Thursday, April 4th, 2069

Once in the new Cavern, I instantly discovered that my earlier ‘brilliant idea’ was impossible. I couldn’t sell Mana from Mana Crystals that were still attached to the wall.

The removal of a fast and easy solution caused me to grumble. Right up until I managed to successfully hit the ‘stem’ of a Crystal for the second time, but this time perfectly. Between one swing into the rock and another, the Crystal had simply seemed to roll free with a strange crackling pop similar to the one before but more pronounced. Once I had a full Crystal and could still see the stem in the wall it was clear that Mana Crystals were like a plant, as Smegma had explained. They even had a root system and everything.

Discovering the simplicity of the task made me confident I could do it again in the future. Sure, not with every attempt—but it was definitely repeatable. Plus, once you looked at the entire cavern and Crystals like a front lawn, you had to wonder just how much like plants the things were. A quick question to Smegma got me an answer. It turned out that in theory all the damage the Miners did in these tunnels would eventually regrow—as long as the planet had Mana.

By ‘eventually’, I learned it meant after hundreds if not thousands of years. Smegma was bitter as he explained this piece of Mana Crystal trivia to me. I saved my question about why he was in a mood for now. Not that I expected him to answer it with his track record. Instead, I chose to examine the perfectly intact Mana Crystal I had just mined.

Knowing it acted like a plant made my study of it tilt heavily toward a biological assessment as opposed to staring at a mineral or a rock. But the Crystal was not easily classified in either of those categories. If I was to compare it to a plant, it seemed similar to lettuce; containing an almost rounded bottom that narrowed to a single point above the stem. The ‘leaves’, however, were nothing like lettuce, and instead were made up of sharp crystals that looked like that science experiment I’d done in elementary school. It was a pretty simple one where I combined sugar, water, food coloring, and a popsicle stick. I guess there was also heat involved somewhere, since I recalled getting help from my mom with the stove. What was clear, however, was the ‘rock candy’ that had formed on the popsicle stick back then closely resembled what I was seeing in the Crystal, which reinforced for me that the ‘leaves’ were more like mineral deposits.

“You might want to sell that to me, Miquel is about to finish with his section, which will move him to another,” Smegma commented dryly.

[But I want to keep the Spent Mana Crystal to check on my Mana Pool,] I said.

Throughout the day I’d continued to convert my Mana to Coins, through Demonic Vault. So, I wasn’t sure if the Pool had grown further but I had a niggling suspicion it had. Since it kind of felt like Smegma was gaslighting me or calling me crazy when I brought it up, I desperately wanted proof that I wasn’t insane.

Smegma shrugged and a notification popped up offering to buy the Mana from the Crystal for eighty mC. Smiling, I accepted it and was left with a clear Crystal in my hands. I spun it through my fingers while keeping my hands affixed to it. Smegma had said I only had to hold it for five minutes to have my Skill assessed, hadn’t he?

“Don’t bother with those,” Fat Gary said. “The clear ones are useless.”

Thinking fast I answered, “Does that mean I could take it home?”

“We’ve all taken souvenirs from time to time, kid. I don’t think anyone will care about that, but ask your da’. I don’t think he wants you fantasizing about Mining.”

I could only grimace and nod. Maybe he would change his mind after I got the Mining Pick. Then again, from his point of view I’d just been through a traumatic event and any plans that involved Mining might look like I was desperate to drop out of school…

I put the Spent Mana Crystal on a clear patch of stone and soil beside me before resuming my work. [Is it just me or does it seem like people don’t know the value of Spent Mana Crystals?]

“It isn’t just you. You’re an idiot and you’re noticing it. Someone much smarter than you, like me, has already formed many possible scenarios for this by using the clues around me…” Smegma let his leading sentence hang in the air. He clearly wanted me to ask his opinion.

[Oh, good, at least I’m not the only one,] I answered instead. My reward for ignoring his hints that were practically begging me to ask him what conclusions he’d come to was seeing a small amount of tension form around the Imp’s black eyes.

“Gahh, you’re so husking boring! I’ll educate you then. So far, every piece of technology I’ve seen you humans use burns Mana Crystals. Meaning it consumes the Mana and the Crystal. How much do you know about your world’s Mana Engines and other Mana Technologies? Is my speculation close?”

[Practically nothing, but history class did teach me that fire and humans have a deep-rooted history. In some folklore it’s what was gifted to us by the Gods and took us out of the Dark Ages. In that myth, fire was associated with enlightenment—with the impartation of the Divine that allowed humanity to survive, thrive, and ultimately lead us on a path toward building a civilization.]

“Took you out of the ‘Dark Ages’? What the husk? You idiots are still in the ‘Dark Ages’ from my point of view. My people pooled their resources for generations all for a small chance to change our fate and Ascend. To take a step and get one step closer to the Divine, and instead of that I’ve ended up on this Podunk piece of shit planet!"

[Do you want to talk about it?] I asked, hearing the frustration in his words more than the insults.

“Talk about what?”

[Well, I mean you’ve been pretty sour on and off all day. I get the feeling that you aren’t angry at me or this planet. Not really.]

Smegma stared at me for long enough that I was forced to return to my token show of Mining. Luckily, I had the completely physical and unintelligent work of sharding another fifteen growths before attempting to negotiate a stem again, which gave me the opportunity to give the Demon time to consider whether or not to confide in me. I could still feel Smegma staring at me as I worked. I ignored him, trying my best to give him space to decide for himself.

“Mana with enough abundance to refill Mana Pools through Osmansis only appears on newly integrating planets, or in planets that successfully Evolve or Ascend. Crendalar Five failed to Ascend. Actually, any planet that is used for Portals has, by definition—failed to Evolve, and its people are left with Mana Pools that don’t refill and thus Skills that can’t be used. Understand?”

[Then how are we on Sective Agora and Mining Mana Crystals?] I asked but continued my sharding of nearby Crystals.

“This has to do with why the powerful monsters and creatures often enter an area inside the Time Bubble when it drops for those four hours. That area has residual Mana and resources. The Time Bubble brings with it Mana, Crystals, and an overabundance of other resources. My research team in the past hypothesized that the Time Bubble kind of progresses the area inside of itself, and floods it with Mana—that’s why there are so many Crystals, Fauna, Flora and Monsters..

“Plus, it usually kicks out any local Monsters or stragglers from the other world if they aren’t out by the time the Bubble comes back up… there are some exceptions to that, too.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

[So, can’t your people just fight for those areas, refill your Mana Pools and collect anything that isn’t captured by our Hunters and their teams?]

“We’ve tried that for many years. It works certainly, but it’s even more dangerous for us than it is for your Hunters after the Bubble goes down. First, we have to fight the same creatures and the local wildlife, which is far more powerful, but we also have limited resources on initial contact. Second, if we are found by the lifeforms pillaging the Portal, or Hunters, as you call them—they are often also enemies, if only because we’d be competing to access the same resources. Plus, we are not the only Sect on my planet and the other Sects are also competitors for the materials in Bubbles. My Abyss Sect is down to a few fighters after years of competition. We have been forced to use what resources we have left to secure our gates against surface monsters and other sects. It’s been like a siege. In desperation we came up with this plan…”

[Okay, so your people need a lot of Mana—thus the existence of coins you offer in trade for it?]

“That’s right, good job getting there.” Smegma’s bitterness came back with a vengeance.

[I feel like I’m missing something. I’m working toward providing Mana, aren’t I? In fact, nearly six thousand at this point! Why are you still bitter?]

Smegma gave me a withering stare. Then scoffed and deigned me with an answer. “Six thousand won’t even fill my Pool, and I’m a researcher. Our Sect leader needs hundreds of millions of Mana to fill his.”

My mind boggled at the implications that admission brought with it. So, his planet failed to Ascend even though it had someone with that kind of power, and the people there had the ability to pick up more Skills. A further piece of information made my mouth drop open. Smegma hadn’t come right out and said it, but if you read between the lines, his Sect was on the verge of collapse. It was likely one of the weaker ones on Crendalar Five. So was his Sect Leader with hundreds of millions of Mana also considered ‘weak’.

My next strike failed to hit the stem of the Mana Crystal I had been planning to put up for sale, thanks to my turbulent thoughts. I sharded it and paused, hoping to be in a better headspace before I tried again. My stomach was in knots, but I knew that my only option was to ask. I hated doing it, but I summoned my courage before saying, [Smegma, do you think our planet has a chance?]

“It’s been what? Under fifty years since the first Portal formed?” he replied.

[Just a bit more than twenty for certain as far as we can tell.] At my response he tapped a talon against a tooth.

Several taps later he tilted his head back and forth while oscillating his hand. “You’ve got plenty of time left if we go off of Crendalar’s history, but from what we discovered in the five thousand plus year history of Portals in our world, there isn’t really a pattern to the Ascension deadline. Some planets lasted longer than us before ultimately succeeding or failing and some were deemed failures in less than a decade.”

My emotions went through a roller coaster as he spoke. In the end, I was left with another question that I probably should have been asked earlier.

[What does a planet need to do to Evolve or Ascend?]

“You have to conquer a sequence of Portals that you don’t even want to think about. We called these Portal’s the Seven Deadly Realms—and if you fail even a single one, they suck your planet dry of Mana and move on.”

[And if you succeed?] I asked as I swallowed.

“You did pretty good for your first day,” my dad interrupted from right beside me.

I’d been so distracted that I hadn’t seen him approach. I registered his words and glanced at my watch. It was two thirty, and a few hours short of quitting time. It took me a few moments more to understand why he said what he had. I had to examine myself to get it. I was breathing hard, leaning against the haft of my pickaxe with the head grounded, doing no work.

“Just taking a break, dad. I’ll get right back at it.”

“Brodie, I’m telling you if you push yourself too hard—” My dad said but then cut himself off with an odd expression that I couldn’t read. He changed what he had been about to say, and asked, “What’s this?” He indicated the Spent Mana Crystal.

I tried to act excited and landed somewhere in between tired and strained enthusiasm instead. “It’s a clear Crystal. I thought it was something special, but Fat Gary told me it's worthless. So, I thought I could take it home?” I turned it into a question with intonation and then added, “Please.”

My dad licked his teeth, which was never a good sign, but surprised me when he said, “If you manage to work consistently for the next two hours, I’ll let you take it. Deal?”

I nodded, even as my brain turned over his abrupt change in feelings on my continued Mining. Hadn’t he been about to tell me it was okay to stop? Shrugging, I changed the subject. “How’d the Mining up above go?”

“Fool’s Gold,” my dad answered simply as he moved toward Miguel. “How’s everything been down here?” he asked.

“Good, good. We may be sixty percent done. Willa and you rejoin?”

My dad nodded and moved over to Fat Gary next and had a quick conversation with him that I couldn’t hear.

As I went back to working, I repeated my earlier question to Smegma, [What happens if you succeed?]

“How would I husking know that dumb-dumb?”

He did have a point there.

I managed to get another stem after four more attempts. This time I sold the Spent Crystal as well, not wanting it to look like I was finding an abundance of the clear type, which in truth I had yet to even see.

Smegma bought it for a hundred mC.

Two hours later, our group had cleared a second cavern of Crystals and the Specialist’s had dismissed the Ores. My dad was sufficiently impressed by my perseverance to let me take home the Spent Crystal. I picked it up with my gloves and asked, [Smeg, will it still activate if I’m wearing gloves?]

He gave me a look that questioned my intelligence. “You need to insert your Mana into it dummy!”

Flushing with heat I chose to keep wearing my gloves, due to the sharp edges. Either way, I wouldn’t be attempting to use the thing till I got home. I wasn’t sure what would happen when the Crystal activated and told me what my low-ranked Skills were, but I wouldn’t want it to happen in front of others. Even if it wasn’t flashy. Having other people see my Skills would be like exposing my dick to them or something. At least that’s how intensely personal it felt.

Our group started moving all the shards to boxes to help the porter. Once we were finished it was about ten minutes after five, and my dad led the way back to the surface. Outside the cave entrance was a man I didn’t recognize but sported the Lynx’s logo. He glanced at the large watermelon sized crystal in my hands, but quickly dismissed it, likely after noticing its see-through clarity indicating the absence of Mana.

A few groups were already outside waiting. Everything seemed normal until my dad approached the waiting Lynx Hunter. “Any reports?”

“Two minor injuries to your crew. Four major acid burns that required a Healer. Unfortunately, the cost of heals wiped out about nine-tenths of your bonus, but currently you still have a hundred thousand to split amongst the workers.”

A hundred thousand?!

That’s when I remembered the size of the crew as a whole and realized that only equated to about two thousand dollars each. I scoffed at my own thoughts. ‘Only’ two-thousand dollars plus hourly for a day's work? That’s half a month's wages for a middle class family. Wait, would I get a share of that? Willa socked me in the arm. “Don’t worry kid. Everyone gets a share, but newbies start at a half percent. That means—”

Echoes of shouting laced with screams echoed up the tunnel cutting Willa off. Everyone outside spun to face the entrance as four men carrying a package between them rushed into the remaining light of the rainforest. It took a moment to realize the ‘package’ was moving and—screaming. I inhaled sharply through my nose in surprise.

I began to cough as the sulfur-like sour odor of burning skin attempted to climb down my throat. The man who had just answered my father pointed in a direction and the four men kept jogging while supporting the mangled body between them. My eyes weren’t sure what they were seeing. The reason it had looked more like a package than a human at first was because the leather armor looked like it had melted into the man’s flesh. Where one might expect blood, instead there was something that resembled moss, but shone like metal, and finally but most confusing was the lack of two limbs. Suddenly that two-thousand dollars didn’t seem like quite enough.

“Well, shit,” my dad said. Willa grimaced from beside me and slumped down onto the rainforest floor with a disappointed exhalation of held air.

“I really could have used that bonus,” she complained.

“So, we don’t get it anymore?” I asked, still watching the spot where the four men and the terribly injured one vanished.

“Not a chance,” my dad stated plainly. “In fact, our group’s insurance is probably going to take a hit. Better than Silvia dying, though.”

My father’s face was whiter than I’d ever seen. A quick scan showed me that the whole Miner’s group looked the same. It was only then that I realized that this could easily have happened to me.