Chapter 17: Amaranth, The Staff of Greed.

I sighed after finally regaining my composure and mana. I was now back and kicking. I felt pretty embarrassed about crying like a little bitch before, but I had now calmed down and regained my morale.

I had come up to the most optimal spot for activating avalanches. If anything or anyone gets in the way of the avalanche, they will most definitely turn into mush...

The way I activated the avalanches was simple. I would cast 'Dark Press' on random spots of ice and hope for the best.

I was in the general area of the novel's description of the Unholy Mountains. It was only a matter of time until I got that staff.

This continued for half an hour. I cleared out 3 big, earth-shaking avalanches. Each of them were so big and majestic, its hard to put it into words.

A white cloud of death and destruction, descending from the heavenly mountains, towards the mortal ground, roaring as if it was raging. It looked both beautiful and mortifying at the same time. I can't even imagine what would happen to someone if they got caught up in one of those things.

I carefully scanned the areas uncovered after clearing the thousands of metric tons of snow and finally found something that resembled a cave entrance.

It was easier to find than expected. I only had to take 2 breaks for mana recovery.

I ran towards the cave entrance as fast as I could and reached it. It was indeed just like the novel had described it to be.

A shabby looking cave, but with a mysterious and ominous aura. It seems as though it lures you inside the cave. The entrance was covered in dead lichen and eroded rocks.

I went inside the cave after activating the 'Dark Vision' spell. I knew where to find the staff, so I ignored all of the other pathways that lead to nothing.

I directly entered the tube that led to the staff. And when I arrived at the place, I saw something bizarre, which although, I expected since I read the novel, didn't make it any less bizarre.

In the middle of the mini-cavern, was a table. Behind it was a chair which was mounted by a skelton wearing unrecognizable clothes. They were too damaged to be useful.

And in the skeleton's hands, was the staff. A platinum colored pole, with intricate runes and tapestries all over it. On its top was 3 circles, each encircling the smaller one, which were all held by a thin pillar of metal. In the middle of the 3 circles, was a shimmering purple stone of sorts. Its shape was random, like any rock on the ground, but this stone was so much more than just that.

The stone gave off a bone-chilling aura, like it wants to devour and possess everything in its path. I became hesitant to take the staff all of the sudden. I thought that the staff might take over my mind crossed over me and made me shiver at it.

But I knew that the staff didn't have that kind of effect. In fact, the reason I was feeling like this was actually described in the novel. The staff's ability to syphon mana from dead beings and the environment was running amok after getting a new source of mana after so long. The new source being myself.

Because it was trying to syphon my mana, I was getting the feeling that it wanted to devour everything that came its way. In reality, the staff can't 'want' anything, as it isn't a living thing in the first place.

I walked over to the skeleton and took the staff from its hands. This skeleton was probably the last wielder of this staff.

'The last time I encountered an inanimate skeleton, I looted it mercilessly and left without saying a word. I have been regretting that ever since...', I thought as I was about to take the staff from the skeleton's hands.

"Hello. My name is Samuel Francis. I hope you forgive me for taking what was originally yours, but I am in need of it more than you. I promise to use it to my very best and treasure it always. I will take this staff to great heights, and although I won't be able to guarantee if I can satisfy your standards, I will try my very best. Thanks again, nameless skeleton."

'That felt better...', I exhaled in relief as I took the staff from its hands.

The skeleton's arms broke as it was already so brittle from getting no moisture.

As soon as I grabbed the staff, I felt a sudden urge of power flowing through me. That was probably because the staff just got calibrated with my own mana and started to absorb mana from the environment at an exponential rate.

The difference between using a staff and not using one is equivalent to using gloves to wash dishes vs not using gloves.

Its just far better in every way imaginable.

And the special ability of the staff will help me with my low MP pool too, as I can regain MP from slaying my enemies.

I slowly started to exit the tunnel, staff in hand. Now the problem was to hide the staff, as I won't be able to use it in the open.

'Bah! I'll think about the later... now... I need to test this sick looking thing!', I exclaimed in excitement like a little kid who wanted to test out his new RC car.

-------- some serious testing later --------

'Fan-Fuckin'-Tastic', was the only thing I could think of to describe the test results. It was so much better than just using my hands!

The difference between using a staff and not using one is not that much in terms of damage output, but it definitely helps!

I was super happy with the staff's performance and leapt down the mountain with a stupidly wide grin on my face.

It had been a long time since I had felt that happy...