Chapter 166: Essence Crystals
The underground tunnel continued far beyond the reaches of the Lantern’s light. Yet despite the seemingly endless distance separating them from their destination, the nine continued forward.
This time, however, their steps carried a sense of considerable urgency.
Moreover, their pace wasn’t the only thing that had changed; their surroundings had also changed as well.
By now, they could clearly discern that they were far beneath the surface, as evidenced by the steep, sloping ground they had traversed earlier. However, they hadn’t expected that simply descending deeper underground would introduce an entirely new layer of aesthetic beauty to the cave.
At first, the difference was subtle.
But the deeper they ventured into the tunnel, the more the character of their surroundings began to change.
The dry, uneven passageway they had been following gradually widened, its walls becoming smoother and less jagged. The floor beneath their feet also became increasingly level, as though countless footsteps over the course of ages had gradually worn away its natural irregularities through the relentless process of erosion.
The tunnel was changing.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that they were finally reaching a part of the cavern that had remained untouched by the harshness of its upper reaches.
Then, the darkness began to change. Being the one carrying the Lantern, Kaeloris was the first to notice the alteration.
At first, the failed Gnost detected only a minuscule glimmer somewhere ahead and almost immediately, he dismissed it as a reflection cast by the Lantern’s golden radiance.
But then another glimmer appeared; then another... And another.
Kaeloris narrowed his eyes behind his spectacles.
He raised the Lantern slightly, sweeping its golden radiance across the walls of the tunnel and that was when they saw them.
Something faintly luminous was embedded within the stone. It looked like a crystal; no, it wasn’t merely a single crystal as there were hundreds of them.
And the farther they walked into the tunnel, the more frequently they appeared.
Small clusters protruded from the walls, some barely larger than fingernails while others were nearly the size of a man’s fist. They were scattered haphazardly across the stone, seemingly without any discernible pattern or arrangement.
Yet despite their disorderly distribution, they were impossible to overlook now. As a matter of fact, their colours alone ensured that.
Brilliant blue crystals shimmered like fragments of a shattered sky, bathing portions of the tunnel walls in a serene azure glow that made the stone appear almost submerged beneath the surface of an endless celestial ocean.
Turquoise formations glowed with an almost aquatic radiance, their soft, ethereal light giving the surrounding walls the appearance of an underwater grotto.
Deep crimson crystals pulsed faintly from within the stone with an eerie vitality, causing those sections of the walls to resemble veins trapped beneath the surface.
Amber-coloured crystals, meanwhile, emitted a warm golden glow that nearly blended with the radiance of Kaeloris’ Lantern, making them almost indiscernible beneath its light.
And those were far from the only varieties. There were violet, emerald, silver and just to mention a few.
The crystals came in colours beyond what the group could immediately identify, including maroon, Van Dyke brown, and sap green.
It was as though an artist had taken every colour imaginable and scattered fragments of them throughout the cavern.
Moreover, the farther they went, the more abundant the crystals became. They were so plenty to the extent that their combined radiance was enough to slowly overpower the darkness surrounding them.
Kaeloris instinctively lowered his Lantern. For the first time since entering the cave, its golden light was no longer necessary to illuminate their immediate surroundings as the cavern itself had begun to glow.
Countless crystals illuminated the darkness with a myriad of colours, transforming the once-gloomy passage into something that could only be described as otherworldly.
"Aren’t those Essence Crystals?" Sylveris suddenly asked, her voice echoing through the vastness of the passage.
The fourteen-year-old had already stopped walking. Her small hand was raised, one finger pointing toward a cluster of brilliant blue crystals protruding from the wall.
Her eyes had widened considerably. The mischievous glint that had returned to them earlier had vanished, replaced by an expression of astonishment and incredulity.
There was something almost reverential in the way the young girl stared at the crystals.
She knew what they were.
In fact, she wasn’t the only one familiar with their significance as rvery other member of the cohort possessed at least some knowledge of Essence Crystals.
But knowing what they were did little to diminish the impact of seeing so many of them gathered in one place. If anything, their familiarity with the value of the crystals only intensified their reaction.
Sylveris had seen Essence Crystals only once before and that had been inside the waterfall cave.
It had been only a few days ago, the second day following their exile into the Nether Lands, yet the memory remained remarkably vivid.
As a matter of fact, that had been the same expedition during which they had discovered the Saintsky Roses.
Back then, none of them had known Aelric existed.
Furthermore, they had ventured into the cave searching for precious Aetheric resources, only for Sylveris and Aureleah to accidentally destroy several of the Roses and use them as perfumes.
That unfortunate incident had subsequently resulted in Veyrath’s infamous outburst.
Even now, remembering it caused Sylveris’ lips to twitch faintly as she could still vividly recollect the expression on the failed Alchemist’s face.
It had been terrifying.
Speaking of the Saintsky Roses, Veyrath still possessed the stalks he had managed to gather that day.
He had refused to use them thus far, guarding them with an almost obsessive level of vigilance.
In fact, ever since the destruction of the Saintsky Rose field, the failed Alchemist had become almost absurdly protective of the remaining stalks.
The last time Sylveris had casually asked when he intended to use them to concoct an Ascension Potion, Veyrath had looked at her as though she had just proposed throwing the precious flowers into a fire.
His teeth had actually clenched, his expression had darkened, and the words that followed had been delivered with such intense indignation that Sylveris had briefly wondered whether she had committed some sort of unforgivable crime.
Even now, she couldn’t understand what had caused such an extreme reaction. Nevertheless, she had learned her lesson and hadn’t mentioned the Saintsky Roses to him ever since.
But if there was one thing she remembered almost as vividly as those precious flowers, it was the Essence Crystals.
When they had discovered the Saintsky Roses, Caelestra had also found several Essence Crystals within the waterfall cave.
At the time, their discovery had been met with almost the same level of excitement and for good reason.
To House Auricrest, Essence Crystals weren’t merely valuable resources, they were treasures.
More importantly, they were among the most important materials an Awakener or Etheryean could possess.
Depending on their quality and attributes, Essence Crystals could be refined into cultivation resources, used in alchemy, incorporated into formations, or even employed as sources of energy for certain Aetheric constructs.
Those, however, were merely their indirect applications.
For members of House Auricrest, whose entire lineage was built around the awakening of monetary Soul Essences, Essence Crystals possessed an even more direct significance.
It was only later that the group had learned of another extraordinary property through Caelestra.
As it turns out, the failed Merchant could actually use Essence Crystals to produce her Coins, even after those Soul Essences themselves had been expended.
The revelation had astonished them when she first explained it.
Therefore, to the members of House Auricrest, therefore, Essence Crystals weren’t simply precious Aetheric resources.
They were reservoirs of potential.
And in certain circumstances, they were even a means of replenishing that potential once it had been diminished.
It was precisely for those reasons that the sight before them was so staggering.
There were not a handful of Essence Crystals scattered throughout this cavern; there were hundreds... Perhaps thousands.
And they were still becoming more abundant with every step they took. The group had come here seeking a path toward the Etheryean Realm.
Yet as they stared at the glittering walls around them, another realization gradually began to settle over their minds.
Perhaps, they had stumbled upon something far more valuable than a mere breakthrough location...