“What do you have there?” Ferric asked.

“I have some gifts, as a thank you for helping me with training,” Joe explained.

From the first large canvas sack he pulled out some leather backpacks. “Here, for all the miners. I know the weight doesn't bother you guys, but these backpacks will free up your hands so it's not as unwieldy to carry your load of ore and tools back out of the mines each day.”

Joe passed three backpacks to Jack, Sally, and Lester. Then from the other pack he pulled out some suits of leather armor. One large, one slightly smaller.

And for Jack and Sally, some armor to wear if they want to continue to fight wolves in the woods. All of these leather goods were made from some deer I was able to kill on my own thanks to all the training I got from you guys.”

Ferric looked both happy and sad at the occasion. Seeing the expression on his face Joe asked, “What's wrong, Ferric? I thought you'd be glad to get some better protection on your citizens.”

“No, that is truly great, but it reminds me that you won't be sticking around. Your physical training is complete, we've been more than compensated for the effort we put into it thanks to the many things we've been able to sell to the merchants from your spells. There aren't many professions you can train for here in our little town, we don't have the knowledge to give you. That means you'll leave us.”

Joe hesitated slightly before he responded. “Well, about that. You said back when I first got here that you had the information for some other skills, you just couldn't read them. I think I might be able to do something about that. I didn't say anything sooner because I didn't want to get your hopes up that I'd replace the craftsman the town lost. You're right, I do want to move on, but not yet. I have more to learn here.”

“You can read Dwarven?” Lester asked.

“Well, no, but I have an ability that I believe will translate it for me. That's close enough, right?”

Ferric thought about it for a moment before speaking again. “While I'd be more than happy to allow to access Gargan's old smithy and read the materials he left behind, I can't spare the iron to let you practice. We have built up a nice little safety net from what you've provided for us, but we still rely on our normal iron sales to keep the town running.

Joe looked disappointed for a moment until Ferric continued. “You can, however, still mine your own ore and give it to Teril in exchange for already smelted ingots.” Ferric smiled as he said, “I believe you know your way around a pickaxe and our little mine.”

Glad to have that resolved Joe and the rest of the miners present still had a celebration for Joe's quasi graduation. Afterwards Joe got a good night's sleep and re-entered the mine for the first time in a couple of weeks since he got to level 5 in his Mining skill.

The next week was spent gathering ore during the day and reading Gargan's books and scrolls in the evening, getting a grasp of the basics of smithing, and doing a little hands-on practice. There were illustrations and figures interspersed throughout the documents, but without being able to read the descriptions it would still be impossible to figure out what was being shown and what it meant to do.

By the end of his first week of blacksmith training he had unlocked the Smithing skill to 1, improved his Reading skill to 3, and even unlocked another skill, Heat Tolerance, which was tied to Toughness. Heat Tolerance was his thirteenth skill, which proved that he did not have the limit others have on skills. He repaired some of the tools Ferrite used on her farm, which was good practice in the basics.

Smithing (Level 1). This skill is for working raw metals or alloys into functional tools, weapons, or parts for other things. Higher skill levels allow you to work the metals faster and work harder metals into strong final products or soft metals into finely detailed final products. To train this skill keep shaping metal into different products.

Key Attribute: Strength

Heat Tolerance (Level 1). This skill allows you to work in hotter environments with less detrimental effects. Higher skill levels allow you to ignore more effects or even damage from heat or fire. To train this skill put yourself in hot environments like a desert, forge, or near an oven for long periods of time.

Key Attribute: Toughness.

Joe went out and killed a couple more deer for materials for non-metal parts of his upcoming projects. He now had bone, antler, and leather parts, all of which would go to use. By the end of the second week Joe had made a set of butcher's knives and cleavers with matching polished bone handles. Ferric was quite happy to have them, but asked if Joe could make a second set for Ferrite, in case the traveling merchants ever brought breeding pairs of farm animals around.

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The third week in the mine felt different to Joe. He couldn't quite explain it, but he could sense something different. He tried to ignore it, but as the week progressed it persisted. He leveled up his Smithing skill to 2 while making some simple throwing knives, but still felt weird about the mines. While trying to get to sleep after the fifth straight day of that weird feeling his brain finally sorted it out. It was his new Sense Manachlorians ability. There was some build up of magic energy in the mines.

The next day Joe tried to focus on his feelings. When that didn't do anything different he used his Read Aura ability. Unlike other times he's used the ability, he didn't get a sense of any particular flavor of manachlorians. These ones felt extra pure, like it was nothing but energy undiluted. He had no idea what that meant, but he was sure it meant something. While the ability was still active he could see a flow to the manachlorians. It seemed to be coming from further into the rock wall he was breaking apart for ore, and down.

Ignoring his normal goal of collecting iron ore, Joe started digging a sloped tunnel down in the direction he felt the energy flow. After about five hours he made a breakthrough. Literally. The ground under him crumbled and gave way as he had broken into a cavern. The cavern was lit with a gentle blue glow, which would have been interesting, except for the fact that he was falling a couple dozen meters. Between the glow and his Night Eyes ability he saw the ground approaching and activated Land on Your Feet. He hadn't used that ability in months, but he had a lot more stamina than before, but it wasn't enough. His stamina went down to zero and he still took 50 points of damage from the fall. A single cast of his Healing Touch fixed that.

The blue glow he had seen before was coming from crystals. The entire cavern was covered in them. His Sense Manachlorians ability was overwhelmed by the density of magic here. He went up to the nearest crystal and used Inspect.

Mana Crystal. Combine dense unaligned manachlorian energy and a mineral catalyst and these crystals will grow over time. They are highly sought for the properties they can provide in metallurgy and alchemy.

Joe used Read Aura and then inspected the crystal again.

Mana Crystal. Combine dense unaligned manachlorian energy and a mineral catalyst and these crystals will grow over time. So long as the energy is still present any pieces broken off will regrow over time. Key ingredient in the creation of magisteel, an iron alloy, and very can be used to improve the strength of any alchemical compound when introduced in the creation process.

Magisteel? Joe's Reading skill allowed him to remember reading about that in one of Gargan's scrolls. It was a metal that could store magic. As such it was extremely valuable. Something like this could be extremely useful. Joe snacked on deer jerky and drank the last of his day's supply of water while he recovered his stamina. He was going to fill his backpack with these crystals.

Joe lost track of time, but he was quite tired by the time his pack was filled. He didn't know how he was going to get out of here, but that was a problem for tomorrow. He laid down against a wall under the gently glow of the crystals and drifted off to sleep.

After Joe woke up he decided to see if there was anything else in this cavern. It hadn't taken long to fill his pack the night before, so he didn't go far from where he fell in. His Sense Manachlorians ability guided him around the sharp crystals and after an hour he heard water bubbling from the direction the energy felt stronger. He made his way out a narrow tunnel lined with more of the crystals and he came to an opening. Water bubbled up in a spring on the floor. Next to the spring was what looked like a naturally formed stone stand about 1 meter high. Embedded in the stand was a glowing orb the size of a grapefruit. It felt like this was the source of the magic. In fact, his Sense Manachlorians ability ranked up from being around such strong manachlorian flow.

Joe Inspected the orb.

Mana Diamond. This orb is pure manachlorian energy condensed into a physical form. It radiates the energy into the surrounding environment.

Not a lot of information, but Joe knew how to change that. He used Read Aura and tried again.

Mana Diamond. This orb is pure manachlorian energy condensed into a physical form. Originating in space millions of years ago, a nebula formed of manachlorian energy collapsed in on itself and created this. It then traveled in space for a number of years before it crashed into the area that would eventually become Rust's Edge. While the energy that radiates out from it should be finite in theory, the act of turning into a physical manifestation of manachlorian energy created a feedback loop which maintains the energy levels indefinitely.

Joe noticed that even more information than usual came out of it. That's when he noticed that CGS alerts that said both his Read Aura and Inspect abilities ranked up. That explained it. Feeling thirsty, Joe also inspected the water before his Read Aura ended.

Mana Spring. This naturally occurring spring of pure water has emerged right next to a Mana Diamond, imbuing it with manachlorian energy. Water is not the best medium for manachlorian energy without alchemical intervention, so this water will easily lose its energy if diluted even slightly. Can be used to improve most alchemical potions.

Nothing dangerous listed, so Joe shrugged his shoulders and bent down to drink up from the spring. It was cool and crisp, and he felt his mana top off, even though he had barely used it for his Read Aura. He refilled his waterskin with the water from the spring. Joe then decided to make his way back to where he entered to see if he could climb up.

As he returned to the area he had mined of crystal pieces the night before he heard from above, “Joe! Joe, are you okay?”