Mined Games chapter 12

“Ninety-nine…one hundred.” I counted aloud as I slotted the last coin into the slot next to the elevator. Stepping in, I checked the dial that appeared last time, and sure enough, aside from one and two, there was a number three. Spinning it to the proper digit, I threw the switch, and felt that familiar lurch as the elevator reached the third floor.

I stepped out slowly, excited to find out what exactly was down here. It had taken me four more days to get enough money, and it had cleaned me out. I’d put it off to make sure I had enough mana tinged ore for my condensation process, but finally, I’d taken the plunge and willingly spent the money.

Now, after doing so, I was broke. I had about twenty pounds of mana tinged ore left, and I had used up my money down to my last copper. If I was right about what was down here though, it would be worth it.

Looking around the cavern, my first impression was that it was much bigger than the first and second floor. Like, ten times the size. My second impression was one of shock, as I stared at the fucking humanoid lizard thing crouched on the nearest rock, staring at me with huge golden eyes.

“Um.” I said blankly. “Hello?” It blinked at me. Which was notable because I realized the thing hadn’t blinked for about a minute straight up to that point. It was wearing a rough spun shirt with a little leather bag slung across the chest and a pair of sack cloth pants with a tail sticking out the back. When it didn’t respond, I decided to actually say something. “Can I help you?”

“Human.” The thing rasped in a high pitch voice. It said that like it was two words. Hew, man. I nodded cautiously. “You help Barew?” It seemed almost excited now. The use of the word help had given it extra energy.

I shrugged. “I mean, unless you want me to help you by dying to feed you or something, I’d consider it. Do you NEED help?” I realized it had given me its name, so I gave mine. “I’m Caleb by the way. Caleb Rourke.”

“Barew is Barew.” It said succinctly. “Barew needs help.” It held up a small figurine of an iron dog it had pulled from the bag. “Barew has lost his woof.” It’s golden eyes roved out over the large cavern. “The woof has run away. It hides in the stone, but Barew has no strength. Cannot mine.” It looked at me cutely, cocking its head. “You find?”

That was…weird. It was an iron dog figurine. How could it run anywhere? Or get itself stuck in stone? But whatever, the poor little guy looked devastated, and honestly I was kind of excited about meeting a completely alien creature. Because there were exactly three sapient species on Kalgard. Elves, Humans, and Demons. I’d heard dragons used to exist, but there were no eyewitness accounts in the last thousand years, so I remained skeptical.

This thing, whatever it…he? Was, was unique. It was a completely new species that could only be found in this mine. It was kind of cool to think of making first contact with a new race of creature.

I considered maybe bringing him out with me if I could, but when I thought about what some people might do to a brand new humanoid being to find out it’s secrets…it made me sick to even think about it. No, Barew seemed fine down here, but I could help him out at least. Part of me wished Tara was here. She would love this.

Sadly, Barew didn’t seem willing to talk before I found his…woof. So I shrugged and surveyed my new training ground. There were lanterns hanging on the walls, lit with flames that hadn’t so much as flickered since I got down here. But when I finally took stock of what I had available…I was floored.

Fifty copper. Twenty five silver. And ten full stones of gold. Eighty five full rocks of ore to mine, of precious metal to turn into coin. Granted, it wasn’t a mana stone, but it was enough to buy several of the damn things. I was already at about eighty percent of the second circle, my veins nearly completely silvered, and almost ready to start on my tendons. This would be enough to fuel my condensation for a while.

Sighing, I stepped over the wall, where a near rack of mining tools sat. I still didn’t know what a lot of them actually did, but the pickaxe was always there. This one was steel like the last, but it seemed somehow tougher. The haft was darker wood, and the head shone in an unusual way. There was even a small black stone set into the top.

Heading over to the first stone, I started mining. At this point my strength had risen to a level where copper didn’t pose much challenge. I’d done dozens of these, and I hit the sweet spot with the first swing, the pick slamming through the rock like butter. Two more swings and the rock was done, three copper ore in my inventory.

I tore my way through the copper, despite the number of them. By the time I finished I’d worked up a nice sweat, but I wasn’t too sore or tired. When I got to the silver stones, I was unsurprised to find them tougher. Not by much, I had to use two swings, but a bit.

I had no clue why this was the case. The only explanation that made sense was that the more valuable ores were in different kinds of rock? Whatever the reason, this phenomena was constant throughout the mine.

It took me about two hours to get through the silver, and I was damn exhausted by the time I did. I stopped, panting, and slipped out my last vial of slop, forcing down the very last of it, and groaning as my body was flooded with energy.

I was on my third gold stone when I noticed something new pop up in my inventory.

Iron hound (1)- A small magical tier two figurine of an iron dog. Can consume stone. Owner: Barew.

I blinked. The woof. It was…magic. A fairly useless magic to anyone else maybe, but this thing would be super useful to me. I looked back at Barew, but I couldn’t even seriously contemplate keeping it. I was fine being a dick to regular people if they earned it, but stealing a literal dog from a little big eyed lizard who trusted me just felt wrong.

Setting down the pick, I strolled over to Barew. Reaching into my pocket out of habit, I accessed my inventory through there, and pulled out the iron hound. As soon as it came loose, the thing started to wriggle and bark like an actual dog. I held on, but it was tough.

“The woof!” Cheered Barew. “You’ve found Barew’s woof!” He reached out and gingerly pried it out of my hands, making sure not to drop it, then shoved it into the little leather bag the first one had come out of. The yapping quieted down, and I smiled at him warmly.

I’d gotten ore anyway, and I’d have done the work either way. Granted, i might not have worked so hard, but this was actually better. I’d been easing up too much, not really pushing because I was getting comfortable with my new strength. This had made me rush again, put genuine effort in, and I felt a nice pleasant burn in my muscles from the work.

Barew shoved his hand (claw) back into his pouch, and fished around, before bringing out something ELSE. He held out the hand to me, wrapped around an emerald the size of a coin. “Barew gives gift to human. Greenrock for woof.” Before I could respond, the thing vanished, presumably into my inventory. Barew gave me an extremely wide smile.

“Wow.” I said numbly. “I…Barew I didn’t need a reward. I’m happy to help out a friend.” I got the impression the little guy didn’t know many people. I might be the first person he’d seen in a long time, and despite being quiet and a little shy, he seemed like a sweet little guy.

He shook his head seriously. “Friend is friend, task is task. Human find the woof, human gets the greenrock. This is so.”

I shrugged. Well, if he was sure. Who knew how easy it was to find emeralds down here anyway. For all I knew he slept on a bed of them. Barew turned to leave, and I was a bit sad. It was nice having someone down here to lived up the cave. Being along with the sound of slamming pickaxe and stone for hours a day got gloomy. “Ah, you have to leave huh?”

He turned back to me. “Barew is deeprock dweller.” He looked around uneasily. “Shallow rock isn’t for kobolds. Barew returns to depths.” He didn’t head for the elevator, or some kind of tunnel, he walked right up to the wall before turning to wave at me. “Barew waits in the deeps. Talk again, human friend.”

Then, without any gestures, or glow, or magic, he walked through the fucking wall like it was a curtain of water, vanishing into the stone. I blinked, not entirely sure what had just happened. I looked around, confirming the stones had been mined, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things that hadn’t happened.

They were. I had really just met a…kobold, apparently. That was what he’d called himself, and he’d used the plural as well, implying there were more of them. I wondered what he meant about shallow rock? Was it poisonous up here for him somehow? Was the rock in the walls on the lower floors different, like the rocks surround the different ores?

For a moment, I considered trying to carve out a tunnel in the wall, but…to where? The spot Barew vanished? I knocked on the rock, but it sounded like any rock wall. It wasn’t hollow. It must be some sort of kobold magic.

Heading back over to finish up, I cleared out the last six of my gold stones. I was sore, weak, and shaking, even with the last of my slop, but it was fine. I was almost salivating at the sheer amount of money I currently had access to. Clearing myself out to get down here was a damn good idea.

I dropped in to do my condensation chamber with a groan after loading in an ore. It took about a minute to finish with the condition I was in, and barely made a dent in my second circle condensation. Somewhere along the lines of half a percent at my estimate.

Sadly, I had to get out and reload the damned thing twenty more times with barely any break, and I was at ninety percent of the second circle when I finished. Then I climbed out, feeling better, and headed to the magic forge to make my coins. Five hundred copper, two hundred fifty silver, and one HUNDRED gold. In one. Single. Day.

Granted, with the amount that condensation cost and the necessity of buying bigger and more expensive mana stones for both my own use and my blacksmithing, my expenses were going to balloon…fast. Smiling, I decided to check out my inventory to glory in the coins I’d accrued. I smiled as I saw the counts, but my smile froze as I caught sight of something new.

Minor Emerald of Swiftness (1)- An emerald that imbues a finished item with the touch of the wind,permanently increasing attack speed by ten percent.

I swallowed hard. That was…that was insane. A finished item. Which is to say something already smithed. Nothing did that. Nothing would imbue magic into an item without interacting with mana during the formation process. It was the reason Blacksmithing EXISTED. But apparently, I could find gems down here that could…that was going to change everything.