CHAPTER 92: MANA CRYSTALS.

It happened so fast that no one knew how to react.

One minute, Sylus was standing next to them, about to head out, and the next he was falling into the dark pit, a spear pierced through his chest.

"Prince Sylus!"

Zani was the first to act, instinctively jumping into the pit as well.

It seemed like she was going to catch up, her hands stretched forward, trying to catch him.

But the deeper they fell, the further apart she was from him.

She was visibly upset, her eyes twitching, fighting off the urge to cry.

"Sylus!"

Her voice rang out, begging for her prince to open his eyes and hold on to her.

An action that never happened.

Further and further, Sylus was slipping away from her, plunging even deeper into the darkness.

"Sylusss!"

Her voice clung to hope, hope that was shattering with time.

And then, like that, they both fell, consumed by the unknown darkness.

...

’Uhn... did I get... stabbed?’

Sylus felt his body falling; actually, it felt like he had been plummeting for ages.

He could feel the burning sensation in his chest and his blood leaking out as well.

Judging by the fact Sophia had not woken up, it must mean she was out of mana. The same was true for Sylus.

Weak, he was barely able to move any part of his body.

’Don’t tell me...’

Sylus managed to open his eyes.

There, he could see Zani, a desperate look on her face as she was trying to reach out to him.

Though that was not the only thing he saw.

As quickly as he spotted Zani, his eyes drifted to what was behind her.

He could see a woman, dressed in a dark veil, her piercing purple gaze fixed directly on him.

She had a sad look on her face, her lips parting to say something.

"..."

Sylus’s eyes widened.

’What?’

Before he could fully grasp what he heard, he plunged to the ground like a rocket.

To avoid getting injured or worse, he used the last of his strength to manifest a mana shield around him, which absorbed most of the damage.

The impact still affected him greatly; he tumbled for a while until he landed in a small pond.

’Owww!’

He remained there for a while, trying to find his strength back. Since he was still using his mana to protect the workers at the top, his mana circuit had less time to heal.

Looking up, he could see the light from up ahead; that must be where he fell from.

Then again, the spear that had been stabbed into his chest was no longer there; all that remained was the huge hole it left.

Healing was almost impossible; his mana reserve was still low. That said, his blessing was pushing hard to stop the bleeding; if not, he would have died from blood loss a long time ago.

The best he could do was wait long enough for his injuries to heal.

’Of course something goes wrong. I can already imagine the look on Zani’s face; she must be worried as hell.’ He paused.

’Speaking of Zani...’

He remembered what he saw while he was falling, the strange woman with the purple eyes.

Another figure he felt familiar with, despite seeing them for the first time.

’She looked sad as well... and what did she call me, "Great Star Killer"? The first queen called me that as well when she woke up. What the hell is even a Star Killer?’

He grunted.

’Argh! I hate thinking this hard on irrelevant things.’

One of the reasons he never questioned why Sophia looked so identical to the queen after the first time.

While he does intend to get answers, he has a far greater goal to focus on first.

After a while of lying around, he realized he could now move his body, even if it was only slightly.

’Upsie!’

He sat upright; now he could get a good view of where he was.

The first thing he took notice of was the numerous amount of crystals scattered around the place. Crystals of different colors and sizes, growing from the ground and walls as though they were plants.

Then he pushed further down and saw the other caves that were probably leading to different paths of the underground facility.

At face value, one could consider this place to be enormous. It had enough light for a place that was so deep into the ground.

’Color me surprised. This place is exactly as I thought it would be.’

Sylus managed to stand to his feet, resting gently on the wall as he then proceeded to take a few steps forward.

Finally, he got to one of the crystals. It was red and pulsing.

’This can’t be a mana stone; mana stones are only blue, and nothing else. Any other color would make them artificial, used for weapons. Unless my eyes deceive me...’

He gulped. ’This might all be mana crystals.’

[You are currently using the Blessing of Information.]

Name: Mana Crystals

Purity: 100%

’Haha, it is a mana crystal,’ he chuckled nervously.

Running his gaze down the hall, he could see more mana crystals than he could count.

Unlike mana stones that need to be refined from their raw materials, mana crystals could be used directly; not to mention, they had many other uses beyond being a battery for inventions.

Ten mana stones would still hold no value to a single mana crystal.

’Is this money I smell?’

Sylus stood to his feet, one hand placed on his jaw.

’Confirming this place is a mining ground is just one side of the coin; the other side is: what in the hell is living down here, and how could it have possibly survived for so long? And it also attempted to kill me, so it’s either highly territorial or intelligent.’

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something running toward the blind side of his eyes.

Turning quickly, Sylus noticed a tail speeding toward the corner.

’...Something is down here.’

...

[A/N: If you’d like some additional Chapters, please see the below incentive:

200 power stones: 2 additional Chapters.

100 Golden Tickets: 3 additional Chapters.

200 privilege unlocks: 2 additional Chapters. (138/200)

Castle and above: 5 additional Chapters.]