Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1028: Mining

The group kept their approach, this time to Mercury, and soon realized that things would be difficult for a while… the barrier around the vessel protected them from the sun's rays and radiation, but the light was too much.

Even though no natural heat energy passed through the barrier, they felt like they were getting closer to a furnace… fortunately, the shades of their homes were enough to protect them.

When they had the chance to see it when the light of the sun wasn't on the way, a lot of people had the chance to watch it through Rain's telescope. Mercury's surface was rocky and heavily cratered, resembling the Moon's surface. The planet had plains, mountains, and cliffs.

There wasn't much more to say… Overall, Mercury's appearance was characterized by a rugged, cratered surface and a lack of a substantial atmosphere. The trip toward it lasted around twenty hours, and few people actually managed to get some rest while they approached it…

"What about now?" Esmeralda asked.

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"... There is mana in there. Actually a pretty high amount of mana is there," Rain said.

The others used their Magic Eyes and the telescope as well and confirmed it… from their perspective, they could sense large concentrations of it on some points that almost looked like ponds of mana. After a while, they soon saw what were those… gigantic active volcanoes…

"Volcanoes weren't supposed to exist back in the day there…" Sakaki said. "Magma typically forms from the melting of rock, and on Mercury, the high daytime temperatures might be sufficient to melt certain types of rock. Mercury has a very thin exosphere, essentially lacking a substantial atmosphere.

In the absence of a thick atmosphere, there is no pressure to suppress the release of gases from magma. So, it was formed unnaturally, probably by dragons."

Everyone nodded when they heard that… as they approached, they confirmed that the mana was mainly in those places. Still, they didn't find any signatures of dragons there… it looked like the meteor dragons might have lived there for quite the long time, and their control of light let them melt everything around them.

"They wouldn't build anything when they can just live in those places," Isa said. "We won't find any signs of civilizations, so we can focus on investigating the places with mana."

Upon learning about the origins of the dragons and their role in shaping planets, Isa's demeanor shifted noticeably. The revelation that half of her essence originated from beyond the stairs harnessed once to cause destruction and reshape the world left her with a complex mix of emotions.

Unlike depression, a sense of internal conflict settled upon her, mirroring the sentiments that echoed through the group.

The revelation of their seemingly unnatural origins had cast a shadow over the entire population. Isa, like everyone else, found it challenging to assimilate the fact that the very essence that defined her had once been a force of destruction.

The dragons, initially harbingers of devastation, now coexisted with the beings they once sought to obliterate… she wasn't being controlled, she knew that for a fact, but she knew that someone out there could control her with quite the ease… and that annoyed her.

As the group journeyed through the cosmos, Isa's introspective silence spoke volumes about the internal struggle she faced. There wasn't much anyone could do to help her since they were dealing with the same things.

"Do you think there is a relic there?" Esmeralda asked.

"It is unlikely…" Rain said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "While I wasn't able to see what happened to the relics, I imagine that the ones we found were never found or ignored by the dragons for one reason or another. The other ones should have been powerful enough to raise their curiosity, and they took those to wherever they came from.

Still, we can get some resources from there, mainly mana."

The dark scepter could do that… the issue was how much mana it could store. That was what Rain thought at first, but Vanessa told him that she could predict the mana to the vessel at the same time.

"You should use most of it, though," Vanessa said. "To recover our memories and break the limits of some of your skills. Before you say something moronic like it is unethical, getting stronger and leveling up the Dungeon Maker's path will improve the power of the group as a whole."

Rain couldn't deny that… he still felt a bit conflicted. That being said, the Star could only store enough mana equal to its size, and the residual mana left by the dragons was much larger.

"What do you guys wanna do?" Rain asked. "Want to come with me to check things there, or should I go alone?"

"This is the first time that we have had the chance to see another planet and land on one. I don't want to miss this chance," Esmeralda said.

"I am curious about it as well," Sealyn said. "My eyes, seeing that at close range, will be more proof for everyone."

Regis silently nodded… their adventurous spirit was quite something, but at the same time, their risk mitigation skills needed some work. The others decided to stay behind since they knew Rain would use more mana to take everyone with him, and while he could recover more overtime than he would use, they wanted not to spend too much.

By using his domain, Rain and those three headed to Mercury and landed there after a couple of minutes. It was insane, but they stopped flying right above a massive volcano that stretched in all directions and even beyond the horizon. They looked like they wanted to step on the place, but that was too risky. It wasn't like Rain's domain could cool down the land and erase traces of the radiation.

Regardless, once Rain pointed the dark scepter toward the volcano… he felt an insane amount of mana passing through him, to the point that it made his being tremble.