Runeguard 014

I reached the cave in Wolf Valley without any further mishap. Taking the time only to ascertain it still remained empty, I lit one of my makeshift torches and set myself to mining the ore vein.

It was hard going, especially early on. But after I gained the mining skill and picked up a few skill ranks, things became easier. And it was only a little later that I had mined the vein dry.

Setting aside my pickaxe, I quenched my thirst and inspected the fruits of my labor.

Your mining skill has increased to rank 3.

You have acquired: 10 x pieces of iron ore.

Not bad, I thought. I wiped off the drying sweat from my brow. It was time to enter the tunnel. Carrying the torch in my left hand and my sword in my right, I entered the underground passage.

For the first few dozen yards, the tunnel plunged straight west as far as I could tell. Then it began to delve deeper into the earth, twisting and winding in so convoluted a manner that I lost track of which direction I was heading.

A few minutes later, I spotted another seam of ore. “Ah,” I said, running my hands along the lines of metal coloring the rock. 

The seam ran horizontally along the corridor and was many times bigger than the vein I had mined in the cave above. This will take me hours, I thought.

“Adi,” I said, “can you track the passage of time from down here?”

“Yes, Dace. The time is currently 10:15 AM.”

“Excellent,” I replied. That took care of one problem. But there were other matters I needed to attend to before I began mining. “Adi, invest my three new Essence Points in life please.”

“Done, Dace.”

“Thank you.” If I was going to be stuck mining for hours, I wanted to maximize the benefits I derived from the time. 

I took a long look down both ends of the tunnel. I was alone. Good enough, I thought, removing my gambeson and drawing my dagger.

For a moment, I stared at the unbroken skin of my torso and steeled myself for what was to come. Don’t be a baby, Dace. Just do it.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I wrapped both my hands around the dagger hilt, then thrust it deep into myself.

By god, it hurt.

I gasped at the blossoming pain. Placing an arm against one wall, I leaned on it for support, while I came to grips with the pain.

“What are you doing, Dace?” Adi asked, her voice both perplexed and worried.

I chuckled—if a bit grimly. “Not killing myself if that is what you are wondering. If I am going to be here for a few hours, best I train up my life skills while I am at it. Tell me when my health drops below fifty percent, please.”

“Alright, Dace,” Adi said, still sounding uneasy.

I didn’t let myself be put off by either her concern or the pain coursing through me. Pain and I were destined to become good friends, I imagined.

Withdrawing the dagger, I plunged it into my body again. 

Then once more.

“Your health is at 30% Dace.”

“Thanks, Adi,” I ground out through clenched teeth. The pain was excruciating. But necessary, I reminded myself. Dropping the dagger, I cast lesser heal until I ran out of mana.

Due to my low mana pool and life magic skill, I only managed to cast the spell five times, raising my health by a whole whopping ten percent.

But I wasn’t worried.

Restoration would raise my health back to full, and regeneration would do the same for my mana. Then, I would repeat the process.

But until that happened, I would mine ore. Bending down, I picked up the pickaxe, and doing my best to ignore the shooting slivers of agony racing up my sides, I began mining. 

✵ ✵ ✵

Two hours later, I had mined the seam dry.

Exhausted, I slumped to the ground while I ate my travel rations. “Adi, how’d I do?”

“Displaying a summary of your gains now, Dace.”

Your mining skill has increased to rank 9.

You have acquired: 110 x pieces of iron ore.

Your restoration skill has increased to rank 8.

Your life magic skill has increased to rank 10.

Your regeneration skill has increased to rank 5.

Your recovery skill has increased to rank 21.

Smiling, I dismissed the System messages as I slipped back into my armor. I noticed the restoration skill advanced much slower than my life magic skill, but overall, I was happy with my progress.

Each cast of my lesser heal spell was now healing as much as ten percent of my total health, which made its use in combat more viable. Ready once more, I slipped down the tunnel in hunt of the next ore deposit.

After a few more minutes walking, the passage I followed spilled out into an underground cavern. I slowed my steps as I neared the wide-open space.

With my back braced against one tunnel wall, I inched into the cavern and studied its depths warily. There were three other tunnels leading away from it, each nearly equidistant apart. In the faint light of my torch, the cavern walls shimmered silver.

I smiled. The cavern was rich in ore.

Planting my torch in the middle of the cavern, I took off my leather jacket and readied myself to get to work again.

✵ ✵ ✵

Twenty minutes later, I was still chipping away at the cavern walls. If my mining progressed at the same rate it had in the tunnel earlier, I didn’t expect to be finished in the cavern before nightfall.

I would have to return tomorrow. 

I wonder if I should tell Gorman about this location. With more miners—

My musings broke off as I heard another sound over the clang of my pickaxe against the rock. I paused mid-stroke to listen.

There it was again. A faint… scuttling?

I dropped my pickaxe and bent down to retrieve my gambeson. But before I could shrug it on, two shadowy shapes, low-lying and hugging the ground, scurried into the cavern from the nearest tunnel.

Abandoning my leather jacket where it lay, I backed away towards the brighter circle of light around the torch and drew my daggers. 

“Status, Adi.”

In response, a window opened in front of me.

Health: 190 / 260 HP. Stamina: 170 / 260 SP. Mana: 30 / 50 MP. 

I scanned the System report before quickly dismissing it. Not bothering to inspect my foes—who were still half-seen blurs—I threw my daggers at the closest target and drew my sword and shield.

One of the daggers bounced off and the other bit into… something.

The two shapes scuttled into the torchlight, and I got my first view of my attackers.

They were giant scorpions.

“Damn, not more bugs,” I muttered. Each of the oversized arachnids was the length of a person and covered in brown and red splotches. The tips of their tails were curled up behind them, ready to strike, and gleaming with liquid.

The one on the right had a dagger lodged in one of its eyes. I shifted its way. It would be my first target. The two scorpions rushed in together.

I didn’t wait for them to reach me. 

Angling across the line of their charge, I placed myself on the outside of the right scorpion and chopped down with my sword.

My sword clanged off.

Huh? I thought, backing away. I was not quick enough to escape the scorpion’s counter though. Almost too fast to follow, the scorpion uncurled its tail and sent the tip hurtling towards my face.

I threw up my shield, barely placing the solid expanse of wood between me and the lethal-looking appendage in time. 

The scorpion’s tail smashed against my shield and liquid dripped from it to splash onto my arm. I flinched as my skin sizzled under its touch.

The second scorpion came rushing in and I backpedaled hurriedly to escape its reach. The beast uncurled its tail and readied itself to strike. I raised my shield, preparing to fend off the blow.

But then at the last second, the scorpion swerved away.

I blinked in surprise. Now why had it done that? I looked around and saw I was standing next to the torch still embedded in the center of the cavern floor.

They’re afraid of the fire, I thought.

And sure enough, the two scorpions had fallen back to circle me while maintaining a wary distance away from the torch. 

I used the momentary respite to study the two beasts.

Your target is a level 6 giant scorpion.

Your insight skill has increased to rank 5.

I paid particular attention to the creatures’ outer shells in my inspection. They seemed to be formed of a rigid shell of some sort, shiny and hard to pierce, but segmented in places. 

I realized that if I wanted my sword to penetrate the scorpions’ armored skins, I would have to strike between the segments. 

Narrowing my eyes, I tracked the injured scorpion as it circled me. When its blind side was angled my way, I sprang.

I took two steps, then leapt—less than gracefully—and landed on the creature. Before the startled scorpion could react, I slammed the edge of my shield between two of the segments across its broad back and wedged it in place. 

Then I hacked down with my sword.

The scorpion shrieked. Uncurling its stinger, the beast whipped it across my bare back. Pain lanced me and toxins pumped into my body.

I ignored the creature’s attacks—and those of the second scorpion who joined the fray from the side—until I felt something give way in the scorpion beneath me. 

Then I rolled off the beast and back towards the torch. With the fire at my side, I studied my two foes anew. The scorpion I had attacked was crippled and its back was curved inwards. Its legs flailing, the beast struggled to move, but despite its best efforts, the creature didn’t budge. 

Good. That was one of my opponents disabled.

The second scorpion darted to and fro, caught between its desire to exact retribution on me and its fear of the fire.

My chest heaving, I took the moment to regain my breath.

“Dace, you are poisoned.”

“I know. How bad?”

“Your health has dropped to 50%.”

I frowned. That was not good. The scorpions’ venom was stronger than I expected. Expelling a breath, I chanted the words to the lesser heal spell, all the while keeping a watchful eye fixed on the second scorpion.

To my relief, despite its palpable anger, the scorpion did not attack while I was busy with the spellcasting. Growing more certain that it wouldn’t, I cast the spell twice more.

“Your health is at 80% and the toxins have been purged,” Adi reported.

“Thanks,” I replied. On the tail end of my words, I dashed forward—just as the pacing scorpion turned away from me—and repeated my earlier maneuver with the same degree of success. Pouncing onto the second scorpion’s back, I hacked down with both sword and shield. 

The creature lashed at me with its stingers and flailed wildly with its pincers, trying to get a grip on me. To no avail.

This time, I didn’t stop beating at the scorpion until it was dead.

When the deed was done, I slid off the corpse. From a few feet away, the first scorpion watched me in impotent rage.

Ignoring it, I waited for my body to recover. Then I rose to my feet and put an end to it too.