****Chapter playes out at the same time as Chapter 24

***City of Karusha: Explorer's Guild.

A group of ordinary looking youths walked towards the receptionist as they talked in a low voice.

Earlier today they accepted a request from the Merchant's Guild to retrieve some lost documents from just inside Anbriot's Forest. A request like this were not unusual by any means. Sometimes merchants would try and save time by cutting through one of the shallow parts of the forest. This would usually be considered normal practice as the outer area of Anbriot were not really considered that dangerous compared to everywhere else around the continent. But there were certain risks. The normal highways and paths between cities were usually patrolled by guards or hired explorers. That made them much safer compared to the unmonitored areas within Anbriot.

When they arrived at the marked area on the map. They only had to search for a short while before the wrecked carriage came into their view.

Searching around they quickly found traces of someone that were extremely careless in leaving tracks. At first they thought a rookie explorer had taken a chance to rob some easy money. But when they started looking around they found valuable mana cores on the ground and pouch of coins out in the open.

They looked at each other in puzzlement as one of the men raised a question.

"Hey boys. This place is really weird. All of the valuables are here and nothing noted down is missing"

The one that looked like their leader quickly pointed his finger at the other man as he berated him

"We don't know that yet you idiot. Check the documents in the chest first then talk"

Doing as told the man walked over to the chest to look for the documents. Looking down into the chest he found everything of value there except a mirror.

As he was about to report his findings he suddenly saw something that looked like a clear pearl in the bottom.

Picking it up he looked at it closely. He somehow found it familiar but he did not know much about relics or mana so he looked towards the third person in their group.

"Hey Richard! Do you know what this is? Everything listed is here except an worthless mirror... And this weird pearl?"

Richard was part of the Magician's Guild and was usually in their party. He was unlike the other two wearing very light clothes made of brownish cloth. He was currently looking out into the distance as if in deep thought.

When Harley called out his name his mind slowly broke out of whatever he was thinking about as he walked over to Harley.

Picking up the 'pearl' he checked it throughout. After a short while his mouth was wide open and he looked incredulously at the core in his hands as if he found the holy grail itself.

After a moment of silence, Henrey their leader suddenly broke the silence.

"Richard! You there? What's wrong?" he asked with stern voice. He somehow felt the irregular mood of his friend and somewhat understood his behavior. That pearl must be something special...

Shaken by his two friends questions he found it hard to explain his findings. The core in his hand were unnaturally and the mana inside was very stable. It seemed like an ordinary mana core. But as an mage he clearly understood the value of this tiny object...

"Guys! Listen. This is not something ordinary. We'll need to report this to the Magican's Guild as soon as we return. This might not look like it... But this might be an tier 3 core.. but that's not everything. The stability of the mana inside is truly extraordinary. If we used this for manatech or spells the efficiency would be unimaginable. We might not even be able to surpass it with tier 5-6 cores"

Even the two warriors understood the situation after Richard explained the situation. They all looked down at the core and made an audible gulp as their throats felt dry. One of these might sell for an astronomical amount when they sold it later.

Before Henrey could put in a word, Richard spoke first.

"Henrey there's something weird going on a bit further inside the forest. It might be related to this core. If we can figure out where it came from me might be able to make a lot of money just selling this information..."

Henrey somewhat hesitated when he heard his Richard's words. They might be pretty strong themselves. But they were not even considered as strong within the Explorer's Guild. The most they would do was requests like this one. And not try their luck further inside the forest. He had seen way too many venture into the forest and never return to make this decision lightly.

He looked towards Harley for his thoughts before making his decision as the leader.

Harley looked at the core and back at Henrey and gave a slight nod. These three people had been together for many years and had grown up together. They all trusted each other enough to make the call to go further into the increasingly dark forest.

As the party of three walked closer and closer to their destination night had fallen.

Richard looked worse and worse as he guided them forward. Through the woods. The other two couldn't feel it, but Richard were not like them. As a mage he had trained since very young to become a decent mage. Right now he was fighting against his instincts as they screamed at him to run away and hide.

As they stood atop a hill overlooking their destination they all froze in their tracks as they could do nothing but watch.

The forest ahead was completely dead as the sturdy trees slowly rotted away before their eyes. The small beasts that were too slow to escape were lying on the ground motionless as they slowly dissolved into something not quite of this world. It looked absolutely sinister. The smell almost felt unbearable as they stood in a strong cold headwind. Richard on the side quickly collapsed on the ground as his body began to look increasingly pale as seconds passed. Making a quick decision Henry grabbed all of Richard's stuff as he told Harley to carry Richard on his back.

A second after his words fell a sudden terror crept up on the three men. They had never seen anything like it. A few meters behind them stood an large beast with glowing red eyes as it glared at the three people. The bestial rage of the monster in front of them made their knees go weak as they fell down shuddering. Henrey had seen his fair share of powerful monsters through his years but this was not something that belonged to this part of the forest. The insane mana radiating from its body made even Henrey and Harley feel like ants before an exploding star.

As the giant wolf like beast starred at them with increasing blood lust. Henrey started pushing his body backwards as he kicked with his legs at the soil. Hitting Richard's backpack everything within it was thrown on the ground in front of the four.

As Henrey and Harley thought their foolish decision had cost them their lives. The wolf suddenly stopped in its tracks as it looked down on the ground. Starring at the pearl with confused eyes he looked back towards the two shaking men and their fainted friend. Puzzled he slowly picked up the core with his teeth as he made his final judgement on the three feeble existences beneath him. As the beast stood motionlessly before them he studied them closely. Crushing the core in his mouth, he tasted that familiar feeling.

In the beast's mind the image of his small adopted child appeared and crossed over with these two pathetic humans. Not understanding the connection between them he made a quick decision as he flashed away towards his initial objective.