The chariots slowly descended through the air, avoiding the beams of wave energy shooting out from the gaps in between the rocks like lasers in classical spy movies. In the meanwhile, Kaire had already de-transformed from the Big Girl state and joined the group.
Wu jumped off the chariot, and he immediately noticed the patches of burn scars over her body. Instinctively, he reached a hand forward, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah yeah." Kaire waved her hand back and swung her arm in circles while seated. A vein popping up along her forehead, though she tried to act tough and make Wu focus on the matter at hand, "What now?"
The first order of business here would be to stay out of the way of the beams. Thankfully, because the gaps in the rocks are mostly fixed in place, those beams that's already out are not going anywhere.
Though having to move around gingerly at all times will become tiring mentally and physically extremely quickly. Therefore, Wu pointed to the sets of rocks closest to them and suggested the miners make sets of shields from those rocks and see if those can block out the beams.
Kaire was on it before any of the miners were, and she raised a hand into the air, inflating, reshaping and sharpening the edge of her palm before slicing through the rocks. Then, holding onto a piece of the rocks, she dipped it into the beam, completely blocking it out.
"NICE!" She cheered before tossing the rock towards Wu like a frisbee. He screamed and ducked low to the ground as the piece nearly separated his entire upper body from his lower half, "Oops."
"HEY!" Wu threw his fist angrily in the air, "Don't accidentally kill you engineer!"
"My bad." Kaire said with a smile as she continued making sets of basic shields by chopping up the larger pieces of rocks and tossing them their way.
Now, they at least have a way of shielding against the rogue beam or two. When Wu held the shield and walked in front of a beam, he felt a sort of gentle pressure applied onto his body before the rocks are warming up slowly.
He looked towards another miner who's also testing out the shields and caught wind of some of the Wave being reflected off the rock's surface. For all intents and purposes, the Wave really feels like an extra part of the electromagnetic spectrum, except it allows the beings of this world to interact directly with it.
Well, whatever the mysteries of the Wave is, Wu will have to figure it out later, maybe he can make a particle collider or something. No matter what his plans are for what he's now referring in his head as Fuel Rock Prime, he will have to help the miners figure out a way to properly contain it.
With casts and enhanced strength from Kaire, the miners started making thin covers out of the rocks that Kaire had tossed aside. Then, as she covered her body in an armour made of the protective rocks, she then slowly scooped out more and more of the rocks, revealing the Fuel Rock Prime in all its glory.
However, before its Wave can demolish the entire forest, the miners and Wu had already covered it up with custom-made thin layers of the protective rocks, containing the beams of Wave within. Then, they also poured on layers of mud to glue everything in place while giving it some moisture.
Working slowly and steadily through the entire Fuel Rock, this took eight straight hours of work as this particular Fuel Rock Prime turned out to be at least three meters in diameter, and looked like a flattened egg once fully revealed.
Utilizing all of the rocks that were covering it before, the group was able to make a suitable cover. However, they had to let the mud glue sit and set as they waited until the next day with each of the miners keeping watch of the thing and preventing it from blowing up the entire Eastern continent.
When the next morning arrives, the black muddy layer around Fuel Rock Prime had completely solidified, and when Wu placed a hand over it, it felt warm like the windows of an oven. However, the Wave is solidly contained underneath layers of rocks laid out like rooftop tiles and glued together with fresh river mud.
Tying massive ropes around in the various dimensions, Kaire then retransformed into her giant state and picked up Fuel Rock Prime, loading it onto the back of their chariot as the integrity of the Cast became slightly challenged by the sheer weight of the cargo.
Thankfully, this specific Chariot Cast was designed with transportation in mind, so it will still fly at only a touch slower speed. That's preferred, obviously, as nobody wants to accidentally trip the thing and go out with a glorious boom.
At the end of it all, this excursion had turned out to be an absolute success. Wu has suspected that there must be more of the same rocks underneath the layers of rocks, and maybe even within the Titan's Spine itself, though for now, Kaire is more than satisfied, and suddenly, she's acting all friendly around Wu.
"Hehehe...you are not all bad, Wu! I don't know why so many people wants you dead..." She said while imagining her happy retired life and drooling onto Wu's shoulder, "Tell me, are you and the Lera girl going out, or what? Hehehe..."
The journey back to the main camp couldn't have been longer, but when they finally made it back a day of continuous flying later, Wu couldn't wait for a second longer to get back to Lera. Kaire became busy instructing the other miners to package Fuel Rock Prime up and start sending the Inner Earths headquarters messages about the handling of this material.
And there she is, staying in her barracks and practicing with Casts. As Wu ran through the door, she dispelled the Cast in front of her and turned slightly, "So...what did you find?"
"The daddy rock." Wu said quickly, "The Fuel Rock Prime. It's that massive thing out there."
"So...is this it then?" Lera asked, "What do we do now?"
However, before Wu can answer, a massive blast of the Wave was sent flying toward their quarters. The building materials were immediately disintegrated alongside everything in it, and all that's left behind were a track of flames and a deep channel in the ground. Far out in the distance, trees had their trunks completely blown off, and the top half with the leaves and branches dropped onto the ground, sending the birds flying away in panic.
Returning the piece of rock back onto the surface of the Fuel Rock Prime, Kaire then turned her attention back to the Communication Cast, "Now, you are the sole owner of the Fuel Rock Prime and where to find it."
"Very well." The voice on the other end said, "You shall be paid double for your efforts."
DOUBLE?! THAT MEANS SHE CAN BUY TWO HOUSES?!
"HURRAY!" Kaire threw her arms high up into the air and cheered loudly as the miners from the entire camp turned and look at her strangely, "All right! All of you are good for a day off! Go into town and go crazy! I am going to send this bad boy back to the nearest office!"
"YES MA'AM!" Ignoring the track of fire that's slowly spreading through the barracks, the miners cheered and all scrambled onto the nearest chariot, lifting off and getting the hell out of here.
In the meanwhile, the few miners that went on the journey with Wu simply stood in place, and they wondered if they should even bother trying to find the remains of the two in exchange for the bounty.
"Yeah, next time, I will prefer to not have to cut it so close."
As Wu's still covering his eyes, he felt a soft and squishy sensation from underneath his body. He grabbed onto it, and felt as if he has shoved his hand in corn starch. A familiar voice was projected right over his head, and he looked to see Ver's dark blonde hair and the glowing black pattern around her right eye.
She had a light smile on her face, and her hand was held out.
"Thanks for the save." Wu said, taking her hand before turning to see if Lera's all right. However, she's already standing and looking back in the direction of the camp.
"If you had died like that, I will never forgive you." Ver said, "So, what's the deal now? What the heck was that blast?"
"That thing is the Fuel Rock Prime." Wu explained, "The daddy of those granules we had before."
"Da...ddy?" Ver's eyes widened, and she rubbed her stomach slowly. Clearly, she's getting the wrong idea, but there's no time to clear that up.
"She's leaving with it!" Lera said as the fully loaded up chariot wobbled off the ground and started climbing, "Should we stop it?"
"Yep." Wu said, looking towards Ver, as she prepared to warp them all away with Whirlpool Purple, "As much as I like to say science is for everybody, I can't say I trust that the Inner Earth is going to be responsible when it comes to handling that thing...If a tiny opening can completely disintegrate parts of a forest..."
"Then, it can be made into a weapon that rivals even one of the Heavenly Pillars...maybe..." Ver murmured, waving her hand and swallowing the three of them whole with her whirlpool.
A short moment later, they emerged on the other end of the camp before Ver channeled the whirlpool once more.
"It's so pretentious to say..." Wu said, his eyes locked onto the chariot in the air, "But I think, for now, the best place for the Fuel Rock Prime is out of the way of anybody else...Until we figure out better ways to deal with it..."
"So, what should we do?" Lera asked, preparing her Casts and looking towards Wu.
"Hm...We try to blow it up lightly?" Wu threw that idea out before the two pair of eyes both looked at him and shut that idea down, "It will probably destroy half of the Endless Woods, and make us no better than Inner Earths that's destroying the rivers without any thought..."
"But it will prevent it from getting into the hands of the mining company." Ver added, when Lera suddenly turned to her, "Plus, we can probably blow it from far away, so it's a safer option for us."
They definitely can.
Wu rubbed his fingers along the body of the One-Shotter pistol by his hip as Ver took the three of them through another whirlpool, this time emerging far in front of the chariot on the ground.
"What about this?" Lera asked, "Can we just rob her of the rock? Or sneak it from right underneath her nose?"
"Like a heist?"
"Yeah! Like a heist!"
"Ver, can your whirlpool swallow up the rock while we keep her distracted?" Wu asked, and Ver tilted her head as she talked with the Kraken.
It didn't seem too willing but was at least curious enough. So that sounded like a plan.
With that, Wu's first heist in the new world begins. As far as heists go, this will be one of the lamer ones for sure. However, who else is heisting for a nuclear bomb that's being kept secure by rocks and mud?