There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 741: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 24

"What? Crystal?" Asa clasped his mouth and shifted closer to his twin.

He looked around the dome; there were a lot of crystals there, but all of them were big. Too big to be taken and carried around. Asa wasn’t even sure they could pick those crystals off the ground.

"Something you can pick up?"

"I think so," Kar nodded. "It’s small. It has mana inside."

Asa gasped and did a little dance with his feet. He had almost given up and had been devastatingly thinking that he might have to catch one of those glowing bugs or worms to be presented as a gift. Weird, he knew, but strangely enough, Nari loved weird things like bugs and worms and other small animals even though Uncle Shin abhorred them.

But if he didn’t have to catch any bugs or worms, Asa would be the happiest boy!

"Should we go there?" he whispered eagerly.

"Mm...the guide said we can’t go to those paths though..." Kar muttered in a dilemma. After all, he was supposed to be the good boy.

"Then, we can ask the guide--"

"No," Kar shook his head quickly. "There’s only one, maybe two of them. We have to get them for Nari and Lucy. What if the others also want to go and we have to share the crystal? We might not even allow to bring any."

Asa gasped and shook his head quickly. "No way! I don’t want to catch a worm!"

"Huh?"

"We have to get the crystal, Kar!" Asa scrunched his face fiercely. "We can’t make Lu cry!"

"I don’t think Lucy will cry for this, but I do want to get that crystal," Kar nodded.

Asa glanced around at the students and teachers who got absorbed in the pillars of light and the scattering huge crystal. "Should we ask bodyguard brothers?"

Kar shook his head adamantly. "We can’t--it won’t be our gift anymore, then."

"Oh, you’re right..." Asa nodded and pursed his lips. "Besides, they might say it’s not allowed."

Kar bit his lips, feeling hesitant for a bit. But then, when he saw the tiny sparkle on the other side of the dark path, and felt the warm mana coming from it, he steeled his heart. He had to get that.

He turned toward his twin. "Asa, listen to me..."

* * *

Ibaru National Park, known for its beautiful starlight cave, was a designated national park for education. Rather than tourists, it was only open to students. Adults who wanted to enter the cave had to register for admission, and they would be given a time slot accordingly.

Because of that, the place was relatively safe. The field outside the cave was flat and suitable for camping, even for children in kindergarten. There was no valuable item to be stolen, and there was a police station nearby. It was unthinkable for a thief or unsavory character to pay the place a visit.

Still, if anyone wanted to try doing the unthinkable, they had to go past the two guards from the Iron Shield, who were patrolling the vicinity around the campsite.

But they did not factor in the possibility of someone from the camp causing trouble.

For example, a pair of mischievous young masters tip-toeing away toward the cave in the middle of the night when they were supposed to be fast asleep.

Of course, the cave was not without protection. There was a mana barrier that formed by a square device in the middle. There were several buttons that would show runic symbols randomly. To disarm the barrier, the right buttons should be pressed, and only the tour guide knew which.

But honestly, it wasn’t anything complicated. There was no sequence to it; all the guide needed to do was press all the buttons that contained mana. It only looked complicated because the buttons kept moving around, and the buttons containing mana changed randomly every day. Such a mechanism wouldn’t pose any problem for espers or trained guides.

Or a child gifted in mana sensitivity.

"You can see it, right?" Asa whispered so very quietly.

"Sush--let me concentrate."

Asa clasped his mouth so his brother could focus on detecting the flow of mana on the barrier device. The blue and amber eyes glared and squinted for a few seconds before Kar decisively pressed four buttons. After taking a deep breath, he pressed the fifth button and shifted his gaze toward the barrier.

With a silent simmer, it dissolved beautifully.

"You did it! You did it!"

"Sush!"

Again, Asa clasped his mouth and nodded, following his brother sneaking inside the cave.

"We should do it quickly before the teachers or bodyguard brothers notice," Kar said while taking Asa’s hand so they could go through the dark path together. "Someone might get suspicious because the barrier disappeared when the cave is closed."

Asa nodded and hastened his steps, taking out the small flashlight he brought as a precaution to light out their way. Thanks to their highly athletic constitution--from all the exercise their fathers imparted--they could run through the uneven terrain without any problem. Soon, they entered the starlight dome, faster than they did this afternoon.

They stopped in the middle of the dome as Kar swept his gaze around, trying to pinpoint the flicker of mana he felt during the day. "That way!" he pointed to the other side of the cave, around the ten o’clock from the entrance.

"Let’s go! Let’s go!" Asa raised his arms excitedly, since they didn’t have to whisper anymore in that place.

And Kar was also too excited to sush his brother up. He was still hesitant about it earlier, knowing that they had done something that probably shouldn’t be done. But after feeling the flow of mana again, he forgot about all of his worries.

It was a source of mana that only he could feel. It was new, but also familiar. He felt like he had felt this kind of mana before. Maybe around his Dada--ahem, Father?

The path was rather long, but it was a single path without any branches, so they didn’t have to be afraid of getting lost. The further they go, the surer Kar became. The mana felt stronger and stronger, not only a spark anymore. It was glowing brightly, at the end of the path.

"Kar! It’s a flower!" Asa gasped and crouched in front of the glowing bush. "A bunch of flowers!"

Kar had already seen it before Asa mentioned it. Indeed, it was a bunch of flowers from a single bush. They were glowing, just like the worms and the bugs on the dome’s ceiling. And yes, they were beautiful on their own, the petals themselves almost looked like a crystal. But the mana that Kar felt was coming from only three flowers.

In the middle of those three flowers, a small crystal grew.

"Whoa...are those what you sensed earlier, Kar?" Asa poked the crystal in the middle of one of the flowers. It was milky white; it almost looked like Lucy’s hair. Thinking about it made Asa giggle joyfully. "Lu will be happy if we bring this to her, don’t you think?"

"Yeah," Kar nodded There were even three of them, so Byul could also get one. Kar smiled in relief, but sighed right after. "Haa...I wish we had a storage ring like Dad..."

"But we can’t use it without mana, Kar."

The older twin might be able to sense mana, but a child was still a child. An unawakened child wouldn’t be able to use mana. Lucy could, to some extent, even though their fathers sealed her ability. But Kar couldn’t do that yet, so no storage space for him.

"It’s fine," Kar shook his head. "Let’s just take the flowers and come back. We can try to separate them later."

"Right!" Asa nodded with a serious face. "But, Kar...how do we do this? Just pull the flowers?"

"Hmm..."

Kar narrowed his eyes and touched the flower stalk. It felt hard, like stones. Like it was a part of the cave. He frowned and gripped the three stalks before pulling it with all his might, while Asa pulled him by the torso.

"Unnngh!"

Try as they might, however, the flowers did not budge. Kar tried to pull the crystals only, but...nothing happened either.

"Ugh..."

Asa bowed his lips, feeling like he wanted to cry. Kar felt it even more because the thing was right in front of them! But he pressed his lips and shook his head to steel his heart.

No. He couldn’t give up. He was the oldest. He shouldn’t give up.

"Hmm...is there a certain way to do it?" Asa tilted his head. "Maybe you should ask for permission?"

"Mana doesn’t work like..." Kar paused.

No. Father said mana was energy, so it was not sentient. Things that had mana, however, might be another case. With a renewed spirit, Kar leaned down and asked the flowers carefully.

"Can we...can we take you?" he whispered. "We want to gift you to our three precious people."

"Precious. Very precious!" Asa added with a serious nod. "Do you think they will respond, Kar?"

"Shush...let’s just--"

Kar paused and widened his eyes as he felt mana flowing from the flower to the ground. He focused his eyes to follow the mana to the ground around the flower; the hard, stone ground. The mana flow formed a pattern and Kar followed it with his finger.

"Oh!"

Unexpectedly, his finger easily dug into the hard ground. He tried to do it on the part that did not have mana, but it remained hard like a stone. He turned to look at Asa, who was making the same astonished expression as him.

"Kar...mana is so cool..."

"I know, right?"

"Hurry!" Asa grinned while taking off his windbreaker. "You dig the flower, and I’ll keep it here."

Kar nodded and worked in full spirit. He did it carefully, but it didn’t take long for the first flower to find its place in the cradle of Asa’s blue windbreaker. Soon, the second flower followed suit, and when Kar finally took out the third flower, they heard a loud noise behind them.

"Cheater!" a kid from their class, who they did not close with, pointed at them. Two other kids followed behind. "You can’t keep it only for yourself!"

"Huh?"

Kar and Asa blinked at the three kids who were secretly following them, and before they could even react, the first kid, who seemed to be their leader, already rushed toward them.

Well, not toward them--but the glowing flowers behind them.

"Wait!"

Kar, who had inched away from the bunch, stretched out his hand as a warning--but it was too late. The ground that lost its mana pillar no longer held its integrity, and as the kid grabbed the slowly dimming flower, the ground collapsed.

"No!"

The kid, with widened eyes, felt the ground disappear beneath him. And with horror, Asa saw his twin jump to grab the kid. Into the void.

"Kaaar!"