CHAPTER 55: NOT A SIMPLE CRYSTAL

The descent was slow, careful. The passage wasn’t wide, forcing us to move in single file. Jagged rock formations jutted out from the walls, some damp, others oddly smooth as if something had worn them down over time.

Felix shivered. "I hate this. I hate this so much."

"Noted," I muttered. "Now be quiet."

The deeper we went, the more unnatural the air became. The mana was thick—thicker than it should’ve been for just residual energy. Something had gathered it, condensed it. That either meant we were close to the crystal or... something else had made this place its home.

A faint blue glow pulsed further ahead, barely visible through the darkness.

Wallace sucked in a breath. "There. That has to be it."

Julien grinned. "Finally, something easy."

Mira shot him a flat look. "Never say that. You’re asking for trouble."

I held up a hand, signaling them to stop. Something was off.

The cave was silent. Too silent. Even in mana-rich areas, you could hear the occasional drip of water or distant scurrying of creatures. But here? Nothing.

I narrowed my eyes, scanning the rocky path ahead. The faint glow came from a chamber just beyond a narrow passage. The air shimmered slightly around the entrance.

"Trap?" Mira asked quietly.

"Possibly," I said. "Or something waiting inside."

Felix groaned. "Of course there is."

Julien tapped his dagger against his palm. "How do you wanna do this, Professor?"

I considered our options. The safest way was to test the entrance first—see if anything reacted. If there was an entity guarding the crystal, we needed to know what it was before stepping in.

"Wallace, can you send in a pulse?" I asked.

He nodded, pressing a hand against the rocky wall. A faint ripple of mana spread outward, subtle but effective.

Nothing.

Then—

A sound. A low, dragging scrape from within the chamber.

Felix tensed. "Nope. No, I refuse."

Mira smirked. "Too late for that."

Julien leaned in slightly. "That didn’t sound like a beast."

I exhaled. "No, it didn’t."

Because whatever was inside wasn’t alive. Not in the normal sense.

The air pulsed again, and this time, something moved within the glow. A shadow stretched unnaturally across the cavern wall, shifting, curling, forming jagged, twisted shapes.

A low whisper scraped against the edges of my mind.

Not a beast. It was a human.

Not just any human.

Students.

The flickering glow revealed figures slumped against the cave walls—dirtied uniforms, bruised faces, and weapons still clutched in limp hands. Class A and B.

Julien let out a low whistle. "Well. That’s new."

Felix exhaled like he’d been holding his breath. "I thought we were about to get eaten."

"You still might," Mira muttered, eyes scanning the chamber warily.

The students stirred, some groaning as they came to. A few reached for their weapons, but most just looked dazed, blinking in confusion. One of them—a stocky guy I vaguely recognized as Alric from Class A—rubbed his head and frowned at us.

"You—" He coughed. "You guys saw it too, right?"

I crossed my arms. "Saw what?"

Alric hesitated. His eyes flickered toward the center of the chamber.

The crystal was still there.

It pulsed with a dull, rhythmic light, embedded into a jagged stone pedestal. But the air around it... felt wrong. The mana wasn’t just dense—it was distorted, as if something had sunk its claws into it and refused to let go.

Alric swallowed. "The voice."

Mira and Julien exchanged glances.

"What did it say?" I asked.

Alric’s jaw clenched. "It asked us why we were here. When we tried to move closer, the lights went out. Next thing we knew, we were waking up like this."

Felix shuddered. "Oh, that’s horrible."

Julien rolled his shoulders. "So, what? Some kind of mana ghost?"

"Maybe," Wallace murmured. "Or something worse."

I exhaled. The scavenger hunt was supposed to be straightforward—grab materials, prove survival skills, and avoid getting eaten. This? This was something else entirely.

And if Class A and B had been taken out so easily, then we were already at a disadvantage.

I turned back to my students. "Alright. Change of plans."

Leo groaned. "Why do I hate the sound of that?"

"Because it means we’re about to do something stupid," Julien said cheerfully.

Ignoring them, I focused on the chamber’s entrance. The air was still heavy, still charged with unseen intent. Whatever had spoken to Class A and B hadn’t left. It was waiting.

I tightened my grip on my cane.

"If we want that crystal, we’re going to have to deal with it first."

Silence stretched between us. The glow of the crystal pulsed like a slow heartbeat, casting warped shadows against the cavern walls.

Mira sighed. "Alright, so what’s the plan? Because if that thing knocks us out the moment we step inside, I vote we just leave."

Felix raised a hand. "Seconded."

Julien grinned. "Thirded—wait, no, I wanna fight something first."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "We’re not leaving without that crystal. But we’re also not walking in blind."

My gaze flickered back to Alric and the other students. They were still shaken, some rubbing their temples like they were recovering from a splitting headache. The mana disturbance was no joke—whatever had affected them was deeply embedded in the crystal’s energy.

I needed more information.

"You said the voice asked why you were here," I said to Alric. "Did it react to your answer?"

He hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. We told it we were on the scavenger hunt, and it just... laughed."

Felix made a face. "Oh, that’s awful."

"It was awful," Alric muttered. "It wasn’t just a normal laugh. It felt like it was inside my head, like it was digging for something."

Mira’s expression darkened. "Sounds like an echo Swert."

Wallace frowned. "Those are just rumours."

"No, they’re not," I said.

My thoughts ground to a halt.

The Echo Swert wasn’t supposed to show up this early. In Sword of Radiance, it only appeared much later—during the Northern Forest Expedition, when stronger students and veteran instructors were involved.

So why was it here?

Something had changed.

I took a slow breath, steadying my thoughts. The Echo Entity wasn’t just an obstacle—it was a harbinger of deeper problems. If it was here now, then it meant the world itself was reacting to my actions.

Felix groaned. "I don’t like that look on your face, Professor. That’s the ’things are worse than we thought’ face."

"Good observation," I muttered. "Things are worse than we thought."

Julien cracked his knuckles. "Then we just have to hit it harder, right?"

I shook my head. "Not that simple. Echo Swert have really strong physical form in fact they look like the mana infused crystal we are after."

Mira frowned. "Wait. You’re saying the crystal itself is the entity?"

"Not quite," I said. "But close. The Echo Swert doesn’t have a true body—it latches onto a source of condensed mana and uses it as an anchor. In this case, the crystal."

Wallace’s eyes widened. "So if we grab the crystal..."

"It reacts," I finished. "Aggressively."

Felix groaned. "Of course it does."

Julien tilted his head. "Then what if we just break the crystal?"

"Bad idea," I said immediately. "That much mana, compressed and warped over time—shattering it could trigger a burst strong enough to level this chamber."

Mira sighed. "So much for the easy way."

Alric rubbed his temple. "If you guys have a better plan, I’d love to hear it before it wakes up again."

I nodded. "The Echo Swert isn’t fully active yet. It needs a trigger—like direct contact with the crystal. But since it already reacted to Class A and B’s presence, it’s aware enough to defend itself."

Leo grumbled. "And I’m guessing that means no sneaky snatch-and-run?"

"Not unless you want your mind scrambled like theirs," I said.

Felix raised a hand. "Can I vote for a tactical retreat?"

Julien clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Felix, where’s your sense of adventure?"

"Dead. Along with my survival instincts."

I ignored their bickering, scanning the chamber again. The Echo Swert fed on mana—disrupting its anchor might weaken it, but outright destroying the crystal was too risky.

That left one option.

"We need to sever its connection to the crystal without breaking it," I said. "Wallace, can you modify a disruption rune to destabilize its hold?"

Wallace’s eyes lit up. "I can try, but it’ll take a few minutes."

Julien grinned. "Then we just need to keep it busy."

Felix groaned. "Why is it always us keeping things busy?"

Mira smirked. "Because we’re good at it."

I tightened my grip on my cane. "Get ready. The moment Wallace starts carving, it’s going to notice."

The crystal pulsed again, the shadows around the chamber twisting unnaturally.