The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The moment Oscar stepped onto the new district of Tectusen, he saw a blaze of flames sprouting from his friend, Erik, coming from the constant swirling of his gauntlet anima. Flames continued to build until they became an inferno that threatened to destroy everything. Feeling the heat and worried about Erik burning everything down, Oscar called out to him and ran forward.

"Erik!"

"Oscar?" Erik turned wide-eyed to see his good friend, Oscar, and cried joyfully. "Where the hell have you been?! I tried so many times to get around the place!"

"I'll tell you later what's going on?!" Oscar couldn't see through Erik's roaring flames, but he threw ten mini-shattering stars through them to whatever hid behind the fires. Suddenly, several objects leaped through Erik's flames, burning all over, and Oscar ran forward with Orden to deal with them.

"These are the parasitic vines?" Oscar recognized the sharp feelers and the distinct shape despite them being set aflame. He and Orden had handled them easily back in their starting district, which relieved him slightly. However, Erik's flames started to die as Erik staggered back from lack of Ein, and Oscar beheld the terrifying horde.

An endless horde of detached parasitic vines crawled on the floor using their feelers, and Oscar and Orden looked stunned and disturbed at the crashing wave. Oscar tried to count them, but it was impossible; perhaps there were thousands or tens of thousands. Not even Oscar and Orden could destroy this many, so they took the rational route and ran.

"This crazy place!" Oscar ran with all his might with Erik over his shoulder, bolting for the mine shaft using his deer anima to deter any of the parasitic vines that came close. In a final leap, Oscar crashed into the mine shaft, with Orden following right after. He quickly closed the door and locked it.

"Are we safe in here?" Erik groaned and drank some elixir. Everyone could hear the countless parasitic vines ramming their flimsy bodies against the mine shaft door.

"These doors are airtight and solid metal. There no opening for these vines to enter through." Oscar sat down, wiping some sweat from his brow.

"Who would have thought there'd be this many? The entire place is overrun with them." Orden banged on the shut metal entrance to the mine shaft, using his immense strength to stagger the parasitic vines away for a short moment. But they soon resumed their constant banging, making his face twitch as veins popped out on his brow.

Erik noticed Orden's presence after recovering slightly and was shocked to see the uniform of the Earth Core Academy, torn but still distinct with its black color. He rose to his feet and brandished his anima despite the low amount of Ein, putting up his fists in a stance. "Who are you? Oscar, why are you with an enemy?"

"The little one wants to fight?" Orden stood up, his height about thrice as large as Erik's, and he leaned his head forward, lurching his broad back to stare down at Erik. He wore a wide smile, roared in laughter at Erik's imposing stance, and sat back down. "You're one hell of a guy. But no need to worry about me for the moment. He and I have an agreement."

"Agreement?" Erik turned to Oscar, who passed Erik some rations.

Oscar sighed and gestured to Erik to calm down and sit so he could retell the past events that led up to this moment. After Oscar finished explaining, Erik frowned. "Don't worry; this is only a temporary alliance until we get back out. Also, fighting him, even with the two of us, could worsen things. Like the endless tide of parasite vines here and the strange Grovekeeper below, Tectusen requires every manpower we can get."

"But once we're out, the deal's off." Orden flashed a toothy smile.

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Oscar grimaced at the thought of having to fight Orden again, but if he fought with Austin and Erik, they could overwhelm him. Putting the prospect of a future battle aside, Oscar focused on their current predicament as the gnawing and thrashing of the vines continued outside. "We can try to go back down into the mines and find another way up, but there's no telling how many of those monstrous Grovekeepers live there. Erik, what have you been up and how did you end up here?"

"After I went down the shuttle like that bastard Gol-4 suggested, I ended up in a small depot with some packs of ores and other stuff stored within."

""Really?!""

Oscar and Orden shocked Erik with how close they came with expectant gazes. He took out some ores from his space pocket in a fluster and gave them to Oscar and Orden.

"Oh! These are nice!" Orden tapped the ores with his hammer, holding them fondly in his hands. "A few are meant for grade three armaments; you did well, shorty."

"It's Erik! And that's not for you!" Erik swiped the ores from Orden's hand and stowed them away. "I got these myself, so they're mine."

"Ah! I suppose I'll take them by force." Orden cracked his knuckles with a fiery gaze.

"Hey," Oscar said in a low voice, staring at Orden with a darkened expression like a volcano about to erupt. "Don't threaten my friend. Erik, continue."

After the two bickerers settled down, Erik cleared his throat and continued. "Once I exited the small depot, I ended up in this district. At first, it seemed fine, with only a few monsters here and there and a few of those creepy vines. I explored around, trying to search for you two or find a way out, and discovered that this place is actually a huge foundry."

"A foundry?" Oscar asked.

"I saw large empty vats and metallic pipes that led into them. After exploring more, I found several worn-down hammers, so rusted they could barely be seen as hammers and molds. I found that all the pipes linked to a central building and went to check it out, but the moment I opened the door, all those vines came rushing out." Erik shuddered, recalling the creepy sight of all those tendrils and wriggling vines. "Do you have Gol-4? He might know about it."

Oscar took out Gol-4 and explained the situation, but Gol-4 remained silent for a while, making them nervous. Eventually, Oscar got so irritated by the sounds of the vines constantly trying to break in that he shook Gol-4. "Gol-4, come out with it."

"This district is indeed the refinement part of Tectusen, where the ores would be processed and refined by fabricators and stored later. The place was eternally hot due to the molten lava flowing from the central furnace to everywhere in the district. However, the facilities have shut down, and the place Erik opened was the central furnace, overrun by those vines." Gol-4 answered. "Sorry, my memory is not the fastest, so it took a while for me to gather the pieces together."

"Should we just head down?" Erik turned to Oscar and Orden.

"Feels bad not to see a working foundry of old. But there might be a good chance of an exit in this place." Orden cleaned his hammer with a towel. "In the end, decide what the best decision for us is. Do we wander in the mines or go for it and take back the foundry?"

Oscar did not respond, and silence ensued between the three until Gol-4 sprang up in the air.

"I have a suggestion." Gol-4 spun his head around slowly.

"What is it?" Oscar drank some water.

"The vines must be resting in there because it is warm in the central furnace. The place is directly linked to an opening into the hot rivers of magma that flow beneath the earth, providing warmth, but if it gets too hot, the vines will wither and waste away. If we can turn on the mechanism that allows the lava to rise and spread throughout the district, the immense heat should cull all the parasitic vines and bring some much-needed life to this place." Gol-4 proposed his crazy plan.

"Are you an idiot, head?" Orden tightened his grip on Gol-4. "What if there is not a mechanism or it's broken? We'd be running into an ocean of those vines."

"Seriously, what is this golem head thinking?" Erik sighed and looked down below to try to glimpse at the mines.

"There's no way of knowing if that would work," Oscar said.

"Oh? And going down into the mines without direction, aim, or knowledge of if there are other exits is better? Not to mention the vast hordes of Grovekeepers that may be down there. By all means, go ahead down, and let's see what happens." Gol-4 retorted. His voice would be mocking them if not for the flat mechanical tone he always spoke in.

"""........""" The three started at the head and then to each other.

A few moments later, Oscar palmed his face at the idiocy of what they intended to do. "This is dumb."

"Agreed," Orden said.

"No doubt about that." Erik cursed.

The three of them stepped toward the large metal entrance to the foundry, where the constant sounds of the parasitic vines never ceased.

'Why the hell did we let Gol-4 goad us into this?'

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