Chapter 85: Mining

Ashton was currently frowning at the sight of the system window in front of him.

He made a point of checking his inbox every day in conjunction with his signing-in. Due to this, he also kept an eye out on his quests tab. At first, he thought that they mostly remained the same but turns out that he still missed something...

Under the secondary mission that was given to him when he decided that he will return home no matter what, the Discovery Mission was updated...

• Discover and Study Hostiles (10/200)

'Now, how did that happen?' Is what he's trying to understand currently.

As far he knew, the only Demons he encountered personally were the Imps, Crowfathers, and the Tormentor. That's three, but why is it that the quest says 10?

Unable to help himself, he expanded the mission tab and soon got his answers.

• Discover and Study Hostiles (10/100)

3 Confirmed: Imps, Crowfather, Tormentor

7 Discovered but not studied.

"Ahh..."

Now that makes more sense to him. He's a little surprised by the parameters but it turns out that there are finer details contained within, he just had to figure it out on his own.

With his curiosity, Ashton couldn't help but want to see what were the demons he missed. He's almost positive that these are the demons that he saw shadows of. They didn't count since he didn't bother seeing what they look like or figuring out how they behave before killing them.

In hindsight, that's probably for the best. These are demons after all. But quest-wise, he can't ignore this. The reward for clearing this mission was something he wants for himself after all.

From the additional info, he gatherer that the demons he missed were named; Shadow Lurkers, Gnawers, Corpse Eaters, Deadwoods, Slugs, Mimics, and Howlers.

The Infant Eldritch Abomination is there too but to be honest...no. just, no...

Well, the system was gracious enough to give him names at least. Sadly, there's no description of them so he doesn't know what they do. The most he got are speculations based on their names, but that's unreliable too.

Either way, there's still time for him to discover and study more. No need to be in a rush. He'll get there eventually.

For now, though, Ashton had to pay attention to a more pressing matter, and that is...mining.

Yes, it has come this far.

Well, he couldn't be blamed. There's a treasure trove in front of him, who's he to ignore it?

Ashton already studied the mine and confirmed that the one he found was a Mana Crystal Mine. A very rich one at that...

Thanks to the System's aid, he discovered that this is an A-grade Mana Crystal Mine. Something that contractors would fight tooth and nail for upon discovering it.

This rich mine has a density of 78%, meaning that the entire thing is almost made out of Mana Crystals itself. How the hell could someone ignore something like this?

What's more is that thanks to the aftermath of Ashton's Anti-Abomination Shot, the fires cleansed this mine out of filth too and now, they are ripe for harvest.

Ashton may not have use for money but he could certainly use more Mana Crystals. The cost of Grinding is starting to poke holes into his reserves and even though Cleptomancy can somehow help with that, he wouldn't say no to having more sources of Mana Crystals.

That's why he's now wearing a hard hat and had mining gear. He already sealed the entrance to the mine and established some form of stability inside so that he can mine in peace.

"This is going to take a while..." he muttered as he chipped away at a large deposit of Mana Crystal in front of him.

He could vaguely sense where the crystals would be thanks to his sharp senses but using the regular method of mining will have him trapped in here for longer.

"Maybe I can find a different way to do this more efficiently." He mused to himself.

Said way was of course, via Magic.

Ashton had a plethora of spells at this point. Most of them are useful, some are situational of course but if he had discovered something this past few days, it'd be the fact that he might as well try all sorts of ideas, despite of if he thinks they're plausible or not, since you'll never truly know.

After all, it hasn't been long since he discovered that White Magic is lethal to Demons and that he can use them as bullets for his guns. None of those seems logical from a certain standpoint but they worked beautifully.

"Alright..." he took a deep breath and tried some spells.

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After a couple of attempts, he discovered the one spell that works perfectly here.

"[Dismantle!]"

Using the Spell: Dismantle, he can directly reduce the larger formations of Mana Crystals in pieces according to their grading; low, mid, and high. It's easy to do and doesn't require a lot of mana to cast.

He can even use it in conjunction with Extract to take out the crystals that are buried on the surface of the mine.

This little endeavor of his took him at least a week before barely extracting all mana crystals in the mine. With his Mana Crystal refilled to the brim, Ashton can now pay attention to the other detail he discovered while he was inside the mine.

"...a Critter perhaps?" He mused while crouching down on the corpse in front of him.

While harvesting Mana Crystals in the mine, Ashton discovered several corpses of demons here.

Just from a single glance, he knows that these are old. How exactly old is something he's not sure of, but they are old.

See, the flames caused by his attack should've vaporized the demons it comes in contact with or at least turn them into loot. These corpses are not loot. Meaning that they were long dead even before he got here.

"Looks like a roach...ew." Ashton winced as he studied them.

Somehow, an image of a Demonic Cockroach appeared in his mind. Ashton could barely suppress the shiver running down his spine the moment he saw that. He hurriedly dismissed the idea but the more he looked at the corpse in front of him, the more convincing it gets.

He also discovered a corpse of some sort of a scarab here. The shells were intact but the body was withered beyond recognition. They're awfully large too.

"Must be one hell of a Demonic Bug then." He concluded. Ashton's not squeamish when it comes to insects but the fact that they are of demonic descent terrifies him.

He inspect the rest of the corpses he had seen so far and for the most part, all the demon corpses he saw belonged to the Insect Type category.

When it comes to strength in numbers, there's probably nothing more terrifying than insects, especially the demonized ones.

And the fact that he found this inside the minds makes him think that this mine must be somehow connected to the colony below him.

On one hand, this is fine. At least he has another entry point for when he ends up going down anyway.

On the other hand, this isn't fine cause Insect Type Demons...yeah.

"...I'll seal this place for now," Ashton said wryly as he gingerly placed talismans all over the mine. "Not down to be ambushed by insects. I get to ambush them not the other way around thank you very much."

Ashton made extra sure that the placement of the talismans was on-point. He made it very clear that he's not leaving his fate up to luck here. Once he's satisfied, the now mostly-emptied mine, became another underground bunker for him.

He's not quite done exploring the island above. He will do that and study more demons while he's at it. For now, though, he's pacing himself carefully.

Once he was satisfied with his new base, he nodded to himself and entered the library.

Once again, Aria was in the lab and Jerry was doing his maintenance of the books.

He sighed and went to the lab to check on his girlfriend.

There, he saw her so concentrated on whatever she was doing that she didn't notice him at all.

From what he can see, Aria was trying to experiment on the trinkets he had collected so far. She asked for a bunch of them and he gave some to her for the sake of science, now though he's starting to get worried.

Making sure that she wasn't in the middle of a delicate process. Ashton rested his chin on her shoulders which caused her to gasp in surprise.

"Honey, baby, sweetheart, love, light of my life...when was the last time you peeled your gaze away from that?"

"U-uh..." Aria looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Ashton rolled his eyes and sighed. With one fell swoop, he carried her in a bridal style despite her protests.

"Ash!!"

"Nope...I won't allow you to overwork yourself for the sake of science." He shook his head vehemently. "You are resting and I'm going to pamper the hell out of you. This is non-negotiable."

That put a stop to her protests. She just sighed and smiled sweetly as her boyfriend expressed her care for her in a silly manner.

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