I keep it up for a little over thirty minutes before I need to land and catch my breath. Flying like that is a lot more work than normal flying, I need a few minutes. The kids are showing signs of being tired as well, but they will recover fast.
Since I am on the ground, I send out a pulse of mana to check the area for minerals. There are some minerals nearby, but nothing worth the effort of digging for. Once I have caught my breath, I take off again, but this time I fly normally.
The kids have had their wild ride and don't complain about me flying normally. I slowly fly a large circle around the lake, touching down every so often to scan. Finally, I detect a decent amount of material that is worth the effort to dig up.
"Okay, you guys can explore around here for a bit while I do some digging."
The kids run off as soon as I release them from the harnesses, happy to be free. They are probably even more happy that they are unsupervised for once. Nala and Albion know to keep an eye on their younger siblings without me having to say anything.
After they are out of sight I shrink down and start digging with my claws. I shrank so that I wouldn't have to dig as big of a hole as I would at full size. My claws easily tear through the dirt and rock that is in my way as I dig into the mountain.
It only takes me a few minutes to burrow dozens of feet into the mountain. At this rate I will reach the first of the material in about a half of an hour. However, I suddenly hear a roar and what sounds like a scream, so I stop and scan outside with my mana.
Nala is confronting another cat, one that is slightly larger than her and looks a bit heavier. Mulan is currently hiding underneath Nala, but what worries me is there is a second cat. It is behind Nala hidden in the foliage and it doesn't look like Nala has noticed it.
Albion is a ways away, although he is currently running towards Nala with Mushu clinging to his back. However, it doesn't look like he will get there in time, so I turn around and rush back to the surface. As soon as I clear the hope I jump into the air and fly at top speed towards Nala.
It takes me less than a minute to get within sight of them and the second cat hasn't attacked yet. It has, however, moved directly behind Nala and is ready to pounce on her. So, without slowing down, I drop my shrink and slam down on top of the second cat.
My back legs hit the ground and absorb some of the impact, my front legs land on the cat. There is a loud crack and a squelch sound as the cat is flattened by the impact. Blood and other things fly to either side of me and the cat dies instantly.
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Rank 4 Mountain Stalker defeated! 20,000 Exp gained!
Nala is distracted by the noise and turns her head so that she can see what happened. The other cat takes advantage of her mistake and jumps forward to attack her. Its claws rake her shoulder, but before the thing can do too much damage Albion arrives.
Albion rams the cat from the side and drives his horn deep into it, just behind its front leg. The cat roars in pain and while it is roaring Nala lunges forward to clamp her teeth into its neck. With a crunch, the cat goes limp and Albion struggles a little to remove his horn from it.
Mushu is still clinging to Albion's neck, but when Nala moved Mulan ran to me. She is now clinging to the fur of my neck, scared but quickly calming down. It was a short fight, but it is the first time Mulan has been exposed to danger.
Albion says "Dad, is Mulan alright?"
"Yeah, she just got a bit of a scare."
Albion says "Nala was hurt, can you heal her?"
"Take it easy, her wound is already healing. By the way, you did good."
Albion says "Thanks, dad."
"Nala, you dig good too, but next time don't focus so much on your opponent that you miss the second one."
Nala just hangs her head and won't look at me, she obviously feels bad about it. Thanks to my aura, the wound on her shoulder has already mostly healed. I reach down and stroke her head so that she knows I am not mad at her.
Then I walk over and butcher the cat that they killed, the other is too messed up. Once that is done we all return to the mountain and I go back into my hole. The kids are still going to explore, but they are going to stay closer and together.
This is a good lesson for them, the world is not always safe and they need to be alert. Once I dig down to the material, I start putting it in my ring as I dig further. It is much easier this way than trying to drag it out of the mountain first.
The material is similar to silver, but not as mana rich as what I found before. However, it will work for putting patterns and symbols onto the new platform. There is also some gold mixed in with it which will also be useful for adding mana capacity.
Lin offered some of her gold jewelry, but I would rather not use it unless I have to. After all, I gave that jewelry to her, it wouldn't feel right to take them back. If it is true that she doesn't like them, I can always modify them so that they suit her better.
Once I have gathered all of the silver and gold that is here I climb back out of my hole. Then I gather the kids, put them in their harnesses, and fly around looking for more. I manage to find a small vein of gold and mine it out before it is lunchtime.
We fly back to the castle and I cook up the meat from the cat for lunch. It is on the chewy side, but it is still fairly tasty and it is a nice change of pace. Lin joins us for lunch, but she goes back to copying books as soon as she finishes eating.
After lunch I give the kids a choice, and they choose to stay in the castle and play. So I am on my own when I leave to look for more materials to mine. I find several small veins of iron, silver, and gold, but nowhere near as much as I was expecting to.
Compared to other places I have gone mining, these mountains seem to be fairly poor. Still, I manage to find enough materials for a couple of platforms and maybe a few other experiments. I make sure that I am back at the castle in time to have dinner with everyone.