Chapter 40 - Breakthrough

Gren's muscles were feeling like they were on fire and he was thirsty. He forgot to fill the canteens earlier so he ran out of water a while ago. It was definitely time to take a break from exercising. Gren finished up by stretching and then left his room.

Gren noticed that the goblins weren't on the staircase anymore when he went to the first floor. He felt bad for the goblin that liked apples since she was collateral damage. After Gren finished drinking some water and filling his canteens he could hear someone grunting while climbing the steps that led to the underground.

There was a short girl lifting up a rock almost her size. She was slowly carrying it up the stairs, struggling every step of the way. Gren would like to help her but he already knew that he'd just get in the way due to how weak his body was. She reached the top of the stairs and put down the rock, seeming a bit tired. Gren brought her a cup of water. "You seem tired. Take a break."

The little girl looked up at him. "If I take a break now we'll never get done. We've been at the rubble for a while now but we've only been able to remove a few rocks like this one." She slapped the rock a few times on its top before continuing. "At this rate we'll be there for weeks before we make real progress." Gren didn't want them to overwork themselves to death so he'd like to make it easier on them.

"Then is there something you could use to get the job done easier?" Gren thought about what would be useful for removing rocks. "Maybe a pickaxe?"

"A pickaxe would be a good start but it'd be really nice to have an earth magician. I hear that they can build a tunnel almost instantly." The short girl seemed to be thinking about something with a smile on her face.

"Well, take a break and tell everyone else that's working down there to rest for a bit. I'll go fetch some tools." Gren forced the cup of water into her hand before heading back up to his room.

{Show me the recommended tools for clearing rubble.}

<Visualizing>

There were a few different tools that Gren could purchase. Shovels, pickaxes, saws, and axes were lined up. The saws and axes didn't seem useful but it reminded Gren of what Ahk asked for. The axe she wanted was probably different.

The pickaxes were 300 points each and the shovels were 350. Gren thought about it and decided to buy three of each, spending 1950 points. After purchasing them he noticed that he had more points remaining than he even remembered having. It seemed like whoever took his weapons were using them.

Getting them downstairs by himself would be a chore so Gren decided to enlist the help of some of the demihumans. The incident with the goblins made him a bit cautious so he took out the armor that he hadn't used in a while. He couldn't find his helmet but remembered that Jasmine took it to her room. For now, Gren would bring one pickaxe with him to show them that he had tools.

The underground area was gloomy. Somehow the aura being emitted from the women was more depressing than it was back when they were with the slave trader. There were some women trying to clear the rubble with their hands but they weren't being successful. It seemed like they didn't take a break like he wanted them to. The rest of the women he could see were sitting down on the cold stone floor; some huddled up to stay warm. Gren could feel that he was getting more than a few glares.

Gren gathered his courage and talked to the women working. "Excuse me! Can I have a moment of your time!?" He yelled out to make sure they could hear him. Some of the women looked at him in fear when they saw the pickaxe but one woman rushed over to him.

"Oohhh, you actually got one! That was fast!" Gren passed her the pickaxe and the dwarf woman that he met earlier was now admiring it. There were four other dwarf girls looking at it from behind her. "It even looks brand new."

"I actually have a couple more upstairs. There are also some shovels." Gren looked back to the women sitting down behind him. "I also have some blankets and robes to help make things more comfortable. If you need anything else that we don't have just let me know."

The contrast between Jasmine's aggressive approach and Gren's generosity made most of the women feel like he was a good master. There were many women that volunteered to help him bring the tools, blankets, and robes from upstairs. Gren told them to wait on the first floor for a while and then took out most of the clothing from his pocket dimension, leaving the sealed chest to continue staying in its own little corner of the space. It took several trips up and down the stairs but everything was handed off to the demihuman women. His body was already tired from the exercise so moving so much completely drained him and he went to lay down in his room.

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The stone rubble was being broken down at a fast pace thanks to the combined power of the strength from the demihumans and the perfectly crafted pickaxes supplied by the system. The smaller stones were easy to transport once the shape shifter got involved. She stretched herself over the stairs and used the wooden properties of the dryad to turn herself into a ramp, allowing the women to use Gren's cart.

The women quickly saw a small gap between the rubble and realized that they were close to reclaiming their first section of the underground area. With one more good strike from a pickaxe the large rock above came crashing down, causing dust to go flying. Thankfully nobody was harmed by it but the fox girl was startled awake.

The last thing that she could remember was arguing with Tahloh. Her stomach was hurting her but she had more pressing concerns. "How long was I asleep!?"

One of the two kobold girls next to the fox girl was focused on the rock falling so she got startled by the fox girl's yell.

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Gren woke up due to the loud sound coming from downstairs. He didn't have to put his boots or armor on because he fell asleep wearing them. Jessica was already outside her room; it seemed like the sound woke her too. "Gren! What was that noise?"

"I'm not sure either. I'm about to go find out. Maybe there was an accident." Gren ran down the stairs and realized that Jessica was following him. "Are you coming too?" She nodded and the two made their way to the underground.

Jessica was surprised when she finally reached the underground. "Where did all of these people come from?" There were a bunch of people wearing different colors of robes similar to the one Gren was wearing. Some were laying down on blankets and there was even a skeleton sitting down by itself. Jessica gave a little yelp when it turned to look at her.

Gren had already run off towards the area they were working on so he didn't even hear her question. There were some scary-looking people in the passageway. A woman with pure white skin and large red hands that had giant claws. A blonde woman was wearing a metal mask attached to a collar while glaring at others; her eyes had bags under them and her cheeks were sunken in. Jessica was wondering what was going on but nobody was giving her answers.