Lothar had been sceptical of his elders’ decision to have him work at Borsdown’s quarry. He had been responsible for multiple cases of pulverized gemstones but he had only dug where the foreman told him to. Admittedly, he had not held back. Then again, the old bone never told him how far in the sapphires were. Or the onyx. Or that one time with the diamonds. That one he regretted the least. Breaking the stones had brought him to level 8 of what was originally [Strong Swing]. The Skill had upgraded on Breakthrough to [Tunnelling] and then, on the second one, to [Wide Tunnelling]. Lothar just loved pulverizing large amounts of stone with a few swings of his pickaxe. That was something he would be unable to do at the quarry. After all, the stones were supposed to be sold whole, not as powder.

In the end, the elders’ were the wise ones. Practising with the quarry regulations to make clean cuts let him find a completely new enjoyment of [Wide Tunnelling]. The Skill had even been altered to [Precision Tunnelling] one month in. Just in time for the weirdest offer to be brought forward by Fredreck. The leader of their trainee squad had been approached by Jorgun Stone, Master of the Quarry. Someone was looking for a group of dwarves to teach mining and forging to goblins. Once they heard the person was a sapient animal they were curious. When it turned out to be the Shadow Owl, Fio, the one who conquered this town’s major node together with its Guardian, they were interested. This was a once in a lifetime chance to have an adventure. Something from the old stories. And the trust the people of Borsdown were putting into the Shadow Owl was something rarely found for sapient animals. She seemed to be a true honorary dwarf. And dwarves helped each other out.

When they met for the first time, Jorgun Stone had informed them to treat her like any other dwarf. She was much younger than them, not too strange for a sapient animal, which meant there was no need to use her title. Even though she was close friends with the Guardian of Borsdown, the reason this place would soon be turned into a proper city, and the death of orks.

Lothar’s first impression was that Fio was large for an owl. She barely had to look up to them, likely surpassing the smaller dwarven women. Her feathers were permanently wreathed in swirling darkness, giving the title Shadow Owl a very obvious source. She spoke to their minds with [Telepathy], something they had all experienced with the iron moles living in the Gurrin mines. Lothar fondly remembered the year he had spent with the animals to get his [Digger] Class. Most Gurrin went for [Miner], taking some kind of forging Skill or something to help them find or unearth ores but not Lothar. He just loved making tunnels.

They quickly came to an agreement to leave in a week. Apparently, the journey would take somewhere between three weeks and a month and be mostly parallel and not too far from Stormbringer’s path. That was why they wanted to leave early to avoid getting caught in the hurricane he would bring in the summer. They would have a month of extra time to make up for any roadblocks.

The payment was decent even though Lothar wondered how an owl would pay that much when she was a part of dwarven society for less than a year. She had no problems with the initial payment so it would probably be fine. Even if not, they could just look for things to sell near the goblin settlement. There surely had to be some valuables near it. Orks were not known for their efficient exploitation of underground resources and goblins even less so.

When they found out Fio would carry most of their heavy equipment, like Smia’s anvil and hammers, they were even more surprised. Fredreck had half a mind to try and hire her for mining transport before Lothar talked him out of it. The amount of stone he could move with his [Bottomless Cart] was much higher than what the owl could do. Even if it was limited to crushed rocks and ore.

The journey itself was stressful, especially when they were stalked by some magical beast. Fio had some device to let her communicate with Fredreck from much further than [Telepathy] normally did but she could only talk to him. That made it even scarier to be stuck in that ravine. They knew they were being stalked and could not do anything about it nor talk to the one stalking their stalker. When it was finally time for the confrontation, they even had to act as bait. The fight had happened so quickly, Lothar barely even got his axe out before the Shadow Owl stood before them. Now they truly understood where the name came from. The cloud and the writhing tendrils of pure black had smothered the wild cat or whatever it was before the beast splashed into the water below. Luckily, that was the last real worry for the rest of the journey. Other than the goblin village they had passed in one of the first valleys, they were not bothered by anything else. Though Fredreck sometimes told them there was something on their tracks, Fio was able to take the threats out and deliver fresh meat for dinner.

When they arrived, once again in a ravine, Lothar was surprised he almost missed the entrance. It looked just like any other small cave in the walls but after going a little deeper they realized it would not end soon. The tunnel was small, likely too small for orks to use comfortably. The dwarves had no issues moving through it, though. After a few twists and turns, they arrived at the village. From the corner of his eyes, Lothar saw how a goblin started to talk with Fio but his mind was occupied with the cave. The ceiling was very high up and slanted a little over 70 degrees from the ground. That led to the water running down to the sides before it finally started to form stalactites. It made the huts constructed from white wood and some kind of fern or grass safe in the middle of the room. The goblins had to have access to a natural cave with some kind of large node nearby. There were a little over 20 buildings, two of them of stone. He saw no goblins but heard voices talking from deeper into the settlement.

When they started moving again, Lothar observed the huts' lighting. They were using vis crystals, mostly green with a few red ones. He assumed terra or herba as well as ignis.

“Is that venenum?”, Hedrick asked quietly, “I think that’s venenum.”

Before anyone could answer, they were laid upon by a metallic purple humanoid. Fio introduced the golem as Alex. Smia freaked out when she realized the golem was made of pure thaumium. When it, or rather she, talked into their minds with [Telepathy], Lothar was surprised as well. He had always thought golems were constructs without sapience. Why was this one different?

Soon, they were led to a large fireplace using vis crystals. Lothar nodded and he saw the agreement in his colleagues' eyes. The goblins were smart about their underground life. It looked like the community was just having dinner and they were invited by the leader Roguk to join. The potato stew with a few other roots and some meat chunks was nothing special but very filling. At some point, the goblins started to take turns telling tales of bravery and trickery. Some of them would need some more practice with their Ordugh but it was fun nonetheless. The dwarves took their turn as well and at some point, Lothar realized Fio had returned. When the tales turned to the Shadow Owl’s exploits Lothar realized why she was no Guardian. She would not be bound to a singular town or city. She wanted to help everyone instead. What a wonderful dwarf.

Over the next few days, the dwarves helped build a house they could use. The goblins had made a simplistic stone hut for them but it lacked any kind of separation for the women in their group. They were also introduced to the nearby area, primarily the farm. The cave had been dug out in a very clean and symmetric way and when Lothar heard that it was Fio who had planned everything around it, he vowed to never address her with anything less but her full title. Maybe she even deserved something more… impressive.

Lothar happily used his [Precision Tunnelling] to increase the farming space finishing the planned room within three days. The dirt for the actual farming plots was more difficult to move in since they had no cart and even if they had one it would not fit through the tunnel or along the ravine’s ledge. With some simple manual labour and the strength of the dwarves, it was still done within a week. By that time, the Shadow Owl had decided to leave again and get some more things. She would make the whole journey back and forth in less than two weeks, which impressed Lothar. When the goblin Horg told him she could do it in less than one, he nearly freaked out.

Horg had almost as much passion as Lothar when it came to digging. The dwarf had taken in the goblin and given him the base tasks required to unlock the [Digger] Class. The requirements for [Miner] would be fulfilled along the way so he could pick and choose whichever he wanted. Lothar would make sure the goblin was capable of digging the most beautiful mining tunnels possible.

It took a few more days until Harra had found the first promising lead on an ore deposit. Copper was maybe not as useful as iron but they at least had something to work with in case their pickaxes ran out. Lothar was not involved all that much in the search for ores. He could spend a few days relaxing, which he used to explore the white forest, as the goblins called it. It was a fitting name for a scenic cave with a waterfall coming down on one of the sides. Gravelly dirt covered the ground and the white trees with blue and black leaves swayed to a non-existent breeze. Near the entrance was a little outpost the goblins used for hunting and preparing the few animals that lived down here. Due to the magic from the node further in, they would never truly run out. There would always be food for the little ones. Even though the dwarves were looking to farm wood in the other cave. They could probably domesticate some of the animals down here once they were settled a little more.

On the third day of enjoying the white forest’s atmosphere, Lothar stumbled upon the node. Or rather, where it threw its vis into the cave. There was a slightly cut-off place almost directly opposite the outpost with a ton of vis crystals all around. The dwarf had seen places like this during his time with the iron moles. They were true sources of life even deep underneath the earth. Surprisingly, the crystals were black with a few having a slightly yellow sheen. He was not sure which aspect it was but considering the Shadow Owl had made her first contact with civilization here, it was likely to be tenebrae.

Within the cavern, an absolutely ginormous crystal grew. It sat on top of a rift in the stone. Lothar hesitantly peered into it, making sure not to touch the magical stone. It took a few minutes but at some point, he spotted ground underneath through the swathes of shadows. He let out a relieved sigh. They were still far enough from the bottom of the world.