It was morning and Kyros was on his way to the mess for breakfast. The only reason he knew it was morning was because of the siren that rang out at 5:30 am, Rulf had warned him about it last night before going to bed.
Last he had checked his health was at 91 and the only thing he felt was a bump on the back of his head, otherwise, he was fine. Well, fine was an overstatement, he had only gotten a few hours’ sleep last night because it had taken him a while to adjust to the hard wooden bed and Rulf’s snoring. It seemed the last slave quarters were full, so it was just Rulf and Kyros in their chamber, however, there were enough beds for 13 others.
As Kyros entered the mess chamber he noticed how bustling it was, there were easily 100 slaves throughout the chamber eating at stone tables. What stupefied him though was that he had learned from Rulf that they were in section 52.
There are at least another 50 sectors just like this, so there have to be more than 5000 slaves. Also, who’s to say this is the only mine under Mavis, surely they would have multiple... So this is what Rulf meant by Mavis being a Great House.
Kyros saw a huddle of men standing in line behind a man with a cauldron-like pot, assuming that was where they handed out the food, he fell in line behind the men. As he stood waiting, he had noticed how many eyes were on him, logic was telling him it was because he was an elf, however, years of bullying made him believe it was because of his feminine features.
After a couple of minutes it was Kyros’s turn, as he stepped up he noticed the old man giving out the food wasn’t exactly hygiene friendly. Especially his hands, covered in dirt and grime.
“Heh heh, well ain’t this rare, an elf living underground haha. Well have some of my famous stew, it’ll remind you of the fairies back in your forest heh heh heh.” The old man held out a bowl with a shaking hand for Kyros.
Kyros chose not to respond because he could tell the old man wasn’t sane, so he took his stew and left. Kyros found Rulf sitting at an empty table and chose to join him.
“You made it, you took so long getting here you only have 5 minutes to eat that before getting to work.” Rulf said as Kyros was placing his bowl down.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be able to get used to waking up so early.”
“You’ll learn.”
“.. Hey Rulf, why can’t I see any girls around here?” This had been bugging Kyros since he had entered the mess chamber.
“Don’t be stupid. First, most woman lacks the physical strength to mine all day and second, girls are typically sent to work in the households of their owners. The pretty girls are reserved for the important figures, and the others usually used to keep the family’s guards happy.”
“No way! they can’t just force the girls to do that sort of thing even if they are slaves.” Kyros said in disgust.
“Hah you’re really naive, our kingdom isn’t the same as your elven villages. Those with power can do whatever they want, what can we slaves do about it? Those with power make the rules”
“Still... it isn’t right”
“I agree kiddo, but unfortunately we were born in the wrong kingdom. There are plenty of kingdoms and empires where slaving is illegal, however, that doesn’t change anything for us. Now I’d finish up that stew quick before work starts.”
Old Mans Famous Stew
Type:
Food
Benefits
+5 stamina every 10 minutes for 3 hour
Quality:
Very Poor
Stew fed to slaves. Low-quality ingredients used to save money.
“Yuck” Was all Kyros could mutter before forcing himself to eat.
After finishing breakfast without puking, which Kyros was proud of, he and the rest of the slaves entered the working area. The slaves were broken into groups of 5 and led into separate parts of the mine to start working towards their daily quota of 15 copper ores. Kyros had been put into the same group as Rulf.
The other 3 with them were rather burly men, quite muscular from all the hard work they do each day. In fact the biggest of the three was level 12, it may not sound high but Kyros had been making observations on all the slaves and the average seemed to be 4-7. Making a quick mental note to himself to not anger these men, he followed behind them.
Kyros was indifferent to the three as he tried to avoid interactions as much as possible, however Rulf was different and introduced himself jovially.
“Hey fellas, I’m Rulf and this young lad is Kyros. Happy to be brothers in arms haha.”
However, the three of them only stared at him before walking off into one of the many mine corridors.
Seems like the majority of the slaves have given up hope and are only worried about whether they’ll make the quota. I’ve already been warned not to get lost as no search parties will be sent and no more meals will be free, even If I’m injured. This is really quite dangerous. Kyros pondered as they walked further into the mine.
Suddenly the three men stopped and moved towards some greenish looking rocks and started picking away at them.
“Well Kyros, guess this is it, let’s get started.” Rulf said before moving over to his own rock and started swinging his pick.
Guess it’s my turn…
Copper Ore Vein
Type:
Ore
Durability:
20 / 20
Quality:
Average
Copper ore can be acquired by mining. Ore can be used for a variety of things, however most commonly for smelting and used with blacksmithing. Can be sold to most merchants.
As Kyros stood in front of the copper ore he took note of the status screen informing him it was in fact a copper ore.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
That could be handy if I come across any other ores I don’t know about in the future.
Kyros readied his pickaxe and with a large overhead swing, it came down upon the ore. With a loud clang, the pickaxe fell from his hands as Kyros’s hands were in pain from the sudden shock.
The other 3 stared at him shortly before returning back to mining, however Rulf walked over.
“Haha kido, don’t put so much power behind your swings. Try and only get enough power to break the ore from the rock, and also aim at the ore and not the rock.” Rulf walked back to resume his mining while humming a tune. No one had time to babysit him through this, everyone had their own quotas. Kyros was pretty happy that Rulf had even came over to give him the quick pointer.
Man those games made this look so easy…
It took Kyros a few swings until finally a chunk of ore broke off, however, it wasn’t the success of finally getting it right that surprised Kyros, instead it was the sudden status screen.
Skill Aquired: Mining
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Level:
Skill Experience:
Mining
Beginner
1
3%
Determines how fast you can mine. Higher levels will allow user to mine more precious ores and gemstones.
+5 EXP
Now that he thought about it, he should’ve expected this, mining was one of the most common non-combat skills in the games he had played.
Wait if I level this up, then won’t I be able to fill my daily quota faster, which’ll give me more time to figure a way out of this hell hole. Also if I get 5 EXP after every ore, then I should level up tomorrow, I only need 100 to get to level 2.
He bent over to pick up the ore and place it inside his backpack, however it felt a lot heavier than he had thought it would. 15 of these was definitely going to make him struggle on the way back.
Kyros was drenched in sweat as he was mining his fifth ore, he had just finished taking a break when all of a sudden a status screen popped into his vision.
+1 Stamina
Huh, so I can increase a stat without having to invest stat points from leveling up. Actually I wonder how many stat points I’ll get when I do level up.
And like that he spent the rest of the day mining until he had achieved 16 ores. However, it wasn’t easy, his hands were full of splinters and blisters, it was going to hurt just to hold the spoon for dinner. He also had to rest frequently too because of how often his stamina would fall.
At first, he’d mine until his stamina went below 20, however shortly after he crashed to the ground and struggled just to keep himself sitting up. Kyros learned he could get about 2 ores mined before he’d have to rest for 30 minutes to recover, so long as he didn’t drop below 20.
Resting for the final couple of minutes before he had to head back to hand in his ores and get dinner, Kyros pondered over what he had just learned today. First, he could level up his mining skill to quicken his pace, as of now he had 48% mastery. Second, he gained EXP from mining, currently, he only need 20 more EXP until he levelled up. Third, he could increase stats from working them, in fact his stamina had gone up twice and strength once.
Status Screen
Name:
Kyros
Level:
1
Race:
High Elf
Mana:
100/100
Health:
94/100
Stamina
47/120
Titles:
None.
Stats
Strength:
11
Intelligence:
10
Agility:
10
Wisdom:
10
Vitality:
10
Dexterity:
10
Stamina:
12
Luck:
10
Kyros observed the changes in his stats and thought to himself that it wasn’t a bad job for his first day on the job. Although tomorrow should be even better by the time he levels up his mining and overall level.
Suddenly the three veteran miners got up indicating it was time to go hand in their quotas. Rulf and Kyros followed shortly behind.
“I’m impressed you finished the quota kiddo, at the start I thought you had no hope. Guess we might be able to make a good slave outta you yet hahaha!” Rulf laughed as he gave a heavy slap on Kyros’s back.
Although Kyros acted normal on the surface, that slap really shook him. Although he was fine talking with Ruff, it was still awkward with someone acting so friendly to him.
“Hahah yeah gave myself a scare for a while. How many did you end up mining Rulf? I got 16, reckon I’ll get even more tomorrow.” Kyros stated.
“Hey kiddo, I was only joking about being a good slave. There’s no point mining more than needed, you’ll have to turn them all in at the end of the day. You can’t stack ‘em lad.” Rulf lectured.
“What do you mean? The faster I can level up my mining, the faster I can get the quota done. You have to think ahead Rulf!” Kyros lectured back.
“Huh what do you mean level up mining? That blow to the head must’ve been rough...” Rulf looked at Kyros in pity.
Wait what does he mean?
“Wait you’re telling me you don’t have a mining skill? What about your overall level? You should be level 9.” Kyros was trying to reaffirm.
“Hey kiddo, you’re making no sense. Maybe it’s only specific to elves...” Although Rulf was trying to be kind, Kyros could tell he didn’t believe that.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”