Affinity:Chaos

The group cautiously went into the tunnel, given Grey's experience, he was almost a hundred percent sure that there would be an obstacle of some sort here, or even worse, a creature.

'Hopefully, I'm just overthinking.' He thought to himself.

'Do you sense anything around?' He asked Void who was on his shoulder.

'No, nothing.' Void replied.

He knew what Grey was talking about, but other than the treasure, he couldn't sense anything else.

Fifteen minutes later.

The group got to the end of the tunnel, and at the end, they saw a door.

"Looks like your gut feeling was right." Grey said while throwing a glance at Klaus.

"Of course, when has my gut feeling ever been wrong?" Klaus asked smugly.

Since they found the place where the treasure might be, he naturally had to praise his gut feeling.

Grey, Reynolds, and Alice rolled their eyes on hearing Klaus' statement, being too lazy to talk any further, they all approached the door.

With Grey leading the group, he held the doorknob, while preparing himself in case of an attack. The others on the other hand, were all standing behind him, using him as what they call the human shield. Given Grey's physical defense, as well as his earth element, he was the only one who might be able to ward off any attacks that might come from the other side of the door.

Creak…

The door slowly opened with a creaking sound. Grey and the group immediately retreated, while also preparing their attacks. But after waiting for almost a minute, nothing came out through the door.

"Come on bud, go check it out." Klaus said while pushing Grey forward.

Grey glared at him, but he shamelessly continued speaking.

"What? You're the only one with great physical defense, as well as the earth element, you don't expect us to send Alice, do you?"

Grey shook his head, but he still went forward since he knew he was the one who had the best reaction among them, as well as the best defense.

With a flick of his wrist, a blue flame lit up ahead of him and floated through the door, slowly revealing what was past the door.

"*Phew* It's just a normal gigantic cave." Grey said sarcastically and cautiously advanced towards the cave.

Getting past the door, he was greeted by the sight of a hugely spacious cave, his flame couldn't light up the entire cave given how big it was. On the places he could see, there were moss and weed on some parts of the ground, and well as the walls and ceilings above him.

"Guys you can come in now." After making sure there wasn't any danger, Grey called on the trio waiting outside.

The trio soon entered after Grey's voice died down.

"Where's the treasure?" Klaus was the first to ask excitedly as he stepped inside.

"Well, given how wide this place is, we'll have to search for it." Grey said.

"Come on, make a bigger fire." Klaus urged.

Grey instantly increased the size of the flame, but on seeing what was around, he almost wished he didn't.

"Bud, I thought you said there was no danger?" Klaus walked closer to Grey and whispered.

"They're all in the Second stage of the Origin Plane, stop acting like they're a threat." Grey said while shoving Klaus away.

Although he was slightly taken aback by the snakes he saw lying randomly on the floor, he didn't feel much from it. The only thing that left him a little puzzled was that it was only after seeing them was he able to sense them.

'So, where's the treasure?' Grey asked Void since other than the snakes, he saw nothing else.

'You're looking at them.' Void said.

'Wait, the snakes?' Grey asked a little confused.

'Yeah, these are no ordinary snakes. They have a special gland on top of their heads that is a great healing tonic as much as it's a deadly poison.' Void explained.

'Wait, how do you know of this?' Grey was left speechless by Void's knowledge of the snakes.

'Memories.' Void said.

'But I thought you were just born? You know what, forget about it for now. But, how do you expect me to take something that is a double-edged sword?' Grey said.

Void said it was a healing tonic, and also a deadly poison. How does he expect him to collect something that might probably kill him if he's not careful?

'There's a way to extract the healing tonic alone…' Void went on to explain.

From his explanation, Grey found out that the snakes were known as the Blooming Viper, on top of their heads was something that looked like a budding flower. And according to Void, that's where the special gland was. If one extracted the entire bud, then it would only become a deadly poison.

The only way to extract the healing tonic is through a somewhat special and perilous way, sucking it out of a living Blooming Viper. If the snake was dead, the gland will automatically turn into a deadly poison.

After hearing the method from Void, Grey felt a little dejected. Coming here, he had high hopes for the treasure they will find, but now, not only did he have to deal with snakes, but he also had to suck a special healing tonic from the top of its head, while it's alive.

'I feel like this is a wasted journey.' Grey said shaking his head.

'Of course not, did I tell you this healing tonic can save a dying person as long as there's a breath left.' Void said.

Grey contemplated on the matter and felt having something like that wasn't bad, since they didn't know what awaited them in the future. There would always be times where their lives might be in danger, maybe this would be what will save them.

'Hmm, at least it's better than nothing.' Grey could only helplessly nod his head.

He went on to tell the others about the snake, as well as the process of extracting the healing tonic. There were only about fifteen snakes on the ground, and surprisingly, even after sensing the presence of humans, they didn't attack.

"Wait, so you're saying we have to suck out a healing tonic from the head of those snakes?" Klaus asked while pointing at the snake closest to them.

"Yup." Grey nodded.

"And there's also a deadly poison there as well?" Klaus asked another question.

"Yup."

"So how do we know if what we're sucking is the healing tonic or the poison?"

"If we don't die."

"Okay… I think Grey has gone mad." Klaus said after he was done with his questioning.

"Yup, me too." Reynolds said feeling maybe there was something wrong with Grey's head.

"Come on guys, do you think I'll take you through all this trouble just for fun?" Grey said trying to convince them.

"Well, I might, and since I might, there's a chance you might as well." Klaus said while strangely waving his hand.

Grey glared at him on seeing his antics, "I'm being serious."

"And I'm just joking. I know you wouldn't do all this for fun, but the thing is, why haven't we heard of this snake before?" Klaus asked.

He trusted Grey, but he hadn't seen or heard of a Blooming Viper before, so he naturally felt a little doubtful.

The others also felt Klaus' question was reasonable.

"Because they're very rare." Grey said.

"If they're rare, then how did you know of them?" Alice asked this time.

"Him." Grey said pointing at Void.

Knowing that they were about to ask how he knew through Void, he quickly explained to them that he could communicate with him and that he was also the one who sensed the treasure. He also didn't forget to warn them to keep it a secret, he warned Klaus to be precise.

The others were sensible enough to keep it a secret, but given how much Klaus talks, he wasn't too confident in his ability to keep a secret.

"I know, I might talk a lot, but it doesn't mean I'm a fool. I know what to divulge, and what not to." Klaus said angrily.

He felt upset due to the fact that Grey didn't trust him enough, he knew he talks a lot, but that doesn't mean he'll go ahead and tell others his friends' secrets.

Grey felt a little bad inside when he saw Klaus' angry look, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Klaus' face only brightened up after hearing Grey's apology.

"It's okay, I mean, I wouldn't trust me with a secret either." He said nonchalantly.

Grey felt the world spun around when he heard that statement.

"Haha, I'm joking." Klaus laughed on seeing Grey's face.

He had always been carefree so he knew Grey didn't mean to offend him, he also knew how massive of a secret Void's treasure-sensing ability was. If others heard that there was a special cat that could sense treasures, the fight for who would acquire him would have no end.

"So, let's begin." Grey said after everything was sorted out.

The group went on to catch the first snake, it wasn't easy though since they had to make sure the poisonous fire it was spitting out didn't touch them.

Unlike most magical beasts, the snake was small, stretching only three meters long, and wasn't even up to four inches wide.

Reynolds was the one who caught the first snake, after catching it, he passed it over to Grey. He was a little scared of the extraction process, so he didn't dare to.

Grey collected it, gulped in fear, but since he trusted Void, he steeled his heart and brought the head of the wriggling snake closer to his mouth.

Just as he was about to suck on the bud.

'Wait!' Void yelled out.