Sid POV

  Sid crouched beside the glowing pool, settling back on his calves and keeping his hands held loosely before his chest. He waited, still and patient, listening to Varun’s movements behind him while the pool’s light painted the cavern in pale blue.

  The surface of the pool was still with no blemishes, which contrasted against the ever-shifting matrix of liquid light within. The dichotomy provided evidence of its mystical nature. He could see the bottom of the pool, smooth and bare, with no cracks, sediment, or foreign objects resting there.

  “Three!” Varun’s spear struck a clutch of eggs with a wet crunch. The echo lingered longer than Sid liked.

  Sid reached forward and touched the pool with his index finger. Cool. A pleasant sensation spread across his skin. He dipped his hand further, submerging his palm, watching for any reaction from the system or the pool itself. Nothing happened.

  For a moment, he wondered if he’d been wrong about the pool. Then he pulled his hand out, and the doubt vanished. No liquid clung to his skin. His hand was bone-dry, as though it had never touched water at all.

  “I got a Skitter Dash skill,” Varun called from his right, excitement clear in his voice. “We’re going to make a killing here.”

  “Great,” Sid said without turning around. “Clear the walls first.” The words came out absent-minded, his attention already pulled back to the pool. The clutches of eggs stuck to the cavern walls were only accessible to Varun, and Sid wanted those cleared before they moved to the ones on the floor.

  Varun paused, watching Sid for a second longer than necessary, then nodded and moved back toward the wall.

  Sid placed both hands into the pool and tried to lift the liquid out. The liquid refused to cooperate. It defied gravity and climbed out of the edges of his hands. Sliding over his fingers and flowing back into the pool in a smooth, unbroken motion.

  He tried again, slower this time. The result did not change. The pool behaved in a way that ignored basic physics, the liquid acting as though it was bound to the basin itself.

  Ideas came quickly. He wondered if he could create waves on the surface. He considered submerging an open bottle, closing the lid while it was still underwater, and then pulling it out. Sid shot down more ideas with logic rather than after testing, extrapolating on the core property of the pool—that the liquid refused to separate from the pool.

  As his thoughts cycled, Sid noticed something else. He was still in contact with the pool, and his thoughts felt sharper than usual. Faster. Cleaner. The clutter that normally slowed his thinking seemed to fall away, leaving clean lines of reasoning behind.

  The realization settled in quietly, without the system spelling it out for him. This was a natural treasure. One likely associated with mind affinity.

  A dull thud echoed to his right, breaking his focus. Varun stepped closer, holding his spear away from both Sid and the pool. “So, what’s in the pool?”

  Sid looked up at him. “I’m not sure.” The answer was genuine, even as another question occupied his thoughts, one far more important than Varun’s. How could he make use of it?

  Natural treasures were the easiest way for someone to gain an affinity. They were consumable resources with no known drawbacks, which made them incredibly valuable. Their rarity and potential were such that even demigods would turn their attention toward them if word spread of one appearing.

  Varun watched Sid, his hands still sunk in the glowing pool. He dropped into a crouch beside him, leaned in, squinting as the light washed over his face. He scooped the water up and tried to drink—only to end with his lips pressed uselessly to his palm.

  “The water flows back to the pool.” Varun couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice. “I’m not able to take it out.”

  Sid nodded in response, eyes fixed on the pool.

  “Let me try something.” Varun brought his face close to the surface and tried to drink directly, mimicking the motion of using a straw.

  “What the hell?” Sid grabbed Varun by the shoulder and yanked him back, pulling him away from the pool. The motion was sharp, driven by instinct, even though Sid had been considering the same thing himself.

  “It’s clear water, Sid,” Varun said, a small grin forming as he steadied himself. “I don’t think it’s poisoned.”

  “Go back and get the rest of the crystals,” Sid said, pointing toward a section of the wall where untouched eggs remained. His tone left little room for argument. “I’ll figure this one out.”

  Natural treasures could come into existence through many paths. Some formed slowly through the accumulation of ambient mana, while others were born from violent events, such as the fall of a god or dragon. In rare cases, mutations in living creatures could give rise to them.

  Even treasures sharing the same affinity could behave differently depending on their origin, which meant there was no universal method for absorbing them.

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  A heavier question pressed at the back of Sid’s mind. This treasure had not existed in his memories of the future. Why was it here now? He wondered if the dungeon’s increased difficulty had forced a change in rewards, a balancing act imposed by something or someone unseen. He cut the thought short before it could deepen. Speculation would not help him here, not when something tangible waited within arm’s reach.

  Sid shifted his stance and placed one foot into the pool, then the other, testing the surface before committing his weight. The pool looked shallow enough for him to stand with his head above the surface, but he refused to trust appearances alone. Differences in refractive index could easily distort depth in unfamiliar liquids.

  He lowered himself into the pool until the glowing liquid reached his chest near the pool’s edge. There were only so many methods he could test in the time they had. Sid drew in a breath, submerged his head, and attempted to drink the water.

  Consumption was the most common way to use an affinity treasure, the same method employed by Earth’s most famous affinity user, Jack Thorne.

  The story went like this. Jack had stayed behind to hold back a pack of wolves while the rest of his team fled. It was a heroic last stand made under pressure. In the chaos, he fell into what looked like a pit, vanishing so completely that even those with Night Vision and Farsight skills could see nothing but darkness below.

  What they had believed to be a pit was a narrow opening in the roof of a vast cavern. A place that housed a natural treasure. The Fruit of Darkness. Born from a mutation, the fruit devoured light itself, erasing illumination within its sphere of influence and leaving nothing behind but darkness.

  Jack had described the experience as being suspended in space without stars or sun, stripped of reference or direction. Everything around him had been darker than Vantablack. Somehow, through touch and instinct alone, he had found the plant and consumed the fruit, gaining a low-rank Darkness affinity.

  Sid surfaced again, drawing in air after another failed attempt to drink the pool water. No matter how hard he tried, the liquid would not separate enough to be swallowed. It behaved as a single entity, resisting division. Something with a mind of its own. This was not a low-rank natural treasure. At the very least, it was mind-rank, the kind of prize that could drive the ruling powers of Kaliga into open war.

  He raised his head higher, eyes sweeping the cavern as he breathed. Being submerged muted sound and sensation. The isolation gnawed at him. He needed to be certain that the others were safe and that no danger had crept in unnoticed.

  Pallavi and Rohan stood watch near the tunnel entrance, their attention locked on the only other way in or out. They did not speak, but their posture spoke clearly enough, alert and ready to react.

  Varun moved through the cavern with an open bag, bending to pick up skill crystals one by one. He looked almost bored. Like someone cleaning up after an event. The comparison broke when Sid noticed how selective he was, ignoring everything that was not valuable.

  “Figured it out yet?” Varun asked, turning his head to look at Sid. His tone was genuinely curious, lacking even a trace of mockery.

  Sid shook his head in response. He waited for the suggestion to help with the crystals, already bracing himself to refuse.

  Varun only nodded and went back to work.

  That’s odd, Sid thought. Why does he trust me this much? The Varun I know would have questioned me, or at least pushed to finish faster.

  Sid forced the thought aside. There was no room for distraction. There was a natural treasure in front of him, one powerful enough to change the balance of power. He could not allow it to remain with the Matriarch, not under any circumstances.

  Not all dungeons produced natural treasures. Of the nine on Earth, only five were suspected of having generated one. Dragonspire Karst, the largest dungeon on Earth, had created the sole known mid-rank natural treasure, the Dragonblood Crystals.

  That discovery had sparked the conflict between the Federation and the Gautra Kingdom. Although the two nations had been at each other’s throats since the Federation’s founding, the Dragonblood Crystals were valuable enough to become a focal point for open confrontation.

  Sid still could not understand how Zhou Li, the mad genius, had reached his conclusion. Stabbing one’s own heart with the crystal ran counter to survival instinct, yet it had granted the affinity all the same.

  Between the Matriarch and the Goblin General, Sid would’ve bet on the general. That conclusion had been based on intelligence reports and the visible scale of the goblin forces. Now, his confidence wavered. A matriarch with Mind affinity was not merely stronger, but smarter, more adaptable. The coming conflict would likely drain both sides, ending in a Pyrrhic victory.

  Mid-rank natural treasures allowed multiple uses, unlike low-rank ones that were consumed in a single act. That distinction made the situation far more precarious. They needed to ensure the treasure did not remain with hostile monsters, empowering them further. Moving the pool was impossible given the time constraints. Hiding it, however, remained a possibility worth exploring.

  Sid had already attempted multiple approaches to absorb the natural treasure. None had succeeded. Perhaps a mind-related skill was the key. Affinities enhanced related skills, and it stood to reason that the reverse might also hold true.

  If he gained Mind affinity, it would directly enhance his Veil of the Mind’s Eye skill, strengthening its effects across the board. Using the treasure to evolve the skill would mirror the benefits of a hybrid evolution, similar to Varun’s gains, without the need to diversify or invest in additional skills.

  Sid closed his eyes, steadying his breathing while remaining in the pool. He focused on intent and visualization, the cornerstones of magical theory. He forced himself to imagine the pool as an object he was holding, suppressing the logical objections that arose.

  The pool’s defining trait offered a path forward. It was something that abhorred separation. That instinct belonged to the treasure, and Sid aimed to guide or rather hoodwink it than fight it.

  He opened his eyes and spread his arms beneath the surface, turning his attention toward Varun, who continued destroying eggs with steady efficiency. Sid activated his skill, setting Varun as the target. The first few attempts failed without effect, but he persisted.

  On the seventh try, a notification appeared, confirming the skill’s advancement to level twenty. The treasure was responding.

  Sid took a deep breath and prepared to attempt something more dangerous. Perhaps not as reckless as testing the skill on himself, but still a risk. As he had told Rohan earlier, seeking the truth required courage.