The cave had a main tunnel lined with torches that cast an eerie flickering glow off the wet rock. I heard the pounding of pick axes echoing off the tunnels from various directions, now noticing side tunnels that branched off in a couple of directions.
I stopped in my tracks, suddenly realizing that I hadn't reassigned my mining skill to my character sheet. It was still in the 'unselected' section of my skills. Since I felt like battles were over for a while, I swapped out my 'Biokinesis' skill for now.
[LV 9- BLACKSMITH APPRENTICE]
[https://www.clipartmax.com/png/middle/332-3329389_slingshot-comments-slingshot-icon.png][https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/nature-emoji/50/Windy-1024.png][https://www.clipartmax.com/png/middle/158-1589423_fire-flame-hot-popular-comments-black-and-white-fire-emoji.png][https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/007/115/564/original/vintage-hourglass-with-sand-inside-to-measure-time-magic-astrology-symbol-vector.jpg]
[60/60]
[55/55]
360_F_131614463_Yn0VoSBbbZ3v3TSg3avd3kvZ1xxJLWCk.jpg [https://t3.ftcdn.net/jpg/01/31/61/44/360_F_131614463_Yn0VoSBbbZ3v3TSg3avd3kvZ1xxJLWCk.jpg] - L9
[https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/03/93/23/97/240_F_393239776_KboKcYC2yjGjvEnXS39itPH9SkhmLJQV.jpg] - Passive
[https://media.istockphoto.com/id/876089544/vector/the-thinking-man-sculpture-icon.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=tx1hNJ1ULcLr2uEMsf7-6zbiFFf28JTpJW5LVdKhUko=] - L5
[https://cdn2.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/29/01/pickaxe-with-shards-symbol-mining-vector-36522901.jpg] - L5
[https://t3.ftcdn.net/jpg/04/16/25/26/360_F_416252649_rrsQ78vw1sqrSmP7MFEVFmiQAICW2NCj.jpg] - L2
[UNSELECTED SKILLS - [https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/black-isolated-icon-flame-hands-white-background-silhouette-fire-symbol-healing-flat-design-134445762.jpg]L2 ]
I hadn't noticed, but there was a new hourglass tattoo, most likely my time and space mana that I had unlocked. All of my stats had recovered overnight. I noticed my healing skill had risen to level 2, most likely from my work on Dee during the battle. Maybe she survived, so I got a level! I thought with a glimmer of hope in my heart.
With the mining skill reassigned, the walls turned opaque in my mind as various ores showed themselves. I gasped, seeing the new colors shimmering in the walls. I had no idea what region of Prixa we were in, but there was a completely different ore structure here. In fact, I didn't even see the silver or red ores here. Further into the mines?
I saw lots of iron ore, but left that for the other employees to gather with the manual labor. My task was straightforward. I was supposed to gather other ores. Craig wanted me to get silver ore, but I needed to find out if any was here. I didn't even know how they knew I could get the ore.
They must have been watching me somehow. That's probably how they knew to come to Dunbar for the battle! I thought anxiously. I would have trouble hiding anything if they knew what I could do.
I turned down a random side tunnel, checking out the ore over here. Banging sounded from up ahead as the girl I saw in the hallway worked. She stopped working and looked at me, a curious look on her face. Behind her was an orange ore that I had never seen before. It reminded me of copper. I wanted to know what I could use it for.
"Hey! What's up, new guy?" The girl whispered, smiling at me. I barely heard her over the noise in the mine. "You're the one they watched in the town square, right?"
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
What the hell? "No idea. They...transported me here yesterday. I slept in those prison cells disguised as rooms, and now I'm here. Trying to get ore for the bossman." I paused. "I'm Noah. And you are...?"
She smiled. "Mara." She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you officially."
Suddenly I heard shouting coming from the tunnels behind me. Two mages in red robes ran past, followed by two men with sabers. I looked at Mara, and we took off toward the main tunnel to investigate. I reached for my dagger but realized it wasn't where it usually was in my pocket. Shit, they must have taken it when I got here! I was totally unarmed in here, which wasn't a good feeling.
Flying creatures poured out of the tunnels further into the cave and dive-bombed the workers and mages. "Employees! To the walls! Capes up!" Craig yelled, gesturing to the walls. He had run up the tunnel and passed me to address the situation.
We watched down the tunnels as the workers partnered up and began unzipping something that looked like a hood on the onesie. Once both people unzipped their partner's hood, they threw it over their heads and went into a fetal position in the dirt.
Even knowing where they were and watching the whole thing, I couldn't see them anymore. They blended in so well with the dark tunnels that they were basically invisible. The bat creatures continued diving at the warriors, who now held massive tower shields to defend themselves.
"Fire in the hole! Everyone back! Fire in the hole!" Craig shouted.
The two mages in the red robes extended their hands, and flames exploded in a fan shape toward the bats. They began dropping left and right on the ground on and around the workers huddled there. Screeching erupted from the creatures as they burst into flames, becoming little mini-fireballs. The onesies apparently had fireproof properties, protecting the workers from the flaming creatures.
The bats that hadn't been scorched retreated back down the tunnels, screeching and hissing like their obliterated buddies. I felt a pull on my arm as Mara pulled me back down the side tunnel.
"That was too close," she muttered, dusting off her clothes. "I can't believe how many there were this time."
I looked at her with a questioning expression. "Are attacks from those things common?"
Mara sighed, looking at me. "We get attacked pretty regularly. Mainly from the bats, but some of the rodents can attack in mass as well. The damn rats are the worst - they can teleport in and out of the rocks and surround us quickly. It makes the mages' job much tougher since they can't just flamethrow all of them. But they all hate fire, so we always have our trusty fire mages with us. And these ridiculous outfits. But they won't let us take anything to defend ourselves. They're afraid of..." She trailed off, looking uncertain. "Nevermind. Let's just get back to it."
Mara seemed to relax, and we stood up to return to work. As we made our way deeper into the side tunnel toward her pickaxe, I couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. The unexpected attack made me wonder what else was lurking in these dark caverns.
Mara returned to chipping away at the iron ore with her pickaxe as I walked toward the wall where the copper ore was located. I tried to focus on the task at hand, but my mind kept drifting back to the attack.
Suddenly, Mara spoke up. "So, what do you think of Fulgar so far?"
I looked over at her, surprised by the sudden change in topic. "Uh, it's...different. I mean, I haven't seen much outside my prison room and the caves yet."
Mara chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. You will get used to it. They keep us here for most of the day, and we don't get much free time. Once the lunch horn sounds, we swap with the grey team and get our ore smelted down in the forges."
We fell silent again for a few minutes before Mara spoke up again. "Noah, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Can you really do those things we all heard about?"
I looked at her with a curious expression. She continued, a bit flustered. "I mean, we aren't supposed to know. But someone over at blue overheard one of the mages talking and heard about what you did over with the Feka, how you rescued those servants. Turned all those people into mages, like the people here." She had a wistful expression on her face.
I sighed. "I didn't end up rescuing anyone. I was able to unlock magic, but that was it. I could barely train people, and the ones I did failed. We lost in a battle against these werewolf monsters. The whole settlement got wiped out before the mages from this place saved us."
She looked at the cave walls. "Can...can you make more items? Can I unlock magic?"
I looked at her. "It's why they brought me here if I had to guess." I didn't say anything else as Craig rounded the corner.
"New guy! What have you produced so far?" He stormed over with his hand out. I glanced again at Mara, but she was already hammering into the wall with her pickaxe like we never spoke.
"I see some ore here. There wasn't anything of interest further up the tunnel. I'll start getting some now. I can only get around five or six pieces an hour, though..." I said with an unsure expression on my face.
"That will do. Get what you can then rest and recharge your mana. My supervisor briefed me on your mana situation before we entered the caves. We have around five more hours left in the shift, so I expect a quota of twenty pieces of specialty ore to be mined today. That means anything you see that's a non-iron ore.
I sighed, then nodded, and headed to the walls.