Chapter 1222: Dangerous Digging

The team created a plan, and everyone assumed their positions. Having more people in a team was advantageous when digging into a large Planet.

Sebastian was stationed pretty far up in the hole. If the Planet shifted and the walls above him broke, he would still be powerful enough to deal with the avalanche. This seemed like an unimportant job, but it definitely wasn't.

If a cave-in happened far up, the debris would have a lot of time to accelerate. Intense gravity increased the speed of acceleration of a falling object. If some heavy stones had millions of kilometers to gain speed, they would reach a terrifying level of speed. Getting hit by such a fast object could prove deadly. Even more, if the falling debris hit the walls on the way down, it could destroy the Formation Arrays, leading to a second cave-in.

Below Sebastian was one of the members of Team Wooly Sheep. If a cave-in happened above him but below Sebastian, he would deal with that one. Below him was another member of Team Wooly Sheep.

Below that member was the Formation Array Master of Team Wooly Sheep. His task was to stop cave-ins and to keep the Vortex Creation Formation Array on standby. If an Elemental Storm happened, the best way to deal with it was to turn it into Vortexes.

Quite a distance below him was Blue. If an Elemental Storm occurred, he would funnel the storm into a network of Formation Arrays. Like this, the storm would not damage the walls and would reach the Vortex Creation Formation Array.

At the very bottom were Red, Abyssal Depths, Spring of Joy, and the Leader of Team Wooly Sheep. They had to deal with everything that happened down here.

As they kept digging, they became more nervous. The walls were shaking occasionally, and Kyle received several alerts from his Formation Arrays. They were telling him that they were experiencing small attacks.

By now, these alerts were the norm instead of the exception. Just some minor movements had enough force behind them that the Formation Arrays believed that they were under attack.

Kyle looked at the Gravity Energy Sources he was currently using. They were providing enough Energy, but his Karmic Luck was also decreasing as a result. For now, the drain on his Karmic Luck was low, but over time, it would add up. Alternatively, he could use Energy Stones as fuel, but that would also become quite expensive over time.

Keeping all of this running was an investment and risk. He was betting on the possibility that they would find something that would make all of this worth it.

"I've picked up an anomaly," Red transmitted to the others as he looked at his Elemental Energy Sensing Formation Array. "I can sense some Water Energy from our right. The readings are still weak, but they're definitely there."

"Where should I dig?" the Leader asked.

"Right there," Red transmitted, guiding her perception.

The Leader furrowed her brows. Digging towards the side at such a great depth wasn't without danger. Yet, without complaint, she dug towards the direction Kyle indicated.

The others were closely behind her, fortifying the small tunnel she created.

"The readings are getting stronger," Red transmitted.

The team was getting closer. At this depth, the ground was so dense that their Divine Consciousnesses only extended forward for about a kilometer.

"Now, there's a denser-than-usual reading of Metal Energy," Red transmitted.

The Leader kept digging until there were only five kilometers between them and the target. She hoped that the tunnel wouldn't collapse above her.

"I believe the readings indicate stable matter," Red transmitted, "but it's also possible that it's just under a lot of pressure."

They kept digging, and eventually, the Leader could sense the object.

"We have to turn around," she transmitted.

"Danger?" Spring of Joy asked.

"Not directly, no," the Leader transmitted. "It's just too big. Digging it out could lead to a cave-in. This might be a supportive structure. We need to dig to it from above."

When the members heard that, they felt some excitement.

"Then, let's get to it," Red transmitted.

On their way back, Red dismantled all of the Formation Arrays. Before he was done collecting all of the Formation Arrays, the hole beneath him already experienced a cave-in. Keeping holes stable was one of the most important things, but it also ate a lot of Energy. Since they were going to dig a new one, they didn't need to keep their old one.

"How big should the hole be?" Abyssal Depths asked the Leader.

"I can't be sure, but this thing looked quite big and massive. At least ten kilometers."

"Then, let's take our time and create a funnel," Spring of Joy suggested.

Naturally, a hole didn't need to have walls at a 90° angle. If the angle was lower, the chances of a cave-in were reduced. However, this also meant that one had to dig far more.

The team was going to create another hole that was millions of kilometers deep. If they wanted a 45°-angle, they would need to make its entry point millions of kilometers wide as well. Just digging down took days. If they dug a big funnel as well, they would be here for years. Even more, the funnel-shape didn't guarantee that there wouldn't be any cave-ins. In fact, they might actually hit something unstable, which would throw debris into the funnel.

Creating a wider hole also increased the surface area the Formation Arrays needed to stabilize.

In the end, the team decided on a narrow funnel. If the sides collapsed, they would still have an escape route in the middle. Sadly, in exchange, Kyle needed to use even more Energy to keep the walls stable.

The team kept digging for weeks. During that period, they found another Gravity Water Storm, which they easily converted into Vortexes. The underground cave that the storm revealed held some valuable Earths, which were worth about ten Grade Nine Energy Stones.

During their digging, they also found two Grade One Energy Cores.

Finally, after six months of digging, the team reached their goal. This time, they didn't need to fear a cave-in. They kept digging, and eventually, they saw the object with their own eyes.

"Wow," Red said in a shocked voice. "I've never seen so much Pure Major Water Ore."

Below them was a solid blue boulder of metal. Formation Arrays used all kinds of materials, which were mixed with different Elements. These mixed materials could also occur in nature, but they were more on the rare side. However, when they occurred in nature, they were almost always in a configuration that supported manipulation.

This meant that an experienced Materializer could take the ore and quickly change it into a different material that used its Elements. These were called Pure Ores, and they were always the most valuable ores within their class since they could turn into all materials that shared their class.

The team dug down and collected the ore over the next hours.

After digging out the last part, everyone paused for a moment.

'I've used about five Grade Nine Energy Stones to keep everything stable around us, but in exchange...'

'We've earned 130 Grade Nine Energy Stones.'

'We've not even been here for a year, and we've already made a killing.'

'Digging at these depths is dangerous, but it's also rewarding.'

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