Chapter 324:Explorer II

Chapter 324: 324:Explorer II

Silver spent another ten minutes beside the underground spring before finally leaving. He stood at the entrance of the tunnel and looked back toward the spring.

The cavern had become the closest thing he had to a safe point underground. He drew his sword and carved a deeper mark into the wall beside the tunnel.

A circle with a line through it; easy enough to recognize.

"If everything goes wrong, come back here."

He paused, frowning at himself.

"Talking to myself again. I might just go crazy."

He sheathed the sword, then started walking.

This time he had a plan. The first few hours after escaping the bottom cavern had mostly been exploration. He had followed whatever routes seemed promising, occasionally choosing passages based on whether they climbed or descended, but that approach clearly wasn’t enough.

The underground tunnel network was too complicated, and with sections constantly splitting, looping, narrowing, or collapsing, wandering around without keeping track of where he’d been was a good way to spend several days walking in circles.

Silver wasn’t doing that anymore. Every major intersection would be marked. Every dead end would receive a second mark. Any tunnel that looped into a previously explored section would be crossed off completely.

More importantly, he would prioritize three things; upward slopes, airflow, and any indication that animals were regularly travelling in one direction.

Silver wasn’t a cave explorer, but he knew enough about survival to understand that repeatedly walking deeper because a tunnel looked convenient was probably not going to help him.

The first intersection appeared roughly twenty minutes after he left the spring.

Silver stopped.

He had passed through here earlier. One mark was already carved into the wall. The left tunnel led toward the route he’d originally taken and the right passage climbed.

Silver had ignored it before because Spatial Sense showed it narrowing farther ahead but now he decided to check it properly.

He drew his sword and added another mark, then entered. The slope was gradual.

Silver immediately liked that.

"Come on."

The tunnel continued upward for more than twenty minutes but there was no dead end. He began feeling cautiously optimistic.

He activated Spatial Sense every few minutes, keeping each use short enough that he didn’t waste too much mental energy.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

He didn’t find anything. The passage continued so Silver deactivated it and kept climbing. Half an hour passed, then forty minutes.

The slope became steeper.

Silver occasionally needed to place a hand against the wall for balance, but he didn’t mind; up was good and exactly what he wanted.

He started noticing slightly different air as well. Silver smiled faintly.

"Finally."

He climbed another section. The moment he turned around a bend, his smile disappeared; a wall of stone filled the entire tunnel.

Silver stopped and stared in despair.

"No."

The collapse extended from floor to ceiling. He approached anyway. Loose rocks covered the base, but behind them was packed stone.

He placed his palm against it and activated Spatial Sense; the skill expanded.

He searched beyond the obstruction but found nothing useful. The tunnel might have continued somewhere beyond the collapse, but the blockage was enormous, several meters at minimum, possibly much more.

Silver maintained Spatial Sense for another moment as he searched but there was no obvious hollow section nearby or easy way around.

He deactivated the skill.

He stared at the wall. He could use Space Slash dozens of time and theoretically cut through, unfortunately, he could also destabilize whatever was above him and bury himself again.

Silver considered it for perhaps three seconds.

"No."

He turned around and left. The walk back took almost as long as the climb. He reached the intersection and carved a large cross beside the mark leading toward the failed route.

He chose another passage. That one lasted thirty minutes, it split twice. Silver marked both intersections.

The first branch narrowed until his shoulders almost touched both walls. He continued for another ten minutes before the tunnel became too tight to comfortably walk through.

Silver crouched and looked ahead but only found darkness.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated]

The narrow passage continued, then widened eventually. But there was a section between him and that wider space barely large enough for his body.

Silver stared, thought passing through him. Short-Step could probably get him through. The probably part had already caused him enough trouble.

Teleporting through stone wasn’t something Silver wanted to experiment with while underground, especially when his spatial awareness couldn’t give him a perfectly clear image of the destination.

He turned around and drew another cross. The second branch seemed better. It continued almost level for nearly an hour, then Silver noticed something familiar.

A mark on the wall, his mark.

He stopped dead and stared at it. He looked behind himself,confusion becoming realisation.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

The tunnel had looped. Silver rubbed his forehead.

"Wonderful."

He added another cross.

Three failed routes.

The fourth wasn’t much better. It descended for nearly twenty minutes before splitting into two passages that both continued downward.

Silver didn’t even bother. He returned to the start and took the fifth one. It ended after less than fifteen minutes with collapsed.

Silver stared at the collection of markings. His patience was beginning to disappear. He checked the time on his phone and put it away.

"Try another."

He continued into the next tunnel which was different from the rest. The walls changed from stone to packed earth, although not entirely.

There were still sections of rock, but the material was noticeably softer, with loose dirt covering the floor and small roots protruding through sections of the ceiling.

Silver crouched and touched the ground, finding it dry. The tunnel continued upward slightly. That alone was enough to interest him. More importantly, there were several small openings along the walls.

Silver frowned.

If he was correct, then it was beast activity.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

His awareness expanded. The main tunnel continued, then branched, and ghen branched again.

Silver focused.

There were multiple hollow spaces beyond the walls; small numerous tunnels.

He frowned.

"This is interesting."