Alex agreed with Emily's idea; he absorbed the same amount of water, and then they started walking back while their eyes were locked on the oasis. It looks like the popular dance move, the moonwalk.
One step, two steps, after twenty steps away, the water still had not recovered. They then tried to move way further, but no change.
This made everyone frown; they looked at each other, and then, with a nod, everyone turned their gaze away.
At that exact time, the water started filling up again. Everyone was sure this was not a coincidence.
'Vesa, did you not detect any energy?'
[I can only detect mana, qi, and life force, for now, King. I will need to get information on other types of energy and a sample of it first.]
[Otherwise, I cannot detect the energy spectrum.]
"Energy spectrum? What is that, Vesa?"
[It's like an ID card for energy, or if I compared it to a concept in the King's world, every object has its own unique vibration and frequency.]
[For energy, the old progenitors named it Spectrum, but it's basically the same. Each energy moves like a wave, vibrating on its own unique frequency and pattern.]
[For example, Lifeforce vibrates at a high frequency while Qi and mana both are at a lower frequency with similar spectrums, making them interchangeable with some minor differences.]
'What tool can you use to calculate this frequency, Vesa?'
[In the past, we vampires used a special tool named ARS, Aetheric Resonance Spectrum, and the frequency is called an Au Arcanum unit.]
[Life force will have around 20,000 AU, while Qi and Mana should be around 1,000 and 800 at best."]
The concept intrigued Alex; he wondered if the larger the value, the stronger the energy was.
What is the difference between each metric, and what kind of characteristics do they have?
How does the ARS work, and can he make one himself?
Alex wanted to ask Vesa about this when Quartz's remark interrupted him.
"Let's just go. I feel this oasis is somehow alive and can see us; it gives me the creeps."
Hearing this, Olivia let out a chuckle, "Aren't you our tanker? How can you get scared by something ? Who knows if we can find something good if we can find out what the cause is."
"Good? And what if it's something bad?
You chibi should also know that every time a new weird phenomenon is found in the dungeon, it always comes with some caveat first, some of which could even take our lives."
"I agree with Aunt Quartz; we came here with a specific purpose: to finish the dungeon. If we want to check on this, it's better to wait until we at least open the portal."
Emily didn't say anything since she felt both of them had good points, but she agreed more with what Zold said. The monster she wanted to find is considered rare in this dungeon and usually moves alone. She wanted to get it no matter what.
As for Alex, he didn't reply to them.
He walked back to the oasis and scrutinized everything under the clear water. He could see it's filled with rocks and a few types of plants.
He dipped his finger again, 'It tastes exactly the same,' he thought to himself.
He then pointed the awe cube toward it, absorbing the spice water. This time, he did it all the way till only the rocks and plants remained, turning the oasis into a dry lake.
Alex wanted to find out where the water was coming from. If what Olivia said was true, he should be able to discern where the water came from.
Olivia and the rest followed, standing beside him. Even though Quartz and Zold didn't agree with this, deep down, they still felt curious about the cause of this.
The water kept dropping at a fast rate while their eyes were looking for anything suspicious.
Everything looked just like how they saw it from the surface, but when the water dropped past the 90% level, they saw some of the rock colors had changed.
If before it was black with green moss on it, now some turned into pale white, just like the color of clean bone, and one of them was particularly peculiar: it was round with a sharp tip on it, making it look like a horn.
"Alex, did you see that thing before?" Olivia asked with a frown since she was sure it wasn't there.
When dipping her feet in the water, she had observed the surface, looking for anything interesting, but other than beautiful aquascapes filled with many plants, there was nothing else.
If the horn had existed before, there was no way she could have missed it.
Alex shook his head, "No, I don't." While in his mind, he asked Vesa if it detected any life force signature coming from it since he didn't see one on the map, but his instinct told him it was alive.
["I don't detect anything, King."]
"Aunt Oli, I'm sure it wasn't there before. When the water dipped, I was looking at that area; the horn just appeared out of nowhere," Emily chimed in.
"What Emily said is right. I also saw it. Whatever caused the water to rise should be related to it one way or another," Quartz said, followed by a nod from Zold.
Alex then took a small rock from the ground, and with a swift motion, he threw it toward the horn.
But when the rock got close, barely an inch away from the horn, it hit an invisible barrier and then got knocked out in another direction.
But only Alex realized this; the others only saw it like the rock hit the horn and then deflected somewhere else.
Alex frowned, then turned his back and said, "Let's go."
Seeing Alex move away from the location, the others looked at each other, confused; they didn't understand why he suddenly decided to leave. All of them thought he would jump into the oasis and check the horn.