Going on a trip with just Noir and himself made Rino feel all kinds of giddy on the inside. He was so excited and could hardly contain his cool even as they sat together on Mutt's back. Noir wasn't protesting when Rino offered to keep him in his arms as they rode to the secret cave entrance.

Ace wondered why Rino was so jittery and stuttered around him. The power of cats on Rino was dreadful, and the god of prayers tried to remember if there were any domesticated cat races in this small world that could severely derail the monarch of solitude from his quests in the future. Thankfully, this world was rather hostile, and even if there were feline creatures, they would end up looking like the womanticore that decapitated Rino once.

As they neared the secret entrance, Rino realised another problem. Cats and water do not get along. The only way into the secret cave was by swimming. Even if Noir agreed to swim and overcome his fear of water, Rino still had to use magic to help him breathe. Could they even overcome this ordeal?

"What's wrong?" Ace asked when Rino dismissed Mutt and looked at the small pool of water in the dark.

"Can you swim?" the lich sounded hesitant and a tad regretful, but Ace chalked it up to his imagination.

Could he swim? As a god who relied too much on magic, swimming wasn't a skill he had the chance to acquire. However, he knew magic that could make him move underwater.

"No. However, I can teleport."

Ace disappeared into the shadow realm shortly and reappeared on Rino's head, sitting on the bald skull to demonstrate his abilities.

Teleportation magic was limited to markers, and Rino wasn't sure if Noir could teleport to his location inside the dwarven mine without one. Then again, the black cat was able to always find where he was using some mysterious ability. Perhaps Noir didn't have to swim to get inside. Only Rino had to get drenched.

He wondered why he thought it was a terrible idea to set up a teleportation point inside the dwarven mine after he left it. He even returned to extend the mana web array to connect the flood channels to the dwarven sewage tunnels. Now that he needed a convenient way to get inside, Rino wanted to beat his past self for acting paranoid about random intruders waltzing in and out of that dwarven vault that he protected using many powerful spells. Common bandits wouldn't even get that far. He should have made a teleportation point somewhere easier so that Noir didn't have to swim!

Oh wait, he had one, but that led directly to the heart of the artefact vault. Bringing Noir in there was akin to executing him. The array attacked anyone that wasn't Rino, and even Kragmi wasn't spared. Rino trusted nobody else with the secrets of these dwarves because artefacts were probably the only hope in this world against Harvesters. Rino couldn't risk his ace against the threats of this world.

"Can you teleport to me if I get inside first? I don't think you want to swim and get wet."

Noir flicked his tail and batted Rino twice on the head.

"You're twenty years too early to take that tone with me! Of course, I can. The scent of death clinging onto you can be smelled from halfway across this continent."

Oh? Now that was interesting. Noir had a good nose, but to think he could smell something like this from so far away must mean that the black cat was always within a certain range that he could sense Rino and look for him. The scent of death must be the mana aura that surrounded Rino, although he couldn't tell himself how horrible it smelled like.

In any case, it was assuring to know that Noir was able to teleport directly to Rino just by following his 'scent of death', so Rino prepared for a dip in the water while Noir watched him go.

"It won't be long," he told Noir. "I'll let you know using telepathy when I'm dry again, and we can mark out the areas inside where the ores are."

Rolling his eyes, Noir pushed Rino lightly towards the pond and jumped back as the lich fell forward with a big splash. Shaking his head, Ace waited patiently as Rino swam into the mines. He was slightly thankful that the lich wanted to protect the dwarven secrets by not making convenient entrances. Phil was right to trust this man with the fate of the small world. The gambles that he plotted with Ace should pay off because Rino wasn't the kind of character to build things solely for self-interest. He might be lazy, but he had a good heart that cared for the less fortunate.

Rino swam quickly, using water and air magic to propel himself quickly so that Noir didn't have to wait for long. At the same time, he found the mana web array's main channel at the docks and created the first teleportation pad there as a checkpoint for the miners in future. The secret entrance to the mine was hidden using a powerful illusion and warding magic for now, and only those permitted by Rino could pass through the barrier.

"I'm in," he told the black cat and waited for Noir to teleport over once the teleportation pad and secret entrance barrier was completed.

Noir came quickly like he said he would and sat on Rino's shoulder, too lazy to walk. Rino did not mind becoming Noir's private transportation. If anything, he appeared a little happy that the black cat was relying on him as they walked into the actual mine. Rino remembered the layout, and Noir was impressed when Rino entered the actual mine shafts.

"Some of these shafts are incomplete. I don't know the exact location of the ores or where to get them, but I think it might be better to start laying the mana web array down to the mines and create area barriers for mining activities. Mines can be dangerous, and even if my subordinates are undead, I don't want them getting caught in dangerous activities."

He didn't mention the priceless vault of artefacts beneath the mines, and Rino did not want them accidentally discovering it. However, Noir agreed that it was safer to set a mining area and a barrier. Torching up mines can be tedious, and it was easier to use magic to handle it as the mines developed.

"I think we can start looking for coal ores first. That's the simplest to mine, and a stone pick or shadow cutter spell will work. How much coal do you need?" Noir asked.

"Enough to fire up the furnace near the water wheel. I read that regular magic cannot be used to heat metal. It has to be fire burned with coal fuel."

Noir wasn't very sure about this part. He might have to ask Phil what Rino meant and where he got this knowledge from. Metal should melt when the heat was high enough. Ace never knew about the difference between burning materials and metal casting. However, he pretended to agree with Rino for now and sniffed the air as an act before using his tail to point out where the coal vein was.

Coal was a very easy material to spot in the walls after the light was up. Ace leapt off Rino's shoulder and explained that coal rocks in the wall had a different colour from the mountain rocks. They came in pockets and were sometimes sandwiched in between layers of other rocks.

"It is basically deceased life forms trapped in rocks and turning into fuel. They're quite rare and can appear sporadically. You should grab a piece and use divination magic to locate more in this area."

Divination magic was something that magicians used to track people or peer into the future. Things that carried a tracing magic mark could be located using divination, but Rino never knew it could detect different ores. Noir certainly learned from the best, and Rino wished he met the black cat's master earlier. There was simply so much that he could learn from her before she passed.

Ace watched as Rino failed his first attempt trying to use divination magic to find a new coal vein. The magic circle's search perimeter clashed with Rino's current discovery, so the divination spell pointed to the closest coal vein.

"You should add more layers of instructions to seek other possible coal veins if you want to know all the possible undepleted coal veins in your search area."

Listening to Noir's advice, Rino modified his next magic circle and cast the divination spell again. This time, he managed to locate a new coal vein hidden about five meters beneath him and forty footsteps away.

"It doesn't tell me how big the coal vein is, but I found it."

Noir smirked and flicked its tail. "Good work. Now you can figure the rest out by using the genius inside this empty skull. I'm going to look around for any exposed copper, tin or iron ores."

Noir was a strict teacher, but Rino didn't mind. Any attention from the black furball was better than nothing at all, so Rino intended to enjoy every second of their time together.