Chapter 261 - The Mine (Patreon)

The next day, Zeke followed Jasper out of the barracks, a mingling sense of trepidation and excitement dancing in his stomach. On the one hand, he hoped it would be the first step toward completing his quest and gaining his new skill. Perhaps it was the opportunity of which Oberon had intended him to take advantage. But on the other, he had no idea what to expect in a dwarven mine. Would it simply be manual labor? Or were there dangers in the mines?

His instincts – and Jasper’s hints that there would be chances to “prove” themselves – suggested that it would be the latter, but Zeke was also certain there would be plenty of the former as well. Even so, he was nervous about what it all represented, especially since he didn’t have the safety net of his overpowered skills to fall back on.

Sure, he had his stats, which in the Radiant Isles, had put him head and shoulders above most of the population. Even ancient monsters like the earth elemental were only slightly more physically imposing. But now? This was a different world with entirely different rules. For all he knew, every other person he’d met had stats that would dwarf his. The only thing that gave him hope was that, according to Oberon, each point of his stats counted for exponentially more than those of most people. Eventually, that would add up to an enormous advantage, but for now? He had no context for where he stood in the hierarchy of power in this new world.

Still, danger meant possible challenges, and that meant that he had the opportunity to grow stronger. It was no different from when he’d first been reborn; he just had to take it one step at a time. If he continued like that, he’d get where he wanted to go.

For now, though, he needed to learn how to be a miner. To that end, he followed Jasper and the rest of the captives down a side tunnel to what appeared to be a storage depot carved into the wall of the tunnel. There, they were each given mining picks that Zeke noticed had been enchanted. After a short inspection of the underlying runes, Zeke recognized that the enchantment wasn’t anything special and was only intended to increase durability, which made plenty of sense.

The group was then led down the tunnel for almost a mile before they turned off down a side passage. Another mile, and they made another turn. A few hundred yards, and yet another. On and on they went, steadily descending deeper into the mountain. With each turn, the tunnels grew steadily rougher, eventually losing any semblance of the dwarven precision that was so common in the rest of the tunnels.

The only signs that they weren’t natural were the enchanted globes of light hanging every dozen feet and the aged, wooden ribs that acted as supports. Even without them, Zeke was certain that the tunnel would maintain its shape. It had a feeling of permanence. Of solidity. Of age.

How he felt those things, Zeke didn’t know. Perhaps it was a characteristic of his new class, which had been described as having a relationship with the earth. Or maybe it was all his imagination. It might’ve even been a native trait of the mine itself. Whatever the case, it occupied Zeke’s mind until they finally reached a large cavern, where the guard-dwarf slowed to a stop.

In the center of the room was a sizable pit, around which a few dwarves were gathered. Over the pit was a wooden crossbar held aloft by two angular supports, and from that crossbar extended a series of ropes that stretched down into the pit. Upon seeing the approaching group of captive miners, one of the dwarves hurried to one end of the contraption, grabbed a crank, and began to turn it. With a creak, the crossbar began to rotate, coiling the ropes around its circumference until, after a few minutes, a wooden platform appeared at the top of the pit.

“Our ride has arrived, my friend,” said Jasper, reaching up to clap him on the shoulder.

“Is that thing safe?” Zeke asked, eyeing it suspiciously. The wood looked sturdy enough, and it was large enough to accommodate all twenty of the miners. However, Zeke couldn’t help but wonder about those thick ropes. The caverns weren’t particularly damp, but during his time in the troll caves, Zeke had learned firsthand just how quickly fabric could rot.

“Safe enough!” was Jasper’s chipper reply.

Zeke shook his head and followed Jasper and the others to the platform, which swayed when he stepped onboard. However, though the ropes creaked, they easily held, and when Zeke looked closer, he noticed that they had been enchanted just like the mining picks. Clearly, the dwarves were capable if even their ropes were enchanted for durability. What, then, about their armor and weapons? Zeke ached to study such things.

But for now, he found himself being crammed onto a platform with dozens of other miners, which, given that they were unwashed slaves, filled his nostrils with a very unpleasant aroma. He tried to ignore it, but there was only so much he could do in that arena. The best he could reliably accomplish was to simply endure.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the platform was loaded and one of the dwarves started in on the crank. A moment later, Zeke felt it shudder, and then begin to descend. For the first ten feet after being swallowed by the pit, they were surrounded by smooth, rocky walls. However, that changed when their descent took them into an open cavern that, because of how dark it was, brought to mind a yawning abyss.

Even with his enhanced vision, Zeke could only see a dozen feet. Even then, there wasn’t anything but open air, which made Zeke clench in anxiety.

On it went for almost five minutes until, finally, Zeke saw light down below. It was faint at first, but a minute or so later, the lights resolved themselves into a string of enchanted globes suspended on poles. A little later, the platform finally set down, and Zeke followed the group into the cave. As they went from light to light, he noticed that they trod upon a well-worn path, and they soon found coming up on another tunnel entrance. This one was rough, with jagged walls, and looked like it would be cramped for some of the mining party’s bigger members.

“Why doesn’t anyone just run off?” Zeke asked, his whispered question seeming loud within the tunnel.

“No point,” answered one of the enslaved dwarves. He didn’t even come up to Zeke’s shoulder, but he was wide and sturdy.

“What our boon companion means to say is that the entry cavern has no exits other than the elevator and this tunnel,” Jasper stated.

“But how –”

“Just wait and see,” Jasper implored. “It will all become clear in a few moments.”

Zeke didn’t like the answer; he wasn’t the most patient of people, after all. But he closed his mouth and followed the other miners. As he did, he hunched his shoulders against the oppressive confines of the tunnel as memories of similar situations assailed his mind. Before the troll caves, he’d never really considered himself claustrophobic, but there were a few times when he’d been forced to acknowledge that there was a point past which everyone became at least a little uncomfortable.

The feeling didn’t last long because, after only a couple of minutes traveling down the curving tunnel, they emerged into yet another cavern. However, this one was far better lit, and it was crawling with slaves. A wide variety of races were present, and Zeke recognized humans, elves, and a few lizard men. However, the vast majority of them were dwarves; although, these enslaved dwarves didn’t have the gray coloring of their captors. Instead, they resembled the dwarves Zeke had seen in movies back on Earth.

But despite their resemblance to the gray dwarves, they were enslaved just like the rest of them.

As the group stepped further into the cavern, Zeke looked around, seeing a series of lifts bearing tons of ore. That made a lot of sense; certainly, that rickety platform by which they’d descended into the mines wouldn’t support much more than the weight of their party, so there had to be a way for the dwarves to get the mined ore back to wherever it would be processed and used.

Here and there, Zeke saw clusters of stone dwarves, each armed with cudgels and armored in thick leathers. However, beneath the disgruntled expressions that every stone dwarf had worn, Zeke noticed an undercurrent of boredom. Clearly, they didn’t think the slaves posed much of a threat – and rightly so, because they were all collared and shackled, which meant that couldn’t call on any skills. For most people, that was a crippling impairment.

The group of slaves didn’t stop inside the cavern; instead, they headed to the other side of the tunnel where they entered another tunnel. For the next half hour, they descended further into the mountain until, at last, one of the dwarves called for a stop. That’s when Zeke noticed that the tunnel was sparkling in the scant illumination provided by the mana lights.

“That is what we’re after, my friend,” said Jasper, running his thin fingers along the sparkling red stones. “Lava rubies. This tunnel is lousy with them. Not that they are particularly valuable. Not like chaos diamonds. Or netherite. But with the sheer saturation of these tunnels makes it a worthwhile endeavor.”

Zeke, having recognized a word, asked, “Netherite? Are we likely to find any down here?”

“Not with a –”

Suddenly, Jasper cut off and fixed his attention down to the side of the tunnel that led deeper into the mine. Zeke asked, “What is it?”

The dark elf never got the chance to answer because, less than an instant later, a swarm of tiny humanoids raced into the light.

“Kobolds!” one of the dwarves in the front screamed back to everyone else. By the time he turned his attention to the oncoming creatures, one of them was on top of him, ripping out his throat with wicked claws.

“I hope you can fight,” Jasper muttered. “This looks like a big pack.”

Then the other kobolds – which looked like miniature lizard men with sharp claws and even sharper teeth – were upon them. One leapt at Zeke, but he sidestepped it and planted his fist in the creature’s face. It rocketed away to collide with the tunnel wall, cracking a good portion of the stone with the impact. The creature itself hadn’t fared any better, and Zeke thought he heard the sound of shattering bones. When it fell, it did so in a boneless heap; Zeke knew it wouldn’t rise.

That encounter told him that his stats were still impressive enough to at least deal with the small lizard creatures. So, he waded into the fray, noticing that Jasper seemed to be holding his own. The slim elf hadn’t seemed like much of a fighter, but he moved like lightning. He didn’t have the abrupt brutality of someone like Talia, though. Instead, he reminded Zeke of Silas in that there were no wasted motions. He was fast, sure, but he was also in complete control of his body. Never was that more apparent than when Jasper leapt into the air and whipped his foot around in a wide circle that destroyed the snout of one of the kobolds.

Seeing that his only real ally could handle himself freed Zeke to head to the front of the party where the fight was thickest. Already, two of the slaves – the first dwarf and a pale-skinned elf – had already fallen, their blood pooling on the ground beneath. The rest of the slaves weren’t faring much better, either. Zeke aimed to change that, stepping up and aiming a brutal front kick at one of the little monsters. It connected, sending the kobold sailing into the darkness, and Zeke turned his attention to the swarming mass of remaining enemies.

There were dozens of the things, each one a vicious combination of rigid scales, sharp teeth, and ripping claws. But Zeke was a veteran of a thousand battles, and he didn’t panic as he aimed heavy blows at the monsters. Each punch shattered bone. Every kick sent a kobold flying through the air. Each stomp burst a monster apart like an overfilled balloon.

However, Zeke couldn’t avoid all of their attacks, and he picked up a handful of wounds. Some came at the monsters’ teeth. Others, at their claws. But one and all, they barely broke the surface of his skin. And when they did, they drew blood that looked like nothing so much as rivulets of red mercury.

After a couple of minutes that felt like a subjective eternity filled with biting monsters, the tunnel went silent as the last of the monsters fell. Only a moment later, the moans and groans of the wounded filled the air, and Zeke turned his attention in their direction. What he saw was both expected and surprising.

Expected because they had just fought a battle; wounds were a harsh reality of any fight. But surprising because of the severity of those wounds. No one – except Jasper, who seemed entirely unhurt – had escaped unscathed, and some of their injuries were severe. Deep gashes, huge chunks of missing flesh, and a couple of broken bones – all but a few of the slaves sported heinous wounds.

By contrast, Zeke’s injuries were mere scratches and scrapes, and he felt that his vitality would soon take care of them. Even without his skills, it seemed that Zeke was incredibly difficult to put down.

That was a good thing, because judging by his first foray into the mines, there was a lot more to being a miner than swinging a mining pick at the walls of the tunnel.

Zeke knelt beside one of the injured slaves and tore off a strip of his own shirt, which he used as a makeshift bandage. Then, he looked to Jasper and asked, “What do we do in a situation like this?”

The dark elf gave a sad sight, then said, “We take them back the central hub. If they have the contribution points, they will receive healing. If not, then…”

He trailed off, unwilling to speak the obvious. If the slaves didn’t have the contribution points for healing, then they would be left to fend for themselves. It was a simple matter of value; if a slave hadn’t done enough to earn a few contribution points, then that slave wasn’t worth the effort to heal. That knowledge was a harsh reminder that, before anything else, they were just property.

Zeke’s frustration mounted as he continued to help the injured slaves, he couldn’t help but hope that he’d find the opportunity Oberon had mentioned quickly. Otherwise, he’d probably do something rash and get himself killed.