Mines

Knock, Knock. Isaiah was awoken by the knock on his door. He swiftly got out of bed and opened the door. He was greeted with a beautiful woman looking to be in her 30s. She had blonde hair with crimson eyes, her body was toned yet curvy.

He greeted her with a smile, "You must be Miss Nollie." He reached out his hand to shake hers.

Nollie shook his hand, "And you must be Mr. Isaiah, it's a pleasure to meet you. I heard a lot about you."

Isaiah smiled, "The pleasure is mine. I likewise heard about you and how good you are at your job."

Nollie smiled for the first time since their meeting after Isaiah complimented her for having a reputation of being good at her job.

He gestured for her to enter the living room, "Please have a seat as I change into a more suitable outfit."

Nollie nodded and got seated in the living room, waiting for him to change.

Isaiah, back in his room, changed into a comfortable outfit: a jacket that went all the way to just above the ground, loose fitting pants. It was an all black fit apart from his white tee. Coupled with his sunglasses, he looked like a mix between a secret agent and a scientist.

He came back to the living room, "We can leave." They both left the house. Once they exited the building, a vehicle was waiting for them outside. The vehicle was indigo blue with the iconic rectangular shape looking like a slab with wheels, which surprised Isaiah as it was the first time he had seen a vehicle in this world.

While Isaiah didn't let any surprise show on his face, Nollie, guessing he might be curious, still explained, "This is a mana machine that the government developed recently. You have to be at least Rank 1 to be able to use it because of the mana requirements." They both got into the car, Isaiah seated at the passenger's seat. He saw mana from Nollie enter the car, like water dripping from her arms towards the car. There was no steering wheel available, it seemed like she guided the wheels using her mana.

"I really want to pull this car apart," Isaiah thought to himself. However, he soon shelved the thought as he had more pressing matters, but he would definitely try to get his hands on a car like this in the future to take apart and look at the mechanisms that were inside.

After exiting the Silver City, they entered a mountain road. The journey was rather quick without any mishaps. All Isaiah did was make small talk with Nollie to get to know her a bit better and to see if he could gather information regarding her status within the government. He learned that she had become a Rank 1 relatively recently and wasn't too deep in the government.

They soon arrived in front of a gigantic mountain range. In front of one of the mountains were camps and buildings lined up in an orderly manner. It was clear this mountain was the one where the mines were located. "Welcome to Empire's Mana Mines, this is the place the lab the government set up for you is located," she said. They swiftly made their way through security and entered the mines.

Isaiah looked around him and noticed a plethora of gems filling the corridors of the mines. There was no need for any artificial lighting as mana gems let out plenty of light. The dark corridors were shrouded in a warm blue light.

Isaiah couldn't help his curiosity and asked, "It seems from the sheer number of untouched gems here that the government has difficulty mining them?"

Nollie turned to him, impressed by his observation, "You have a sharp eye just like your uncle. Yes, the government can't easily take these mana gems outside the mines. They have to use an expensive procedure to be able to take them out or else soon after the mana gems lose the mana inside them and dissipate. Since the procedure is so expensive it's not viable, but it makes this place the perfect area for mana gem related research as you can quickly use them before they dissipate."

Looking around the untouched gems around him put a slight smile on Isaiah's face. "It seems like a future monopoly opportunity," he thought to himself. He was confident that given enough resources and time, he could find a way to extract the mana gems for cheaper and even streamline it. He knew that the possibilities presented by mana were endless.

The corridor soon opened to a large space with a large tent right in its middle. The white tent seemed blue due to all the light that bounced off of it. "This is your research lab, the convicts are waiting inside. If you need any help, I will be waiting outside the mines," she said while pointing at the large tent.

Isaiah nodded, "Thank you, I can handle the rest."

Right before leaving, Nollie said, "Do be careful not to wander too deep into the mines as it can be dangerous for a Rank 0 like yourself." With that, she promptly left.

"Rank 0 like myself, huh?" he murmured after she left. It seemed like Ranks in this world were what truly defined the power hierarchy.

He turned his attention to the tent and got inside. The tent was illuminated through a small desk lamp that surprisingly didn't strain the eyes and was capable enough to illuminate the entire tent alone. On one side of the tent stood a long table with many scientific equipment but also equipment that a surgeon might need. On the other side was a cage inside which were 4 bodies stacked upon each other. From afar they seemed like corpses. In the middle of the tent was a surgery table.

The first thing Isaiah did was approach the cage and examine the test subjects. Despite being in rough condition, Isaiah could tell that they were once men of high standing. "Political convicts, huh?" he quickly guessed. This observation made him really joyous, as these men were once of high standing that meant that some of them might be Rank 1 or even Rank 2 test subjects!