So, I take my mining pick and start mining the silver out of the wall of the lava tube. My plan is to mine out all of the silver and then look for gems afterwards. With how bright the silver is, it is not hard to follow the vein and make sure I don't miss any.

Thanks to my ring I don't need to worry about running out of storage space. All that the silver is going to cost me is the time it takes me to mine it out. Which ends up being about five hours, which means I missed lunch.

However, I feel that it is going to be worth it, I already have some ideas for the silver. Once I have mined out all of the silver I leave the lava tube and fly back to the cave. When I get back I find everyone in the cave and there is also the carcass of a medium dinosaur.

"What's this?"

Lin says "Nala brought it back, but I have no idea how to butcher it."

"That's okay, I can do it. Do you want to learn?"

Lin says "Um, no thanks. Not unless I have to."

"No, I won't make you. Any problems while I was gone?"

Lin says "No. Nala and Albion spent the day exploring and seemed like they had fun. Mulan and Mushu woke up for a while and I took them just outside the cave for a bit. They didn't go far, but they seemed to enjoy it."

"That's good. How about you? Are you regretting coming?"

Lin says "I will admit that roughing it isn't my favorite thing, but I don't mind it too much. It is nice to be back on stable ground for a bit and I enjoy spending time with the kids."

"Alright. Just keep in mind that you can go back to the ship if it gets to be too much for you."

Lin says "Thank you, but I am fine. At least for now."

After giving Lin a smile I use my claws to butcher the dinosaur that Nala caught. Mulan and Mushu are taking another nap, but they wake up shortly after I put meat over the fire. Once they realize what is going on they start trying to reach the meat hanging above them.

I just laugh at their antics and tell them to be patient, but they don't pay any attention. As soon as the first piece of meat is cooked I take it and tear it into smaller pieces to feed to them. The second piece goes to Nala since she made the kill and Lin feeds Albion from the pouch.

It takes more than one piece of meat to satisfy Nala, but there is plenty. I make sure that Lin gets to try some before it is all gone, I just eat from my pouch. A medium sized dinosaur is nowhere near enough to feed all of us, it is barely enough to feed Nala.

Mulan and Mushu enjoy their meat and go back to sleep once their bellies are full. They probably wore themselves out earlier when they got to do a little exploring. Nala seems to be especially pleased with herself, but she has the right to be.

Lin says "Um, what should I do for a place to sleep?"

"Well, your best bet is to cuddle with Nala and Albion. I won't be here, I will be mining again."

Lin says "Alright. I will figure something out."

Before I leave I give Nala and Albion some affection and make sure to tell Nala she did good. Then I fly back to the volcano and go down to the lava tube the silver was in. Without the silver to interfere I am able to scan for gems and collect them.

I plan to spend the entire night mining, but before I forget I open a soulscape. I invite all of my kids and Lin, then spend a few hours with them before ending the soulscape. After that I spend the rest of the night mining gems out of the lava tube.

I have no idea if it is because of the silver or just a coincidence, but this tube has hundreds of gems. Halfway through the tube my mining pick breaks and I have to stop and make a new one. This time I make it out of better material by using mana to heat and shape the metals.

Once it is shaped I also enchant it, I don't ever want to have to make another one. The enchantments I add are to strengthen the pick and also for self repair. With my strength I don't actually need it to help me with mining, just to survive.

It takes me about an hour to make and enchant the new mining pick, then I get back to work. There is something about collecting the gems that satisfies a deep part of me. However, so far I haven't found any of the gems that my instincts tell me to eat.

Still, the amount of gems I am getting out of this single lava tube is extremely satisfying. This tube may even give me enough gems for what I need to do on the ship. Even if it does I don't plan to stop, not until there are no gems left or I run out of time.

Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever and I eventually see daylight ahead of me. It looks like this tube does reach the surface and it is just after dawn. I could head back and join the others for breakfast, but I turn around instead.

After running back to the main shaft I drop shapeshift and fly to the next tube. As soon as I land I go back to elven form and start scanning the tube as I advance. I harvest the gems I find as I go and then after a while I find an iron deposit.

Iron is something I don't really need for the ship modifications, but I mine it anyway. Even if I don't need it right now, it may be useful later, if not for me then for others. Besides, as far as gems are concerned, I am already ahead of schedule.

After mining out the iron ore I go back to hunting for my glorious gems. Unfortunately, while this tube does have some gems, it is nowhere near as many as the last one. I also wouldn't mind finding some more of the mana rich silver, but so far there is none.

Even if there are only a few gems, it still makes me feel good each time I free one from the tube. I don't remember feeling this good last time I was here to get gems, but I was also worried about the maker at the time. That zombie t-rex was definitely worth worrying over and I am glad it seems to be gone.

If the maker did somehow get it to the other island, I feel kind of sorry for the humans and orcs. Other than the avatar I saw, I doubt anyone else has a chance against the thing. Even the city walls wouldn't really slow the thing down, it is just too massive.

There is another possibility, according to the Jurassic Park books, the t-rex is a really good swimmer. If that were to be true, it is possible that the zombie t-rex swam from this island to the elven island. Or, it also could have been eaten by something while trying to swim there.