Once Tom was outside of the cave, he decided that it would be a smart idea to wait for a while before going back in and seeing what he had gotten from the iron golem. So he spend around half an hour looking around the small mountain that housed the cave.

He didn't find much of anything. The mountain was mostly covered in grassy ground, and every now and then the rock below the surface would make an appearance. The same theme repeated itself on all the other mountains. Once he climbed higher, he could see the only thing that was somewhat different. Tom could see the river snaking between the mountains, continually going deeper and deeper into the mountainous zone. He could also see a couple of smaller rivers that joined the one Tom had been following.

Tom made his way back to the cave, disappointed but not surprised by his findings. "It looks like this cave is still my best bet," Tom muttered once he neared the cave, then he continued straight in. He kept going deeper and deeper until he reached the point where the copper and iron golem hid. Well, now just the copper one.

He looked behind the corner and saw that the copper golem had gone back into the wall, and the pile of rubber that had been the iron golem was still in the middle of the chamber.

Firstly Tom made his way to where his spear had been and looked around. It didn't take long for him to notice the 10 cm long stick. There it was, laying on the ground as if nothing had happened, still looking as pristine as ever. "What are you?" Tom wondered while picking it up. The stick was stupidly sturdy, it seemed like nothing could harm it.

Tom put the stick into his pocket. Or at least almost, the head of the stick was still poking out of the pocket, and if he bent down at the wrong angle, it would kindly poke him in his side. But he didn't have any better place for it, so the pocked had to do, at least for now.

Then he made his way to the pile and started looking for anything valuable. He lifted rocks and iron ore chunks out of the pile, as quietly as he could. Tom hoped that the Secverse would have had some sort of an inventory system, as it pained him to leave all this ore just lying around, but he could only carry so much on his body.

Tom lifted another piece of iron ore up. Or at least tried to, as the chunk of ore let out a squeal. Tom was so surprised that he dropped it back down. The chunk of ore fell down, and in no time, five smaller rocks climbed up the ore chunk and formed legs, arms, and head for it. In front of Tom now stood a mini iron golem. That only came up to his knee.

Tom didn't know how to react, so he just stared at it. Until it rushed at him and hit his leg. But it was so clumsy that it felt like a small child had hit him while walking on stilts. Tom stared at the mini golem, almost amused. It could barely stand on the uneven rocks that were its legs, while its arms moved just barely faster than a tortoise.

Tom let it hammer at his leg for a while longer until he noticed how the copper golem was starting to get out of the wall. So Tom decided that he wanted the core enough to defeat this amusing little golem.

Tom kicked at the mini golem's arm, and to his surprise, it flew off like it hadn't even been there. He did the same to the golem's other arm and legs. Then he picked it up and started rushing out of the cave. And not second too early. The Copper golem freed itself from the wall and started chasing after Tom.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This time the copper golem behaved differently. It didn't give up once Tom had made enough distance between them. No, it continued chasing Tom until he made it to the entrance of the cave. He continued running, only turning around a while later. The copper golem had stopped at the cave's entrance, staring a murder at Tom. Then it let the loudest roar Tom had ever heard. It was like hundreds of boulders were grinding against each other. And soon after, the whole cave answered the copper golem's call. It was like the previous roar multiplied by ten. But it didn't end there. No, next came the echo of the combined might of who knew how many golems. It sounded almost like a boulder was rolling further and further away from Tom.

Tom figured that they weren't happy about him taking one of their comrades out of their home. But to his relief, they didn't keep chasing him outside of the cave.

Tom dropped, the iron ore chunk? Core? Mini golem? He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he did know that it was heavy. It probably weighs around 20 kg (44lbs), if not even more. So his arms were dead tired from sprinting while carrying it.

"I should probably sell this... As it will be much more beneficial if I can get actual gear. And I am starting to get tired of thinking out creative ways of making sticks and rocks into useful weapons." Tom reasoned.

Now he just had to figure out a way to store the rock in a way that it wouldn't just run away. But how could he do it? He had no rope to tie it to anything. Nor did he know if he placed it in a hole, would it just somehow draw rock to it from the ground?

"Do I just have to carry this around with me until the other players join the Secverse? Can I even log out?" Tom decided to try what would happen to the core once he logged out if he held it in his arms.

So Tom logged out while holding the core, and almost immediately after, he logged back in. To his relief, the rock was still in his arms, and there were no holes in the ground around him, so it didn't drop down while he was outside of the game. This got Tom thinking if his body stayed where it was while he logged out, but as he had no way to figure it out, he quickly let it go.

"So I am stuck with this roc for the rest of the day... But at least I can log out." And Tom did just that. He took a quick break, took care of his bodily needs, and twenty minutes later he logged back into the game.

The rock was still in his arms, to Tom's relief.

"Well, what now? Maybe I should maximize my gains and pay the cave another visit." And as that sounded like a sound idea, he decided to do just that.

Once he arrived at the cave, he dug a small hole in the grass for the core. He hoped that it would take some time for it to escape. And then he made his way back into the cave, walking like he owned the place. When Tom passed the first bend, he nearly had a heart attack. There were two golems standing there like statues guarding the rest of the cave. They spotted Tom at the same time as he did them, and they didn't hesitate even for a second. They immediately rushed at him while roaring. Tom decided that he was done spelunking for today as he exited the cave breaking his previous speed records. He wasn't going to face the golems in a fight where he couldn't manipulate the odds in his favor.

Tom made his way next to the core and looked behind him, and sure enough, there the golems were, staring at him, daring him to come to the cave again.

Tom looked at the core while having an internal debate. Maybe he could have just a little peek into how the core worked. But then Tom let out a sigh. He knew himself too well. He was sure that his little peak would evolve into a little experiment, and his little experiment would evolve into the core vanishing. And then he would be stuck using sticks and stones as weapons.

"I can earn another core much easier once a have some gear!" Tom said to himself. Making sure that his curiosity wouldn't rob him of his hard-earned payday. "I am just investing in myself... I just have to have a little patience..." Tom needed to do something so he wouldn't give in to his impulses, so he picked the core up and started walking, following the river deeper into the mountainous zone.