Achram looked at the world around him with a new perspective. When he saw the blizzard outside the safety the God’s kingdom, he felt embarrassed. How did he think that he could survive this kind of weather without any sort of protection at all? The only thing he had was a thin layer of cloth and a fur coat. By all means, he should have died from the cold.
It was truly a miracle that he survived. It must have been because of the God’s grace and blessing that he ended up here. It must have been his plan the entire time! It made sense now.
“God of Icy Rock, I thank you for your continuous blessing. I pledge to you my entire life, my entire existence. All the things I have and all the things that I will accomplish are for Your name.”
Achram looked upwards where the beam of light used to be. He felt the markings on his eye suddenly heat up as it emitted a golden light. Whenever he felt zealous and loyal to the God, he felt his strength increase even more. It was like a shot of energy that enveloped his whole body, making him feel more fervent in his praise to the God.
“That is good!” the Slime praised. “You are now officially a Blessed of the Master. Not only are you the first citizen of his kingdom, but you are also its first Blessed! Oh, how ‘blessed’ you are!”
Achram nodded to the Slime. “I am honored.”
After all the things that happened, Flamie and Boxy both cautiously approached Achram. They were both still afraid that something had gone wrong with him. When he saw this happen, Achram simply smiled at them, just like he did before. He wanted to show them that he was still the same Achram as before, but better.
Boxy was the first one to hold his claw arms, to which Achram, in response, shook his hand. Even though his strength had multiplied, he knew how to control it enough to make sure that he didn’t hurt those he didn’t want to hurt. Seeing that, Boxy’s robot face lit up in happiness as his gears started to turn joyfully.
Seeing this, Flamie didn’t want to get left out and quickly jumped between Achram and Boxy. It didn’t want to get left out.
The Treant once again slowly walked over towards Achram and gave him one of its bark.
“Thanks, tree. But don’t worry, I don’t have any injuries. I’m as healthy as you!” Achram reassured him.
And the Bookworm finally got out of the Apple Library and walked over to Achram with the scroll in its mouth. It dropped off the scroll in front of Patty and it magically unfurled by itself so Achram could read it.
This scroll detailed the exact instructions on how to make it and which materials were needed to construct the Chainmail. Of course, even with his enhanced intelligence, Achram knew that he didn’t have the right skills to build the chainmail. That was not his specialty. Thankfully though, his new powers allowed him to see through the mountain and see the ores hidden underneath it.
“Don’t worry, bookworm. I know where to get Iron ore now.” Achram tapped his chest.
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“Oh, are you finally going to mine in the mines?” Slime asked.
Achram nodded.
“Well then, you’d need this. It is one of the Master’s blessings that he has given us.” The Slime then opened his mouth and a magical portal made out of a strange swirling green liquid appeared. After a few seconds, a steel pickaxe suddenly shot through the portal.
[Consumable C-class Sturdy 10-fold Damascus Steel Pickaxe]
Achram picked up the new pickaxe. The handle was made out of a pale sturdy wood and the main ax was made out of silver metal. There were two protruding picks at the end of the ax, making it usable on either side. The whole thing felt heavy, which meant that it was much more durable than other axes.
He swung it a few times and was satisfied with the sound it made. After testing his new equipment, Achram was ready to venture into the mines.
Once he was there, he quickly raised the pickaxe above his head, and he suddenly saw a change in the soil below. There was a shining star in the left part of the soil. He instinctively knew that he had to hit that part, so he skillfully changed the trajectory of his pickaxe.
As soon as the tip of his pickaxe hit this shining star, the soil exploded into bits of dust and smoke. After a few seconds, when the debris had all settled down, Achram was surprised to see that there was a large indent in the soil as if he had been picking at this mine for a few hours! With just one swing, he was able to destroy the soil much better than any skilled miner.
This was his new power from his Trait! He could see the vulnerabilities in the soil, where just one tap could dismantle the whole integral structure of the very soil itself! His Lazeus Piercing Eye was perfect for this kind of work!
With each tap of the pickaxe, he got further and further down the mine. Time didn't seem to exist. He didn’t know if he had been at this for just a few minutes or a few hours. He felt addicted. Whenever he saw that shining star appear on the soil and stone, he was compelled to hit it. It wasn’t long until he came across a large chunk of iron ore.
This time, he saw three shining stars on the ore. This meant that the ore was much sturdier than the soil and stone he was previously mining.
PIKK
He struck the first star. Cracks emerged from the reddish-brown raw iron ore.
PIKK
He struck the second one. Bigger cracks emerged as the iron ore started to disintegrate.
PIKK
As soon as he struck the third star, the whole iron ore blew up into red dust. Even when Achram closed his eyes to protect himself from the dust and debris, he could still see through a less-clear vision of the outside world. Once everything had settled down, he was happy to see a small mound of raw iron ore in front of him, ready for harvesting.
Achram carried the iron ore back up using the bucket that he borrowed from the well. Once he was up, the first thing he did was ask the Slime how long he was in there. He thought he was there for a long time.
“You were there for less than an hour, about 45 minutes. Oh wait, you guys don’t measure time in hours. You were there for about half a candle burn’s worth.”
Achram was surprised. He didn’t think that mining down into the earth would be so easy and so fast! As far as he knew, 10 men in his village couldn’t even reach down far enough under the ground to reach the level where iron ore was found in under a day. Sure, they were using bad tools, but that still showed how much Achram had improved physically.
“Here, I have the iron ore you need.” Achram presented the bucket of iron ore in a fine powder form.
“Place the iron ore in Boxy’s stomach.” Just like Slime said, Boxy’s rectangular stomach opened up to reveal an empty compartment inside.
Achram put the ore inside. Slime then talked to Flamie to ask for her help. “Hey little Flamie, do you think you can heat those iron ore so that they melt?”
Flamie’s flames suddenly flared up in happiness. It was finally useful! All it wanted was to be included in what everyone was doing, now it was the star of the show. It quickly jumped over to Boxy’s compartment and sat on the mound of iron ore inside. Since it was in powder form, it didn’t take long until the iron ore started to glow a bright red from all the heat that Flamie gave off.
Once the iron ore was fully melted and in its liquid form, Slime requested Flamie to get out of Boxy’s body so that it could process the melted iron ore before it cooled down.
“Sorry, Flamie. But good job!”
Boxy then took the Chainmail blueprint. His eyes suddenly lit up and gave off a beam of light that scanned the scroll from top to bottom. Once it knew what to do, its body started to churn and creak as it molded the iron ore to the shape needed.
After a few minutes, the creaking and banging inside Boxy’s body suddenly stopped. The chainmail was finished! The compartment in his torso opened again to reveal a hot-off-the-press armor that could withstand arrows and swords altogether.
Slime then used its body and pinched the Chainmail armor out of Boxy and presented it to Achram.
“This is yours,” Slime said. “This is what you need to complete a mission that the Master has given to you.”
Achram took the Chainmail armor and put it on his body. It fits perfectly. “I’ll do whatever the God wants me to do.”
“The Master wants you to go down to your village and get more of those black stones. And if you want, you can also bring your family over here and they can become official citizens of our Master’s Kingdom!”