Isga and Milan didn't expect Jason to be so confident about finding a branch of the exposed mana vein, in a reclusive area at that.
While Milan was not sure where Jason got this confidence from, Isga began to wonder if Jason saw something through his mana eyes.
However, even if Jason was not sure where to go in order to find the place he was looking for, Milan knew this place, from several maps he had studied, like his own home.
As such both agreed to Jason's proposal before they set off, not minding what exactly was going on behind them.
Everyone was on their own and it was not their responsibility to take care of the descendants of the other families!
Milan tried to recall where they had to head to in order to find a place similar to that Jason described.
As such he was in his own train of thoughts while following Jason, who knew where they had to go.
All of this was thanks to his mana eyes and a large amount of mana he inserted into them.
When Milan saw what paths Jason took to walk through the cavern halls and tunnels as if he had been living inside the cave, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Isga thought that Milan's pride might be hurt by that thought that explaining the situation might not be the worst, considering that Jason was too much of an unknown factor.
He was extremely mysterious and Isga was curious about which family he hailed from.
"His eyes don't seem like common mana eyes… I think they are pretty strong ones too!"
When Milan heard this he could barely refrain from exclaiming loudly as Jason entered the next cavern tunnel.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})This explained a lot to Milan, and he understood that Jason didn't even have to think if they were going down the right path or not because he knew it!
Nevertheless, more than an hour passed had before the group of three emerged in a cavern hall that had the site of a Basketball court.
There were only two tunnels leading towards this particular cavern hall and the one they took was one of them.
Satisfied about the cavern hall he entered, Jason turned around to Isga and Milan who looked at him with a faint smile.
They already noticed that the mana density and purity was much higher inside the basketball court-sized hall they entered as Milan said
"I don't know this place...is this hall new or why was it not drawn into the maps I've studied?"
Milan was curious about why he didn't know anything about this place, but in the end, it didn't really matter to their current situation.
More importantly, was that Jason's mana eyes lead them to a branch of the exposed mana vein and that there was not a single beast around!
Meanwhile, the young prodigies and Suo had regained their composure after they calmed down from the chaotic situation they had encountered after the petrification serpent escaped from the exposed mana vein and the big cavern hall which they entered now.
Several thousand corpses littered the ground and there was not a single Low Lique stage beast left which astonished but also overjoyed the young prodigies.
They would have to give up on the mana vein if there were to be powerful beasts left behind.
However, their number of Low Liquest stage beast corpses was zero which told everyone that not a single of the most terrifying ranked beasts within the Mythic Garden died.
The prodigies, led by their greed, started to collect the beast carcasses and only half an hour had passed before the whole cave was cleansed from corpses.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})After that, they wanted to approach the mana vein as close as possible only to notice that there were multiple beasts right next to the mana vein, absorbing its mana.
In the beginning, these beasts, that reaped the benefits for arriving as the last on the battlefield, didn't bother about the young prodigies.
At least until they approached them which caused the beasts to open their eyes as they roared out and charged at the prodigies that summoned their soulbonds.
However, before they were even able to clash with each other, several beasts had emerged from the surrounding tunnels which caused both the beasts near to the mana vein and young prodigies around, to stiffen.
'We are f*cked!' Was what everyone had in their mind as one of the descendants from a larger family suddenly said
"Let's not think about the mana vein anymore! We have to survive in order to become stronger! Let's retreat first….."
Everyone was reluctant to retreat but the sheer number of beasts that arrived in the gigantic cavern hall, which was lightened by the mana vein, was enough to indicate their inevitable death if they were to force their way towards the mana vein.
In the end, they couldn't be sure that there wouldn't be other beasts that wanted to reap benefits from the exposed mana vein which would obstruct them in absorbing mana too.
As such, they decided to charge through a certain tunnel without many beasts before caring about how to leave the underground maze they entered.
"Suo...you guide us again!" A bulky young man ordered, not caring about the fact that Suo belonged to the Jual clan anymore.
After they saw their comrades' corpses and how Suo acted after he encountered them, the young prodigies that remained in the prior hall before, couldn't help but despise him.
It was obvious what had happened and knowing that Suo abandoned his team members in order to save his own skin was something they couldn't accept.
At least not from a descendant of a big family and the leader of their group at that!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Suo, however, couldn't care less what others thought about him because he was already glad to have survived the onslaught of beasts that caused his prior team's death.
As such, he accepted the bulky youth's behavior for the moment.
Time would tell who would live longer and whose hypocrisy would kill one, sooner or later!
Jason knew that something like that would happen to the other prodigies if they were to think that the exposed mana vein belonged to them alone.
There were several tens of thousands of beasts that wanted to reap benefits from the exposed mana vein, only to die!
It was only obvious that the stronger beasts wanted to be as close as possible to the mana vein, which would mean that they had to find a way to the underground.
The exposed mana vein was called like this as the short period where a mana vein would release its excessive mana would be exposed to the surrounding.
This would influence several hundred kilometers around the mana vein which means that being close to the mana vein was enough to reap benefits.
These benefits would evidently be fewer the further one's distance to the mana vein was.
As such, Jason, Isga, and Milan could have remained at the cavern entrance, absorbing mana while reaping benefits from the mana vein as the mana there was already denser and purer than further away.
However, mankind was greedy and Jason was no exception.
Nevertheless, he had his greed under control which was the reason for him to use both his greed and mana eyes to find the most suitable position to absorb mana!
As desired, Jason found a reclusive and secure cavern hall right next to a branch of the mana vein which was similar to being right next to the mana vein itself.
Jason's passive mana absorption accelerated by several times and he couldn't help but think that absorbing mana right here would be perfect for him to break through mana ranks.
"If I stay here for several months...I might be able to liquefy my first drop of mana!" Milan exclaimed in joy while Isga nodded his head adding
"I might be able to create my second drop of mana...maybe even a third if I can enter a fully focused state...that's great!"
Both were happy and Jason couldn't help but smile brightly as he summoned both Artemis and Scorpio.
They were still looking like they were beaten up harshly which soured Jason's great mood as he took several perfectly purified potions out of his spatial ring which he infused into his soulbonds' mouth.
When Isga and Milan saw how Jason's soulbonds looked like, they couldn't help but frown, but seeing how Jason treated them, their frown turned to a faint smile
"You already encountered a few problems inside the Mythic Garden before you met us, right?" Milan asked as he offered Jason a few higher-graded potions
Declining the offer by telling Milan that his potions were perfectly purified he added
"There were a few problems...but I think my soulbonds became stronger through this hardship…"
Averting his gaze from this soulbonds to Isga and Milan he said
"We should absorb mana for several months, right? Our soulbonds should be better guards than we are...they can absorb mana and pay attention to the surroundings at the same time. That's fine with you two, right?"
Everyone nodded their head and their plan was set in stone.
With two Lowest Lique stages and two peak-Unblemished ranked beasts, there shouldn't occur many issues within the reclusive cave hall they were currently inside.
As such, everyone began to make preparations to start absorbing mana for several months...
