Chapter 1.11 — The Crystal Maniac… goes boom!

  —Cleinwalth forest—

  ———

  “Hey Grey, are you sure we should be going this deep?” I raised a brow, pointing out the obvious.

  “Yes, we need to get deeper if we are going to find those mana crystals.”

  Grey breathed heavily.

  “I get that, but the chance of a random encounter also gets higher, you know!” I coldly stated.

  “Ehh… chance of random encounters? What kid talks like that?” Grey furrowed his brow.

  My eyes widened as a beat of sweat rolled down my face.

  Crap… I accidentally used game lingo!

  Grey tilted his head. “I’m happy you take your teacher job seriously, but maybe you’ve been teaching too much—and forgot how to be a kid.”

  “You sound like Simon… sometimes.” Grey folded his arms, a faint hint of unease in his voice.

  “Ahh, yes that’s it… we’ve been going through a lot of theories… My mind sometimes mixes things up.” I explained with an awkward grin.

  As I turned my head away I sighed in relief.

  Nice save Grey, thanks for the lifeline.

  I need to be more careful, since I’m supposed to have lost my memories before they found me. Can’t go blurting weird things now, can we?

  “By the way, thank you for taking me with you.” I smiled as I glanced back at Grey.

  Grey looked up, his face blank. “Well, even though I did say I’d show you the art of ShellCrafting after your appraisal ceremony… using Jen against me—that was a dirty move.”

  Grey’s eyes narrowed, staring intensely. “You just couldn't wait one more year—huh?”

  “Yeah, sorry about that… but I just couldn’t wait that long.” I smiled awkwardly, scratched my head.

  ———

  As we were walking the scenery became brighter as the sun’s rays were piercing through the trees. As the forest became less dense I felt a slight warmth rising in my body.

  “The weather is sure nice for some crystal hunting.” I smiled as I caught a small shimmer at the trunk of an old tree.

  “Haha, that’s why I wanted to hurry up and go crystal hunting, it’s much easier to find them when the sun is really high… even though it’s getting quite cold” Grey grinned.

  “There Grey, is that what I think it is?” I pointed at the base of a tree.

  Grey walked closer to it, “Yes, it is.” A jello-like substance was faintly glistening in the sun. For me It looked like tree amber, but harder and transparent; it was shimmering with many colors, like a rainbow.

  I crouched down near Grey. “I see… this is mana crystal… so, what now?”

  Grey took a small hammer out of his pouch. It had some strange runic carvings engraved onto it that resembled an emblem.

  “Well, look closely now.” Grey hovered his palm above the crystal, he then found a spot and with the tip of the hammer, gently picked on it.

  The crystal gently lit up with every hit. My eyes widened.

  “Huh? Woo, that looks amazing?”

  “Haha, I had the same reaction the first time I saw that too.” Grey smirked as he reminisced.

  Before I knew it a big chunk of the crystal suddenly came off.

  “And that’s how you do it, no damage and keeping the Manaflux contained inside the mana crystal.” Grey explained proudly.

  “Wow, ok, so can you let me try to hammer out the rest of the crystal—”

  “—No we can’t," Grey interrupted.

  I tilted my head and with a confused look on my face. “Ehh, why?”

  Grey raised his index finger. “We can only take a chunk off it with the manaflux still contained… if we take the rest, only this piece will be usable and the rest we can throw out.”

  “Hmm, well can’t you just smelt—” I slapped my mouth with my hand, silencing myself.

  Grey gave me a confused look. “Huh? What are you doing?”

  I removed my hand revealing a slight grin on my face. “Ehh, it’s nothing, I was just thinking out loud… sorry it’s a bad habit, don’t mind me.”

  “Ohh, I see.” Grey said as he pouched the crystal.

  Damn it, I was this close to blurting out an advanced technique to use the entire mana crystal, and not just a little chunk. Phew… good thing I know how to slap myself.

  Grey stood up, “Done, we still have time, so let’s see if we can find some more!”

  I nodded, Grey began to walk away and I felt a sense of warmth… it’s nice to spend time with him I thought while chuckling.

  “Hey, you coming or just gonna stand there.” Grey looked back with a slight grin.

  “Yes, but I feel like we should go this way instead.” I pointed in the opposite direction.

  Grey lifted his shoulders. “Huh, that area is more dense with trees. It’s gonna be a bit harder to find the crystals if it’s darker.”

  “Dunno, but I sort of wanna try going that way.” I said in a convincing voice.

  Grey scratched his chin. “Hmm, sure why not, we did find this crystal fast… so I guess we can spare time.”

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  After a while, the forest grew denser and darker as we went deeper.

  ***

  —Cleinwalth forest… a bit deeper—

  Grey was hunched down, he had just finished picking the recent mana crystal. As he stood up, he reached for his other pouch containing the mana crystals… the pouch was overflowing.

  “I don’t believe it.” Grey said, with a stunned expression.

  I stared at him with a confused look. “What do you mean?”

  Grey, with both hands, raised his crystal-filled pouch towards me.

  “This! What is this?—I’ve never collected so much so fast, especially not this deep where the sun is barely shining through.

  I looked at my surroundings, the leaf rustled in the soft wind as my nose caught the smell of tree sap in the air.

  I was so focused on hunting for the crystals, that I didn’t notice how much denser and darker it had become.

  “Well, at least we collected enough… you should be fine for a while.” I raised both hands, rested them behind my head.

  Grey froze as he gaped in disbelief. “But this is too much, how in the world did you know where to find them… and with almost no sunlight?”

  My eyes looked up as I contemplated. “Dunno, just a gut feeling, I guess.”

  “That’s some guts you have… but still, unbelievable.” Grey stared intently at the pouch…

  I tilted my head, as I grinned. “Ahh well, it’s just beginner’s luck… next time it might not go so smoothly.”

  Grey looked up, he nodded slightly in agreement.

  Hmm… what’s the big deal, anyway? Despite low sunlight, mana crystals still glimmer if you get close enough… so even if the drop rate is low—move fast, find more crystals. But that way of thinking might be too different for Grey.

  At that moment a rumble echoed through the forest… I immediately placed my hand onto my stomach.

  “Uhm… ups… seems like I’m a bit hungry.” I smiled awkwardly.

  Grey paused, his eyes widened as he let out a laugh. “Haha… I thought for sure it was a foul monster's cry… but your stomach—that’s just too funny.”

  “Haha, yeah… just don’t tell Jen or she’ll think the marquess doesn’t feed me.” I said, scratching my head in embarrassment.

  A flash of light erupted at a nearby tree right beside Grey… I immediately jumped back. “Woo, what's happening?”

  Grey pointed towards the source. “Look, it's over there!”

  I turned my head as my eyes were homing in on the culprit… a red glow was moving on the ground, as it moved closer I recognized it.

  “It's a Slime!” I gasped as I widened my eyes in surprise.

  Grey’s eyes narrowed as his lips curled into a grin.

  “Ohh, it's a Klein Red Slime… perfect timing.”

  The Slime then shook a moment, unleashed a small fireball towards Grey—he moved to the side, easily dodging it.

  The smell of burnt wood filled the air. As I stared at Grey, with a puzzled expression.

  “Grey, what are you doing? Aren’t you gonna cast your water spells?”

  “Ohh but I got something better.” His eyes popped as his expression changed into that of a madman.

  Grey reached behind his lower back grabbing onto something hiding under his cloak… He took a step back—a metallic ring echoed as he unsheathed his sword.

  My eyes widened as I realized what it was.” Grey, that sword—is that…”

  The Slime began shaking, as it was about to unleash a new attack.

  Grey moved fast as he in one sweep motion, took what looked like shotgun ammunition out of his belt. It was glowing with an intense blue aura as he loaded the Manashell into the socket located at the side of his sword.

  The slime then unleashed a new fireball, as Grey leaped towards it as he raised his left hand towards it.

  “Drop Lay!” Grey called out, as a thin water shield formed in front of him—blocking the fireball.

  As the fireball evaporated the air filled with a thick steam of smoke. Grey sped up as he bursted through the smoke, swinging his sword in a downwards arch against the slime.

  “Drop Stream Edge!” The manashell emanated a blue light from the sword's socket—as water formed around the blade—slicing the slime in two.

  “Woo!” I instinctively shouted.

  As the slime began to dissolve, Grey looked at me with a satisfying smirk.

  “Hehe, see… What do you think? I can also use a blade!”

  He pulled another Manashell from his belt, this one pulsed red instead of blue.

  “Different shells, different spells.” Grey said, loading it into the socket grinning.

  “I'll show you how to make these one day.”

  Suddenly a horde of Klein Red, Green and Blue Slimes appeared. Grey tilted his head looking at his sword, then turned towards the slimes as they began their advance.

  “Nope, not gonna waste time.” He said, raising his left hand.

  “Terra Quake!” The earth shook as the ground split open beneath the slimes.… The cracking sound of stones echoed through the forest—the slimes tried to escape, but were swallowed by the earth.

  I gaped at the scene. “Hey wait, that was a high level earth spell!

  So you not only have water in your Maximus… but also earth?”

  Grey looked surprised. “Ohh you're quite perceptive. Water is my main Afinix that's why I'm a Tide Arcanin. But I can also use Caster-type Earth spells, since Earth is also part of my Maximus.

  I raised my brow. So he’s got a Dual Maximus build—water as his dominant element, and earth as his secondary.

  Not as rare as Primux, but definitely rarer than a Single Maximus.

  “So you have two Afinix, you can cast higher level magic with—Hehe, not bad Grey… no wonder you like to blow stuff up.” I teased, winking at him chuckling.

  The sound of a twig breaking echoed nearby, I instinctively turned my head towards the sound.

  “Damn it, there's more of them… did we hit a slime nest or something?” I gritted my teeth.

  “No worries—I got this.” Grey smirked, raising his hand.

  “Tidal Sphere!” Water projectiles appeared as Grey was about to unleash it—the spell fizzled as the water projectiles dropped flat to the ground.

  “Huh, what?” Grey momentarily confused, shook his head.

  “Tidal Sphere!” A barrage of high speed water projectiles bombarded the slimes as they were torn apart.

  As I stared at the utter destruction, I noticed that Grey seemed a bit off… as the chaos died down, we collected the dead slimes, since they can be sold for a small profit.

  Grey was breathing heavily—more than normal.

  “You ok there, Grey? That sure was some good display of magical destruction?” I said with a big grin on my face.

  Grey is strong, but I do feel a bit worried for him… he might have pushed himself a bit too hard.

  Grey grinned. “Haha—no big deal… next time I’ll gladly show you some more spells.” Grey stuck his nose into the air, as he proudly proclaimed.

  He then paused, looking towards the sky. “Anyway, it's getting late, so we should head back home before Jen gets mad at us.”

  I shivered, as a cold sweat ran down my spine at the thought. “Nope, I'm not gonna get on her bad side.”

  I bolted towards the exit, leaving Grey behind in a dust cloud.

  “Hey, Leo—wait.” Grey shouted, as he began running after me.

  ———

  It's hard to believe I've almost been here a year, so many good things have happened and the future seems bright.

  But… why…

  Why am I here?

  I can’t seem to figure it out.

  The story’s supposed to begin twenty—twenty-five… maybe thirty years from now.

  So why am I stuck in the past?