Greg's earth connection didn't exactly speak in clear sentences. Instead, it's a strong feeling, something akin to an epiphany that invades his mind in those moments when he syncs up with the earth beneath him. This time, the feeling was so strong that Greg is stopped cold just a few steps away from the gate to the Town-head's compound. How it was possible, given that the earth under his feet was no living entity, Greg didn't know. But if the earth could be tortured to its breaking point, Greg was certain that it would transmit the feeling he'd just gotten from the ground below him just now. With the gradual increase in the strength of his earth connection after assimilating several cores, Greg had been able to garner bits of information from the earth below him. Months back, he'd occasionally get the feeling that there was something wrong with the soil below him. Greg, however, had been unsure what it meant as his earth connection wasn't the easiest of senses to understand. Whatever

That had been the thought that immediately crossed Greg's mind. It was only at the very last second that he caught himself and managed not to verbalize it. It was information that he should have no way of knowing given that he should have been passed out at the time that his teacher had been discussing with Olivia's true self. Of course, Greg had known this even before they talked about it as he had learned it from the deity-level being that had reincarnated him. His connection to that being, however, was an even bigger secret than the fact that he hadn't been passed out when his teacher and Olivia's true self were talking. As such, Greg didn't say anything. Greg was perfectly aware that he was probably being paranoid. Not everything bad that happened to him necessarily had the hand of fate behind it. Bad things sometimes did happen. That was just a simple truth of life. However, Given that fate seemed to be out for his blood, Greg thought it more prudent to be paranoid and be wrong

In truth, the cave had been a long shot. While Greg knew that his uncle had been operating from this place, he hadn't been sure that they'd be able to find anything significant or useful after so many months. Greg himself had been inside it once and yet he hadn't seen anything that would suggest that two worlds were colliding. In the end, it was just a cave, a conveniently hidden space that one could use for clandestine operations, should they so wish. Much as he hoped for more, a significant part of him feared that this simple reasoning was what had compelled his uncle to use it as his lair all those months ago. Even what was happening with the carapace, while odd and somewhat disturbing, was something that had taken place after the fact. His uncle had been dead and the staff he found confiscated by the time Greg left the carapace of the dark crawler inside this cave. The healer spared little more than a glance at the carapace and the slowly growing pool under it before moving deep

Alena glanced at the boy standing to his left for a second. Despite all the preparations they'd made, she was reasonably certain that everything would be fine. Convergences were a slow phenomenon. More likely than not, they would find it still unopened and with nothing to fight. She had communicated as much to the boy, but, for some reason, Roka seemed to be certain that they were on a war path. He couched his language in ifs and just in cases, but Alena had seen that look in his eyes so many times in her life. The look of someone feeling forced into a corner and ready to fight with everything they had for a chance at survival. Why he was so certain that this investigation would end with a fight, she didn't know. Perhaps his uncle had left a deeper scar in the boy's psyche than she realized. The fact that they were dealing with abyssal mana again must have dredged up the suppressed feelings back to the surface. Even as she turned her gaze back forward, she resolved to help him work th

Greg had been a bit uneasy about the flying vessel. The last time he'd lost connection with the earth under him it had been so jarring that he'd been unable to focus on anything else despite being in a rather precarious situation. As it turns out, it was nowhere as bad as he'd been fearing it would be. Sure, not having his feet on the ground felt odd and a bit uncomfortable, but it was a lot like the feeling one got when on a plane. It was more of a mental awareness that he was separated from the ground rather than the visceral reaction he got when the earth-lock formation had been activated. Whatever the formation had done, it wasn't just simple separation like being lifted into the air. Even from the air, Greg got the feeling that if he grew strong enough, he could still connect to the ground below him. When the earth-lock formation had been activated, however, even while still standing on the ground, he was completely cut off from it. Unable to connect to the element in any meaning