[Book II Chapter 18 part 1] HOPE: Prospecting

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After a speedy descend on a cart, Eren was leading them across the strip mine. Around them was a strange mix of grass, trees, and rocks.

“Shouldn’t we pick up the pace?” Hope asked. She’d almost prefer running to their brisk marching. Eren is cheating. No way her companion was naturally eight feet tall.

“Better to not rush in a dungeon. At least, not without a pressing reason.” Eren answered, snapping a crystal off a boulder and handing it to her. “Here is a nice one.”

In places where the veil to the Ether was thin, crystals would form and grow. The type depended on which realm was pressing upon reality. Here it’s the plane of earth. This only happened outside civilization’s protective wards. The energy contained within could fuel all manner of magics and machinery, and there was an entire industry centered on their global trade.

“Thanks,” Hope accepted the gift. She’d been going through a prodigious amount of the damn things lately.

Watching Eren stroll nonchalantly searching for crystals, Hope grew apprehensive. “I feel we should be stealthier. Aren’t there threats around?” Last time around, she and her siblings had an expert guiding them. She didn’t have quite the same confidence in her whimsical companion.

“This is a Silencer Bangle.” Eren tapped her arm. “I picked it up because dungeon runs are often too silent for my tastes. Anything twenty feet away won’t hear a peep. As for threats, most creatures around here know not to mess with saints. We don’t have much to worry about until we get farther.”

So we can’t communicate if we’re apart? Hope kept the concern to herself. She’d spent the last few weeks preparing for this, yet she still felt ill equipped. Things take a turn for the worse too often for me to relax. She refrained from blaming a certain entity for this, but it remained the truth.

From the very start, she’d been conflicted about this whole expedition. She was making steady progress with her alchemy, and leaving the safety of Corthia struck her as asking for trouble. When she’d voiced these reservations, Eren had responded with, “Common sense is making you cowardly. You’ll never reach immortality with that attitude.” This had stunned her into quiet compliance.

“So, what are your goals in life?” Eren asked.

“My what?” Hope said, mind reeling. “That’s… I guess to become immortal. Also to prevent the world from being destroyed.”

Eren rolled her eyes, “Boring. Why do you want immortality? What do you want to do with it? What are your hopes and dreams?

I don’t know. I’m barely sixteen. Still, pride compelled her to answer. “There’s plenty of stuff. I am interested in mastering alchemy and firearms. I want to become a great enchanter who crafts legendary weapons. Also, my original built Astrolis. It’d eventually like to try my hand at something similar.”

Seeing none of these answers impressing Eren, Hope became peeved. “What about you? What are your goals?”

“I want to found a second city.” Eren declared grandly. She smiled at Hope’s clueless face. “Right now, our entire culture is centered around Ravelin and the Bottomless Mines. It’s either live here or live as a foreigner in a foreign land. There’s no options. I aim to change that.”

A second Ravelin… “Won’t that be hard?” Hope asked.

“Oh, yes.” Eren agreed happily. “The HEAVENLY DAO basically created a dungeon just for us. Since that’s unlikely to happen again, I’ll probably need to find a stable entrance to the elemental plain of earth and strike a deal with the local sovereign. If I can ensure some measure of safety, there’s an infinite quantity to mine there.”

So this is what real ambition sounds like… Hope’s vague notions were nothing in comparison.

“Anyway, that’s my current plan.” Eren finished. “There’s a lot left to figure out, but I have plenty of time. I’m barely into my five extra years.”

“What’s that?” Hope asked. She’d never heard the expression.

Eren raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know about the five extra years female adventurer get between twenty-five and thirty-five?”

Hope shook her head. Eren smirked, “The HEAVENLY DAO did it to correct an imbalance. More men than women were making it to the wall. There were many reasons but mainly women were giving up and settling down earlier, giving them less time and chance to reach immortality. You see, on average men like younger women and women like older men. Since the HEAVENLY DAO never messes with preferences, it resorted to a more drastic approach.”

Hope was flabbergasted. “Did it work?”

“Mostly, for those born with strong ability. However, for the talentless who just barely scrape by, more are men. Same for war immortals. Still, it’s closer now.”

Telling someone’s true age just got more complicated. Hope carefully processed this information. “Isn’t it unfair?”

“The HEAVENLY DAO alters appearance not lifespan. Our expiration date remains the same.” Eren laughed. “Plus you need C rank or higher for it to take effect. Another incentive to even the ratio.”

“It’s really not a big deal.” She continued. “There are ways to opt out for those who object. Plus aging yourself up is easy. You’re doing it right now.”

Eren pointed ahead, “That’s where we head down. No more idle chatter I’m afraid.”

They approached a wide ravine. It was a five hundred feet drop, and there was something at the bottom. Concentrating, Hope made out lizards lounging besides a pool of water.

“Slyzards…” Eren sneered. Hope was taken aback by venom in her voice. “Nothing has killed more dwarves than these bastards.”

“That dangerous?” Hope asked.

“They have the same affinities as dwarves, which makes them perfect for stalking us. Every few months, one finds a crack and slips into one of our mines…” Eren stared down ferociously. “Do you have anything that can immobilize them?”

“I have some ice enchanted bullets.” Hope offered.

“No, they can just shrink out of that.” Eren said. “We need some glue or fine netting.”

Hope grabbed three of her more exotic enchantments and lobbed them down. Striking the ground, they exploded into the stickiest of tars. Gigantic reptilian figures were soon trying to break free.

“Perfect.” Eren jumped down. Hope gasped as she watched her grow to the size of building. The entire dungeon trembled as she landed. When she started stomping, Hope backed away, afraid of falling from all the shaking.

Once the ruckus died down, Hope joined Eren below. A bunch of flattened bodies were next to her. These rapidly disintegrated leaving some bones which Hope slipped into a pouch.

“That was satisfying.” Eren announced. “Let’s continue on.”

The descent was a lengthy affair. Hope had decided relying on bullets for spelunking was a bad idea. Too many walls to shoot myself into. Instead, she’d fashioned two new tools: A winch and grappling gun. The former was installed on her left forearm, attached to the metal frame around her upper body. Combined with an ample amount of steel wire, it let her rappel down at great speeds, her metal bending controlling her trajectory. For shorter climbs, she’d formed mithril tipped metal claws on her hands and feet, which let her to cling to wall. The grappling gun is mostly for the way back.

Although satisfied with her mobility, Hope still struggled to keep up. Eren could cling to any rocky surface with her earth affinity. Her size changing let her turn into a giant to step over obstacles and shrink to navigate narrow spaces. Fortunately, she would frequently wait for Hope with a smug expression.

For the first hour, the caves were barely lit by green moss and yellow crystals. Then it got pitch dark. Hope didn’t like this so everywhere they went, she religiously fired off special ‘glow bullets’, which stuck to walls and were packed with twenty-four hours of bright illumination. Eren found this wasteful, but Hope didn’t care. It’s important I can find my way back if something happened to her.

Hope was surprised how little resistance the dungeon was putting up. Anything they meet was dead by the time she caught up, the corpses vanished. I wish I knew what Eren was killing. Eren explained this region was called the Expanse, known for being sparse and spread out.

In a couple of places, Hope saw stretches of red far below. These were the lava lakes, an area teeming with hostile life. The next area down is the abysmal ravines which are stalked by horrors. If you ended up there, you’re apparently dead.

After a couple hours, just as Hope was growing impatient, Eren stopped. “See that opening? It leads to the new undead mines I found.” She announced proudly.

Great, we’re here, Hope thought. She remembered her training with Astra and the stories of her siblings. “So what now?” Hope asked.

“From what I remember, most are weaponless.” Eren reported. “As long as we watch out for the pickaxe wielders, we should be fine. I suggest a frontal assault.”

“Surely there’s a better approach.” Hope objected.

“Undead are a special case in dungeons.” Eren explained. “In the outside world, they’re cunning and strategic, frequently retreating to stalk easier prey or wait for better opportunities. In dungeons, this is co-opted. Until triggered by an intruder, they remain in a docile state. Once snapped out of it, they are compelled to attack aggressively, regardless of their chances.”

“All this goes against their instincts, and they resist it fiercely. If we try to be clever and lead them into a ambush, we risk breaking this programmed behavior. Trust me, we don’t want that. As soon as they determine they can’t win, they’d scatter. Any we miss would follow us back to Corthia.”

I see… Sighing, Hope reached back and opened her lugger’s pack. Recognizing regular bullet would be ineffective, she’d assembled eight pump action shotguns, their handles easily accessible on her back. She didn’t want to worry about reloading.

“Don’t worry, this will be a cinch.” Eren reassured, running ahead.

Eren led them carefully through a cavern system, the glow stone she used as a lantern so dimmed Hope could barely see. They emerged on a ledge overlooking a long tunnel with two minecart tracks side by side. Both directions led to wide spaces with figures wandering to the light of tomb ivy.

Eren whispered, “You take the ones that come from the right, and I’ll take the ones from the left. Ready?”

(continued in part 2)