Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 586 - 53 Untransmittable Voice_1

Chapter 586: Chapter 53 Untransmittable Voice_1

Before Catherine lies an underground river thirty meters wide. The roar of the fierce current suggests just how turbulent it is. Not far ahead, the river takes a turn and, at that corner, massive volumes of water crash against the river bank, sending sprays high into the air and making the already humid surroundings even more damp. Standing by the bank, one wouldn’t have to wait long before their clothes were soaked through. However, the typically oppressive heat had eased considerably by the waterside, thanks to the Water Elemental properties reducing the temperature significantly. It had made the explorers feel so much more comfortable that they were now somewhat reluctant to part with this riverbank.

"This is so strange," Pannis walked up to the bank, his brow furrowed, stroking his chin and commented, "Did any of you hear the river when we were outside the cave earlier? I know I didn’t."

"Huh?" As soon as Pannis mentioned it, Catherine immediately understood the incongruity that had been bothering her earlier. It was just as Pannis had said. They only had to cross a tunnel less than ten meters in length and yet, heard not a shred of the river’s noise from outside it. Even when they were already inside the tunnel and could see the vastness of the underground river, they heard no sound from the current. It was only after they’d entered the exposed portion of the cavern that the sound of the river had suddenly manifested, "I never noticed until you pointed it out, indeed, we never heard any sound from the water earlier. Mr. Ike, has this place always been so peculiar?"

"Haha, I finally managed to floor you, didn’t I?" Guide Ike held his bushy beard, his face, as withered as tree bark, pleased and smiling, "All along the way, especially Pannis, had only shown minimal surprise no matter what strange thing you came across, without showing any of the shock or confusion you’d expect from first-timers in this place. I’ve finally caught you off guard now, right? Hahaha Yes, this is exactly the way it has always been here. The sound of the river cannot be heard from outside it, that’s the most unique feature of this place."

"What could be causing this?" Lina toyed with the silver tresses at her temples, her eyes twinkling with curiosity, "There’s nothing special about this place, could it be because of these plants by the shore?"

Except for Catherine, who was leading the way, everyone else had kept their shoulder lamps off until now. It was partly to save on crystal power, which was Catherine’s idea, but more so because of the second reason. The situation here was unlike that in the Crying Cave they’d been to before; everyone had been moving within the comparably tighter confines of tunnels. With just the dim light overhead, they could see their surroundings quite clearly. Turning on the shoulder lamps would only interfere with the teammates walking in front. Therefore, Catherine bore the responsibility of illuminating the way ahead with her shoulder lamp while the others trailed behind her.

Hearing Lina’s words, everyone simultaneously switched on their shoulder lamps and looked around. The underground river was located in an elliptical cave. The river cut through the longest parts of the ellipse. The cavern was over forty meters high, exceeding the height of some of the tunnels they’d traversed on the level above. However, due to the location, it was not connected to the upper level. On the banks of the river, they observed numerous trees that reached all the way up to the top of the cave. While they couldn’t discern the true color of the leaves, they appeared to be ash-grey and deep purple under the light. Clearly rich in metal, the brittle and hard leaves made a tinkling sound when they fell to the ground.

Catherine activated her Aggression Shield and cautiously walked over to a tree. Just as she had suspected, the trunk was full of metal elements like the leaves. Tapping it felt like tapping a sword. If it wasn’t for the fallen leaves on the ground, these trees could easily be mistaken for inanimate objects. Catherine unsheathed her one-handed sword, channeled her Aggression into it and gently made a cut on the tree trunk. The metallic ring that resulted was clear. However, the gash was quite shallow.

"Vivian." Picking up a few different-colored leaves, Catherine handed them over to the young mage, "Burn these."

Vivian took one leaf with two fingers. With a flick of her wrist, a flame sparked to life at the tip of her fingers engulfing the leaf. The flame was more violent than they’d expected and the leaf more resistant. It took a full two minutes before the palm-sized leaf was completely consumed. Holding her hand up as though supporting something, Vivian shook her head, "Looks like your hypothesis didn’t work out, big sister. This rigid material cannot be made into armor, and it isn’t good for heat forging either. But look, these are the residues left behind after being burned."

Catherine stepped forward to inspect it closely under the light. On Vivian’s gloves were several tiny, pitch-black residues; they felt like scraps of metal. Catherine picked up one, examined it against the light and asked after a while, "This looks like metal?"

"This is copper, pure copper," Vivian explained, "I’ve never heard of any plant being able to incorporate and grow with a metal. But that appears to be exactly what these trees here have done. There must be a copper vein deep under them. Somehow they’ve absorbed massive amounts of copper and ended up like this."

"Forget it; it’s unusable. We’ve tried before," Ike advised, "Over seventy years ago, someone managed to carry out a few branches and gave them to the goblins for analysis. The goblins collaborated with numerous scholars from the Mage Guilds on a five-year long research project. The conclusion? Except for being extra durable when used as firewood, these have no other value."

"What a pity, I thought we could make armor to sell." Catherine helplessly threw away the leaf, not particularly disappointed since she didn’t have high hopes in the first place: "These plants seem very peculiar, but logically, they shouldn’t be able to silence sound."

"By that logic, this place logically shouldn’t be able to support the growth of such trees, given there’s no sunlight." Pannis suddenly drew his sword, and those around him could feel the strange energy representing domain power imbuing his body, elevating him to peak power. He then chopped a tree in half from the middle: "If I were to speculate wildly, I would guess that these trees survive by absorbing enormous sound waves. The sounds here ordinarily don’t reach the outside because they absorb all the sound waves, and they must have a unique method of creating a barrier at the cave entrance, reflecting the sound waves meant to escape back into the cave for their absorption."

"Why would you chop it?" Catherine frowned as the one-meter thick tree thunderously fell, after the roaring sound, she said: "Indeed, the echoes didn’t last as long as they would in a normal cave, but when I called you guys over earlier, you heard me, didn’t you? Oh, right, I remembered. I was still standing at the entrance of the cave, I hadn’t entered."

"Anyway, it’s just speculative. Guess if you like. As to whether it’s true or not, I suspect even if you wait hundreds of years, nobody might know." Pannis measured the broken trunk, then swung his sword again. The demigod’s force was indeed fearsome, a casual cleave separated a roughly thirty-centimeter-long log from the trunk. Hefting it in his left hand, Pannis nodded and said, "Indeed, it’s just like I imagined. This wood is rather light, lighter than the same volume of solid wood. How interesting, even though it contains a vast amount of metal, it’s lighter than the wood."

"Are you planning to use it to craft something?" Lina curiously watched Pannis’s maneuvering: "But the hardness is so high, it would be tough to effectively process it by cleaving or slicing. What can you make?"

"Apart from cleaving and slicing, isn’t there also polishing?" Pannis smiled mysteriously and tied the stump to his back with a rope: "As for what I’m going to make, that’s a secret for now. Hehe, you’ll know once I finish it."

Lina gave him an annoyed look and walked to the riverbank, aiming the beam of her shoulder lamp into the water. The river was wide, with turbulent rapids, but the water was extremely clear, you could almost see the smooth pebbles at the riverbed through the fast-flowing water. Between the pebbles, various aquatic creatures that lived here year-round occasionally swam by. Their sizes might not be as exaggerated as their terrestrial counterparts, but they were still considerably larger than their kin on the Yarran Continent. Lina waved her hand and released a divine spell to detect toxins into the river. After confirming that there were no toxic components in the water, she then crouched down at the bank, dipped her hand into the water, and frowned, "Why is the temperature so high? It’s almost as hot as the hot springs in Senaya."

"Maybe there’s a gathering point of fire-attributed leyline energy along the path it’s traveled, or it passed by the edge of a magma pool." Catherine suggested:" But I recommend you move away from the riverbank first."

"What, you spotted a magical beast?" Lina shook the water off her hands and stood up.

"Not yet." Catherine shook her head. "However, there’s a high possibility of magical beasts lurking in waters this unclear. Have you forgotten what happened to us when we were adventuring outside the border of the Dragon Worship Autonomous Prefecture in Neville? I definitely don’t want to see you get dragged under by some suddenly appearing monster and almost drown in chest-deep water again. And with the strong current here, you probably would be swept away as soon as you fell in, leaving no chance for us to save you."

"Don’t worry, sis. There’s no way I could forget that ordeal." Despite the comforting words from Lina’s mouth, she obediently took a few steps back away from the riverbank, "Look, the water is so clear. If there’s a magical beast hiding underneath, we couldn’t possibly miss it. It’s not like we’re blind."

Just as Lina’s words fell and she had just moved away from the river bank, the river’s surface suddenly exploded. A blurred shadow, accompanied by splashing water and loud splashes, sprang up from the river bottom. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to visit qidian.com to recommend votes and bingo, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)