Once we had picked up Lucas and Andvari (who, by the way, were still quite tipsy), we decided to head deeper into the volcano.

Ever so often it would continue spitting out more waves of hot mist, making the area around us hotter. 

I'd learned that this volcano was somewhat submerged underwater, thus the mist that surrounds the area. 

I hoped to not have to get too close to the crater, since hot water that wasn't vaporized would be ejected around it. 

And I didn't want to get any burns. Andvari didn't seem too scared though. He was rambling on about how this heat wouldn't be enough to stop him from getting the Hellnite. 

I don't know, but to me, he still sounded a bit drunk and out of it, so I didn't pay attention to the dwarf.

Yet it seemed like we had no choice. We were successful in mining a few vein's worth of Hellnite, but that didn't seem to be enough for Andvari.

What was he making, a Hellnite Tank? Who even needed this much ore? 

So we were left with no other option but to head even closer to the volcano. As the place got more dangerous, the quality of the Hellnite did too. 

We were seeing the shiniest form of Hellnite ever found. The ore we obtained slowly became more vibrant and colorful.

There were times when I had confused the Hellnite as another type of ore because of how different it looked from the ones we had. 

I guess the closest you are to the source, the fresher the product? I didn't know if that appiled to everywhere else, but for Hellnite, it sure did. 

It took as a while, but eventually we managed to obtain the desired amount that Andvari wanted. 

"For all this work, you better have something good to repay it." I say, panting. 

We had just left the epicenter of the volcano, and were heading back through the mist. 

Without regard for the heat, we blazed through, quite literally. 

Part of it was mostly because the area close to the volcano, was FUCKING HOT. And I mean it. 

I could compare this to the analogy I had made earlier about the pan. If the hot temperature earlier was like sitting on a hot pan, then this one was almost as if we were sitting on the surface of the sun. 

It was quite literally, Hell on Earth. We didn't even bother to stay a few minutes inside before hastily grabbing the Hellnite.

"Of course. Andvari is the greatest blacksmith of dwarvenkind, and I'll be able to make you any equipment you want!" The dwarf says, not bothered by the heat. 

But we did have some sort of lifesaver. Because of the alcohol that the three of them had drank earlier, they were able to stay inside the place for much longer. 

Of course, the cold alcohol probably served to lower their body temperature. 

Which was a problem, since I didn't have any. So we had to get out a bit quicker than we needed to. 

But, hey, we got the Hellnite, everybody's happy. Andvari seems to be ecstatic about the competition. 

And so we left the volcano, after finding no such threats anymore on the way back. 

We carefully found our way back into the forest, where we found Lena and Catalyn, who were talking with Thanatos and Gwyar. 

Well, I wouldn't say that Catalyn and Gwyar were talking. The main source of conversation was Lena and Thanatos, while the other two would occasionally nod and so on. 

"What's this about?" I say to them. 

"Oh, little brother, you're back! How did it go?" Lena comes over to me.

She reaches over and pats my head, congratulating me. 

"It went well. We've got everything that we need now. What about you guys? Rest well?"

"Yup! Thanny and I have the horses ready. Are we moving out soon?" 

"Yeah, we should be. Problem is, we've got a fellow here who's not gonna be able to hitch a ride." I look towards Andvari.

There was no way to be able to have Andvari come along with us. The horses in the forest weren't even horses.

Rather, they were strange maldeformed four legged canines. Bloated ones were common here, making them look even larger than they were. 

So unless Andvari was comfortable sitting on top of an abomination of nature, then we'd have to find some other way to transport him. 

Hehe, sounds like I'm thinking of him as a bunch of goods to transport. 

I guess this could work. I beckoned to Andvari, who was investigating some of the weird glowing mushrooms nearby.

I asked him if he was fine with sitting on a hard surface. To my surprise, he wasn't averse to the idea. 

So I had Lucas and Aurelia work together to gather nearby wood from the trees. 

I wasn't sure about what type of wood these trees were, but if it was sturdy, then I wouldn't complain.

Eventually the two were finished and we were left with multiple large logs. 

I scanned the wood. Nothing was different. Heck, it felt even better than normal wood. 

Yet there's something else about it. It wasn't the sturdiness nor the flexibility it had. Rather, I felt it was something more innate. 

I had a theory, and wanted to test it. I had Aurelia cast her Overgrowth on it. 

"Ah, I knew it. This wood is very susceptible to any changes in the mana."

This piece of wood, and the trees in the forest, had probably evolved to adapt to the mana-rich environment that the forest was. 

I had more things to test though. For that I called over Lena and Lucas. 

Firstly, I had Lena cast her light magic on it. Shining a light beam on it, I found that the wood had the same effect from when it was hit by Aurelia's magic.

The wood's reaction to excessive mana was peculiar. It would strengthen rapidly, and it's durability would increase, as shown when Lucas had tried to punch through it with all his might but still failed. 

This thing... it's worthy of a continental treasure. If even Lucas couldn't deal damage to the wood, then this thing could be engineered to resist even the strongest of attacks. 

Ooh, I'm getting giddy just thinking about it. And it looked like Andvari was too. He was almost as excited as me, I could see it in his eyes. 

And so this little theory of mine ended up in us cutting down some of the trees in the forest in order to use for Andvari's smithing.

We didn't cut down too much though. The portion of land we cleared of trees wasn't even ten percent of the total area of the forest. 

And plus we had Aurelia plant some more of the seeds. With a quick Overgrowth, we were able to regrow the trees back to its adult state. 

And with some excess wood logs left over from the whole thing, we were able to make a carriage!

Well, not an actual carriage. It's more of a cart that can be tied to the back of the horses. This was where Andvari would be sitting. 

So we paired up Bulwark and Mesmer, two of our horses, and tied the cart behind them. Andvari, who was seated behind them, gave us the thumbs up. 

There was no danger of the carriage failing. We had done some more tests and found out that once the wood reacted to mana, it would stay that way forever.

And then, we were on our way to the capital city of Klolla, Ferrier!