A few hours later, on the periphery on Tollenheim…

Slouched slovenly over the backrest at its side, Straf is riding on the back of a wagon down a dirt path. It slows down, circling around a reinforced entrance to a dug-out tunnel.

「…And here's the mine, sir.」

The driver says as the wagon slows to a halt. Straf perks up, looks at the entrance, then hops out over the wagon's side.

「Why is this whole place rich, but uncomfortable?…」

Straf grumbles to himself while twisting his torso, stretching out, and windmilling his shoulders. The driver whips the horses and rolls away as Straf approaches the entrance.

He enters, following the trail of magic lamps hanging off the rock walls. The small gems of many colors jutting out of the walls cast a dazzling light show back towards him. The narrow entrance widens into something akin to a lobby where boxes of provisions, broken pickaxes, buckets, and woodcutting tools such as saws and axes lie about, presumably to fit more support beams into the mine like the ones hanging over Straf right now.

…Clunk!… Thunk!… Tink!… Clunk!…

A faint sound of metal on rock echoes from one of the paths descending deeper into the mine. With his hands in his pockets, Straf shrugs and heads towards the noise.

Clunk! Tink! Clunk! Thunk! Tink!

As Straf passes through a narrow tunnel into a wide area again, he sees multiple dozens of men swinging their pickaxes at the gem-filled walls.

「Put yer fuckin' backs into it! What's the matter!? First day!?」

A muscular, shirtless man yells at the rest who look much the same. Straf approaches him.

…Clunk! Thunk! Tink! Clunk!…

「…Eh? And who are you?」

He turns around, as if supernaturally aware of Straf's presence. His demeanor shifts entirely, and he shrinks a little away from Straf while looking at his bored face.

「The new management…」

Straf nonchalantly replies, pulling out a sheet of paper with a fancy-looking ribbon stamped to it with red wax right beneath the barely legible writing.

「Why, that's… That's the king's seal… But who are you? And what do you want?」

The man squints, reaching for the paper in his hand. Straf quickly pulls it away, denying him a chance to do more than just read it.

「Are you the mine's foreman, or just wish you were?」

Straf asks, throwing the slip of paper with the king's seal back into his [Portable Storage]. The miners are awed by the casual display of magic, pausing their work to catch a breath.

「Wh-? Aye, I am. I'm this mine's foreman for the last five years now, ever since the last one retired.」

The shirtless man nods, and he sweeps his hand over the men leaning on their pickaxes.

「What's this mine's average weekly output?」

Straf walks to the center of the large, partially excavated cave, looking around the colorful walls and the gem-filled buckets.

「It really depends… Sometimes I want to expand the mine, and the output understandably plummets, but the newly exposed deposits are usually well worth it.」

The foreman follows Straf, pointing his hand further down the branching paths as he explains.

「I'm asking about the hard amount of gems you can get out of here within a week. Let's say pebble and hammerhead-sized. Those two.」

Straf turns to the foreman, shrugging his shoulders.

「Well… Assuming it's normal gems… We usually extract a few dozen bucketfuls of raw gems an hour, but they still need to be processed. Very few buyers want raw gems.」

The mine foreman rubs his chin, furrowing his brows as he looks down one of the tunnels.

「Raw gems?」

Straf tilts his head. The foreman's eyes snap back to his face.

「Ah. Gems need to be extracted out of the rock. We do that out on the surface around evening. We smash 'em with hammers to get them out… Carefully, of course.」

He points his hand to one of the buckets full of gems still stuck in their rocky prison.

「You said normal gems… As opposed to? Giant ones?」

Straf briefly spreads his hands before returning them to his pockets.

「Ah… There are giant ones-」

The foreman replies, then turns his gaze to the idle miners watching them.

「Get to fuckin' work ye fuckin' deadbeats! What is with ya!?」

He shakes his fist at the men. They sigh and grasp their pickaxe handles back into their hands, then resume smashing the cave walls.

Thunk!… Tink!… Thunk!… Clunk!…

「…As I was saying, there are giant gems. Those are worth really good money, so we usually haul those out and get the chisels out. But supergems are easily the most valuable.」

After watching the miners dig for a few seconds, the foreman returns his attention back to Straf.

「Huh? Supergems? Am I right to think that they're real fuckin' big?-」

Straf asks, and the man quickly shakes his head.

「No, quite the opposite. Supergems are tiny, pebble-sized.」

He replies, showing Straf the approximate size of a supergem with his thumb and finger, indeed being no larger than a thumb if the man isn't exaggerating.

「What's so super about them?」

Straf narrows his eyes, inquisitively rubbing his chin.

…Clunk!… Thunk! Tink!… Clunk!…

「We just call 'em supergems. I'm not a mage, so I don't know what they call 'em, but they usually pay out the nose and then some for 'em. Something about mana capacity.」

「Mana capacity? What do you mean?…」

The man replies, intriguing Straf further.

「Well, apparently, the larger the gem, the more mana you can stuff into it. Shocking, right?… But for some reason, our supergems don't work like that.」

「You can do more with less?…」

「Aye, exactly. They're not high in demand by any means, but some o' their magic experiments need small gems with a lot of mana.」

The foreman nods, shrugging his bare, muscular shoulders.

「Why haven't I heard of this shit before, then?」

Straf asks, throwing his hand up before returning it to his pocket.

…Tink!… Clink!…

「'Cause we're the only mine in the known world that mines supergems, s'far as I know. Something about their internal crystalline structure, or some shit…」

He nonchalantly replies, grimacing a little.

「…Pardon me not knowing the technical terms, but I'm a simple man, and the last time a bore from the Academy of Magic came here, what he said flew in and out of my ears.」

The foreman adds, smirking a little as he shrugs his arms.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

「…Can I see those supergems?」

Straf asks, taking a few steps towards one of the branching tunnels ahead.

「Oh, I'd fuckin' love to show ya, but we have an infestation of gembugs on the lower levels. I figured we should develop the upper ones instead of risking my men.」

The man chuckles, following Straf by his side, stopping right in front of the narrowing entrance to one of them.

「Gembugs? What the fuck is that?」

His head perks up, and Straf furrows his brows at the foreman.

「Nasty little fuckin' cunts. They eat through rock and gems. They're size of a small dog, one you'd call an ankle biter, and they're all over the fucking place…」

The man explains while staring down the tunnel with a frustrated grimace on his face.

「…But unlike a dog, if it bites yer fuckin' ankle, your foot is gone. Every now and then one o' those little shits crawl out to here, so we smash it up.」

He adds, pointing at his foot, wiggling it slightly, grimly grinning as he shrugs.

…Thunk!… Thunk!… Clunk!…

「Goblins of the rock, huh?…」

Straf remarks, nodding his head towards the tunnel.

「I'd take goblins any day over those fuckin' things.」

The foreman scoffs, grinning.

「…I was thinkin' of hirin' adventurers, but… I'm partially hoping they'll fuck off for free, y'know?」

He adds, hooking his thumbs on his belt as he looks up at Straf, hopelessly shrugging his shoulders.

「Sounds like a job for me. I don't know how useful supergems would be for my purposes, but I want to at least take a look at one.」

「You? Hahaha!… Buddy!…」

The foreman laughs. [Contextual Time Perception] activates as he moves his thick hand towards Straf's arm. He lets it, watching him with his mouth lightly aslant.

Pat.

「…Tell you what… You get rid of those fuckin' things, you can have all the fucking supergems you can carry! Can't do shit with those pests around!」

His hand lands on Straf's arm, patting him while the foreman chuckles as if he just heard a really good joke.

「…Due to a combination of factors far beyond simple men like you, I will be taking all the gems I can carry anyhow… But I'll fix your problem. It's bad for business.」

Straf declares with a nonchalant expression on his face, and takes a step into the tunnel ahead of them.

「Eh?… Combination of factors?…」

The man says, blinking in confusion while Straf is delving deeper into the mine.

「…Careful, though! They need to be smashed real hard! A pickaxe can barely do it! Take a lamp too, the little cunts might have eaten the ones there!」

He shouts down the tunnel, but Straf doesn't bother to as much as glance back his way.

「I'll be fine. Smashing shit real hard is my specialty…」

Straf declares, voice echoing out from the tunnel, shrugging his shoulders as he disappears beyond the rough rock wall…

…

Thirty minutes later, deep in the gem mine…

Straf wanders the winding tunnels that expand into wider caverns, much like the one levels above. Abandoned buckets and tools litter the general area. The sound of pickaxes striking against rock has been replaced by faint, ominous skittering. Like rapid fingernails tapping against something hard, the sound comes from everywhere around Straf, and nowhere at the same time. An orb of light hovers around him, casting long shadows while his head swivels around in search for movement. He continues onward, heading deeper into the mine.

…Klaklaklaklaklaklak…

Hearing a sound of skittering behind him, he looks over his shoulder. There is nothing there.

「Tsk… Come the fuck on… What a pain in the ass. They're supposedly everywhere. Did I get pranked?」

Straf grumbles, shaking his head while entering another tunnel. He exits into another wide, open area. The skittering becomes more localized ahead.

「Huh. No shit, there's a lot more gems here than above… I'm not an expert, but I think geologists would scream.」

He remarks as he stands in the center of the cavern, swiveling his head around. Hundreds and hundreds of gems of all colors litter the ground near the walls. He squints.

The gems move.

「Uh…」

While he looks left and right, he realizes the gems' rocky bodies also have six, crab or spider-like legs at their sides. They tap rapidly against the rock floor as they turn to face him.

「…Right. I see the problem now.」

He nods his head, looking at the hundreds and hundreds of chittering gembugs. They stare at him with their smooth, beady, rodent-like eyes of colors matching their gem bodies. All of them are indeed between the range of a poodle or a chihuahua, with their colorful gems on their backs contributing the most to their body's size. Straf takes a step back towards the tunnel.

Klaklaklaklaklaklaklak!

The gembugs rush towards Straf, skittering towards him on their tiny legs. He takes a leap back. Multiple orbs of blue light materialize around him as he flies towards the tunnel.

Popopopopopopop!

Blue rays shoot towards the rushing gembugs. Their jewel backs light up in all colors of the rainbow and shatter loudly, sending gem fragments flying everywhere. The bugs are completely unfazed and continue their charge despite the casualties, gnashing their tiny jaws at him. He backpedals into the narrow tunnel while the gembugs pile up at its narrow entrance. More orbs materialize above him.

POPOPOPOPOP!

The gembugs hit by the blue beams splinter into tiny rocks and jewels, but more quickly crawl over their shattered bodies and rush towards him, the flow of their rocky bodies completely unabated, and only accelerating. Straf turns and runs down the path, but slides to a stop when he sees the gembugs piling up at the other side as well.

「Tsk… Fucking shit…」

He clicks his tongue, narrowing his eyes at the path out.

FWOOOOOMMMMMMMmmmm!

With a thunderous boom, Straf disappears from the tunnel and reappears behind the bugs piling up in its entrance. Dozens of blue orbs materialize above him.

Popopopopopop!… BOOOOM!

Wide beams impact the piled up gembugs, lighting them up like colorful lamps before their bodies turn incandescent white and explode in a chain reaction. The ground rumbles, dust and debris trickles from the rough rock ceiling, and the surviving gembugs wriggle their stone limbs as they're chaotically thrown around the room by the shockwave.

「Son of a fucking bitch! Who'd know living gems can eat a lot of mana!?…」

He exclaims, clenching his teeth in frustration as the gembugs crawl over the still remnants blocking the tunnel. He continues backpedaling towards the exit to the higher levels.

「…Fine, fuck! I'll just process you myself!」

Straf cracks his knuckles and takes on a boxing stance as the swarm of gembugs trickles out of the tunnel, slowed just a little by the shattered bodies…

…

An hour later…

「Ngh! Fuck! Fuckin'!… Die!」

Smash! Thud! Thud! Crack!

Holding it by its spindly rock leg, Straf smashes a writhing gembug into the floor. It shatters into tiny pieces on a good hit, and he's left holding only its leg, which he soon discards.

《Level up. Attribute points gained.》

A monotone female voice announces.

「Haaah… Haah…」

Breathing heavily, he looks around the natural chokepoint. Pieces of rocks and colorful gems are scattered absolutely everywhere. He straightens out, placing his hands in his pockets.

「…Man. That's a workout. I don't remember being this tired for months- Aaaaand I'm already better…」

Straf wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, breathing heavily for a few seconds. He then realizes he's no longer fatigued, and shrugs with his mouth aslant.

「…Are these supergems?」

He thinks out loud as he squats down and picks up one of the small gems scattered all over the floor.

『Sapphire』

[Gem] [Mana storage] [Valuable]

Mana points: 400/400

A common precious gem.

「Huh? It's not?… Whatever. It's charged, so I'll just take it…」

Straf stands up and chucks the tiny sapphire into his [Portable Storage].

Crunch. Crack. Crackle. Crunch…

He steps over the rocks and gems, cautious to not accidentally shatter one. He gives the pile of gembug bodies blocking his path deeper in a kick and climbs over it. The entire level is filled with the smell of something burning, although it's difficult to tell what exactly it might be. Straf pushes onward and back into the large, open area where he first encountered the gembugs.

「…So there are real gems here after all.」

He remarks as he walks out into the open space, a hovering orb above his head causes the gems on the rock floor to glitter and cast scattered rainbows elsewhere. These have no legs, luckily. Straf approaches a random pile of them by a wall, then begins sifting through them. He focuses on a gem, finds it to be a mundane and uncharged jewel, and throws it aside. He takes the next one, and it's the case with that one, too. After a few minutes of searching, Straf is growing increasingly frustrated, scrunching his mouth to the side as he grabs the first gem that catches his eye off the floor. He focuses his eyes on it.

「Oh.」

He utters out, raising his brows in surprise.

『Superlattice ruby』

[Gem] [Durable] [Mana storage] [Valuable]

Mana points: 0/720000

A ruby possessing a unique superlattice, formed through a combination of extreme heat and pressure.

Highly resistant to shattering from both physical and magical stress.

「…That's a lotta space for mana, huh? Wait. Highly resistant to shattering?」

Straf's head perks up in further surprise as he stands back up. His brows furrow, and he looks at a distant wall.

「…Let's see how resistant it is!」

He exclaims, cocking his arm back for a baseball-like throw.

Fhwip!…

Straf sends it flying towards the rock wall at a high speed with absolutely no mercy.

「What the fuck!?」

TINKCLINKTINKTINKTINKCLANKTINKCLANK!!

The ruby bounces back, ricocheting around the open cavern like a bullet. Straf dances around, unsure whether he's out of the trajectory, or his ability is simply not activating due to the gem being supposedly easy enough for him to dodge under his own power. He ducks with a tight-lipped expression on his face when he hears a supersonic crack right next to his ear, and the gem bounces off the rock wall behind him. Finally, it loses most of its energy and spins wildly, then flies in a large arc right over his head.

Tink!… Tink-tinktink…

The ruby lands back at his feet with a tinny, glassy sound, completely undamaged. He stares at it wide-eyed for a few moments, then squats down and picks it up.

「…I can kind of guess how the discount dwarves tell these fucking things apart from the regular ones.」

He remarks, and throws the supergem into his [Portable Storage].

Straf looks left and right a few times, listening for skittering that's no longer there as he places his hands back in his pockets, then heads back…