The rocky mountains hid many secrets. Without a reliable guide, Rino might not find everything.

If he thought the mountain was barren at first glance because of the lack of plant life, he was wrong. The mountain made up for its lack of appealing appearance with minerals inside the earth. Apart from salt rocks on the surface, Rino found out that he did not need to travel to that deadly monster lair with the womanticore guarding it for regular ores. The rocky mountains had every basic mineral Rino needed, from iron to coal.

This was a promising start.

Strangely, many ravines were hiding in pockets of these mountains that stretched deep within the mountain as if the rocky appearance was merely paper mache. Although plants did not grow on the outside of the mountain, some smaller plants like moss, fern and fungi made these abandoned ravines their homes.

Rino was currently exploring one such ravine, and even if there was a bit of light seen coming from above, the ravine was too deep for the light to reach the bottom level. Thankfully, unlike the mines, there was no danger in using fire magic to light the place up.

He descended gracefully to the bottom of the ravine and found himself standing in the middle of a small stream, much to his protest. The feeling of water collecting in his cloth boots made him queasy, but he maintained his composed dignity in front of Acht, subtly moving off to a ground that wasn't wet to dry off.

"This is a ravine? Do miners come here?" he asked.

Acht lowered his shadow humbly, and his glowing purple eyes dimmed. "It is too dangerous for regular miners to venture into a ravine. Many have fallen to their deaths trying to get their hands on riches. Now, only vultures and bats make this their home."

Ah, that might explain the piles of bones lying around from time to time. As they made their way deeper into the ravine upstream, the bones were nowhere to be found. People must have fallen through the ravine in the parts that were open to see, but the ravine stretched further than just that crack above. It spanned for so long that Rino lost track of when the stream disappeared.

He was too focused on analysing the ores that could be found here, and honestly, he wasn't expecting to find too much. He did find a lot of mushrooms and various fungi. The bats hanging from the ceiling and rocks rustled in reaction to the light that should not penetrate this deeply. Rino felt slightly apologetic for the bats. He hated it when someone interrupted his nap, and surely, these bats did not deserve poor sleep quality.

All apologies flew out of the window when Rino saw how creepy one of those flying furry creatures looked up close. They weren't adorable like what he remembered them to be. If anything, these bats had glowing red eyes, bony claws that could rip out someone's heart and very sharp teeth. They were not fruit bats, and Rino swore if Acht was still human, he would be just a pile of bones by now.

Why was everything in this world so hostile?!

The ravine had a forked path, and Rino decided to take the left route simply because he was left-handed and favoured this side more. He thought that the ravine would get narrower, but it only spanned wider even if the ceiling became shorter. It took the lich a while to realise he was walking into a cave within the ravine and the thought about exploring an unfound cave made him excited.

Acht noticed his master's quickened pace as Rino walked further into the cave without caution. Apprehension filled the shapeshifting spectre, and while he knew Rino was strong without a doubt, he could not help but worry. His master was the ignorant type despite his monstrous abilities. He knew little about this part of the world and was probably the first person to willingly walk into the Woods of No Return and emerge unscathed.

"M-master?" Acht hesitated. However, as a loyal subject, he should still play advisor to caution the magician about the dangers lurking in such places.

Acht might not explore caves or ravines in these rocky mountains, but he was a bandit and lived here for a good number of years to know the dangers. There were monsters living within the mountains, and not all of them were easy to spot.

"What is it?"

Acht mustered his courage and met the lich's eyes, illuminated by the fireball. He did not doubt Rino's strength. However, there were famous mana draining monsters residing in caves like this. Any living cave had guardians. That much was common knowledge. The vault that they found was a living cave with a weak guardian that he and his sworn brothers defeated after many tries and sneaky planning.

"Please proceed more carefully. I have a bad feeling that the guardian is watching us."

Guardian? If Acht was referring to the prickly stares he was receiving ever since they broke off from the stream's path, he was aware of it. However, he wasn't sure if the guardian of this cave was also a womanticore. That might be troublesome. He was able to escape the womanticore because she was careless, but this time, he came prepared. He would kill before he was killed.

"How do you know there's a cave guardian?" the magician tested the shapeshifter.

Acht blinked owlishly. "Every living cave has a cave guardian?"

Living cave? Instead of receiving answers, Rino had more questions now. What did that mean? He would have to take some time to have a short chat with Acht, who looked more willing to work under his command.

Although it was a bummer Rino did not find someone like Fronzo at the strange seaside village, he was glad to have someone similar to the helpful production manager from the nine bandits he killed. Acht was mature and also cautious. He spoke politely and understood his place. It must have taken the shapeshifter a lot of courage to speak up, and Rino's respect for this spectre grew.

Yes, he would make a good tannery manager. If everything went well, he might make Acht in charge of certain important production in his town if the spectre continued to prove himself worthy of such responsibilities.

Rino liked intelligent people, and Acht was a refreshing company ever since he left Noir Province. Without Kragami or Noir to keep him company, Rino was starting to grow bored without a good conversation partner. Mutt's responses were overly predictable, and Rino took no joy in talking to the shadow wolf.