Bab 11: Luckard: The Roaring Mountain
Kaye and Korin once again started preparing for their journey, this time Korin was going to accompany him till the ore mines.
Even the testing of the suite had given great results, but Kaye was still unaware of multiple flaws in his design. He could easily fend off the forceful impact of the bolt due to his superhuman strength, and after adding that cotton made earplugs, he just felt like everything would be fine.
"Shall we get going now?" Kaye asked while adjusting his swords on his back. He wore his steel plated armor, and was holding a spear given to him by King theocrus for his protection. His lightning protection rested in his space ring chamber. The spear he got from King theocrus was sturdier than his sword due to the reinforcing enchantments, it was seven feet long with a metallic red spearhead.
All I had to do was take measures against that deafening boom of the lightning, now it won't be a problem. Anything other than lightning has to face my swords and spear. He thought.
"Yes let's go." Korin replied, still convinced that Kaye will change his mind halfway through the journey.
Once again the similar scenery flashed in front of their eyes and within an hour they reached the ore mines. Both ascended a small hill nearby, and could see the Luckard's mystical reality. The clouds were grumbling low, while flashing in white momentarily due to the bolts.
"Are you sure you want to go there? I mean it just looks beautiful, but it is actually a dreadful beast in itself, just imagine hundreds of lightning bolts thrown at you. Do you really believe what you will find there is worth risking your Life?"
"It is definitely worth risking my life, and it is what I want." Kaye said and added inwardly to be able to revive her; I will do whatever it takes.
"Then good luck my friend I hope I will see you again." Korin replied, while looking in his eyes. He wanted to pursue him more to drop the idea of going there, but the determination in Kaye's black eyes won over him.
There were no roads after the ore mines. Kaye would have to travel on foot from there, for almost a km to reach the Luckard Mountain. The geology of the area from that point forward was somewhat rocky or rather the dwarfs made the ground a plain surface till the ore mines by mining and export-import of the ores. Thus, Kaye was unable to ride the horse from there on. He started descending towards the Luckard's direction from the hill, while Korin stared at him in admiration till he got out of the vision.
As Kaye got close enough to the Luckard, there was no grumbling of clouds, the sounds of consecutive lightning strikes resembled a treacherous roar which could make anyone root at their place. But for Kaye it was just another obstacle in his goal.
There were lightning bolts but no rain, the black clouds screening Luckard's top seemed artificial. No trees, just vibrant rocks blessed by the lightning, showed their beauty. It was really hard to believe that one could not find a single mineral which ever existed at Luckard. Even if it was a barren land but it was beautiful. Rainbow was just an abstract concept against it. But the same could not be said for the top of the Luckard. The lightning turned everything above its head into god knows what, because it wasn't scorched, just pitch black in color, and attracting most of the bolts on its head.
Only saving grace is that most of the bolts are concentrated towards its peak, otherwise I would have to face almost hundred bolts at least. Kaye started to search a way on the Luckard, because he knew better than falling head first. It was six hundred meters tall and apparently much wider than its height. It could be said that one could climb it easily if weren't for all that lightning roaring, the elevation wasn't steep.
Kaye removed his steel armor and set on a rock, staring at the Luckard. He continued it for ten minutes. He was speculating the succession order of bolts throughout the Lukcard, he found out that there was a pattern in lightning strikes. The bolts were striking throughout the Luckard's surface area in a sequential and uniform manner, but still seemed to be continuous; one would have to face fourty to fifty bolts to get to the top, just to get devastated.
If I just start climbing head on, then I can reach to the top with facing only twenty five bolts. It is not a problem; real problem is I have to do mining in that condition. Even the suite will not save me if I will stand there continuously for a few minutes, forget about mining there to get enough magnetite.
For finding magnetite Kaye was planning to use metal detection technique, but just the other way around. In metal detection usually a magnet is used to find the metal, simply by hovering the magnate over the area for search. In his case he would be doing the opposite, he will use a metal piece to detect the lodestone. In other words he will be wandering on Luckard with a piece of metal in his hand.
Mining will be the case when I find the location of the lodestone. For that to happen I have to traverse the whole surface of the mountain. Kaye looked at the Luckard and then towards the sky as if asking for a way.
With a flash of lightning he realized something. Whenever stuck, find another way around, I have to look around it.
He quickly stood up, stored his armor and spear, and then started to walk around the Luckard. Just hoping to find a place which wasn't crowded with lightning, after all nothing can be perfect. When he reached the other side of the Luckard, he spotted a large cavity in it. It was twenty meters in height and thirteen meters wide, too big to be called a cave.
Yes this is it, it is almost three hundred meters above, and it will be twenty bolts at most. I can climb till there and sure I could find some lodestone there. Also it will be safer there.
Kaye wore the copper-silver alloy armor with haste and started to climb the mountain. With the very first strike his leg shuddered so hard that he almost fell down, with that strike he got to know that the strikes were definitely much more powerful than the [NIYUSTI-TERINO-INCINELA] spell he faced during the test.
He started to sprint with giving his all. His strength made it look like it was easy to climb a mountain wearing heavy armor, sure no one was looking and it wasn't a single bit easy as it was appearing to be. With every bolt of lightning he could feel that his armor's temperature was surely increasing.
If this goes on, I will be turned into roasted meat.
He only faced seven bolts in total, and had to climb one hundred fifty meters more to reach the cavity. But he was now aware of the flaw in his suite, it was the heating issue. The leather padding was a double edged sword. Sure it was saving him from red hot metal he was wearing, but the same leather padding was making him sweat like a pig.
The problem was the heat dissipation of the armor, it was being heated with every other bolt without even getting a chance to cool down.
It is just too much, but I have to face it, I won't give up. He was running with the blazing determination in his eyes. Every single step he took, crushed the rocks under his feet, propelling him toward the cavity. Yet the lightning strikes hadn't lost him, trying their best to send him flying off.
It took him a total eighteen bolts to set foot inside the cavity. Instead of getting elixir of victory, he got dancing bitterness of the small lightning streams connecting the roof to the floor. The cavity wasn't just an inward bump, but a long tunnel inside. The buzzing sound of the lightning streams was inaudible to Kaye due to his helmet, but he knew it was there.
Overwhelmed with the scene in front of his eyes, he forgot to remove his armor. The scorching smell of the leather padding reminded him that he needed to get out of it. He got out of the armor for letting it cool down. At the opening of the cavity there were no lightning bolts or streams. Shoulders down he walked slowly in to avoid the bolts from outside, and he sat aside, leaning on a rock. The buzzing of lightning streams from inside the tunnel, made him feel like he was sitting beneath a high-voltage line.
I made it in, but if these small streams are as powerful as those strikes out there, it is not going to be easy.
Once his armor had cooled down, he wore it again with new leather padding stored inside his space ring and he also took out an iron sphere from the ring. He walked further inside of the cavity, first stream connected with his armor and he didn't feel anything.
Yes, these are low voltage streams. My armor can handle this much. It was the same as the [VERNOLIA] spell.
Then he got closer to the wall to check whether the iron sphere in his hand was getting pulled towards any rock or not. It became easy for him to search, though he didn't find any lodestone yet. He was almost thirty meters inside the cavity. His hand was not too far away from a big rock just one meter in size, and the iron sphere in his hand slipped from his hand to stick on the rock.
Kaye's eyes started gleaming. The rock's surface was not clear to see, choke full of dust particles stuck on it, it must be iron dust.
"This is it, I found it." Striking his hand on the wall, he shouted out loud full of joy. It was the lodestone he was searching for. He took out the spear and started to dig out the rock from its place. He struck the spear beneath the rock to try to use it as a lever, but he halted there.
I should better be careful if this spear bends, I don't have any spare to use. Of course the spear was looking puny against the rock it had to dig out. Kaye slowly pushed it down, but to Kaye's amazement the rock came out as a cinch without even leaving a scratch on the spear. He glared at the spear with happiness, ignoring the stream of lightning going through his armor.
One strike from the same spear and the rock divided into two with the little help of Kaye's strength. After putting the rock in his ring. He started to ponder a bit.
I am not going to come back here until I find something better than this armor to hold out against these lightning bolts, so better reap all I could in one trip.
He knew he wasn't coming back here anytime soon, so he decided to take all that he could find. The space ring would stop functioning once it couldn't have more objects inside, and since the mana stone was pure, the ring could hold lots of it.
The ring actually was a rare item, because there were very few people who could use space magic. To have an enchanted space magic tool with a pure mana stone, it was almost like having a national treasure in your hand. But to people such as Senleka and Sir Rityal who were negligent towards enchanting and magic, and only use them as utility to make their life easier didn't know about such fancy of the space magic.
The reason Theo gave the space ring so easily to Kaye was, he truly cared for him and knew that it could be very helpful for Kaye instead of lying in Theo's care.
There was no deficiency in light to see, the lightning stream flashes were more than enough to illuminate the surroundings. Lost in the mining of lodestone, Kaye didn't notice that he entered a cavern within the Lukcard. While striking a big lodestone Kaye heard a voice in his mind "Oh lowly Sentian, I thank you from my heart, thank you that you have set me free".
He vigorously waved his head around, a huge open area flooding with the buzzing sound of slim lightning pillars connecting to the ground, and nothing else.
The voice was very heavy and rough, so he was expecting something big like a monster. He once again searched the cavern throwing squinted looks everywhere. In the small corner of that huge cavern, there it was, a teenager, appeared to be almost nineteen years old.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone