Chapter 29: Chapter 29 – Ordering, Mana, Exploring

As Shi finally decided to properly get out of this underground area finally; she came up with an idea on how exactly to do that. 'I'll use the serpent to find a way out from here. It should have some way to dig through the walls seeing how many holes the place has.' 

She looked over at the serpent creature that was still lowered before her— her eyes running over the body of the creature as she took note of the scales that covered it. Its body was hard enough that it was barely cracked by her strength, which goes to show just how useful those scales were.

"Speaking of serpent, i should give you a name. Calling you serpent constantly would be annoying, let's see." She said as she decided to finally name the creature to make talking to it much easier, "Since i don't really want to think that hard about a name for something that's dead, let's go with Serr."

Upon naming the creature, Shi could feel something deep within her getting stronger, 'The bond maybe?' She thought to herself as she focused on the feeling somewhat. 

It felt as if giving the creature a name made the connection between the creature and her stronger— as if she gained a greater understanding of the being by doing so and as such allowing her mana to flow better to it. 

With this deepened connection— she also got a basic understanding of the creature, such as its species and what it could do. None of this was in-depth— and it was only things the creature knew instinctually— but this was good enough for Shi right now.

"So you're a Silverback Serpentine. What a, what's the word I'm looking for, direct name." Shi said with a slight chuckle as she skimmed the information she gained from the creature.

'Apparently, they lived underground and in caves mainly because they disliked the feeling of sunlight on their body. That seems like useful information— at least now i know you won't like being in the light. I wonder if that still affects you since your dead?' Shi thought to herself— talking to no one but herself.

After skimming through the information some more, she found out that the one before her was actually still young. Even though it was around 12 feet long and 3 feet wide, it was considered young in the aging of their species.

'Well then, that's going to be useful. Adults of your species grow up to 16 feet long, and fully grown ones can even reach above 25 feet long.' Shi was both amazed at how long they could possibly grow— while also planning ahead to use that to her advantage.

"Wait, can you even grow still?" She said aloud with a furrowed brow and squinted eyes— unsure if a creature that is considered to be dead— can still grow.

"Let's leave that for after we get out of here, no point in wondering about it now. It seems your species is good at digging holes using your hard scales to protect your body and mouth to dig; you will be the way out of here." Shi said to the snake even though it couldn't reply to her.

She planned to use the serpent to find the way out by having it dig straight up and then have it return once it got to the surface. That way, she could have a general idea of how deep underground she was.

Then she could have the creature slowly dig up while zig-zagging in search of pathways she could take— basically leading her to the surface over time rather than looking around without direction in mind.

She didn't expect it to work fast, nor did she think it was a great plan— but it was the only plan she had right now— and it was better than nothing.

"Serr, dig straight up until you reach the surface, return once you've found it. Avoid anything that may try to harm you, and don't take long." She ordered the serpent, who did as she commanded.

Serr leaped on its tail, using it to push its body upward and into the stone above—  into which it started to burrow away. Shi was quite impressed with how well the snake was able to dig through solid stone;  if she hadn't seen it for herself, she would've doubted its validity.

The creature ate through the stone like it was carving through water—  dust and fragments of the stone falling down as the creature soon vanished from her sight and into the unknown darkness of the underground.

Shi waited patiently. Minutes passed—  maybe even hours. Shi really couldn't tell because there was no sunlight underground. During this time, she also couldn't move since the creature wouldn't be able to find her if it did—  or it might get confused on the command—  so she had to wait on the spot.

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She took the chance to sit down and really focus on the mana she felt inside her. She had never felt mana before in her life— so now that she could do so, she really wanted to make the most of the chance.

Sitting in a meditative position— even though it didn't necessarily help—  Shi closed her eyes and emptied her mind. Sinking deep into her inner thoughts, she could feel the mana flowing around inside of her body.

She knew nothing about mana besides the fact that it exists everywhere. She didn't know how to feel it up until now and she especially didn't know how to control it— so she wasn't expecting to be able to do magic after simply feeling it within her.

Nonetheless, she was still happy that she was able to feel magic at will; this was a large step for her that a lot of kids in the village weren't even able to do. Most adults in the village couldn't use mana either, mainly the adventurers that came from outside.

So she spent the entire time focusing on the mana within her— in an attempt to get a better feel for it before she tried anything else— time flew by quickly without her even feeling it. 

During this time little Serr was quickly digging to the top of the cave and returning back once it was finished with its trip.

Shi opened her eyes when she felt the connection to the serpent get strong, signaling it had returned. 'It seems the further the creature goes from me— the weaker the connection gets, it might be due to my lack of mana control, or it might be something else. This magic is too complicated to figure out in a short time.' 

Standing up as the creature stopped in front of her and lowered its head in submission. 'How to find out how high it is? Let's see.' She thought to herself as she tried to come up with a way to figure out how high the surface is— since she couldn't talk with the creature. 

Not properly at least.

"If it is more than an hour length high to get to hiss once— if it's less than an hour length high to get to hiss twice." She said to the serpent since it was currently the best way to communicate with the creature, it may not be able to speak to her, but she could speak to it.

In response to Shi's command, it seemed a bit confused at first but shortly after, it gave off two short hisses— telling Shi that it was less than an hour length up. 

This caused Shi to smile brightly as she spoke out loud.

"I knew we couldn't be that deep— i fell down here after all— if we were too deep i would've been far more injured. If you can get up in less than an hour's time, it should take me around an hour or two since i have to find pathways. This is good, i can finally make progress." 

Shi had grown quite fond of talking to the creature as if it was able to understand her— even though she was aware that the creature wouldn't reply nor could. She felt lonely being trapped down here for so long and any company— even the dead kind— was helpful.

Once she calmed herself down from her excitement; she quickly ordered the next step of the plan— the most important part of it, "Dig around until you find a pathway and follow it to see where it goes, once you reach a split in the road return back to me and tell me."

She didn't let the creature directly look through each pathway until it found one leading up because it might be dangerous. The fact that other creatures lived under here was clear with the existence of the serpent and the bones— so she didn't want to risk it.

Sure it would take longer, but she would rather have a slow and steady journey than one filled with danger due to foolish actions that could've been avoided. 

Heeding her command the snake instantly went off in the distance— going back down the pathway she came from and taking the other path rather than this one. Shi followed after it this time but didn't go down the pathway; just stopping at the entrance.

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