Chapter 697: Red Ravine
Michael slowly descended his Drone to the cave recessed deep inside the Red Ravine.
Once inside, he got out of his Pocket Dimension and walked all on his own.
He continued walking through the dark tunnel, following the distant sounds of murmuring echoing through the walls.
Eventually, he reached a small opening that emanated a light.
As soon as he entered, a completely whole new world opened up to him.
This entire cave was gigantic, tall enough to even have its own clouds above! Not only that, but it also had its own source of light given off by bioluminescent plants growing through the cracks of the walls and ceilings.
This entire new ecosystem was made up of tall mushrooms that looked like trees from a distance. The grass, the rocks, and everything else in this ’jungle’ was made out of some type of mushroom both big and small.
He looked around and saw hundreds of people already camping around the mushroom forest.
"Yeah, I heard that the Gilderaan company was able to take over one of the rooms yesterday."
"Of course. That’s to be expected since Alaric is already a Nascent Spirit cultivator."
Michael overheard the conversation of two adventurers sitting on a mushroom stool.
He approached them and asked, "Hey, what do you mean by room?"
The two adventurers looked at him and pointed at the door archways all around the walls.
"Those tunnels lead to different rooms," one of them explained. "If you’re able to reach the end of the room successfully, then you’ll be able to get the treasures hidden inside. Are you also an adventurer looking for money? What Guild are you from?"
Meanwhile, the other adventurer squinted as he looked at Michael. He was on the verge of recognizing him.
"I’m not in any guild," Michael replied. "I’m from a company."
The adventurer sighed. "Ah, you should have gotten here a lot earlier. Just a few days ago, there were only a couple of us adventurers interested in the Red Ravine. But after someone got lucky and landed some GodForge pieces, everyone in Metropolis is wanting to get one for themselves. It’s starting to get overcrowded.
We’re even planning on going home already. We have no chance of going against someone like Alaric. If you don’t want to waste your time, then you should go too."
Just then, the other adventurer clapped his hands, finally recognizing Michael’s face.
"Wait! You’re that Michael Vanderbilt! You’re the one in the auction!"
As soon as he said that, all the other adventurers near them turned to look at Michael.
They all read about his feats in the Daily Metro newspaper. And even a month later, his name would still come up every once in a while because of how he was able to go toe to toe against the Major Factions despite being so young and inexperienced.
"That’s me," Michael replied awkwardly.
None of the adventurers spoke up as they were completely star struck at his appearance.
Finally, someone from far away recognized Michael.
"Hey! Michael! Over here!"
Michael looked forwards and saw Reptar and the others from the Rising Six. They were all gathered in a campfire and sharing sticks of skewered meats and vegetables together.
He walked over to their side, ignoring the looks of all the adventurers behind him.
"You made it," said Erlos, donning his usual khaki shorts and shirt.
Reptar then wrapped his arm around Michael and put his cowboy hat on Michael’s head.
"We’ve been wondering when you’d show up!"
"I was a little bit busy," he replied.
Then, he felt someone nudge his back.
He turned around and saw Reena offering skewered meat towards him while averting her gaze.
"Your journey must have been rough," she said. "Here, take it. I’m not hungry anymore."
"Thanks, Reena," he said, accepting her gift. But no matter how much he tried to look at her, she would always turn around.
"Hpmh. If you’re that shy, then you shouldn’t even be considered," Beau said as she put herself in between Reena and Michael.
"You want some cake? I can bake you some cake," she said, sitting aggressively beside him on the mushroom log.
"I’m fine," he said, feeling awkward. "Ahem... anyway, can you tell me what’s happening with this expedition? I thought everyone wanted to get the treasure, but why are you guys just waiting here? I don’t sense any fights."
Because the prize was too great to pass up, he was expecting there to be fights going on everywhere inside the cave.
But judging from the silence and lack of clashing metal around, it looked like there was no conflict going on at all. He didn’t even hear any arguments coming from the different companies present inside despite there being so many rivalries and all.
"This is not a competition, this is an expedition," Phim explained, with his bangs still hiding his eyes. "Once you enter those doors, you will be teleported into a random room inside the cave. And from there, you will need to defeat the guardian stationed inside. If you are able to defeat them, then you’ll get to the end of the room and into the hidden treasure."
Basically, the companies weren’t fighting against each other. They were fighting against the guardians hidden inside the rooms.
"How many rooms are there?" he asked them.
"I think about half of the rooms have already been discovered, leaving just fifty rooms left to finish. The first few rooms only contained golden artifacts and old books but the newer rooms all contain GodForge pieces. You just arrived in time. There’s fifty rooms left to find more GodForge pieces," Reptar said.
This was definitely good news for Michael. He’d been wanting to advance to the next stage of Body Formation. However, buying GodForge pieces was just too expensive for him right now—especially since he had so many Soo drops to buy.
So, this was his best chance to advance to the 5th stage.
"Get this... did you know that there are royalblood Vampires in here right now?" said Erlos in a hushed tone. "And they’re just sweeping room after room! They’re even making Alaric look slow!"
"Really?" Michael knew that royal blood Vampires were strong. But he didn’t think they were that strong.
"It’s because they’re using their stealth powers to their advantage," said Beau. "The guardians are extremely strong. Even the Major Factions would have trouble defeating them all on their own. However, fighting them is not just the solution. You could also sneak past them. That’s what the Vampires have been doing."
Michael raised his eyebrows. "Stealth, you say?"
"It’s unfortunate, but I don’t have anyone on my team with stealth Aubilities!" said Reptar, slapping his thigh in disappointment.
"The Duchess and her Secret Service would have been great at this as well, but they’re strangely absent in this expedition," mentioned Erlos.
She’s too busy enjoying an extended vacation, he thought.
But in the end, it turned out better for him. After all, he might not be strong enough to defeat those guardians, but at least now, he did have someone he could rely on for sneaking around.
It’s time to unleash Fudge into the world.