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Still amazed, and with his hopping companion at his side, Avan took his first steps into the gigantic crystal room.

To the left and right of the ten-meter passageway through which he had just stepped, a white marble wall strewn with what looked like long crystals led evenly into the room. The level seemed to be a good fifty meters high and indeterminately wide, as he could not see the end on either side.

"What do you mean?" Avan asked his companion, who hobbled along beside him. "I wonder what awaits us here? Traps, ambushes, monsters? What would fit in a crystal plane like this?"

Pondering, he turned his head from left to right and let his gaze wander over the crystal plain. It seemed that there was no direct path leading between the crystals, and he would have to explore the layer on his own.

However, before he plunged headlong into new dangers, he preferred to face the unknown ready to fight.

Following a flash of inspiration, Avan tried to summon both Celestial Spheres simultaneously over his left and right palms. He sat down a few steps away to the side in front of the entrance and assumed a meditative pose to meet the now even higher mana requirements of both summons. Horny also sat down on his hind paws and watched him from a few paces away.

By now accustomed to it, he felt and guided the mana flow from the outside through his core and through his veins into his palms and into the two spheres forming there.

Here again, Avan noticed once more that the summoning was much slower in contrast to the presence through other living beings and pondered in his calm and mental attitude.

It sure looks like I can generate and regenerate more mana in the presence of other living beings... And when I remember back to how the mana threads ran to and from me, there seems to be more to it than that.

I had so much more mana from the people in the monster raid, even though I seemed to be sending a purer form of mana back to them... Almost as if I had cleaned and filtered the mana around me...

As Avan sat there pondering the phenomenon of his increased mana capacity and regeneration, the familiar golden translucent orbs slowly and steadily formed above each of his palms over the course of nearly ten minutes.

With both round objects hovering and circling above his head, shortly thereafter he stood on both feet again, backpack on his back, and carefully strode toward the first crystalline stalagmite.

Cautiously and mindfully, he approached the crystal structure protruding from the ground, feeling the perfectly smooth surface with his outstretched left hand.

"Kind of typical again. No grooves, bumps, cracks, just a perfectly smooth crystal surface." He marveled one more time at the magical structure and givenness of this plane and crystals.

Without having to strain, he picked up one of the smaller purple crystals lying around on the ground floating and looked at it from all sides while holding it in his hand.

 

[Purple Mana Crystal]

 

He identified the object and nodded mentally as he read the name in front of him. "Seems appropriate..."

With little effort, he stowed quite a few hundreds of these crystals in his Celestial Storage as he wandered around the stalagmite.

As Avan thus walked among the stalagmites, stowing crystals within his dungeon reach in his inventory, after half an hour he suddenly noticed an inconsistency in the environment.

Where before the crystals had been scattered chaotically all over the ground, there was now a kind of aisle in front of him, meandering and a good three meters in width in the landscape leading away from him.

The purple crystals had been pushed to the left and right by whatever was here on the plain and inhabited it, which had finally resulted in this kind of aisle.

Interrupted in his activity and faltering in his steps, Avan looked around more closely. His shoulders tense, and his head slightly ducked, he looked around his surroundings with his legs slightly bent and in a semi-squatting position.

The expected ambush failed to materialize, but he couldn't help but worry about this monster with the sheer size of the aisle.

Whatever inhabited the crystal plane was large, long, and could move across the partially pointed bode and through the crystals without any effort or risk of injury.

In size, this behemoth could easily rival the chimera of the monster raid.

With tense, light, and careful steps, Avan moved along the edge of the aisle before him, following it quietly.

Carefully, and with smooth movements, Avan stepped along the edge of the path, always careful not to trample on any of the crystals on the ground, so as not to make a betraying noise.

Putting the thought of collecting the new purple crystals completely out of his mind, he crept along, an equally silent companion in tow, as if Horny, as so often, simply knew or felt what was required of him.

Meandering around stalagmites and stalagtites, the two followed the trail deeper into the plain until Avan stopped abruptly when, a little further away to his right, he heard a slightly shrill and crashing sound, as if crystal rubbing on crystal and crumbling together.

With a quick glance at his white companion over his shoulder, Avan took a large step over the swept aside crystals at the edge of the trail he had been following, making mental notes of the surroundings to find his way back here.

With careful movements, his spheres ready to strike and a tense posture, he crept quietly forward around the crystalline formations, getting closer and closer to the ever louder noise.

Little by little, it sounded more like a scrap press grinding and crushing crystals. He located the noise a little further to his left, as if whoever was responsible for the grinding sounds had moved a little further.

Still creeping, he crouched a bit more and moved even slower and more cautiously, as the sound seemed to come from behind the stalagmite that had appeared in front of him.

Resting his right hand on the crystal, he peered around the left side of the structure and instantly froze with his mouth open.

In front of him a monster presented itself, which was at the same time unearthly beautiful to look at and simultaneously instilled enormous fear in him.

With a quick thought, he identified the monster.

 

[Crystalline Mana Wyrm - ??]

 

Naturally... A dragon-like crystal lizard, what else? How am I supposed to fight that thing...!

The crystal lizard measured two meters in width and another two meters in height, while Avan couldn't estimate the total length of the crystal-munching beast, but guessed it to be about five to seven meters.

The lizard itself had a certain resemblance to a Komodo dragon, which had been one of the largest lizard species on Earth. Its huge jaws, with which it could certainly swallow Avan in one bite, chewed and bit off large pieces of a stalagtite lying on the ground, from whose activity also came the loud grinding noises.

But instead of the typical scales and leathery skin that lizards normally possessed, this variant had grayish and purple crystals protruding from its body, which probably made it impervious to the pointed crystals that protruded everywhere with their sharp and cutting edges.

The huge, also with slightly translucent claws provided, komodo front legs were just about to hold the two meters in diameter large crystal, while the monster gleefully and without the slightest problems bit off large pieces and ground with his white pointed teeth.

Avan gulped noticeably once as he became aware of the sharp row of teeth that the lizard clearly and visibly displayed with each bite, while it could stretch its jaws so wide that it could easily bite a human in half with them.

The two-meter-long lizard tail swept from left to right, flinging smaller crystals into the surrounding area.

Sweating slightly at the sight of this creature, Avan retreated a bit and leaned back against the stalagmite, looking for support, and slid down it to the floor.

"Shit... How am I supposed to handle a creature like that?" He muttered incredulously and very quietly to himself, while he stroked the rabbit's soft fur in a soothing gesture.

With a small touch of healing magic, he brought his heartbeat and body back under control. He had learned this little trick during his training with Eve, when he had been sweating and healing his bruises and injuries. The sweat, his heartbeat, and simply all the unnatural conditions of his body, Avan had been able to heal and correct with his Akkalons Touch.

In thought, and with the chomping and grinding sounds behind him, he laid his head back slightly and leaned it against the crystal behind him to stare at the equally reflective and beautiful ceiling.

How should I go about this? Sharp blades can never penetrate the crystal skin. With Akkalon's Touch, I wouldn't have to go near it, but I would have to focus on flowing my mana through my sphere of influence into the komodo dragon, which could make me more inattentive...

And what about my Celestial Spheres? Blunt damage, especially with these crystals, might be the most effective. I might also be able to stay out of range and attack with destructive mana AND the two spheres. I wonder if the lizard will focus on the spheres and not look for the original attacker. It would be worth a try...

Or I try to survive the level completely without a fight.... Ahhh, nope. That wouldn't be me.

With a slight smirk and a silent chuckle, he set about getting back up and gesturing to his dungeon companion to wait here.

Again bracing his right hand on the crystal, he peeked around the corner once more and sent his balls into the air to approach the glittering monstrosity from above, unseen. Then, let's go!

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