Mined Games chapter 13

I stared at the emerald raptly as I rolled it through my fingers. I was in my room above the shop, having finished up my mining for the day, but I was far too wired to sleep, even exhausted and sore as I was. This was…amazing.

Despite the existence of magic, there were some hard and fast rules for blacksmithing that didn’t change. Once you made a magic item, you couldn’t add new things to it. You could fix it if it broke, but adding another magical effect was completely impossible from everything I’d ever read.

Not only that, the damned emerald wasn’t magical. At least, not by any definition I could find. It had no mana in it whatsoever. If I hadn’t trusted the inventory I’d have assumed it was just a rock.

I wanted to test it, to put it on something impressive and see if it did anything…but I knew that was a bad decision. I only had one of these things right now, and I should keep it on hand. With great reticence, I forced myself to ignore the gem, but I still couldn’t get to bed. Since I had no chance of being able to rest, I slipped out of my room and then out of the house, deciding to go visit Riley.

The route to the warehouse wasn’t hard to remember, and shockingly, I wasn’t attacked on the way. My mana touched cloak made figuring out how strong I was difficult, and since I’d need to be either rich or a mage (or both) to have it in the first place, everyone who saw me assumed that I was a threat and left me alone.

Once I arrived, the kids let me in, and I found Riley in the back in his chair, sipping a brandy and waiting patiently for me to arrive. I wasn’t sure what Riley did most of the time, since I’d never seen him doing anything but this, but I liked to think he had a book shoved under his seat or something and had to scramble to hide it when he had visitors.

When I arrived, I slumped into the seat opposite him, something that had been added after that first visit. “Riley.” I nodded to him cordially. “Sorry to stop by so late, but I had a shopping list. Plenty of expensive things I need to pick up, so I figured you wouldn’t mind your night being interrupted.”

He grinned at me. “I don’t mind most things if they come with a high enough price tag. Given the cash flow you’ve been showing has been increasing, and I haven’t heard from you in a while, I’m guessing you have a tidy nest egg. I’ve been picking up some odds and ends for you in preparation, so I won’t even need to go shopping. You can buy from me directly.”

Which meant he was probably going to overcharge me, but convenience and keeping a good relationship with my supplier was paramount. I wasn’t going to complain about a finders fee. “Alright.” I said in amusement. “Dazzle me.”

He grinned, snapping his fingers, and one of the kids appeared holding a small chest. He passed it to Riley, who popped the lock and opened it, turning it to show me the contents. When I saw them, I swallowed hard.

Mana stones. And mana crystals. Now, at first blush, when you hear about the two, you might think they were the same thing, similar descriptions could be confusing, but mana stones we actually incredibly accurately named. A mana stone was a literal rock, infused with so much mana that the makeup of the rock was altered.

The stones were a sort of halfway point between mana tinged ore and mana crystals. Metal was far too dense and had far too high a saturation point to become more than tainted with mana. When you introduced mana to an ore for a long period of time, rather than becoming a Mana stone it partially crystallized and became a material, a mana imbued metal that could be used for blacksmithing.

Mana stones, however, were rocks, usually mined from near a mana crystal vein that had been tainted with enough mana to surpass their natural saturation point, and upon reaching that had been mutated by the mana to become sort of half mana crystals.

And of course, when the mana condensed through extreme saturation and formed a physical shape, that was a Mana Crystal. The basis of all human condensation, the inspiration for our entire system of power. mana crystals naturally occurred at a variety of strengths and potency, their durability and structure changing as they became denser, the inspiration for the ranks of mage.

These were a light, pleasant blue, and based on what I’d seen I was easily able to identify what kind they were. “Neutral.” I said with a grin. Neutral mana crystals were a strange case. They weren’t exactly rare, less so than any other type, but because they were so universally necessary they were much tougher to get than something like, say, a Life Mana Crystal.

“Tier two, of course.” He said casually. “And the mana stones are tier one. I also found a few fire crystals, and an earth crystal, all of them currently in the box.” He patted it proudly. “You’ll need to pick out your favorites though. The whole box is three hundred gold worth of materials.”

I flinched. I’d come here with a fortune, expecting to seriously tax his resources, but he was telling me I couldn’t even afford what he had on offer. “What? Come on man, that’s crazy. I spent like two gold on that life crystal. Three or four on the others you supplied. There’s no way you can justify charging that much for that small a number of items.”

He shrugged. “Sorry. Neutral crystals are hell to find. Three or four times the value at least. There are ten in here. Not to mention neutral mana stones are often used to recharge talismans and magic tools that need topping up. You’re lucky I could even find you neutral crystals, the noble houses usually snap them up.”

That drew a grimace from me. My situation was unique in that I could bypass sensitivity, but people with high sensitivity could also run into situations where ambient mana wasn’t enough. Neutral mana stones and crystals could be tapped by high sensitives to allow them to increase their condensation rate. Not to the same speed as I could do mine with the condenser, but they got much better efficiency.

It was a stark reminder that I needed this stuff to improve faster. I had an advantage, but it wasn’t unsurmountable. There were people who had constant access to crystals like that, with high sensitivity, who could condense almost as fast as I could counting my downtime for mining.

“Fine.” I grimaced. “How much for just the ten neutrals and…let's say twenty five mana stones.” The mana stones were the next step up for me. Crystals had a ton of mana, but it would be dangerous and wasteful to use them at this point. My body wasn’t far enough along in the process to be strong enough to withstand an influx of mana that powerful.

The stones would give me a step up from the tainted ores I’d been using, and once I was in the fifth or sixth circle my body would be strong enough to use crystals. I wasn’t looking forward to that at all. Finding a regular supply would be a nightmare, and I was pretty sure I’d have to start paying a premium just to get them.

Riley looked sheepish. “Ten silver for the stones, ten gold for the crystals.” At my growl he threw up both hands. “I know. But with the mage’s tower recruitment coming up every family in Edgebank is stockpiling for their heirs. The market is through the roof. I’m working on getting more already, hopefully the extra time will let me shop around, but this is the best I can offer right now.”

That was everything I had pretty much. It wasn’t even the whole box. I had to assume there was a huge amount of other crystals under that top layer. The chest wasn’t that big, but it was very full. Reaching into my pocket, I drew out a few bags of ten gold, then a few bags of ten silver, tossing them over to him.

He looked shocked. “Damn. Someday you’ll need to tell me who you work for.” He withdrew twenty five of the small, smooth blue black stones, and ten small faceted blue crystals, and slipped them into a bag, which he passed over.  Before he gave them to me though, he stopped. “I have to ask. You don’t need to answer. But I have to ask. What the hell do you do with all these?”

It was a reasonable question. I’d been buying crystals of other mana types, tainted ores, and a variety of seemingly absurd things. Non Caster smiths couldn’t use mana crystals or materials of other mana types, and most people couldn’t do anything with mana tainted ore directly like I could. People with high sensitivity could tap into crystals, but mana tainted ore was mostly just used as a material.

I just smirked at him, not answering, and he huffed out a laugh. His assumption, most likely, because it was the one that made sense, was that I worked for some clandestine group of smiths or mages. A variety of users was the only thing that explained the variety of things I bought, that or a Caster rank blacksmith was teaching me.

There was no reason to disabuse him of either suspicion, Riley was a nice guy, but I didn’t trust him. He was a gang leader. It would be stupid to expose my vulnerability. I was much safer if he thought I was the heir to some scary smith or force.

He handed over the bag and I stashed it under my cloak, dropping it into my inventory once it was out of sight. I asked Riley to find me more neutral stones and crystals, planning to top up next time I came in, and asked him to hold onto some of the other mana crystals for me to pick up next time on top of the repeat order.

Once that was done I turned and left, hurrying home and doing my best to make good time without appearing to be afraid. Once I got back I grimaced at how fast my money had gone. The crystals would keep, but those stones would be gone in a day or two. Then I’d need to buy more.

By the time I made it to fifth circle I should have a nice stockpile of the crystals at least, provided he managed to supply me with the same amount. With these kinds of resources I should be able to hit Apprentice before this months guild test at least.

Opened the door to my closet, I headed down to the mining company. Being so damaged and sore meant a faster absorption rate, and I wanted to test out my new power sources. I slipped the first stone into the condenser and climbed inside, turning it on and waiting for the device to begin.

Just like last time, mist started to leak out inside the chamber, but unlike last time, this mist was much denser and glowed much brighter. I watched as it landed on my skin, starting to be absorbed. I felt the same rush as before, but this time it was much stronger. Almost too strong. I was flooded with power so heavily I felt like my heart would explode.

My body locked up as my muscles all tensed at once, the way I’d seen a man do when hit with lightning magic. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, there was so much power flooding into me that time seemed to both stand still and drag on forever. Then, finally, it was over, and I was left panting and gasping in the chamber.

Looking down, I could see that my veins had faded in color to only a faint silver sheen, a sign I’d officially broken through to the third circle and started on my tendons, though I had no clue how to tell more than that. Despite my shaking and sweating body, I grinned. This was an excellent next step. And hey, at least I wasn’t sore anymore.