Chapter 9:

The sun has fallen when we arrived at the mine entrance. I knew Blue was exhausted, since we practically continued here without rest, but I had to press on despite the place riddled with an unpleasant smell. The guild had informed me about the safe spots that the miners once used inside; so rather than staying out in the dark and be monster prey it would be safer to enter the mines instead. Thus, I lighted a fire scripted torch and looked for the guild’s mark that kept the mines sealed for seven years now.

While I was tracing the seal’s origin, Blue threw a sudden question. “Are you sure this is a place for beginners? If this area was sealed long ago, then there must be a reason, right?”

“That’s right. They had to close the mines because of what they discovered underneath.”

“Like?”

“Hmm, information about the incident wasn’t really disclosed to the public.” My left hand landed on a rough surface patch where the seal was resting. It seemed like weather and old age has deteriorated the seal, but not to the point where it would be unusable.

“So then, why would they send a rookie like you here?”

Because the main suspect behind that madness — where several miners and alchemists alike lost their lives — was my father. Of course, there was no way I could tell her that, so I merely replied with, “I don’t know.”

I felt like the guild has specifically assigned me this duty because of that incident under the pretense that it was needed to keep my license. Otherwise, what reason would a rookie like me be assigned to somewhere even senior alchemists wouldn’t dare mention? To mine for an ore rumored to contain magical properties? Yeah right. But fishy as it may have sounded, I wanted to clear the stigma behind my father’s name, even if it would mean that I have to traverse the dangers of these darkened tunnels.

With my free hand, I took out the ring the guild master himself had given me and pointed it to the seal as instructed. The crimson colored gem on the ring emitted a warm glow. It completely dismantled the seal within seconds, then the intertwining foliage barring our path slowly shrank to the size of a small seed.

“Let’s go?” I pocketed the seed for a later specimen.

“You sure? I’m having a really, really bad feeling about this, Claude.”

I sighed. “I need to do this, Blue. Please.”

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“Right…” Blue stared into my eyes, as if looking for my resolve, and there was a short silence before she sighed and continued what she wanted to say. “But promise me that we’ll run at the first sign of danger. Your workshop might be important to you, but it won’t do you any good if you’re dead.”

“Alright, I promise. We’ll return at the first sign of danger.”

With those words, I turned my back to Blue once more and continued inside.

The mine’s hallways were supported with wooden beams and fire inscripted stones hanged on post after post which gave our path their much needed light. Even after years of abandonment, one could still see the degree of magic used in this place. Whoever inscribed those stones knew what they were doing, as the light remained even after seven years.

Minutes after that we reached the armory, where various tools, weapons, and other protective equipment were located.

“These stone swords are still good,” I said, inspecting the swords one by one. Other than that, I didn’t really consider taking the other ones out, as most of them were forged with steel as the main component and were rusty.

“Do monsters linger in the mines too?”

“You could describe them as monsters in a way, but they’re more on the lines of tainted spirits assuming form.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

“Just think of spirits as one of the basic fundamentals in our world that sustain life. Without an undine spirit blessing a lake, the water would be undrinkable. Without an gnome spirit blessing this mountain, this tunnel would collapse. And magic is the manipulation of spirits; so naturally, impurities occur every now and then each time we use magic.”

“So kinda like a give and take relationship… I see…”

“Yes. Our spirit weapons are the same. To use its full potential, we would need to feed the spirits our inborn mana — another word that represents our life. That’s why relying on spirit weapons or magic too much could be fatal.”  

That seemed to have scared her. “Should I discard these boots then?”

“You should be fine, as long as you don’t exhaust yourself in a daily manner.” I picked a stone sword with moderate length and strapped it diagonally on my back. I also cleaned a pair of leather bracers and had Blue don it before we continued onward to the second stratum.