We made our way deeper into the complex, all of us sticking close together even though that wasn’t really the best tactical strategy. With our current lineup, Cutter should’ve been scouting, I should’ve been playing as an impromptu tank, and Amara should’ve been trailing at the rear, firing arrows while I drew agrro.

That’s what we should’ve done, but didn’t.

The place was just too creepy and no one wanted to be alone. Not even Amara, though she’d never actual admit it. The upper portion of the tunnel had been nothing but a crude hole, boring straight into the heart of the earth, but the Shadowverse-side of the shaft quickly changed: Intricate archways of dark stone, curved with artful flourishes and neon-blue runes, began to dot the passageway at regular intervals. Hallways and rooms—filled with heavy stone tables, chairs, shelves, and deadly traps—started cropping up.

We didn’t find anyone, aside from the occasional dissected corpse, but it was clear there had been people here once. An advance civilization, which had long since moved on or died out.

And then, there were the Void Terrors to contend with.

We’d been attacked four more times after that first battle-royal; the creatures would leap from the shadows when least expected, ambushing us with brutal, economic efficiency. It made for raw nervous and jittery anxiety from everyone in our party. Even worse, the various Void Terrors were all different. Not a single one resembled the strange wolf-like creatures we’d first encountered. Some were tiny. Some were huge. A few had tentacles. Others sported wings or tearing, insectile claws—sometimes both. All were horrific, though, and I was confident they’d fuel my nightmares for days and weeks to come.

The huge variety of new creatures also offered a slew of unique challenge, since each type had its own deadly array of special attacks, which often left us bleeding on the floor. The Terrors were absolutely miserable and other than Void Terror Claws and Shadowverse Salts, they provided no loot and only marginal EXP. This was the worst kind of grind.

“There’s another room up on the left,” Cutter whispered, jabbing a finger toward a dark doorway. We angled left and crept to a stop, carefully pressing ourselves up against the wall, just to one side of the entryway with Cutter nearest the door. He stole a quick look at me and Amara, then dropped into Stealth, vanishing into a faint blur. I held my breath in anticipation as he stole forward on silent feet—there wasn’t even a whisper to mark his steps. He took a quick glance around the corner then darted into the room, vanishing from view. I dropped into a crouch myself, activating Stealth as I waited for Cutter to draw out whatever new threat lay in the room beyond.

His head popped around the corner a second later, a lopsided grin on his face. “Got another deposit,” he said, sweeping an arm out behind him. “Big one, too.”

I exhaled in relief and edged forward, slipping through the doorway and into the boxy room beyond. A small stone shelf ran along the right wall, holding a few useless trinkets—rusted flasks, plates, and silverware from a different era. A pair of bulky stone chairs, high backed with thick arm rest, sat off to the left. My eyes immediately swept over them, halting on the outcropping of dark quartz jutting from the far wall. We’d hit paydirt. So far, we’d only run across one other deposit, which had netted me a whopping three pounds of ore—next to nothing considering I needed a hundred pounds to complete the Chief’s quest.

This vein though, with its jagged spikes protruding like porcupine quills, was ten times the size of that last one. Maybe more.

“Alright,” I said, swapping out my warhammer for a crude pickaxe Amara had so kindly provided me. “We should probably settle in. We could be here for a minute.”

“I’ll set a ward,” Amara offered tersely, moving over to the entrance, then dropping to her haunches as she began to fish a variety of items from her bag: a bronze dagger, a pouch filled with yellow salts, and a little flask, which glowed with a hazy opalescent light. As a Huntress, she could set a variety of traps and wards that would either catch or kill any unfriendlies foolish enough to cross her deadly workmanship.

“And I’ll get lunch,” Cutter offered, heading over to one of the bulky chairs and plopping down with a groan.

I left them to their work—or non-work in Cutter’s case—as I headed over and laid into the vein. I hefted the pickaxe and threw my body into each strike as I carved away a few meager slivers of stone at a time; chips of rock flew through the air as the ring of steel echoed around us. Over and over again, I smashed at the ore. Attacking it from different angles. Looking for crevices or weak spots to exploit. And, when nothing else seemed to do the trick, I used brute force and a heathy dose of elbow-grease. I worked and worked, until my muscles burned from the exertion and sweat coated my face and chest in a slick sheen.

It took nearly an hour of grueling, back-breaking effort to clear half the vein, which earned me lousy twenty-five pounds of Raw Darkshard Ore. But, as a bonus, it also earned a new profession:

Gathering Profession: Mining

Mining allows the player to gather a wide array of raw minerals from ore veins scattered all around Eldgard and West Viridia. Mining is one of five gathering professions—mining, foraging, logging, hunting, farming—which any class and race can access. Gathering Professions allow players to accumulate resources, which can then be used to by Crafting Professions to manufacture a huge variety of items, ranging from potions to armor and weapons.

There are eight primary Crafting Professions: Cooking, Enchanting, Alchemy, Tailoring and Leatherwork, Engineering, Merchant-Craft, Blacksmithing, and Lapidary (Jeweler). All Professions, both Gathering and Crafting, can be unlocked and leveled through practice and use, but any specialized skills or abilities within a given profession must be unlocked with Proficiency Points. All specialized profession skills can be upgraded a total of seven times (Initiate, Novice, Adept, Journeyman, Specialist, Master, Grandmaster).

Gathering Ability Type/Level: Passive / Level 1 (Initiate)

Cost: N/A

Effect 1: Extract 5% more material from all ore veins.

Effect 2: Extracting material requires 8% less effort, reducing overall stamina drain while actively mining and cutting the time necessary to exhaust a vein.

Effect 3: Randomly spawn a gem (diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, jade, turquoise, lapis lazuli, pearl, beryl, topaz, opal, moonstone, sunstone, bloodstone) while mining. Spawn Chance = (.001 x Luck)

I read over the notification—partly because I was interested and partly because I desperately needed a breather—then pulled up my Crafting Skill Tree. Each of the primary professions ran along the bottom of my vision, and each, in turn, had a branching skill tree with a variety of neat abilities that could be unlocked with Proficiency Points. With my measly level one in Mining, there weren’t any skills available to me—not that I was really interested in specializing in this profession, anyway—but at higher levels, there were all kinds of cool extras:

Skills to drastically reduce mining time, increase vein size, or increase gem drop rate. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. At higher levels, there were specialized skills that went far beyond simple ore gathering: there was a whole branch dedicated to Battle-Mining, which allowed specialists to destroy walls, tunnel under fortified positions, and deploy alchemic “blasting charges” to raze buildings. Basically, a demolition class.

“Stop slacking,” Cutter yelled at me, “no one wants to be here all day, friend. So, how’s about you get back to work, eh?”

I turned and glowered at him, my eyes narrowed in annoyance. Amara was standing sentry by the door, guarding our backs, but Cutter was lounging, carefree, in one of the chairs. He had a small camp fire burning merrily in front of him while he warmed his hands and nibbled on a skewer of roasted spider meat—gross sounding, but surprisingly tasty.

“It’d go faster if you helped,” I replied, fishing a piece of rough clothe from my pocket and dabbing at the perspiration on my forehead.

He grimaced, scrunched his nose in distaste, then shook his head. “Naw,” he replied. “Mining’s not really my thing. Seems beneath me, I suppose.” He paused and regarded me gravely. “It’s perfect for you, though.”

“And what is your thing?” Amara asked, the words dripping venom. “In the week you’ve been in Yunnam, I’ve seen you eat heaps of food you didn’t gather, drink gallons of mead you didn’t brew, and sleep while everyone else worked. So”—she paused planting hands on hips in clear disapproval—“what exactly is it you’re good at?”

“First, I’m not sure I like your tone,” Cutter said with a sniff. “And second, I’ve already told you what I’m good at: thieving. If you need a lock picked, a trap disarmed, a bloated bureaucrat robbed blind, or someone shanked in the kidney … Well, then I’m your man. I also offer questionable advice and dubious moral support. Anything else”—he shrugged noncommittally—“is sorta outside of my wheelhouse.” He leaned back in his chair, a smug look flashing across his features as he took another bite of roasted spider.

Amara offered a sharp retort, but I put the bickering pair from mind, turning my attention back to the ore vein.

Despite being a lazy jerk, Cutter was right: this vein wasn’t going to mine itself and I didn’t want to spend any more time down here than absolutely necessary. Eventually, Cutter and Amara’s arguing faded into background noise as I lost myself to the rhythm and repetition of mining. Lift, slam, pull. Lift, slam, pull. Lift, slam, pull. Wash, rinse, and repeat over and over again. After almost another hour, I polished off the remining twenty-five pounds of Ore, and stowed my pick, before grabbing a drink from my pouch and taking a quick lunch break.

Cutter had generously left a few spits of skewered spider for me warming by the fire, and though the meat was questionable, the taste was extraordinary and immediately eased my tender muscles:

Buffs Added

Spider Meat: Restore 55 HP over 21 seconds; increase Health Regen by 12%, duration 5 minutes.

Well-Fed: Base Constitution increased by (2) points; duration 20 minutes.

I ate in silence—the dark atmosphere of the place was weighing down on everyone, sucking away what little joy there was—then washed the meal down with a cool bottle of Broken Dagger Mead. Finally, with my belly full, I checked my inventory. We’d been at this for hours and I had just over half the material I needed to fulfill the quest. With a sigh and a muted groan, I gained my feet and pulled my warhammer free, ready to venture out into the world again. “Guess we better keep moving,” I said, edging toward the entryway and glancing out into the darkened hallway beyond. “I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight.”