Chapter 7: A Trapping Surprise_Paztok

Kal: Before you get carried away. Do remember that once you open the treasure chest and take your item that I instructed it will teleport away to another place in this world. So, I can say for sure you probably wont see it again.

Kal had a grin on his face as if he told me something about it. I guess I will have to find a way to get more items from those chests. Wonder just how though. He said that if I were to take any item out only once. It was safe and would only teleport to another place on this world and if I were to take our any more then that. I would face a Dragon who would come barging in. I know for sure I can’t face one just yet. Especially when the old man told me that all three of our power were weak and wouldn’t even pierce its dragon scales to make him bleed. It should be same for any other dragon. We are simply too weak currently.

I guess ill find a way to get more then one. For now let’s dig, Amelia did say she was going to bring me food later on. So I should get started immediately.

Zen: Hey Old Man.

Kal: You talking to me?

Zen: Yea, I am. I’m going to call you that since you remind me of another Old Man I know who’s also somewhere roaming the world. Do you perhaps know of any other way to mine that would be faster?

Kal: Hmmmmm.

Zen: Well?

Kal: I think your too weak for it but perhaps later on you may be able to do something with that technique.

Zen: Well? Spill it.

Kal: Oh its simple. Have you seen how some masters fight using a pole arm? They tend to do the wavy thing. It looks like they are making a letter 8 when they do that. So concept wise, twist your wrist while you draw the number 8 side ways. Just careful, because you can hit your self-if you’re not careful with the end of the pick. I am also pretty sure you will die from one hit from your own pickax but that’s the funny part isn’t it?

Zen: Ha ha ha. So funny I forgot to laugh, gzz old man. That was no help whatsoever.

Kal: Don’t get me wrong if you do it properly its not just a good fighting and protection technique but can also be used to dig like a big drill. I got to say though, if you hold on the end of the pickax while doing that, you 99% wont hit yourself, although the cave will be massive in size when you do that. To be more precise I thing it will be around 6 meters in diameter if you do it that way. Compared to your previous one that’s nearly 2 times the width and a few meters taller too. Suggestion you should leave that type of digging for the second mountain. Other wise without enough strength it will slow you down.

Zen: Ya, ya, ya any way back to work.

I finally got to start the digging. The debris was not even a problem and thus. I started on a tedious job. It went like usual for the next two days. I was making decent progress. I remembered the 33 days of hard work just to get to the center of the mountain, however it seems that now I was able to see the impurities in this total darkness better then ever. My night vision or so I called it made it much brighter in the cave not yet at the level of day though. I doubt it will ever be that way.

As I mined another week went buy without me even sleeping. I could now sense rock that had deficiencies about 6 inches in to the wall. With a well placed pick I could now set a small chain reaction which would destabilize up to a foot in to the wall I was hacking at. This was either a new skill I developed or one of the previous ones reached a new level.

This way of mining by focusing on setting these chain reaction style of digging made it faster not just by a little but a hole lot. I still had about 20 days is the time limit I placed in my head.

Amelia would come once a day and bring me a potion with a small soup or steak that she would make. At first she used a torch to go through the dark caves. But now she was walking and I saw a huge fire exploding in front of her not touching her.

Amelia: Hey Zen. Look at what I can do.

Zen: A fire spell?

Amelia: No Silly. I placed one of my storage points just on the logs, which I set on fire, and then actively started transporting it to in front of my self.

Zen: Why aren’t you catching fire then?

Amelia: I have equipment and potion buff that added up to being 95% heat and fire resistance. So actually it keeps me warm. XD

Zen: Oh that’s cool. Do you have something for me to eat?

Amelia: Ok so I brought you your bag and placed a storage circle in it. That way I don’t have to walk nearly a 2 miles just to get here through this mine. I have to say I can hear you mining all the way back there. It pretty loud, guess its like a speaker of sorts.

Zen: Is it really a mile already?

Amelia: Yea. By the way Kal said you better start pushing your self or else we wont make it. He says you have like another 3 miles to go. Oh yes while you were hacking away, with the help of Kal, I was able to construct more potent potions that you should drink and hurry up with the digging. The other mountain is also like 5 miles from the starting place and we have like what 20 days left? Even the bear is helping me bring in fresh black dirt from the outside in order to plant a garden. It seems you forgot that you had to drink that Miracle water since it helps. Although I forgot to tell you to drink it, it seems the effect doesn’t wear off as long as you are within 10 miles of the source.

Zen: Oh snap, I did forget about it, although since I didn’t feel weaker I didn’t go back to drink it. I am glad I am within range still. Ok back to work, I think I can even manage the pickax with one hand now. So it should be faster, since I will use my other hand to make blunt hits in order to make vibration, which might help me.

Amelia: Ok then I will leave you to it then.

I then got back to work. While pound the wall with the pickax in my right, I was focusing on timing my left hands attack on the wall so that it would make a further chain. To my biggest surprise it worked to well. An entire meter of titanium fragments shattered and slid down and were instantly teleported outside.

I was now going at it like mad man. I have discovered a secret art perhaps, for mining fast and effective. That day alone I probably dug around 1,000-meters before I felt the bag on my back get a hole lot bigger.

As I checked, indeed it was my lunch with newer potions. After I ate them, I felt as if the food also gave me buffs with the potions combined I found more vigor and excitement to find another huge chain reaction in mining. It was like a new type of game that was like of who can get the biggest chain that would destabilize the titanium rocks. It was as if I was now playing some smash a pot game.

I was no longer walking but rather power walking just fast enough for me to react to the changes of the scenery in front of me. That day I had reached my first destination. I looked around and saw that it was as big as the last place instead this one had no entrances or exits. Indeed it seemed a bit unfinished. Nothing special I guess, no lights even came in this far.

I thought it would be smarter to go talk with Kal to see if there were any booby traps I should watch out. I then ran back all the way to back.

Once I reached the cave I saw huge pile dirt and more kept making its way to the top. I then realized that it must be the storage ability.

Kal: Oh hey Lad. How is it going on your end? I sense that you have made it to the center.

Zen: Indeed I have, although I wanted to, reaffirm something with you. Are you sure, there are no traps?

Kal: I am glad you came back. I have regained my power just a tad bit and thus my senses have returned although I am still not able to walk or help any way. I am able to sense that there is a trap in that cavern. When you open the chest, it seems you only have 15 seconds to find what you are looking for before the chest disappears and in its stead the entire cavern will be fill with platinum a more crude ore then titanium. Even though you won’t die, you will get stuck and that will get you stuck for a long time. So make sure to make a run for it. I say about 10 seconds to look for the item then run.

Zen: Are you nuts? That’s in possible. I bet there are a lot of items to look through too. Right?

Kal: Yes there are a lot of items. However I believe you can do it. I have given you all the help you need to solve this. Please don’t give up.

Zen: Then one question. When the platinum appears is it seen as a huge block or as ores or as what?

Kal: Hmm. Well at first it will be just ore. However when the summoning trap is finished it will finalize it with a special spell that combines it. Pretty much like transporting a mountain except those take a tone load of Mana and expertise to finish that type of teleportation of such mass within seconds and combining the ores to make it in to a vein.

Zen: But!! Before it finalizes I can transport some threw my storage device thing?

Kal: Now that you mention it. It should work or at least for part of the mass. That ends up being 1-meter around you.

Zen: I got it.

Kal: What? Got what?

Zen: Watch and see Old Man. XD Thanks for the info it was invaluable.

Kal: Sure anytime and please hurry. It seems I was wrong on the time limit. It seems that there is only 14 days left and not 21, as per the original schedule. I am sorry, when I told you the time limit I was off since I was nearly dead.

Zen: Man your pushing me Old Man. This better be worth it.

Kal: I am sure you will find it more worth in it then you actually think.

Zen: Agh. I hate time limits.

I then ran out side to find Amelia to set my plan in to motion.

Zen: Amelia I need your help. There is no time to explain. I will tell you as we both run to the treasure chest. But first go and release your storage areas from everywhere, so that you are able to place them in the cavern leading to the treasure. It seems we only have enough time to open look quickly, take and run 10 seconds precisely.

Amelia: You going to make it?

Zen: What your going to do is place your storage around the cavern so that when the platinum starts to fill the cavern. You will be able to actively teleport them mass to where you will be and that’s out side the near the entrance.

Amelia: I see. So there was a trap of sorts.

Zen: Yep. However by doing this. It will be as if you excavated tone loads of platinum. XD

Amelia: Really? You know platinum is an expensive metal in this world. Its commonly used as money so if you are bale to procure it and smelt them in to platinum coins, Its like getting 100 gold per one platinum square. A wheelbarrow is roughly 1 million gold if not more.

Zen: For normal players it’s transporting such material that would be the problem. However I see no problem here in that regard. XD. They would not only get robbed but also killed for such ore.

Amelia: Yea, your right.

We ran as fast as we could and with all of the buffs, we ran one mile in 3 minutes and within 15 minutes we were at the cavern. Amelia placed the storage circles around the place and ran back outside. She was supposed to teleport a log back in to the cave that would tell me she was ready. I too release 4 of the 5 storage points. Just in case I needed them. I then saw the log that was teleported in to signal me that Amelia was ready.

While she ran back, I examined the treasure chest. It was about 3x3 meters in dimensions. I walked around it to see if anything else was peculiar. Hence I got ready to open it and look threw it.

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Everything was set and I began calming my self in order to do this as quickly as possible even drank speed boost potions.

I opened the treasure chest. It was very bright since the cavern was so dark. It took me 2-3 seconds to readjust to the light coming from within the treasure chest to see a window in front of me with a count down clock. To my surprise there was another surprise for me.