by R. A. Mejia
Devena wielded her double-headed battle-axe with grim efficiency, swinging it in wide, complex arcs that built its momentum and power before landing it on an enemy with deadly results. With her axe and our numbers, we were able to kill the attacking wolves fairly quickly. We didn’t need to help the other mining group as they had enough fighters to kill the wolves without even stopping their mining operation.
The fight was fierce but brief, and once it was done, I approached the group of panting goblins and Divas. The Diva miners that didn’t know me tensed until their leader waved them down. The blonde dwarf held out her hand to me and said, “Thank you for your help with those wolves. I know you and your group didn’t have to help, but you did.”
“We only did what we thought was right,” I said in response as I reached down and shook her gloved hand. She looked to me and the goblins, several of which were bleeding, and nodded with a respectful look in her eyes.
She turned to her group of female miners and said, “These goblins will be sharing our resource node until it peters out. It’s only fair since they’ve bled for the ore.”
The female miners all nodded in agreement, except the other dwarf, a muscular redhead wielding a mining pick in each hand. “But those goblins and their golem caused the wolf packs to show up. The dungeon will send more monsters if they stay with us at this node.”
“Aye. The dungeon might, but we can handle anything it sends with good, strong fighters like them watching our backs,” Devena shot back. Our goblin fighters puffed up at the compliment and the red-headed dwarf considered the statement with a furrowed brow before nodding and stepping back. Devena turned to me and said, “There you go. The girls all agree: you and your goblin crew are free to mine the node with us.”
You’ve completed the quest Defend the Divas.
You receive 100 XP, access to a resource node, and a reputation increase with the Diva’s Delvers.
While I spoke to Diva, I spoke loudly enough for all of her team to hear, “Thank you for sharing the node. We’d be happy to work alongside such strong miners and fighters.” The statement elicited a smile from several of the women, and they nodded before getting back to their work. Devena Diva gave one more nod before taking her place atop the ever-growing pile of rubble to keep a lookout.
I waved for the miners and Manny to come and join us, and as they trotted to us, I attended to the healing of my goblin team. Greebo had taken several deep bites, and I used the last of my reagent for Minor Regeneration to stop the bleeding and get him back on the mend. The twins had only taken minor wounds and would regenerate their lost health with a little food and rest.
When Manny and the goblin miners reached us, I explained that Diva’s Miners would be sharing this node with us. The miners grinned ear to ear at the chance to work on a higher-level node, and they practically ran to the nearest section of grey rocks. Manny just grunted, turned, and took up a guard position nearby. The rest of the goblin fighters took the chance to loot all the defeated Shadow Wolves, and they gave their spoils to Greebo, who meticulously noted each person’s haul before putting it in his expanding backpack. There were no more Infernal Crystals among the loot drops but plenty of pelts, claws, two Tier 2 monster cores, and a single rare Tier 3 core.
Chapter 25 - Boom
Innie, Meanie, Minnie, and Moe finally seemed to be in their element as they tore into the grey rocks around them with their picks. The four broke up rocks faster than I could have imagined, and they seemed to delight in being able to work on a higher grade resource node. I understood the feeling. It was the desire to be challenged at something you enjoy doing, and it was the same feeling I got when working on a new crafting project: the thrill of figuring out a problem and forging or fabricating a solution.
As I watched the four goblins work, I also kept an eye out on how the other mining teams operated. The all-human team, whom we had yet to meet, kept to themselves, and their guards constantly eyed us warily. The Divas, on the other hand, were friendly, and their female miners kept calling out challenges to ours. From the beginning, they bet our mining team that they would have more ore than us at the end of the day and that the loser had to buy the winner drinks. Our goblins gladly took up the challenge and worked furiously with their iron picks, the thought of free drinks spurring them on.
The friendly challenge was appreciated and showed us that the Divas were a good group. The rest of my team took up positions around the hill and stayed vigilant for trouble or the next wave of monsters that would be sent our way. I trusted my team to let me know when there would be trouble, so I decided to help speed up the amount of profit we’d make this trip into the dungeon. Instead of waiting around, I activated my deconstruction ability. The cylindrical tool came out of my left forearm and emitted a blue beam of light while I gave it a target, and then it turned green as it broke up the ore the goblin miners were extracting into small bits and deposited the component parts, tin, and rock, into my internal inventory. I kept the tin and dumped the useless rocks back onto the ground. I’d had to clear up a couple of spots in my internal inventory to manage the materials, but that just meant I needed to do a little inventory management between that space and my backpack. As I deconstructed the ore, the Divas gave me odd looks, unsure of what I was doing besides making the ore disappear and dumping rocks. But the first time I transferred solid blocks of tin to Greebo’s expanding backpack, they caught on.
“Are you smelting the ore on sight?” The muscular red-headed dwarf from the Diva’s group asked with a note of awe in her voice.
“And you are?” I asked, pausing my deconstruction of a pile of ore the goblin miners had just broken open.
Before she could answer, our introductions were interrupted by a shout from Greebo, “More attackers on their way!”
The muscular dwarven woman and I turned toward the shout to see a stream of three-foot-long red foxes running from the forest. I instantly recognized them as Flame Foxes as each had a small flame floating above their heads. Individually, the monsters weren’t much of a threat as they had low HP and could only do small amounts of damage. But there were a great deal more than one or two coming at us. Already, there were more than a dozen Flame Foxes attacking the defenders, and more were still streaming from the forest. A quick glance at the human camp showed an equal number of monsters attacking them. In an instant, I discontinued my deconstruction effort and called the already-loaded Flintlock Rifle to hand, aimed, and fired at the tightest grouping of beasts. The shot cracked as the powder ignited and smoke poured everywhere. I took a step to the side and saw that my shot had blown the hind leg off of one of the small canines but that there were many more still coming.
The red-headed female dwarf beside me stared at the weapon in my hand as I sent it back to my inventory, called up my second rifle, and fired again. The foxes seemed to sense the shot and scattered, causing me to miss.
She shook her head and called out behind her, “Come on! Let’s show these boys how the Divas can fight!” She raised the twin picks in her hands and charged down the hill to join the goblin fighters and Devena, who were already fighting four and five monsters each. Right on her heels the rest of the female miners ran down the hill behind her, waving their pickaxes and shouting battle cries. “For the Divas!”
Their charge was impressive, and the mere act of adding more bodies to the fight seemed to help. I reloaded the rifle in my hand with paper cartridge and powder, and as I tried to get a bead on the quick-moving monsters, I realized that, just like in the last fight, I wouldn’t be able to shoot without risking hitting an ally. I switched the rifle for my Blacksmith Hammer and ran down the hill to join the melee fight. I quickly reached the battle, but by the time I arrived, the sheer number of enemies was threatening to overwhelm our defenses. A tall brunette human Diva and the red-headed dwarf, the closest pair to me, were fighting four foxes up close while another three of the monsters shot small balls of fire at them from a distance. The fire didn’t do more than a
point or two of damage per hit, but the Divas couldn’t defend themselves from the quick attacks and fight off the monsters trying to bite and claw them at the same time.
I rushed the three Fire Foxes shooting small balls of fire, swinging my hammer as I got in range. The creatures stopped their attacks and ran, my heavy hammer only catching one with a glancing blow. While I didn’t do much damage, the attack did lessen the pressure on the two Divas, and I heard a yip as the red-headed dwarf’s picks sank into one of the monsters, killing it. I swung my hammer at another of the monsters, but the weapon, while powerful, was just too slow to catch the quick critter. Instead, it plowed into the dirt when the fox dodged it.
I was struck with an idea and whispered the command to store the hammer, calling up the rifle instead. Closer to the fight, I was less likely to hit an ally; this close to the creature that I’d just missed with my hammer, it would be impossible to miss. The creature curiously tilted its head to the side for an instant before being blown back by the blast, dead before its body hit the ground. The loud sound of the shot made the closest monster turn, which was all the opening the two Divas needed to sink their pickaxes into their foes. The attacks didn’t kill the monsters, but they did cause enough damage to slow the quick canines, and their speed was their only real defense. The skirmish quickly turned in our favor after that, and the three of us were able to quickly finish off our group of foxes.
The two Divas looked singed from the fire attacks of the beasts but didn’t pause long enough to loot their enemies. Instead, they yelled and ran toward their sister miners, who were each having trouble against the numerous monsters.
While I reloaded, I scanned the battlefield and found that the goblins were faring much better. They were taking small amounts of damage from the foxes flinging fireballs, but the twins and Greebo were well armored and just as quick as the monsters. It took three or four stabs of their short swords, but the goblins were cutting through their foes. Devena used her double-headed axe to tear into the beasts trying to attack her, but her wide-swinging weapon also kept the other Divas from helping her. Aside from Devena, the Divas weren’t doing as well. They only had cloth or thin leather armor and their picks for weapons, and although they were holding their own against the foxes that tried to claw and bite them, the ones shooting fire were piling up the damage.
I only had half my mana after casting infusions earlier in the day, but it would be enough. After I finished reloading, I cast an infusion of Minor Acid Globe on my right hand. I raised the rifle, targeted the closest group of ranged Fire Foxes, and pulled the trigger. The shot punched a hole in the side of one of the creatures, dropping it to the ground and prompting the others to run off. I started to reload the rifle when four monsters peeled off from attacking the Divas and charged me. I paused the reload of the rifle, extended my right hand, and called out, “Minor Acid Globe!” My hand glowed for a moment as the spell activated, and a green globe formed and was then launched from my hand. The blob of acid flew through the air and landed on the lead fox, as it hit, the globe burst with a hiss as green acid flew everywhere. The lead fox yipped in pain and tumbled to the ground as its furry face melted. The other foxes, following their leader too closely, were hit with splash damage and were startled by the burning acid and slowed slightly, which gave me all the time I needed to finish reloading. I raised the rifle butt to my shoulder and fired into the still confused group of rushing foxes. The shot tore half the face off one fox and continued to hit the one running behind it, knocking it back. The last fox looked at its companions, skidded to a stop, and ran back into the forest.
I focused on wounding and scattering the foxes throwing fireballs with the rifle while defending myself with a quick infusion of Extended Air Blade. Without the damage from the fireballs, the Divas were able to make progress killing the foxes in melee range, and once the goblins finished their fights and joined the Divas, the foxes were quickly routed with the last of the monsters fleeing back into the forest.
The steady stream of XP notifications told me that the Divas and the goblins were finishing off any wounded monsters I’d left. The red-headed dwarf, her picks covered in blood, walked up to me and held out her hand, “I’m Dannie, Devena’s cousin and partner in this company. She takes care of our protection, and I manage the mining team. She was right: sharing the node was worth the fighting power you and your goblins bring to the table.” Her gaze dropped to the Flintlock Rifle in my hands, and she continued, “Especially you with that fancy boomstick. I’ve never seen one that powerful or that could shoot that quickly.”
Assuming I passed the council’s test, the extended range and power of my rifle was going to be one of the few advantages I had against the other competitors in The Ultimate Research Warrior Competition, and I wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible. So, I sent my rifle to my internal inventory with a whispered command, shook her extended hand, and said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dannie. I’m glad me and my guys could help route the Fire Foxes. Now, we can all get back to mining and making money.” She nodded and waved for the rest of the Diva miners to return to work while the fighters looted the fallen monsters. I looked back up the hill to see how our miners fared and saw Manny there with a ring of fox bodies surrounding him. I worried for a moment until I counted that all four goblin miners were still there.
Dannie turned back to me and continued with a note of awe in her voice. “Before the fighting started, I saw you working some weird magic on the tin ore. What were you doing? It almost looked like you were smelting it somehow.”
I considered lying to her for just a moment. My ability to separate the worthless rocks from the precious metal was a distinct advantage for our team, and I was hesitant to share such a vital secret without a good reason. Then another idea took hold, and I said, “Yes, I’m refining the ore on sight. It improves our profits if we can sell solid metal instead of raw ore. It’s a special ability of mine.”
A hint of a smile crossed her face momentarily, but there was a glint in her eyes as she asked, “Don’t be supposing you could do the same for us? Seeing how we’re all friends now, and we’re sharing our node with you?”
I pretended to consider her offer, shrugged, and said, “Well, I suppose that I could since our teams are friends.” I let the moment hang as her eyes took on a greedy glint and she smiled. Then I added, “For a cut of the processed ore.”
The added statement made her smile drop, but not the glint in her eyes. “I’ll give you 2% of the raw ore.”
“60% of the processed material.”
“60%? That’s highway robbery. At that price, I might as well pack up and leave. It wouldn’t be worth it. I’ll give up 10%”
“Ha! I know the price difference between raw ore and smelted ingots. You’ll make two and a half times what you would normally from the processed material. Plus, you’ll be able to carry more out of the dungeon without all that rock weighing you down.” Her expression darkened, and I quickly added, “But just because you’re being so friendly, I’ll drop that percentage down to 50%. That way, everyone comes away making more money than they would otherwise.”
Dannie thought about it then held out her hand and said, “40% and you have a deal.”
I thought I could squeeze a few more percentage points from her--after all, they’d still be making much more money from the deal than they would just selling the raw ore--but staying in the group's good graces was worth losing out on a little profit. I shook her hand and said, “Deal.”
Our deal struck, a notification appeared confirming the details of our agreement, but I dismissed it. I saw her wave her hand and nod before she left to return to her work. I was pleased with the deal I’d made. It meant that we’d be making more money than we could have otherwise. The Divas had higher level miners, which meant that they should get better ore with their skills, which in turn meant more metal after I deconstructed it. However, that also meant that I needed to be able to process the raw ore faster or I’d n
ever be able to deconstruct both their ore and ours. I pulled up my character sheet and saw that I had a total of 6 class points. I’d earned three of them from completing class quests, two for creating new items, and one when I reached level 6. I knew that I needed to advance the artificer Fabrication ability line or I’d never get the ability to make magical items or increase my stats. I invested 3 points into Fabrication III, which would let me make large mundane items, and then dumped the 2 free points into Improve Efficiency - Deconstruction. Just as the name indicated, it let me use the deconstruction ability more efficiently, gaining more from the process and speeding it up. The 2 points would increase efficiency by 20%. It left me with 1 free skill point and I’d still needed to earn 3 more from quests to get the next level of Fabrication so that I could make small magical items, but that was something I could work on later.
I focused on using my new, more efficient deconstruction tool to process all the raw ore being mined by both teams. I was able to process over one-hundred pounds of material an hour and extracted almost thirty pounds of tin. The ratio of rock to desired metal was much better than I’d gotten when I’d tried to mine on my own, and I could only guess that the miner’s class skills played some part in how good the raw ore was.
