"An illusion barrier would be great," Ben said after a moment. "Something to confuse intruders. If you can make it spread smoke or fog, that'd be even better. Or better yet—poison."
Elvira frowned slightly. "Poison? Won't that be dangerous for us too?"
"Not if we're smart about it," Ben replied. "We don't need to spread it everywhere. The poison should only activate when we have intruders. We can mix it with the fog to make it harder for them to realize what's happening."
"How potent do you want it?"
"It'd be best if it could kill anyone weaker than me instantly while someone at my level takes a few minutes." Ben knew that with his absurd regeneration rate, a poison strong enough to kill him would have to destroy all his cells at once. If even a handful survived for a moment, they'd have enough time to regenerate—meaning he'd live. But there was no way Elvira had a method like that. If she did, they wouldn't have struggled so much against the hell worm.
But Elvira's next words surprised him. "Honestly, I can make something like that—if I had the right materials. But for now, the best I can do is a paralyzing effect for beings that strong, and at best, it'd last a second."
"What? You can actually make something like that? What materials do you need?"
"It takes many, but the main ones are extremely rare. Nethersting Venom, a drop of Void Serpent's heart-blood, and a fully bloomed Lunacry Lotus."
"Have you ever seen any of them?"
"Only Nethersting Venom. It's extracted from Duskrend Scorpions found in the Dead Ruins. That venom is more like a curse than a poison—it eats away at the target's life essence. As for the others, they're practically myths. The Void Serpent is said to appear only when chaos unfolds. And the last one, the Lunacry Lotus, supposedly grows only in places where moonlight can reach."
"This place has moonlight?" Ben asked, intrigued. If that were true, then somewhere down here, a tunnel must lead directly to the surface.
"That's what makes it feel like a myth," Elvira said, shaking her head. "As far as I know, we don't have anything like that down here. No one's ever seen the surface, not in my lifetime, not in anyone's. How about your planet?" She paused, her eyes narrowing with curiosity. "I've only read about it in books, old stories passed down through generations… but that's all they are. Stories."
"On my world, moonlight is just… normal. It's there every night. No one really thinks much about it."
Elvira's gaze lingered on the dim glow of the crystals above. "I really wonder what the vast sky looks like."
Ben let out a small hum, thinking. "Hard to say, honestly. It's nothing special if you grew up with it. But a lot of people from my world would pay a ton of money just to come to a place . Seeing all these glowing crystals… some would even say it's worth dying for."
Elvira turned to him, frowning. "Worth dying for? Just for a view?"
Ben let out a dry chuckle. He didn't personally know anyone who had done it, but he had seen far too many videos of people dying while caving or climbing, all for the sake of chasing a breathtaking view. "Well, people have different hobbies. Anyway, how does the paralyzing poison work?"
Elvira pointed upward. "That crystal—I can use it to create fog-like particles that react to my mana signature. Once triggered, they explode in a burst of bright light, blinding everyone in the area."
Ben raised a brow. "Blinding? Like a flashbang?"
Elvira tilted her head. "It doesn't just affect sight. It disrupts all sensory perception. You wouldn't be able to hear, feel, or even sense mana properly."
Ben gave the crystal a thoughtful look. "So, you can turn these Eldergleams into a weapon?"
Elvira blinked. "Eldergleam?" She frowned, glancing at the crystal again. "I usually just call them Gleam Crystals." She spread her mana and began probing the crystal, her curiosity piqued. 'It felt… different.' She had always used Gleam Crystals as a medium for storing her magic, but the process was never simple.
The crystal had to be processed first, depending on the spell she wanted to imbue. For example, if she wanted to store fire magic, she had to heat it up until it turned to liquid, then infuse it with mana before it cooled and hardened again.
Ben crossed his arms. "So that's a yes. What exactly can you make with it?"
Elvira's eyes gleamed with excitement as she began listing off various possibilities, all while continuing to probe the crystal. The more she examined it, the more convinced she became—this material was better than what she usually used.
Normally, imbuing magic into a crystal caused a loss in effectiveness—about 20% degradation, sometimes more depending on the complexity of the spell and the skill of the caster. With her ability, she could push effectiveness up to 90%, a number already considered extremely high.
But this crystal… it felt like she could push even further. The thought ignited a spark inside her—a desire to experiment.
Ben listened to everything she had to say before starting to chime in, giving out his own ideas. Each one made Elvira's excitement grow.
Ben's suggestions gave her ideas she never would have considered on her own. Her knowledge was deeply rooted in mana manipulation, but Ben came from a world where education covered all subjects, even if most people ended up in miserable jobs that barely used it.
What would a construction worker use knowledge of virus biology for? Ben always wondered about this, but now it gave him understanding on how things react to each other. Allowing him to give suggestions on ideas that can turn into new spells.
Time passed on, Elvira floated high inspecting the Eldergleam crystal while Ben started digging, creating an area for Elvira's lab and Eldergleam production.