บท 29: Chapter 28 - Progress? Not really
Tect left the mines, he was exhausted from the fight with the elemental. "How many cores do you think we need?"
"Given the size of the one you have now… probably 12 for a decent long sword. You'll lose half of the material in the core during refinement. For a helmet maybe 6, Chest plate, 24 to 30. 4 per gauntlet. 4 to 6 for your chausses. So i think 62 at minimum but we should shoot for 75 to be safe. Currently we should focus on fixing the Autoforge. Once we get it running and make you a proper sword the rest will go rather quickly."
"Holy Shit!!! It took 3 hours to kill one, that means I'll be fighting for 36 hours to get the sword."
"Yes, quite a fast process. If you had to buy a sword and armor it would take much much longer."
"I guess that is true, still 36 hours of combat is alot."
"You think so? Wait till you have to fight a real opponent, you'll willingly trade these 3 hour fights for those 10 minute fights."
"I'll take your word for it I guess."
Tect Rested and had lunch then got back in the mine. Most of the second level chambers had an Elemental, a few had two. All said it took Tect 4 days to clear the 3rd level. When he was done he had collected 16 cores. In one chamber he had gotten lucky and two elementals had fought each other to near death. When Tect arrived he simply finished them both off.
When Tect entered the mine on the 5th day he immediately proceeded to the entrance to Level 4. The usual sight greeted him. To the right was the ramp to Level 5, and to the left was the mining area. This area was also used for low manatite Iron so the Elementals all had iron cores. Tect fought and killed 3 that day bringing his core total to 19.
"Tect, Tomorrow we should go to level 5, the elementals of level 4 have nothing to provide us right now. After you forge your sword it will be a piece of cake to clear it out. We should test the limits of Floor 5. It has higher manatite concentration, power crystals, and possibly the parts we need for the auto forge."
Tect nodded, "I agree, we are wasting our time otherwise. I am anxious to check on the clan, and get my journey started.
Tect woke up early, the morning stretches and mana circulation exercises had become much easier lately. He was able to do nearly 45 minutes of stretches easily, and was circulating nearly double the amount of mana. In the cool morning air steam rose from his body, as the mana pushed impurities out, the slimes that wandered the forest maintaining its trees were drawn in by the impurities. When Tect stood to leave nearly 2 dozen slimes had gathered. "If you little guys are so in love with sweat and body odor you should all take jobs working in town." Tect laughed but he wasn't wrong. Hygiene had never been a high priority for the humans, especially in winter when the creeks and ponds froze over.
Tect gingerly stepped out from his ring of loyal followers and headed to the stream to bathe. The cool water felt great on his skin. This calm morning routine had become his favorite part of the day. What came next was less enjoyable, but the thought of fixing the Ancient goblin machine and making a sword with it was exhilarating.
Tect returned to camp and ate breakfast, he had roasted a few vegetables on a flat stone he heated in the coals of the previous night's fire. Unfortunately even with the preservative qualities of the spatial bag the meat had long ago spoiled, but the vegetables were so good he didn't really care.
Tect took his time, but eventually he got up and grabbed his short sword. It was time to head to level 5.
The ramp from level 4 to level 5 was a quick trip when you didn't have to stop to clear enemies, in fact since Tect had cleared the enemies in the upper floors all he ever ran into on the way down was smaller elementals on their way to the higher floors. They never acted aggressively so Tect let them enter the upper floors. Hopefully they head to floor 3 and eat more iron since he would be needing a lot more cores.
When Tect reached the ramp to floor 5 he read the sign for the first time. *Floor Five Medium quality Energy Crystals, Medium quality Iron, Low manatite concentration, Storage Facility 005*
Tect was excited as he jogged down the ramp, but at the bottom he was stunned. The formerly well planned mine was gone. What was left looked like the meandering tunnels of an ants nest. Some tunnels had a height of a foot, and some had a height of dozens of feet. The sound of grinding stone reverberating in the tunnels was odd to Tect. In his mind the image of two lizards being rubbed together made him laugh. If Azulak had a head he'd be shaking it, he often forgets that Tect is so young.
"Well this looks bad. It seems the elementals have totally wrecked this floor. I doubt the storage room will be in one piece. Do you have any idea how we can find it in this maze.
Tect's ring began flashing rapidly.
"I can't sense the room, but If you observe the floor it may help you find the original mining areas. When the elementals eat their tunnels have a kind of spiral pattern. The original pathway should be perfectly flat. But I'm sure that the Elementals tunnels probably cross the main pathway at some point, so I'm worried we may get lost easily. As you walk, coat your feet in mana, when we go to leave I can track the mana signature."
"Ok, I'll try."
Tect began walking to the left along a pathway that looked fairly smooth, it was an odd feeling circulating mana in his feet while he walked, and for a time he walked a bit oddly. The smooth path wasn't super hard to follow, and a few tunnels crossed it but it was pretty easy to find the path again. As Tect entered the first cavern he couldn't tell if he was lucky or had the worst luck in the world. Standing across the cavern from him was a large metal box with a door in it. The elementals had eaten the stone that surrounded the room and it now sat slightly lower than it had previously. Unfortunately directly in front of the doorway was a massive earth elemental. Previously the elementals had been built like large bulky animals like cows or hippos, but this elemental was different, it had a vaguely humanoid shape. As soon as Tect saw it he panicked, he could wear out the other beast in time, but this one was shaped like a humanoid, it was only reasonable to believe that it had better agility than the other beast. Agility was the only reason Tect could defeat the others, now he had to contend with an elemental that nullified the only advantage he had.
"I don't think we are ready for this."
Azulak was also dismayed by this turn of events. "That is a mid tier elemental. It shouldn't be here. We have 2 options. We can distract it, and slip into the room, or we can try to sneak attack it. With this elemental you could kill it by destroying the head. If you doubled the charge on your charged punch you could kill it in one hit, but you'll be a little bit wounded. Luckily you can hide in the storage room to recover."
Tect considered the two options for a while before coming to a decision but if he wanted to save his people he had to take risks so there was no turning back.
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