to crawl if necessary, but he would only borrow some of its power as his absolute final measure.

Weaving through the stone terrain, the path forward became even more apparent to him. Along the way, he saw monsters staring at him from afar, passages to unexplored parts of the cave, and even smaller pits leading to god knows where. A primal curiosity and fascination consumed him. It was as if fate was dangling the unexplored and undiscovered in front of him, daring him to stray off track. Something called to him in the depths of this world, its summoning silent but still deafening to Red. It was waiting for him. However, just as this sensation appeared, it was gone. Eventually, Red recovered and cleared his mind of those strange thoughts.

Still, even after evading death's temptation, his situation didn't look much better.

His pace diminished even further. From a full-blown run to a jog. From a jog to a walk. From a walk to barely dragging his feet along. The river passage was no more than 50 meters in front of him, but he felt as if there was an impassable gulf that he needed to cross. His consciousness started to slip, and the time to use his last resort came even earlier than he wished for.

The boy looked down at the glowing stone. Some of the crimson color had retreated from the gem's surface, and the green light became visible along its edges once again. The frequency of dark wisps emanating from it had also diminished. Red's mind was too tired to properly calculate the consumption rate but he guessed that it wouldn't last past half an hour at this speed.

If he collapsed down here, though, it didn't matter if the aura lasted for thirty minutes or three more hours - it would be gone while he was unconscious and something would eat him while he was sleeping. The last trace of hesitation disappeared from his eyes, and the youth proceeded to shove the gem into his mangled shoulder.

Red was somewhat familiar with the process at this point, but it didn't make it any less painful. He sensed the stone pushing apart his flesh and more blood poured down his body. Eventually, the boy felt the tingling sensation as the glowing object touched his acupoint, and the transference of energy began. The jolt of power swiftly rejuvenated Red's strength reserves and his fatigue was washed away as if it had never been there before.

The feeling was almost intoxicating, but the youth knew this was too good to be true. There would be a price to pay eventually, and he dreaded the time it arrived. Yet, in his belief, it was better than dying.

The moment Red felt strong enough to continue, he removed the rock from his open wound. The glow had diminished even further, but the boy didn't stop to check it. He shot forward with renewed speed, crossing the final stretch towards his destination.

The bright light of the expanse started to lessen as the youth dove into the tunnel. The screams of monsters sounded farther and farther away, being replaced by the sole sound of rushing water from the stream that occupied the center of the passage. A whole foreign and unexplored world was left behind, perhaps never to be seen again, but it was a small price that Red was willing to pay.

There was no telling how much further he needed to go to arrive at the surface, but the boy could feel it. His destiny was quickly approaching, and hope started to burn bright again in his heart.