Chapter 19

The greedy dwarfs

"Well, that was quite some drop," Breadbeard rubbed his eyes after the punch, "Eriv, what do ya say? Twelve metres?"

"Looks like it," Eriv answered, still in a daze. "Dafur, Breadbeard! What now?" She asked with worry as her head cleared.

"What do ya mean? We wait," Breadbeard answered before Dafur could react.

"For who? Mine is collapsed, ya old fart!"

"Shove it, ass-prentice."

"Both of ye, leave it. We need to get out of her'," Eriv rebuked them. "Dafur, do ya have some runa to help us go up?"

"Nae," Dafur shook his head while trying not to look at Breadbeard.

"Hmph! Runemae'str woulda already got us out!" Breadbeard's voice was full of derision.

"Keep it, Breadbeard," Eriv berated him, annoyed, "we need to work together."

"Have ye ever been in mana crystal deposit?" Dafur asked.

"Nae," both of them replied. Breadbeard continued, "but dur guild has policies in place. Don't enter without protection and with at least 3rd-rank runemae'str apprentice or priest."

"Don't touch the crystals, otherwise ye coulda get blight," Dafur warned them in a worried tone, "we need to leave. Even small deposit radiation can hurt ye without protection."

Dafur conjured three watery runes and sent them above their heads. A thin, translucent water shield surrounded them.

"Blight…" Breadbeard whispered. A shiver ran through his spine, remembering what had occurred three years ago.

They searched around and discovered a slightly tilted down natural shaft around a meter in diameter, leading into the darkness with an occasional streak of light from mana crystals showing the path.

"Well, some torches would come in handy," Breadbeard murmured.

"Well, let's go," Dafur took the first step to the shaft.

Eriv shrugged her shoulders and followed him. Breadbeard peered around for the last time with a greedy glint in his eyes and muttered under his thick beard, "I'm rich, rich, rich."

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Stone saw the dwarfs leave. Partner still did not answer and Stone understood that he should do something. It was a persistent notion.

After pondering over it, he succumbed and ordered ants to pick him up and to follow the dwarfs. The persistent, annoying feeling still did not go away, but at least it was not so loud.

Two dozen of the strongest ants picked him up. The rest of the hundreds of ants gathered their meat and aligned into three lines right behind.

"Status." With a soft 'thud' his status screen took shape in his mind. His stone tablet always put him in a better mood.

Name: Stone

Title: Guardian of Talc Anthill

Race: Talc

Level: 7

Exp: 15.73%

Hardness: 1.24

Lifeforce: 115 / 115

Mana: 33 / 33 MReg: 32 / sec

Refined mana: 8.25 / 8.25 MRef: 7 / min

Strength: 0

Dexterity: 0

Intelligence: 3.3

Talents: Ageless, Sapient, Heat Accumulator, Partner

Resistances: Heat T1L4, Electrical T1L3

Expertise: Mana Point T2L3, Ambient Mana Refinement T2L7, Mana Carving T2L6, Healing Bath for stones T1L6

Ants with Stone in the lead moved to catch up with the last dwarf. The dwarfs stopped and said something, but luckily, they overlooked their small, inconspicuous stalkers.

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The nervous dwarfs

"Did ye note? Somethin follows us," Eriv calmly spoke to the two dwarfs. After all, what kind of dwarf would fear underground or their inhabitants. They stopped and turned, seeing an empty shaft.

"I see nothin," Breadbeard absentmindedly replied, his mind still on the crystals.

"Let's go. We need to find an exit soon. Thankfully, I can conjure some water and fire with mae runas, but the food is a problem."

"Ther'll be some mushrooms or some animals to hunt, town boy," Eriv playfully replied and pushed him with a shoulder. However, she was still peeking over her shoulder.

"How long is this shaft?" Dafur was not used to this kind of natural underground. The furthest he ever was, was the second layer of Arn-Dul's maze.

Breadbeard clapped, using his technique [Echolocation], "I woulda say at least a kilometer,". As an experienced miner, he had to have some tricks up his sleeve.

"When I think about it, I faintly remember you said refined mana…" Eriv said and shot a nervous glance behind over her shoulder.

Shields start to flicker, and the water drops to the ground as their mana runs out.

"Dafur! Shields are gone!" Eriv anxiously cried out.

"Noticed. Well, nothin I can do about it. I'm out of mana, but we're out of the worst, so we shoulda be fine," Dofur answered, but knew they probably were not 'fine'. How long did they sleep there unprotected? He shivered and hoped that they got lucky.

"Hmph! Apprentice is still just an apprentice…" Breadbeard mocked him.

The group of three dwarfs entered from the side of a large cavern still secretly followed by the inconspicuous pebble.

The cavern had a perfectly flat ground and two lights illuminating a large gate made from white marble. The gate itself was an artistic marvel; on each door were protruding two half-sculptures of faceless dwarfs with a raised hand, meaning stop. The details were incredible; they could even see sculpted single hairs.

Breadbeard clapped again, activating his [Echolocation] skill. The two dwarfs glanced at him and shook their heads.

"There's no other way," Dafur whispered, "let's be careful, these ancient tombs are riddled with traps."

Eriv and Breadbeard nodded, mesmerized by the exquisite craftsmanship of the gate.

The cavern looked natural and artificial simultaneously. However, there was no way it could have been built by Dwarves, let alone any other mortals.

"That must be older than Arn'Dul itself," Breadbeard spoke as he examined the gate's craftsmanship.

"Yea… It's a real beauty," Eriv said, her voice dripping with reverence.

"Wait here, I'm goin to check it," Dafur firmly commanded. After all, it was his job to investigate and protect these miners.

"Hmpf!" Breadbeard snorted, disgruntled, and Eriv reacted by rolling her eyes. Still, they let him take the lead.

Dafur jumped on the platform, carefully observing it. He noticed four runes, with a white pebble on one of them.

"Seems familiar," he said under his breath, staring at the pebble. "What am I thinkin. Just a piece of rock," he shook his head, focusing back at the runes, "these runas… Mae three runas are based on these ones."

"Can we go up?" Eriv disrupted Dafur's thoughts.

"What?" He jumped up from the squatting, "Oh, yea, sure," he answered, slightly embarrassed.

"Maybe not all breakers of stone are bad," a high-pitched voice echoed in the cavern.

They froze.

"What was that?" Breadbeard inquired, frantically turning around. While he searched for the source, he stepped on one of the tiles engraved with a rune.

"Sounded like a voice! Said somethin about breakers of stone?" Eriv was more curious than frightened. The voice did not seem angry or evil.

Dafur had his head full of other thoughts, not even registering Stone. After a moment, he said, "Eriv!"

"Yeah? What do ya want? Didn't ya hear that?"

"Go and stand on that runa," he pointed to the rune representing air, completely ignoring her question.

He moved on the rune representing water, but nothing happened.

"Eriv, move yar cute ass to that runa. Now!" He frowned at her. She did not know if she should be angry or blushing, but listened and walked over to the rune. She liked a dwarf that could take the lead.

"Oh… wait," Dafur pondered for a while and instructed, "Eriv, stand there and deeply inhale. Breadbeard, don't fret!" He mischievously smirked.

"What are ya tal…"

Dafur suddenly conjured his fiery rune before Breadbeard could finish. A small ball of flame lit up under Breadbeard's feet.

"Ya little, sorry ass-prentice! I'll break yar third leg!" Breadbeard skipped in place as his iron greaves rapidly warmed up. He tried to take them off while Eriv madly giggled, completely forgetting the high-pitched voice.

Dafur cast another rune with droplets of water floating around it and a small puddle spilt around him.

He gazed at the rune embodying earth, but there was already sitting that pebble with ants around. "Let's hope that it will be enough," he uttered and soon, the ancient runes began glowing.

Stale, dry air blew over them as the gate partially opened, uncovering what was behind them. The dwarfs' gaped, mouths hanging, not able to grasp the sight.

"The legends were true!" They whispered in unison.

Behind the gate laid an enormous hall with a path around thirty metres long paved with white marble tiles, golden runes engraved upon them. The path was illuminated with the same light balls on pedestals as those before the gate. It was leading to a grand tomb, made from black marble, lined with carved mana crystals and precious stones.

Then the gate slowly closed as one of the runes stopped glowing. Their eyes filled with horror and they jumped forward, but were too slow. Their faces planted on the gate with loud bangs.

Then the gate was opening again. Eriv ran for it and was almost successful, but was not fast enough, and could only watch as it closed again.

"Dornus dammiiiiit!" Breadbeard shouted, irritated, at the closed gate and furiously banged at it. Eriv and Dafur joined him.

The dwarven greed can be a horrifying condition.

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Encyclopaedia Stonia

Blight

A sickness, a corruption if you wish, when too much relatively intense mana radiation corrodes any kind of lifeforms. Reactions are different for each 'person'. Some may turn into another race, some turn undead… It's highly unpredictable. The radiation starts a mutation that is always detrimental in some way, and sometimes it can give a nice perk alongside. Blight is incurable, at least for most people. High-tiered wizards could help you, but their fees are exorbitant.

A long time ago, when mana crystal deposits were plentiful, waves of corrupted Monsters were quite a regular occurrence. It was an age of strife and constant fear. But as they were mined, waves slowly faded. Now, it is rare that a corrupted being shows up. Their heads often serve as ornaments to kings and nobles. At least those that are not usable for research.

There are warlocks known as blight mages. But about them another time.

Dwarfs

About 1.4 metres tall and often very broad. Of course, there are many variations and mixed breeds. They are considered drunken buggers who can't use spells for some unknown reason.

Most races find them cute, that is when they are under a year old. At the same age, as their first beard grows, the parents give them the first pint of beer. When a dwarf meets any kind of alcohol, the alcohol will mysteriously disappear—no matter where it is. An old legend is told: an old dwarf before his death wished to see all of the breweries and wineries, even elven, on the Nameless continent. When he was on a journey through all of the biggest breweries and wineries, the most prized flasks mysteriously disappeared. They were all locked up in treasuries and heavily guarded.

On the other hand, they are excellent blacksmiths, tinkerers, and architects. They are being hired by the rest of the races, even by underwater nations. Naturally, those are charged premium prices.

Beware of their greediness. They are such brutal merchants and negotiators that even Earth's capitalists would cover in fear. They always invent new ways of how to earn money as it's a great motivation for them. Moral and immoral alike.

But there is one thing they hate the most. Well, two actually: one is slavery, and the second is a lack of alcohol for a prolonged time. If you ask them what they hate more out of the two, they will punch you in the guts with full power they can muster. You have been warned.

Mana crystal deposits

Quite rare on the Nameless continent and even a small deposit can make you incredibly wealthy. Many nations suffered quite a bit when they found a new deposit as neighbours would wage wars over them.

Warning! Warning! Do not use refined mana in its vicinity! Explosion imminent! Warning! Warning!

Karna-Kuls

Orange in colour cow-like creatures with two udders and half as big. Males have nasty nature, especially in mating season, and three horns are about 35 to 50 centimetres long. You can imagine what force they can generate when they start to fight.