Chapter 15: Unknown Substance

Chapter 15: Unknown Substance

“Jack! Wake up! Hey, wake uppppp!”

A high-pitched, frantic voice pierced through the suffocating darkness in Jack's mind, accompanied by something small repeatedly stomping on his sternum.

“Ugggh...” Jack groaned, a heavy rasp tearing from his throat. His chest felt as if a roaring furnace had been forced down his lungs. Forcing his heavy eyelids open, he blinked against the harsh glare of light, finding himself lying flat on the wooden floorboards inside his shelter cabin.

“Was it... a nightmare?” Jack muttered, his mind reeling as he tried to piece together the phantom pain of an obsidian spike tearing through his abdomen.

“No, it wasn't! But you are insanely lucky you have a magnificent, heroic fairy like me to save your ungrateful ass!” Aria huffed. She was sitting right on the center of his chest, her hands on her hips.

As Jack slowly pushed himself upright, rubbing his sore throat, he looked at her in total confusion. “What the hell happened out there? I remember being impaled...”

“I heard you calling out to someone, so I flew out of the house as fast as I could!” Aria explained dramatically, flailing her tiny arms. “Then I saw you lying face-down in the dirt, bleeding out with gross black veins crawling all over your skin! I panicked and rushed straight down, trying to use my water to wash that nasty poison away. But then that creepy shadow monster lunged to attack us! While I was completely focused on trying to cure you, your skeletal snake and the other beasts suddenly went totally berserk! They lunged forward on their own to protect you, tearing that shadow thing to pieces while I kept channeling my magic to save your life!”

Jack stared at her, his eyes widening. “Wait... but how did you stop the poison? System notices said I was suffering from a lethal venom. I was literally seconds away from dying.”

Aria paused, looking down at her tiny hands with a bewildered expression. “I... I don't really know! I was so scared seeing you unconscious and covered in black veins that I just channeled every drop of my pure water mana straight into your chest! I didn't care about anything else—I just wanted you to wake up! Somehow, my water started glowing and dissolved the black goo from your skin.”

Jack stroked his chin, analyzing her words carefully. ‘Her pure water energy must have acted as an emergency antidote against the venom... Did her hidden stats unlock an unrecorded cleansing trait?’

“Did your power evolve or something?” Jack asked aloud, looking back at her. “Anyway, did the bone serpent manage to kill that beast?”

“Yeah! The snake tore it to pieces,” Aria answered, nodding rapidly. “But right after it died, the body didn't drop any loot or a carcass. It just melted into this gross, bubbling black goo! Now there's just a nasty, stinky black spot on the ash where it happened.”

Aria flapped her wings and hovered toward the doorway, beckoning him to follow. Jack stood up, and stepped out into the scorching air of the safe zone.

Just a few yards from the newly constructed perimeter, a vile, pitch-black puddle sat sizzling against the volcanic dirt like corrupted slime.

Focusing his gaze on the puddle, Jack called out in his mind: ‘System, analyze this substance.’

A translucent interface panel materialized before his eyes:

[Unknown Substance: ???]

(Description: A residual trace of volatile, concentrated shadow mana. Lacks organic matter or physical drop properties.)

---

Miles away, across a vast expanse of jagged basalt mountains and rivers of bubbling magma...

A figure sat reclined on a flat basalt stone near the glowing blue pillar of their cooling shrine, staring out into the dark volcanic night. A malicious, quiet chuckle echoed through the quiet air.

“Hmm... my shadow puppet was destroyed surprisingly fast,” the unknown person murmured, staring at a flickering black orb floating above their palm. “It seems he actually possesses some real strength after all.”

The figure tilted their head, a cruel, cold smile spreading across their face.

“Well, it wouldn't be any fun if he was killed that easily, now would it? I need to make him suffer much more than that... Jack Mercer.” The person’s eyes glinted with deep-seated malice. “I will tear down everything he builds. But... let’s just wait. Now that my shadow tagged his coordinates, I know exactly where his little sanctuary is located. Enjoy your second day, Jack... once this beginner protection period ends, monster attacks won't be the thing keeping you up at night.”

The figure turned their gaze toward another glowing orb floating nearby, their grin widening into something sinister.

“Ohhh... and look at that. It seems I’ve located Zoey as well. This is going to be very fun.”

---

Jack withdrew his gaze from the black stain.

“Aria, use your water magic to wash away that spot completely,” Jack instructed, watching the tiny fairy fly over and channel a concentrated sphere of water to purge the corrupting residue from the soil.

Turning his attention toward the edge of the base, Jack noticed the completed structure standing tall. The [Trading Center] was fully built, its stone arches and glowing magic circle humming quietly. He had clearly been unconscious for quite a while.

Walking up to the trading interface, Jack accessed the cross-server global market. He deposited a batch of his mined resources onto the trading board:

[Listing Creation: Volcanic Stone x150]

[Target Wanted Item: Wood]

[Exchange Ratio: 1:1]

With the trades posted into the system network, Jack closed the interface and turned back to Aria, who was hovering nearby with a tired sigh after cleaning the dirt.

“Aria, I need you to stay here and watch the base,” Jack said, his tone turning serious. “I’m heading out into the deeper wasteland to hunt for treasure chests. It seems Volcanic Stone is abundant here, but special chests and rare drops are scattered further out. It’s too dangerous for you to come along if I'm traveling long distances into uncharted territory. Keep feeding water and beast cores to the cooling shrine if I’m gone for too long.”

Aria froze mid-air, her large azure eyes welling up with dramatic, shimmering tears as her tiny mouth trembled.

“W-Wait... you’re leaving for a long time?!” Aria wailed, looking up at him with pitiful puppy-dog eyes. “But... Aria will be all alone in this scary place!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back at least a full day before the first Monster Wave hits,” Jack assured her, placing a gentle finger on her head to calm her down. His expression darkened slightly as he added a stern warning: “But you saw what happened earlier. Do not step outside the safe zone while I'm gone. Even if you see me in danger out there... it might not be me.”

Aria swallowed hard, sniffing back her dramatic tears as she nodded obediently. “...Okay. I will wait here for you.”

“And one more thing,” Jack added, glancing toward the worker quarters. “When Brul comes back for his morning shift tomorrow, tell him to start clearing the obsidian rocks beyond our current perimeter line. We’re going to upgrade the shrine the moment I get back, and our safe zone is going to expand significantly. Tell him to keep piling up as much raw stone as possible—we’re going to need every piece.”

“Got it! I’ll make the hairy dwarf work hard!” Aria said, puffing out her chest with sudden bravado.

“Now, see you later, Aria.”

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