Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

Chapter 16 – Crystal Cavern.

‘Hm… What about this bigger one?’

‘It doesn’t seem like I can store them though. I bet they would probably come in handy inside the tunnels as those Ant things don’t seem to like the light. They are fine with those other glowing bugs though, I guess it's the light element part and not the actual glow?’

Rusty had arrived at a strange area filled with various light sources. There were crystals coming out of the ground and walls. Everything in this place was being illuminated but something similar to his Basic Elemental Charge skill. Thanks to this effect, a safe zone was created where no monsters wandered in. Even after waiting more than an hour, no ants dared to jump down the waterfall. 

‘I can store these though… at least the petty ones?’

The light crystals were producing a white light while the mana crystals were shining in a paler blue color. To his surprise, his magic points were for some reason recharging at a much faster pace than before. He deduced that it was thanks to these many blue crystals that were exuding magical energies.

‘But how do I use these to restore my MP?’

After realizing that he was relatively safe, he explored the area and found these two resources. The white glowing light crystals could provide him with a place to rest and run away to, while the blue ones could perhaps make battles easier. Basic Power Thrust and Slash were his two main attacking skills but they needed MP to be used. After a few swings, he would be drained of that resource and need some time for it to recharge. 

His identification skill suggested that it might be possible to use the smaller blue crystals in some manner. Thus, he decided to test this by using up most of his mana while away from the area with the mana crystals. There was another path leading out that eventually turned into a dark corridor that the passive effects could not reach. There he held one of the small mana crystals to see if it would do something.

‘It’s not really doing anything? I was recovering more mana back in the crystal cave…’

Rusty wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong or how to tackle this issue. He tried holding the crystal closer to his body and even attempted to place it inside his own metallic body. These attempts went unrewarded as nothing seemed to be happening but then, with some luck he managed to figure it out. 

When he attempted to retrieve the crystal from within his body, he fumbled a bit. The shiny stone landed on the ground and cracked slightly. It seemed that these strange minerals were quite brittle and even a small fall would cause some damage to them. However, once some cracks were revealed, a tiny amount of strange blue mist emerged for a second.

‘Oh? My MP bar jumped up by a few points?’

The moment his body came in contact with this blue mist, he recovered some magical points. To further test this incident, he picked up the cracked stone and crushed it into fine powder. This produced a more intense mist that somehow was sucked into his metallic body and quickly restored his MP to full. 

‘So that’s how you do it! Just crush it and it’s done!’

Rusty cheered at his new discovery and quickly made his way back to the cave filled with these crystals. He was able to store the smaller ones that were about the size of his thumb in his stash tab.

When he focused on the mana crystal he was eventually given a prompt by the world's system. Under the window with the message, there were two buttons, one in red that said no and one in green that said yes. He had learned that he could either will it to be activated or press it down with one of his metallic digits. For some reason that he didn’t fully understand, it felt better to poke at it with his digit instead of forcing it with his mind. It was also a bit faster when he didn’t have to focus his brain too much.

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‘Oh? What is this now?’

After acquiring exactly ten of the crystals into his stash tab, he was unable to put in any more. There were hundreds of these small ones in this cave and even larger ones that he couldn’t even process. However, for some reason, there was a limit to how many of them he could carry in this stash tab. He could see the number under the icon representing them and was unable to switch to any of the other squares inside of his inventory grid to fit any more of them.

‘Strange… I guess there are some limits?’

Rusty was not sure why he was being limited by this system but perhaps if he leveled up, more inventory space would be freed up. It seemed that something was trying to keep him from acquiring too many of the good items early in his evolutionary journey and having too many of the lesser ones wasn’t possible either.

‘Hm… Ten isn’t bad though, should be enough for now.’

He wasn’t deterred by this turn of events, as having more mana was always a plus. With the help of these crystals, he would be able to defeat more enemies, and returning here to restock was always an option. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise as it would keep him more grounded. Otherwise, he could end up venturing too far into the unknown caves and get himself slain by some entity he doesn’t yet understand.

‘I did overdo it with those adventurers, maybe if I didn’t kill so many, those strong ones wouldn’t have appeared?’

Rusty pondered over his recent experiences and decided that a more cautious approach might be more beneficial. The illuminated chamber with crystals had provided him with a sanctuary of sorts, a place where he could recover and strategize. This would be his new base of operations, the lair of Rusty the Corroded Twilight Bronze Armor.

‘Now it’s official!’

Thanks to the memories of the Demon Lord and the Hero he was aware of writing and symbols. While he wasn’t quite there yet, he was able to produce simple shapes that resembled things. At the entrance to the cave, he decided to draw something that resembled his armored body holding a large sword. It was quite jagged and lacked finesse but he was sure that it would make this place his. 

‘I think humans put symbols on the things that they claim, so this cave is now mine. I will call it, Rusty’s Lair of Crystals!’

There were three main parts to this place. One of them was the waterfall and lake through which he entered this area. It was an open space surrounded by light crystals and luminescent insects. Further inside was the cave with the blue crystals and some other minerals that he wasn’t sure about. Further away was another passage that led out and into a new dungeon area where he expected to encounter some monsters.

‘Two entrances, one through the waterfall and the other one through this path… Should I bring some of the light crystals over here to keep monsters from approaching?’

He had marked his new base, but something was missing. This entrance was quite dark, and it was even possible that some monsters would chase him further inside. To alleviate this problem, he decided to bring some of the light crystals over here. These were octagonal with pointy endings, while the blue mana crystals were more rock-shaped.

After yanking one out of a crystalline structure he was on his way to bring it over here. However, once on the path away from the main cave something strange happened. The once bright white light started to fade away and once at the destination, the crystal was barely producing any light.

‘What is this about?’

Rusty was surprised and quickly began doing some tests. After going back a few steps he noticed that the light was becoming brighter but the further away from the main cave, the less did the crystal shine. He wasn’t sure what this was about but it seemed that it wasn’t possible to take these light sources with him, something that he was actually planning to do. 

‘This sucks, now my perfect plan is in shambles…’

After the realization, he felt quite sad. He had intended to stick a few of these inside of his body. If the monsters didn’t like the light, then perhaps it would function similarly to the poison leeches he discovered on the second level of the dungeon. Now he realized that it would be pointless to bring these crystals with him as they would only make his body more sluggish.

‘This just leaves one more problem, where will I find some bronze?’

It was time to head out of this place to continue his adventure but one problem remained. There were no metals in this place that he could use to help restore his body. After the fall he had gone through most of his reserves and killing the monsters here also wore out his sword. Eventually, he would run out and his body could collapse. Thus, his first task became to localize a source of either bronze or copper and tin. If he was able to do that, then this place would become a true heaven for leveling. 

‘I think there are places called mines in underground areas like these, maybe I can find one here?’

It was time to embark on a new quest to become stronger. He knew that he needed to be careful as this was a truly new place without any allies. Previously he could use other monsters to hide himself but now, his situation was more similar to the adventurers he had defeated. It was probably best if he learned from their mistakes and didn’t dive in too deep.

‘Is there something that can aid me to not get lost?’

Before venturing out he created a simple map of the areas that he had encountered here. He continued to add things to the well-lit walls and this caused him to notice something. In the dungeon above, the walls and ground tended to mend itself but it didn’t seem to be the case here. Even after more than half an hour had passed, he couldn’t see any changes to the scratches that had been created.

Rusty wasn’t sure if it was possible that he had left the dungeon he was born in or that something else was at play here. Perhaps this crystal cave area was unique, but he would only find out once outside. There was a possibility that these white and blue crystals had something to do with it, but he couldn't be sure. Thus the first thing he did was begin marking the walls after leaving his new lair. If the markings that he left remained in place, then it would mean that he was perhaps not in a dungeon anymore. 

He didn’t need to go far to arrive at a new location, this one also near some water. It was a larger chamber with a high ceiling and a place with many stalactites hanging up from the ceiling. To his surprise, he was not alone here as some monsters resided in this place, different ones than the Minuscule Myrm Ant Drone he encountered. 

The first monster he noticed was quite long, with many tiny legs coming out of its body. The centipede had a glossy, dark exoskeleton and its numerous legs produced a clicking sound as they skittered across the ground. At first, he thought that this thing was swiftly moving towards him so he drew his sword but it stopped in its tracks.

‘What is it doing?’

This monster was about as long as three drone ants put together and was certainly stronger, but it was still something that he could probably handle. It supported the rear of its body with some of its legs while rising up to make itself taller. After using some mandibles to produce some strange sounds, it retreated towards the small river in the middle of this chamber. At this point, Rusty had already prepared his sword to strike this large insect but instead of lunging forward, it just retreated without doing anything. 

‘What are they all doing? 

The Lesser Giant Centipede wasn’t the only monster here, as there were others of different types. Rusty saw some slug monster not that far away, slowly crawling over to the river and placing its head inside. Some of the ants were also there doing the exact thing at this flowing river. While Rusty didn’t need any food or liquids, the other creatures did. It seemed that they were all gathering in this large cave area to do this and not attacking each other while doing so.

‘They are getting along? But not quite…’ 

At first, he thought that these large insects were just part of the dungeon, much like he was with the skeletons and zombies. He was unable to attack the other monsters either, but he considered himself to be a bit more unique. The ones here were clearly on edge, and some of them were even hissing at each other. This area was perhaps some type of safe ground where these monsters didn’t want to attack each other.

‘There are a bunch of them here but they don’t like each other…’

He was not sure how this truce came about but instead of making any sudden movements he just watched. The monsters seemed to act in a sort of pattern. They would hiss at each other before going towards the flowing river from which they would quickly drink and retreat. There were many of them here and each type slithered or crawled into a different corridor. 

Eventually, a thought crossed his mind, and he quickly started identifying more of the monsters, searching for ones that would be the easiest to slay. Most of them were of similar strength and ranged from the F- rank to the F+ rank, with the weakest of the bunch being the ants that he had encountered previously. The only reason the other monsters seemed to be afraid of these ants was their sheer numbers.

‘Those ones look the hardest, would I be able to damage it with my sword?’

He concluded that going after the ants would probably be the easiest at first. They were the only monsters that were below F rank and he could kill a drone with one swing. While they would quickly try to attack him together, as long as he didn’t enter their lair fully, he would probably be safe. 

‘Yes… this is probably the best plan… I will slowly conquer this place and after I evolve…’

His body began to shake with anticipation as this place was providing him with an almost perfect hunting ground. There were various monster types that he could face and slowly build up his levels. He could start with the weakest and slowly build himself up towards stronger ones. It was time to begin his conquest of this area and make himself the strongest. 

Rusty was now determined to establish his dominance in this new cave system. Carefully observing these monsters would give him important insight into their weak points. He made sure to look for softer-looking spots in their bodies he could sink his blade in. Most of them used their mandibles as main weapons but other ones like the slugs seemed to use something akin to acid instead. The hunt had now begun and he would rise above all.