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1253. In a Magic Cave exploration
🕑 Added 2025-01-20 18:37:48 +0000 UTCStepping through the gate, they were greeted by absolute darkness as they slowly sank down to the bottom of the cave, using <Feather Fall>. This was so deep below earth, that there was truly no light, not even the obligatory mushrooms or creatures with bioluminescence.
Even when using <Nightvision>, there was barely anything he could see. All beside him cast a spell with the flick of her wrist, illuminating the whole cavern that contained the hell gate in a dim glow, just enough to aid <Nightvision> and see everything clearly.
As the information gained by the golems described, it was a humongous subterranean room. The edges of the hollow were lined by natural columns where stalactites and stalagmites had fused to strong supports.
The floor and ceiling were smoothed and contained the arcane formulas to create and sustain the gate floating in the center of the cavern. Someone had clearly refined this place to set up the spells properly, yet this stood in contrast to what the golem eyes reported,
Apart from the gate, they had yet to find the demon kin living here or traces of their habitation. Only this gate indicated that something other than beasts lived in these tunnels. It lightly raised his suspicions, but he also thought it was better this way.
If there was nobody living, nobody could object to them about mining in this place. It had been a long while since Seth had a chance to go prospecting himself, now he not only had the sorceress by his side to identify magical minerals fit for enchantment, he also had <Theia's Discerning Eyes> which allowed him to spot and appraise epic metals and minerals from a moderate distance.
“Oh, there's already some stuff to raise your little enchanters here,” Al commented with a whistle, the moment they were able to see the cave a little better. The moment she said it, Seth's field of viewwas also filled with five or six windows showing appraisal results.
<Endotherm Amazonit>, <Glow Quartz>, <Serendipitous Mountain Crystal>... quite a few names Seth had never heard, mostly because they were not for him. These were all catalysts and foci used in spells, magic formations, and arcane enchantment. Even the blacksmith was a little stunned.
“Oh, this one is nice,” Al exclaimed, breaking one of the <Serendipitous Mountain Crystal> from the cave wall. When Seth's eyes wandered off it, it showed that this particular piece was actually epic-rated!
Just this “entrance hall” had five different kinds of magical minerals and a kind of mold that was at least uncommon, some were rare and some pieces were even epic. They took a few samples, especially the epic ones, before continuing to explore the true worth of these tunnels.
They knew the layout of a big part of the cave system thanks to the golem eyes. Although the scout could identify special resources based on appearance, it took him and Al to check on the wealth and kind of resources that were hidden in this place. Of course, it also took their expertise and muscle. After all, these tunnels were not empty.
Like angry bees, dozens of tiny fireballs with a dark violet tinge attacked a monster that resembled the mix of a bear and a mole. It was thrashing with its massive claws, unable to stop any of the angry little embers.
This was another one of the more useful spells of Ar'eth's 42 Fire Cantrips, Fly of the Emberlies. The spell summoned a host of small fireballs which automatically targeted enemies. Originally this was meant as a distraction at best.
But with Seth’s passives and items, it became a very useful attack, especially since he didn't need to aim with it. he just had to cast the cantrip and leave the rest to the spell. it was very comfortable. So far, the monsters they came across were not especially powerful, lv.50 on average.
Just weak enough to leisurely clean out the cave system on the path to look for the marked resources. So far, Al’Zalsar had not even gotten the chance to act, as Seth’s cantrips were enough to take care of anything coming their way.
Seth could have snuck in here like a thief using the Helm of Hades to pass by all the monsters that inhabited the tunnels and became the undoing of some of his golem eyes. But where was the fun in that? Was there even a need to?
After discovering rare and epic-rated materials, the blacksmith had long since decided to clean the place out. There was no point in skulking around to prospect the cave when it was already a done deal.
Maybe they offended the demons that reared these beasts, but if he was honest, he didn’t care. He had a legend right beside him. What could they do, bring two legends? Probably not before they could get back to the Guardian Tree. The worst thing they could try was a suicide attack on the tree and closing the gate, cutting them off from their new claim.
“These two are dead ends without any reported resources,” Seth pointed out when they came to the first of many intersections, where the part forked into three others. The Giant's Meteorite Rod appeared in his hand for the first time in a long while. Seth tapped it on the ground, and stone pillars rose from the ground, closing off the wrong turns.
“This way we don't have to worry about taking the wrong turns,” the blacksmith said, smug about his strategy. Al'Zalsar did not comment on it and they followed the path mapped out by the golems. They found a few more minerals, finally a kind of rare, glowing mushroom and even a vein of <Purple Copper Ore> with uncommon and rare pieces of ore jutting out from the wall of the cave.
A rare ore could be refined to at least a rare material, maybe even epic. Seth actually knew <Purple Copper> from the time he learned from Tored. It was actually a kind of copper that absorbed magic and darkness for a long time. According to the dwarven master, it was great for alloys, just like the base metal.
The whole cave wall was falling apart in chunks when the blacksmith started swinging the legendary pickaxe, he had forged from a piece of legendary <Bones of Seth> that held the attribute of increased damage in the darkness. A single strike turned a stretch of 2x4 meters of wall into handy pieces of copper ore.
Seth took another swing, filling the floor with chunks of ore. He was in the middle of picking them up with some help from Al'Zalsar when he heard a notification sound and brought out his table. It wasn't a tablet computer, but the magic device that allowed him a direct connection to the eye golems still left exploring the caves.
“The golems finally found a structure that resembles the birthing pools...”
Seth's words trailed off, when he followed the mapping of the tunnels, from the gate to the place the golem eye indicated. It actually was not too far away from the gate, but looking at the footage of the golem, it looked like there was a cave-in of sorts.
“Hey, if we go back a little and take one of those tunnels you closed off, we can probably dig a shortcut to that place,” she said after looking over his shoulder and seeing the map. The sorceress threw a meaningful look at him and the pickaxe still in his hands.
“Looks like you are also curious,” Seth said with a chuckle. They had not seen any sign of demons down here and now the important birthing pool had not been moved far away from the gate, despite the apparent disaster it caused in other worlds. Something was fishy about this.
They followed Al's suggestion and went to one of the dead ends they had passed earlier. Demonic beasts inside them were quickly skewered by rock spikes. Since he already had his giant rod in hand, he also shot a little with it, so he didn't get rusty with <Earth Magic>.
“I guess we should just pass by the dead ends,” Seth mumbled when they actually found resources not marked by the golems beforehand. After all, the small scout devices could only recognize so much.
“Oh, look! An Auretic Toadstool,” the Sorceress exclaimed. “This can be used as a catalyst in rare and epic enchantments, “ she commented happily and put it into her inventory. her tone suggested that she was completely in gathering mode, it didn't matter that they were technically in a hostile demon world.
“This should be the place.” Seth stopped a few moments after she found her toadstool. They were about halfway down the tunnel, the dead end was visibly in the distance. Seth twirled the pickaxe in his hands and then started digging straight down.
