Mindanium

As soon as the Pickaxes were manufactured, the soldiers went to work. Once they found out that what they were mining would strengthen the walls, everyone got motivated. Everyone was aware that if their walls were to fall, it would, at the very least, lead to hundreds of casualties and a much more difficult defense.

"Send out the order. The ones stationed at home, besides the ones on guard duty, are to immediately investigate all the caves we've searched before. Practice extreme caution. Follow protocol. If you get too cocky, you might not even know what killed you." Luna said. He was well aware that there were people who wanted to impress him and possibly gain a higher position. In the caves, as they are now, this can be a liability.

During the early stages, every time they would conquer more territories, they would search every nook and cranny. Especially the caves. Any RPG veteran would always check cave areas for rare items. While they did find some items, none of them were particularly that impressive.

They were also quite busy stabilizing their hold on Negros island. This was why they didn't bother rechecking them.

"Initially, we wanted to hold just these few islands. But it seems now we have to make a decision." Sura said.

"Lady Sura is right. The more islands we own, the more we can secure these resources and whatever else may come with these new dynamics." Elder Aran compounded on her statement while rubbing his forehead. This was a tough choice indeed.

"I think we should expand more, Luna," Sura suggested.

"I know." Luna acknowledged, then he explained his worries, "But you still have to take into account, the possibility of things emerging from those caves. If that happens, will we be able to stop them when our forces are spread out too thin? Unlike dungeons in an MMORPG, I didn't notice anything that might stop creatures from going out."

"This... I see. In our world, I was born when the war was already ongoing. Creatures you would find in dungeons were also in the outside, but I've never seen them actually come out. Then again, all the different races were constantly pushing in deeper and not giving the dungeon dwellers many chances to leave." Elder Aran explained his reasoning.

"In our planet, the monsters mainly used dungeons as their home base, but it's not a good comparison. Our planet never went through anything that Earth is going through right now." Sura shared her thoughts as well.

"Alright. It seems there's no sure answer just yet, so we'll have to test it out ourselves." Luna said.

Just as they were discussing with each other, he received a message from General Leman.

"Sir." The General was one of the few who actually didn't feel awkward by not calling him "Lord." As a matter of fact, he preferred it that way. That was just his personality, especially after being in his position for so long. "We've managed to recruit most of the other Nations we've come across. There were those who refused and we left them alone as per your command. However, as per your command, when they tried to ambush our men and women for their equipment and other 'self-interests,' we retaliated by eliminating the instigators and their kin."

"Thank you, General Leman. How much ground have you covered so far?"

"As of right now, we've reached the Municipality of Aurora. I've chosen to push forward here while Boni and Elise decided to scour Mount Malindang. They believe those things you call Agimat to exist there."

"I see, that's fine. Have you sent a force towards Zamboanga to help deal with Maute?" Luna asked.

"We've made sure to have squads scout out the areas around Labason, Kalawit, and Ipil. Especially the main roads. Just in case they send a large force and try to catch us off-guard." General Leman responded. He took the necessary precautions to make sure the Army doesn't suffer casualties due to them being unprepared.

"Alright. Make sure not to expand any further before securing the caves you come across. Mine what you can, and don't go further in than necessary. There might be some high-level beings in there that you all can't take on just yet." Luna warned them again. "Carry on, General. Elise is contacting me, they might have found something."

Cutting off communication with General Leman, he accepted the request from Elise.

"Luna! We found something good!" Elise was ecstatic. One could tell from her current high-pitched voice.

"Good to hear from you too, Elise. Haha! What did you guys find?" Luna asked. Because of how busy everyone has been lately, the original group hasn't been together in one location.

"It's something called <Mindanium>, it's this clear crystal that looks like it holds some type of golden energy inside and apparently it can be used to upgrade weapons! We'll need Pickaxes or something to farm them, can we bother you to have some manufactured?" She asked.

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<Mindanium>

Used to upgrade Weapons. Every failure increases the chance to succeed in every subsequent attempt.

The chance to succeed drastically goes down after +6.

Equipment will not be damaged when failing towards +7 and +8 but will consume materials.

Going to +9 and higher carries the risk of damaging equipment.

The user must then pay the appropriate amount of currency to repair the damaged piece of equipment.

Upgrading stations are not needed in order to use these materials or to repair armor after failed attempts towards +9 or higher.

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"Oh? We found <Visanium> used to upgrade walls and structures on them as well. We also found <Luzonium> used to upgrade armor pieces. It seems we've managed to discover the three main upgrading materials. This is good. Also, no worries, I already had Pickaxes manufactured when I found the other materials, I'll have half of them sent to you. Did you guys find anything else?" Luna was pertaining to any possible Agimat the Mountain might hold.

"That, well, not quite, but Boni was pretty optimistic. He said he felt as if something was calling out to him. Although, that could either be a good or bad thing. Would you mind asking Elder Aran if there has been any Agimat or Relic that would call out to a specific person like that? And what would be the trigger?" She inquired. Boni seemed to really have a good impression of whatever was calling out to him.

It worried her.

Elder Aran joined the comms.

"Elise, I've never actually heard of any Agimat calling out to anybody like that. I'd keep an eye on him. The world is full of wonders, dangers, and a lot of the time, dangers pretending to be wonders. Watch him closely. If anything, it should be a lingering will of something. Maybe even a spirit that has gained sentience and has evolved further." Elder Aran gave his advice.

"Okay, I'll ask Hana and the others to help keep an eye on him," Elise replied.

"Let me know as soon as anything happens, alright?" Luna said, then Sura added, "Tell Hana and the rest I said 'Hi.'" It was apparent that she quite missed the gang from the earlier days.

"Will do, guys! Thanks, you guys take care!" Elise said her goodbyes when suddenly. "Wait, what?! Where did he go?!" They heard her running as she called out, "Boni?!"

Luna on the other end felt a jolt in his entire body as well. Boni was his best friend! Losing him would a great blow to him. Elder Aran and Sura were shocked as well. "Elise! What happened!" He screamed out.

Hana entered the comms as well. "Luna-sama! We grouped up while Elise was contacting you and examining the <Mindanium>, I paired up with Boni-dono. He said he was convinced that whatever was calling out to him wasn't malicious, so I went with him just in case. I tried comms, but I couldn't contact him. I'm sorry I let this happen!" She definitely felt guilty. The distress in her voice could be heard from the other line. Her Japanese accent even emerged in her panic, which usually happened when a person who had English as their second language was distressed. One would even call it cute, if it weren't for the fact that she was already panicking.

Luna regained his composure quickly. "Hana, it's okay, it's not your fault. There's no proof that he's dead, alright? Tell me what exactly happened after. How did he disappear?"

"Thank you, Luna-sama. We were killing mutated creatures, we finally killed off all the creatures in a pond inside the cave, when Boni-dono said 'Trust me, I'll be fine' and jumped into the water, then a bright red cloud appeared and it disappeared the moment he entered it." Hana detailed her experience.

"Boni isn't a careless person. His survival and his strength is proof of that. He must know something we don't that he just couldn't explain somehow. Keep that area on lockdown for now."

"Yes, Luna-sama." Hana bowed even though Luna didn't have a visual of her.