Chapter 406 - Mysterious Cave
The Greia's mana density was ten times lower than the Eidin. Eidin was the world where Souta, Alice, and Yuko arrived. The density of mana was too low compared to that world. The same could be said to the Prison World. He could understand why the Great Astley Empire wanted that world for themselves. Yet, the mana density of Imperium was thirty times higher than Eidin.
Three hours had passed since they've arrived in this world. Souta discovered monsters that he hasn't seen Imperium. He was a little bit surprised about it but considering the parasitic essence eater he quickly calmed down.
Ever since he left the Imperium, the only foreign thing that caught his attention was the parasitic essence eater. If he had a time, he would secure one for himself and his team. The ability to boost the host's physical powers was great. He recalled how those commanders have a power of B-rank yet when they used the parasitic essence eater they will gain the physical power that could rival an A-rank powerhouse which was strengthened by their liquefied mana.
Aside from the boost in strength, the almost unlimited regeneration power was terrifying.
"I want to get a sample of their blood..." Isabella muttered while looking at the screen which projected the monster's appearance.
Souta heard her words so he looked at her and asked, "For potioneering, right?"
Isabella was surprised as she didn't think that Souta would hear her. She looked down as she covered her mouth with her hands but Souta kept looking at her. Accepting her defeat, she meekly nodded her head.
"Y-Yes... I want to know the properties of their blood. Since they are monsters that are immune to the toxins in the air, there's a possibility that their blood had immunity properties which makes them immune to toxins. If that's possible, then I could somehow create a potion that will let us inhale the toxins without suffering for a short amount of time..." Isabella explained to him.
"I see... If it's not in their blood. Then, it must some sort of organ that could filter the toxins but if it's an ability then it's going to be a problem." Souta nodded as he said to the people. "Capture one of those monsters and bring it inside the ship."
"Monster is not the only way... You could also send the properties of the toxins in the air and with enough study. I could just combine some ingredients to create a potion that could nullify it." Isabella said to him.
"Why didn't you said so sooner? Every ship had a record of the properties of the toxins. They knew it, that's why the toxins couldn't get inside the ships. Well, it is also a part of enchantment that the empire did in their ships." Souta paused for a moment before he added, "Well, just take the monster too. I already said this before to you. You don't have to hold back. Just simply ask me if you want something."
The ships of the empire especially the Mother Ships were built to endure every kind of harsh environment of different worlds.
Cannons appeared on the surface of the ships. It fired dozens of white beams at the monsters in the vicinity. When they were sure that they killed one monster, five people wearing protective equipment came out of the ship and took the monster with them.
Souta nodded with a satisfied look. Isabella should continue studying until she developed her talent to create those lost potions from ancient times. Anything that she wanted, he will provide it to her even his own blood.
Oh? That's a great idea. Souta was a Blood Goblin which was a super rare variant of a goblin. He wanted to know what she will discover if she studied his blood.
The researchers in Imperium studied countless species of monsters just to know how could they copied the high energy called best feram. The only fruitful research that came out was the monster potions. The recipe of monster potion was lost and no one knew how to recreate this. Countless researchers wanted to know the data that the inventor of monster potions gathered from studying monsters.
Souta turned to his side and found that Isabella was already gone. She must have gone to check the monster that they've capture.
He shrugged his shoulder and focused his attention on the screen. He couldn't help Isabella in her study so he will leave her alone.
After one hour, Souta raised his hand as he signaled the people to stop the ships.
"Wait! I saw something. Zoom the projection in that part."
He said as he pointed to the corner of the screen.
They zoomed the projection on the screen and saw a huge cave in the middle of nowhere. The cave was too far from them so it was too small on the screen that's why they didn't immediately notice it.
The two ships traveled several kilometers and finally arrived on top of the cave. The cave was huge as its mouth has a radius of fifteen meters. Foreign monsters were going in and out of the cave but after they arrived the monster stopped showing themselves. The two flying ships have scared them.
Souta observed the ships for a while before he said, "We're going down." He then turned around and left.
...
A loud sound echoed as a group of seven people landed on the ground. All of them were wearing protective equipment except for Souta.
Souta was using his energy to filter all the toxins that he inhaled. Only people who had great control over the energy in their bodies could do it. It's not something that everyone could do.
He wasn't afraid of these toxins in the air as his body was that of a third evolution. It has a natural resistance against poisons, venom, or toxins but he still thought that it was better to be safe. Although, he thought it he still didn't wear the protective equipment.
Well, what he was doing was some sort of training too. Training to control his energy. After evolving, his mana transformed into best feram and his control over this new energy wasn't as great as his control on his mana. That's why he needed some training for him to return to his previous energy control level.
"D-Do I really need to come?" Isabella asked. She was busy observing the corpse of the monster when Souta called her.
"Yeah, maybe we found something that suits your interest. I personally think that this place isn't just a simple monster den. I felt slight fluctuations of energy below it." Souta said to her.
"But what if it's just a powerful monster? I will not be able to help you..." Isabella said.
"Don't worry about that. If you're going to discover some unknown things it's better to bring someone who knows a lot of things..." Souta smiled.
"But I don't know a lot of things..." Isabella tilted her head.
"Yes, but what I'm talking about is the knowledge of potioneering in your head." Souta pointed at his head.
"What this got to do with potioneering?" Isabella asked with a confused looked on her face.
"To create a potion you had to know a lot of herbs and monsters. Not just that, sometimes a rare potion needed natural chemicals and high-grade ores as ingredients. A potion master knew about the characteristics of each ingredient and the potion master also knew how it will affect a person's body. Is it harmful or beneficial? They also knew what will happen when they combined one ingredient to another..." Souta explained to her how great a potion master. In fact, he was only describing the feats of Isabella in the game.
In the end, Isabella nodded at him. She couldn't even understand why he was telling her all of this. Is this really related to potioneering or not? Well, she decided to believe Souta as he had no reason to lie to her or deceive her.
But... At the very least... She wanted to understand what he was saying.
Souta looked at Isabella and the five people that he brought. "Let's begin our search. Just follow me quietly." He said with a serious expression.
Two of the five people were experts in other fields. They knew a lot of things about this world and could understand the languages of different worlds. Souta brought them with him as he knew that their knowledge was important.
The remaining three people were combat experts. They were experienced fighters that had the power of a D-rank adventurer in Imperium.
The group advances forward as they stepped inside the dark cave. All of them were cautiously looking around their surroundings and watching everything in their field of vision afraid of missing some important details.
They pressed a button on their protective equipment and some part of their equipment emitted lights that solved their problem.
Souta didn't care about their lights. He had a [Night Vision] trait so he could see clearly in any dark place.
"Let's see what's hidden here..."