Stepping through the illusion, they entered a darkness enshrouded cave in which nobody was able to see anything.
Even Jason was unable to see much, only the mana fluctuations around him could be perceived.
However, that was not important because Jason had his black flame affinity which could lighten up the surrounding area.
Yet, this was not necessary because Milan manifested several bulbs of light around everyone to brighten up their surroundings.
Taking a glance around, one could tell that the cave was nothing special.
There were no elemental crystals or any kind of ores within the walls.
However, that was not surprising given the fact that this cave seemed to be used quite often.
One thing that interested Jason was the fact that the large cavern hall they entered first, looked like it was created after a huge fight.
This was not shocking, but it interested Jason as it indicated that there might be stronger beasts inside the cave than they initially expected.
Reminded of the most terrifying beasts within the Mythic Garden, there were three beasts that could live below the surface.
At least he couldn't think off more.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})However, it was still possible for more beasts to enter the underground cave with its thousands of tunnels.
Jason felt neither uncomfortable nor overly comfortable after he thought about the possibility of multiple strong beasts habituating below the surface because it was obvious.
Right now, everything was extremely dangerous and it would be suspicious if they could approach the small mana vein without encountering a single beast.
Slowly stepping through the large first cavern hall, Milan found something that caused him to frown which the others also noticed.
Approaching him, they found a small piece of fabric and footprints.
There was nothing special about the fabric, and the only thing Jason saw through his mana eyes were mana fluctuations.
The piece of fabric was made out of expensive, high-grade beast fur that had a fire and wind affinity, while the mana fluctuations Jason perceived were somewhat familiar.
They reminded him about a certain person which caused him to blurt out
"Isn't that from the arrogant idiot?"
However, immediately after he said these words, Jason looked at Milan, hoping that the latter didn't hear him, which was, unfortunately, the case.
"You know my brother?" Milan asked, confused, not sure where Jason, whom they knew nothing about, could have encountered his brother.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Scratching the back of his head, Jason decided to remain honest as he said
"I met him in Asgar, which is a small city on Terebrean. That was right before we were teleported to the small island where the rift is situated...Let's say our encounter was not pleasing and it looked like I was interrupting their banquet."
Milan just nodded his head, not saying much about it as he turned around before he announced.
"My older brother should be here too, and it is highly likely that he has a large group with him. We are not on good terms but I doubt that Suo will do anything against us… at least not if someone witnesses it!"
Jason lifted his eyebrow when he heard how Milan talked about his brother.
'These family feuds are really crazy…'
He was unsure whether it had something to do with having a higher talent or being the heir of a clan, but Jason could tell that most big families had many issues.
Without saying anything else, Milan continued to walk towards the end of the first cavern hall where they found ten different-sized tunnels.
In front of the tunnel that was the most on the left side, they found another piece of fabric from Suo Jual.
Yet, instead of taking that tunnel, Milan cursed at his brother before he took the second tunnel from the left side in the center.
Meanwhile, Jason marked down every path they took.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})More than two hours passed and they went through four more tunnels among several choices before they entered a large hall once again.
During the last two hours, they hadn't encountered any beasts and even Jason began to become a little bit nervous.
Everyone was wondering if all beasts rushed towards the exposed mana vein, and only after they entered the large hall after two hours did they encounter their first beasts.
However, more surprising than seeing that several hundred centipedes fought next to gigantic ants, was the fact that their opponents were more than a hundred humans with their soulbonds.
Jason remained calm when he saw this and sized up every mana core he could see within two minutes.
He didn't bother about researching everything more detailed and the most important was how much of a difference the two sides' combat prowess was.
In the beginning, before Jason entered the Mythic Garden, he thought that there would at most be a few prodigies at the Lowest Lique stage by liquefying their mana into drops, but that didn't seem to be the case.
There were a few terrifying prodigies at the Lowest Lique stage, shredding the masses of centipedes and ants as if they were nothing at all.
"More than 10 people at the Lique stage?" Jason mumbled, only to notice that Milan looked at him in confusion which caused him to add "I meant Magus rank…"
Milan nodded his head, thinking that Jason's clan might be used to different names for each mana core stage which was not uncommon for certain ancient clans.
This caused Milan to comprehend that Jason belonged to one of the few ancient clans on Canir.
However, from Jason's words, Milan could also tell that Jason was unaware of the combat prowess and pace most big families increased their mana core rank.
"Most prodigies at the Magus rank should be from big families. I think Suo gathered them around him to build a strong combat unit in order to approach the small mana vein without many casualties...I should know a few of them. Maybe we can team up with my brother's group if we help now?"
Jason found this idea reasonable but he doubted that they could help a lot because the fight was almost over. Among the hundreds of centipedes and gigantic ants, there were only a few Lowest Lique stage beasts left.
Nevertheless, they approached the large group of fighting prodigies at a fast pace when Jason suddenly noticed something digging through the ground at a shocking speed.
"WATCH OUT, BELOW!"
From what his mana eyes perceived, the beast, that was most likely a centipede with multiple drops of liquefied mana within its mana core focused on one particular youth.
This youth with a large, athletic build had black hair with purple stripes in them. His mana core rank was at the Lowest Lique stage and he was currently manifesting several bolts of lightning to tear apart multiple opponents at once.
Thes lightning bolts were extremely powerful and Jason couldn't help but acknowledge that lightning and thunder affinities, which were slighty different, had the most explosive strength.
However, that didn't change the fact that the youth was currently targeted by the centipede that was on par with a Mid-Magical ranked beast.
From the looks of it, humans liked to differentiate a beast's strength much more than other races because the centipedes' stage would remain being called Lowest Lique stage until it was at the late Magical or even peak Magical rank.
This was one thought in Jason's mind but he had no time to think about it because he thought that the youth with the lighting affinity would be killed any moment.
Yet, before anything could happen, a black-furred panther with a purple horn above its head and thick electric currents enveloping its whole body, jumped out of the fray of centipedes it was about to rip apart.
The horned lightning panther had heard Jason's voice and noticed that something was wrong from below its master's position. As such it turned around and grasped its master with its maw before it accelerated its speed further.
Only a moment later, after the youth was pushed away from the position he stood for a while did the ground burst open, revealing a huge centipede that roared out in wrath, enveloping the whole cavern hall into a thick hue that was filled with all kinds of emotions.
"A centipede with an emotion disorder curse?"
