Chương 97: The Rootbound Depths

The Golden Mortar's dark exterior came into view as Cal walked the village's brisk morning streets. Pushing open its whispershroud pine door, he found Selara standing behind the black granite counter with her silver-blond hair tied back in a braid. She wore a devilish grin that immediately sent alarm bells blaring through his mind. Two sets of camping gear sat on the polished countertop. Bedrolls, waterproof tarps, and compact cooking kits were laid out next to coils of rope and other assortments.

Cal stopped short. He looked from the gear to Selara and back again. One of his eyebrows lifted. Her grin grew wider.

"Surprise, apprentice," she said, not bothering to stifle her amusement.

"I'm coming with you." Cal opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I thought you trusted me to handle this on my own."

"I do." She leaned forward, palms on the counter.

"But there's a difference between knowing you won't die out there in some monster den and passing up a superb teaching opportunity." He looked at her askance.

"You planned this."

"Days ago."

"And you didn't mention it because…?"

"Because watching you prepare for a solo trip was part of the test," Selara said, straightening as she reached for one of the packs.

"You treated it with appropriate diligence. You did your research, stocked the right supplies, and are well prepared. That's the mindset you need to maintain - never depend on someone else to save you."

"Fair enough." He sighed, hefting the second pack while she stored hers in her void ring.

"Does your brother know?"

"Indeed," came the alchemist's response. The laboratory door swung open to reveal Aurelian, who looked as if he had been dredged from a tomb. His hair defied gravity at odd angles, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes. Holding a steaming mug, he walked with the tense energy of a man operating on caffeine and willpower.

"At last," he said, his voice short.

"Perhaps now I can work in peace without your unending commentary on my methods." Selara made a face.

"You'll miss me by midday."

"I truly doubt that."

"You always do." Aurelian took a long swallow from his mug, his eyes already drifting back toward the lab.

"Try not to get eaten by something with too many teeth. The official reports would be tedious." Her smile turned mischievous.

"Love you too, brother." The alchemist made a slight gesture with his free hand and vanished back into his laboratory. Cal and Selara looked at each other.

"He worries," she said.

"He hides it well."

"He's had a lot of practice." The South Gate was opened without any fanfare, as the guards on duty gave Selara a respectful bow and Cal a brief look before letting them pass. The Delver's Trace extended southwest from the gate, a dirt path worn into the forest floor by countless boots over decades. They walked in silence on the Trace, which was wide enough for them to move side by side. The air was thick with moisture that condensed on the broad leaves of ferns and dripped from moss-covered branches.

He directed his perception across the undergrowth, seeking the specific signatures of valuable herbs, but the path had been stripped bare by the constant traffic of foragers and adventurers. A few hours passed as Aurum and its golden light rose higher in the sky. Selara lifted a hand and pointed.

"Here." They angled west, leaving the Trace behind as the ground cover became denser and the canopy sealed overhead, casting the forest floor in a dim haze. Cal adjusted the grip on his spear and kept his perception running, noticing how the background thrum of spiritual energy slowly increased in volume, a building intensity that registered at the edge of his awareness. After a few more hours of pushing through tangled ferns and stepping over decaying logs, they found the stream as Cinder crested the horizon.

It was a narrow ribbon of sparkling water flowing over smooth stones no more than three feet across, its banks lined with carpets of emerald moss. Selara knelt by the water, cupped a handful, and drank deeply.

"This is it. We'll follow the stream west to its end, and that will put us at the eastern edge of the Depths." Crouching beside her, Cal filled his waterskin with water so frigid it made his teeth throb when he drank some. He corked the skin and stood to chart the stream's path as it meandered deeper into the forest. They followed the water, and the current's sound became their companion, its gentle gurgle a counterpoint to the peaceful stillness of the deeper woods.

Cal's beam of perception swept across the creek bed and snagged on a faint aura. Stopping, he turned his full attention to a cluster of pale blue fungi growing on a half-submerged log. High F-tier. He knelt beside the log and drew his harvesting knife, calling, "Hold up." Selara doubled back to peer over his shoulder.

"Good eye, that's azure ghyllcap. It's a key ingredient in—""Mental enhancement elixirs," Cal finished without looking up.

"The azure color represents an essence that helps temporarily boost Mind attunements. Aurelian gave me a recipe that can use it and I've been wanting to try it out." He cut the cluster free and wrapped it carefully in a preservation cloth. Cal glanced up at her to see lips curved into a grin as she said, "All right, showoff. No need to recite the textbook for me." He smirked back.

"This is a test, right? Need to make sure I pass." Rising to his feet, he gestured around them.

"The ambient energy is stronger here, and the spirit herbs feel more potent than what grows near the village." Selara nodded.

"We're nearing the Deadfall dungeon's sphere of influence. The essence spring radiates power constantly, saturating everything around it. The closer you get to the source, the richer the environment becomes." They continued downstream. The spiritual hum of the woods swelled, and Cal continued to identify other spirit herbs, their auras brighter and denser than anything he'd found near the village. However, his growing excitement was undercut by the mounting mental fatigue of maintaining his active perception.

The effort was like holding a flashlight beam steady while trying to inventory a massive warehouse in the dark; it worked, but it was profoundly inefficient. Cal pushed through a curtain of hanging moss and stopped. A mosshide bear cub stood at the stream's edge lapping water with a pink tongue. It was the size of a large dog, its fur a fluffy brown that had yet to develop the mossy coat of its namesake. Round ears swiveled toward them, and its big, curious black eyes fixed on Cal as it raised its head.

It looked absurdly cute. His grip on the spear tightened as he set his stance. Selara kept walking. Eyes darting between her and the cub, Cal hesitated. She continued without a care in the world, casually striding down the creek bed like she owned the place. The cub's head lowered, and its ears flattened as a low growl rumbled in its throat. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. A spiritual force projected from Selara.

It felt like she was flexing her aura in a directed surge of power, a silent broadcast of dominance that poured from her like heat from a flame. The cub's growl turned into a terrified squeak. Scrambling backwards and paws slipping on wet stone, it bolted into the thicket where the ferns swallowed it in moments. Selara glanced back at Cal.

"They're adorable when they're young, aren't they?" He nodded dumbly. She wasn't wrong, but he was too distracted to give more of a reply, his mind cataloging other details he couldn't ignore. Five deep gouges were carved into a nearby tree's trunk. Each groove was as thick as his forearm, scoring the bark in a vertical slash from which transparent sap wept in shining droplets. He looked at Selara's retreating back. She was already twenty yards upstream, walking with her typical unhurried confidence.

Following, Cal didn't loosen the hold on his spear. The background energy intensified with each mile, and his awareness continuously combed across the forest floor, picking out clusters of spirit herbs with increasing frequency that he would occasionally stop to collect. The problem of using such a narrow search method still gnawed at him. He could almost grasp the answer lurking at the edge of his understanding, a missing piece that would unlock a more effective method of areal scanning.

He put the frustration aside and kept walking. The sound of running water grew louder as the trees began to thin. Light filtered through the canopy in broader shafts, illuminating clouds of mist rising from somewhere ahead. The stream terminated at the edge of a cliff. Cal stepped to the precipice and looked down. A waterfall cascaded into a crystal-clear pool thirty yards below, the water frothing white at the base and sending up a fine spray that caught the light in dazzling rainbows.

Beyond the pool, the Rootbound Depths spread out in a maze of impossible biology. The trees resembled giant mangroves, their colossal roots twisted above the ground to form a three-dimensional labyrinth. Some roots arched overhead like cathedral vaults, while others plunged into the earth at severe angles to create shadowed tunnels and open-air bowls. Dark hollows yawned between the gnarled wood. The entire structure was alive.

Moss draped every surface in emerald and viridian, and ferns sprouted from pockets of soil trapped in the root network. The spiritual saturation was so dense it was like breathing syrup. Cal stood transfixed. Selara stepped up beside him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"I was thinking mildly intimidating."

"That too." She held out her hand.

"Give me your gear. I'll store it in my ring for the climb down." Cal blinked.

"You could have offered that a few miles ago." Selara grinned impishly.

"And miss the character-building opportunity? Not a chance, apprentice." He shook his head, biting back a retort and handing her his pack and spear. Selara channeled Mana into the silver band on her finger, causing a faint glimmer to ripple through the air as the pack and spear vanished. Cal turned back to the cliff face, seeking handholds. The rock was slick with moisture and covered in patches of moss and lichen. He found a promising outcropping and reached for it— Something connected hard with his backside.

Arms windmilling as the world tilted, his gut dropped as he was catapulted over the edge.

"Whaaaaaaaa—" The pool rushed up to meet him. He hit the water with a harsh slap that drove the air from his lungs, a full-body shock immediately followed by the suffocating chill of winterized, spring-fed water. An icy grip seized him, and his lungs felt heavy. Disorientation spun him in the churning current beneath the waterfall. Up! Which way is up!? The clear water helped him orient on the sky. Cal kicked hard, breaking the surface to gasp for air as the waterfall roared in his ears.

Clumsy, desperate strokes pulled him through the frigid liquid, his soaked clothes and armor dragging at his limbs. A notification chimed at the edge of his awareness. [New Skill Gained: Swimming (F) - Novice] You have got to be kidding me! The thought sparked a burst of outrage that this was how he learned to swim in this world. His arms and legs finally synced, clumsily pulling him through the frigid water toward the shore.

The only patch of open ground was a twenty-yard stretch of rocky ground between the pool and the gnarled entrance to the Depths. His boots scraped stone. Cal hauled himself onto the bank and collapsed onto his hands and knees as water streamed from his hair and clothes. Shaking with uncontrollable shivers, he looked up at the clifftop. Selara stood at the edge by the waterfall, doubled over laughing. When she finally saw him looking at her she gave him a brief wave. Then she jumped.

Her descent was an act of impossible grace and strength as she pushed from the ledge with a casual flex of her legs. Fifteen yards down, her boots found a rocky ledge where she absorbed the momentum with barely bent knees, paused for a heartbeat, and launched herself toward the shore. She cleared the entire pool and landed in a perfect crouch next to him, her laughter starting back up again while her casual display of D-tier power and control left him in awe.

His chattering teeth quickly overwhelmed how impressive her feat was.

"What... the hell... was that... for?" She straightened, brushing imaginary dust from her legs.

"You needed a bath after the long walk."

"I'm… going to—" She raised one hand, and a visible wave of heat flowed from her palm. The warmth enveloped Cal like a blanket, and his soaked clothes began to steam as water evaporated as wisps of vapor, rising through the cool air in thick clouds. The penetrating chill fled before the advancing heat, chased from his bones by a soothing comfort that felt different from any warmth he'd ever experienced. In seconds, he was completely dry and the shivering stopped.

Cal pushed himself to his feet, indignation warring with grudging admiration. Selara let her smile fade and her face turned serious, the shift so abrupt it suppressed the retort forming on his tongue.

"You needed more than a bath, Cal," she said.

"You needed a wake-up call. In the wilds, just like in a dungeon, you die the moment you stop treating the person next to you as a potential threat. Never turn your back unless you trust that person with your life." The words conjured the mental image of a meeting room. Asim Umar's easy smile as he put a hand on Caleb's shoulder.' Great work on the TechTurn proposal, Foster. I'll make sure the director sees it.'

Three days later, Umar stood before the board with Caleb's slides, his own name replacing Caleb's on every page. The sting of that sanitized deception had taught him that trust was a commodity and competence was leverage. People would smile even as they positioned the knife. Selara's lesson was the same principle, stripped of politeness and delivered with a boot to the rear. Cal nodded slowly.

"Point taken."

"Good. Now, let's set up camp before second dusk. You have a lot of work to do tomorrow." They pitched camp as Aurum began its descent toward the horizon. The rocky shore provided a flat position with unobstructed sightlines, and Cal spread one of the bottles of mosshide bear repellent in a wide circle around their site, its acrid chemical smell mixing with the damp earth and moss.

Selara built a fire and lit it with her magic, the flames crackling to life, casting dancing light against the massive roots of the Depths as the golden sun faded. Cal sat across from her, toasting his hands.

"That warming Spell you used. That's fire magic?"

"It is." Selara poked at the fire with a stick, sending up a shower of sparks.

"My mother's side of the family has a natural affinity for fire, which makes those Spells easier to learn and more potent to use. Both Aurelian and I inherited the bloodline." Cal realized the implications of the confession and said, "Thank you for telling me that. For trusting me." She laughed softly.

"It's not much of a secret. Around here, perhaps? But where we're from… everyone who's anyone knows." They lapsed into a comfortable silence; the fire crackling against the waterfall's steady background roar. Selara reached for a stick and began sketching in the dirt.

"Since we're on the subject of magic let me teach you something useful." He leaned forward to get a better look. She drew a circle, adding a smaller symbol at its center composed of four distinct rays extending from the cardinal points.

"This is the [Lux] rune, which governs light and vision." She indicated the central symbol.

"By itself it's little more than a flash." Below the circle she drew a second rune that resembled two triangles joined at their apexes like an hourglass.

"The [Continuance] rune acts as a reservoir, allowing a Spell to draw on stored Mana to sustain its effect." A sustained power source... like a battery? Selara completed the framework with a third rune at the top, the crescent shape of [Control].

"Put them together and you get [Light Orb], a simple, practical utility cantrip." She brushed the dirt from her hands.

"Try it." Cal extended his hand and drew a thread of Mana, letting it coalesce at his fingertip like a sapphire bead. Sketching the rune for light, he then wove the sigil to power it around its core. He drew a simple square beneath them to anchor the design, with thin tethers of energy extended from its corners locking the other runes into a glowing construct that floated an inch above his waiting palm. Selara walked around him.

"Your [Lux] is tilted. Straighten the vertical axis." Cal made the correction and the magical blueprint shifted.

"Better. Now prime the [Continuance] rune with Mana, just a small amount." He did, then projected his Intent through the [Control] rune and the Mana flowed into the structure to ignite it. A small sphere of white light kindled above his hand. Mesmerized, Cal watched the orb hover above his skin, casting steady illumination across the camp. [New Spell Gained: Light Orb (F) - Novice] A relaxed smile spread across her face.

"Well done, apprentice." Cal held his hand steady, focusing his Intent on the sphere. He issued a silent command, a nudge of pure will. The orb obediently lifted from his palm and began a slow, graceful orbit around his wrist, its movement disconnected from his own. The Spell thrummed in his perception, a stable container of power slowly generating light without any further input from him. I could attach this rune to other Spells to create sustained effects instead of having to constantly feed them.

He let the magic dissolve, the light winking out.

"Thank you."

"You'll need it tomorrow. The Depths can get dark." They settled into their bedrolls as the fire burned low. Cal practiced the Spell three more times, gaining proficiency as each iteration came quicker than the last. Above them, the huge roots of the Depths arched like the ribs of some ancient beast, shadows moving across the gnarled wood. Cal cupped the [Light Orb] in his hands one final time, its constant glow pushing back the darkness. The lessons were over. Tomorrow, the true test would begin.