Chapter 55: Brimstone

Ethan closed the dorm door behind them and turned to the girls with a flat look.

"Alright," he said. "Why here?"

Nora stood near the kitchen counter, with a small pouch in her hands. She didn’t tell them where they were going. She just led them to Ethan’s dorm and told him that was the place they would talk.

"Because it’s simple," she said. "And because I don’t want this discussed out in the open."

Lila dropped onto the couch. By now, Bef had been dismissed back into storage.

Her eyes moved between Nora’s face and the pouch with an assessing expression. Nora had been acting off since they were in the lecture hall. She had noticed. Nora wasn’t very good at keeping stuff to herself.

Ethan sighed, deciding to accept the answer."Alright then. What’s so important that you had to pull me out of training?"

Nora set the pouch on the counter and unsealed it just far enough to show the crystal’s tip. The soft red light shone in contrast to the dorm’s light.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You brought it back?"

"Just a few pieces. I was curious since it didn’t look like the normal Aetherite so I collected a few."

Ethan looked at her. "You were curious."

She just nodded, then faced the crystals. "Brimstone is classified as a high threat mineral" she said. "It’s rare enough that most first years never see it outside textbook diagrams. Where Aetherite stores dungeon energy in a stable, extractable form, Brimstone does the opposite. When concentrated, it releases energy. It’s violent and hard to control."

Lila leaned forward. "Opposite of Aetherite."

"Yes." Nora’s gaze flicked to her, then away in a motion Lila noticed. "In laboratory conditions, concentrated Brimstone produces heat, power, and is capable of contaminating pure Aetherite. In dungeons, it’s usually found near high threat monsters or the aftermath of a fight against one."

Ethan watched the crystal, cataloguing everything Nora had said then narrowed his eyes....

"Contamination huh. I’m guessing this also has something to do with the Alpha?" he asked.

Nora’s fingers rested on the edge of the pouch, then she nodded before replying.

"Some studies link Brimstone exposure to behavioral collapse in monsters. Irritation, anger escalation, sustained violence past normal hunting logic. The studies are incomplete, and sample sizes are small because intact Brimstone clusters are uncommon and Devil class encounters don’t usually end well." A pause. "But the pattern matches what we went through. A chamber of corpses with no clear explanation and a Devil class monster charging though the wall covered in blood."

Lila’s expression tightened. "So that thing went berserk because of this?"

"Possibly.... Likely, if you trust the evidence hard enough."

Nora’s voice stayed flat, but the rest of her did not entirely cooperate. When Ethan’s eyes met hers, she held the contact a fraction longer than stuttered before looking towards the pouch again.

At a point, Ethan could have sworn he saw something like a faint blush touching her cheeks before disappearing entirely.

"The node was with the zone. Either the Alpha was drawn to it, running from it or affected by it. Any of those theories explain the corpses better than ’beasts randomly annihilated each other.’"

Silence settled for a second and Ethan nodded.

He couldn’t help but wonder: if it had this effect on a living beast, would it also affect his undead?

"Does it have any side effects?" he asked.

Nora shook her head. "I’m not sure. Researchers don’t completely agree, and some reports claim prolonged close contact results in agitation, sleep disruption, and aggressive response. Others sources show little to know information, and the academy’s official stance is caution: monitored handling, minimal exposure and no student experimentation."

Her eyes flicked to him again, then down. "I didn’t bring it here to suggest you swallow it or jam it into a corpse. I brought it because we all went through that, and we did agree to exchange any information we got a hold off."

Lila’s gaze had narrowed. "So we keep it quiet?"

"For now," Nora said. "We still don’t know how this works and I want to research more."

Ethan finally sat, elbows on his knees as he sighed. "You smuggled dungeon goods. Now you’re shoving the responsibility onto me."

Lila rolled her eyes and huffed something like a laugh before asking. "So who’s going to keep it? We can’t let the academy know that we’re keeping part of the spoils..."

He exhaled. "I got a few things in mind... One: submit it and forget this ever happened. Two: we keep it, and wait for the professor’s lesson so we have an idea of what we’re dealing with. Three: attempt to do research and experiment on it ourselves." He glanced at Nora. "That’s the stupid version unless you already have a method to deal with a berserk beast."

Nora replied. "I don’t. So it’s going to be in my dorm. That should work for now..."

The answer was steady, and when Lila caught her gaze drifting towards Ethan and narrowed her eyes."

Lila looked at Ethan, watching how deep he was in thought. "Please tell me you’re not considering option three..."

"It’s very tempting. I’ll tell you that." Ethan said.

To be honest, he really wanted to see if the crystal had any effect on his undead the way it did with the alpha. He thought about it for a second longer, then pushed it aside for the time being.

Nora sealed the pouch carefully. "I can keep it for now," she said. "I’m as closely monitored as you are."

Ethan deadpanned. "Rubbing it in huh..." he sighed. "So we get to keep it No experimenting on it right?"

"For now," Nora said.

The silence stressed for a moment and when Nora finally turned toward the door, she paused with her hand on the frame. "You kept us alive in that dungeon" she said without turning to look at him. "Thanks for that."

Then she left.

Ethan stared at the door for a few moments with his eyes slightly wide with surprise. "Okay. That... that was weird..."

"She’s acting differently." Lila said with a raised eyebrow. "It’s suspicious."

Ethan glanced at her, then leaned back on the chair and placed his hands at the back of head. "You’re just saying that because you don’t like her."

"I don’t, but this is different. That’s the attitude from before."

"You’re overthinking this. But I have to admit, you are right though. The version of her we know would have just left without saying anything else." he paused, closing his eyes with an exhale. "Well, it’s probably nothing too serious..."

Lila crossed her hands. "I still don’t like her..."

He opened one eye and looked at her. "Sure you don’t...