Master Of None

"We will be more careful. My partner agrees that nothing has touched this space for a while, but look at the walls. Whatever was here obviously has left its mark." The marks that Su referred to were cuts in the sturdy carved walls. They were clearly left by things that were able to cut in to dirt and stone easily. On top of that, it seemed that they had cut up the murals for some unknown reason.

"If it was a person it would make sense for someone to want to destroy more murals. It seemed like there are stretches of caves that have them purposefully. I like the traditions. Maybe Genesis should use it as well. Anyways, there is a randomness to it. Look at the colors, green is cut off more than the faded reds and yellows. If it was a monster, then maybe, they were after what was in the pigments that created the paint used?"

"That's…actually really smart. Are you sure that you are Gil and not some mimic or ghost pretending?" Remey was a little unsure and softly poked Gil's side to test if he has indeed the person they knew.

"Just because you don't know something doesn't mean that it is a mystery to the world. Do you know how some paints are made? They are made from farmed flowers. Those reds and yellows you see in the kingdom's walls or a castle door are made from tulips. Red and yellow tulip petals to be exact." Pretending to pout was not the best look for Gil but it seemed to make Zephyr google while she drifted in the air trying to feel the flow of the wind through the cave.

"Then we have monsters that came through here and ate away at the walls for the green. I would say that leaves us with a lot of options but now we have to figure out what would do that. Moles are out since they eat worms, earth elemental crystals, and sometimes mushrooms. Bat type monsters are out since they eat the blood or small rat like monsters. Same for the rat typer monsters, they eat insects, or scavenge." Walker easily eliminated many of the types of monsters they could encounter down here.

"So that means that we won't have worms either. How would they know there was green on the walls? They can't see and they eat everything around the thing they want to eat. They can't eat just the green color off the walls." There was a proud pose from Remey for her input. These moments adventuring were where the group seemed to truly act themselves. They could converse without much worry about what they looked like. They had begun to act differently in the city since they were looked up to.

"I would say it has claws or sharp pincers then? Maybe fangs?" Su had stopped to look at the cut up murals only to have this small guess as to what things might be.

"In any means, we have an idea of what we might run in to while scouting down here. I can tell that the mana is slightly more agitated like there are more living things down here. But I have no idea what they are. Fleur seems like she senses the natural mana too. I bet we will be able to spot something ahead." The tunnel was slowing down and the murals were more and more carved up. The only certain thing was that this trail had not been touched for a long time so the tracks that were there were very old. That was until they reached the next intersection.

"Stop, wait here," Gil whispered and everyone froze. He was kneeling down examining the first. "The dust and soil are kicked up like something rushed down from left to right. This path we came from wasn't touched so whatever made these pointy prints were not using it. But this tunnel cutting through is used. Heavily used actually." The four way intersection was very clear cut. The tunnel Gil motioned to was like night and day. Dry dust versus unsettled kicked up dust was different in color and shape. The same pointed prints also stood out.

"So it's not that there aren't monsters but that they didn't go this way anymore. That means something that patrols territory. It also means that they don't know about the ravine being opened by the earthquake around here. I wonder if they couldn't go anywhere the way we came from because the area was sealed? That could be why they didn't get through the sealed storage room." Walker's conclusion meant that these monsters might start to explore the newly opened area.

"I did notice that there were rockets on the opposite side of the ravine. That could have been a collapsed tunnel that connected to the one we came through. I just assumed it was from the ravine opening. I will think out loud next time." Su mentally kicked herself while staying alert for anything coming toward the intersection.

"Walker, that means you need to play the role of Midnight today. She stayed behind as safety so you need to scout ahead and see what you can find." Gil didn't even hesitate to hide the smile as he said this. He was making Walker scout ahead for once which was very amusing to him. It also showed off that he was not the best to scout here so he was leaving it to Walker completely.

"Well, since you can't scout ahead in a cave because you are afraid of the dark, I will. Just stay here and hold on to the light elemental crystal. The light orb is attached. Maybe Su will hold your hand." Remey stifled a giggle while Walker whispered this to Gil and used the shadow wrapping shill to slowly move down the right hand side of the intersection. He was following the most recent set of prints in the direction he thought they had gone.

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