Just as they finished erging on the other side, Ren's mushrooms pulsed with alarm. His eyes widened and he raised a hand, stopping Liora dead in her tracks.
No explanation was needed, the ground beneath their feet vibrated subtly, revealing the nearby presence of sothing enormous. A deep worm, it had to be eight ters long, moving in their vicinity.
Ren made a silent signal to Liora: don't move.
They remained completely still, barely breathing.
Ren's mushrooms pulsed once, very softly, synchronizing with the tunnel's natural rhythm. Staying calm was crucial now, the deep worm might be Bronze rank and in its elent, but as long as it didn't detect them, they wouldn't have to face it.
Liora maintained her position, her control perfectly held. There was no fear in her posture, only absolute concentration.
The worm drew closer. They could feel its massive presence moving the earth around them as if it were water.
Ren began to move, his steps perfectly synchronized with the tunnels' rhythm. It was an almost hypnotic movent, so fluid and light that it seed a natural part of the environnt.
But Liora, despite her determination, didn't feel so confident. The deep worm was right below them, its presence a constant threat. Rembering Ren's instructions, she opted to remain completely still.
Ren stopped when he noticed she wasn't following. His mushrooms pulsed softly as he signaled for her to wait. With deliberately slow movents, he continued moving away until reaching a nearby wall. A smile ford on his lips while Liora watched with evident confusion.
'Now I have enough distance in case this fails,' he thought while preparing himself.
He pressed his hands against the wall, spreading all his fingers so the tips touched the rock. With precise movents, he gradually changed position until using his fingernails.
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Suddenly, his fingers began moving in a complex and delicate pattern. It was a downward movent, but so intricate it seed impossible to replicate by chance. He was perfectly mimicking the vibration of a deep assassin walking, light, quick, deadly.
The effect was imdiate.
The worm, sensing what it believed was a natural predator, began retreating deeper into the rocks. No worm at this depth, regardless of size, would risk facing a deep assassin.
♢♢♢♢
Ren straightened, relaxing his muscles while his mushrooms pulsed with satisfaction. He waited a mont to ensure the worm had truly moved away before signaling to Liora.
"Now," he whispered, "try approaching using the imperceptible step."
Liora nodded, her expression determined. She began to move, trying to imitate the movents she'd seen before. The result was... less than graceful.
Deeply concentrated... her feet moved at different tis, occasionally colliding with each other. She tried to maintain the rhythm but ended up looking more like an unpracticed dance than a stealthy movent. Ren had to bite his lip to avoid laughing while his mushrooms pulsed with barely contained amusent.
"Relax," he suggested when he managed to control his smile. "Don't think too much... Feel the rhythm."
Liora furrowed her brow in concentration and tried again, this ti more slowly.
"No, relax your face and let yourself flow," Ren instructed gently. "Feel the rhythm before taking the next step."
It was fascinating to watch her progress. Each attempt was slightly better than the last, though occasionally she still lost the rhythm by thinking too much and tripped over her own feet.
"Wait!" Ren suddenly whispered, his mushrooms pulsing in warning. A worm was moving nearby, attracted by the failures.
Liora froze mid-stride, precariously balanced on one foot. Ren had to contain another laugh at the image.
After scaring away the worm, they continued practicing. Ren was a patient instructor despite their limited ti, gently correcting each mistake and stopping Liora whenever he detected a nearby threat.
"We won't always be lucky, an assassin might co... Think of it as a casual dance, not a traditional one," he suggested while watching her try again. "The rhythm is already there so you don't need to mark it, you just need to follow it."
"A 'casual' dance where tripping ans being eaten," Liora murmured, though there was humor in her voice.
"Exactly," Ren smiled. "Though perhaps your mind would prefer to avoid that part."
Gradually, Liora began to improve. Her movents beca more fluid, more natural. She wasn't just mimicking the rhythm in Ren's advance anymore, she was beginning to feel it.
"Much better," Ren approved when she finally managed to approach without breaking the pattern. "Though your intense concentration expression could use so work."
"What's wrong with my expression?" Liora asked, relaxing her furrowed brow.
"You look like you're trying to solve a particularly difficult math problem," Ren laughed softly. "It's supposed to feel natural."
"Easy for you to say," Liora responded, though a small smile ford on her lips. "You've been doing this for... how long exactly?"
Ren avoided answering directly. "You're doing quite well for your first ti."
They continued advancing, now alternating between practice and real movent. Each ti Ren detected any danger, they stopped so Liora could observe how the rhythm changed or what signals to look for.
She was very serious, but Ren could see that Liora was a natural learner. Her ability to adapt and improve in a short period was impressive.
"Soon you won't need to stop you," he comnted while scaring away another worm. "You're starting to feel the vibrations yourself."
Liora's eyes brightened at the complint, though she maintained her concentration on keeping the correct rhythm.
♢♢♢♢
Finally, they reached the small deposit. Ren examined it.
"This ti there are no monsters," he murmured. "No eggs, no cores... nothing."
"Is that strange?" Liora asked, observing the natural bowl ford in the rock.
"I think so," Ren responded while pulling the crystals he'd prepared from his backpack. "Though perhaps the other tis were the strange ones..."
Ren began examining the bowl's walls, his mushrooms pulsing while analyzing the light and mana patterns. He was looking for specific points where crystal reflections against the mana environnt were particularly intense.
"We can move normally here," he explained while working. "The crystal plate on the ground is too hard, no creature at this depth can break through it."
He carefully placed the Iron and Bronze rank crystals he'd brought, aligning them to make the process easier. Then he took out the hydra plate.
"I need you to stay at the edge," he instructed Liora while taking out one of the dicines Julius had given him. "The mana saturation here can be... intense."
"Is that why the dicine?" Liora observed the small flask with curiosity.
"Precaution," Ren nodded. "The hydra needs pure mana for cultivation, but processing it here isn't exactly... comfortable."
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