Ace nods, “Being reckless at this point is stupid. I don’t think we are even at the point of being above pre-system human potential. Maybe as a whole our stats are better than possible, but no one stat is beyond what an Olympic athlete or some such would be capable of. Mind you, that still puts those in our settlement, especially us founders, at the edge of magic-less human potential, but that’s life now.”

“Now they didn’t go any further than this. With good reason, mind you. Even if you lost a person to being an idiot, that still means you lost a person and so have increased the chance of losing another. Now let’s go and see if there is some more ore to bring out. If they want it, we better have a stock of it.”

Of course the group has already gone through all the known areas already so can only wander around at random. The myconids pose little trouble for them as they have potions for the poison and another assassin vine falls to them. Though it seems this floor is much better suited to them as it manages to catch Jack.

Catching Jack doesn’t do the vine much good as the combined weight of him and his sledgehammer is more than it can lift. Still, Doyle leaving the vines alone to do what they want has allowed them to figure out working chokepoints.

The group ends up going down a few dead ends, but the floor isn’t meant to be an impossible maze and so Ace’s strategy of following the wall soon brings them to one of the dig sites. Both sides can spot one another well ahead of time as the mining area is positioned at the end of a long hallway.

Not only are the monsters shocked to see the group, but the reverse is true. Though on the founder’s side, it has more to do with the fact there is a brown cow. Susan shakes her head, “When were we blind enough to let a cow wander into the dungeon?”

Jack on the other hand slams his sledgehammer into the ground and crows, “We’re having steak tonight boys!” Though he keeps enough sense to not just rush in.

Ace shrugs, “Maybe the theme of the dungeon is actually something like evil farm animals or some other nonsense. Still, I would have expected an actual farm floor. Anyway, we aren’t exactly sneaking up on this fight. Formations and then charge. I want at least one spell down the hallway before melee gets up and personal.”

With that, the fight starts. Ruby tosses out a set of ten small spheres that fly down the hallway while everyone else starts advancing. Not a charge, mind you, no matter what Ace actually said. Rather, a more sensible speed so they don’t run into any rock bending potholes.

Halfway to the room Ruby’s spheres have come close enough to the monsters to reveal their hidden surprise. Each of the spheres bursts apart into one of Ruby’s classic fire ribbons. Except of course for the fact that they have retained most of their power turning what is a relatively short ranged attack into a much more deadly medium range one.

Not only that though, but when bursting apart the ribbons chaotically change direction. Three of the goats and one of the kobolds holding a pick are surprised by this. One goat falls over as the ribbon slices their front left leg to ribbons. Right next to that goat another has all the luck as its helmet blocks what would have been a fatal blow. Ruins the helmet of course but not dying offsets the loss.

Though speaking of dying, the remaining goat and the kobold catch a bad case of it. Unlike the previous goat, this one isn’t so lucky and the ribbon comes in low and slices the neck up. As for the kobold, it just loses heart. Quite literally as the ribbon ends up spiking through the kobolds chest like a javelin. While that sort of damage was going to be deadly anyway, from Ruby’s perspective it was quite the lucky hit as the ribbon goes right through the kobolds heart.

The other monsters however are further back and have a chance to respond to the spell. Specifically, the earth mage and earthen cow work together to raise up an exceptionally thick stone wall. A good thing they did as even with that defense the ribbons manage to penetrate a good distance into the barrier before stopping.

Then Jack hits the wall with his hammer. If it wasn’t for the fire ribbons, the stone wall would have stood the test. Weakened though, it bursts apart and falls over. The mage still having some control over the stone can redirect the debris to prevent any harm.

While that works, it does nothing against Susan who sneaks in right behind the shower of rocks and dust. Undisturbed by the rocks, she takes out the goat that ended up unhurt by Ruby’s spell. The injured goat doesn’t last much longer either as Og grabs a few of the rock shards that blew back and sends them at it.

Ace is through the gap next but jumps to the side and stays away from the forming melee. While he would like to get his hands dirty, there are now two stone shapers on the enemies side and letting them play freely is asking for it. Ruby already has the kobold under control, but the earthen cow isn’t really using spells. So instead of the usual counterspell fest, Ace at least gets to practice countering the actual effect of a magical ability. Though this proves to be much harder than taking a spell apart before it goes off.

Sammy steps in front of Ace and engages the last melee kobolds all the while fending off sling bullets from the goatherd kobold who is at the back.

The fight almost looks to be in a stalemate when Jack’s sledgehammer introduces itself to the earthen cow’s skull. Unlike most times he lands a shot, the cow hasn’t lost its head. Though the blow does stun it something fierce. Enough so that Ace wins in the magical back and forth he was having with it.

With the upper-hand, Ace can now assist Sammy and take out the melee kobold. While the cow recovers quickly enough, its focus is now on defending against Jack, allowing Ace and Sammy to focus down the goatherd kobold.

And of course since the goatherd was the groups leader things quickly unravel from there. Especially the few remaining goats. While the three of them had managed to keep Susan away, without orders this falls apart and throats get sliced.

As the rest of the monsters in the group die, only the earthen cow survives. The combination of its high constitution, shear bulk, and rocky armor is too much for just Jack to handle. This doesn’t last long after the rest of the group can focus on the cow as well.

Then as the group rests up and collects whatever drops there are something that hasn’t happened in a while shines its light upon them. As the goat fades away, a spiral of light remains. Well there are a few coins as well but everyone ignores that. As one, the group turns towards Ace.

Ace raises his hands and shakes his head, “I summon up my own weapons and such. Someone else can get this loot drop. Though I do feel bad for Jim’s team. Like, we have every single one of the loot drops gathered with us. If it wasn’t for the fact that only the people present and actively a part of the fight can gather loot, I would send one of you to grab them. So Sammy and Jack already have something, and Susan and Ruby are both fine. I nominate Og to receive this drop.”

Everyone else rolls their eyes, but they can’t really deny what he said. After no one else speaks up, Og steps up to the swirl and sticks his hand in. After groping around for a moment, he pulls out a quality leather helmet with a dashing pair of spiked horns protecting the temples and ears.

Og holds it up to show the others before putting it on. Of course through the magic of loot it fits like a glove. He sighs, “While I don’t mind a helmet, this honestly would have been better on a frontline fighter.”

Ace shakes his head, “You’re not as bad as Susan, but you like to run around the battlefield so I think it is perfect for you. Though if it will make you feel better, I can take the next drop.”

Everyone else laughs and Susan shakes her head while patting him on his shoulder, “As if we weren’t going to force the next drop on you, anyway. Now I’ve been to these ore deposits a few times now and I have a feeling about them. The ore right now looks significantly more mined out than it does in the morning. That and the ore drops we got from the pack goats are larger now than in the morning as well.”

Ace nods, “Kelly has talked to me about this already. From what she has gathered, there is a limited amount of ore available in a day. The kobolds are actually mining it throughout the day and when the floor is shuffled the ore resets.”

Susan sighs, “I guess we need to send at least one group through at the end of every day to collect as much as we can.”

Jack shrugs, “Sounds like a hassle. If the amount of ore is limited, we just need to mine it out ourselves.”

Ace shakes his head, “Maybe once we have someone with the mining skill and a good pick. There should be some dungeon nonsense going on that speeds up the rate at which the kobolds mine. While the ore deposits aren’t all that big, there is no way two kobolds could mine it all out in a day.”

Jack laughs, “And why do we need to limit it to just the mining kobolds? There is also that earth mage kicking about.”

Ace rolls his eyes, “Yes there are spells to extract out ore. You aren’t exactly the first to think of using earth mages to mine. Problem is that to be effective in a dungeon mine they would need the mining skill as well.”

“Without the skill, they can’t grab everything that is in the deposit. In a dungeon, part of what gathering skills do is increase the amount of product can be gathered. Like how without some kind of foraging skill it is practically impossible to pick any of the herbs without them withering in your hand.”

“A similar thing happens with ore and such. No skill? Most of the ore will vanish as you pull it out, whether you are using a pick or a spell. My bet is that if we had a skilled miner come in here before the kobolds can mine much of it away we could actually gain twice the amount we get from drops.”

Jack shrugs, “Well, it was worth a thought.”

Ace nods, “It never hurts to try to think of some new angle. And you aren’t quite wrong with the idea of using magic to extract the ore. It is just that they still need the mining skill and they can’t extract the ore faster than they can with a pick. From what Kelly told me, at the higher levels in the mining skill a person can devastated an entire mountain within a day. The only thing stopping someone like that from strip mining an entire planet down to the core is that they have to go slower when mining ore or it gets destroyed.”

“If Kellinger decides to learn the mining skill, I would actually consider sending him in early in the morning. While he wouldn’t be able to extract ore faster than with a pick, that doesn’t mean using magic is useless. Out in the wider universe, it is the preferred method for any mining done on an inhabited planet. After all, no one wants their home planet to look like swiss cheese. Magic pulls the ores right out of the ground like plucking rocks from a river.”

Akhier

Here's chapter 122 and 123 if you want to read a bit more.

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