Though there shouldn't be anything beneath them in this area.
The conversation drifted toward plans for the following day. The boys' voices gradually lowered as fatigue from the day's exertions settled in their bodies.
Gradually, the conversation died down, replaced by deep breathing and occasional snores. The night silence was only interrupted by the distant sounds of local fauna and the crackling of the central fire that remained lit all night.
Ren was about to fall asleep but still awake, his mushrooms pulsing softly in a slow and constant rhythm.
It was then that he felt it.
A subtle vibration, almost imperceptible, transmitted through the skins. So slight that anyone else would have confused it with their own breathing, or perhaps with the movent of a nearby companion.
But Ren managed to distinguish it.
This vibration was different: deep, rhythmic, and above all, impossible.
His mushrooms pulsed with greater intensity while he processed what he was feeling.
It was a...
It was a...
A...
A lesser worm?
It was undoubtedly the characteristic movent of a lesser worm, but there was sothing fundantally wrong with it.
Worms shouldn't be able to co so close to the surface, not in this area.
Ren ntally reviewed the subterranean geography he knew from the information that had never failed him.
Mana in the subsoil was and wasn't distributed uniformly at the sa ti.
It wasn't a simple sphere of mana that behaved the sa throughout the world. It was more like an icosahedron from which one of the points originated in the city's castle, with distribution lines that followed specific geotric patterns.
The main mana arteries, those major veins that transported energy from the depths, followed predictable trajectories based on the points of this geotric figure.
Between these arteries, the figure's lines connected in a straight and direct manner, but because the earth is a sphere, the subsoil's mana was distributed in a gentle but constant slope as it moved away from the points.
Surface mana, on the other hand, radiated from the light abyss crack and acted as a force field, like an atmosphere that lost its strength as it moved away from that crack. Like a belt for the planet...
An incomplete shield.
At the current depth Ren could perceive it, so close to the surface of the iron ring, there shouldn't be enough mana to sustain a worm for long, not even a lesser one.
The closest point with the appropriate concentration would be about two hundred ters underground, a considerable distance for a displaced worm… even if it was being pursued, it wouldn't have gone that far.
Or at least not a big chance to be escaping perfectly vertically for more than 50 ters.
Those 200 ters should also always be free of mana, without exception.
Environntal mana neither rises nor falls, doesn't invade spaces; when in the environnt, it behaves like radiation and only at certain concentrations and pressure does it beco a resistant crystal.
The shadow stalker caves, while deep by human standards and able to descend between 20 and 30 ters, barely scratched the surface in geological terms.
They didn't remotely reach the natural territory of worms. The two species simply didn't overlap in their habitual distribution.
'Unless...' Ren sat up slowly. 'What if the mana distribution is changing?'
The idea was disturbing. The structure of subterranean mana had remained constant for millennia according to what his knowledge whispered.
The recent opening of the seed certainly qualified as a slightly disruptive event, but its effects should have been localized, concentrated primarily in the imdiate area 300 ters below the academy. This gathering site was too far from that to be affected.
Ren placed his hand directly on the ground, eliminating even the layer of skins to obtain a clearer sensation. The vibration continued; he hadn't imagined anything. The cool earth beneath his palm seed to tremble with a rhythm.
He considered waking the others, but what exactly would he tell them? That he had felt a vibration suggesting the impossible presence of a worm near the surface? That he suspected the fundantal structure of mana might be altering?
'I need more information before causing an uproar; it's not trying to reach the surface anyway,' he decided, remaining alert and focused on the movent.
His mind began analyzing other possibilities. Perhaps it wasn't a natural worm. It could be the vibrations of a tar simulating a lesser worm with great precision, though that would raise the question of who and why soone would be digging so close to the camp.
There was also the possibility that it was a natural phenonon unrelated to worms. But extrely coincidentally similar to worm movent.
But none of these explanations made much sense. The patterns were too perfect, too organic to be chanical, and too deep for soone trying to spy or seeking to invade...
Finally, he decided that, without more information, it was best to alert Zhao. If sothing really was altering the subterranean mana distribution, it wasn't a matter to be taken lightly.
Carefully, so as not to wake his companions, Ren silently rose. Min mumbled sothing in his sleep and turned over, but didn't wake. The others continued sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the anomaly Ren had detected.
As he headed toward the professors' section, Ren kept his steps light and calculated, avoiding any sudden movents that might alert the subterranean creature. His mushrooms barely pulsed, reducing their glow to a minimum to avoid drawing attention in the camp's dim light.
The teachers' tent was guarded by two assistants who watched the small fabric entrance.
Before Ren could explain the situation, the door opened from within and Zhao erged, his tense expression revealing that sothing had already alerted him.
"Professor," whispered Ren, approaching cautiously. "There's sothing moving under the camp. A vibration pattern similar to a worm's, but impossibly close to the surface."
Zhao studied Ren for a mont upon finding him awake, surprise briefly flickering across his features. "We've felt it too," he confird in a low voice, guiding Ren a few steps away from the guards. "But we've already sent soone with earth specialty to investigate. It shouldn't represent an imdiate danger."
Instead of feeling relieved, Ren frowned. Sothing in the explanation didn't match the vibrations he had felt. If they had already sent soone, he should have detected a second presence, not just the worm's movent.
So surely that soone had just set out.
Following his impulse, Ren knelt and placed both hands directly on the ground, closing his eyes to focus completely on the sensations transmitted through the earth.
Now he could clearly distinguish two entities: one with the unmistakable pattern of a lesser worm, moving erratically as if fleeing, and another significantly larger and faster that pursued it with relentless elental earth control.
Finally, the larger entity reached the worm. There was only a mont of struggle before everything beca strangely still.
Ren slowly opened his eyes, finding Zhao and watching him intently.
"Is it Julius?" asked Ren directly, his voice barely audible.
Like it ? Give it a power stone！
┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻ - It's free and you help a lot
Have so idea about my story? Comnt it and let know.
Thank you so much for reading!
(∿°○°)∿ ︵ ︵ ︵ ︵ ︵ ǝʌol
User Comments
0 comments from readers