PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“She is a good girl.” Desmond commented to himself with some humor. “I can’t wait to see what kind of artifacts she will create with the gems she took with her.” Desmond added.

Pushing the random thoughts out of his mind, Desmond continued his journey through the underworld. Apart from a small incident where he almost accidentally entered a poisonous swamp, nothing interesting happened on his fourth day in this place. Though remembering that deceptive-looking swamp, Desmond still had lingering fears.

Desmond was sure that swamp had to be home to at least two high-level gems. One illusion-based, which would explain how he almost drowned in poison like an idiot. And another poison-based gem explaining the damned lake of poison that he almost entered.

But it was one thing to know that there were gems in the swamp and another to be able to obtain them. After careful deliberation that took less than five seconds, Desmond shrugged and took a detour, forgetting about that swamp altogether.

It couldn’t be helped; Desmond had no way of dealing with all the forms of poison he saw in his brief moment there. Combined with powerful illusions, only a suicidal idiot would dare enter that swamp.

Desmond didn’t doubt that there might be people who could get those gems, but he wasn’t interested. To begin with, Desmond wasn’t familiar with illusions or poison, so there was no point in forcing the issue.

Although Desmond found both topics interesting, based on his rudimentary understanding of gems in this place, the gems found here could be separated into three basic groups. Transmutation, Amplification, and Resonance.

The gems that Desmond used to upgrade his guns and his bow fell into the transmutation category, the same as the green bud-shaped gem he gave to Aisha. These were gems that altered the structure or function of other things.

.....

The blue Magatamas that he found and that electric gem that ended up being destroyed belonged to the Amplification type. These were ideal for creating artifacts.

Lastly, there were the Resonance-types. Desmond believed that the magma-like gem Aisha used belonged to this category. These were gems that could be used to understand the powers within them. Desmond called them resonance types because, in his observation, a tremendous affinity with the energies within the gem was needed to harness it to its fullest potential.

Depending on the rudimentary classification Desmond did, he could get an idea of ??how beneficial it might be to acquire certain types of gems. He just needed to see or feel some of their more easily observable properties.

Based on that, Desmond concluded that it would be nearly useless for him to get his hands on poison gems or illusions. So given the risks, he would be too foolish to force the issue.

With that in mind, Desmond managed to put the matter to the back of his head without any reluctance. According to him, Desmond didn’t think he was the rightful owner of all the world’s treasures; that kind of thinking would lead to an early death.

“May not be of interest to me, but still a good place to camp.” Desmond muttered as he looked out over the swamp a short distance away. Desmond surmised that given the swamp’s strange allure, even if someone passed through the area, this person would be too focused on the possible riches within the swamp rather than investigating the surroundings.

A few hours later, a small group arrived at the swamp in what Desmond guessed must be night. Desmond sat watching from a distance with some roast beef in his hand. As he quietly dined, the screams of agony began in the swamp.

Desmond watched as a couple of people jumped into the poison lake as if they couldn’t see it. A few seconds passed full of suffering; then those people stopped fighting, slowly sinking into the poison. Of the group of five, only three remained, which was short-lived, as the rest continued to advance into the depths of the swamp despite the danger.

Within minutes, Desmond lost sight of the remaining people, but he didn’t think he would ever see them again. Desmond spent a not-so-relaxing night, but no incidents took place that included the return of the people who had wandered into the swamp.

“As expected, that place is dangerous.” Desmond said without feeling anything for the people who died a few hours ago.

Desmond turned his attention away, summoning Zero to go deeper into the underworld. According to the map, Desmond was about to reach the beast-infested area where his target was.

Desmond had to dodge some dangerous terrain, likely due to the influence of other high-level gems. Based on the oddities of said locations, Desmond had a rudimentary reading of the nature of the gems he would find. Realizing that none of them were useful to him, Desmond ignored them.

Another day passed, and Desmond almost met his creator when a battle between a scout and a three-star class beast almost ran him over. A casual hit from such existences was superior to the most powerful move in Desmond’s arsenal. If it was not for Zero’s special moving abilities, it was hard to tell if Desmond could have escaped with his life.

“It’s hard not to feel small when monsters like these roamed around.” Desmond commented bitterly as he left the area devastated by the collateral damage of the battle.

After that incident, Desmond did not encounter any further setbacks. For such a vast underground world, there weren’t that many life forms inhabiting the place. Ignoring the abundance of strange phenomena due to the gems’ influence that appears more frequently, there was little to talk about.

Though distant and few in number, the dangers in the underworld were nothing to laugh at, so it made sense that you wouldn’t see as many explorers at this level.

After all, gems appear more frequently in the underground world. But the phenomena produced and the beasts attracted were more dangerous than those found in the upper sections.

In the middle of his fifth day in the underworld, Desmond managed to reach his destination. For a second, Desmond thought that he had arrived in a completely different world, with only an endless desert filling his field of vision.

If it weren’t for the cavernous ceiling, Desmond would have thought he had come out of the underworld to reach a desert.

Desmond felt the dry air, the slight lingering heat that seemed oddly uniform throughout the area, and the faint fluctuations of energy, and he understood one thing. “There is more than one gem in this place. And judging by the phenomenon’s scale, I believed that even the four-star class would not be enough.”

One or more gems in the five-star class, it would be a lie if Desmond said he wasn’t tempted, but at the same time, the wariness in his heart only grew stronger. Desmond didn’t even know how strong the five-star class was, but seeing as someone in the three-star class was nearly three times as strong as him, it didn’t take much imagination to figure out the gap.

Given his previous experience, where dangers intertwine with treasures, Desmond figured a five-star-class danger would hang around those gems, or the treasures wouldn’t be here.

From the information given to Desmond about the area, the people who were in charge of the city were interested only in the extermination of a new species of beasts that infested the area.

Desmond assumed these people were interested in the gems, but they dared not be reckless. They did not want to venture deep into this desert while it was infested with beasts.

Furthermore, Desmond knew that in this world, there shouldn’t be more than a handful of entities in the five-star class. Even the four-star class should be extremely rare.

Since the kingdom that owned these mines was not a very prominent one, the number and level of experts at his disposal were somewhat doubtful, which would explain why they took such a passive approach toward this desert.

Desmond could also understand this approach. Since five-star class beings were so rare, not many would easily risk their lives, even for a treasure. After all, many of them were the pillars that held up their respective kingdoms.

Desmond stopped his train of thought when he got to that point. “At the end of the day, none of this has anything to do with me. My only goal here is to search for a fugitive criminal, and I don’t plan on getting involved in anything with those gems. I’m not that eager to die.”

Desmond walked behind Zero into the desert with a thoughtful look and muttered. “I feel like I’ve been talking to myself more than usual... I guess I really can’t tolerate being alone too much. I hope to finish my business here quickly to return home.”