I woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast being made. Carol was making two omelette dishes filled with chopped vegetables and bacon pieces. I was too busy being scolded yesterday to notice, but she's really pretty. Carol's spider parts are white as snow and her human parts are slightly tan which transitions well into her long black hair. Her clothes only only consist of a pink silk shirt, which I assume she made herself, and a white canvas apron. I look closely at her six spider legs and notice that the front pair are shorter and have a silver metal covering the tips the remind me of an old style fountain pen. Her human figure is modest in the chest area which probably only amounts to a large B cup, her face has two pairs of human eyes which seem to change color with her mood. Carol's face doesn't have any wrinkles or laugh lines which makes me feel like she might be somewhere between 17 and 20 years old. I can't help but think she's cute when she's not angry.

I collect the cups and pour a very watered down citrus wine into them and bring them to our spots at the table while she brings the plates of food. We made small talk as we ate breakfast and I learned some of the common knowledge about ths town. It doesn't really have a name or appear on any of the official maps, so the residents just refer to it as Border Town since it is on the edge of the known world and it is practically in the jungle on the southern edge of civilization. Border Town is governed by a town council and doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of any country as it is too far from any capital. Sometimes straggelrs who were exiled from the more populous cities in the north find themselves here and they are given a 30 day trial period to make themselves useful to the town. If they violate any of the laws during their probationary stay in border town they are either executed or cast out into the jungle which is referred to as Green Hell. Most people find a place to fit in here, but the ones that don't find the justice system here to be harsh. In light of my contribution to the library, Carol told me she'd vouch for me to become a welcome resident at the next council meeting. It turns out she has a lot of clout in Border town, Carol has a hand in almost every aspect of life here, she does all the enchanting work, provides silk to the tailor shop, and makes nets for the hunters that brave the jungle in the south and the forest to the north. Basically, without her, the town would be full of naked starving people. Since Border Town is in a bad location, gardening is done on all the roofs of the buildings outside the central square except for the six guard barracks in each corner of the town. The town is shaped like a hexagon with one end pointing north and the other south into the jungle. There are no guilds here, so professions are mostly inherited from parents or brought to town by people from the north. I also learned that there was a mine and smithy run by dwarves in the town itself. Carol told me that if I needed a job, it would be a good idea to start with them, since most of my knowledge seemed to focus on metal and crafting. She sent me out with directions to the dwarven mine and a package for the tailor who was next door to them, I was also promised that if I worked hard and managed to find a job for the time I was in Border Town she would train me in enchanting personally.

I exited the library and went down the northeastern alley in the central square. I was once again finding it odd that almost no one was on the streets, but by this point the hunters would have already left for the day and the average citizen would already be at work. I did see a few children playing and a messenger or delivery man, but it seems no adult has a day off here. I reached the end of the alley and stood in the shadow of the ten floor Guard barracks while I read the signs to find the tailor's workshop. I found it on my left and dropped off the package. There was a note on the silk delivery. The tailor read it and told me that I was to return to him for payment before I went to Carol's this evening.

I walked next door to the smithy as directed by Carol to introduce myself as a prospective employee to the dwarf in charge. When I entered the stiflingly hot smithy the first thing I noticed were a pair of dwarves that looked exactly alike arguing with each other. I couldn't make out what was being said due to the clanging of metal being struck in the background so I got closer to get their attention. "Hello! My name is Thomas and I'm here to ask about a possible job as a miner." I shouted so that I could be heard over the pounding of hammer on anvil going on nearby. The two dwarves were only slightly taller than me. I was four feet and two inches approximately, so I guessed they would be around three inches taller. They turned to me at the same time and sized me up before pointing at a box that looked like a dumbwaiter to my left. I bowed slightly in thanks and headed for the box. I thanked god for giving me the foresight to leave all but my helmet and pick in my room, because I doubt they'd fit in this box with me. There was a lever that was in a semi circular connector inside the elevator, I pushed it to the side labelled 'down' and Watched the wall pass by until I reached an area with a sign that said 'mine administration' I stopped the elevator and stepped off. I followed the path for about 15 minutes until reached a cavern that had a stone structure with a wooden door in the front of it. I knocked on the door and it opened. A dwarf with a white beard stood on the other side of the partially opened door, he looked me over and noticed my tools before opening the rest of the way and waving me in.

"Welcome cousin, what brings you to my office?" he asked as he took his place behind a cluttered desk. "My name is Thomas sir, and I've come at Miss Weaver's suggestion that you might be willing to take me on as a temporary worker until I can start my own trade." I replied to the dwarf who appeared to be my senior. "So, she sent you to me did she? Have you ever worked a mine before boy?" He asked, sizing me up anew. "I have sir, but it's been a while. I fear your standards might be more than I can manage at first." I attempt a small bit of flattery with a grain of truth, I really want this job. "I'll put you to work then. What are you familiar with?" He asks as an after thought. I respond with, "Iron sir, I've mined an iron vein that had copper as an impurity." I followed up with, "We used an acid to break the iron down to sand and then neutralized it with water in order to smelt the iron sand, the copper was smelted and sold off as a commodity until we had a more pure iron vein to work." I noticed the old miner's face go slack around the jaw and I thought that perhaps I said too much. The wizened dwarf collected his composure and asked, "Why not become a smith with that knowledge?" I told him that I needed resources and would rather earn my pay in the form of raw ores than work as a smith and not be allowed to create the tools I need for my eventual plans. We agreed on a payment of half ore and half coin for my necessities. He gave me a map of the mine, which was more of a book than a map, and told me to get to the iron sector which would be two shafts down.

The mine was set up in such a way that it hit multiple different rock layers, it seemed to me that several different asteroid impacts here had caused a formation of bands which changed the available minerals on each layer. This would be highly unlikely in my old world, but if someone designed it to happen, anything was possible. I finished musing at the improbability of things in Magras at the same time as I reached the iron sector. It was effectively just a dead end to a tunnel that stopped right in the middle of the iron vein. I was told ahead of time that most of the miners were off in a newly discovered silver vein and that I would be working alone on the iron vein. Tis fact suits me just fine as I remembered being scolded for trying to project magic in the library. I figure here might be a safe place to try it again, and since I was scolded so fiercely over the possibility of destroying books that were so heavily enchanted, maybe there's a chance I can use it to mine.

I find the cart I'm supposed to load the ore into and I move it to what I hope is a safe distance from the ore vein, I sit in the cart and meditate just like Carol's book said. I create the marble of mana faster than before as the process seems to be easier in an environment that isn't so heavily enchanted. I enlarge the marble into a ball the size of a softball this time and send it out to my fingertips. I stretch my hand out at the iron vein and urge the mana ball to strike the vein with all the willpower I can manage. The ball flies from my fingers as though my hand were a gun and strikes just off center against the raw iron ore. The blue ball of light tunnels into the ore under its own momentum for about a foot before exploding and sending chunks of iron flying all over the tunnel like shrapnel. I quickly duck and cover in the mine cart and flinch as the shrapnel hits against it violently, I know if I had been outside of the cart I wouldn't have survived. When the sound metal clanging against my temporary shelter ends I peek out over the edge of the cart at the iron vein. What was once a solid lump of iron was now a cracked wall of it several yards farther than it was when I arrived. I picked up enough ore to fill the cart and transported it to the sorting station, I grabbed a new cart and filled it three times before I was finished cleaning up the mess I had made. I managed this in what I would guess to be three hours, I would give anything to have a watch again. I delivered my fourth, and final, cart full of iron to the sorting station when the old foreman showed up. "You used magic to mine that didn't you?" He asked, he seemed excited about it rather than mad. "Yessir, I wanted to try out mana manipultaion since I was learning it from Miss Carol." I responded. "Good call," he said. "Most metals have a violent reaction to magic, silver being the exception, and you being the only miner I have that can use magic makes it easier to keep up with my other orders." The foreman pauses for a moment, "If you can manage this twice everyday, I can let you have two carts of whatever you're mining and still pay you a week's wage for that one day of work, you feel up to it?" He asks, as if challenging me. I grin in a mischievous manner and reply "Affirmative sir."

I took four carts with me to the iron sector again and blasted the vein with a tad less force. The wall was already cracked, so I got similar results to my first attempt and brought the carts back one at a time after I filled them up. I checked in with the foreman and he inspected my work. "Good work kid," he said with a smile, he handed me a pouch containing 35 silver pieces and a receipt that entitled me to two carts of iron ore. I took lunch at the tavern and then went back to Carol to tell her about my new job.