“Kaen, get yer arse over here before I shove this pick-axe up it!”

Kaen came running out of the woods as he pulled his pants up. Hess was waving and shouting at him as usual; Kaen often lost count of the number of times a threat of bodily harm came from Hess each day.

“Sorry, sir!” Kaen yelled back with a grin, “I thought I was catching a snake in the woods but realized it was just myself.”

The men around the foreman started laughing, and even Hess shook his head and smirked at Kaen’s joke.

Men continued breaking rocks while full and empty carts rolled in and out of the quarry. Kaen dodged a cart and arrived, barely out of breath, before the foreman, Hess.

Kaen glanced up at the mountain of a man who ran this hellhole of physical labor. His arms were larger than most men’s torsos, and his legs had lifted most of the boulders in this quarry, many considered impossible to move. The fact that he was taller than most men by a full head only added to the impressive size of his boss.

“Boy, why do you tell lies about the size of your manhood,” Hess joked as he handed the pick-axe to Kaen. “You seem to forget I was there when you were born, and at first, we thought you were a girl.”

Kaen laughed and hefted the pick-axe over his shoulder.

“I wish I had a better answer to give, but then you might make me do more work,” joked Kaen

Hess took a playful swipe at Kaen and brushed the top of his head.

“It’s a good thing your dad made me promise to watch over you, or I would have fired your lazy ass already.”

Pfftt.

“We both know you keep me around because I can cook and catch game in the woods. Two things your usual rotating girlfriends cannot seem to do,” declared Kaen as he started to walk towards the section of the quarry he was assigned to.

“Gah, your mouth reminds me of your father’s!” Hess shouted as he watched Kaen walk away. “It was not near as nice as your mother's!”

Kaen held up his middle finger as he jogged towards the other boys who were already working on the rocks they needed to break up for today. He loved the man and owed him his life, but that did not mean either one of them wouldn’t tease and joke about the other any chance they got.

“What’s this about a grub you found in the woods?” a lanky teenager called out as Kaen approached.

“Oh, you know, Hess. He would get upset if I told him I was out there hunting and checking traps. He already thinks I’m lazy,” joked Kaen.

“And by lazy, you mean the most productive member of his workforce besides himself,” laughed Cale, Kaen’s best friend.

Patrick hung his head in mock shame and sagged his shoulders on his lean frame.

“And yet Kaen is forced to carry our slacking efforts,” Patrick moaned before laughing and changing his tone. “ Thankfully, Kaen does enough work for the three of us.”

All three boys started laughing and returned to work on the rocks they were responsible for. Hess was fair with the three of them since they were all teenagers, they had a more manageable workload, and once it was done, they were finished for the day.

“Kaen, you want to take care of that bigger rock?” Cale asked as he motioned to the one taller than all of them. “You're the one with the skill, so you should be the one to take care of it.”

Kaen groaned but nodded. He and Hess were the only two in this quarry with a lifestone. He had gotten his lifestone from his father. Most men would never be able to afford one. His dad had taken a quest on the promise of one. That job had cost his father his life but had provided him with a future. Someday, he would leave this town, make a name for himself, and follow in his dad’s steps.

Stretching a little before he started working, Kaen wondered about his current mining skill.

Skill Mining Status.

[ Mining 11 ]

Kaen grinned like a fool, remembering he had achieved a new level in that skill last week. He could now see better where to swing the pick-axe. He knew how to hold it and how to use his core through each swing. It was nowhere near Hess’s skill of 28. That man could split most rocks in half with one swing of his custom-built pick-axe.

Letting his mind go, Kaen let his body take over as he started working on the rock. His lifestone seemed to guide him, and he noticed a slight crack and line running through the rock. Setting his feet, he swung the pick-axe and connected the point where that line was.

Crack

A large piece dropped off to the side as Kaen moved away from it as it fell.

“I hate when he makes it look that easy,” Cale called out as he hacked repeatedly at the small boulders he was working on.

Patrick laughed and kept working on his group of rocks. Both boys knew Kaen did most of the work, but Kaen never complained about it. He loved spending his days with his friends while getting stronger as he thought about the adventurers' test he would one day take.

Kaen made short work of turning that massive boulder into more manageable pieces for them. He had reduced the rock by over two-thirds of its starting size in less than half an hour.

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The three boys continued to joke and share stories as they worked through Hess's assigned pile. None of them ever really felt like it was a horrible job, as the constant conversation made the time fly exceptionally fast. A few hours later, the three of them turned in their equipment. They finished a good hour or more before the other men were done.

“I’ll see you later tonight!” Kaen shouted at his friends as he darted off into the woods near the quarry with his bow and quiver.

Cale and Patrick waved as they ran to catch up with one of the carts headed into town. They had finished a lot earlier than expected, and both boys wanted to venture into town and see if they could meet up with a few of the girls they had been flirting with lately. Kaen had blown through those rocks faster than usual, and both of them had noticed. Each of them wondered why Kaen was working harder than usual. If he did that all the time, Hess would give them more work as he always did when it became apparent their current load was too easy.

Kaen ran toward the spot he had emerged from earlier. He had gone into the woods earlier that morning to check a few traps he had set and relieve himself before all the workers showed up. While checking his traps, he found a few trees knocked down at a weird angle. He had stumbled upon them while scouting the deeper part of the woods he had put snares in. He wanted to try and figure out what could have caused that damage.

Thirty minutes later, he found the area of trees that lay on their sides.

Running his hand over the exposed wood, Kaen let out a small whistle.

What could do this?

The trees had been snapped at the base from something brushing against them two-thirds of the way up the tree. Whatever it was had stripped the bark off like sandpaper. Rough, large chunks of the tree were missing. Kaen spent time searching for tracks. He followed the line of trees that had been knocked down and found a small clearing near one of the deeper areas of the quarry that he believed had not been used in the seven years he had been here.

As he looked around, he saw weird lines and a few muddied pools of color in the dirt and on rocks.

Bending down, he used a stick and lifted the substance he scratched off a rock to his nose and recoiled at the foul reek of rot and acid.

“Blood,” Kaen murmured out loud as he glanced around the area. There was enough blood that something must have been hurt pretty badly.

“Where could this thing have gone?” he said aloud as he looked back at the trees. He started to slowly back up and look at the scene before him from different angles. He could feel his mind working the problem out. His lifestone thumped in his chest, alerting him to what he was wondering.

It flies!

Kaen realized it was something that flew, and it had to be huge to do the damage it had done to the trees.

[ Tracking Skill Increased ]

Kaen smiled, and his eyes went wide.

“Yes!” he shouted as he jumped up with a fist pump into the air.

He could now easily see the pattern that had eluded him.

Skill Tracking Status.

[ Tracking 4 ]

It wasn’t a huge jump, but it would make tracking things much easier. Kaen could see where it had flown off towards the mountains across the way. He glanced down at the ground and realized he needed to get higher.

Scrambling up the rocks and boulders, he climbed up about thirty feet and saw what he had been missing.

[ Tracking Skill Increased ]

“Hell yah!” Kaen shouted, his voice echoing off the rocks and mountainside.

Skill Tracking Status.

[ Tracking 5 ]

A dragon! It had to be a dragon! The size of the prints in the ground and how deep they were left no doubt now in his mind. Kaen could see the claw marks and imprints. It had messed up some of its tracks when it turned around.

Kaen peered at the area and wondered why it had landed and moved around so much. Even if it was bleeding, there was no reason to spend that much energy turning around down here in the dirt of the quarry and around all these rocks.

Kaen focused on the edges and saw that there was a time when the dragon was close to the base of the rocks and mountainside. He then noticed some scratches in the dirt, obviously from its long, sharp talons.

He almost tripped and fell as he started running back down the mountain to get to where he saw the marks. Rocks tumbled and bounced around his feet as he scrambled down the rocky side.

When he got to the area where he had noticed the scratched dirt, Kaen found a burnt area off to the side. The dirt was melted and fused into something he had no idea how to describe. It wasn’t like glass or metal, yet it felt hard and would be difficult to break. He had missed seeing that section as a few larger rocks and boulders had blocked it.

Kaen started to look at the claw marks and found that they had dug out an area underneath some rocks. The rocks appeared to be placed on top of the spot the dragon had dug.

“What would a dragon bury out here?” Kaen asked himself out loud as he got on the ground and tried to peer through the small space between the rocks it had stacked up. Nothing could be seen from that angle, and he was frustrated because he would not have time to dig anything out since he was losing light fast. There were only about two hours of sunlight left, and he still had to make his way back to town.

Rubbing his hand across his face, Kaen groaned. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, and he could not pass it up.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow, he would check this out.

Kaen ran through the woods, dodging around trees and jumping over logs and holes. His mind was racing as he ran.

Treasure! It had to be treasure!

The dragon must have gotten in some fight and needed to hide its treasure. How long would he have to get a piece or two before the dragon returned? The damage to the trees seemed to be only a few days old, at least as far as he could tell. That meant he probably did not have long to figure out what the dragon had buried.

Hess would have to help him. Surely, he would be willing to help for a little bit of the treasure! They would only take one or two pieces to not upset the dragon and make it want to search for what it lost.

That would be perfect, Kaen told himself. He and Hess would find out what the dragon had hidden, and then they would carefully take just a little of it. They would be rich, and he could stop working this job at the quarry and train full-time so he could prepare for the adventures guild over in Ebonmount. He could easily afford to get his adventurer's token and make a fortune taking on quests and missions. He could then travel to the other kingdoms and make a name for himself!

As the light of the day started to fade, and the sky turned orange and red from the sun setting, Kaen had a new outlook on life as he raced down the path from the quarry back to town. Soon, all his dreams of being an adventurer would come true. He could be just like his dad had been!

Don’t go! Stay!

The egg pulsed and flexed.

It had sensed someone near it. It knew there was someone with a lifestone.

I’m here!

The egg shook and shivered for a moment and then stopped pulsing as it felt the presence leave. It would have to wait for their return.