Mined Games chapter 3

The shop was empty when I came out. I hadn’t checked the time before entering the door to Royston Magical Mining Company, so I didn’t know how long had passed, but it wasn’t like I’d been expecting us to be busy today anyway. I felt kind of stupid for forgetting to put up the closed sign, but there was no use crying over spilled milk.

Flipping the sign out now as I left, I winced at the throbbing pain in my bleeding hands. Gloves were going on my list for sure. Gritting my teeth and ignoring the pain I set off down the street heading for the Selton Apothecary. My family’s shop sold garbage and random bits and bobs, we didn’t have the resources to be a potion supplier, so I’d have to buy from one of the local shops.

Selton Apothecary was the closest, and the one least likely to give me trouble over having so much money on hand. Being notoriously weak made it dangerous to walk around with cash, I’d been robbed more than a few times, being beaten and forced to pay the ‘loser toll’ as some less than clever locals called it.

Amusingly most of the people who handed me the beatings were only second or third circle Acolytes, which made them only marginally less pathetic than me. I guess wailing on someone weaker made them feel special. It was lucky for me though, I supposed, if someone like Rala, who was at the eighth circle, had decided to beat me, I’d probably be dead. Even pre crystallization mana supercharged the body.

It wouldn’t matter at the moment though, my coins were in my inventory, so even if I got robbed on the way I wouldn’t lose anything. I spotted a few suspiciously interested people on the way, but no one stopped me (probably because I was covered in dirt and my hands were bloody, a shower might have been a good idea), and I eventually made it to my destination.

Pushing the door open, I sighed in relief as the bell above it chimed cheerfully, announcing my arrival in a loud, clear song of welcome. I’d been coming to Selton’s for most of my life, and the family who ran it were close with my own family, at least until mom died and dad stopped doing anything but gambling.

“Caleb!” Rang a cheerful voice, and I turned to smile at my best friend Tara, who worked behind the counter here, as she waved me over. As I approached though, her almost ever present smile wilted in concern. “Oh my gods, what happened to you? You looked like you got beat up by a rock elemental.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Where exactly would I even FIND a rock elemental? You know they can’t get past the border wards on the city, and that I NEVER go outside. No, I have a…new project, I’ve been working on. I actually came to pick up a few things to help with it.” Reaching into my pocket I envisioned my inventory at the bottom, and after feeling around a bit touched on a burlap bag that I pulled out and tossed onto the counter.

The agony in my ruined hands at doing this wasn’t insignificant, and despite trying to hide it, Tara noticed and reached down to grab them. “Hey! Stop moving. Let me see.” She flipped my hands over and glared at me when she saw the blood and torn flesh. “What did you do to yourself Cale? You look like your were playing patty cake with a cheese grater.”

I nodded somberly. “You caught me. I was trying to make a salad earlier and my grater got mouthy. I needed to show it it’s place.” She gave me a flat look, reaching behind the counter for a salve that she unscrewed, preparing to apply it to my hands. I pulled them back. “Hey, no need for that. I came with cash, and one of the things I’m buying is a healing potion.”

She raised an eyebrow. “See now I think you might have been robbing someone.” She paused. “Though I can’t think of anyone you could beat up besides literal children, and I doubt any of them have enough money for a health potion. Maybe you fought a whole gang of them?”

“Your faith in me fills me with warmth and pride.” I said dryly. “Now shut up and sell me a potion shop wench.”

Her eyebrow twitched as she reached down under the counter again. “I’m sorry. I could have sworn I warned you what would happen if you called me that ever again. It wasn’t funny when that noble did it, and I’m even less willing to put up with it from you.”

I held up both hands, coincidentally showing off the blood, and she relaxed as I babbled an apology. “Right, sorry, sorry. Bad joke.” It wasn’t, it was priceless, but I couldn’t afford to make her mad, and bringing up the way one of the local Baron’s boys had referred to her the first time he came in here was a bad way to do that.

She tugged open the bag, spilling the copper out onto the counter with a whistle. She counted it up with the smooth skill of someone who handled WAY more money every day than I did, then raised a brow at me. “Are you SURE you didn’t rob someone?”

I snorted, ignoring her accusing stare as I waited for my potion. Her mismatched blue and green eyes narrowed for a second before they rolled and she turned to busy herself retrieving a potion from the locked cabinet.

Tara was by far the better looking of the two of us, where I was pale and sickly looking, Tara had a healthy golden tan, where my hair was black and messy, hers was pale blonde and straight as a razor, and where I was perpetually sullen, Tara smiled almost all the time, one of the most genuinely friendly and caring people I’d ever met. After all, not just anyone would be friends with a legendary failure.

She humphed in excitement as she found one, then passed it to me. “Sip it please. Those scrapes aren’t enough to need the whole bottle and it would be stupid to waste it when you’re paying a quarter of that hundred for just that one.” I nodded, popping the cap and taking a slow, tentative sip.

I hummed with enjoyment as I tasted it. Healing potions were made of mana infused berries, and the ones I’d had were all sweet and extremely refreshing. I then set the bottle down to wait, because while potions tasted good, they did NOT feel good.

Even knowing what was coming was barely enough to stifle the groan of pain as my entire body flooded with what felt like bees buzzing inside my skin. My hands got the worst of it, but the muscles in my back and shoulders had been torn up when I used them to mine, and they needed to reknit as well.

After what seemed like forever but was probably about a minute, I flexed my now healed but still fairly tender hands with a grimace, before slipping my potion into my pocket and through it into my inventory. I felt it vanish and let myself relax as I did, turning back to my concerned best friend.

Knowing she would worry too much, I pasted on a big cheesy smile. “Don’t you just love potion burn?” She stared for a minute, then rolled her eyes once she decided I was fine if I was being an ass. “So, a quarter huh, I have a few other things I need so that works out.”

“I assumed. Some gloves I would guess?” She gestured at my now healed palms. “Because whatever did that looks like it didn’t take a short amount of time, and it looks like you’re not quite done with it.”

I shrugged. “Good guess, something soft on the inside with good impact dispersal if you have it. I also need a barkskin talisman if you have one, and a few vials of stamina slop.”

It was hard not to grimace even saying it. Stamina slop was…well, not a potion. A stamina potion was overkill for someone like me. Stamina slop was more like potion leftovers. They worked well enough that most people bought them until they hit Apprentice rank, because the ingredients for ACTUAL stamina potions were stupidly expensive.

Sadly, as the name would imply, stamina slop was…well, slop. It was dregs, and it tasted like it. I knew almost nothing about potion making, but Tara told me that it was the scum they skimmed off the top of the cauldron before they bottled stamina potions, and based on the taste I believed her.

She nodded sympathetically, but left to go pack up the things I needed. The talisman in particular should be damn useful if she had it. My dad sold shitty half baked talismans, but the Selton family sometimes carried actual rank one talismans made by real mages, ones that worked all the time and did what they were supposed to.

Passing me a small slip of paper with a spell circle inscribed on it in magic ink as she came back, Tara raised an eyebrow. “So, you know how to use one of these right? The ones your dad sells aren’t always functional.”

I rolled my eyes. “Slap it on myself to activate. Once it runs out slap it on a mana crystal or mana tainted stone to siphon more energy so I can use it again. How many times will I be able to trigger it?”

“Ten.” She said solemnly. “But you forgot the most important rule. Activating the talisman burns the mana reserves until they’re gone, even if you take it off, so make sure you apply it right before you start and that you have enough to do to use it all up.”

I pocketed the slop and talisman. “I know, you don’t need to worry so much.” I gave her a comforting smile. “I’m going to be fine. This new project is going to be massively helpful. If all goes well I might be able to make it to second circle within a year.” It would probably be substantially faster than that actually, but I didn’t want her to get suspicious.

First circle of condensation, imbuing mana into the muscles. The first step on the path to crystallization. If I rushed, I could probably spam mana stones and trade off the silver and copper in the mine to get myself to second circle within a month or two. But I wasn’t planning to do that.

A mage’s formula could be changed at any time in the Acolyte rank, but once you’ve successfully condensed crystal it becomes infinitely harder. While my weakness made me pretty pathetic to other people, in this scenario it was also an opportunity. I was so close to the beginning of my condensation starting over meant absolutely nothing.

So rather than rush to condense mana too quickly and screw myself long term, I was planning to use the money to increase my ability to unlock more floors of the mine. Once my income had improved enough, I’d be able to buy myself a new formula. It might take a while, but I was sure I could catch up to everyone else quickly with the mana condenser.

I thanked Tara, promising to take care of myself and to come visit again soon, and then headed back to the shop, leaving it closed as I entered the Royston Magic Mining Company. The first thing I did was head down to work on clearing out the silver. Once that was done I would be on my way to unlocking the next floor. A few days working both of them and I could take my first step to remaking myself.