“I don’t like this one bit,” Illyan grumbled as he cooked meat from a deer on the piping hot stone that was pced on the fire.

  It had been three days since they gained access to the third node, and now only one remained. However, they decided to rest before entering, as they were aware of the dangers in the mine.

  “I also have a bad feeling that they will all concentrate there… But you were the one saying we should do this. Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind now?”

  Aurelia, who was nibbling quietly on her portion of meat, gave him a sidelong gnce with annoyance in her eyes.

  “Well, diving into danger was always something I went headfirst into, even though I tried to avoid it. It is inevitable,” Illyan said as he stared into the fire with bnk eyes.

  Aurelia, hearing his tone, turned her attention from the food and looked back at him.

  “Inevitable?” Aurelia asked.

  After spending time with Illyan, she came to understand him a bit.

  He wasn’t someone who would put himself into danger without reason. In fact, he wanted to pn things out as much as possible.

  Illyan stopped moving for a bit as he thought about how to answer.

  “Let’s… Let’s say I’m unlucky. The main reason for that is my ability. It brings trouble. At the same time, it keeps me alive. However, the only thing this leaves behind is suffering,” Illyan sighed as he took a stick and started to stab randomly into the raging fire.

  Aurelia fluttered her eyeshes at him. Illyan’s tone was usually even and bnd, but now, albeit very faint, she felt a certain fatigue in his voice.

  It was the tone of someone worn down by life experiences.

  “Is that so? Well, I guess we are in the same boat, then. My ability also brought me all kinds of problems. The [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy] were created not just for the sake of accomplishment or to make a good foundation for the future. I have hardly any future with the state of my body.

  However… I couldn’t just do nothing. This so-called ‘gift’ is eating away at my sanity. Nothing is perfect, and thus I can’t ever find peace. Despite that, I foolishly try to use this ‘gift’ of mine to turn my foundation into something truly ‘perfect.’ But the process is slow and incomplete, while the disease is quickly spreading through my body. That is one of the reasons for me to look for an alchemy inheritance. Because alchemy is one of those professions that can not only solve the disease problem but also help me achieve the unachievable. Immortality, Creation, or Perfection. To find the path toward these is the way of alchemists,” Aurelia said with a sad smile.

  Illyan, who heard this, pondered her words. He felt the simirity quite striking.

  Thinking about the reason for all his suffering, he stiffened before he giggled to himself.

  That made Aurelia frown.

  She was revealing her inner thoughts here, despite not doing that even to her grandfather, who was closest to her, and yet this guy was grinning to himself?!

  But she didn’t feel anger. Instead, she looked deeply into his eyes.

  She didn’t see malice or anything like that.

  Instead, she felt… pity? No, it disappeared as soon as it appeared.

  The emotion she felt from him was rather… camaraderie.

  ‘Huh? This guy is too unpredictable,’ she sighed in frustration.

  She could mostly guess the thought processes of other people. One of the reasons was her understanding of people with the help of her gift, and the other was the help of her Mind Power.

  However, Illyan always had scattered thoughts. It was like looking at a shattered mirror.

  She was aware that only people who were too broken were like this.

  So she wasn’t surprised, but…

  “Do you think that gods are perfect beings?” Illyan suddenly asked with a grin as he supported his chin with his hand.

  ‘What kind of question…?’ She truly couldn’t understand.

  But she decided to think it over.

  “Obviously… not. In the first pce, gods were known to have many bad habits, traits, and even weaknesses, albeit exploitable only by other gods, no matter whether we talk about the Old Gods or the current ones,” Aurelia said with confidence.

  Illyan snapped his fingers.

  “Exactly. Doesn’t that mean that your gift is something truly precious? You just can’t hold onto it properly since it’s too heavy to bear for mortals. But the potential is limitless.”

  Illyan’s eyes turned cold.

  Aurelia’s eyes widened at Illyan’s words.

  “Wait, you don’t mean…?”

  She wasn’t foolish, but she would never have thought about such a thing.

  “You see, I came to such a realization some time ago. My ability—you should already see how good it is. And yours… it is obvious. We were not supposed to be born. At least, in the eyes of these bastards. Maybe they even want a bite out of us and take our gifts for themselves. I don’t know that much. The only thing I know is that they are hunting me down. They probably can’t do things themselves but can somewhat alter the world to cause disasters that can harm us. I call these Fate Trials, but it is just them throwing sticks under our legs. You being born with such a disease can be their fault too. You never know,” Illyan said as he cooked another piece of meat and chomped down on it, the fat staining his mouth.

  Aurelia just stared at him with her mouth open for a few seconds.

  “Are you serious?” In the end, this was the only thing she could let out of her mouth.

  “Very,” Illyan nodded.

  “However, now I’m even more suspicious after meeting you and knowing your condition. From what you told me, it’s quite rare to have this kind of gift, and most of these gifts were average or even weak. Yet, here we are, with quite interesting abilities that even gods came to care about, in the same region during the same time period. At the same time, this pce is barren. No strong being can enter this pce.”

  Aurelia’s face turned thoughtful upon hearing this.

  “Albeit, our progress is slow compared to people outside of this region, let alone those with powerful backgrounds who were groomed from a young age. However, that is a small problem with our abilities. Those with regeneration gifts usually live at least a few decades longer than regur mortals, while my ability allows me to build a good foundation even with the trash techniques here… It will just take time, but at least we will survive…”

  “You get it,” Illyan said with a smile, but there was a raging coldness in his eyes.

  “It is not mere coincidence that we are here now. Someone is treating us as… what do people call it in the town? It is named after the chess pieces, right? Oh, right, pawns… We are someone’s pawns. Someone equal to or at least close to the realm of gods.”

  Illyan’s face distorted in disgust.

  Aurelia also became angry after realizing that all of her suffering was caused by some higher beings that saw her as a mere pawn…

  In this manner, both Illyan and Aurelia became closer to each other as they badmouthed the higher beings that made their lives so miserable…

  ……..

  The next day, without further ado, they hid the tracks of the campfire and arrived at the mine.

  It was much easier to find than the other nodes, thanks to the old rails leading to it.

  While they were missing in some pces or another, the path was clear, and they got to the mine as fast as possible.

  ‘It won’t colpse suddenly, right?’ Illyan thought as he looked at the entrance to the mine. It looked like an old cave if not for the railings.

  The mine was dipidated and old even before the fall of Eternal Gondoris, so obviously, at this moment, it was barely standing.

  There were even cracks covering the walls of the cave, while the mountain this mine was in seemed to be slowly crumbling, with rge rocks piling up at the bottom.

  “There are no guards. There shouldn’t be anyone who can hide from my senses, but we should still be careful,” Aurelia said as she focused her mind power and ability to see if there was any living being, but she felt none.

  “We shall see,” Illyan said calmly as they got closer.

  “Be careful. There may be some traps,” Aurelia warned Illyan, who was in the front.

  “I think so too. But I don’t think they expected humans to invade. Rather, they probably thought it would be wild creatures wanting to use the cave as a home. The traps will be strong enough to kill gremlins, goblins, and other animals, but killing trolls with one trap is probably too cost-prohibitive to implement. In that case…”

  Illyan's eyes shone as he looked at the entrance.

  With his sharp eyes, he noticed a small pouch pinned to the top of the cave entrance.

  There was a very small hole at the bottom, and the powder flew through the wind, spreading in the area.

  “The sleeping powder. Be careful,” Illyan said as he held his breath.

  He could withhold breathing for a very long time as long as he didn’t fight, so he was fine.

  On the other hand, Aurelia used a wind spell to protect herself from breathing it in.

  ‘I will come for you ter,’ Illyan thought as he looked up at the pouch. This time he wouldn’t risk it, but once he left the cave, he would definitely take it.

  In that manner, they entered the cave without any problems.

  The mine was huge. In fact, so huge that there was literally nothing but rails for the first hour or so of walking. There were small paths on the sides, but these were for mining ores and probably didn’t lead deeper, so they ignored them and followed the main road.

  As they got farther from the entrance, the light became sparse, and the passage was drowned in darkness. However, illuminating the pce could cause them to become easy targets, so they didn’t do so. Both of them had sensitive eyes, so as long as there was at least a bit of light, they could manage.

  “If I am not wrong, this mine was abandoned for generations before the fall of the st king of Gondoris. It was because the cost of mining more ores and other minerals was getting too big, and the mine was becoming more unstable. We should be careful and also not forget the path. If you have some way to determine the path in this maze, then use it, or you won’t get away ter on,” Aurelia said while putting her hand on the wall on her left once in a while.

  She also pricked her finger a bit each time, allowing her blood to seep into the wall.

  Illyan didn’t need to hear an expnation to understand what she was doing.

  The blood was a trail for her to follow ter on.

  But Illyan didn’t need all of that.

  While his overall memory was only above average, his photographic memory was perfect.

  He could remember the entire path and all other details entailed within it.

  Of course, if the path they had taken got cut off, then he would have a little problem.

  However, Illyan truly didn’t have any way to determine the way out.

  If he wasn’t wrong, then Aurelia could feel the blood from a great distance, so even if she lost her way, she could still navigate through different paths.

  In the end, Aurelia pricked his hand and used the blood trace for him once since they were still in the first pathway.

  In that way, Illyan could at least feel where the entrance was.

  “I smell blood and decay,” Illyan suddenly beckoned to Aurelia as they hid their presence and slowed down.

  Obviously, it wasn’t their blood used for the spells but rather the blood of different people farther in the mine shaft.

  Without wasting time, they continued on their way until they finally found the source of the smell.

  “Damn it, do they want to colpse the entire thing?” Illyan muttered angrily.

  In front of them, the mine path was demolished with several craters and dug-up rocks.

  The path was uneven, and the rails were destroyed.

  Blood had been spilled here and had hardened.

  However, the bodies of those who had fought here weren’t there…

  Only a few rotting bodies, obviously dead for who knew how long, remained.

  “It’s the work of Aziro. He probably turned all his defeated enemies into undead and turned them against their owners,” Aurelia said coldly.

  “I didn’t know he could do that. Doesn’t that mean that as long as he has energy, he can revive his enemies during the battle?” Illyan asked curiously, with a certain tremble in his hand.

  It was a feeling of horror and excitement.

  At first, he hadn’t thought much about necromancy, but…

  Didn’t it have limitless potential?

  However, before his thoughts drifted away, he doused his greed as soon as possible since there was no time for that now.

  “He probably can, but it would cost him a lot more than normal to reanimate them immediately, and they would probably be weaker than regur undead. However, it is still a dangerous ability,” Aurelia nodded at Illyan’s question as they stared at the battlefield filled with blood.

  “That means that both sides should be weakened. If the opportunity is right, then we should get rid of some of them. Inside the mine, they would have problems escaping,” Illyan said with a cold glint.

  “All right, but don’t push it. There is no need to risk it to kill someone we will meet on the battlefield again anyway,” Aurelia warned him with a cold smile.

  “Obviously. The stele is the priority. Let’s go find it,” Illyan nodded as both of them dived deeper into the darkness of the mine…