CHAPTER 1002: A BIG PROBLEM (4).

{Heart of Scourge}:

Description: Chaos begets scourge. A blight upon the world. It never consumes, and in turn, is never consumed. It is the other side of Order, for without Order, Chaos cannot exist. A heart born of a Scourge is birthed from Order.

{Heart of Scourge}: (Deadly, Tier 2).

Defense: 1500.

Durability: 4000/4000.

Weight: 8000 kg.

Skills: Attachment, Order in Chaos.

{Attachment}: This armor can be worn quickly.

{Order in Chaos}: The Heart of Scourge covets the order in chaos, turning it into more chaos, creating a neverending cycle of Order and Chaos. Attaching an energy source to the armor will give the host access to a special attribute, ability, skill, or spell related to said energy source.

***

The armor had been damaged and its durability has dropped until it was no longer wearable. However, it had not been destroyed.

It was more of a case of him outgrowing the piece of defensive equipment...

It had taken him some time and a bit of effort to get it fixed, but it was worth it because in the end, he had managed to save a good piece of equipment and even upgrade it a bit.

Now, he could make use of it until he ascended to the third Tier at the very least. The armor was initially in its dormant state; that of a wearable brooch. However, with the existence of the armament armory, he could take his current armor off and put the {Heart of Scourge} on without needing to go buck naked.

He had already sensed something off about their destination after all, so it was best to go in prepared.

Sure enough, just seconds later, the earth gave way to a underground chamber.

Going airborne for a few moments, Cain couldn’t help but feel his thoughts jumble around violently.

He hit the ground hard a moment later.

The fall wasn’t for long and it wasn’t soft either. His boots cracked the hard rocks, creating a rather noisy crunch.

The brittle stones were crushed to dust that curled up around his legs. With no pause, Pudding’s body withdrew into the tunnel above, squeezing shut like a fleshy vault door, sealing him in, yet still lurking above in case he needed her.

Cain sucked in a deep breath.

Or at least he tried to.

His eyes widened,

’There is no air down here!’

Well, that much was to be expected. This underground space was unlike ones he had encountered in the past.

It was completely cut off from the rest of the world.

A strange underground cache that had remained hidden all this time.

At least, until now.

He looked around.

There were no lights nor airflow.

He blinked twice rapidly as he thought of what to do. In this place, he couldn’t breathe since there was no air.

To make matters worse, if he tried to make use of magic to introduce air into this locked up space, the rapid increase in air pressure could very well cause the entire thing to implode and collapse right on his head.

Such a thing happening would definitely not count as a pleasant experience...

He couldn’t notice any changes in his body just yet, so it was not entirely bad yet.

Despite the lack of lighting, he could see rather well. The underground chamber was obviously natural, judging by its ethereal beauty alone.

The walls were rocky and uneven, with enormous pillars that stretched from the floor to the ceiling scattered all around them.

Without even needing to look, Cain could already tell that the entire area was extremely rich in metal elemental mana, as well as atributeless mana. Judging by that, that meant the area would also be rich in earth elemental mana.

He was rendered speechless.

Mostly because he truly couldn’t speak, but also due to surprise.

’This is definitely the place.’

The sheer richness and density of mana meant one thing...

His eyes glowing brightly with austere light, he could already see the enormous deposits of mana stone, those magnificent stones, buried all around him.

He licked his lips, his gaze burning with intense greed and avarice.

He moved forward slowly, eyes scanning the geometry of the place. The existence of such a space was truly strange.

And from the looks of it, Mana Stones were not the only treasure to be found here.

He crouched near a cluster of crystals growing up from the ground like a cluster of broken bones.

With a quick glance using the {Eye of General Observation}, he could tell they were {Redmane Beryl Cores}. They were truly beautiful gems with a stunning glow that couldn’t be seen with regular eyes. They had shimmering black veins running through their centers.

’This type of material could be very useful in creating high grade equipment, catalysts, and maybe even Tier 3 constructs! This is incredible!’ He thought to himself.

Such things were rather rare finds. Even a single one of them was an asset. To find so many in a single deposit was unprecedented.

"I-I’ve struck gold." Cain tried to mutter to himself.

He swiftly reached into his inventory and pulled out a {Demon’s Eye}. The device lit faintly in his hand.

With practiced movements, he let the strange object levitate off his opened palm and float into the air.

Although the {Demon’s Eye} were aerial instruments, they didn’t make use of airflow for lift or motion, instead, relying solely on mana to provide motion thorough magic runes and magic circles on the surface of the item.

A few moments later, Cain had his mind fully linked to the item. With it, he would be able to accurately distinguish and analyze the distribution of resources within this cache.

His expression suddenly changed as his jaw nearly went slack.

’Good gods...’

The entire place. No, even beyond this area... this wasn’t where the good stuff ended.

He paled and took a frightened step backwards.

This discovery of his... wasn’t it to outstanding? So outstanding, it seemed absurd.

However, the proof was right here before his eyes.

And his eyes had never lied to him. At least not yet.

He glanced at the walls again. This time, with a new emotion swimming in his eyes.

’I need to capitalize on this.’

If he could get access to these resources, the nature of the game would change very quickly.

The rate at which they could reclaim the city and the rest of the continent would speed up; they would be able to produce better equipment, magic gear, weapons, armor, you name it...

It truly was unprecedented.

It seemed too good to be true as well.

Far too good to be true.

His eyes narrowed,

’Something is definitely wrong here.’