“Kablooey!”

While impressive, I found the explosion lackluster. One of the cave openings halfway up the mountain collapsed on itself followed by a small avalanche of rocks and debris.

“As you can see, the Demolitionist can make short work of any structure by using focused explosions on its weak points,” Gertie lectured from our vantage point far from the mountain. “If we had been any closer than this, we would have run the risk of getting hit by shrapnel. Therefore, it’s important to always...”

I listened halfheartedly as she droned on about safety. Gertie and Grom couldn’t be more different as far as siblings went. One kept her distance while the other made a habit of getting himself buried alive. Their classes and skills reflected that. It was going to be up to me to find some kind of synergy between the two classes.

“Are you listening?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in consternation.

“Of course, I am,” I replied. “You were just telling me to make sure the structure is stable before I go enter in the first place. Oh, and I should always have an exit strategy.”

“Yes,” she said. “And try not to make your explosives too powerful. That can have the opposite effect from what you intend. A little mana goes a long way. Always remember that. Oh, and be careful setting explosives in enclosed spaces. They do funny things when there’s no outlet for the blast.”

“I understand,” I replied, remembering a demonstration I once saw about a firecracker going off in an enclosed hand. “I think I’m ready to try this on my own.”

“Okay,” she hesitated. “One last thing before I go. If you should happen to get your hands on explosives, be weary of your Make Explosive skill. The effect is exponential.”

Did she forget I was a player? Even death couldn’t stop me. Gertie left after that and I made my way back into Mount Bountiful. “Okay, mountain, it’s time for you to level me up.”

Gertie made exploring the abandoned mine shafts look easy. While there was a map on the wall at the entrance, it was inaccurate as shafts had collapsed after it was written. I tried to follow the path Gertie and I took but quickly found myself lost. It was over an hour later when I next saw sunlight and the shaft I emerged from was much closer to the peak. The ground was so far down it made my head spin.

Similar spots in the cave wall glowed, highlighting spots that would yield favorable results. However, I wasn’t just looking for favorable. I needed levels, and to do that I needed to bring the mountain down. That was how it worked with Excavator. Why should Demolitionist be any different?

Since I was still learning, and for lack of anything better to use, I picked up a rock and used Make Explosive on it. After wedging it in the glowing area, I proceeded down the hall to look for more weaknesses. Since I only had two hundred mana to pump into each explosive, I decided to go with quantity over quality. I placed more explosive rocks in critical junctions, hoping the cumulative blast would yield more experience. Once I was satisfied, I worked my way back to the opening in the mountain.

Saying a silent prayer, I lowered my weight and threw myself from the side of the mountain. I closed my eyes as I fell, hoping to keep gravity at bay by pretending it didn’t exist.

New Skill Acquired: Feather Fall

Once I was on the ground, I put a little distance between myself and the mountain before saying a quick prayer and using the trigger. “Kablooey!”

It wasn’t like a traditional demolition I’d seen in so many videos on ViewTube. Rather than going off in a series of explosions, the top of the mountain lurched and a belch of smoke shot out of the opening I’d just jumped from. The blast was followed by another small avalanche and a satisfactory system message.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2!

That was huge, I realized with a glance at my stats, as it effectively doubled my mana.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Veritas

Primary Class: Level 26 Excavator

Secondary Class: Level 2 Demolitionist

HP: 2600/2600

MP: 400/400

SP: 5200/5200

I wasted no time getting back into the mountain for another round of testing. As expected, several of the shafts had collapsed barring me from going higher. Even though I was leveling, I felt something was missing. Both of my classes were supposed to be variations of the miner class. If I was going to maximize my efforts, I needed to actually mine something.

After going as high as possible, I placed my hand on the rubble of one of the collapsed passages and used Ping. The state of the mountain suddenly became clear. Not only were there still enclosed pockets of air high up on the mountain but there was a strange glow high up toward the peak. There were smaller versions of what I assumed to be either gemstones or valuable ore riddled throughout the mountain but there was one solid piece close to the peak. I made it my goal to retrieve it.

Taking out my shovel, I pushed a tiny bit of stamina into the skill Power Dig and got to work. The goal was to make a path to the peak while setting charges along the way. I packed clay into every weak point I came across. For each floor, I tried something a little different with the Detonate keyword. When I used the skill Make Explosive, I set each level’s charge with unique words. “One, two, three, four…”

The peak was largely intact with no signs of having ever been mined. Perhaps the dwarves didn’t think there was much point in tunneling up to the smallest part of the mountain.

Once I bored my way to the peak and I was just below the deposit, I placed one final charge on the ceiling to get exp and break it loose. While not exactly a weak spot, I felt a small blast would be just enough to let me at my prize. I labeled that charge, “Skeedoosh.”

The explosion kicked up a lot of dust. I had to fight the urge to cough. Once I could see again, and amidst the rubble, I discovered a glowing green chunk of ore about the size of a watermelon.

Unknown Ore

Crafting Item

Appraisal skill required: 62

Finally, the item I needed to learn the appraisal skill. Or more appropriately, it would give me the excuse to see the skill in action. I did one more Ping before vacating the mountain. Once that was done, it was time for the grand finale. I took a leap of faith and activated Feather Fall so I could float safely to the ground.

I touched down and walked a good distance to make sure I had a safe view of the show. Then I started the countdown. The upper level got the highest number all the way down to the base of the mountain which I labeled one. The idea was to take out the mountain’s support, followed by its foundation. I wasn’t entirely sure it would work but I had a good feeling based on a ViewTube documentary I’d watched one time.

“Nine!”

Dust blasted out of the mountain near the peak.

“Eight!”

The mountain shook as explosions sounded from the section below.

“Seven, six, five!”

More dust flew out of mine shafts halfway up the mountain.

“Four, three, two!”

The ground shook beneath my feet. It was possible the mountain would falter without the grand finale.

“One!”

The base of Mount Bountiful was significantly larger than the upper floors and I’d placed a lot of charges. A cloud of debris and dust erupted in every direction as the mountain collapsed in on itself.

Congratulations! You have reached level 3!

Congratulations! You have reached level 4!

Congratulations! You have reached level 5!

I’d underestimated the distance and found myself running from a dust cloud I could never hope to beat on foot. I closed my eyes and reminded myself once again that I didn’t need to breathe. I was lucky not to get hit by anything coughed up by the mountain in its death throws. Several minutes passed before the air cleared and I was able to see again. Gone was the majestic pockmarked mountain. In its place sat a pile of rubble about a quarter the height.

I walked over to examine the debris in search of the ore I saw earlier. There was a fair amount but nothing that required appraisal.

“Gertie was right,” I mumbled to myself. “This mountain really was depleted.”

“I did tell you that, yes,” Gertie replied, walking up as I fished out the last of the ore. “However, that wasn’t the purpose of this exercise.”

“I thought you left,” I said, startled by her sudden reappearance. “Sorry about your mountain.”

She huffed, looking over my handiwork. “This is about what I expected. Don’t expect solid mountains to come down quite so easily. I didn’t tell you earlier but this mountain had a second name; Swiss Cheese. Do you know why they called it that?”

“Because it’s full of holes,” I guessed.

Gertie snickered. “You got it in one. I let you loose here because you needed a place to practice. Now that you seem to be paying attention, I must warn you against using your skills recklessly when there are people around. The same goes for the skills you learned from my brother. I don’t know how you modified his skill but you killed quite a few dwarves when you used it in Mount Kilkenny.”

“I know,” I said regretfully, remembering the system message I got when I killed the dwarves. “I’ll do my best not to kill anyone else.”

She waved me off. “Try not to fret about it. Death is a risk every dwarf takes when they set foot in a mountain. All I’m asking is to think before you act.”

“Understood,” I replied.

She nodded, seemingly satisfied. “If you wish to practice some more, you’re going to have to venture out from Mount Drunder. I’ll mark your map for all of the mountains we currently have mines in.”

“Actually, I’d like you to take me to the appraiser,” I said, taking out the glowing green ore. “I found something interesting in the Swiss Cheese.”

“Did you now?” she replied, her eyes widening at the sight of my ore. “A lot of dwarves are going to kick themselves when they see you what you found.”