This felt...sinister.
Human or elf cores worn as accessories, and emitted energy and magic specific to the portals.
This was another thing to report on.
"How is it that every time we visit, we have something like this?" Marcus couldn’t help but utter out loud. He just wanted to fight and grow stronger in peace . Why are there so many conspiracy stuff happening?
His simple-minded brain was always very confused, smoking after being forced to think deeply. He hated it!
"We are earning a lot of points," Nona said, looking at him, and then poking at his armor to make her point. This lightweight but durable armor was precisely bought using points in the adventurer guild’s item shop.
Points were given not only when they finished missions, but also when they provided information.
Thanks to those, everyone’s equipment had upgraded. Leiah even got herself a space rune! (Though admittedly, after finding out Syl could make one soon, Leiah regretted spending so many points on it).
However, as much as they wanted to go back now, their stats were low from the fight earlier and they had to rest. The journey home was also dangerous.
They also cleaned up their victims, stripping them of the important stuff like any identity to report to the guild, but burning them and then burying them 3 feet under the ground.
Finn learned somewhere that it was better than burying at 6 feet, as it would decompose them more thoroughly and faster.
Finn took this time to finish up one of the main things he needed to do while they were here.
He finished preparing and eating lunch first, though. He made something similar to arroz ala cabana, with the local plantain to offer the sweetness (it wasn’t as sweet as earth banana, and he had to de-seed it, but it was okay), and they had bird monsters, so they didn’t have to go far to get some eggs.
He had plenty of rice in his (and Syl’s) space, so it was a full lunch—D-class, too, and he could feel it was the superior kind.
At this rate, using these new higher-essence ingredients and cooking them in the kitchen, did he have a chance to get a higher-rank food?
While the group relaxed and prepared to go, Syl headed in to take the things they put aside in her space. This was really convenient, though Finn was determined to activate the [Delivery Hall]. They couldn’t depend on Syl every time to transfer things, right?
The group blinked when they saw Finn head inside and start attacking the walls.
"What are you doing?"
"Mining."
"What?"
Finn didn’t answer and continued with his movements. When some smaller ores started rolling under his feet, Durgan lifted it up and blinked.
He could naturally determine the metal. With the [Advanced Blacksmithing] skills he had, since he was technically within the Inn’s property, his passive also activated.
He could even tell the concentration and what he had to do to purify the ore.
"We’re in a mine..."
"Oh."
The rest of them couldn’t help but look over, studying the ores in curiosity. He did not specify what kind of mine it was, but they were very interested.
Durgan, on the other hand, was much less leisurely. His heart beat loudly and he immediately went to help Finn out. Of course, even if the ore was not the one he needed, he was a staff member, so how could he leave his boss to do the manual labor alone?
The others started helping out, though they were just following them. "What kind of material is it?" Marcus asked while slashing at part of the wall.
"It’s iron ore."
Clack!
"What?"
They gaped, and looked at Finn in disbelief. So he made the barrier here because of this?! Was he mining the mountain? In Level 2 Danger Zone?!
That said, while there were plenty of concerns, it was still a fact that this was a precious resource. Besides, for this particular trip, they were blessed with Syl’s large space. They might have to leave a lot of the leather behind to make space, but that’d be fine.
Within an hour, a small hill of ores were taken out. Interestingly, Finn was also interested in other rocks other than ores. It didn’t seem particularly special. They were sharp, angular, rocks of light colors. Some were beige, some were cream, some were light grey.
They had a chalky, powdery feel to them, and when held by hand, some powder would be left behind on their palms.
When asked what it was, Finn said it was something called limestone, and would be a pretty useful thing to bring home.
Durgan looked at the ores and the caves that would take a while. They also would need to reinforce the place.
Finn wasn’t too worried about labor. He established the points system for a reason.
Anyway, he went to handle the [Delivery Room], finally activating it.
After setting up a [Delivery Hall] in the main territory, placing the node was quite simple. He simply had to go to the [Room] tab and press ’Add node’ and a similar metallic flat shape would appear. It was smaller than the one back home, but the pattern was more or less the same.
[Would you like to set it to Node #2? Available: 2/2. Locked: 2/2]
His eyebrows rose. It seemed like he could open up new ’nodes’ in other places as well, albeit they were not exactly accessible to him just yet.
Well, even if he did have access, he wouldn’t jump at the chance yet. He still had a lot of logistics issues to deal with this one.
Soon a familiar pattern appeared, and the land under the building depressed by itself as if something heavy and invisible landed on it.
"What is this?"
"At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised by what appears out of thin air anymore."
On the contrary, Durgan shook his head. "I will never get used to it." And as a staff member, he would definitely see more.
Finn looked at Syl, who was staring, but much cooler than them. "Are things like this common in elven kingdom?"
"No, this is the first time I’ve seen it," she said, very frankly. "I’m fascinated."
"..."
He smiled as he shook his head, just concentrating on the building being built up stone by stone.
He wondered how much this thing could change?