1098: Sun Stones

Sun Stones

"That was pretty risky," Calveb said, looking at Krune. "I think it would be for the best if we discussed things beforehand. That way, we'll be able to prepare ourselves accordingly. Consider this trap, for instance."1

Calveb pointed at the ground as he continued, "I was afraid you would rush into the trap and hence made something that would only respond when applied weight upon. I used this since you're hovering in the air. But if we discussed it, we could have used a better trap."

"True." Krune nodded. "I just didn't ask since I didn't want to pry into your secrets."

"Makes sense." Calveb nodded after that. "Despite that, we can at least give each other general directions to proceed with."

"Fair enough." Krune suddenly lowered his voice before continuing, "By the way, I discovered something while I was scouting the place."

"What did you find?" Calveb became serious upon noticing Krune's change in demeanor. 

"A Spiritual Mark."

"What?" Calveb lost control of his emotions for a moment, barely reining himself in after seeing how calm Krune was, sighing as he apologized. "The news just caught me off guard."

Since he saw Krune hadn't obtained the Spiritual Mark, he assumed it was because either the Spiritual Mark was guarded by a horde of monsters or if it was located in a precarious location. Either way, he wished to know more, looking at Krune to motion him to detail further. 

"When I approached it, I sensed danger and retreated. But, when I maintained a safe distance, the Spiritual Mark emitted an energy fluctuation when a set of words appeared in my mind." Krune recounted his experience. "Nightmare Spiritual Mark, that's its name. Judging by its name, you can guess its ability."

"Nightmare Spiritual Mark…" Calveb muttered, asking after some thought, "But why didn't you obtain it?"

"I'm not capable of wielding it. Or, to be more specific, I want my trump card to be something else. Even though it's valuable, I'm not capable of using it to its full potential. I am hoping to obtain something else," Krune said honestly. "If you want to obtain it, I can guide you to it. However, it's pretty deep into the valley, so it's dangerous."

"I wish to see it," Calveb said after a moment of thought.

"Sure," Krune replied and led the way. As Calveb had a large stature, hiding was a lot more difficult than Krune, who could simply hide in branches and behind leaves. Therefore, they took almost ten hours before reaching the spot, causing Calveb to gawk in shock upon staring at the hovering Spiritual Mark. 

He continued to stare at it, enamored by it for a good hour before he sighed, shaking his head as he backed away. "I don't wish to obtain this power."

"Why?" Krune asked curiously.

"I use Talismans," Calveb said in response. "So, if given enough time, I should be able to prepare myself for any situation. And, what I seek is a Spiritual Mark that's able to instantly bring me out of a predicament. Even though this Nightmare Spiritual Mark is tremendously powerful, it's only effective against living beings. What if a Spirit Ability attacks me? I can't use this to defend against that."

"So, both of us have similar reasons." Krune nodded, noticing the Soul Needle failing to point anything else. He then led Calveb back to the city as they rested in an inn, the price for which was rather cheap, the meat from one Nightmare Demon Wolf. It allowed them to stay for a week. 

After resting for a day, they set off towards the east of the city, heading towards a rocky terrain that led them into a range of clustered mountains. 

The moment they had exited the city, Krune had summoned his Soul Needle, watching it begin to stir up once they arrived at the foot of the first mountain. 

The Soul Needle began to spin at tremendous speeds, soon stabilizing as it pointed at a mountain peak situated farther away, behind tens of mountains. The only reason people arrived at this place was to gather Sun Stones. And they were available in the first mountain itself.

At most, some would have scoured through the second mountain. 

"Let's head in this way," Krune said, pointing in a certain direction by morphing his ethereal form into the shape of a hand. 

"Why? Shouldn't it be simpler to gather the Sun Stones from this mountain?" Calveb frowned, noticing the Soul Needle pointing in a certain direction as he asked, "This is…?"

"Well, it's a racial ability of mine. I can sense things of value. And this needle acts as a compass to direct me when using my ability," Krune replied. "That's how I found the Nightmare Spiritual Mark."

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Calveb laughed, clearly excited at the prospect of finding another Spiritual Mark. 

As the Sun Stones grew only at mountain peaks, the journey was the hardest part in finding them. Since they were proceeding towards another mountain peak anyway, Calveb was content. It was hitting two birds with one stone. 

Rather, the second bird was a colossal treasure. 

…

"La! La! Lla! Lalalalaaa! It's a beautiful day!" Krune hummed a tune while hovering above a rock protrusion, gazing at the figure of Calveb drenched in sweat, slumped on the rock protrusion in exhaustion. 

"No more! I don't want to climb anymore!" Calveb groaned. His earlier demeanor had completely vanished by now as he complained, "I've never trained my physique this much. I make talismans for a living! I'm a genius at that! I don't need to toil like a buffalo here!"

"We are almost there at the peak," Krune said, noticing Calveb ignoring him like he was air, just like he had done all along after seeing just how casually he flew over the path that was hard to climb over for a human.

'This won't do.' He thought for a bit before saying the magical words, "Spiritual Mark!"

"Yes, Sir!" Calveb got up with a start, full of vigor as he suddenly took out his Talisman Pastel and drew a small symbol all over his body, brimming with energy as he began to climb once again. 

The symbol was something that reduced his fatigue and kept him revitalized to a certain extent, preventing him from making any mistakes while climbing and also not tiring out as soon. 

pqdm.com