There is a freaking red sartil in front of me.
Thoughts on its pieces, from as small as a sand speck to as big as my hand, are floating around the deep purple crystal, which is the source of this purple energy.
It’s a meteor as I had expected. Filled with such power that it suppresses my very being.
Though I barely looked at it. My eyes are focused on the swirling red sartil. I didn’t find even a speck of it outside, and here, here, there is so much.
I wanted to go and snatch it, and I would have done that if not for my eyes falling on the monster.
It’s a snake, very small. Not bigger than my arm. Its night black with purple fractal marks on it; they shimmer as it moves around it.
More like floating around it. It didn’t seem to have any problem in doing that.
If I tried that, I would be crushed to pulp; that’s how strong the pressure is around the crystal. So, one could imagine the strength of the monster.
I calmed myself, and the first rational thing that came into my mind was that I should get the hell away from this place as soon as possible.
But if I had been rational, I wouldn’t have even come here.
So, instead, I focused all my attention on the crystal. Not the big one, the pressure on it is massive, and I don’t want the monster to sense me. Read complete version only at novᴇlfire.net
No, I focused on the small violet crystal near the edge of its power.
Most of them are red-sartil, but a few are also violet crystal. The big violet crystal is holding everything in a tight grip.
So tight that I couldn’t pull a single nugget.
That is what I want to do, pull it because adding a few specks of red saltir will make the core of the tool many times stronger than before—increasing the chances of me getting out of this prison.
So, it’s not just greed that’s keeping me here, but also the need.
To do that, I will need two things. Stealth, so strong, that monster wouldn’t be able to find me because it is without a doubt spooked.
The second thing I am doing is studying the violet crystal and its hold.
It’s extremely strong. I need to break it and do it in such a way that the monster wouldn’t be spooked. If it didn’t discover me, it would lessen the risk a lot.
All fifteen of my clones begin to work on these two things, while I contribute on my own.
Though I didn’t enter the core, that would be terrible. I need to be out and keep a lookout for everything. I cannot let myself get caught off guard; that would mess everything up.
Minutes passed, and I could feel changes appearing in my armor.
It begins to blend in with the environment more effectively.
The stealth my clone is working on is standing stealth. Means, I will be in my place, without moving an inch, because despite all my strength, I am not the monster’s match.
If I tried to run away, it would catch me. The chances of survival are better if I stay in my place unmoving.
It’s a huge risk I’m taking here, but I don’t have a choice. I need to get out of this realm, and that thing will help tremendously with that.
Before I knew it, an hour had passed, and what I had noticed till now had made me even more serious than before.
I felt like leaving would be a wider choice than staying in this place, but despite that, my feet didn’t move.
I am under tremendous pressure, but my study of the crystal has helped me. A few changes in armor had lessened the pressure a little, increasing the time I could stay here.
Another hour passed, and I am still frozen in my place with my eyes continually moving toward the red sartil, violet crystal, and the monster.
Forty-two minutes passed, and my expressions became serious.
I had finished with my preparation. I did it sooner than I had thought, but there are fifteen clones working on it with six times the time dilation.
I have become more stealthy and prepared the means to take the nugget of red sartil.
This is a special find, one of the rare ones.
It is not only a red sartil, but also has a violet crystal attached to it, which is producing the counterforce against the massive violet crystal.
Means, the hold on it is the second weakest.
The weakest is the first size red sartil with a large violet crystal attached to it, but this one is so big that the monster would notice it immediately.
I want to increase my chances of survival, and besides the nuggets, it is more than enough for my needs.
With everything done, a string came out of me. The string that is invisible and mimicking the violet mist, but it didn’t move directly toward nugget.
No, if the monster found out, it would lead to my position. So, I am directing from a different position.
It reached there and created a formation before finally moving toward the nugget. It moved slowly like the mist, without attracting the monster.
Finally, it reached the field, and I felt that powerful suppressive force.
It threatened to destroy my strings despite its powerful strength, which had become even more powerful after the breakthrough.
The complex formation is activated at the same time as the one in my core.
Providing the string with the massive power it needs to protect itself against the colossal suppression.
It moved through it, before finally reaching the nugget, but here things aren’t without a challenge. Considering the small violet crystal had its small but powerful field around it.
The strings didn’t move for minutes while my clones studied the field.
Seventeen minutes later, they finished, and another formation was activated in the string, and it finally moved to the nugget.