Chapter 100

As the weather turned cooler, Ryan would gradually increase the number of words in each chapter!

No one knew the final price at which Old Dake sold his goods, but Cook could tell from Old Dake's smile that he had definitely sold them for a good price. Old Dake then took out a map of the A3 area's mine distribution, which he had walked through for over a decade in the underground mines. Cook and his companions were extremely grateful, and Old Dake was ready to return home, after all, he had just received a large sum of wealth.

Cook used the Magic Eye to test and found that if the rock surrounding the magic crystal was thin, the Magic Eye could detect the magical element fluctuations. However, if the rock was too thick, the Magic Eye was useless. Even so, Cook was quite satisfied. Cook suspected that it might be due to his low level, but he did not immediately buy the rocks with magic crystals that the Magic Eye could see. Cook did not want to draw attention, so he planned to complete the mission first and then come back. This was also because the rocks with magic crystals that Cook saw were quite small. Larger ones might have thicker rock layers, so Cook was not too attached to them.

Cook and his companions did not hire a guide. In such an unfamiliar environment, a guide could be very helpful, but no one knew what kind of people these guides were. Therefore, Cook and his companions not only spent a lot of money to buy a map of the A3 area's mine distribution from the Mage Guild to cross-reference with Old Dake's map, but they also began their journey to find the magic crystals.

Cook and his companions were heading to the old mine, on the other side of the A3 area, where the lava from over a hundred small volcanic vents converged. However, these were previously dormant volcanoes, so no one knew that these over a hundred volcanic vents produced magic crystals. At that time, they relied on digging through the rocks formed by the cooled lava to extract magic crystals. The A3 area's supply point was about ten kilometers away, with the over a hundred volcanic vents in between. Cook and his companions walked through the narrowest part of the volcanic vent area.

In about an hour, Cook and his companions arrived at the magic crystal mine. The first thing they saw was a large warning sign, as the lava from the over a hundred volcanic vents flowed through countless tunnels beneath the mine, causing frequent collapses and changes in the lava flow. Therefore, the Mage Guild had set up a warning sign.

What Cook and his companions did not expect was that the entrance to the mine was bustling with activity. Most of the activity was the buying and selling of magic crystal raw stones, which were rocks that might contain magic crystals, known as raw stones. There were also sellers of digging tools, physical strength potions, magic torches, and more. The scale was comparable to a supply point.

Cook and his companions bought a set of digging tools. Don't underestimate these digging tools; they were made by dwarves using white iron, more expensive than weapons, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to dig through the hard rock: "Hmm? What's this?"

Cook pointed to the arm-thick objects in the box inside the tent. All the buying and selling took place in tents. The dwarf owner, seeing what Cook was pointing at, laughed and said, "Haha, customer, you have a good eye. Let me tell you, this is a powerful tool for mining, an engineering bomb."

"Bomb? What can this thing do?" Cook quickly dropped the item in his hand and asked in confusion.

"It's for mining. Just find a crack, insert this engineering bomb, and then pull the string from a distance. Boom! The rocks will be blasted away, and all you need to do is pick up the pieces." The dwarf owner explained with gestures.

"Is its power equivalent to a Fireball spell?" Cook used the Magic Eye to check but didn't detect any magical fluctuations, so he asked.

"This is a small engineering bomb, equivalent to a Lesser Fireball spell. However, if it explodes inside a rock crack, its power is greater than directly casting a Lesser Fireball spell." The dwarf answered straightforwardly.

"Alright, how much for one? I'll take them all." Cook pointed to the small engineering bombs, which were wrapped in an unknown animal skin.

"Ah! All of them! There are over two hundred, and each one costs three points." The dwarf said excitedly.

"Then I'll take all 600 points." Cook had plenty of points. Besides the income from the magic boars, even a single potion he casually took out would be worth more than this.

After Cook paid, the dwarf gave him a hug and said, "Friend, we dwarves love people like you. I'm Tatarus, you can call me Tatta. Only my closest friends can call me that. I come from the Red Maple Tribe of the Dwarf Kingdom."

"Thank you for the compliment. I'm Cook, this is Loli, Mitchi, and this is Little Lei. We come from the Unparalleled Academy." Cook introduced himself happily.

"Oh, my goodness, such a cute baby! Cook, you're a terrible father, bringing a baby on an adventure?" Tatarus looked at Little Lei, who was curiously examining him, and exclaimed in accusation.

"Hehe, dear Tatta, do you have any higher-grade engineering bombs?" Cook chuckled and asked.

"No, engineering bombs are controlled items in the Dwarf Kingdom. These are made by me." Tatarus shook his head and then said proudly.

"Really? I didn't expect you to be an engineer, Tatta!" Loli praised, an engineer being a special profession among dwarves. Many human mines had dwarves as engineers, responsible for tunnel excavation, layout, and ore extraction.

"Beginner, beginner. I'm here for an adventure, to study the mine engineering here, as it was established under the command of one of our three senior engineers." Tatarus said somewhat embarrassedly.

Before Cook could respond, Tatarus asked, "Do you also want to enter the mine?"

"Yes, we want to mine some magic crystal raw stones." Cook nodded and said.

"Hehe, as friends, I have nothing good to give you, but here's a map of the mine. The red areas are dangerous, with the possibility of collapse. The white areas are safe, the black areas are unknown, and the yellow areas are where magic crystals might be found. I wish you good luck." Tatarus generously gave Cook a map, which was larger than the one he sold, clearly the latest version.

"Thank you!" Cook thanked him and then left.

"Blinded by wealth, humans!" As Cook and his companions disappeared into the mine entrance, Tatarus muttered to himself. In his view, bringing a baby on an adventure was not a wise decision.

Cook had three maps, but since Old Dake's was hand-drawn, it was different from the detailed map from the Mage Guild and the planar map drawn by Tatarus. However, Cook basically understood them. The main mine tunnel was only a few hundred meters long, wide, and supported by metal frames. This main tunnel was lined with adventurers' tents, all clearly aiming for magic crystals. A rough count showed there were hundreds of tents.

After the main tunnel, there were five straight tunnels. These branch tunnels were supported by a few metal and stone frames. There were no tracks in the mine, as metal was hard to come by in this world, even iron, which was a controlled material in the empires. Everything was done by manual labor.

Cook looked at the map and chose Tunnel C from the five branch tunnels, labeled A, B, C, D, and E. Tunnel A sloped upwards, B, C, and D were mostly parallel, and E sloped downwards. Each branch tunnel had a prominent number at its intersections. For example, C3452 referred to the third tunnel in the first branch of Tunnel C, then the fourth branch in the next branch, and the fifth branch in the next, with the final 2 being the second branch of the fifth branch. This was a clear and precise system, a masterpiece of dwarf engineers.

"Where are we going?" Loli watched as Cook studied the three maps. To be honest, Loli could only understand the Mage Guild's map, while Old Dake's hand-drawn map and Tatarus' planar map were incomprehensible to her.

"To C3323!" Cook pointed to a spot on the map.

"Isn't that a dangerous area?" Mitchi looked at where Cook pointed and asked in surprise.

"Not yet in the dangerous area, but it's on the edge. I carefully studied these maps and found that the ore vein runs from here to here. The spot I'm pointing to is the end of the vein. I had high hopes, but have you calculated how many adventurers we've encountered since entering the mine? Thirty-five in less than twenty minutes. Think about it, are there any magic crystals left in other areas?" Cook explained, though he overlooked the fact that this was the main ore vein area, and all adventurers entering and exiting the mine had to pass through here. The mine was the largest of three large mines, covering over a hundred square kilometers. In such a vast area, even thousands of people would be spread out.

"Alright then!" Loli and Mitchi had no experience in this, but since Cook said so, they had to believe him.

Cook and his companions continued forward. As time passed, there were no more supports in the tunnel, only some unbroken stone pillars holding up the tunnel. Rocks could be seen falling on the ground, and the loose rocks on the walls made them all nervous.

"Hmm!" Cook walked for a while and used the Magic Eye to observe. At an unmarked entrance, Cook saw a magical glow. He let out a light exclamation and pushed aside the rotten fence, which had clearly been used to block the entrance but had long since lost its function.

"Magic crystal!" Cook looked at the wall and dug out a rock the size of a head. On one edge of the rock, a red glow was visible. Cook smashed the rock with a hammer, revealing a pigeon-egg-sized magic crystal, though it was a low-quality one, with a somewhat dull color. Even so, Cook and his companions were delighted.

"Should we go back, Cook?" Loli looked at the magic crystal in her hand and asked.

"Loli, I don't think it's that simple. This magic crystal can complete the mission, but I believe the quality and quantity of the magic crystals we submit will directly affect the final reward." Cook speculated.

"Maybe." Loli wasn't sure if Cook was right.

"We still have a few days left for our mission. Let's search for one more day, then go to the A2 area to hunt water elementals. I've heard there's an underground lake there with some low-level water elementals, which will help Mitchi complete her mission." Cook said confidently.

"Where do we go now?" Loli nodded and looked at the tunnel.

"Since we found a magic crystal here, let's go in and see. We won't go far, just two kilometers." Cook looked around and said.

On this two-kilometer route, Cook found another low-quality magic crystal. Just as he was about to reach the two-kilometer limit, a sharp roar came from deep in the cave. Cook quickly extinguished the magic torch and sent Big Mouth and Kaka to investigate. Big Mouth, a mutated raven, was well-adapted to the dark, and Kaka, a spider, was even more so.

"A huge creature?" In just a few minutes, Big Mouth and Kaka returned with a surprising message. Cook, who had been misled by Little Bad, was puzzled. Little Bad, at that time, was indeed larger than Little Gray, who had just been born.

After discussing with Kaka and Big Mouth, Cook looked up at Mitchi and asked, "What creature walks upright and has two heads?"

"Two heads, walks upright? I don't know!" Mitchi tried to recall and said.

"Idiot, what creature walks upright? It must be a sub-human race." Loli said irritably.

"Sub-human, walks upright, likes the dark. Got it, a two-headed ogre!" Mitchi immediately remembered and took out a monster guide, showing the two-headed ogre entry to Big Mouth and Kaka.

"That's it!" Cook confirmed with Kaka and Big Mouth.

Loli said nervously, "Let's go, Cook. Ogres are social creatures, a single ogre family can have over a dozen members."

"Over a dozen? Kaka and Big Mouth clearly said it was one." Cook asked in confusion.

"Ogres are social, but a few are wanderers, usually young female ogres." Mitchi opened her magic book and said.

Cook sent Kaka to investigate again. After half an hour, Kaka returned with the same message. Cook asked Mitchi, "Are two-headed ogres valuable?"

"Two-headed ogres are excellent laborers, and there's a high demand for them in arenas, so they're quite valuable." Mitchi answered.

"Right, ogres are great laborers. They're so big, they'll dig faster than us." Cook's eyes lit up.

Cook and his companions quietly approached the ogre's location. When they saw the ogre, they were surprised to find it wearing animal skins and holding a huge club. The ogre was roasting some meat by the lava river, and the smell of burnt meat filled the air. Even though the ogre was over five meters tall, Cook wasn't surprised. What surprised him was a bag-shaped object on the ogre's waist, which glowed brightly under the Magic Eye. Cook realized it was a dirty adventurer's backpack, likely containing magic cores or magic crystals.

"Cook! Let's go!" Loli pulled Cook, seeing the ogre.

"Go? We're here to train. Why should we leave? Let's find a good spot and take it down." Cook, dazzled by the magical glow of the backpack, was unwilling to let go of the wealth. He noticed the ogre's magical glow was similar to that of a level-two monster, but he overlooked the fact that ogres were sub-humans, not monsters.

Loli agreed, realizing that adventuring required battles.

Cook and his companions searched for a good spot but found none. Cook gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk. He took out the engineering bombs he bought and placed them on the ceiling of a tunnel section, with the largest one on the ground being a bundle of fifty. Cook didn't use any connectors, as the Thorn Spell was the best connection. He twisted the pull strings of the engineering bombs together, exposed the ends, and fixed them to the bottom of the tunnel. The ground was covered with iron spikes, and Loli and Mitchi hid in the side tunnels.

The side tunnels were narrow, about one meter wide and two to three meters deep, designed to protect against water and collapses. Even if the main tunnel collapsed, the side tunnels might remain intact.

"Here comes the monster!" Cook whispered to Loli and Mitchi. They each went to their positions, drank invisibility potions, and held protective magic scrolls, ready to cast a protective spell before the attack began.

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