Chapter 7: Earth Vein Crystal
Iron Ring received the order from Lu Cheng to join up with the team.
Afterward, Noyes led the team deeper into the church as a guide.
The corridor gave off a creepy feeling, with the floor made of uneven stone blocks and the walls lined with stones emitting an orange-yellow glow.
Visibility was adequate, so Lu Cheng did not turn on his flashlight to check the surroundings.
A decaying smell filled Lu Cheng’s senses from all around the corridor.
It was the smell of blood, along with an indescribable stench of rot.
“Noyes, wait.”
Lu Cheng reached out and grabbed the shoulder of the girl in front of him. There was a vague figure less than a hundred meters ahead.
Kite immediately turned on his flashlight, shining a strong beam on the figure.
The surrounding darkness was dispelled to reveal a corpse lying against the wall of the corridor.
‘They are also victims here. The Blood Crystal Beasts broke into the church and killed everyone.’
Noyes wrote this down in her notebook and showed it to Lu Cheng.
“Are they the ones surrounded by crimson ** beasts?”
Following Kite’s flashlight beam, Lu Cheng saw several more corpses and some remains that had turned into skeletons further down the corridor.
The ground was scattered with swords and traces of fire, reminding Lu Cheng of a fierce battle that had taken place in the corridor.
The team carefully advanced to the first corpse. Poster immediately walked over to examine it.
“This corpse has started to rot on the surface. The time of death was at least half a month ago.” Poster did a rough check of the symptoms. “There are torn marks on the neck, and the spine is completely broken.”
“Like it was bitten by a giant wolf and then tossed around several times?”
Lu Cheng recalled the giant crimson wolf he had encountered not long ago.
“I’d rather believe it was a bear-like creature,” Poster said.
“Why not a gorilla?” Kite added, but no one responded.
“Alright… Noyes, do you recognize these people?” Lu Cheng asked Noyes.
The attire on the corpses was similar to Noyes’, indicating that they were clergy of the Soul Goddess.
From the scene, it appeared they had had a battle with the Blood Crystal Beasts.
‘My friends and those who taught me.’
Noyes wrote this line in her notebook.
“I can only express my condolences for what happened. But Noyes, is it really okay for you to see this?”
Lu Cheng was unsure how to express himself. The sight of the corpses and their tragic deaths was something no girl under fourteen should witness.
‘It’s okay. I’ve already cried.’
Noyes wrote another line in her notebook and then cautiously led the team further down the corridor.
Lu Cheng looked at her back with mixed feelings, unable to imagine how this little girl managed to endure in such… an environment.
No, she hadn’t endured. If Lu Cheng hadn’t come, she might have already succumbed to suicide.
Lu Cheng drove these disordered thoughts out of his mind. At the end of the corridor was a door so large it shouldn’t have been there.
The door occupied the entire space of the corridor and appeared to be wooden… and there were more human corpses and twisted creature skeletons piled up under the door.
“They seem to be protecting something behind the door,” Iron Ring said suddenly, who had been silent until now.
Lu Cheng watched as Noyes approached the huge wooden door.
Her tiny arms couldn’t push the door open, but the runes on her left hand began to glow faintly.
The door also began to glow with the same light. A large amount of complex text appeared on the door and then slowly faded away.
“This… is…”
Iron Ring was witnessing the world’s non-scientific explanation for the first time.
“Magic, superpowers, these can be studied later. I feel like we might be about to open a new instance,” Lu Cheng said.
The door slowly opened on its own, revealing a room that was too small to be consistent with its size.
The room’s floor was made of a special kind of soil, with a glowing crystal placed in the center.
‘Fragments of the Earth Vein Crystal.’
Noyes flipped back through her notebook to a previous page and pointed out the line she had written earlier to Lu Cheng.
Lu Cheng followed her and slowly approached the crystal.
The crystal was only as high as a person’s lower leg, with a diamond-shaped protrusion. It seemed like if you knocked on it with a rod, something valuable might appear.
The crystal’s surface emitted a glow similar to fireflies.
As Lu Cheng approached, the light surged into the Sacred Crystal on the back of his hand.
Noyes then went directly to the Earth Vein Crystal, trying to pull it out of the ground as if she were pulling out a carrot.
But her weak strength was not sufficient, and she ended up falling to the ground.
“Let me give it a try.”
Lu Cheng stepped forward and touched the glowing Earth Vein Crystal. The moment he touched it… the light within the crystal surged into the Sacred Crystal on his hand.
This flood of light lasted less than three seconds before quickly dissipating.
The energy from the Earth Vein Crystal in the soil was transferred directly to the Sacred Crystal on Lu Cheng’s hand.
Lu Cheng successfully pulled the Earth Vein Crystal out of the soil.
“Captain, are you alright?” Kite asked.
“I’m fine. Noyes, do you know of any other places with these Earth Vein Crystals?”
Lu Cheng’s current feeling… can be accurately described as MP recovering a bit, from one percent to about three percent.
But this amount of energy was sufficient to create a portal for ten people to go back and forth.
Unfortunately, this amount of energy was far from enough. Expanding territory in this world wasn’t something that could be achieved with just a few people multiplied by ten.
And this world seems to have threats like the Blood Crystal Beasts, so Lu Cheng was worried about running out of firepower in a fight.
‘The capital of Scare, I know the way.’
Noyes wrote this next clue in her notebook.
“Captain, what did she write in the notebook?” Kite asked.
“We need to go to the main city of this country to obtain more of these crystals. They can be used to replenish the energy of the portal,” Lu Cheng answered.
“Exploring these crystals requires specialists. Captain, I suggest contacting the research institute,” Iron Ring said, appearing to be an expert in this area.
“My suggestion is… let’s have lunch or dinner first, and also make a scheduled contact.”
Lu Cheng glanced at Noyes holding the notebook.
Since earlier, Lu Cheng had been hearing a ‘gurgling’ sound. It wasn’t the call of a bird or a ghostly noise.
It was most likely that Noyes hadn’t eaten for three days and was extremely hungry.
“Order: Temporarily station at the church’s outer building. I need to organize the information we have obtained so far.”
Lu Cheng glanced at the tactical watch on his wrist. It was already close to four in the afternoon.
There is a time difference between this world and Earth, and whether a day is twenty-four hours is also questionable, but that doesn’t prevent Lu Cheng from solving dinner first.
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