Elsewhere on Avalan, the Goblin Chief Garbal sat thinking atop his designated stone platform.

His eyes darted from goblin to goblin as the nearby guards kept them from approaching. Their enthusiastic shouts filled the area, but Garbal remained as steady as a mountain despite their cries and stares.

Eventually, the goblin crowds parted, and so did the guards back to their resting spaces. Only one goblin guard remained behind just in case anything suspicious was to occur.

Garbal made the equivalent of a human's choking and coughing sound all at once as he hopped off the platform. Nearby, the lone goblin guard swung over a pouch that spilled over and revealed the pulsating slop and entrails inside.

“Mmm. Kind Chefs?”

Garbal slurped his food through gnarled teeth with great enthusiasm. In his eating revelry, Garbal didn’t notice a shadow sneak toward the nearby guard.

Tang! Tang!

The clanging of the metal bars awoke Garbal from his eating reverie. Garbal's eyes stilled, dropping the pulsating slop in his hand.

The guard’s originally yellow eyes had turned shadow black, and blood leaked from their eyelids like a horror film. Then, the guard spoke words unbefitting an ordinary goblin guard.

“I extend my offer one final time, Garbal. Tell me, has cell life been accommodating? You should know your advisor has been receiving your VIP treatment.”

Garbal’s face twisted from his incredible fear of whatever had taken over the goblin guard. He covered his ears and shook his head with his eyes closed as he pinned himself to a corner and refused to speak. The last shred of unyielding spirit refused to burn out inside of him.

Tch.

“Useless to the bitter end.”

Thud!

The black eyes of the goblin guard faded, and a shadow shifted from inside of him. Then, through cracks and crevices, the shadow disappeared without a trace. The only telling sign that someone had been there was the goblin guard lying against the ground, likely dead.

After some time without action, Garbal summoned his strength to gaze outside the cell. Seeing only the singular unmoving guard, Garbal gradually stopped shaking as he murmured.

“Must escape. Contact Edna.”

Garbal’s hand reached into his wild hair, pulled out a small pendant the size of his thumb, and moved to a nearby dirt wall. With a hum, odd symbols floated out of the pendant and revealed a hand-carved hole in the wall.

The hole was only large enough for Garbal to fit inside and was his sole hope in this dark prison cell. With a skittering step, Garbal entered the hole and disappeared.

Symbols floated behind him as the hole faded into a common dirt wall. And, in the corner, a shivering animation of Garbal appeared with his eyes closed and his ears covered against the world.

 

---

 

Achoo!

Percival wrinkled his nose. With the overpowering aroma of burned vitality floating around the caves, it was hard not to.

“I think I preferred the sticky slime.”

Novus spoke up as he gathered the blackened slime cores.

“If you think this is bad, I hate to tell you what poisonous slimes smell like after they're burned.”

Percival looked questionably at Novus. But unfortunately, the man in question was already attuning his senses to the world filled with colourful mana particles. In that world, Novus could see the rich vitality-filled mana swirling around the cave and the small sun of it still in his hand. Despite being blackened on the outside, the mana within swirled with a power eager to escape.

It’s almost like Stash’s pseudo mana core. If only I had a core like Adrianne's lost mana core. Then I’d be able to make some real progress!

“Ah.”

When Novus reopened his eyes, Adrianne was staring at them from an uncomfortably close position.

“What were you doing just now?”

Novus’ eyes blinked.

“I was seeing what my sense could pick up on. Apparently, not much. I didn’t even notice you come in this close.”

However, in Adrianne’s mind, she didn’t buy it. She had seen Novus’ ‘weak senses’ battle against too many monsters unscathed. She pursed her lips and leaned back from Novus’ face.

“How do you know what a poisonous slime smells like?”

Novus stared for a second as his brain thought up an excuse.

Ah, I shouldn’t have said anything.

Before Novus could speak, Percival piped in from the side.

“Yeah! How did you get magic so quick? And why can’t we learn it?”

Percival still seemed upset from Novus’ denial of teaching him magic.

Novus licked his lips as he shrugged his shoulders. Then, he gave casually replied.

“Instinct.”

Percival’s face scrunched, and Adrianne shook her head. Suddenly, she turned and shuffled her feet away to grab some other blackened slime cores nearby.

“What kind of lame excuse is that! Novus, I even have a mana ability—”

Novus’ ear twitched as he dashed and pulled out his sword in one motion.

Tang!

The Etched Villager’s Sword rang out against Adrianne’s twin blades as soft sparks flew into the air.

“Relax your tense nerves. This little guy comes in peace.”

Novus watched the flash of purple-tainted flames in Adrianne’s eyes recede, and her face twisted in withdrawn emotions. The changes didn't escape Novus' watchful glance.

That’s not good.

Adrianne quickly sheathed her swords as she crouched down in worry.

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t even mean to….”

However, the little creature, that Novus’ sword had defended, hid behind the blackened slime core. Then, when Adrianne approached, it scurried up Novus’ armour and onto his back.

Pew?

One after the other, two submarine-like antennae sprouted from Novus’ shoulder, and, like eyes, they warily gazed at Adrianne.

“A beetle…? The size of a kitten?”

With each word, Percival’s frightened voice shrunk, and Novus replied while urging the beetle onto his hand.

“Yeah, a young beetle. Like a kitten, this one isn’t fully grown.”

“You mean it gets bigger?”

Remembering the resounding slap from the ravine, Percival resisted the urge to hide behind Adrianne. Instead, finding nowhere for protection, Percival promptly chose the next best option.

“You know what, I’ll go gather some slime cores from the next space over. I’ll be clearing the way! Let me know when you shoo away; I mean, let loose the… uh… kitten beetle. Yeah, I’ll be over there.”

Percival ducked his head and disappeared around the cave bend. As he disappeared, Novus caught his ramblings about the ‘pet system’ and ‘no insect pets.’

Finally, under Novus' careful urgings, the beetle crawled onto his hand, and the remaining pair could finally see its unobstructed appearance.

The beetle had a sleek, black shell that shone with white edges. Four hairy legs tickled Novus’ hand and matched the shell in colour. Novus was sure that somewhere on the body were eyes that warily watched Adrianne with each movement because, at one point, Adrianne moved in too fast, and a set of escaping wings were revealed that were both translucent.

“A Prism Beetle?”

Novus’ brows furrowed while muttering that it wasn't possible. He took out a pierced slime core and placed it near the beetle. In response, the beetle wiggled its antennae around before excitedly opening and closing its wings like it had struck gold. The beetle hopped and huddled on the core, and mysteriously, its body's white lines glowed. Soon, the warming sensation of leaking mana on Novus’ hand disappeared as the pierced slime core’s mana was depleted.

That’s not right.

“Ah!”

Adrianne released a soft exclamation as her glowing irises watched with uninterrupted interest.

“The mana disappeared. I think the beetle… ate it? That’s the only way I can describe it. The mana got eaten. Entirely consumed.”

Even more surprise followed as the white glow was overtaken by the dark glow of the beetle’s black shell. Then, like a vacuum on overdrive, the slime core in Novus’ hand dissolved into ashes that slipped between his fingers like sand.

Pew!

The beetle uttered an excited cry as it spun around Novus’ hand. If it could speak, Novus guessed it would either be thanking him or asking for more food.

That’s definitely not a Prism Beetle’s ability.

Novus looked at Adrianne with a questioning glance, and she hurriedly defended herself.

“Don’t look at me like that! It’s not my fault you found something weird.”

Novus pulled the side of his mouth like he wasn’t convinced and began to inspect the beetle, even going so far as to cast Identify on it.

 

 

Novus swore in his mind.

Filthy little cockroach! Adrianne’s sword would have tickled it!

Adrianne also checked the black prism beetle’s, Mino’s, status window and broke into a chuckle of laughter. The laughter sent Mino scurrying behind Novus’ shoulder again, and its antennae scanned the area. Suddenly, the antennae straightened, and Mino scuttled down Novus’ body. It rushed past a curious Adrianne and disappeared around the cave bend that Percival had headed off to earlier.

Tremor, Tremor.

Then, a faint tremor travelled to their feet. Though the tremor wasn’t anything seismic, it was surely anything but at the source.

It meant trouble. Most likely, Percival-induced trouble.

Adrianne sighed and shook her head.

“What did that idiot get himself into?”

Suddenly, Novus dashed ahead of her.

“Hurry, if he dies, then the items he’s carrying might disappear too.”

Adrianne momentarily looked in shock before voicing another unanswered question.

“Is that all you’re concerned about!?”