Chapter 601

Ajax was pleased with his haul. He had only managed to actually grab only two Mana dense objects before they made it to the territory of the elemental hawk but he made some great progress in the three fights he had along the way. The battle against the snake devourer was especially rewarding and difficult.

“How social are elemental hawks?” Ajax asked Verya. “Will there be only one if we actually run into him or do they share their space like you sidhe do?”

“There should only be one here.” Verya answered. “They usually live in areas with elemental Mana density but they have no issue sharing the space with another of their kind. Since there is no elemental Mana that I am aware of and the dungeon is actually inside of the area claimed I doubt they will stay here longer than a few decades while they are working on something.” 

It didn’t take much longer before the two of them made it to the edge of the territory claimed by the elemental hawk. Ajax didn’t waste time and made the deal with Verya about confirming her reason for accompanying him should the elemental hawk question her reasons. 

“I very much doubt there is anything of value left over here.” Verya said as she noticed Ajax was on the lookout for anything he might be able to grab. “Elemental hawks always have uses for anything elemental so they clear out any territory they claim. It’s the reason they move around as often as they do.” 

“How much longer is it until we get to the dungeon?” Ajax asked, he had stopped hiding his aura as he didn’t want to seem like an intruder to the hawk. Regardless of what Verya said he wasn’t taking chances when even a perceived slight might lead to his death. 

“Just a few hours.” Verya nodded in the direction of the dungeon. “You can’t feel it pulling in Mana?” 

Ajax was surprised that he had never considered trying to locate dungeons by the Mana they drained from their surroundings since he learned they did that. Try as he might, however he wasn’t able to actually get a feel for any sort of pull on the Mana the dungeon had. 

Verya was surprised to see that Ajax wasn’t actually able to feel the dungeons pull on the ambient Mana, she knew most races couldn’t they just didn’t have the sensitivity to ambient Mana that the sidhe did but with every surprise Ajax had thrown at her so far she fully expected he would be able to do that. 

“I can’t feel it at all.” Ajax said as he activated [Mana Syphon], the skill didn’t work in helping him locate the dungeon but it did affect something. 

“What did you do?” Verya asked, “I felt this from you before when you were fighting but getting I was never so close or paying it that much attention, I also can’t feel the dungeon anymore. It's like you are sucking in all the ambient Mana.” 

“I was trying to see if I can find the dungeon but it seems like I can’t.” Ajax said with a defeated sigh as he turned off [Mana Syphon]. 

Ajax didn’t give up with just that; however, he went through a few more Skills to see if any of them could at least give him a hint as he followed Verya. [Mana Skin] didn’t work either; the pull of the dungeon was too weak to actually strip Mana from an active Skill but as they got closer to the dungeon Ajax was finally getting some results from [Expel Mana]. As long as he pushed at least one hundred Mana out and just let go of it he could feel it get pulled towards the dungeon. It was a slight pull only observable for less than a second before the Mana  concentration spread out from the initial release but it was something. 

It was a few hours later that Ajax finally caught a glimpse of the arch. The dungeon had a sixteen level jump between floors so Ajax was hoping he would be able to get a boost from three floors this time at least but that all depended on what the starting floor was. 

“So, are you going to stick around until I exit or is this goodbye?” Ajax asked. He knew that now that they made it to the dungeon their deal was complete. 

“I’m not sure but I doubt I will be here when you exit.” Verya answered. “There is a lot for me to gain from sharing some of the information I now have with the rest of my people but the value of that information drops the longer I take.” 

Ajax didn’t very much like that information about him was going to be spread like that but he didn’t really have a choice. He knew it would be and because of how humanoids interact with the Ascended races because of their protection, becoming Ascended was a big deal, not just because of his own power but because it meant humanoids were once again aware of the requirements to evolve. And with the number of dungeons inside their kingdoms there would likely be a lot more evolved humanoids popping up in the near future. 

Still Ajax just waved his goodbye and entered the dungeon. He was going to be ready for whatever it was that he would face inside and when he came out. He was actually going to search for the elemental hawk that claimed this area to find out why they were so friendly towards humans as well to learn [Spell Direction]. 

Left alone outside the dungeon Verya didn’t rush back home. She instead flew up to the branches of a tree and for the first time in the last couple of weeks she reverted from her humanoid shape to the true form. Her wings grew as her body swapped to that of a dragonfly with six spider legs, her teeth became pointier as her eyes grew to twice their previous size while her eyeballs shrunk and multiplied until they resembled those of a fly. 

Despite how much more suited to combat their humanoid form was, they were always more comfortable and had much better senses in their natural form. It was like the fog that had been covering her eyes lifted and she could once again feel the flow of Mana all around her. 

With her better senses she could feel the influence of the elemental hawk on the area they now claimed for themselves. Fire, Wind, Light, Lightning four Mana types were prevalent. This meant the hawk was a lot stronger than her. While counterintuitive this actually made it a lot safer for her since with such a difference in power there would now be no reason for the hawk to kill her. She had the simple excuse of being here for the dungeon. The only question was what was happening back in the village and how were Elduin’s parents reacting to everything he told them. She was sure the version he told them differed from what really happened but they were smart enough to figure out something much closer to what really happened.

Before she left however, Verya took a few hours to use [Meditation] on when she had seen Ajax fight. The way he used free form casting so differently, making up for the lack of power by augmenting his physical attacks with weapons. It wasn’t a style that would work for her, sidhe simply didn’t have the body to make it work, the few that did invest their Stat points into some physical stats were all assassins.

What she was interested in was Ajax’s use of items to channel his Mana through. She noticed that he matched the Mana affinity he used with a specific weapon, one embedded with a Mana gem of a matching affinity and by channeling his Mana through the gem it wouldn’t damage the item. As one of the few Ascended races that actually used crafting and tools to fight, that was one of the smarter applications she had seen and a way to make crafting combat gear that could last. 

Thinking back this was also clearly the reason why the older and stronger sidhe she had seen had Mana gems covering their items. It wasn’t vanity, which was the guess of the younger sidhe, it  was a way to keep their equipment safe while using it to channel their Mana. She didn’t bother questioning why that information wasn’t shared freely. 

Just as she was about to leave she felt the two new Auras arrive. Two Auras she recognised, Auras much stronger than her own and she wasn’t surprised to see Elduin and his parents drop down in front of her. They had actually made much better time than she had given them credit for, a few hours faster and they would have caught up to them before Ajax would have entered the dungeon. 

“Verya, where is the human?” Elduin’s father asked as he threw a large metallic chit that floated in front of her. The intention was clear, it was payment for the information. 

“He entered the dungeon.” Verya answer as she returned to her humanoid shape to match the other sidhe and swiped the chit from the air. “It’ll probably be a few days before he comes out.”