A small red light started emitting as soon as the white webs were down.
Looking closer, three blood-red crystals looked like rough crystal rocks from the outside.
If one looked closely, something was bubbling inside these rocks.
An eerie, red liquid, the same as blood, and… it looked mesmerizing.
This was most probably a <Blood crystal>.
A natural crystal that formed in nature with dead bodies of powerful beasts with Mana of (Green) rank or above.
These were big chunks compared to what they usually materialize as but from this forest’s point of view, it was understandable.
It was something rare and… dangerous.
Though other energy beasts could get stronger by eating this, it corrupted them.
The <Dead blood energy> was most suited for beings that could handle <Dead Mana>.
Many beasts used this type of Mana as their primary source, and there were some spider spices among them, too.
But… the spiders that I killed weren’t among them.
They were Mana beasts that used pure Mana.
This <Blood crystal> was poison to them in a long run and their end was… only death.
This was a dangerous thing that emitted <Dead Mana> into surroundings if kept for a long time.
I couldn’t feel it, but there might already be some in this cave.
This… was a problem.
I would get a dangerous <Dead Mana poisoning> if I stayed in this place for much longer.
But…
What if I can survive in this Mana?
Wouldn’t this be a cave same as my previous one after using the purified demon core?
I didn’t know if I can survive after real <Dead Mana poisoning> but I might be able to stay here for longer than I think.
I knew this process was slow and the <Blood crystal> not only had dead Mana but also the natural Mana.
For spiders, it was poison in the color of honey but, I might sustain some of that poison.
I had a good tolerance against normal poisons, and I had handled more dangerous poisons.
It was dangerous, but I also had my <Energy circulation> skill that processed energy inside my body.
I should be able to resist most of the <Dead Mana> just from having this auxiliary skill.
So, they weren’t ultimately a problem for now.
All I had to do for a while was get used to my (tier-2) spells and progress in increasing my [Origin Skill].
This area had many new things around it, so I also had some exploring to do.
“Let’s go and look at the new surroundings,” I said, looking at my left hand.
[[ Master… we can talk through the origin linking us. You just have to focus on that and think about what you want to say. ]] Celes said in my mind.
I already knew about that but… I didn’t know if I could use it properly.
My mind was sometimes chaotic, but I had to be silent when we were outside and I had to learn how to do this.
I still hadn’t told her about my past life and some other stuff and I knew she knew I was not ready to talk about those things.
She was wise and sweet enough to not bring up that thing, and I liked her even more for that.
I nodded and packed some small stuff, necessary for exploration.
I knew I could at least walk around a few hours after sunset.
I was stronger and… I had a partner.
Crawling out of my cave, I jumped on a tree branch.
***
The surrounding area was pretty good in terms of herbs, poison plants, and different beasts.
From what we saw, there were many groups of beasts that seemed like families.
There were some black monkeys with yellow dots around their body which felt strongest among them.
There was also a [Giant Honeybee] nest.
I knew I stood no chance against that number of bees, but I wanted to try that honey.
The bees weren’t ranked beasts, but their numbers still scared me.
The strongest thing I saw today was that piggy.
A green pig with grass and flower growing around its body with big sky blue eyes. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝗇𝓔t
It was a bigger beast than that fire boar, and this one was more joyful than that angry hunk.
It roamed around while jumping as if it was happy, and today was a good day.
This piggy was so different from that wild bore that I was even thinking of going to him and sitting on its back.
But, I didn’t do such a thing.
This happy-looking pig was a famous creature, worshipped as a forest guardian in western parts of the empire.
[Forest spirit swine]
A (Blue) ranked energy beast that could use spirit energy.
<Spirit energy> is natural energy like Mana.
The Elven race in summoning, swordplay, and archery mainly used it with exceptional mastery.
They were close to nature and used spirit energy from almost at birth.
Spirits were beings similar to Celes, who were born from nature.
But unlike her, they can freely live in this world for a very long time.
These spirits have different elemental affinities and could use this power with extreme proficiency.
The piggy before me was a special existence that could use the same power as elves and had skills that could summon elemental spirits.
Though it was dangerous, it was a fabulous being.
Other than it, I also found out that there was a lake some distance away from this place.
Though the lake was small, lakes were always a treasure chest of nature.
I wanted to go there for many reasons but I will have to wait for a while.
There might be some dangerous beasts in the path or even around the lake.
So, after gathering some different plants to increase strength and Mana, I returned to my house.
I thought about staying a bit more, but it was better to stay inside than there.
There wasn’t much to worry about in this area during the day, but nights are always different and I was still not ready to face these nights.
Seeing the piggy was a good thing about today, but there wouldn’t be anything to worry about for the time being in this place.
So, I decided to just stay inside and train my [Origin skill] for the time being.
But…
As I reached my cave, my heart started beating like it did every time something overwhelming was near.
I didn’t understand what to do and there wasn’t much distance between me and the cave door.
With a chaotic mind, I used [Quickstep] and backed off on a distant tree.
There was no way something small could give such a powerful reaction.
The door was also the same, so I didn’t think something would just dig up inside.
There was only one explanation for this situation and it scared me to face something like that.
And… I was unfortunately right.
A pure white translucent humanoid creature walked through the solid wall.
It was bigger than me, maybe around 2 meters in height.
It was a creature with long four hands and two legs, no mouth, and a glowing blue pair of eyes.
I knew what this thing was.
A mass of pure energy, a creature with no physical body.
A [Ghost].
It was a bona fide undead-type beast.
A pure mass of energy that is unnatural, born from the dead energy and (Soul energy) of different creatures.
They are powerful creatures that can use magical skills.
And the one before me was definitely… (Yellow) rank.