“You guys go ahead. I’ll see if I can find anything useful here.” Elijah said. The trio laughed as Elijah was obviously going to collect all the valuables he could before they headed toward the forest. After they left Elijah used some of his restored mana to summon a new wooden minion and they began going through the camp together.

Chapter begin

An hour later Elijah stepped out of the remains of a small building. Coins rattled in his pouch as he walked to the next hut. He collected less money than he had expected. If he compared the amount of money he got from Aric with his latest revenue, Elijah gained around 2300 credits. Most coins were directly found in the pockets of the fallen enemies. Elijah even managed to get his hands on another map of the island but there was nothing else of value to find.

He also used the opportunity to increase the weight of his mace, making it several times heavier than before. Elijah forgot to do it after he had put a lot of points into strength and the mace was too light for him. Even his own body had felt heavier, which was probably the case.

His minion brought him the next batch of enemies as Elijah used wooden tendrils to fasten the mace on his back. Before he could continue looting, an arrow whizzed past him, impaling a nearby wall. Elijah jumped sideways, taking cover behind debris before he took a peak. There were no enemies in sight and he realized that it was probably a signal from Aric that he should return to the group.

To be sure Elijah still tried to take cover behind debris as best as he could while moving towards the trio. His minion didn’t care about possible attacks and just followed along. Seeing that no attack came, Elijah began jogging instead.

“We’re ready to go,” Erik called from above as Elijah approached the forest.

“So how’s the haul?” Aric asked. Elijah couldn’t hide his grin as he replied. “Found some credits. Not as much as I expected, though. Are those guys all part of the Cloud Raiders?”

Kael nodded. “Everyone can join their guild. They have no specific admission criteria. As long as you pay membership dues, you are in. That is why they have so many Tier 1 members despite being a Tier 3 guild.”

“I think their leader is a Tier 5, right?” Erik added before Aric shook his head. “He’s peak Tier 4 as far as I know. And the majority of the people we’ll see on this island were either mercenaries or bandits before they joined their guild.”

“Tier 1 members are only cannon fodder for them. They are willing to recruit and send as many new members as possible to this island as long as they find what they’re looking for.” Erik said.

“What are they looking for?” Elijah noticed their change in demeanor as Kael and Erik weren’t sure what to answer.

“A rift,” Aric said. “The same we are looking for. But I’m sure they’ve already found it.”

“One of the other markers on the map?” Elijah asked before Aric nodded. “Probably. We were tasked to secure the rift’s location for our guild. As Kael said before, we didn’t expect there to be this many enemies. But we’ve all been delvers for several months now and each of us is almost Tier 3. All these new Tier 1 members don’t even know how to fight properly. We would’ve called for reinforcements but I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“How long did you guys need to reach Tier 2?”

Kael waved his hand. “Only a few days. Reaching Tier 2 is easy as long as you have enough enemies to hunt.”

“Why are all these people only Tier 1 then?” Elijah raised an eyebrow before Erik spoke up. “Ascending takes ressources.”

“How old are you all anyway?” Elijah asked as they moved towards their next destination.

It turned out that Kael and Erik's were cousins. Their mothers were sisters. In their family, it was common that the trait had something to do with an element. However, it was rare that a trait within the family would be useful in combat. Aric wasn’t related to them at all. He was the third son of a small noble family and the leader of their team.

He was also the strongest of the three. Elijah would rather have expected Kael to be the strongest but even the fire mage himself admitted being weaker than the archer. He regretted asking who was stronger between Kael and Erik as the two didn’t stop bickering for a long time afterward.

They marched for a few hours to reach their destination and even took a detour as Aric wanted to take a look at the main camp from afar. On their way, they encountered several more parties of Cloud Raiders, which were now double their original size. “There is always the possibility that they send reinforcements,” Kael said as he suggested taking care of the camp first.

“Let’s check if there even is a rift on this island. If we don’t find one, we can save ourselves the fight.” Aric said.

They tried killing me. I’m going to attack them at least one more time before I leave this island, rift or not. Elijah thought as he clenched his fists.

An hour later they arrived at their destination. It was a single opening in a small hill, guarded by several enemies. Elijah didn’t know if this was the rift they were looking for but Erik answered his unspoken question.

“A mine. Great!” Erik said as he pumped his fist in the air.

“We seem to be lucky.” Kael nodded.

“There’s probably a black iron ore in the mine.” Aric gestured to the rock formations around the entrance. “Those vein-like streaks indicate the presence of iron-rich minerals. The reddish-brown stains are also an indication.” He put an arrow in the string of his bow and aimed. “We shouldn’t waste too much time here. This mine is only a small bonus compared to a possible rift.”

His arrow hissed through the air as it suddenly multiplied. One arrow became three and the guards didn’t see the attack coming before they fell to the ground lifeless.

They waited for a few minutes before they left their cover and made their way toward the mine’s entrance. There was a single man left who tried to ambush them but before he could approach them, Erik dealt with him.

Elijah, his minion, and Kael waited outside while Erik and Aric entered the mine. They returned ten minutes later with big smiles plastered on their faces.

Erik let out a chuckle. “It is a black iron mine. The idiots have fully equipped the mine already. We can start mining as soon as possible.”

Kael snorted. “And once again, the Cloud Raiders gave us an advantage.”

“Seems like you guys really hate them,” Elijah commented.

“Of course we do.” Erik laughed before Aric spoke up. “Let’s keep going, guys. Tonight, we’ll attack their camp. We’ll claim this mine for our guild. I’ve already sent a message to Alex. They’ll send more people who’ll guard the mines after we’ve taken care of the remaining enemies here.”

“Won’t they send higher tier people to reclaim their mine?” Elijah asked.

“They don’t have enough people, which is par for the course when they are trying to fight two wars at the same time,” Kael informed him.

“Their leader had the guts to provoke the vice of Serpent's Embrace, a Tier 7 guild. It’s only a matter of time before they crumble.” Erik added.

Elijah gulped when he heard the tier of the Serpent’s Embrace. How strong would someone at that tier be?