Alex woke up to find Ketovan cleaning his sword, which had magically repaired itself back to normal. They were still on the leaf, but a few new bodies lay in a pile a few meters away. These included the three slugs Ketovan had managed to kill before Alex lost consciousness, and several ants.
The smallest ant was at least football-sized and made of rubies. What seemed to be copper and silver ants formed a pile large enough to provide shade for both of them. Another, smaller pile of gemstone ants was also prominent. It looked magnificent: head-sized ants made of all colors of gemstones—sapphires, rubies, emeralds, etc.
"Got up fast," Ketovan said, sheathing his sword.
"What happened?"
"You lost consciousness again," Ketovan replied as he used one of his abilities to pull the piles near them.
"It's really confusing, you know. I don't need food, water, or rest to survive. Whenever I'm asleep, I'm either in a stasis state or some kind of entity takes over me," Alex said, taking in the sight of the ant piles.
There were at least 400 ants in the larger pile and at least 70 in the smaller one. They loomed over both of them, covering them from the harsh sun.
"Killed these while you were unconscious," Ketovan said, patting the piles.
"Any noble rank?" Alex asked, touching one gemstone ant.
Imagine an insect the size of a regulation football, perfectly sculpted from a single, flawless piece of emerald. Its exoskeleton is a mosaic of sharp angles and smooth, polished curves, catching the light with every movement. The surface isn't uniform; instead, it shifts from the deep, rich forest green of the ant's head and thorax to a more translucent, luminous mint green along its segmented abdomen. The legs, thick and powerful, are multifaceted and appear to be carved from hundreds of tiny, precisely cut emerald shards, allowing them to grip and move with a mesmerizing, mechanical precision. Its antennae are thin, tapered emerald rods, perhaps slightly frosted or matte compared to the body, giving them a ghostly, delicate appearance.
A blue screen appeared in front of Alex as his hand touched the cold stone exoskeleton of the insect.
NAME: EMERALD SOLENOPSIS
RANK: COMMANDER LV 65
AFFINITY: EMERALDS
POWERS: ???
"A few commander ranks and mostly soldier ranks. We went past the normal rank beasts; they fear us now," Ketovan said.
"I have a small doubt," Alex said as his fingers stopped inches from the loot option.
"Go on," Ketovan meant both the question and the looting.
"You said you killed a royal ranking orc in battle, right?" Alex asked as his fingers pressed the loot button and the ant began breaking down.
"Yeah."
"Then why did you struggle to kill those slugs?" Alex asked.
"Because, I have a racial ability called Rage that thrives in, as the name suggests, rage. When I was fighting those slugs, all I could feel was disgust and irritation, not rage. The orc I killed was eating a man right in front of me. Imagine, Alex, a fifteen-foot orc twice your size eating an innocent man, a human, in front of his own kind, his body gone till the waist, dead but still not given freedom. And what do you think it did when it saw me?" Ketovan's eyes started turning red as the markings around his eyes began glowing.
"What?" Alex asked.
"It threw the half-eaten man away and tried to catch me. Its new prey. Leave it, Alex. Unless you see it yourself, you won't experience it," Ketovan said, turning away until his eyes returned to normal.
"And these commander rank ants you killed, what about these?" Alex asked, moving to a new ant—a sapphire one this time.
"They are weak. I can kill them; they only have physical powers, no elemental ones. But those slugs have one damn good teamwork. They might have been siblings from one noble-ranking Life Slug somewhere near the branch. Use your vision ability, take notes on their weak points. These are small and still commander rank. Once we reach near the branch, we'll need to kill noble rank versions of such beasts," Ketovan said, spilling the normal and soldier rank beasts onto the ground in front of them.
As Alex activated his vision ability, his mind was flooded with all of the information about the beast as its image got stored or remembered in some part of his soul.
The creature was an impossibility: an ant the size of a soccer ball, forged entirely from sapphire the color of a midnight storm. Its bulk was immense, lending it the heavy, deliberate gait of a mineral sentinel rather than a mere insect. The sapphire was not flawless; across its massive, blocky thorax, a jagged, lightning-bolt fracture shimmered—a silvery-white scar that spoke of incredible trauma, clouding the deep blue beneath and signifying a critical weak point. Its legs, thick and powerful, bore hairline stress cracks around the joints, particularly at the hips, where the immense crystalline force of its movements strained the gem structure. The ant held its heavy, segmented abdomen slightly curled, culminating in a wickedly curved, translucent sapphire stinger—a weapon that, even in its stillness, suggested an injection of pure, cold agony.
NAME: SAPPHIRE PARAPONERA CLAVATA
RANK: COMMANDER LV 34
AFFINITY: SAPPHIRES
POWERS: SAPPHIRE COVER
"How about we get out and get some break? We can enter anytime until the reset period every seven years," Ketovan said, opening a similar portal to the one they had used to enter the warped space.
Alex had many doubts: Why does Ketovan want to help him? Why does he need to try this hard? What is this reset period?
But he had enough of this warped space shit for today, and he would gladly accept a tour around the church sector.
They both exited the warped space, not before Ketovan dumped the dead insects into his storage space.
******************
Mira Diva remained stoic as the carriage halted. The entrance to the mining town of Daro was guarded by two hulking men in the Duke's crimson and gold livery. The air was thick with the dust of the mines and the smell of sulfur and unrefined ore.
Her father, Lord Darion, finally broke the silence, his voice a low rumble. "Relax, Mira. The Duke isn't hosting this. It's the Adventurer Society that needs to brief us. Try not to let his lackeys provoke you."
Mira looked at the anxiety flickering in his eyes. "Father, the Duke is known for being greedy and unforgiving. Hosting a high-level briefing about the Burned City at his private manor is a power play. He wants to remind everyone the land is his."
"He is testing us," Lord Darion admitted, his battle-worn hand gripping the hilt of his short sword. "He knows the Ironclad Mercenary Company is the only force capable of handling the larger incursions around the forest. He needs our expertise, but he despises having to rely on a mercenary. He wants to see if we will bend."
The guard opened the carriage door, bowing stiffly. "Lord Darion, Lady Mira. The Adventurer Society awaits inside."
As Mira stepped out, the ground crunching beneath her boots, she felt the weight of her father's position settle on her shoulders. Their reason for being here was far graver than tariffs. It was about the historical temple in the center of the sprawling forest, a place that had been abandoned for centuries.
"The temple was gone without a trace?" Mira asked quietly, walking toward the manor entrance.
"Vaporized, apparently," Lord Darion confirmed, his brow furrowed. "The Society's scouting mages found nothing but a massive, deep crater. Something powerful is operating in the Burned City, and they want us to be the ones to find out what it is."
They followed the guard toward a sprawling, opulent manor carved into the side of a large hill—a defiant monument of wealth built directly on top of the town's suffering mines. They were led not to a grand ballroom, but to a small, windowless study where three serious-looking figures—two in the simple robes of the Adventurer Society and one wearing the Duke's elaborate colors—waited for them.