Chapter 50: Mining

The second day of training arrived, with my research and preparations done, I left the Village with the dawn, I started traveling to the North-East the same road to go towards Kumo in the land of Lighting, the abandoned mine was located somewhere in that general direction, I didn't need to leave the border of Konoha to find it, but it still was away from my current location, to my good luck the way there was uneventful, giving me the opportunity to work on my body, replicating the training Guy-Sensei always does with me and Lee, I walked with my hands, earning weird looks and comments from the occasional traveler.

I arrived to the estimate location, there was an old sign, with directions to the mine, pointing at an unattended road, it still had some signs of being in use one day, the plant life, leaving dirt patches where the cartwheels used to pass, further down the road, there were some abandoned mining tools, like pickaxes and helmets, gloves and flashlights, some wood house, covered in dust and spider webs, no one had live here in at least five years, next to the mine entrance was a slightly bigger wood building, I pushed the door, surprised by it not being locked, it still had some furniture, a desk, a couple of chairs, and a bed in the corner.

I approached the desk searching for documents but to no avail, every single record, official or not was taken out of the place, when the workers left after ceasing with the mine operations, the only thing I knew for sure were the things read in the copies of the declassified documents, that referred to the metals found, with the date and reason of its closing, yet I was able to found multiple ropes, lying around the place; the mine entrance was blocked with planks, not a real barrier, it served mostly as an indication of being abandoned, but it had a sign discouraging people from entering the mine, warning them of the dangers that they could find once inside, of course that didn't discourage me, I am a ninja, and I have a mission, develop my Magnet Style variant using Titanium and this is the most likely place to find it.

After removing some of the planks that blocked my way in to the mine, I took my first steps inside, the light from outside reaching a few meters inside the cave, making it unnecessary for me to use the flashlight for now, I nailed one end of one of the ropes that I found, to use it as one of my guiding lines, I had a copy of the mine blueprints, the way they excavated it was mostly in a straight line, with some branches and turning occasionally, in a slight descent, having an approximate depth of three and a half kilometers, hopefully it will be enough to find what I need.

I have been walking for twenty minutes, finally arriving to the end of the mine, I ran out of ropes a kilometer ago, but the path was a straight line from there, so no big issue; the end of the mine had enough space for five or six persons walking side by side, contrary to my expectations, I sat in the middle of the chamber, closing my eyes, regulating my breath to meditate, entering my Inner Space, once again I was engulfed in darkness, the dodecahedron as the only light source, I focused on the Magnet Style, searching for the proper balance between Lighting and Earth Nature to produce the desire result, the proportion ended up being the opposite of the Storm Style, Lighting dominating the Earth Nature, if I had to put it in a numeric value it would be two units of Lighting for each unit of Earth.

Once the Magnet Style was activated properly, I felt the connection to the nearby metals in the mine, some leftover ores that the miners couldn't find before leaving the place, I attracted the metal leaving behind the other elements present inside the ore, I opened my eyes to find a little ball of black dust, by its color I can say is Iron, either the element I can manipulate is out of my control or this is the only thing I can manipulate with my current proficiency.

{System Alert}

{Priority Mission: Titanium Miner.

You came searching for Titanium, but you don't have the power to control it, search for it within your Core.

Conditions of Success:

1. Increase the Magnet Style power.

2. Manipulate the Titanium to create Titanium Dust.

Conditions of Failure:

1. Fail to complete any of the Success condition.

Rewards:

1. Titanium Dust.

Penalty:

1. Can't use other elements, but Iron for the Magnet Style.}

{Bonus Mission: Ilmenite Ore.

Ilmenite is one of the sources of Titanium, you need it for the Titanium Dust, but the System can use it for something else.

Conditions of Success:

1. Acquire ten kilograms of Ilmenite

Conditions of Failure:

1. Fail to complete the Success condition.

Rewards:

1. Soulbound Item.

Penalty:

1. None.}

I wasn't planning to give up after failing once, but the System seems to want something from this tiny expedition, is the first time it offers me an item in all these years, besides beings its first time, not telling me what it wants from me, the way the missions are worded are very cryptic, and the penalty is not too expensive, but being unable to use anything else, but Iron will put me in disadvantage eventually, Gaara will be able to increase the power of his sand using other minerals and if someday I face Sasori in combat his Third Kazekage Puppet could disrupt my influence on my Iron Sand, and while my main weapon is my Genjutsu, there may come the day when I find someone capable enough to escape from it, I can't rely on one thing, I need options and countermeasures for those times.