By the time Kai had brought everyone under the mist and onto the rocky ground, Baal had been staring at the lizard carcass for over ten minutes.

  “Any idea how to cut into this yet?” Lily asked the stoic chef.

  Baal turned to look at her, his calm gaze lingering for a few seconds before answering.

  “A few.”

  Unlike his brother, who had inhaled spores half a year ago, his voice still retained its sonorous tone.

  The young girl stared at the man who calmly met her gaze.

  “...So~. How you planning to cook it up?” Lily asked, breaking their silent stares as she turned to observe the beats.

  “The scales are too hard to pierce through; even with my best obsidian knife, it would barely scratch it.”

  Lily's eyes widened at the comment. If these scales could handle enchanted obsidian, they were likely as strong as pillar-rock, or at least close to it.

  Maybe I should keep a few to take back with me, she thought.

  “I’m going to have to break the jaws and carve it from the inside out,” Baal explained as he started to walk towards the mouth and took out the aforementioned shining black dagger.

  Lily watched him work for a while before taking out a similarly sized blade of her own and starting to cut into the jaw on the other side of the mouth.

  Baal threw her a quiet glance before continuing on his side.

  It took them around half an hour to break the jaws, cut from the mouth down to the shoulders, and separate the top and bottom halves of the head. Once they had done this, they began to cut into the body and extract the organs.

  Vaal had come to join them by the time they reached the organs and was helping to separate and lay them out on the floor for inspection.

  Beast parts could often be used for concocting useful spells or ground up for use in drugs later on, so keeping them separate and clean was a habit formed when preparing their kills.

  While the three of them were dissecting the giant beast, Song and Beri were securing the perimeter and walking in circles to the area to make sure nothing else came too close.

  Song would occasionally tap his drum a few times and stop to listen for any echoing sounds. Meanwhile, Beri’s bondshroom would start to itch if it sensed any danger they had missed.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Harold, the old guide, hadn’t stayed patient for long before excusing himself to survey the surroundings and make more notes in his journal.

  He would occasionally walk from through the landing zone muttering about ancient texts and old rumours that he was sure meant something. The others were used to his zealous obsessions and left him be.

  Kai and Myst were having a moment to discuss what he had experienced and learned from his brief encounter with the beast.

  “That’s not possible.” Myst interrupted. “There are no rocks, or minerals that can contain that much heat and not melt.”

  “But that is what I saw.” Kai tried to explain to his doubt-filled colleague.

  “The lizard spat out a large rock at me that was as hot as the Red Sea, but it was solid, like this island.”

  The two were arguing next to the very material that Kai had barely managed to avoid being struck by.

  After the heat had dissipated, the large rock had cooled into a white-grey material about half its original size. Which was impressive, not least considering that it currently reached Kai’s shoulders.

  “When I look at this rock, I can see the same mottled, earthy, clumps of rock as I did in the Unwithered beast. The only difference is that while the lizard was an earthy-red, this one is grey-white.”

  “So what?” The Sorceress replied irritatedly. “Are you saying you’ve discovered some new element of the Tao after all this time, hidden within the second realm, that nobody has ever heard about?”

  “Eternals! Your pathetic delusions are flaring up again.”

  Kai slightly recoiled at the accusation that caused the short-fused sorceress to abandon them back in the Blue Sea outpost.

  “That’s not what I’m saying,” Kai tried to explain.

  “Then what?” She snapped back.

  “I believe I can answer that one,” stated a calm voice from the side.

  The two turned their heads to see the sight of the old guide wandering up to them with a knowing look and gentle gaze.

  The sorceress only scowled at the interrupter.

  “I think this is metal.” He explained, pointing to the shiny sphere between the two of them.

  “Metal?”

  “Metal?”

  They both replied, equally confused at the unknown term.

  Harold let out a small chuckle as he began to explain.

  “I’m not surprised you don’t know about it. Most shamans tend to use natural materials, metal is a byproduct of processing minerals in specific ways. It also doesn’t exist in the upper layer.”

  “Simply put, metal is the name given to materials made from a group of minerals, found in rocks at the bottom of the Blue Sea, that are heated up and separated to purify them. They hold aspects of fire, earth, and rock. With some of them having additional aspects such as lightning.”

  “Lightning!” Both the sorceress’s mood and ears perked up at the mention of her aspect.

  She reached down to put her hands on the metal sphere and seeped her aether into it. Her frown returned when she felt no resonant reaction as she turned to question the man.

  Raising his hands in surrender at her harsh glare, Harold explained that only some metals had the properties.

  “So what if it is metal?” Kai asked before the sorceress acted on her mood. She was known for disliking several members of the group already, and he didn’t want to add their guide to that list.

  “Well… With that much, if you brought all that back to the frontier, the plutocracy would probably buy it off you with enough funds to start a town of your own.”

  Kai’s eyes began to sparkle at the thought.

  The sorceress glared at her daydreaming leader.