Chapter 590: Lake and Slime
After another hour Sam is sitting at a corner of the cave as he looked through the spatial rings of the team that came in.
The candidates who came in didn't die though. They were forced to leave the cave without their rings and armors stripped off of them.
Sam checked everything inside was delighted. He earned ten times more and he pocketed everything. As for why he didn't want them dead. He didn't have a grudge and he didn't want some extra forces coming in and bombarding these Salamanders. They wouldn't be able to stay peaceful if the imperial family's scions.
Anyway, he sold the formation for just those berries and some beast friends here.
After dealing with the new gains and giving all kinds of herbs and fruits in the rings to the Salamanders, he was preparing to leave.
He has to find another stream and get on with it.
[Why are you looking for a stream?] The Salamander King asked Sam when he was munching the higher-grade berries.
"I came to find something in this area. I don't know if that thing is available, but I have to see. For that, I need to follow the stream and find a large lava pool."
[Large Lava pool?]
"Yes. Do you know something of that sort?"
[We Salamanders are not allowed to leave this area. It is a pact between all the creatures in this region. I don't know where the area is, but I do know that all the Lava streams only stop there.
The pool in the cave is not the end of the stream.
There is another opening under the pool that leads the stream underground and from there it flows.]
Sam had a thoughtful expression as he looked at the pool. Even he knew that something is not right with the pool, after all even though the stream of the Lava is slow, it is still moving and the pool should be full and the lava should flow out of it. But it is not happening.
But Sam didn't feel anything when he used his spiritual sense of the pool. The Lava inside the pool is extremely stagnant at least that is what it is looking like.
"Is there any stream nearby?"
[There is one a few kilometers away. You can go there in the morning. But I doubt you will be able to find the Lava pool you are looking for if you just follow the stream. The streams of Lava are not as direct as they look. Every stream will only lead you to an obstacle such as this.]
"Then what do you suggest?"
[The Lava pool is too deep into the region and hardly any of the humans and Nagas that come in would go there, as the heat increases the more you go inside because the Lava streams converge as you go inside and even some of the beasts couldn't handle it. We arranged our habitats that way.
But if you really want to go there, even though the stream is the most direct method, if you couldn't follow the stream just like now, it is better if you go in the direction the heat is high.
The hotter the area, the more dangerous it is. Very few Pre-transcendent stage cultivators go there for treasures because the more lava there is the more treasures you can gain and some special people have some special means to overcome the heat and go in and they all have different maps.
So, for a Nascent like you, it would be difficult. I would advise you to not go there. But if you really want to be careful.]
Sam went into deep thought and took the rest of the night off. The next day, he went on the harbinger to the next stream the salamander king pointed out and started following that.
Even though, the Salamander King said that he should go in a direction the heat is higher, he felt like finding it would be complicated. After all, every place is hot here and if there is Lava deposited in a place, that place would definitely be hotter.
This time, the stream is long and it didn't disappear into any cave or ground for a few days. He traveled leisurely for a week as he harvested any kinds of herbs and fruits that came in his way. Mostly there are only those berries and that grass he found on the bank of the first stream.
But as he went deeper and deeper into the region, Sam noticed that the terrain is not as rocky anymore.
And after that one week, the stream disappeared. This time, he knew that stream is going to continue because the lava flew through a cave but the other end of the cave is underground and Lava is flowing like a waterfall creating an inferno. He is not confident that he would even be able to go there with his elemental fusion.
He came out of that place and tried to find the hotter place and traveled. He has used many methods like feeling the temperature of rocks, using water elemental energy and the place that is giving him more resistance is the place of higher temperature and after continuous experimentation, his observation ability came in handy.
He can feel the density of the fire elemental energy and determine where the temperature is higher and it seemed to be working.
After another ten days of continuous journey, Sam has to use his spiritual energy to shield away from the heat continuously.
But looking at the energy consumption, he stopped that and started circulating the Golden crow bloodline. Only then didn't he feel a bit better.
At least, the Harbinger didn't have any problem at the moment, so he traveled.
On the fourteenth day of his travel, he finally saw what he wanted to see. The traces of the large pool.
But it is still far away and it would take another two days to cross the area and move there.
Two days later, he could finally see the pool. But when he saw it, he felt like calling it a pool is undermining the vastness of it.
The heat here is higher than any other place and apart from the Golden crow bloodline, the rest of the bloodlines of Sam are all suppressed. Even though he can use the elements, he would have to expend more energy than usual and as for the water element, he can just forget about it.
But what surprised Sam more is that there are other people in the vicinities. They seemed to be waiting for something to happen. And only after watching them for a while did he understand that they are waiting for someone to make a move.
Sam went near the lake to examine if he could find the lotus there. The lake is situated down a long slope. And the slope has some plants growing.
But Sam knew better than anyone that the slope is not just a normal slope. It is part of the lake and it only appeared out because of the lower level of the lake. This is the effect that would only be for a month.
The only problem is that the lake surface is not exactly visible. There is a golden glow from the Lava and the glow is a lot brighter than the Lava on the stream. It seemed like the Lava accumulation is not the only reason for it glow like that, but he doesn't know what is, as for the people that came here, they wouldn't tell him anyway.
So, he wanted to go near to see what is the deal with the lake.
For some weird reason, no one stopped when Sam is moving to the lake. He was just allowed to go and no one bothered to stop him.
But as soon as he stepped foot on the slope and walked down a bit, a large figure jumped out of the lava and launched itself towards Sam.
Sam jumped back and avoided the attack.
But a lump of slimly Lava was shot at him and hurriedly dodged as he walked back.
After taking himself to a safe distance, he finally got a chance to see what is in front of him.
It looked like a think golden glowing hot slime was lumped in front of him. But within that slime, he could see a row of teeth. The golden glow is a lot higher than the Lava and Sam immediately understood what causing the glow over the lake.
These are Lava Slime. They are types of beasts that are similar to a normal amoeba. But they have a mouth, which the only tangible part of their body apart from their core.
Even if you sucked the whole slimy part off of the core, as long as it exists in sufficient heat, they can once again secrete their bodies.
All the information ran through Sam's mind as he looked at the Beast. The beast is only Nascent stage one and he is confident that he can do something, but the whole lake is glowing with the same glow that can blind every person that is present here. That means the full lake is infested with them.
He understood why these people didn't stop him. Because they are confident in him not going there.
He took a step back and came up from the slope and the beast finally went back into the Lake.
As he stood there and started thinking about how to proceed, he saw someone familiar coming to the area. They are none other than the Mov empire team. When Yodha saw him, he waved his hand and walked to him with obvious signs of relief on his face.