Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Mining Your Own Business

She had messed around for so long that the sun had crawled a bit over the horizon by the time she set foot outside. It felt pleasant, and refreshing. As did the air. It was a good combination. A bit hot maybe, but with her environmental effect settings, it wasn't so bad. She hopped on top of the mound her cave was in, and had another look around.

There were no obvious signs of the mining activity Aina had spoken about from this location. Though it wasn't like Sara knew anything about mining, be it modern, or old-fashioned. Considering this was supposed to be set during the industrial revolution of this world, they probably had mine carts. That was pretty much as far as her knowledge extended. Mines had mine carts. And pickaxes. And probably explosives. She liked explosives. But even if she could steal some, she wouldn't be able to use them. Maybe levelling up Fireball would unlock some sort of explosion spell.

She could see the road again, though. It was a relatively straight path that had to weave between the mounds here and there. It had to lead towards the lake, and probably whatever mining town they had up there.

There was more movement around. She could see humanoid figures. Not along the road, but wandering in the wilds. The cats were still around too. They had a golden-brown fur that suited the more yellow tint of the grass pretty well.

Sara ended up just standing there for a couple of minutes admiring the pretty scenery. You could even call it picturesque. But she couldn't stand there all day.

She slid down the side of the little hill, and approached one of the cats. Normally she would have used stealth, but she was currently in Cat Form, so she was curious how the other cat would react.

It stopped when it noticed her get close, and eyed her warily. It didn't attack, but it was clearly cautious. The look it gave seemed to communicate:

"Do we have a problem here? You leave me alone, I leave you alone, okay?"

She was fine with that arrangement, but she at least wanted to Identify it first.

[ Hill Lion (Scout Lvl 26) HP: 105/105 ]

Ah, of course.

It didn't really look like a lion, but it did resemble images she'd seen of mountain lions, which also went by several other names.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 5 | Rend Lvl 5 | Body Slam Lvl 9 | Shred Lvl 5 | Back Attack Lvl 5 | Sprint Lvl Max | Leap Lvl 5 | Roar Lvl 5 | Tracking Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl Max | Keen Eyes Lvl 15 | Keen Ears Lvl 15 | Keen Nose Lvl 15 | Environmental Sense Lvl 5 | Insulation Lvl 5 | Camouflage Lvl 5 | Climb Lvl Max | Firm Grip Lvl 5 | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

No big surprises there, though she noted that it was the first mob she had seen with the Tracking skill, though it probably made sense for one like this. Not that she wanted to attack, and kill a cat unprovoked to get it. If it had been self-defence that would have been different, but she wasn't about to attack first. Besides, it was a cute cat. She instead decided to move on, and the Hill Lion went back to whatever she had been doing. Looking for prey, maybe.

She wanted to go have a closer look at one of the humanoid figures. As she approached the closest one, she realised it was bigger than she had thought from a distance. This time she entered Erase Presence before she got close enough to get spotted.

It was quite big. Somewhere between 3 and 4 metres tall, she'd say, and very wide. He only wore basic clothing: some loose trousers, plain brown boots, and a sleeveless shirt. Large, muscular arms which carried a giant club. A bald head, with only one eye.

[ Cliff Cyclops (Fighter Lvl 28) HP: 170/170 ]

With HP like that, this was probably the elite of this area. Meaning there probably weren't any bears up here. Surely they wouldn't have two powerful elite types wandering around the same area. There might be some sort of zone or world boss around, but that was a different matter.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Strike Lvl 7 | Smack Lvl 7 | Sweep Lvl 7 | Savage Blow Lvl 7 | Stomp Lvl Max | Kick Level 9 | Crush Lvl 7 | Throw Lvl 8 | Frenzy Lvl 7 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 15 | Firm Grip Lvl 7 | Balance Up Lvl 7 | Desperation Lvl 7 | Club Expertise Lvl Max | Blunt Attack Up Lvl 7 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

[ General: ]

[ Languages: Common. ]

This guy seemed more geared towards pure attack power than the bear, which was more like a tank. Though it had still hit pretty hard as well. The Cyclops didn't seem to have any defensive skills beyond high Vitality and Defence stats. As for the skills:

[ Strike (Active): Attack by striking with a blunt weapon. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. More efficient with a club, or hammer. Minor chance of breaking bones(?). Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Smack (Active): An unarmed strike meant to knock targets away. Strong knockback force. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (0.5+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You need proper arms for this, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Sweep (Active): Perform a wide strike with a blunt weapon that can hit multiple targets in front of the user. Base width: 3 metres. Extends further with longer weapons. Damage value: (1+(0.02*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Stun(?) status for 4 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Frenzy (Active): Abandon defence in favour of offence. Continuous effect. Defence, and Wisdom: -50%. Resistances: -20%. Damage: +(30+(2*skill level))%. Attack speed: +(20+(0.5*skill level))%. Cast time: -(20+(0.5*skill level))%. Immune to Fear(?), Sleep(?), and Stun(?) statuses. Can only activate in combat. Activation Cost: 10 SP. Slowly drains SP while active. Cannot deactivate of own choice. Automatically deactivates 10 seconds after combat is over, or if user runs out of SP. Refresh: 5 minutes. ]

[ Club Expertise (Passive): Increases attack power while wielding a club. Buff value: (2*skill level)%. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Blunt Attack Up (Passive): Increases performance of all blunt type attacks. Attack power, and Critical Hit chance: +(1+(0.5*skill level))%. Cast time: -(1+(0.5*skill level))%. ]

Ah, so this thing is a different kind of headache to the bears.

Frenzy had some very serious downsides, but in skilled hands looked like it could be monstrous. How skilled a Cyclops was she wasn't sure about, but he was very big, and had a lot of reach. Plus Desperation to make it even worse. If he activated Frenzy, the best she could do was keep her distance, try to lock him down, and wait for him to run out of SP. Maybe Paralysis Poison would actually be useful if she could apply enough of it.

Not that she needed, or even wanted to fight him. The bear was an interesting challenge because they were roughly the same shape, and it wasn't that much bigger than her. Trying to fight something on similar terms to her was a valuable experience. This thing... she didn't feel like she'd have any significant gains from the fight compared to the risks, nor did she particularly want any of the skills. It was probably worth a lot of experience, but she could find other options elsewhere.

There was one thing she was curious about.

Aina? Are the Cyclopses Residents?

"No. While most humanoids are, there are some exceptions, and the Cyclopes are one of them. They can speak, but they have no interest in diplomacy, trade, or coexistence. They view others simply as food, and prefer to eat them alive if possible."

Ah, so that's why it has Crush... She didn't really want to think about one of these picking someone up, and snacking on them, but it was hard not to. Wait, the plural is Cyclopes?

"Yes. The note I received when I asked for clarification simply stated 'Blame Ancient Greek'. They are solitary beings who live in caves in the cliffside, so they are not a huge threat so long as no one comes out here. I wonder if that will change once the thirst and hunger mechanics for mobs are implemented. While they have prey out here, it is possible they will feel driven to attack travellers more often, assault the Draven mines outside of town, or even the town itself. They have a nasty streak that makes them prefer eating people if possible. As a mercy they are too big to get very far into the mine tunnels, or shelters in town. Perhaps the Kingdom will be forced to station extra soldiers, or increase quest rewards for Adventurers. It will be interesting to see."

I sometimes worry about what you all were thinking when designing some of these mobs.

"I take no responsibility for the design side of things. Perhaps someone on the design team is really into stories about man-eating giants."

Sara decided to leave it at that, and move on. With no desire to tangle with the Cyclops, and nothing else she wanted to fight up there, she might as well keep moving parallel to the road. Eventually she should arrive at the mining town. Or the lake. Whichever came first.

She did poke her head into any caves she found that were along the way.

The first held just a regular chest, which contained a gold coin, a medium quality antidote potion, and a purple tricorn hat.

The second was empty.

The third made her Trap Sense go off, which let her find another Spider Net Trap, after which she turned around, and walked back out. No need to mess with that.

The fourth was also empty, though there was the scent of someone or something having entered, and left again within the past hour. She had seen a party of Adventurers escorting a merchant wagon heading back down the hill, but none wandering around the wilderness. She would still say it smelled more like a person than an animal, but maybe that was a mystery that would remain unsolved. The scent trail went in the direction of the cliffs, and she had no business over there.

The fifth had a group of six Hill Lions sitting in a circle facing each other, and when they noticed her, they hissed at her to fuck off. She had no reason to argue. They could keep doing whatever they were up to, since she wasn't sticking around in this area anyway.

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The sixth had another chest, but the floor in front of it made her Trap Sense tingle again. A quick scan of the room showed no mana signatures, and Danger Sense wasn't reacting to anything except the general direction the trap was in. She walked well around it to make sure it wasn't the chest itself that was trapped. The chest contained two gold coins, a full metal chestplate, and two low quality mana potions.

Before leaving she tried to see if she could actually spot the trap. After a minute or so she discovered what appeared to be a pressure plate with a thin layer of dirt on it.

[ Poison Trap: Medium Quality. ]

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ]

No reason to mess any further with that, so headed back towards the tunnel leading back out. Then she had a thought. Could she trigger it from a distance? A pressure plate usually only responded to a certain amount of weight, but this world ran at least partially on game logic. She could still see the trap when she turned around, as if Trap Sense had highlighted its location, so she launched a Fireball directly at it.

The explosion was followed by an explosive release of a cloud of green gas that filled up most of the room. With her curiosity satisfied she ran out of the cave before the gas could reach her. It made her wonder who had set the trap. Maybe the system had spawned it in. A person probably would have looted the chest first.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Draven Mines Exterior. ]

The popup came shortly before she got on top of a ridge that let her see right down into the mining area. She had ended up on top of the cliff over the mine entrances. Sure enough she could see mine carts, and tracks going into the various entrances. There were even pickaxes, so she had been right on both fronts. Most of them were carried by people who were presumably miners. No obvious explosives that she could see, but those were probably (hopefully) kept in a safe location.

The outside area of the mines stretched quite some distance, and she could see the town a little further down, where the road from the east led into. Keen Eyes really let her see almost everything, including that there were roads leading both south, and west of Draven as well. She could even barely glimpse the lake further out west. She wondered if they made sure to keep any pollution from the mines away from it. Surely they had to, if it was meant to be a tourist destination.

Aina? What sorts of things are inside the mines?

"Miners, and minerals."

Very funny. I meant what types of mobs.

"The busier parts of the mines are kept fairly free of mobs thanks to patrolling soldiers, and Adventurers, but if you go into some of the side tunnels, or the deeper areas, you'll find spiders, salamanders, giant rats, giant bats, and some living rocks. Even a group of kobold Residents.
There are quests to hunt the mobs in there, but for the most part Adventurers come here to mine for materials. Of course if they want anything beyond common metals, minerals, and gems, they will have to head into the side tunnels, or deeper areas. Mobs become higher level the deeper you go as well, so some intrepid souls use this as a levelling area. You can find mobs up to level 50 if you press deep enough, and there are area bosses as well.
The dungeon situated in the western-most tunnel is meant for parties around level 25.
And of course there is the actual industry of the Kingdom here, so there are a lot of Resident miners who are simply regular labourers. It's reliable work, and honestly pretty safe so long as you stick to the main areas."

It certainly smelled like industry. She could see what resembled basic machines, so the air was not only filled with dust from the mining, but the scent of oil as well.

[ Keen Nose Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Scent Vision! 2 skill points gained. ]

What timing.

[ Condition Met: Possess three or more Physical Sense Enhancement Skills at Max Level. Skill Merge Available. 2 skill points gained. ]

Huh? Another one?

[ Skills: Keen Ears, Keen Eyes, and Keen Nose will merge into skill: Keen Senses. Calculating. Skill will be set at Max Level. All bonuses will carry over. Price: 3 skill points. Merge: Yes/No ]

That doesn't sounds so bad, but what does it mean by 'three or more'?

"Other passive physical sense skills can be added to Keen Senses when they reach max level to upgrade it."

So even if I merge it now, I can add more later?

"Yes."

Alright then.

[ Merging Skills... Successful. Skill Gained: Keen Senses Lvl Max. ]

For a couple of seconds it felt like her vision, hearing, and smell all got worse, before they suddenly returned to normal. Or... what she was used to, at least. For most people it was likely not normal.

[ Added senses to Keen Senses: Vision, Hearing, Smell, and Taste. ]

[ Keen Senses (Passive): Improves the physical senses. Effect increases with skill level.
Improved senses: Hearing(?). Smell(?). Taste(?).Vision(?). ]

They all had tooltip buttons for her to see what effect they had, but there was an unexpected one.

Wait, how did I get improved taste?

"With the lack of a dedicated taste enhancing skill, it was instead added as a bonus feature to Keen Senses."

Oh, like how All Attributes includes Luck.

"Correct."

She pawed at the different tooltips.

[ Hearing (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of hearing greatly improved. Able to hear frequencies outside of normal human audio range. Able to isolate sounds to easier discover their source.
Telescopic hearing: Can focus on a point up to 20 metres outside of hearing range in order to hear everything at that location with crystal clarity, but can only faintly hear anything in close proximity to self during use. ]

[ Smell (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of smell greatly improved. Able to isolate smells, gain extra information from them, and follow scent trails. Certain things hidden from view can still be smelled. Able to lock onto specific scents for easier searching, and tracking Unrelated scents become much less prominent. ]

[ Vision (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of vision greatly improved. Able to zoom in on an area by focusing on it. Able to see the weak points of targets. Medium effect. ]

[ Taste (Keen Senses): Ability to taste greatly improved. Able to isolate flavours, and gain extra information from them. Able to discern what ingredients were used to cook a dish, assuming you recognise the flavours. ]

With how little there was to it, she could understand why they wouldn't make a skill for taste alone.

So what's this skill I unlocked?

[ Scent Vision (Active): Able to see scents as colours. Continuous effect. The rest of the world goes monochrome, while scent trails, and sources of strong smells show up as colours. Effect increases with skill level. Warning: can be quite disorienting. Activation Cost: 1 MP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 1 second. Price: 2 skill points. ]

Sounded like a similar idea to Thermal Vision, but it didn't sound all that useful. Even without the colouring, she was able to follow scent trails. It probably looked cool, but she was fine without it for the time being.

Looking at everything the Keen Senses skill had put together made her feel like she could be a great detective. Assuming there was any demand for them in Moorhold.

She spent a little while just watching the people going in, and coming out of the mines, along with everyone milling around outside. It had been a while since she'd gotten to see that many people at once. Most of them looked human, but there was an assortment of other races that were likely to be Wanderers. Several types of beastkin, dwarves (those might actually be Residents too), gnomes, elves, even a couple of trolls, and one goblin in yellow chain mail armour who kept getting weird looks from the miners before they vanished into a mine entrance.

While she had never been one for crowds, she had to admit that she was missing contact with people at this point. The wolves back in Merwyn Forest had been decent company, but they weren't particularly social.

Soon. Soon I'll be able to mingle with everyone too. I'm sure I'll be super cute, and popular. Actually, that might become a hassle.

Considering what Aina had said about mobs' AI scripts getting more advanced the higher level they were, it was possible she'd find more social company in the wolves over in the elven forest. Surely there was a zone or area she could settle down in where the mobs were strong enough to be smart. Actually, that was a weird way of thinking about it.

Time to move on. She was starting to feel tired, but she wanted to at least get a look at the lake in daylight before she found a sleeping spot. Exploration would be left until night time, but the lake probably looked brilliant under the sun. Her instincts were telling her that rain was coming the next day, possibly even during the night, so this would be her only chance for a while.

At least she knew where to go now.

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