Chapter 8: Glowing Stones

[Achievement #006 unlocked: Best Friends Forever (Literally)]

[Description: Add your first friend in Arcadia.]

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[Alice LvL. 4]

[HP: 65/65]

[Stamina: 75/75]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Class: Swordswoman]

[Strength: 6]

[Defense: 4]

[Stamina: 6]

[Speed: 8]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Luck: 1]

Using the flasks they received, Alice and Sophie collect honey from the destroyed hive "Thank you for sharing, the sun is already setting, so I was worried about having to look for it at night. I didn't ask your name before."

[Experience: 97/225]

"I'm Alice." she continues in a sarcastic tone "By the way, those bees were mine. You stole my kill again."

The elf puts her hands on her hips and looks irritated "Are you still mad about the wolf? I just saved you!"

Alice laughs "I'm just joking with you. We're in this together anyway, it wouldn't make sense for us not to help each other."

At this response, Sophie looks down and says in a depressed tone "Yeah... I would give anything to get out of here. Why would they do this to us?"

"I know as much as you do. Maybe they just went crazy. But we will escape this nightmare, together."

Sophie smiles at Alice's comforting words, and Fedora emits motivational noises—then the elf notices the gelatinous creature on the swordsman's head.

She points at the Slime somewhat confused "Uhhh... There's a slime on your head."

"Oh. I know. It's Fedora, my Emotional Support Slime. Isn't he cute?"

"Glob. Glob."

In a confused tone, she says "... That's not the weirdest thing I've seen today."

Seeing the quest, Sophie's eyes shine and her posture becomes more animated and energetic "Oh, they appear in caves, I saw one nearby! Let's go!" says the elf as she pulls Alice by the arm.

"H-huh?! Ok…"

After several minutes walking through the forest, Alice, Sophie and Fedora find the entrance to a cave in a hill. The elf jumps for joy when she sees the cave "We found it!"

In contrast, Alice becomes more nervous when she sees the large cave dominated by endless darkness—her courage considerably decreases. She looks at the elf, hopeful that she will change her mind and they can go to a more 'friendly' cave.

Unfortunately, for Alice, Sophie had a look of admiration for the mystery hidden in the darkness of the cave. In an excited tone she says "Doesn't this give you goosebumps? My dad used to explore caves a few years ago, and since I was a child I begged to go with him! Of course, everything here is virtual, but it will certainly be a close experience to what I have always dreamed of!"

Trying to contain her fear, Alice says with a fake smile "Oh. T-that's great for you! But since neither of us has ever explored a cave before, how about we go to a smaller one?"

Sophie walks in without fear "What do you mean? This is perfect! Let's go! It will be a 5-minute grind!" she moves the palm of her hand to Alice, signaling her to come too. The swordsman takes a deep breath, and also walks slowly to her companion.

[Flaming Arrow: Torch]

A magic circle manifests at the tip of the arrow, which is fired at the wall—where it sticks and its counterpoint starts to generate flames imitating a torch. The place lights up, revealing a large stone corridor.

"Here, I'll light the way so we don't get lost. Healing crystals always appear in caves, it will be quick anyway."

"That's what I hope..." Alice murmurs quietly.

The two move forward on the only possible path, Sophie continues to create torches with her magic—spending a little mana per skill, which is constantly recovered by not being in combat, but she loses her arrows in return.

Alice is behind the elf, with a scared look on her face, the tight space along with an unpredictable path cause deep fear in her. In contrast, Fedora is sleeping peacefully on the player's head.

"Hey, Alice. I was curious, who were you in Arcadia?"

"MissBlade."

Alice bumps into Sophie—who stood still upon hearing her nick—she turns slowly, grabs the swordsman's shoulders and starts to shake her.

"MISSBLADE?! The co-founder of Vantablack?! Top 7 in PvP?! Did I hear wrong?! Why didn't you say it before?!"

"Y-you didn't ask. Stop shaking me!"

"S-sorry..." she lets go of Alice "It's just that... Well, you weren't exactly how I visualized MissBlade. I thought you were a 40-year-old guy living in a basement."

She rolls her eyes and says in a sarcastic tone "Wow. Thank you."

"N-no offense. But just your sword—you know, that one made of 6-star materials and limited drops—must have taken about 3 years to build."

"4 and a half years."

"Jesus... You must not have a life."

Alice grunts in irritation, and speeds up her steps passing Sophie. Noticing her companion's mood, she tries to lighten the mood by telling about her experience in the game.

"Well, it's not like I'm much different he he he... I remember when I stayed up for 2 days to get all the drops from the 2016 halloween event. The stats were terrible, but their trading value was pretty high. 2 years later, I managed to trade them for a Leviathan Bow, can you believe it? That weapon was meta at that time-"

"Hey, look at this."

Sophie directs her attention to a crystal that emits a blue light on the stone corridor wall—making her breathe deeply in disbelief.

"An Auracrysolis?!"

"Just call it 'Bright Stone'."

This material is extremely useful for explorations, when it absorbs a certain amount of mana, the Auracrysolis reacts by manifesting a strong light—in short: it's a lantern.

The elf tries to pry the stone from the wall, but without success. She tries again, this time putting her foot to help her remove the ore, but again, she can't even move it.

In a sarcastic tone, Alice says "You're almost there."

"It's not my fault my class is 'blessed' with weak arms."

"Sure, sure. Let me try."

Alice pulls the Auracrysolis with both hands—but can't move it. She sees Sophie smiling sarcastically and letting out a small laugh. Feeling challenged, she pulls the ore several times, until in an instant, it comes loose, releasing a loud sound that echoes through the cave.

"Phew. How do I use this?"

"Do you have a bit of mana, right? Try transferring it to the stone."

"Ok!" she spends a few seconds staring at the item, until she turns to Sophie "... And how do I do that?"

"Give me your hand." she holds Alice's hand and points to the palm "Use your mind as a guide for the mana, and try to put a little in this area here."

The swordsman concentrates focusing only on her hand, but to her disappointment, she doesn't see any difference. However, Sophie shows no surprise—in fact, she is angry.

"Urgh, such disorganization... But it should serve. Now put the stone in the area where the mana is concentrated."

Even confused, Alice follows the instructions and the moment the ore comes into contact with her palm, it emits a strong light that illuminates the ceiling—making her open her mouth in awe.

[Mana: 49/50]

"H-how? I didn't see anything on my hand."

"Oh! I forgot about that! Since you're a swordsman and a human, you have more difficulty seeing magical energies. And since I'm an elf, it's the opposite for me. Anyway, I have to admit, we were very lucky, do you know what's the chance of finding an Auracrysolis in a cave? 3 in 100."

Suddenly, Fedora makes frightened noises—as if he wanted to alert them to something. Alice tries to understand what the Slime is trying to say, but unexpectedly, a web coming from the darkness sticks to the swordsman's leg and with monstrous force, she is dragged to the end of the corridor.

"AH! WHAT IS THIS?!"

"ALICE!" Sophie screams running after her companion—her body was no longer seen, only the light of the Auracysolis. Her concern increases with each step, whispers echo through her mind: "What if she dies? What if death is permanent?"

Even though she wants to ignore these thoughts, it's like they're stuck in her mind.

...

Meanwhile—after being dragged for several meters—Alice arrives in a chamber of the cave, an open space lit by small Auracrysolis on the wall that allow the player to have minimal vision, with more than one exit. Barely having time to process her location, she is pulled up.

Alice cuts the web with the sword freeing herself and returning to the ground. She looks up with an irritated look, signaling her readiness to eliminate whatever pulled her. But upon visualizing the creature, a deep fear overrides her irritation.

<'Spider' LvL. 3>

With trembling hands, Alice can barely hold her sword—she has arachnophobia—and seeing that she is facing the worst possible opponent, the swordsman heroically runs to the hole where she entered.

But her escape plan is interrupted when she sees several bright eyes in the darkness of the corridor, "Are you kidding me?!" there were 3 more spiders.

Filled with fear and disgust, she runs to a random hole in the chamber—ignoring any possible risk or logic.

After a few minutes, Sophie enters the chamber finding the 4 spiders in the center of the room, who fiercely advance towards the elf with their arachnid fury... Until...

(MY PREY.)

The predators suddenly stand still, as if they were statues. "What...?" Sophie fires a common arrow at the head of one of them.

She frowns in confusion, and again fires at the heads of the other spiders. Executing them all in an anti-climactic way.

"So the kidnappers were spiders?" she notices the absence of her companion and scans the environment in search of her, "Wait, where's MissBlade?! MISSBLADE!"

Her scream echoes through the cave. And they are answered by sounds of footsteps—but Sophie does not feel relief, in fact, she becomes even more nervous, because those footsteps were not human.

The footsteps were multiple like spiders, but sharp like a blade. The echo of the chamber does not allow the player to find the origin of the sound... Not before hearing a calm and imposing voice.

"For stepping on my home... You will pay with your blood."