Chapter 15.1 Copper Mountain  (Part 5) 

Between practicing and practicing and practicing and practicing, I collected two new kinds of puppets, Mantis and Firefly. They look pretty much the same as normal insects, with a few minor changes.

The former has only one large eye instead of a head, and the webs are made of metal, which I have specially worked on. In addition to the strength of the scythes, I added the function of a cutter: the edge of the blades is heated to white, which allows you to literally cut the stone. Thus began the mining of gold ore: praying mantises cut pieces from the rock, and spiders or "harvesters" dragged them.

The "Firefly" has only grown to the size of an adult man's index finger, stronger legs, and the ability to swim safely in and under water. Its main role is that of a stealthy scout, as the antennae of this bug puppet create the effect of echolocation, and even without light it "sees" the world around it. I am transmitted a gray image collected from the shivering "snow" of "radio interference", quite peculiar, but you can get used to it and understand.

The reinforced "lantern" of the doll, obtained by introducing a second crystal, allows you to illuminate a circle up to ten meters in diameter. Due to the size of the "Fireflies", the large crystal for the spirit-operator did not work, which made the doll itself much more "dumb", but other functions of the crystal core managed to keep. But the speed of movement on any surface is amazing.

After some time of testing, simple spiders and fireflies were connected in a kind of telepathic network.

This immediately increased the efficiency of the scouts, and the spiders now sometimes just freeze, not moving, by controlling subordinates through communication. So they found a passage into the depths of the mountain, into the very bowels, where they descended for several days until they reached the exit of real lava.

 I was a little surprised, of course, watching and admiring the sight of molten rock. And when I saw the yellow color on some of the walls, I immediately sent Harvesters and some Spiders to break through the passages. Volcanic, "living" sulfur — not that rare, but not cheap, an ingredient for various branches of magical life, so it would not hurt to build up a supply.

Otherwise, my scouts snooped around the dungeons of the mountain, cracks, crevices, looking for anything interesting, with special orders to search and explore the waterways. I had not forgotten the words about finding gems in streams. If they were found in streams, it means they were brought by water, it means they were washed away somewhere, it means there must be more somewhere. That's the "more" I want to find.

However, it should be recognized that the mountain is really big and goes very deep, for its full exploration I will need a lot of time, perhaps — years. But I didn't get discouraged, especially since I had plenty to keep me busy.

Practicing with plants fascinated me more and more, and the words of value and application literally made my head spin. Finally, a month and a half before I left, I completed another of my creations: "Treasure Chest". It was the title that satisfied my hunger.

This miracle of my genius looks like an ordinary wooden chest, with iron strips and corners, with a flat lid. But all the secrets and all the joys are inside, because its task is to preserve, to protect. After much thought and consideration, I showed it to Mayuri-san under oath of secrecy. I asked her to help me apply the necessary powerful protection and stasis properties to the chest, as I was not yet able to do it myself.

I had to swear to her that I would not do anything to harm the clan, the legitimate government or the Emperor (I was shocked). Only then did she agree to help me, casting a powerful spell and warning me that it would wear off in time. I nodded wisely, I understood, but I didn't mention that the chest had special niches with artifact anchors.

Anchor cores, processed crystals, not only permanently fix the effect, but also greatly complicate the defense mechanisms and their power supply. Thus, the treasure chest cannot be burned, drowned, cracked, crushed, melted by acid, or torn apart by gravity. It is not subject to curses, nor can various tracking spells or loot be cast on it.

No, it can be destroyed, but it takes a lot of effort, because part of the attack is destroyed, and the energy goes into the drink of the universal protective circuit — the most external, harmful shield, not too complex, but no less effective. In addition, there are the "Mirror" and "Sticky" shields that can be activated at any time, which also improves the defense of the vault. Binding to me, my artifact-safe, and the mechanisms for transitions to "hidden" are also in place. I think there's a lot to be proud of here, so I feel like an elephant — just as satisfied.

The stasis in the chest is deactivated when the chest is opened, i.e. the top and side walls are lifted. The chest contains eight panel frames with recesses for balls, fifteen centimeters in diameter, which can be pulled out like frames in a beehive. The spheres were not yet a complete set, but work is in progress.

On each quartz sphere I placed complex seals of complete stasis, preservation of properties and life, and indestructibility. In them, in the time remaining before departure, I and the brothers collected samples of the rarest and most unusual plants, algae and fungi. I didn't take everything, of course, because the chest has its limits, and I couldn't cram more into it — it might cause a conflict with the Cascade's defenses. Perhaps there was a way around this problem, but by my twelfth birthday I had done what I could.

 In the end, when I left, there was one unfilled frame in the chest, two spheres on the mushroom rack, and four algae (I introduced a system of lights on the racks: a red light glows — the sphere is empty, green — filled).