Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! LONG CHAPTER FOR THE WIN!

ANYWAY, 5k words of Insania today for you guys, as well as an old goldie thing from some chapters ago. MANY chapters ago. Well, leaving that aside, I’m a bit too lazy to write the character tables right now, so I’ll leave it for later. If there’s any character you want to see in those tables, just tell me.

ALSO(2), I may not upload anything tomorrow since I have some projects to take care, so don’t expect too much, okay?

ALSO(3), ALMOST REACHIGN THE DEADLINE FOR Q & A QUESTIONS!

Have a good read!

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“So, this is my next hunting grounds, huh?” I said while hopping off the carriage with a refreshed smile. After some time testing around a few different combinations, I finally managed to find the correct combination to get myself the so much desired sonic bomb. Surprisingly, it was a simple half wind, a quarter fire and a quarter order combination.

While I gave a satisfied smile and stretched myself under the moonlight, the others came down from the carriage. Lily and Ozzur had exhausted looks to them, with sunk eyes and a slow, slouched walk. Meanwhile, Aura and Crys looked at the duo with a hint of pity and Lieutenant kept snickering at them. Rio, as always, was completely lost on what was happening.

“A safety perimeter of twenty meters is needed when… Wargon starts crafting… Scoop… Scoop...”

“I’ll never again doubt crystals. I’ll never again doubt crystals. I’ll never again doubt crystals...”

Yeah, I might have gotten a bit carried away with my experiments, as you guys can see. Even San the Wich who usually would laugh himself off had a wry expression as he jumped out of the driver’s seat and landed on the ground.

He gave something for the large beasts that had carried us all the way here before setting them free. Although I became a bit dubious about that, he simply let them roam lazily around the vicinity as the monsters either ate the grass or laid down to sleep.

Turning back to the mine entrance before me, I couldn’t help but feel that it was surprisingly unlike what I expected.

To be honest, I expected that classic wooden arc that led into the mountain with a mine-cart trail leading out.

Well, at least the mine-cart I got right. The rest, not so much though. The whole side of the mountain had been prepared for the mining facility, with some strange machinery and buildings spread around the outside, as well as dozen of entrances mined on the side of the mountain.

The mountain itself was pretty impressive, with us on its base, it still towered a few hundred meters above us, and from the looks of it, we were on the steepest side of the mountain. At least this place wasn’t a strip-mine, so besides the area that was taken to make the base, the scenery around was mostly untouched.

Then, the fact that there wasn’t more than four dwarves walking around showed how the business wasn’t going as well as it should.

“This way, i’ma get you guys some maps of the mine. Should help.” San said while pointing to the main building. I nodded and happily followed him around, with the others coming right behind me.

As we crossed the camp, the few dwarves around gave the man a brief greeting, calling him chief or boss.

Fishing a key out of his pocket, San opened up the door of the biggest building and took us to an office near the corner. I’d guess that this was his place, seeing how there was an actual desk and chair and maps laying around.

“You can take those maps there.” He said while pointing towards a pile of paper. “They are the simplest. Nothing like plans and such.” I nodded while picking one of the maps and opening it.

Just as he said, it was a really simple map, mostly outlining the walls and paths around the mine. Surprisingly, a fair amount of rooms were spread around, and it wasn’t only the long maze of corridors I was half expecting it to be.

But what caught my attention the most were some red markings that were dotted all over the map. Frowning confused at the sight, I put the map down on the desk and pointed it to San.

“So, what are these?”

He frowned slightly before leaning over and taking a brief look at the map. Soon after, he gave a quick laugh and waved his hand off.

“Those are magma-patches.” He said, and I blinked surprised for a moment.

“...Magma…? Volcano?” I asked while pointing towards the mountain.

“Nah.” San shook his head. “There’s a magma river that goes deep below the mountain leading to the true volcano over there.” He said while pointing to a mountain through the window. “Those are only the places where the mine meets the river, so they make some pools.”

“So… There isn’t any chance of me being roasted in molten rock?” I asked just to be sure, and San nodded. Sighing in relief, I quickly turned back to the map and gave it a good look over it. “So, where’s the spider at?”

The dwarf nodded satisfied before looking over the map. Taking what looked like a red pen from his pocket, he quickly marked an X in one of the largest rooms of the mine.

“Tis always walking around the caverns, but it made a nest over here.”

… Did someone say nest?

Let’s make some mental calculations. The monster is called a Sulfuri Impaler MATRIARCH. Matriarch plus nest equals eggs. Eggs equal baby spiders that will grow massive, but can be tamed. Tamed massive spiders means a huge monster who will follow me around and do what I ask of it, including carrying me. Monster carrying me equals mount.

Thus, by the logic of deduction, mines equals mount.

FLAWLESS LOGIC!

“A-Ahem… ” I cleared my throat to calm myself down. “So, is it alright for me to think that there should be some juvenile monsters roaming around too then?”

“Aye. Some of my workers did report seeing some smaller spiders crawling around near the entrance.” I nodded at that piece of information. Then it might be better to drag the big spider to a place where it won’t get the help from its offsprings.

“Hmm… I think that’s all I need to know right now.” I said with a nod and closing the map. “Anything I should keep an eye out for?”

“Nah . That should be it.” San said and I nodded in agreement. “Anyway, i’ll take ya to the closest entrance. Just follow me.” He said before leaving the room and guiding us off.

As we left the room, the thoughts of equipping a heat resistance ring crossed my mind, seeing that there would be magma pools around, this meant that there would be some really hot areas out there. Or in there, I guess.

While doing that, I also landed my eyes on Lily and Ozzur. Both of whom looked at me with slightly curious glances.

“What?” I asked curious.

“Are you… Really going to fight the monster alone, teacher?” Lily asked me. “It made a whole mine be evacuated!” She said while pointing towards the empty mine.

Seeing that, I simply sighed and stopped walking. My action seemed to take the attention of San, who stopped and turned to see what I was going to do. Turning to the two behind me, I took a deep breath and put on my best serious face.

“YOU TWO! HEAR ME UP!” I said in my best general voice, making the duo flinch in surprise. Then I stopped to think better and turned to look at Rio. “You too, Rio. Go over there.” I said. The little wyvern blinked and nodded before flying to the middle of the duo. Clearing my throat, I went on with my grave voice. “Okay. I can see that the two of you have no faith in my skills. Well, I can see where you are going with it, but I think it’s better to leave something clear rules here.”

“FIRST. You may assist me, but only outside of the battle with the matriarch. Be it by being my mobile healing potion or fighting the smaller spiders.” As I said that, they both blinked surprised. “SECOND. Do not. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, NO MATTER HOW DIRE AND DANGEROUS IT MAY LOOK FOR ME, help me. Are we understood?”

“But, what about… If you...” Lily started, but I simply shook my head.

“Chosen. Don’t die even if killed.” I said while pointing at myself.

“Ah...” Lily said in shock as she remembered that small fact.

“Okay, taking the cue. THIRD. YOU ARE NOT TO GET CLOSE TO THE PLACE WHERE I’LL BE FIGHTING.” I turned to the two girls. “This goes especially for the two of you. Should the spider turn to you, you won’t get another chance as I do. Okay?”

Rio and Lily nodded, one a bit more excited than the other. I gave a brief glance at Ozzur, wanting to ask if he could make sure to hold Lily back. Luckily, it seems that his curiosity about seeing me fighting alone won over, because he nodded immediately.

“Good. FOURTH, AND MOST IMPORTANT ONE! DO NOT. EVER. NO MATTER WHAT, EVEN IF THE HEAVENS TELL YOU TO, GO AND ooh, there’s an ore vein there.”

I turned towards the small vein that popped up near the entrance of the mine and ran towards it. Pulling out my pick-axe and gripping it tightly, I approached the outcropping and took aim.

It was a small outcropping that was around the same size of the ones I got before. But instead of the brownish coloration of the iron ores I got earlier, this one had a more shining blackish look to it, as well as some layered markings around its surface.

Bringing down the pickaxe on the place indicated, I heard a satisfying ‘peng’ sound as a good chunk of the ore broke free from the vein and fell on the ground besides me, as well as a couple of elemental crystals that I was so familiar with.

Deciding to first excavate the whole vein before bothering picking the ore, I quickly went back to my work on hitting the rock and getting myself some materials.

After finishing with the vein, I cleared some imaginary sweat from my forehead and looked around satisfied. Some pretty big chunks of ore were spread around me, while the group still stood on the entrance with some silly looks. Turning to them confused, I tilted my head and asked.

“What is it?”

“Wargon has an attention span of a goldfish. Scoop scoop.” Scooper said as he noted the things down on the notebook. “...This is becoming a lot more different than what I expected.” He said with a frown.

“Who the hell is a goldfish?” I asked angrily. “Can’t you see i’m more like a kid overdosed in sugar?”

“... And he have no qualms about degrading himself… Scoop scoop.”

“Teacher… His whole scoop scoop is starting to irritate me.” Lily said with a pout

“Same here…” I said with a frown. “Know what? If you start hitting him every time he goes scoop scoop, i’ll give you some special classes today.”

“REALLY?” She asked excited and I nodded proudly.

“Yes. You’ll learn about things you should do before we even get to the crafting process!” I said getting carried away.

“...Wargon approves if his disciple resort to violent act. Scoop sco… OUCH!”

Good girl! While nodding satisfied, it dawned on me that this was a private mine once my gaze fell on San, but the dwarf simply waved away, as if saying that I shouldn’t worry about it. Sighing in relief, I turned down to get a look on the ores, only to stop and see a scene in surprise.

Just as I prepared to get the small ore on the ground, I noticed that there was already someone else there. Rather, something else.

A small rocky creature, with a main body made of a greenish stone and four smaller leg-like appendices coming out from its side. It was a bit bigger than my open hand and there wasn’t much feature to it at all, and that was pretty much it. In fact, i’d easily have mistaken it for some pebbles in the road if it wasn’t for the fact that it was moving around cohesively.

The small creature, completely ignoring me who was looking at it, rushed towards the pieces of ore on the ground, throwing itself at it and grabbing one of the smaller pieces greedily. Then, while he held on to it, the ore slowly started to dissolve.

“...Is it just me or this little bugger is eating my ores?” I asked in monotone.

“Huh?” San asked curious before peeking besides me. “Ooh, if it isn’t a Miner sprite! To think that there would still be some around...”

“Miner sprite?” I asked confused while seeing the small thingy. Feeling a bit confused, I started poking it to see if he would let go of my ore, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Heck, he seemed to be eating even faster now.

“Aye. Dey are some minor earth spirits that appear when we mine too deep. Mines have a lot of ‘em. Or used to, till the spider came.” San said while looking at the small thingy. “I’m glad this one didn’t starve yet, to be honest.”

“Huh? Why?” I asked while quickly gathering the remaining ores from the ground and shoving them on my inventory, except for one that I held with me. “I thought things like this would be a problem for business?”

I mean, if you have a bunch of small guys who goes around eating unprotected ores, wouldn’t the business clearly receive a hit from it? While I thought about it, I also took a glance at the ore in my hand before looking down to the sprite, then back to the ore.

Scale Iron ore (0.7 ingots)A special kind of iron ore that only appears under specific situations.

For unknown reasons, it grows in a scaled pattern with a darker hue to it, and although fragile when cut on the direction of the scales, it’s much more resilient than normal iron and a bit more resistant than steel after processed.

This iron cannot be transformed into steel.

(crafting material)

I see, so it’s a special kind of iron. Is it something like the next tier of ores that I get? Also, i'm pretty sure this doesn't exist in real life... As I thought so I took a quick glance at the elemental crystal on the ground, but it was the same as the one that I always used. Seems like it's still not the next tier, huh?

Shrugging, I decided that worrying too much would be bad, so I did what every single sane person would do when they had a piece of ore like that in their hands.

I ate it.

“Wha…?” Ozzur looked at me confused. “What are you...”

Hmm, tastes like vanilla cake! With chocolate drops! Ignoring the shocked mummy, I proceeded to pick another piece of the ore and also eat it. This thing is perfect for a snack! If only I had some juice or something to go with it…

Standing up, I cleaned my mouth from any kind of crumbs that had remained and turned to the small thingy. I could somehow see why they would like it. And it’s kind of cute seeing it hugging the ore while eating it.

“Well, some hundred years ago we thought the same.” Said San as he looked at the little guy with pity. “But they usually eat really little. An ore that size is enough for three of them to eat for an entire day. And we also found out they can help us find hidden veins in the mines, as well as ward off real pests, like rats and insects.”

I see, basically, they get something around 0.1% of the ore production, but still help a lot with preventing diseases and increasing productivity.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” I said with a small smile before frowning. “But why would it be starving if there are so many veins around?” I asked while watching as Aura sniffed the small rocky thing, curious.

“Hmm, maybe he can’t break the veins off?” Lily asked and I widened my eyes. Yeah, the little guy doesn’t look all that strong. Maybe it can’t get the ores himself?

“Okay, one more reason for me to slaughter the spider! FOR THE CUTE LITTLE PEBBLES!”

As I shouted that, the little guy became startled and jumped up, almost hitting Aura on the nose before looking up at me in confusion. Finally, it looked around for the ores and became slightly depressed. Seeing that, I decided that it was time for me to help the little guys, so I did what every single good-souled Golem would do in this situation.

Unequipping my weapon so that my disney princess… Erm… Nature attuned skill would take effect, I proceeded deeper into the mine, waving a brief goodbye to San, who stood back at the entrance where it was safer.

Taking out the map, I quickly checked the direction I had to go to find the nest and started waltzing in that direction. It didn’t take long for the next ore vein to pop up in front of me.

Mining cheerfully that vein too, it didn’t take long for the skill to take effect, and soon, three or four other little buggers came out, attracted to me thanks to my skill. The moment my pick axe struck the ore, it rained down upon them, and they quickly started to feast upon the black rocks that fell upon them.

Feeling like a generous king, I mined everything, and after making sure that all the little sprites had gotten their own share, we walked in deeped into the mine, towards the next vein, gathering even more followers along the way.

“Master, do not forget that we might run into the spider, you know?” Crys said.

“You underestimate what me and my army of small earth sprites can do! Together we shall rule the world!” I said while cackling madly.

“You do know most of them are up to level three at most, right?”

…

“A small hiccup has been found in my plan, it seems...” I said while turning back and looking at the spritelings who all followed me, then towards Lily and Ozzur, who were a lot more wary than me while walking around.

Hmm, I guess it would be a good idea to tell them that Aura should be able to find anything that may be approaching us a good few minutes before it reaches us.

But where’s the fun in that? Turning to Lieutenant who was throwing around his knife from one side to another, while Aura had since a good time put on her mist armor. Rio was, just as how i had ordered her, flying close to the duo while looking around in wonder.

Seeing as up ahead there was a strange red glow, i quickly took a look at the map, getting slightly excited at the prospect of seeing actual magma for the first time, i saw that it was exactly the path we would have to take to reach the nest.

“...Hot… Hot… Bandages…Hot...” Ozzur said suddenly. Blinking surprised, i turned to him and saw as he walked around with an exhausted posture.

No wonder he was so quiet for so long.

Sighing loudly, i quickly took my heat resistance ring and threw it to the man, feeling as the heat similar to the one on Torg’s forge overtook my body. But thanks to my skill, it wasn’t all that bad.

Hastily, Ozzur put on the ring and heaved a sigh of relief, before looking around with a slightly annoyed look in his face.

“I don’t understand. Why would they need a mine if the ores on the surface respawn after a certain time?” He asked just as we were about to take the turn that led to the magma.

Stopping to think for a moment, he did have a point this time. Turning to the only person in the entire group who would probably be able to explain the situation, the floating pink crystal elemental who looked at us with an impressed look.

“Why, there is a reason for that, mister Ozzur!” She said with a satisfied tone. “You see, having to rely on the ores of the surface to supply an entire city is… Far from ideal. Their spawn places are random, their amount are insufficient and their transport difficult.”

Ooh?

“Making an underground mine like this one is more efficient, since the time taken for the ores to reappear is lower in underground areas, they are easier to find since all the area is already mapped, and the transport can be left to pre-made mine-carts.” She said with a satisfied smile.

I see, in that case, having a bigger mine like this would increase the amount of spawn points for ores and increase the output greatly, making it also easier for the NPCs who don’t have access to the inventory screen to transport thanks to the railing and mine carts. In a way, this also means that the mine will only increase if there is the need to increase the output of ores. Quite interesting, to be honest.

As I nodded interest in that fact, Aura suddenly stopped and let a brief growl.

I sighed loudly before looking at my army of overpowered level 2 sprites. Feeling a bit unsatisfied, I quickly equipped the sword and saw as they all immediately dashed off into hiding.

“Oh, is it the impaler?” Ozzur asked while getting ready. I glanced at Aura, but she shook her head.

“Doesn’t look like it.” I said while slowly advancing towards the corner and peeking around it.

Two spiders, the size of a small dog were leaning close to the magma pool. With a black charred carapace, six whitish legs used for movement and two sharpened into claws, they looked like they were leaning on the magma for some reason.

Smiling satisfied, I said briefly.

“Two younglings.” I said in a serious tone while holding back a smile. “Don’t look that strong, so I guess me and the guys can take care of them. Want to wait here and support from the back?”

Widening her eyes, Lily quickly took hold of her dagger and hugged it close. Ozzur took his own ceremonial knife and the branch on his side.

I turned towards Aura and Lieutenant, and the duo nodded while the cat quickly jumped on the fox’s back. The usual carefree look in his face exchanged for a ferocious smile.

I took one last look into the spiders and charged in.

…

“I’m a happy golem! I’m a happy golem!

I mine, I skin; I craft, I win!

I’m a happy golem! I’m a happy golem!

The ores are mine! So full of shine!

I’m a happy golem! I’m a happy golem!

Impalers are done, Their chances were none!

So I’m a happy golem! I’m a happy golem!”

I sung an old forgotten sound as my knife dug into the dead spider’s flank, slowly carving out the lines between the carapaces so that I could get it with the least amount of damage possible.

Besides me, sitting in front of the other dead spider with a worried glance in her face was none other than Lily. She watched all my movement carefully, before taking a knife I got for her and carefully carved the spider too.

I finished much faster than her, getting bunch of good quality items, such as leg-shells, carapaces, claws and more. For some reason, Crys soon took over after I was done getting the materials and started getting the meat. Seeing how I didn’t have much reason to worry, I quickly kneeled down besides Lily and started pointing out to her how to take out a particularly tricky part of the shell.

Keeping an eye out nearby was none other than Ozzur. His usual serious self noting down something on his notebook as he registered this step of my crafting process. I felt that there wasn’t much reason for me to hide this, so I let him watch me without worries.

After the first duo of spiders, we fought two other pairs, and I started teaching Lily on how to skin the monster herself after I got some pointers from Wallace, who was very angry for some reason I couldn’t quite remember… Bah, it was for the whole Sol thingy, I’m sure.

“Strange…” Ozzur said suddenly. I blinked and turned to him confused.

“What is it?”

“This mine was supposed to be shut down for a few weeks already from what I gathered.” Huh? Weeks? That’s a lot more than what I expected! “And even though we are close to the nest, we barely found any spiderlings around. Isn’t this strange?”

“Now that you mention it…” I said with a frown. “Oh, try cutting it from the other side, should help out a bit.”

“Hmm? Oh! Much easier!” Lily said in surprise.

“But yeah, I do get where you are going. It IS odd.” I frowned for a moment. “Or maybe impalers don’t have that many off-springs at a time?” I shrugged.

“Maybe…?” Crys said with a confused look. “I don’t know much about impalers, sadly.” She looked dejected with that, so I smiled wryly for a moment.

“Impalers… Are supposed… To have… Many off-springs at a time!” Lily said while trying to yank a piece of the carapace that was still stuck.

“…Hmm…” Well, this is odd then.

But we were close enough to the nest, so I guess that trying to think about it was a bit too much. Taking another brief glance at the map, I found what looked like a nice spot to leave the group while I went in alone.

I also made a quick revision of the fight the small spiders put off in my mind, to see if I could get some kind of info on the fight against the matriarch. One odd fact that I found was that they didn’t use nets at all, and instead used the walls and ceilings to jump around during the battle. They also spewed some kind of acid or something from their mouths, but it was barely noticeable.

The TRUE part that caught my eyes was the fact that they would use the front legs as claws and slash around. Once one managed to hug me with the lower legs and started slicing me like there was no tomorrow. If it weren’t for Aura, I might have died there, since my large weapon wasn’t good to attack small monsters.

“Looks like I can expect an interesting fight.” I said while smiling widely.

Stopping to gather one last vein of ore on the way, I made a signal for them to stay put in a small antechamber before the room that San had marked. The pathway that led there was small enough that only one could pass around at a time, and if the matriarch was as large as I remembered the impalers being, then it wouldn’t be able to pass under that place no matter what.

“Okay. From now on, wait in here. It should be safe seeing how the passages are small.” I told them before turning to Aura and Co. “You guys, support them and make sure to not let them get hurt. You might want to put the ice armor, Aura.”

They all nodded, and even Lieutenant became serious at this.

Nodding satisfied, I stepped ahead towards the nest.

The room was massive, compared to the other ones I had seen previously. Gripping on the hilt of my sword nervously, I looked around in worry before slowly advancing. Different from the other rooms on the path we took, this one was filled with Magma everywhere. Puddles on almost all the corners of the room and even some slightly dripping corners.

Worried, I used my strategic mapping to find any failures on the wall or ground. Luckily, it seemed that everything was firm enough for me to not need to worry.

A few stalagmites, the ones that pop from the ground, were around, because it being full of magma wasn’t already creepy enough. To finalize the scary look, a mess of webs was on the farthest corner of the room.

Made of a reddish colored string that looked like it was ready to burst into flames, it created a protective cocoon around a large area near the biggest pool on the entire room. Inside it were smaller sacks of web that had a strange thing inside it.

From afar I couldn’t quite get what it was, and seeing that I couldn’t see the spider anywhere nearby, I decided to approach it. Ever so quietly, I reached the smaller cocoons, and once my eyes landed on them, a wide happy grin appeared in my face. They were enveloping something very important, both for the spider and for me!

Eggs! Dozens and dozens of spider eggs! All of them being around the size of my torso!

As I smiled widely, I quickly took my skinning knife and started to cut off the strings holding the eggs up together. The strings were a bit more resistant than what I expected, but they came off after a few seconds cutting them.

Freeing one of the eggs up, I quickly took it and decided to leave it with the guys back at the base, so I quickly stood up and prepared to run.

Only to stop when I noticed something. The egg… Was empty.

It was far too light for its size. Confused, I turned the egg around, trying to find if there was anything wrong with it. Much to my surprise, it had. A cut, wide enough for me to pass my whole hand through was right on its base on the opposing side, and from there dripped some kind of fluid.

Frowning confused, I quickly looked at the other eggs, crouching down behind them and checking each and every one of them.

All had the same cut on the bottom, pretty much destroying the eggs for good, seeing that whatever it was that it had inside would flow out.

“…BUT WHAT ABOUT MY MOUNT!”

As I shouted those words full of indignation, I soon regretted it.

Because not even two seconds later, something dripped in front of me. Blinking shocked, I looked down to see a small drop of magma on the ground, then, turning to look back up, what I saw were two long claws.

Two VERY long claws, that not only already looked sharp and painful as they were, they were also completely covered in flowing red-hot magma that slowly dripped down from it.

“…Cygnasdammit!” I cursed loudly.

It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to die after seeing it.