Chapter 32.

The trio stayed a few more days in the room, each one of them studying their new training supports diligently. Every night Enora would also visit Nick, or the other way around, trying to be as discrete as they could. They were not really making a big thing out of it though, at least not Enora. She knew what she was doing, and why : looking to get the world out of her head for an hour. Nick did seem to have adopted a similar mindset, making it way easier for her.

Considering how easy wild magic was to learn compared to fire, Enora took very little time to begin her Cultivation, quickly accumulating energy. Of course, she did not forget to work on her Blaze School either, dividing her training between the two, but basic energy really was enjoyable to amass. She could feel her body getting slightly stronger and sturdier after every session, the feeling multiplying when she actually used it. What a rush !

Nick and Rose took more time to learn light and fire, as those were noticeably harder, mainly fire. Its danger made cultivating it even slower. But Rose was quite hardworking, making significant progress. Also, they did not have to learn the Detection of the Magical Flow anymore as that was a common process to all energies. Though, actually identifying each energy was something else entirely.

When the moment came to finally move, they packed their bags and reluctantly carved meat off of the less smelly Grey Devil and wrapped it in some cloth. It was their sole source of nutrition at that point and, no matter their disgust, it was quite better than starving, as they all knew.

Contrary to their expectations, no large group of monsters waited for them at the exit or nearby. No sound echoing through the rough caves, no movements among the grey stones and blue lights. "Good.", thought Enora. "I'd rather not fight just yet. We have some food, and I'm still a bit sore from last time.". The feeling was shared, certainly. So they got back to their slow exploration, sprinkled with map drawing and sign carving at every turn. They did their best to follow the water towards the north.

Those long moments of nothing helped Enora think, and cultivate regularly. It was harder to do it while walking, but doable with practice. At some point, they met a small camp of Grey Devils, which they easily annihilated using all they had. It was not a great move though, as a pair of monster scouts came back after the fight and surprised them. They were also quickly dispatched, but the trio realised how magic had made them careless. After looting the corpses they went back to walking, using wild magic to fuel their sore muscles with new stamina. The books did not recommend to do that for an extended period of time, as it did not totally replace rest, but adding more hours of exploring to a day was acceptable.

Half a week after leaving the basin room, they stumbled upon a worrying sight. Well, a worrying series of noises first : metallic shocks and hurried footsteps and breathless efforts. Then, with the most care, they approached the end of the tunnel into the new cave. A vast cave, at least five hundred meters square, with a few dozen leather tents on the left, and a commotion on the right, inside a monster-made recess. That recess appeared to have many black pieces among the grey stone. Maybe two dozen Grey Devils were there, hitting those black pieces of wall with crude pickaxes and putting the pieces inside wheelbarrows that other little monsters brought to the camp.

Enora immediately guessed that this whole operation was coal mining, and, considering the number of workers involved, they were probably not only supplying themselves. Seeing the quantities, it was most likely that other camps came there to take, if not buy their coal. That would explain why almost all groups of Devil they had met yet possessed at least a bit of this resource : they were more organised than anticipated.

- If we managed to disturb this project, we might fuck up many camps around here., whispered Nick. I'd enjoy knowing some of them froze to death.

- Aren't there too many of them ?, asked Rose in a cautious voice.

- Maybe, maybe not., said Enora. Doesn't matter, it's too risky. There are at least thirty of them, and that's just the workers.

- Yeah, but look, half of them are neither armed nor armoured., pressed the man. I'm sure we can take them if we use the tunnel efficiently.

Silence ensued between them while they observed the bustle in front of them. "Is it doable ? I mean, we have already been surprised with our pants down last time, and now we're thinking about actually attacking thirty of them. Maybe I wanna do it, but it's definitely too soon …", pondered the tall warrior.

- Forget it, we're not ready for it., she finally decided. Look, if we keep on getting more powerful through magic, I'll be the first to talk about that kind of shit, but I'm not confident enough right now.

After a few moments of reflection, Nick nodded and turned around to leave, followed by the others. He looked quite disappointed, understandably so, but it was not worth the risk. So they left, went back to the last turn and tried their best to find the river again. They had to make a large detour since said river flowed through the coal mine in a straight line. None of them felt comfortable about actually leaving it behind to then look for it just because of those little monsters standing in their way.

Yet, after a few hours heading east, something came to their view : the same kind of obstacle. "Fucking shit !", thought Enora while punching a nearby wall furiously, shedding a few drops of blood. Apparently, the coal vein was shared between multiple caves, and the locals had organized several mining operations. This time the inhabitants were also comprised of those tall monsters that they encountered only once, those Ash Trolls. The name was chosen by Nick. He said that 'troll' was the first name that came to mind when he saw the first one. Though he did specify they did not look like what he imagined a troll would be, though it was close.