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It turned out the main reason for the being’s weakness was Cregar. Apparently, an event had occurred many days prior and a huge amount of its reserves had been siphoned by Cregar’s lands, leaving it with barely 25% of its former reserves.

Its demand from the order had increased, but that organization simply ignored it most of the time. They still carried out experiments and gave it beasts, but not what it wanted.

It could not send them away since they were its only natural source of gaining energy. According to the being, it had existed for over one millennium leaving it even older than Noah thought.

It understood a vast portion of how Cregar worked and had stolen mana from Cregar for the majority of those years.

“The world is becoming more careful, however. I take portions of the little mana available to the lands and over decades have improved the size I can handle. Even right now I still boast a reserve capable of creating at least 10 tier 5 beings, but compared to my former strength it’s nothing. I need more than half that reserve to keep this place running Leaving me with little.” The being explained. .

“When last were you at this your peak strength?” Noah asked.

“About one-fifty years ago… Cregar has been finding me out, despite all my improvements. Something is going on and beyond even a being like me.”

“That long ago,” Noah commented.

“Now you risk being a plaything for even the order and require as much energy as possible.” Noah elaborated. “Sorry for destroying those creatures… I’ll make it up to you.”

“You catch on quick… human. I’ll take your promise. This ancient being needs it,” The voice responded.

“Nevertheless, you use weird but powerful energy. Even I can’t sense it properly. But I feel my mana tremble. What sort of formidable entity are you? In the fourth tier at that.” The huge mass explained.

“Yes,” Noah responded allowing a plan to form in his mind.

Spreading his palm, Noah tapped Erolia and made her sit a bit from his figure. She had returned not too long after they started chatting.

Noah allowed his essence to flow out of his palm, and the result was a massive silver flare many times the size of his figure or even buildings.

Silver light bathed that underground expanse as Noah’s voice sounded from behind the flare.

“This is only twenty-five percent of my reserves,” Noah announced in honesty, and the voice seemed to gasp a bit. This caused Noah to wonder what the being had been before becoming that mass.

“Well yes,” he closed his palm, making that giant flare vanish in an instant. He had reduced the intensity of his essence and thanks to the tainted mana of the being, it could not sense the innate danger that came with being in the presence of that essence.

“I can currently empty my reserves to feed you…” Noah responded allowing his plan to cook.

“Hmm… interesting.” The voice fell silent.

“So even you do not know why Cregar is siphoning your mana, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Noah stroked his chin, haven adopted a sitting position.

“Yes… I could find out, but I’m low on energy, not allowing me to take a small enough form to traverse the depths below and at least search,” the voice explained, and Noah could immediately understand what it meant.

“You want me to traverse the depths below in search of clues?” He arced an eyebrow and so did Erolia.

“If you could that would make me indebted to you… this is an issue that greatly bothers me…”

“Why don’t you just ask the order? They have bases even within the various tunnels don’t they?” Noah asked, tackling the being with the same information it had revealed to him.

“I could, but they already seek to destroy me, or at least put me under their control. I have blocked all sorts of access to this place to allow our conversation to remain secret. That organization seeks to keep me at its beck and call. I will not settle for that!” The being explained.

“Ego,” Noah shook his head, understanding its words.

“What do I gain for helping you?” Noah asked.

“If you can bring me enough information I might be able to replenish my reserves and not need the help the order provides.” The voice explained in a patronizing tone.

“I see,” Noah responded, even if he doubted its words. What stopped it from killing him or simply working with the order to gain even more energy?

“I accept your offer then. But how long will this expedition take?” Noah asked already ready to set out.

“It shouldn’t take you any more than two days to get to the site. I can’t reach that far down with my puppets and they tend to go berserk the moment they leave my range which is only within this expanse.” The disembodied voice explained, almost immediately after Noah completed his words.

“I see. Okay then. Tell me all that I need to know. I’ll like to know what to be careful of.” Noah announced.

“There’s isn’t much only that the pressure from going deeper becomes enhanced as that pit is dangerously close to certain mana-rich spots which Cregar has created natural systems to fend off anything foreign.

“Not even the order knows about this. But you’ll find that there’s a whole lot more space down here than expected.”

“Is that all?” Noah asked. He couldn’t help but feel like he was conversing with a former human. Most of its traits were at least at that level of intelligence. It definitely planned something underhanded.

“You still haven’t told me what exactly I’m looking for. Another underground expanse? A magical object? Or just to get down there?”

“Hmm… you cannot be easily tricked,” the being commented.

‘You haven’t even tried.’ Noah commented inwardly. That one thousand-year-old being was dumber than he expected, or at least more gullible.

“I would have preferred not to tell you. But what you search for is a mass of mana. It’s a giant cubical object that Cregar has direct control over. All I need you to do is create a crack on it, one significant enough to leak mana,” the voice explained.

“Is that all?”

“No… do even get to the cubical object you’ll have to defeat the guardian at the entrance of where it’s kept… none of my creations could defeat it even if it only stands at the peak of the fourth tier.”

“If they couldn’t defeat it what makes you think I can?” Noah asked arcing an eyebrow.

“The Guardian utilizes the light affinity and my creations are incredibly weak to it…” The voice explained seemingly sighing.

“I see… then I shall defeat it and open a crack on the object storing all your mana,” Noah announced.

“But does it have a name?” The asked. “The object that is.”

“No…” The being replied, but Noah wasn’t having that.

“You lied to me about not being able to search the depths when in truth you’ve already found the issue. There are probably more of your lies that I’ll find out… I’m okay with them, but I demand that you be truthful for the most part.” Noah explained.

The being seemed to have been jolted with electricity since its mass trembled. It had forgotten the words it spoke earlier.

“Fine… it is something only the highly knowledgeable know about. The cubical items; as they are many, are called the Hearts of the apocalypse. The only time Cregar dispersed them into the world was when it planned to build something to combat the expensive expeditions of the ruler of the Cusk nation. The end result of that struggle had been detrimental to the entire human continent.”