[Chapter 30. Worth the Blood]

  Searanox descended into the clearing in a whisper of displaced air. The travel drone dissolved beneath him in drifting blue sparks of light, his boots sank slightly into the soft forest floor as he was no longer supported by the drone, the damp earth yielding beneath his weight with a soft squelch. For half a heartbeat, everything was still. Then four recon drones flashed into existence around him and shot outward, vanishing between the trees in streaks of pale light.

  He barely registered the drain, his attention was already elsewhere. Without even reaching the prefab house Iris emerged to meet him, her steps silent against the dirt. Her amber eyes swept over him in a single, assessing glance torn fabric, dark stains dried stiff against his clothes, the faint metallic scent of blood that hadn't fully faded. She didn't flinch, her expression unreadable as she took in his disheveled state.

  "Your clothes are torn and stained," she said calmly, her voice a low murmur that barely disturbed the quiet of the clearing. "What happened in there?"

  "A Broodmother," Searanox replied. His voice was even, but tired, each word measured. "I got careless and paid for it in blood and broken bones."

  He followed her gaze as it drifted past him, to the bark of nearby trees, darkened where blood had sprayed, and to the side of one of the sheds near the edge of the clearing, still marked by stains that hadn't time to dry yet. He exhaled slowly, the breath leaving him in a weary rush.

  "I would say it was much the same as here," he added, his gaze sweeping over the camp he'd left in such haste, "just on a far larger scale. I will clean up later, right now, I have questions. The system is not keen in giving me more information about anything except names, for some I would suspect important items."

  From his pockets, he produced the the dark, eight-sided dark stone and the two crimson stones, the objects gleaming faintly in the dappled light. Iris accepted them without hesitation, her fingers brushing the Lodestone's surface, its warmth seeming to seep into her skin.

  "A Lodestone, a Guild creation artifact," she said after a moment, her voice tinged with a rare note of awe. "Rare. It requires a Land Node to activate. With this, we can establish formal, System-recognized territory also called a Guild."

  Searanox nodded once, a sharp, decisive movement. That alone was worth the risk he'd taken.

  "And these?" he asked, lifting one of the crimson stones between two fingers. The smooth surface felt cool against his skin, darker than fresh blood. "The System claims they are Skillstones, but not what E-Grade is nor what its used for."

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  "They are... useless," Iris confirmed, her gaze tracing the faint silver runes etched into the crimson surface. "Until Level twenty-five. E-Grade Skillstones allow skills to be pushed to its next grade, I believe we talked about it once before. A significant power boost when that threshold is reached."

  Searanox looked off into the distance as if he could see something out there, he didn't hesitate. Handing her all three items.

  "Hold onto them for now."

  As she secured the Items in a small pouch at her hip, a thought occurred to him. He tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. The drying blood on his clothes cracked as he moved.

  "Iris… the beasts that attacked this place before I returned. What level were they?"

  "Seven," she answered immediately, her voice steady. "Giant Boars. Fast. Aggressive. Dangerous to newly awakened groups if mishandled. They scattered just before you appeared."

  A thin smile tugged at his lips.

  "I see."

  He let the silence sit for a moment before continuing. "In about eight hours, I'll take you into the Webbed Tunnels. It's a nasty place, worse than it appears at first glance. Prepare accordingly... mostly mentally."

  He turned away, already moving toward the sheds.

  "I just received a ping," he added over his shoulder. "Another dungeon 28km east, keep this place secure while I'm gone."

  Inside the shed, he grabbed a backpack and filled it with food and water. By the time he stepped back into the clearing, a travel drone was already forming in front of him, its surface shimmering under the bright sun. Without another word, Searanox mounted the drone and vanished into the treetops, leaving the clearing. The way over to where the dungeon was did not take to long, as he traveled another drone found something very interesting.

  It felt not like a dungeon but it had slightly the same feel to it, just much much weaker.

  He put a pin in that for the moment, and fell of the drone as it was dismissed landing on the hard soil right in front of a massive dead tree. In its thick and massive trunk was a mostly hollow, with the exception of the bright blue swirling mass inside of it. At the sight of it, his face contorted into a grimace, he was not happy, not happy at all. The memory of chitinous legs and venomous fangs fresh in his mind, the taste of his own blood still lingering on his tongue.

  "If there are more spiders in here I gonna..."

  He took a deep breath, the forest air crisp against his tongue, before he scanned the immediate area for a place to rest and let his TP recover to full. After dismissing all his other drones, each dissolving into fading motes of blue light, he settled on a nearby rock, its surface worn smooth by time. He pulled out a pre-baked bread roll from his pack, chewing slowly as he monitored the steady tick of his TP regeneration. With his TP at maximum, the familiar hum of power thrumming through his mind, he reached out for the swirling blue mass. The moment his fingers brushed against its shimmering surface, a System Window materialized in his vision, its text stark against the ethereal backdrop.

  Stepping through the swirling mass without another thought, the world twisted around him for a brief, disorienting moment. Colors blurred and stretched before snapping back into focus as he appeared in a dark, narrow tunnel, the air immediately thick with the scent of damp earth and something vaguely metallic.