Emerging from the portal, Franklin braces himself, in case the biome is in fact another ocean one, holding his breath lest he plunge into cold water again. To his relief, however, no such sinking occurs, and, instead, he finds himself stepping out into another cave, similar, yet different, to his own. A moment later, and a message appears, reading:

You have entered Eben Mines.

“A mine, huh?” he wonders aloud. He glances to and fro, inspecting the somewhat narrow tunnel that is roughly seven feet tall and the same distance wide. He says, “For a mine, this feels rather… raw. I mean, where are the support beams? The minecart tracks? This just looks like a cave… Just what was being mined here exactly? And for that matter… who was doing the mining? Curious… all very curious.” He walks over to a nearby wall, running a hand over the uneven surface. Unlike his own cavern, which only consists of pale, white limestone, the rock here is a composite of sedimentary types. The vast majority appear as a grainy, blackish-gray, with distinct striations running parallel to the ceiling and floor, creating laminae, or layers, roughly a centimeter thick. Instantly, he recognizes the material for what it is, as he suspects most people will, for though not everyone may know the name of it, the rock’s characteristic flaky appearance is unmistakable.

“Shale,” he says, “which means there should be-” He tilts his head up and spots what he is looking for. Near the ceiling, there is a region where the dark-gray shale begins to transition into a peachy brown, where the laminae become less distinct and more filled with pores, in the form of oval holes. “Ah, yes, there it is. Sandstone. Hm, shale and sandstone. Usually, the type of resource found in this kind of sedimentary rock worth mining is-” He pauses, scouring about the cavern, in search of his hypothesis. A few minutes later, and he finds it, in the form of a dark black bump rising out of the shale, running along the wall in an irregularly shaped seam, glinting ever so dimly as it reflects the magical ambiance of the mine.

Franklin grins. “Well, not exactly black gold, but perhaps its progenitor?” He searches around for a loose piece of rock, then uses it to chip a flake off the black substance, verifying his intuition with the Decompose command, the dialogue reading:

Decompose 0.1 grams of Coal. This action will consume 1 AP.

Option 1) This will yield

0.044 grams of Carbon

0.0049 grams of Oxygen

Option 2) This will yield

87.52 O-Points

Please select an option to proceed.

“Knew it! So, let’s see... at 875.2 O-Points per gram, it’s about the same as charcoal, which is 805.85 O-Points, so there’s not much reason to swap between the two for Decompose and… wait, 0.044 plus 0.0049… that doesn’t add up to 0.05… what happened to the 0.0011 grams that make up the rest of the mass? Actually, now that I think about it, coal should have all sorts of other elements, like sulfur and hydrogen… Is it because the mass of Decompose is too small? The other elements just got rounded down to zero? If that is the case, well… that’s inefficient…

Anyways, setting that aside I guess, if I just look at the actual carbon content- so 0.044 divided by 0.1 times 2- then that means it’s… holy smokes, 88% carbon content. Nice! That puts it well into anthracite range. I was about to say, if it was bituminous, then it’d burn about as hot as charcoal, so maybe there wouldn’t be a reason to switch fuel sources. But with anthracite, I can get significantly hotter fires, hundreds of degrees centigrade hotter, especially if I refine it first into coal coke, meaning… I should be able to get pig iron and steel ahead of schedule. Nice!

Hm, given how tough anthracite is, I’ll have to come back with my pickaxe to get any appreciable amount. I wonder if I should just go do that now and explore the rest of the mine later or-?”

As Franklin’s thinking this, he notices Cy moving about strangely further down in the tunnel. Curious, he walks to catch up, asking, “Hey Cy, what are you doing there?” In response, the slime turns, and Franklin just manages to catch sight of an oblong shaped object being sucked into the creature’s gelatinous body. “W-what was that, Cy? Did, did you just eat something?”

“Sim~e!” the monster replies, and Franklin can see that whatever it is, it is now floating about in ooze, presumably on the way to being digested by strong bases. Furthermore, he spots Cy extending a pseudopod, apparently reaching for more of the “food”. Franklin follows the appendage’s movement to a pile of dark brown substance, and as he squats down to take a closer look, he realizes what it is Cy has been eating.

“Oh, ew, gross. Bad, Cy! Bad boy! Bad!” Franklin exclaims.

“Slime?” the creature replies, just as it slurps up another stick of turd.

“No, Cy, don’t eat-!” Franklin begins, but as the protest leaves his lips, he is hit by a sudden thought that causes him to turn inward. Wait… eat… eating… That’s right, the ostrich eggs and toasters made me realize that I never eat anything, nor do I ever feel hungry, but… I never thought about Cy. I mean, he’s never indicated a need for food, but… I mean the slimes in Paradosa Swamp certainly ate… Is it because they’re “wild” whereas Cy is my summon? Or maybe Cy is “feeding” as well, just on my AP? Maybe that’s what the maintenance represents? So if that’s the case, if I feed Cy physical food instead, will I save on AP? Hm… definitely something I’ll have to try later… with an actual food source and not… poop…

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hold on… poop… poop… nitrification… nitrogen… nitrate… gunpowder…. Okay… this is going to sound weird but… just maybe…

A sudden noise coming from down the tunnel snaps Franklin out of his thoughts, and his head swerves up, eyes alert and peering into the darkness. Growing louder, the sound of footsteps approach, and what emerges is reminiscent of a Christmas elf. Pale peachy skin, barefoot and dressed only in a brown cloth sack, the short figure draws near, its long pointed ears twitching, as it peers out with two beady black eyes, which rest upon an equally long and pointed nose. Clearly not human, but clearly humanoid, Franklin estimates the creature to be roughly three feet tall, and it is also this distance at which the monster stops, observing him and Cy cautiously. A moment later, and a message box appears, informing Franklin of the following:

You have discovered Cave Goblin. Creature entry has been added to your bestiary.

With a subsequent dialogue reading:

Type

Goblin

Subtype

Cave

Description

These creatures reside in caves and abandoned mines. Cowardly by nature, and individually weak, they attempt to use guile and large numbers to surprise and overwhelm enemies. They are prone to maniacal laughter, stemming from their cruel, selfish little hearts.

Owner

Wild

Level

0.5

Stats

Use Identify for details

“Cruel and maniacal, huh?” Franklin wonders aloud. He waves the System message away before returning his attention to the goblin before him, and he notes the creature trembling, as if in fear, “You don’t seem all that bad. In fact, you’re terrified, aren’t you? Is this your home? Do you live here? Did you make this poo-poo? Can you understand me? Do you know what I’m saying-?”

As the last of these leaves his mouth, Franklin sees the goblin suddenly reach for something behind its back, drawing it forward, and he just manages to catch sight of the dagger before it comes lunging in his direction. Instantly, he reacts, perhaps already on guard thanks to the warning from the System, and he barely avoids the stab attack, surprising both himself as well as the goblin. He finds the creature’s eyes open wide briefly, before it lets out a snarl, revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth. Then it howls out a series of primal gurgles, the noise of which echoes throughout the mine.

“What in the world-?” Franklin begins, but he is cut short, for immediately after, maniacal laughter can indeed be heard bouncing off the cavern walls, followed by the thud of footsteps. Like roaches, a Horde of Cave Goblins suddenly emerge, seemingly from nowhere, and it is not long after that Franklin finds himself surrounded by the beasts, which range in size from three to five feet tall, some carrying swords, others bows, all with bloodlust eyes trained on him.

“Shoot,” he lets out, and that is all the time he has before the first of the goblins dashes towards him, sword in hand, making a slash attack as soon as it gets in range. Once again, Franklin is somehow able to avoid the attack, but being an engineer and not a fighter, his movements are clunky and inefficient, and in dodging, he finds himself off-balance, tumbling sideways onto the cavern floor. His delay in getting back to his feet allows a second goblin to launch a stab at his shoulder, piercing through it with a blade, the injury accompanied by a muted pain as well as a message which reads:

You have taken 2 piercing damage.

“Thanks for letting me know! Now get out of my face!” Franklin exclaims, waving the distracting message away. And it’s not long after that he’s once again in full dodging mode, scampering about, trying to avoid the hail of blades coming his way. I’m not getting anywhere by just dodging! I have to counter somehow! Shoot, if only I didn’t smelt Wendell’s sword down for iron! A weapon would come in real handy right about now! Then again, I have no idea how to wield a sword, so maybe it’s a moot point-! Wait-! Smelt-! That’s it!

Franklin braces himself to sidestep the next slash, then spins around to the other side of the goblin, throwing out a finger to touch the metal of the creature’s sword, shouting, “[Decompose]!”

Decompose 1150 grams of Wrought Iron. This action will consume 1150 AP.

Option 1) This will yield

558.9 grams of Iron

6.12 grams of Oxygen

5.38 grams of Silicon

4.6 grams of Carbon

Option 2) This will yield

14755.28 O-Points

Please select an option to proceed.

“[Yes]! [Yes]! Just do it!” Franklin exclaims, and an instant later, to his great satisfaction, he watches as the sword simply vanishes from the goblin’s hand. He pauses, letting out a wide grin. “Haha! You can’t Decompose an opponent because that’s considered ‘living’ but nothing stops you from using Decompose on their weapon! Take that! Feeling exploited? What now, huh? Not so mighty anymore, huh?”

His celebration is cut short, however, for though the goblin is initially stunned by the confusion of its weapon disappearing, it quickly recovers, pulling out a short sword from under its clothing, to replace the longsword it has lost.

Franklin’s smile drops. “Oh. Well, yes, I suppose you could just do that,” he mumbles, finding himself back against the wall, both figuratively, since he doesn’t have enough AP to perform the Decompose again, but also literally, since there is literally nowhere else for him to run, back being, you know, against the wall. “Shoot,” he lets out, holding up an arm helplessly to try and avoid the goblin’s next attack. Just before it hits though, he notices something flying out of left field, tackling the goblin to the ground. “Cy!” he exclaims, finding that it is his minion, coming to his rescue.

“Slim~e!” the ooze lets out, encircling the goblin’s head. The latter begins to struggle, but it’s not long after that it stops, suffocated. “Slim~e!”

“Way to go, Cy! That’s right, if we team up, no one can stop-!”

Again, Franklin speaks too soon, for as the words leave his mouth, he finds one of the larger goblins approach, a cleaver in its hands, and as it swings, Franklin dives to the ground, out of the way. On the other hand, Cy leaps forward, attempting to latch onto the goblin’s head, to suffocate it as he had done with the prior one. This goblin reacts a bit too quickly for Cy, however, and while the slime is still flying through midair, the cleaver wraps around, slicing the minion right down the middle.

Two green bloblets come crashing down to the ground, unmoving.

“Cy! No!”