It is kind of fun to think through the possibilities as I am mining for more gems. Other than scanning for the gems, mining doesn't take much of my concentration. Besides, I may have overcome my fear of being underground, but I still don't like it.

So thinking about other things helps to keep my mind from dwelling on where I am. The problem is that the more I think about the maker, the more curious I get. It is bad enough that I am starting to get tempted to go see what is happening on the elven island.

Then again, if I finish before I run out of time, maybe I could go take a look. I could gate the others back to the ship and then fly over to see how things are going. I wouldn't even need to land, just by flying over I could satisfy some of my curiosity.

While I am at it, I should really go and check on Bones and see how he is doing. He should have had plenty of time to hunt down intelligent undead and absorb their energy. It will be interesting to see what effect the energy has had on him, if any.

Hopefully, Bones has gained enough energy that he can survive becoming independent. If not, I will just have to come up with another way for him to do so since that is his wish. I may have created him, but I won't try to stop him from becoming a free being.

The only reason I haven't released him already is because I can't be sure he will survive. As soon as I am sure, I will release him even if it hurts my soul to do so. After all, I already know how to heal my soul if it gets damaged again.

Although, I would definitely prefer to avoid hurting my soul again if I can. If nothing else, the goddesses would lecture me if I damage it again and they find out about it. The only way to keep them from finding out would be to avoid them until I have healed it.

Even that might not be enough, I have no idea if souls can be scarred, but I would assume they can. It would also be safe to assume that the goddesses would be able to see said scars. That would mean that they would find out no matter what I do to avoid them.

In fact, even if I tried to avoid them, they would probably still manage to find out. After all, they check up on me frequently to see what chaos I am causing. In fact, I have felt them looking at me a few times just during the time I have been mining.

Thinking about the goddesses makes me think about our last conversation. That leads me back to my thoughts about Lin and my decision to sleep with her. Even here, away from her influence, my mind hasn't changed at all.

I still have my doubts, but they are not about Lin, they are about what happens afterwards. While I still feel like I don't know Lin well enough, I am fairly sure that it is just an excuse. As I am thinking about Lin I come to the end of the lava tube, which is a pool of lava.

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Despite this being a volcano, this is the first lava I have seen and this is a strange place to find it. There were some geysers down below, but that is the only sign of activity I have found. So this pool of lava, or magma, is extremely out of place from what I know.

What is even more strange to me is that I can scan that there is no exit beneath the lava. There is no way for more lava to come in to fill the pool, so it should have hardened. This pool being here makes absolutely no sense, at least from my understanding.

What is more peculiar is that I can scan quite a number of gems at the bottom of the pool. Even if I don't understand how it is possible, I can't possibly pass them by. The pool is about the size of a basketball court, so I have no problems fitting into it.

As I submerge myself into the lava all I feel is a pleasant warmth wrapping around me. A feeling of complete comfort slowly overtakes me and I suddenly start to feel sleepy. However, I fight off the sleepiness long enough to get to the bottom of the pool and collect the gems.

There are hundreds of gems lining the bottom of the pool and they are of all types. There are even gems that I haven't found so far in the volcano and that shouldn't be here. I even find opals and a couple of pearls, no way are they of volcanic origin.

It almost seems like this pool of lava was, or is, the nest of something. However, I don't scan any signs of life, or any traces of anything being here recently. Not to mention, nothing has shown up despite me collecting so many gems.

If this was the nest of something like a dragon, I am sure it would have shown up by now. Even as I am wondering about it, my hands don't slow down at snatching gems into my pouch. Once the last gem is in my pouch I relax and the sleepiness catches up to me.

Without thinking much about it I drift to the bottom of the pool and curl up to take a nap. Just as I am drifting off to sleep I have the realization that this isn't right, but it is too late. The last thing I feel is a massive amount of heat surging into my body.

*DING*

Core Upgrade Process Completed!

Rank 6: HP +500! MP +300!

Congratulations! Skill Fire & Lightning Mastery has progressed to level 4!

Fire & Lightning Mastery

Level: 4

All Fire and Lightning spells have an extra 40% effect.

When I wake up I feel great, but when I try to move I find that I can't move at all. Opening my eyes shows only darkness, but scanning with mana reveals my situation. The lava pool has hardened and I am now completely entombed in obsidian.

If I wasn't curled up I could probably use my strength to break the obsidian. However, in my current position I can't really apply my strength and I have no room to move. So my only option is to use mana, but I have to be careful about how I do it.

Anything powerful enough to destroy the entire pool would most likely hurt me too. Luckily, obsidian is fairly brittle so I just need to create some vibrations around my body. The vibrations slowly turn the obsidian surrounding me into powder.

Once I have room to move I stop the vibrations, but I am careful not to breathe the powder. Once I have enough room to stand up it is easy to use my claws to dig my way out. It is only as I am digging my way out that I realize that I lost my shapeshift at some point.

As soon as I break free of the pool I shapeshift back to elven form and head for the main shaft. Then I drop shape shift and fly out of the volcano then head for the cave. I am worried about how long I was asleep for and want to check on Lin and the kids.