Monday, April 8th, 2069

By the time we were done for the afternoon, I could tell that my Mining Skill was truly starting to show its value. How?

Well, I was swinging at a Red Copper vein and marveling at how easily the head of my pickaxe cut through the metal. I also was celebrating how easily I was hitting the spots Smegma was pointing out.

Smegma, on the other hand, seemed far from impressed. “Great, now you can surgically cut metal out of a wall. We’re sure going places!”

[Right, and you can phase through objects but can’t go farther than a hundred meters. You’re really helping me move up in the world.]

“Husk you, pipsqueak.”

[You’re smaller than me!]

“This isn’t my real body. If I was in my real body, the pinky-talon on a toe is bigger than your cock!”

[You’ve really gotta stop watching me in the shower. Plus, I’m a grower, not a shower!]

“And you were probably showering in cold water, right?”

[Do you stay up watching TV or something? How do you know all these references…]

“Just admit that your puny brain can’t compete with my quick wit.”

[Never—did you ever figure out if you even have a dick in this form?]

“Low blow, asshole.”

[No wonder you have penis envy.]

Smegma looked back at me with wide eyes, but his only response was to open and shut his mouth. I smiled as I forced Smegma to falter slightly, even as he floated to a new spot on the Red Copper deposit and pointed to the spot I should hit. This was probably the twentieth or maybe twenty-fifth such spot.

Dutifully I struck and as the Pickaxe head penetrated the metal I felt a click as the tip contacted something further in. Each strike that Smegma had me make gave off this tactile sensation and I had a few suspicions as to what he was having me do. Five swings later and my suspicions were confirmed as a huge portion of the Red Copper slid free from the wall.

I jumped back from the slow-moving ‘rock’ slide and watched as it hit the ground. Smegma smiled at me and I gave him the finger. [A warning next time would be nice.]

“If that hit you, you have no business dreaming of Hunting. Ever!”

[Fair point.]

“Now you should clean out the small stragglers with a few strikes—”

[Wait, something happened.] I pointed to a spot inside the hole left by the Red Copper. [Should I swing here?] I asked.

Smegma tapped his teeth, examined the area, and nodded. “Yes, that is one of a few—” I cut him off by pointing out five more in quick succession. My vision was inundated with glowing blue spots. There must have been hundreds of them. “Did you figure out the method, now that you can see the embedded rocks?”

[No, I think the Mining Skill is showing me where to strike. But—] I let the word mentally hang, even as I looked a few feet to my left at a Necrograph deposit. [—it doesn’t seem to work with any other deposits?]

Smegma continued to tap a talon on his tooth. I rolled the large piece of Red Copper out of the way and got back to work. After perhaps five minutes Smegma said, “Your Skill in Mining has probably already grown two more times, but if five points was the threshold—maybe you can now see low-ranked Ore’s Mining strategies?”

[Sure, my father and Willa decided to go for softer and easier-to-mine veins today, so we can keep the Picks strong, but isn’t Necrograph one step above a rock?]

“A really stupidly dense and hard rock, sure,” Smegma confirmed. “Still, that doesn’t make it easy to mine.”

[I didn’t say it did. But it can’t be one of the most expensive or valuable ones, right?]

“If I remember correctly, it ranks somewhere in the middle. Still, I don’t think you’re looking at this right”

[Why? Isn’t Red Copper one of the least valuable?]

“Least valuable, no. It has a huge amount of uses, and is in constant demand—was in constant demand on Crendalar Five. I’m saying you’re thinking about this wrong, because it isn’t about the value of a deposit but the rarity. Value is set by supply and demand—so while every spawned Mine will have a Red Copper deposit, its value is still high because of all of its uses. Whereas things like Adamantite and Jade Copper rarely show up, are nearly impossible to Mine but have almost no value.”

I kept Mining the Red Copper even as I mentally questioned, [Why would something so rare have almost no value.]

“I thought you were in school for Dungeon Portal Materials. Surely you understand the invisible hand of supply and demand.”

[I do, but either we never got to speak on those metals or they’ve yet to be successfully mined from a Dungeon?] I turned the last into a question, which Smegma answered with a casual shrug. He wouldn’t know that answer either.

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“Think of it like this. If only one person in the entire world can work with a metal, does that metal have value?”

[Depends on what that person could make with it.]

“Not really. Let’s say that this person has no need to make something to sell. They are so proficient at their Engineering, Smithing or Jewel crafting, that they are wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. In essence, you have one person who can use this metal and a low supply of said metal.”

[And, that person never buys the metal—or if he does, he doesn’t show what he makes with it!]

“Precisely.”

I continued to mine as I considered that little tidbit. It likely meant that there were plenty of metals that were being passed up but had truly astronomical values. However, not only did humans not have the ability to recognize its value, but we also didn’t have the capacity to work with it. At least not yet…

* * *

“You got a bonus of three hundred dollars and are taking me out on a date?” Dave said, skeptically.

“You really need to get better taste, Brodie,” Smegma chimed in.

“Yeah, sure, a date. I always take my romantic interests to the VIP Cinema and offer to buy them popcorn. You better make sure to put out later, it’s part of the social contract. Now do you want extra butter?”

“Yes, please sugar daddy,” Dave said comically. He added a ‘swoon’ for effect.

I rolled my eyes and turned to see the attendant attempting not to break into a smile. “It’s okay, you can laugh,” I said to her. “Clearly I need better friends.”

“With friends like that,” the girl said while breaking into a beautiful smile, and pointing at Dave who was now batting his eyelashes. “Who needs enemies, right?”

“Hey!” Dave said sarcastically before switching it up and somehow going ‘Casanova’. “Still, with a smile like that—maybe you’d let me show you—”

“Nope!” the girl said while laughing loudly. “Here’s the popcorn with extra butter, greaseball!”

“Come on, let me take you out,” Casa-nope continued trying. I laughed and was surprised to hear Smegma joining in. I glanced at the imp and shivered. Was that a smile?

“Listen butterball, maybe you should try to take after your friend here, and spend less time in the books, and more time in the gym…”

I collected my own popcorn and thanked ‘Laura’ for her help. Meaning it in more ways than one. As we walked away both Smegma and Dave had comments.

“If you’re going to let a chance like that go, I’m really going to start thinking you’re batting for the other team,” Dave said.

“Kid, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about how dense you are when it comes to the opposite sex,” Smegma added.

“Husk you both,” I said out loud forgetting that Dave wasn’t aware of Smegma. Thankfully he misinterpreted.

“I hope you don’t mean the same type of ‘husking’ for both me and her?” Dave responded while laughing.

“Can we just go watch The Making of a Hero, please!” I answered exasperated.

“Husk yeah we can,” Dave answered. “Who are you most excited to see?”

“I don’t know. Supposedly they have never before seen footage from Gamonji in this,” I answered, feeling my heart rate increase at the thought.

“I still think King Anubis is the GOAT, man, but have to admit that Gamonji definitely died too early. That man totally has some great pieces of wisdom in the interviews I’ve seen.”

“You’ve actually watched the full interviews?” I asked, knowing that he hadn’t.

“You know what I mean, Brodie. The clips I see, paired with his Dungeon Recordings make him a total badass. But, like, King Anubis has been raiding Dungeons for three decades, and is still going strong.”

“He never conquered an S-rank solo, though. Let alone six times.”

“He’s building to that—he’s taking the safe approach. Unlike Gamonji, he wants to survive the attempt. Plus if solo S-rank clears makes a GOAT, why aren’t you bringing up Mastiff Jones?”

“I don’t want to have this argument. At least half of his eleven solo clears are from before the rating System existed as we know it today. Even Mastiff says that at least half of them would be B or A rank at best today.”

“That’s only because he trail-blazed and figured out the creature’s weaknesses!”

We continued arguing familiarly until the trailers started, followed by the movie. While it was more of a documentary than a true movie, I really enjoyed it. Especially the sections where it showed the current top five Hunters in the world, and their daily routines.

It’s one thing to dream of being a Hunter, but it was something else entirely to see how much goes into it. Sure, high ranked Hunters had wealth, game, and notoriety, but the very best—the active double and triple S superstars, barely got time to enjoy it. They were too busy working in the gyms, running through tactic briefings and managing Guilds to attend more than four or five events a year.

And even those were often canceled due to emergencies. The movie really painted the landscape of Hunter’s differently. Even Smegma grudgingly said, “These ones seem to be at least marginally better than those Snow Canaries and Housecats.”

Still, it was Gamonji that stole the ‘show.’

“Did you know that his Mana Pool was over a hundred thousand?” Dave asked as we made our way to the car. I shook my head. This movie had just come out and rumors were being actively suppressed by AI software.

“Honestly, Hunters never reveal Skills, Stats or Mana capacity. It makes them vulnerable, or so they’ve always said. Do you think because Gamonji died, that his beneficiaries thought it was okay?”

“Husking must have man. A hundred thousand! That’s insane! Like I’m only at thirty, according to my Awakening reading. You have, what? Ten to twenty?”

“Yeah!” I answered, not revealing that my pool was currently at thirty-one, and a step ahead of Dave’s. “Still, what got me was when Gamonji said to Eleanor that his Pool started in Mid-B ranks! It really struck me, what he said about time and perseverance were what made people great, not God-given Skills.”

“Husk yeah. Makes me want to form a Bank and get cracking! Too bad we're a dime a dozen, Bro.” Dave started out excited but lapsed into a complaint about halfway through. I looked at him over the hood of the Ford Escort as he lowered himself into the passenger side. I could tell he wasn’t depressed or angry over that statement, but also saw the loss of the excitement.

I got in my own side and started the car. “Hey, you never know what might happen, right?”

“Listen, at least you have your looks, Brodie. So, you might have a chance. Me? I’ll be working in Canadian Portal management, if I’m lucky.”

I didn’t mention that luck would have nothing to do with it, not with his family's connections. In fact, I had no doubt that his family would never let him occupy such an unglamorous job.

But I didn’t say that, not wanting to remind my friend of the circumstances he was working hard to try and distance himself from.

The drive back to campus was a quiet affair after that. I don’t know what Dave was thinking about, but I was quiet for a different reason. If I could purchase a Skill for people like Dave, surely I could change his life, right?

“You know you haven’t even purchased one for yourself yet, right?” Smegma interrupted my thoughts, and I pursed my lips in frustration.

He wasn’t wrong…