Chapter 555
At the edge of the forest, an impossibly high mountain stretches up into the sky.
It is too wide for me to see its edges, so the structure just looks like a stone wall that tilts back at a hardly noticeable angle and fades up into the pale blueness of the realm above.
My enemy detection skill picks up on monsters that are stronger than the jaguars in the forest high above as well. They're ugly-looking scavenger birds, 5 to 10 meters in wingspan, slowly gliding through the sky in circles, waiting patiently while looking at the forest below. Some of the birds even higher up perch on various ledges with tired eyes and permanent scornful expressions on their faces.
I can't see every bird that I can sense with my enemy detection skill, but of the few that fly very high, a dim red glow radiates off some of them.
Their energy ratings don't differ from any of the others, and this makes me believe maybe we're closer to finding the source of these divine fragments than I thought.
Aside from the birds themselves, there is hardly any life on this endless mountain into the sky. There are small shrubs and old trees that grow on the wall of stone every few hundred meters, but they look as starved of nutrients as the monsters that perch near them.
My gaze continues to travel upward, and I use all of my buffs while continuously replenishing my MP bar with mana crystals, but I can't sense the top of the mountain.
Even so, there's nowhere else to move forward, so I know this is where we need to go next.
I deactivate my buffs and stealth skill, then float down to meet the others after they've had their rest.
Even in the last 12 hours, they've each grown significantly stronger, gaining tens of millions of MCP each, but it's not enough to make any noticeable impact yet. They're still heavily relying on the small mana control I'm sharing with them.
If we can make it to the mountain soon, that will expedite their growth process significantly.
"We're halfway there. I see a change in terrain coming up. Once we make it through these woods, we're finally going to fight some monsters that drop some loot. We're hours ahead of any other teams, so push through and we'll get first picks on the monsters in the new zone."
Everyone does as I say, but despite my constant use of self-regeneration on them after each of their battles, and even more food and rest breaks, it takes us 14 more hours to make it to the base of the mountain.
Natalie and Dane are visibly the most tired while Marcie's outward appearance holds up strong, but I can tell they're all exhausted from traveling through this rocky terrain and fighting hundreds of ranked-up monsters.
What I mentioned before still stands true.
At the rate we've been going, now that the upward tilted stone cliff into the sky is right in front of us, the closest team behind us is over 8 hours away.
Other solo hunters and parties have already stopped to take long breaks to sleep while their travel partners keep watch and alternate.
However, an odd phenomenon has shown itself over the 26 hours that pass: the bright blue sky and sunlight coming down on us from an unknown source continues to light up the day.
There have been small moments of shade as rogue clouds pass by, but for the entirety of the time we've been here, the day has never turned to night.
If this is just a simulation like everyone believes it to be, an endless day makes sense. However, another oddity I find makes me wonder about the physics of this construct even more. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but the total number of monsters coming our way has greatly diminished the longer we're here in the forest.
We're at the front of the pack, so we get to face the monsters head-on; and it's less noticeable. The woods spread out further than I can even sense now to either side of us; so teams that take other paths won't be affected by our overhunting. However, once we kill these jaguars, replacements don't spawn in on a timer like they do in dungeons.
From the data I've gathered so far, either there is a finite amount of creatures that was predetermined when we entered this realm, or the respawn rate is far lower than that of dungeons.
Considering the trees and earth we stand on are real... and not created from pure mana like the dungeons themselves, I can't even fathom either option being sustainable. So, once we make this final stop at the base of the mountain I don't bother telling anyone my findings.
"Rest up. You all did well today. Emrie and I will stand guard for a few hours, then we'll start climbing the mountain before any other teams arrive."
A small camp is set up, and lots of items from the resting rooms before the exams are taken out to create a perfect sleeping environment for the three of them. Surprisingly, they fall asleep quickly in a matter of minutes, exhausted from the day, and I activate stealth again and use my greater form to enhance my senses to get another look at the mountain above me now at a much closer range.
The birds still fly in circles near the cliffside, and I can see more and more the higher I look up the mountain.
I still can't see its top, but I can definitely see the red glow many of them give off now without any doubt.
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I reappear back at our camp to be greeted by Ember with a link of telepathy the moment I deactivate my stealth skill and come back to the ground.
"We could be traveling much faster alone. This forest could have been cleared in just a few hours if we skipped the low-level fights and flew above it... not to mention their excessive need for sleep."
I nod, replying through the link while staring up the mountain.
"I agree. I want to set off alone just as much as you do. Once I train them to become stronger than any other hunters here, we can leave them to farm for points and keep all of the other applicants at bay. There's red energy coming off of the monsters on this mountain, I can't sense it, but I assume that's no coincidence."
Ember stares upward to match my gaze into the sky.
"Yes, we'll find monsters that have fully formed cores soon... The higher up this mountain goes, the denser the air is with Divine Energy. I couldn't see it before, but I sensed a very strong presence in the sky at the top of this mountain. I recommend we spend as little time as possible wasting away with this dead weight. As profitable as it may be to make these connections, our time in a realm like this isn't one to be taken for granted."
I grin.
"I know. We'll wake them up in 8 hours and continue. I don't plan on wasting our time here at all. Watch them sleep. Until then, I want to see what these monsters with fully formed cores can do."
Ember nods.
"Very well. Just don't make physical contact unless you want to prematurely decay your barrier. Long-range attacks are the safer option. Your mana alone should be more than enough to handle a fully awakened red core."
I jump up into the air again, activating stealth and rocketing up into the sky at speeds that far surpass anything I've used during this entire time within the realm.
In just a few minutes, I've already made my way 20 kilometers up the cliffside, and find myself coming toward one of the scavengers.
Its mana control readings are far stronger than the jaguars below, but I don't see any red energy coming off of this one, so I don't hold back to slice it in two with an upward slash while continuing my ascent.
The absorption popup I receive allows me to take in 112,366 MCP, meaning this creature had double the mana control of any jaguar down below me.
A full hour passes and I reach the height of about 150 kilometers off the ground, tearing through over a dozen more vultures in the sky and watching the MCP reading I absorb increase every time I get higher.
It isn't until this height I finally see one of the vultures with the mysterious red mist surrounding its chest.
Instead of slashing through it like all of the others in stealth mode, reducing it to a pile of burnt meat and feathers before it even knows what hits it, I stop to hover in mid-air about 100 meters in front of it, directly blocking its flight path.
Turning off my stealth skill, I blip into existence in front of the creature and its survival instincts kick in.
Instead of trying to intimidate me or create a direct attack, it flaps its wings and soars upward while letting out a shriek.
I didn't give any of the other birds on the way up a chance to attack, but this one lets out two crescents of wind magic with the flap of its wings as a distraction while changing direction.
The waves of mana are tinted red, and I watch as it comes closer and feel weak waves of gravity ripple against my limiter as I airstep out of the way.
It's slow, and nowhere near as intense as the red energy in Trax's attacks in the arena.
I let it swerve around the air to observe its following attacks too, and get the same feeling every time the light red, almost pink-colored crescent comes near.
By the fifth attack, the air blades get less and less colorful until they're just made of pure mana again and no red aura surrounds the bird at all.
"How interesting..."
I fly upward and kill it without hesitating at all and continue my ascent.
Even with my 0.1% absorption rate, the last one I killed brings in 199,706 MCP, meaning if any of the 3 new links of loyalty below me were to make this kill and receive a full 1%, they'd be gaining close to 2 million MCP per kill.
Just to make sure, I wait behind and use telekinesis to hold the bird's corpse to watch it disintegrate, but nothing more than the faint outline of a clear core remains for a brief instant before it's all completely gone.
Another two full hours pass, climbing an additional 200 meters, while burning through large amounts of mana crystals to maintain my speed upward, and I come face to face with many more of these birds with red coloring in their attacks.
The higher I fly, the more common they become.
I do many tests to evaluate their strength and abilities.
Without the red light, their power is similar to a strong level 600-700 hunter.
With the red light, their attack power and even speed increases to heights nearing level 800-900, but it is quickly extinguished once the energy within them is spent.
Just like the jaguars, their elements vary. While over 50% of them use wind magic, occasional birds send jets of water and balls of fire too.
I send long-range attacks at some to kill them before they use up this power, and wait to see what happens with them as well.
To my surprise, when they dissolve, the faint outline of a clear core remains for a few seconds in some of them, and the faint pink outline of energy trying to consolidate into a red crystal core is leftover floating in space.
I said I'd be back to meet Ember again in 8 hours, and I've burned through almost half of that time already, but with every scavenger creature I kill up here, the half-formed cores leftover stay in physical form much longer every time.
The last bird I kill grants me over a quarter million MCP, and the red light surrounding it nearly covers its whole body at the start of the battle.
I'm using full-powered attacks, so I still kill it in a single slash, but the remnants of a red core left behind stay in physical form for over 10 full seconds.
"Alright... I'm getting close..."
I decide to do one last push before turning back, activating my greater form and rocketing up the mountain at full speed to try and find a vantage point to aim for once I return to the others.
A full hour passes, and the flashes of red light I pass get brighter and brighter until a clumping of extremely dense mana control readings finally reaches the edge of my senses, which may be what I'm looking for.
I change my direction and diverge from my straight path to head right for the only anomaly on the mountain.
Once within range I slow my flight speed and take in the view of an enormous flaming bird.
Its wings stretch over 15 meters across, and bright red flames engulf its entire body.
Despite being the same species as the disgusting scavengers that cover this cliff, the bright fire that crackles on it and glowing crimson eyes of this monster are quite beautiful.
To my surprise, this monster isn't what caught my attention when I was doing my scan.
The high volume of mana control I sensed in my enemy detection skill earlier becomes clear when 5 far smaller birds with less bright red auras and varying elements show themselves circling around it in close proximity; feeding off the aura of dazzling red light.
Their mana controls are some of the highest I've seen on this mountain so far, however, the flaming bird at their center doesn't have a drop of mana in it at all.
Waves of pressure come rippling off it once it notices my arrival and lets out its echoing screech.
Rock falls from the nearby cliffside from the disruption, and the mana-less flames grow in size.
I stare in awe as I take in the beauty of a creature with a natural fully awakened red core.
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