Tuesday, April 16th, 2069

Despite the somewhat insane events that happened in our cavern, no one questioned me. Not even as I carried out three Pickaxes–two nearly maces, and one more elegant than the one I’d come in with. I think it was probably the fact that the porters had to make several trips outside and then back in to gather everything. They even requested the other Miners to help and lent them Bags of Minor Holding to assist in the task.

It turned out that all the Crystals had also been mined in the caverns. Mined perfectly, without sharding, or for that matter—any effort by anyone. The buzz from the Miners and Hunters was pretty loud and constant. Thus, why no one was probably questioning me. My father still insisted on taking me to a Healer. So, after I dropped the Pickaxes in the Ford Escort, I reluctantly complied to a quick once over.

A cold sensation traveled from my arm where the man’s hand rested and moved through my body. Goosebumps broke out on my skin, but before I could brush the man’s hand away from the uncomfortable sensation he pulled it back. The sensation went with it.

“A fair bit of minor damage, but nothing serious. I can Heal you if you think the discomfort is too great?” The man sounded like a sleazy salesman. I gave my father a pointed look and declined the expensive offer.

“What do you mean the entire mine is cleared? Like this?” Jagger Vance shouted, as he indicated a box filled with perfectly intact Mana Crystals. “Our contract was to shard them. Who’s responsible for this.”

My father winced, and so did I. Jagger was clearly not yet aware of the circumstances, but I had a feeling he would still be upset after learning what happened. My guess? Well, he had probably negotiated a certain cut, but was now about to lose out on a huge profit. Especially with all the Ores added to the mix.

In essence, he’d sold us, his Miners—as three Specialists and thirty laborers—when we’d come back with the work of a hundred Specialists or more. I didn’t feel bad for him. I did feel bad for all the bonus money we were going to likely not collect. Of course, a bigger percentage for Portals, Portal’s, Portalz didn’t mean we’d receive larger bonuses anyway.

My stomach grumbled, and I pushed the sensation aside. Surely, we’d get something good for this, right?

Thankfully the Healer did hand me a few Protein bars, which let me know that my stomach rumble wasn’t nerves–and was obviously audible.

Out of misplaced curiosity, I followed in the wake of my father and saw Willa join from another direction as I scarfed down one of the bars greedily. She wore a smile that was far too large, like a cat that caught a canary. Looking at me she tried to whisper, but practically screamed, “A whole unfound cavern became unblocked in that sound-wave-thing. It was filled with D-grade Crystals and True Gold Ore. All of it was laying on the ground, just ready to collect!”

Jagger made choking sounds as his mouth opened and closed. Then he shouted, “I need to speak to Taz!” and rushed off.

All three of us watched him go, my father finding his voice first. “Do you think he’ll be able to get more out of Taz?”

“Not a husking chance. A contract is a contract. It’s his own words thrown back at him. He’ll get a bit more for the D-rank Crystals, since that’s a standard clause—as are most of the Ore values. But they won’t pay more for full Crystals after the fact.” Willa’s smile was heard in her voice, making it sound like she was almost happy that Jagger would be ripped off.

“If he negotiated for more, would we get bigger bonuses?” I asked.

Willa and my father’s laughter was all the answer I needed.

“I really don’t like that husking guy,” Smegma commented as he popped back into space beside me. He had clearly tried to follow Jagger to Taz but had crossed out of range.

Shrugging in response to both him and the two fake hyenas, I said, “How much of a bonus do you think we’ll get after that?”

“Enough to husking retire!” Willa stated.

“There’s no way,” my dad countered. “Bonuses are capped at fifty thousand a person and at two-hundred thousand per Specialist. You can try to negotiate with Jagger but I’m betting he’ll give you the same response Taz is going to give him.”

“A contract is a contract,” they said together. Willa continued by herself after that, her smile falling. “Motherhusker! We are the ones who risked our lives against that Monster. We’re the ones that are down there every day, and Jagger is going to pocket millions?”

“Maybe he’ll use the money to hire more experienced Specialists?” My dad suggested, his voice telling me that wasn’t likely.

“Sure, he’ll find some ‘new’ promising miners, train them up and then sell them off for commission,” Willa responded. Both my head and Smegma’s jerked in her direction.

“What does she mean? Is he enslaving them?” Smegma asked. My brow furrowed more at his interpretation. I knew that wasn’t the case but it still sounded nefarious.

Willa thankfully got the hint from my reaction. “Once one of our new Specialist miners is trained up, the boss over there trades them to a bigger team and continues to earn commission from their work. It’s his ‘business model’.”

She didn’t really need to add the air quotes to the words with the tone she used but it really drove home the point. This wasn’t a Mining team that ever had a chance of ‘training’ up. I had never understood just how much of a ‘dead’ end job my dad was working.

“You should offer to go cart Ores and Crystals up,” Smegma suggested. “You won’t be stealing what’s worked by your hands!”

I used a subtle tilt of my head to indicate the far too numerous crates that surrounded the entrance. [I doubt there’s much left. But…]

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

“I want to go see what a D-grade Crystal looks like,” I said as an excuse and began walking toward the aforementioned, far too plentiful crates. Thankfully my father and Willa chose not to follow me.

Once there it was easy to ask a passing porter which box held the Crystals. It was also relatively easy to distinguish between Ores and Crystals, thanks in large part to the distinctive blue glow of Mana. The smiling woman I asked practically jumped for joy as she pointed out a group of crates that were set slightly aside from the others.

“Wonder if she knows she can only get fifty-thousand?” Smegma asked.

[I doubt it makes a difference. While she might be disappointed in the cap, it will still be more than she or any of them have ever made before. It’s likely why they signed a capped contract to begin with. Who thinks they’ll actually get to those bonus numbers in a day?]

“It’s a payday either way, even though someone else is becoming rich. Huh…” Smegma said as he lapsed into semi-silence before interrupting himself by noises of contemplation as he hovered from open crate to crate.

I made it to one of about five that contained the blue glow of Mana and stared down at Crystals that definitely glowed with a purer light. Where the F-rank crystals had an almost salt-like quality to their crystalline edges, these had significantly cleared. There was still a hint of fog but next to nothing when compared with what I was used to seeing.

I reached into the crate and moved them around a bit, pretending to marvel at them. I saw a few Miners and even Hunters doing something similar at nearby crates. I sold the first one from a layer deeper into the crate.

“Wow, a hundred and twenty thousand Mana Coins from that. I left the Crystal if you want to try to keep it,” Smegma said. I smiled and pulled out the Crystal, setting it on a corner of the crate where two edges met. Surely no one would mind if I took a souvenir.

I sold four more from this crate before grabbing the spent Crystal and moving to another. Unfortunately, my first chosen crate was without people nearby but the next few had others surrounding them. After a quick mental discussion with Smegma I decided I couldn’t risk it.

“You should buy a Ring or Necklace of Holding,” Smegma suggested—his voice carrying with it a wickedness I found appropriate for the situation. With that I could take multiple ‘souvenirs’…

[What are my options?] I asked as I continued to move from crate to crate.

This section, which was set aside, clearly held the priciest wares. That and things that weren’t identified yet. I came to that conclusion as I passed a crate of black Graphenite. It was the same color and texture as the deposit I hadn’t been able to mine a few days ago.

Plus, even out of the wall, it still held a nice little plaque to confirm what I was seeing. Two windows popped up in front of me, overlaying that plaque.

Demonic Vault – 2.0.0.1

Miscellaneous Gear

Ring of Minor Holding

Grade: High-F

A ring that has a space inside it of 25 cubic feet. Items can be summoned into and out of this space by mental command. This ring is made with True Silver and can still hold another Enchantment.

Cost: 250,000 mC

Necklace of Small Holding

Grade: High-E

A necklace that has a space inside it of 75 cubic feet. Items can be summoned into and out of this space by mental command. This necklace is made with True Gold and can still hold another two Enchantments.

Cost: 500,000 mC

[More space means more misplaced goods,] I mentally sent matching Smegma’s earlier nefarious tones. With that, I purchased the necklace and it flashed into existence, falling into my hand, which was over a Mana Crystal crate. The glow of the Mana hid the flash from most, but a few nearby Hunter’s gave me a glance.

I held up the spent Crystal in my other hand and said, “Look what I found.”

They dismissed me with a snort just as Smegma said, “Oh husk, not this shit again.”

I turned in time to see the Demon-Imp pop out of existence. The last time that happened—oh shit!

Buyer’s Contribution has crossed two thresholds.

Current contribution = 550,000 points

Error. Contribution features unavailable.

Checking Skill OS…

Out of date.

Updating to 6.1.4…

Downloading…

Error. Insufficient Bandwidth to continue.

Contribution too low to increase Bandwidth.

Attempting smaller packet…5.0.18

Insufficient Bandwidth

Attempting smaller packet…4.3.4

Contribution being consumed to increase bandwidth.

500,000 Contribution points consumed.

Downloading…

Updating Demonic Vault.

Rebooting…

My body lit up like I was hiding a floodlight in every cell. With blind eyes, I moved rapidly and threaded my head through the necklace, and then put the Spent Mana Crystal inside. By the startled exclamations that surrounded me, I knew my earlier plan of thievery wasn’t going to work anymore. I thought for just a moment I could make out the exact noise of my father’s slapping shoes, but it wasn’t his voice that I heard first.

“He just Awaken again,” Dave said. “He is one who land kill blowing on Golem!”

My father’s voice was next, and it was accompanied by his hands. “You okay Brodie? Did you just get another new Skill?”

Still blind I answered, “Can we get out of here?”

My father’s hand lifted off my back for a brief second before he said something more. This one, not directed at me. “Willa, can you stay here and negotiate on behalf of all of us?”

I felt a slightly smaller, but no less strong hand, squeeze my bicep before Willa answered, “I will. Get Brodie home, Gary. Brodie, I'll come over tonight for dinner, make sure Gary tells your mom.”

My vision slowly started returning as I allowed my father to guide me toward the car. I saw the faces of everyone in the parking lot. Not a single person I could find wasn’t looking at me. I hoped that was my imagination, but I doubted it.

I couldn’t help but think about how Mr. Varnish had already used that time in the car against me… What would he do with this?