Spirit Taming

Chapter 610: Barren Sleeping Chambers

The space was much less than everyone had thought. The temple appeared large on the outside, but that had been due to the fact that the walls were thick. A very clear reason for that was the beasts. The ancient elves had fought beasts that the group could not even imagine. There was no telling how many of those beasts had faded from existence over the many years since the ancient elves were here.

Regardless, the sleeping area was somewhat as they expected. The smaller room had stones that were positioned to be made as beds. The only practical thing that would happen when someone was building their home out of the strongest thing they could find in this jungle.

Regardless, the group could see plenty of dust. These were the remnants of whatever had been the softer parts of bedding. However, it seemed that this area was not omitted in the slaughter that happened here.

Burn marks and the same partially melted stone was everywhere. Places where beast's claws had dug in to the stone before it inevitably had been killed as well. Bone littered the area. Some were clearly separated from the dried corpses that had been their tamers. A few even had outstretched hands or arms to reach their tamer or beast.

"This body looks like it had been asleep when all this happened." a somber tone met everyone's ears as Maria stopped nearby an ancient elf body that was clearly attacked and killed in its bed. It had never had a chance.

However, there were a few things that remained. Small bits of metal and ores. The very same that Clark had seen in the pyramid itself under the crumbling stone. Ralph was very quick to grab it and put it away. He would experiment with it when he had time.

In his head, he had understood everything that Clark had said about the metal. However, that left him with new ideas. Many blacksmiths would not think about wasting the time on something that might only be used once.

Therefore, when Ralph thought of this, he did not think to throw the idea away. Instead, he thought about doing something better. A one use item that would cause devastating damage? Or maybe something that would carry a large amount of a certain kind of energy to help a beast recover much faster all at once? The ideas were there, he just had to be able to make something like that.

It would take a lot of time and a lot of effort. Ralph knew he would have to experiment with the right materials and the right form. If he wasted some of this metal ore that he could not find anywhere else, then it might break his heart.

"There are some metal pins here." Grace spotted some pins. They were all in a stone bowl nearby one of the larger beds. A clear place for such things to be put. "I bet that these were some pins given to them and they handed them over as a sign of loyalty. We have puns that show what we are affiliated with too." Grace easily understood this.

'Symbol of the eternal forest- ancient

This symbol of a massive tree on magically forged metal is created by ancient elves. It was created to be given to those that followed what was called the will of the eternal forest. The eternal forest being their belief that true nature is in the forests they live in. That a unique realm of eternal and unending forest would be waiting for them to become one within their next life.

Those that were given this pin were born within a specific ancient elf village which was on the rise  many years ago. It is currently the center of all elven societies in their home world.'

Clark read this from the system analysis and nodded his head. He carefully stored them away while the others moved to look at other things. He was the only one that thought they might come in handy one day. However, he also knew they could be a danger to show off. Especially to certain people.

It would be easy to think that the elves might want them back and that could be a way to garner favor with them. However, it was also a thing that could make some elves angry. Clearly, the elves of nowadays did not know that there had been ancient elves here. Regardless, this was a part of their history, if Clark had a chance to use it, he might. Or he might return it out of good faith.

There was also the slight fear that some of the oldest elves might have read or know some history about exiling their own people. If they somehow knew that and it could shed light on their poor deeds in their distant past… He chose not to think of the repercussions of such a thing. Especially since it was an incredibly small chance of even happening.

"There are no weapons or armors. I bet they were not allowed to keep them when they were exiled here." Ralph seemed angry but also a little sad. He had somewhat hoped that he would have found them.

"Anything they had might have been wooden or stone. Like this, it looks like a dagger." Grace pointed out the sharpened stone covered in dust. Whatever they had been attached to had clearly rotted away to dust. Not they were just shards of a tougher stone.

'Rough stone spear tip- common

The rough stone was harder than most other stones around. Therefore, it was cracked and fashioned in to spear tips to be able to fend off the beasts of the jungle. Many of these were forged from the same stone area as the stones that a temple was made of. This is not the best weapon, but it can assist in basic survival.'

There were about twenty of these along with maybe thirty bodies from what everyone could count. Very few things could be said to be useful here otherwise. Even so, Jerold and Brad gathered what they could. Even the most useless thing could save their lives at the opportune moment.

"There are seeds?" Maria and Grace managed to find cracked and broken jars. They had seeds in them. Most of the group expected them to be empty and once carrying water. But as Clark used the analysis from the system, he was surprised. These were not drunken grape seeds. Or at least they could have been but they had changed.

'Mutated drunken grape seed- ultra rare

The mutated drunken grape is a plant that is known to produce multiple dangerous poisons. The toxicity of the alcohol made from them could even cause a dwarf to become extremely drunk. However, it is the sap that naturally gathers on the leaves that is the greatest danger.

Much like today's poison ivy, it causes welts and itching. However, it is also a beast attractant. It will cause many beasts that live around plants and forests to become wild. It causes their hormones to go out of control. This causes beast tides and even attracts slumbering beasts.

These mutated drunken grapes were known to the elves as plague grapes because of these effects. Some people would go out of their way to discern which mutated grape seeds stood out so they could destroy them. However, others gathered them to cause chaos.'

"Those are mutated drunken grapes. Also known as plague grapes. Their leaves drop sap that will cause beasts to go wild. It makes their hormones act up and that sends them in to a frenzy. Powerful and weak beasts are drawn to the smell of that sap. It also will make you have a rash if you touch it." Clark shared this and Ella casually used one hand to write it down.

"Then it is a way to cause beasts to go wild in a controlled manner. You don't believe that this was a pan for revenge. Mutated drunken grapes?" Ella saw in Clark's eyes that her theory was surely correct. It meant that the ancient exiled elves were going to use these to destroy their enemies when they returned home.

"I don't think either side was right. Cruelty only created more cruelty. Those ancient elves were just lucky that these ones did not come home." hearing Brad put it out in the air for everyone to hear stopped them all. Their thoughts on what struggles could cause this.

"We still haven't seen the body of the beast that caused this. There are no drag marks up here. But we know there were some heading down to the main area. We should investigate." Jerold had an edge in his voice. Something was bothering him. A gut feeling that was telling him there might be more to all of this than what they knew now.

"No matter what's down there, we can handle it. But worst case, we run." Clark did not feel bad saying this. He knew their lives were worth more than anything else to him now.