Rhys had already learned the skill Sonic Burst while the disciples of the two great families were deadlocked with him.
The System had upgraded its mastery to perfection. By simply activating it, he had applied the skill through his speech. Sure enough, it worked.
A simple word from him had made almost every disciple fall to their knees.
"I said, DROP."
His voice was not loud, but the sound blasted through the atmosphere and into their eardrums. It was a wave of pure force that made their heads spin and their bodies weak.
Anya Sterling did not hesitate. She quickly took off her spatial pouch and threw all of its contents onto the ground in front of her.
A pile of crystal shards, elemental gems, and a few old scrolls appeared on the floor.
"Oh, you are a smart one," Rhys praised. He did not need their spatial pouches. After all, he could not store them in his own unless he obtained a space ring.
The girl appeared to be intimidated by him. She swallowed hard, lowering her head. Seeing her actions, the other disciples of the Sterling family followed.
Although they were unwilling, they all emptied their pouches. He turned to look at Aiden, who was clenching his fists.
"Do you want to skip the tax?" Rhys raised his brows, his voice threatening.
Aiden lowered his hands. With suppressed anger and humiliation, he also emptied his pouch. Rhys knew an enmity had been formed already.
He preferred avoiding trouble if possible. Perhaps he could leave now and steal from them later, as he had done before. But he had other reasons.
’The great families have been friendly for a long time. It’s time to break that,’ he thought.
[How?] the System asked.
’Wait and see.’
He moved his hand. The dust on the ground responded to his will. Swirls of golden crystal dust rose from the ground. They wrapped around all the treasures on the floor.
The dust then flew towards him, carrying the loot with it. He felt a sense of satisfaction as everything disappeared into his own spatial pouch.
’Lucky mine isn’t filled yet. But it will be in a few days,’ Rhys thought.
He made a plan to get a bigger spatial pouch, or even better, a space ring.
He gave the group of scared disciples one last, cold look. Rhys actually felt no guilt. As he had said, it was their tax for monopolising the whole labyrinth.
He was doing free labour for the rest of humanity in the province. He turned to look at Yuki, who was now staring daggers at Anya Sterling.
Anya trembled under her gaze.
’What happened?’ Rhys wondered.
[Does she want to eat her?]
’No way, right?’ Rhys pulled Yuki’s hand, motioning for her to turn.
Yuki tore her gaze away from Anya, a bit unwillingly, then allowed him to pull her along. Then, both of them melted into the shadows, disappearing into one of the tunnels.
As they walked along the tunnel, Yuki glanced at him from time to time without speaking.
"What is it? A bug on my face?" he tilted his head.
"Juice box, you seem so drinkable. Random bugs all want my share."
"Wait, what does that even mean?" Rhys was perplexed.
Yuki said nothing as she walked ahead. Rhys shrugged, walking behind her. They walked deeper into the tunnel.
He looked at the golden, hexagonal tunnels that seemed to go on forever. He could hear the low humming sound of the hive all around them.
They continued their hunt as they travelled. To Rhys, the ordinary worker ants were no longer a threat. They were just a source of materials and a way for him to practise his skills.
Rhys moved in front. His dagger felt like an extension of his arm, a black blur in the golden light of the cavern.
He used Shadowed Dive, feeling his body move from one shadow to another. He shattered every ant that came near them with a single, precise strike.
Yuki followed behind him. She was always watching, as if she was enjoying a picnic. Strangely, she had asked him for life energy more than two times in the last hour.
’Strange,’ Rhys thought. He leaned against a wall, watching Yuki lean on his shoulder and absorb his life energy.
’Is she starting to get addicted to my life energy?’ For some reason, it appeared she was craving his life energy more than ever.
The hunt continued. Rhys had perfectly saturated his constitution. Now he just had to bond with an element and break through to the next tier.
’Will there be a way I can break through here?’ he knew it was impossible.
[Actually, you can bond with elements and choose their properties. But you cannot use them unless you break through and form a foundation. Also, you have to form 108 foundations, by the way.]
"What?"
His sound startled Yuki, who raised her head to stare at his face. For a moment, both of their faces were very close.
Rhys could feel the soft touch of her lips against his. He gulped. Just as he felt he was going to do something not suitable for work, she leaned back onto his shoulder, continuing her absorption.
Rhys breathed a sigh of relief.
’That was so close. She almost took my first kiss.’
[...]
Hours passed. Rhys had killed thousands of ants. He looked back at their path, which was littered with broken, amber-coloured crystal shards.
He could smell the sweet scent of resin in the air.
"Do you know what is next?" Rhys asked Yuki, breaking the long silence. He was getting tired of the endless, identical tunnels. He wanted to see something new.
Yuki looked ahead, down the dark tunnel.
"A quiet place," she said. "And a bit wet."
"Helpful as always," Rhys muttered to himself. He felt a familiar frustration with her simple and vague answers.
Finally, he saw an end to the tunnel. The warm, golden light of the hive faded behind them. He stepped out into another vast, open cavern. And he understood what she meant by ’wet’.
"Is this a bit wet to you?" he rolled his eyes, pointing at the large lake spread before him.
His eyes could not see its ends. It was that vast, almost like an ocean. He looked at the water. It was perfectly clear and still.
He looked up. The ceiling of the cavern was high above them, covered in glowing blue crystals that looked like stars in a night sky.
And at the bottom of the lake, shrouded in a dim, magical light were the ruins of an entire city.
He saw towers and bridges, draped in strange, glowing seaweed, standing silently in the crushing depths.
Soft light came from the bioluminescent moss and strange, glowing flora that grew on the old stone buildings.
It was beautiful, it was haunting. And it was terrifying.
"It wasn’t underwater before. The city," the confused voice of Yuki sounded from behind him. She walked near the lake and knelt beside it.
"There were people... a lot of people. Where did all of them go?"
"People? Humans?" Rhys asked.
Yuki frowned. Confusion crept into her blue pupils as her brows furrowed.
"I-I don’t know. They were people. People are people," she said, looking up at him as innocently as always.
Rhys sighed, patting her head.
"We have to go down there, don’t we?" Rhys asked. He already knew the answer. The path forward was always through the most dangerous place.
"The path is at the bottom," Yuki said, confirming his fears. "In the City of Aethel."