As the cart continued to go deeper into the cave, two notifications appeared.

You are now entering the [Kobold Cave].

Followed immediately by,

You are the first person to enter the [Kobold Cave], you are awarded with 2 favor.

I’m still not sure what favor does, but now I have 5 of it.

After a little while of going deeper into the cave, the carts began to slow and then stop. The kobold that had been pushing the carts into the cave started talking to one of his friends. I started praying they would not walk my way.

Thankfully, their conversation was quick and to the point. I wanted to pop my head out of the cart and assess the situation, but my instincts were telling me that it would result in my demise.

So, I waited. After 5 minutes of complete silence, I risked popping my head out. I quickly glanced all around me to see if there were any kobolds lurking – there wasn’t any. Whew, I let out the breath I had been holding in and was able to finally let my surroundings sink in.

I looked back to toward the only path that led to the surface and my safety, and it menacingly snaked in random twists and turns. In front of me though, there were about 7 different tunnels leading to who knows where. All of them, minus the very middle one had tracks leading into them. I guess I might as well look for some ore while I’m here.

I hesitantly climbed out of the mining cart while keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings. Torches adorned the wall, providing just enough light to see everything, although it was extremely dim.

I looked at the different entrances again. Because the middle cave didn’t have tracks going toward it, there was probably something special about it. And things that are special, are going to be a crap ton stronger than me.

I decided to start with the tunnel at the far left. The tunnel entrances were massive. They had to be at least 20 feet across. That’s weird because the kobolds are small, so why are their caves so massive?

I began creeping through the first tunnel as quietly as I could. The torches that adorned the wall were few and far between.

There were plenty of large rocks that adorned the sides of the tunnel, these would be perfect for hiding. After a couple minutes, I could hear a rhythmic dinning noise. As I continued to walk deeper within the tunnel, the sound grew louder and louder.

I slowly peered around the corner and saw the source of the commotion. Two Kobold miners were hacking away at the walls. After a few hits, some rocks would break away from the wall. After performing this action for about a minute, the miner would gather the rocks and toss them into the cart behind them.

The two miners were completely engrossed in their work, and would only turn around when they were lugging the rocks into the cart. I watched them do this process another 10 times until I was totally sure, and then I counted under my breath.

After 65 seconds, the miner would be done mining and would gather the rocks to place them in the cart. This process took them 15 seconds. The second miner finished his mining 5 seconds after the first miner. After some quick math, this left a 45 second gap where neither one of them was looking at the cart.

My heart began to race. If I was too loud, or too slow, then they would notice me, and then I would be dead for sure. But I had come this far, and I desperately needed the ore to make the mana crystals. I held my breath and waited.

Once the second miner had finished putting his rocks in the cart, he turned around, and I swiftly crept towards the cart. My throat felt dry as I began looking through the rocks. I counted in my head, 5…6…7. I came across a [copper ore] and placed it in my inventory. The mining cart was only a quarter full, but there was still a good amount of rocks in it.

The time crept on, 19…20…21… I happened upon another piece of ore. I thought about going back to my hiding spot, but I pressed on. The end began drawing near 33…34..35… , I told myself in the beginning that I would leave at 35 seconds, to give myself a buffer. But as I began to pull away, a glint caught my eye.

I brushed the rocks away, and saw a glistening blue stone, it was a sapphire. My heart filled with joy and then panic, I had lost count. I grabbed the stone and sprinted back.

I threw caution to the wind because I didn’t have time to sneak back, I had to get back as fast as possible or I would definitely be found. I dashed around the corner and pressed myself against the wall.

While sitting there with my eyes closed, panting, nothing happened. After 10 seconds, I braved a peak around the corner. The two miners were doing their normal routine, they hadn’t noticed me.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked at the little blue stone in my hand, [sapphire]. I kept looking at the blue stone, and a status window appeared.

A blue sapphire, quality: poor

This precious blue stone told me 2 important things. One, stones could be found from mining as well as prospecting. Two, there were varying qualities of stones, most likely relating to the type of ore they were found in.

I let my nerves calm down, and I prepared to rob the cart once more. Everything went successfully the second time. I stole 2 more [copper ore], and I gave myself plenty of time to get back.

My heart raced with excitement, I was definitely going to get everything I needed from this cave.

I stole from the cart two more times. The first time I got only 1 ore, while the second time I didn’t get any. It seemed that I had robbed it bare.

After robbing a total of 5x [copper ore] and 1x[sapphire], I decided it was time to head to a different tunnel.

The pattern of the miners was exactly the same as the first tunnel. So after 6 rounds of stealing, and a total of 10x [copper ore] I felt it was necessary to try out the third tunnel. My total ore was now 19, not too shabby.

The Third tunnel produced 11x [copper ore] and another sapphire.

I skipped the fourth tunnel, because it didn’t have any mining tracks leading into it.

Everything went smoothly for the fifth and sixth tunnel. I stole 13 and 15 ore from the respective locations. My good fortune had made me careless, and that’s when everything hit the fan.

While coming out of fourth cave, I saw them. It was a patrol of 4 kobold protectors. They had started heading into the seventh cave when they spotted me. At first they were startled to see anyone in the cave. They had just been leisurely patrolling the cave, when they happened upon the intruder, me.

Oh crap.

They shouted and raised their spears at me. I turned and sprinted the opposite way. I tunnels with mining tracks were all dead ends, so I ran into the middle one.

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. What should I do! I sprinted as fast as I could, while the swift pursuers quickly began closing the gap. The kobold in front was only a few feet behind me and attempted to stab at my back.

Whether it was sheer luck, or God smiling upon me, I tripped over a rock and began falling forward as the spear pierced the place that my body had been just moments before. I stumbled forward and awkwardly tried to keep running.

In the time that I had slowed down, the other 3 kobolds had caught up.

They mercilessly stabbed me while I tried to escape.

52!

54!

55!

The pain was excruciation as the three spears penetrating deep into my upper back, leaving me with a precious 3 hp left. My character began coughing up blood, man this is way to realistic.

I stumbled forwarded a few more steps, and entered a large room. The room was massive, at least 40 feet high, and hundreds of feet wide. Torches lined the walls and littered the room.

In the middle of the room, was a mountain of bones. On top of the mass of bones, was a giant blob. I starred at it intently, and then it appeared.

Lvl 9 Elite

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

Health: ???

Rage: ?

Skills: [Rally], [Charge], [Throw], [Leap], [Whirlwind]