"It still doesn't make sense." Amy leaned in over the text.

  "What?" Peter stared at the tablet.

  Amy grazed her eyes between the epic and its translation, then turned back to the tablet.

  "This part reads 'Eywan of Records.'" She traced the letters with her fingertips.

  "It should mean 'Records of Eywan' but the grammar's off."

  "Why so?"

  "It doesn't match the grammar of the epic."

  Peter scratched his head thoughtfully. "Could it be an older text?"

  "Probably, but how would they know anything about mana overexposure?" She sighed.

  "It's already rare in the overworld. A place like this with no ambient mana shouldn't experience it at all."

  Peter rubbed his chin. "Translating the rest might help."

  "That will take a while." Amy rose from the ground. "We should search for Ariel in the meantime."

  She turned her back and walked away with the tablet in hand. Peter followed just behind.

  They navigated through the fairly narrow tunnels of the Upper Caverns. Fire-stones, sticking from every direction, turned the otherwise cold and unforgiving caves to a luminous and warm hallway with their orange light. The damp scent and the chilly feeling of the air assaulted their senses.

  "These fire-stones are pretty beautiful." Peter chuckled.

  "I took a few, maybe they're worth something, huh?" He added.

  Amy gave no answer.

  Hard stones beneath their feet clicked with every step as the tunnel expanded in size.

  A moment later she spoke up.

  "This seems to be a record, meant to go to... the Capital?"

  Maybe the city states in the Mushroom Cavern were once organized. She thought, her gaze stuck on the text.

  Then, she halted.

  "Year 300, age of the Old Star." She read.

  "Why'd you stop?" Peter said, a few steps behind her.

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  Amy turned to him.

  "That's the Imperial calendar... This text is not native, it is Eranic."

  Peter sighed. "You know that I'm not a scholar, right? Normal people don't know about that stuff."

  Amy inhaled the moist air of the cavern.

  "Age of the Old Star refers to the division age of the ancient Eran Empire."

  "Eran Empire?" Peter blinked.

  "An Empire famous for their magical discoveries."

  "Meaning?" Peter narrowed his eyes.

  "Eranic people knew about the cure, that is now lost." She talked breathlessly.

  "It has so many implications like mana being more dense those times, so much so that they needed a cure and..." Her voice rose with excitement.

  "Stop." Peter said, lifting his hand. "I know you are excited but I don't understand anything. One by one okay?"

  Amy's face flushed. "Right... It just means that the ancient Eran was bigger and knew more."

  After a pause, Peter spoke. "Does that mean that... the tablet is worth a ton?"

  "Yeah, that too."

  Peter jumped in his place, "We are rich!"

  She slightly smiled and she put the tablet back on her backpack.

  From their side, a small and spherical object rolled towards them. Amy's eyes snapped at the object.

  "A... dismembered head?"

  Peter drew his longsword in a heartbeat, shortly followed by Amy pulling her sphere.

  Silence stretched so long that they were able to hear their heartbeats.

  A sharp male voice cut through the air.

  "I've finally found you two."

  Ariel stepped forward with crimson life-blood soaking his halberd and armor. He ran a hand through his hair.

  "Been a while." He added.

  Peter gasped. "You scared me there!" He said, sheathing the sword back.

  Amy looked around. "Where is Edwin?"

  "I lost him while trying to find the artifact." He answered while sheathing the halberd.

  "Speaking of Edwin, what are we going to do about the King's quest?"

  Peter lowered his gaze. "Right... we were supposed to investigate the villages for the traces of a cult."

  "We can at least finish this quest before going." Amy said, putting her sphere back.

  "Think about the prize, Ariel, 5 gold! Have you ever seen that much?" Peter enthusiastically said.

  Ariel gave a small shrug "If you two say so."

  "Follow me." He turned his back "We should find Edwin first."

  They continued to walk through the tunnels. Amy's eyes drawn to the cracks dripping water here and there.

  She gripped her dress with her shaky hands.

  "I'm sorry for what happened back then." She said, her voice low as her head.

  Peter and Ariel turned to look at her.

  Letting out a breath she explained. "About the explosion, I mean, it was my fault."

  Her eyes were drawn to cracks in Ariel's armor.

  After a second. "That's why you looked so weird." Peter said.

  "What you did was reckless... but everybody messes up." He chuckled. "Even Ariel, believe it or not. He got demoted because of the Great Fox..."

  "Don't mention that." Ariel scolded him.

  Then his gaze shifted to Amy.

  "But Peter is right, don't worry about it. We're alive at the end of the day."

  Raising her head, she looked between Ariel and Peter.

  "Thank you." She said faintly and continued on her way.

  They walked forward, only occasional drips of water and the click of their boots made a sound. A minute later the tunnel split in to three identical paths before them.

  Ariel pulled his halberd and marked one of the entrances.

  "Let's go this way." He said, walking towards the tunnel he marked.

  Walking for what seemed for an hour, the tunnel expanded into a cave with patches of raw mana lakes beneath them.

  Amy reached to the one of the pools, drenching her hand and her sphere in it. The sphere flied upwards as if it was resurrected.

  Suddenly a cloud of dust descended from the ceiling followed by a faint rumble that caught no attention at first. Then the ground shook violently, followed by loose rocks falling.

  The group flinched, their weapons ready at hand.