Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 676 - 676: Quintessence

Uriel was left completely dumbfounded on the scene as he realized that the ancient legacy treasured for generations was lost forever, the golden city turned to cinders, Father of horrors ghosted him after he turned in the tribal head dress without offering a reward and he also missed any chance at exerting revenge from Mason, the man responsible for releasing the nameless creature from its prison.

"Don't beat yourself up for that, at least you have your clay thingies." Nika who until a minute ago had been bickering with Uriel about the cost to set an archaeological dig site on the crater and also the risks it implied, was now trying to comfort him as though the past discussion didn't take place at all.

"I'm not, this was somebody's fault. Find out who's that creepy woman, I want to have a chat with her." Uriel was seething in anger as his eyes glinted in blue letting out the excess energy being channeled throughout his body. The fact that emotions had an effect on a hunter's flux output was not a secret and Nika immediately understood Uriel was being completely serious.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Emma butted in as she dragged Amy by her cat-like tail.

"Stop it! Don't!" Amy cried and despite being capable of morphing her body back into a normal human, she didn't do it in case she needed to make a run for it.

"And why exactly is that? She was recording everything and we can't let her share any of our secrets. Besides, Mark will probably lie to her and pin down all this on us. I don't want to be exiled from another city without a damn good reason."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that. She's been investigating the cryptid outbreak in Hollywood and she doesn't need Mark to make us look guilty. This battle was lost before even starting." Emma explained, then pushed Amy in front of Uriel. "All because this moron couldn't be bothered to keep out people as she was told to."

"I'm sorry, it was my fault. If you're going to punish me, please spare my face." Amy gave her best impression of puppy eyes, or kitten eyes in her case, while looking apologetically at him and lowering her ears.

"I'm not going to hit you." Uriel wondered if maybe he had been to cold to the rest of the company or if he projected the image of being too strict.

"Right, that's my job." Nika nodded.

"Nika... what's all this about?" Uriel mechanically turned his head towards the air headed bodyguard and acting CEO of the company. He wasn't against the idea of punishing people for their mistakes, but they not only needed to relate to how big of a mistake it was and its consequences.

Also, it needed to be a fitting punishment that left a lesson behind, more than physical punishment a week without pay or something like that would have been more adequate on his mind.

"It's called administrative punishment." She shrugged at the same time dawn broke through the horizon revealing the aftermath caused by the creature in full.

If the city of San Antonio was considered a lost city before, now it was indistinguishable from the barrenlands around it. The scorched earth and the rocky landscape with scattered debris here and there made everyone present realize how naturally it blended with what surrounded it and they all arrived at the same conclusion at the same time.

The explosion caused by the nameless had been a catastrophe, it was a display of power beyond what they could imagine, but the worst of all was they realizing that it wasn't as uncommon as they thought before.

"This would be a good time to make a Vlog." Medusa's attempt to change the subject was so blatant even she was surprised when it worked.

Uriel took out his phone and took a selfie, not before giving everyone some time to compose themselves, though the only one who did so was Luna. The underarmor Medusa crafted for her didn't receive any damage but it was completely covered in dirt which she dusted with her hands covered in bandages, but gave up when she realized the only thing she achieved was to get her bandages dirty.

"Hello friends, this is Uriel Sage along with Medusa, Luna and Nika. We ventured..." Uriel started.

"Don't forget about Bella." Medusa interrupted him.

"And Bella too," Uriel corrected himself with a grumble, then continued. "We ventured inside the dungeon behind the Alamo once more with the intention to collect the ancient relics and well, we got two of them."

Uriel produced the buckskin and the hatchet from his museum, though they didn't look anything like they did in the past. The hatchet that used to be made of pure orichalcum was now a regular stick with a blunt stone in the head and some feathers decorating it on the bottom while the buckskin lacked any decoration at all.

"No way, they lost their power!" Nika gasped at their ordinary appearance, but Uriel reaction was more severe.

Each incursion, every expedition he had ever participated in had turned in a net positive. Even when the Mapple corp denied him his pay he still returned with the orichalcum dagger and much stronger than he ever believed possible, but now all of his effort had been for absolutely nothing which left him completely distraught.

"I think I know why this happened," Medusa muttered, then continued hesitantly. "It's just a theory but this might provide us with a lot of answers."

"What kind of answers?" Uriel turned to look at Medusa who by that point was examining the items Uriel had in front of him, which took a long time since she couldn't use her eyes.

"Luna what happens when a living creature is exposed to flux energy in its natural state?" Medusa asked.

"It evolves or dies." Her answer was as brief and factual, which meant she was interested in hearing what Medusa had to say.

"When matter is exposed to flux energy similar things happen. For instance, there's a theory that claims that when copper is exposed to flux for a long period of time it turns into orichalcum as they share many properties, the difference being that orichalcum is better in all aspects.

If this was the case, it would be safe to assume that the same applies to gold and other materials too." Medusa explained.

"If that truly was the case, don't you think we would have encountered this materials before?" Uriel asked.

"And that is my point exactly, we have. The material of which dungeons are built of is still a mystery, be it because they keep it a secret or because no one actually knows." Medusa shrugged.

"That's interesting and all, but it's of no use to us. There was an entire city made of gold and now it's just junk." Nika pouted.

"They're priceless artifacts." Uriel corrected, offended by Nika calling the cultural objects junk.

"My point exactly, they don't have a price because they can't be sold." Nika stomped her feet.

"Maybe they can... hear me out," Medusa cleared her throat before continuing because she knew what she was going to say next would likely change not just their course of action, but likely their entire perspective on life. "I've tried to replicate the Red thread of fate many times, the same as I've tried to craft artifacts for a long time and it's always resulted in failure.

My technique has improved, my abilities have improved and also my knowledge, but there's a key element missing and I think I know what it is now: soul."

"Soul as in pouring your hear in your work or..." Nika fell silent before continuing.

"Actual souls of living people." Medusa said with a deadpan expression.

"The quintessence..." Luna fumbled to herself and Uriel continued.

"So you're saying that your very soul is trapped inside this dagger?" Uriel said as he produced the dagger from his trait.

"Not trapped, but linked." Medusa shook her head.

"It would explain why you could only craft a single artifact and no more, since people are supposed to posses just one soul." Uriel nodded while pondering if he could use the souls he had stored in the book of the dead and despite being unable to see the face he was making Medusa knew what crossed his mind.

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, it's a bad idea. You mentioned before that all the souls stored in the book of the dead became tainted. If we attempted to craft something using those souls it would likely result in cursed objects."

"We're back at square one." Nika heaved a sigh.

"Like I said before, that's not necessarily the case." Medusa said as she gestured her friends to get closer and proceeded to explain her idea. It was simple, yet it shook their world as it offered both hope and suffering for the future in equal manner.

"Let's do it." Uriel gave voice to everyone's opinion as they held hands making a small but tight knit circle.