Ah, the Underdark. A cavernous world spanning across half the continent, a collection of caves, tunnels, and passages with their own subterranean ecosystems and inhabitants. It was a dreadful place devoid of light, filled to the brim with riches and monsters alike. A true place of carnage and opportunity, a crucible where warriors went to prove their worth. It was a place that was filled with death and despair.

A literal Hell for any other, but a true Heaven for me!

At the dawn of a new day, we descended into the belly of the beast. A mineshaft carved into solid stone, and in it, a platform large enough for a hundred people soundlessly dropped through the rocky layers.

Gale and Blaze stood beside me, the latter shaking his head in disbelief. When suggesting I join the excavation effort in the Underdark, the people in charge wasted no time in approving the proposal. Thus I officially became a part of the mining branch of the Verdant Ironwood Willow Clan without a fuss. I even gained a number and a badge so that… my corpse could be identified in case I got eaten, or worse.

The man in charge barely held back his laughter after my Cultivation was revealed, saying he would get the badge back by the end of the week. I hadn’t bothered to argue, but I decided to make sure he would be disappointed.

We descended fast, the earth around us getting cooler for a while, but then it soon began turning hot. Nothing unbearable for a Cultivator, but definitely stuffy and warm.

Beside the main mineshaft, large tunnels lead downward, blasting in frigid fresh air. The freezing cold was counteracted by boiling hot rocks around it, turning the air at the exit nice and refreshing.

The shaft with the lift finally expanded, revealing a massive cavern hundreds of meters high. Dim lights could be seen in the distance, with darkness encroaching on those distant flames, with people, like ants, moving to and fro.

It took a while longer before the floating platform touched the ground, the array powering it turning dim. A structure was carved into the dark gray stone wall of the cavern, a mansion, illuminated by bright glowing green gems and bioluminescent fungi.

Soon a person came running from the inside, a large man dressed in a subtly glowing green robe. He noticed the two brothers and quickly ran to greet them, bowed, and cupped his fist.

“Esteemed guests, welcome! Forgive me for such a lacking reception, I was not expecting guests at this time.”

“At ease, manager Green.” Blaze said in a flat tone. “We’ve just brought you an extra worker.” He gestured at me.

“Oh…” The manager appeared surprised. “Well, um… Usually, they come in a group at the end of the week. Your esteemed selves didn’t have to bring him in person…”

“It’s fine.” Gale waved his hand. “We’re here now, no big deal. We’ve heard you were in need of warriors and he accepted the job.”

The man bowed his head in shame. “The last incident was entirely my fault, masters, I was pushing them too hard. I’ll accept punishment for-”

“Stop whining.” Gale interrupted him. “We are not here for that. Gerald, go with him, he’ll show you what is to be done.”

[Sure.] I said absentmindedly. I was only half listening anyway. The place was so interesting, so foreign. The base of a nearby stone pillar was illuminated, revealing it was hundreds of meters across, but the rest of it just disappeared into the darkness.

So much was hidden to common sight. Thermal vision was also not much better as everything was similarly warm and the air wriggled with heat.

I could similarly tell that the place was stuffed with Qi, but there was something different about it, though I couldn’t really put my finger on what exactly.

Gale and Blaze left soon after, leaving me with the sweating manager.

The man straightened his back and sighed. “Oh, great… Now two masters came, and they didn’t even punish me, this is a disaster. I’m so screwed!”

[What now?] I asked. The man nearly jumped out of his skin. He seemingly forgot all about me.

“Oh, right, you… What is your level?”

[Peak of Golden Core.]

Manager Green opened his eyes and mouth wide and then threw his head back, wailing. “We are doomed! I need soldiers, not kids! I’m never going to financially recover from this!”

He then completely disregarded me and returned inside, leaving me clueless and without direction.

[Uh… Hey, what about me?!]

Only silence answered, together with distant sounds of breaking stones. Someone was swinging a pickaxe with great intensity.

Workers in the vicinity gave me odd looks as they stacked wooden crates onto a nearby lift that was different from the one we came down with. I decided to just remain there on the spot and wait. Good thing I did too, because a few minutes later a man dressed in brown leather came running.

“Ah! You are the new guy, correct?” He glanced at my badge before I could say anything. “Vanguard... I see. Well, come with me, I’ll show you your team. By the way, my name is Brown, foreman Brown.”

I nodded. [Is this some kind of code? Since the manager was called Green…] I mentioned.

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“Oh, yes, something like that. People are often changing here, you see? It’s easier if we just get a new identity. Manager Green, foreman Brown, master Gray, general Red… Things like that.”

[Oh, okay.] It was a weird system but I wasn’t going to question it.

“Yeah, especially general Red, those guys change often. Just the last month we got a new guy.”

[Yeah? How so?]

“The previous one got eaten by a Stone Dragon.” The man said casually as if that would explain everything. Without further elaboration, he pulled my hand and led me to a weird metallic contraption levitating just slightly above ground.

[Oh...]

“Yep. Now, let’s go, we got stuff to do.” Energy poured into the console and the large metal minecart-like vehicle lifted about a meter high and then accelerated at great speed across the uneven landscape. The cavern around us was a blur, yet the massive stone walls in the distance barely changed.

The glowing fungus was everywhere, covering the ground and walls of the cavern like a thin layer of fluorescent paint.

Those mushrooms, some of them the size of a horse, while barely releasing enough light to distinguish nearby shapes, were the ones responsible for giving the darkness of the cavern its volume. I could see a barely perceptible veil of light way over in the distance, the meager illumination they released just enough to make me feel small.

“We were not expecting reinforcements this soon, so we are a bit tight on time. We were just about to reopen a breach, you know?” Foreman Brown shouted over the billowing wind.

[Hmm…] I nodded along as he gave a short explanation about their current situation with a bit of history mixed in.

The three Clans had been exploiting the Underdark for centuries, using it as a personal treasury of infinite wealth.

The only thing that prevented them from extracting the valuable ores, minerals, and gemstones, was the danger that lurked in the darkness. The environment itself was already chaotic enough, but add to that all sorts of underground critters and monsters, and you have a very dangerous environment to work with.

There was danger around every corner, a trap after every twist and turn. The long tunnels carved into solid rock were as hard as a diamond and resistant to magic, having been bathed in dense Qi for millennia.

And if that wasn’t enough, breaches into long-sealed systems could release poisonous gasses or airborne toxins from the various fungal lifeforms that inhabited the land of eternal night.

Apart from the glowing mushrooms, there were some that produced poison and others even toxic gasses that could bring down even a Spirit Realm Cultivator if he was distracted. The price of labor was high and just to survive a single day in the hellish heat, one had to be at least in the early stages of the Golden Core.

I agreed with that statement. Any common Mortal would be cooked alive in the depths, not to mention the toxic air and pressure down there. Even though frigid air was constantly being supplied, as one went deeper into the mines, as we did, the air itself became hot enough to burn you alive.

I noticed my guide was constantly releasing low-intensity energy from his body that guarded him from heat, and with every breath he took while speaking, the air around his mouth would freeze. What techniques he was using I didn’t know, but it was clear that even having the body of a Spirit Realm Cultivator was not enough to resist the environmental effects.

Whether he needed it to live or if it was just for comfort was unclear. I, on the other hand, felt just fine. My skin burned with a comforting feeling and I felt no pain whatsoever.

As we neared our destination, one of the side tunnels that was slowly getting expanded, I was told what to expect of my pay. It was terrible. Bottom of the barrel garbage. But, as one might think, there were benefits that more than made up for it.

Whatever I or my team killed, was ours to keep. It was our job to kill and keep the workers safe, so that was our reward. And, if we didn’t fancy dragging gigantic corpses up to the surface to be sold, the Verdant Ironwood Willow Clan was more than happy to buy it from us, for a discounted price, of course.

We soon reached the breech foreman Brown mentioned. It was a crack in the wall of the cavern around which brightly glowing runes formed a containment array. A thick barrier separated whatever was on the other side from the working folk in the main branch of the cavern.

As the levitating vehicle came to a stop near a camp, I noticed a second barrier spring to life behind us. Trapped between two glowing walls of energy, I lifted an eyebrow.

“Simple precautions.” Foreman Brown said and dismounted the vehicle. “In case the opening of the breach goes badly.”

[What’s on the other side to deserve such precautions?]

“Hohoho, that’s a good question, my boy.” Foreman Brown slapped me on the shoulder and then gestured me toward the camp. “I am not completely sure myself as I was not present, and the previous foreman Brown lost his life trying to close the breach without leaving any records behind, but whatever is in there has to be worth exploring. Our vanguard already scouted the place a bit, so they might be able to tell you more.”

I looked at him and he just grinned, shaking his head. Clearly, he was not one to ask many questions.

A few tents were further up ahead, and even from the distance, I could guess they were enchanted for comfort inside. A group of people dressed in thick leather armor stood around a blazing bonfire, slowly turning some kind of monster on a spit roast.

They appeared more like a band of fantasy adventurers than mighty Cultivators. I noticed from the distance that their equipment carried marks of use and was worn, patched in places, and reinforced in others with pieces of metal I recognized. Forged Ferrite.

“General Red!” My guide hollered, and the entire company turned their head. A large man split from the group and approached. His long black hair stuck to his skin with sweat, and he wore a blood-red attire made from both boiled beast leather and metal. Underneath he carried a chainmail from pure Spirit Metal that nearly reached his knees, and his legs were similarly heavily armored, with his feet resting inside some blood-stained greaves.

“Foreman Brown, back already? We were just about to open the breach when you left. Decided we might as well eat before we go since you just disappeared.”

The foreman just waved his hand. “Oh, that’s fine. I just received the news from the manager and had to run. They sent us this fella from the surface. Supposed to be a strong one. Vanguard even, hehe.

The two exchanged a few words and only then did general Red pay me any attention. He looked me up and down and then snorted.

“Hmph… You fought against beasts before, boy?”

I had to admit, getting called boy was kind of annoying, but considering the age difference I was but a child to them. Also, I trimmed my beard, appearing even younger.

[More than I could count, sir!] I answered with vigor and cupped my fist instead of a military salute.

“Good! Then we’ll put your experience to the test. Though, I would suggest you arm yourself with something other than that flimsy robe of yours. This is war, not a playground!”

I just grinned. He had no idea. [Yes, sir!]

“Then come! Meet your new brothers in arms.”

Foreman Brown left and exited the barrier, going back to his job of supervising the work. In the meantime, we returned back to camp where I noticed bloody monster parts haphazardly stuffed into nearby crates and a big chunk nicely sizzling over the fire.

However, what really attracted my gaze, was the group of people standing around the fire. They were covered in sweat, but their gazes were clear and I could feel their battle-hardened Souls. They were real warriors, forged through pain and blood. Nothing like the coddled Cultivators that have never seen real combat.

As I neared, I knew it already. I would enjoy my time among them.