The mine is not straight. Rock Eater drills in a straight line, but the operator's job is to keep it running along the Lightsteel seam, and the seam is not straight. Hence, they orientate it up or down or curve it. Sometimes, they are drilling parallel to the previous line where the seam is wider, higher or deeper.

  This means sometimes there are places in the mine where I can stand.

  Then, there are side tunnels that are mostly hand-dug for smaller pockets or other ores. The amount they have dug in the eight months is amazing. They worked in shifts, and there was always one team operating or maintaining Rock Eater regardless of the hour.

  I got my Guard Class two weeks ago. The Guard Class gives five attributes per level, one in each of the physical areas and two free for me to choose. This is one more than my Hunter Scavenger Class.

  In two weeks as a Guard, I have already hit level 2. This gives me 4 spare attributes to distribute, but I don’t know where to put them. Yoboc said I should use my Identify skill to see what new skills are close and use my spare attributes to boost in the missing attributes. I did that, but there is nothing I really need for now that I can sense.

  Now everyone is getting worried. The weather is deteriorating, and the nights are getting longer and colder, but there is no sign of their ship. Just before we attacked the Ice Troll, a ship came in the height of summer. It resupplied us and took away a load of ore. There has been no ship since, and no other ship was expected.

  Everything has been ready for the ship for three weeks. There has been a lot of excitement and expectations of going home for a few months. Some of them will be coming back in the spring, and some will not.

  We had one bad autumn storm, and there was concern that the ship might have been damaged. Depending on the weather, it takes two to three weeks to sail back to Obalno. If there is another bad spell of weather, the channel through the ice might close, and they will be stuck here.

  Then disaster struck. They were still mining. Rock Eater was using more energy from the monster cores than when the weather was warmer, and it needed more maintenance. They were close to stopping using Rock Eater for the winter, but they should have stopped earlier. If I had not been their nightwatchman, they would have been disassembling Rock Eater two months earlier and only mining by hand.

  The dwarf in charge sensed a large concentration of spiritual energy just ahead and powered on to reach it before the end of his shift. Rock Eater broke through the wall of a large underground cavern and fell 15m to the floor, causing a lot of damage to Rock Eater and the cavern floor.

  I was called in to help pick up the pieces. Undoth and Thomwea Forgemaker were both furious. I think the stress of the missing ship and this all added up, meaning they were coming down hard on the idiot. He might not be returning next summer anymore.

  When I got there, they were cutting a path down the side of the cavern to make access to Rock Eater easier. The machine itself was obviously dented in places it shouldn’t have been, and some of the enchantments were cracked or broken. It was not going to function without major repair work.

  The cavern itself was huge. The dwarven tunnel came out of the wall 15m up, but the roof curved up higher and was probably twice that high. It was probably 50m across but more than 150m long. It did curve away, and there were stalactites and stalagmites scattered around. A moderate-sized stream was in the bottom.

  Undoth soon lost interest in the poor miner and went to look at his baby. He started yelling at the miners, and they changed from cutting a path to cutting a ramp. I guess they either need to get Rock Eater back up or some sizeable parts down. If Rock Eater was working, they would just use it to cut a path up, but now they had to do it by hand.

  I was here with a Patrol group to be manual labour and to watch for any nasties. My Spiritual Senses didn’t seem to be working very well, and I was the only one who needed a light. I felt it made me a target, and I was not happy.

  “What are we watching for?” I asked Undoth when he took a break from his baby. “If it is rock Elementals, then I will not sense them as my spiritual senses are playing up.” I looked at him. “Why would my Spiritual senses be playing up?”

  It was like he woke up to his surroundings. He looked around with renewed interest, “This cavern is not natural,” he started, then he stopped. He got his pick and then poked at the ground, “Come with me!”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He rushed back up to where the Rock Eater had broken out of the wall and examined it. Even I noticed a change in the rock, starting about 2m back from the opening. He chipped some free and examined it.

  “Look at this!” he said excitedly. I looked, but it just looked like rock to me. He went to the edge and looked at the cavern again, obviously looking for something in particular, but I have no idea what. From here, my light source and Journeyman Nightsight couldn’t see to the other side.

  He called Thomwea and the mine foreman over, “Look at this,” he said, showing them the rock, “and look there, there and there, you can see the ribs.”

  I am sorry. What? Ribs?

  “Look at this,” he said, brushing dirt from where he chipped out the rock. “This is the layer of scales. And the ribs are holding the cavern up.”

  I interrupted, “Are you telling me this was a creature of some sort?”

  “Not just a creature, my lad, A monster! Can’t you feel the Spiritual Energy!” I swear his eyes were shining, “This is the find of the century. No, the millennium! This is unique!”

  “Are you saying there is a monster core here?” I asked.

  “Oh, doubtful after this time, but it explains the high concentration of spiritual energy and the number of elementals.” He looked at a rock along the wall. I guess it could be a curved rib, maybe? “We need to mine some of that and take it back for analysis.”

  “I am not so sure,” Thomwea said. “Your senses are better than mine, but taking some samples is a good idea, and then we can see what we are dealing with. It is just too big. It would never be able to move. There is no animal this could be.”

  “Yes, there is. There are really large monsters deep in the ocean,” Undoth argued.

  “But I have never sensed this type of spirituality. Sea creatures normally have the sea as a component of their spirituality. I don’t get a hint of it here.”

  “I know,” Undoth said excitedly, “Something totally new.”

  “Maybe,” Thomwea said, “Maybe not. Somebody will know. The question is, what can it be used for?”

  This discussion was way above my head and way beyond my senses. I could not really comprehend a creature this large. We are like flees crawling over it. I shuddered. If it is true, we are so small.

  I really wish my spiritual senses were better. I crouched down where Undoth said the scales were and tried to refine my Spiritual sense of it. I guess the concentration at least bumped it up to Apprentice level, but I had no more understanding than before. It sensed cold, but not just cold. Something else, as well. Maybe something vast and huge, but I am not going to make sense of it with only basic Spiritual Sensing, which is only at the apprentice level.

  I shrugged. These dwarves have a century or more experience than me. If they don’t know, then there is not much I will be able to figure out.

  I tuned them out because I noticed the Commander arrive. I went to ask about the important part of my original question.

  “We need to watch out for all sorts of things in a cave like this,” the Commander said. High Spirituality means lots of elementals, not just rock ones. This will explain why we have not had a major attack on the mine.” He waved his hand. “They will be congregating here.”

  “We will get different creatures this far north, although some will have adapted to the cold. Mostly spiders and insects, millipedes and salamanders. There are probably fish and amphibians in the stream. Do we know whether it is fresh or salt water?” He looked around. “It is probably fresh,” he answered his own question. “I don’t see mushrooms, but there are almost certainly mosses and other fungi.” He looked at me, “All of these things will be changed and adapted to the environment and then changed again by the high Spiritual energy. Some will have become monsters.”

  Well, shit. They will be out of luck if they expect me to guard this. I can’t even see properly. “This is beyond me,” I said.

  He nodded, “It is. I will advise that we collapse the tunnel and come back next year with a proper team. However, if we can’t get Undoth’s toy out, they are unlikely to want to leave it here to the mercy of whatever beast comes along.”

  “I can’t even see properly,” I said, annoyed again at being the weak one.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about the light as most of the creatures will be blind and use other senses. Those Light crystals don’t give off heat, and the small spiritual discharge will get lost in this mess.” He was struggling with his Spiritual senses, too, so that was good to know.

  “They think we are in the belly of some sort of monster. Is that likely?” I asked.

  “It is one possibility. However, I have seen many strange features underground in my time. It is not going to change what we do. They can argue the details. We need only enough information to protect people first and things second. This means if we have to sacrifice Undoth’s toy for the safety of others, we will.

  “What happens if we can’t move Rock Eater and close the tunnel?” I asked.

  “Then there will be a lot of grumpy dwarves, as you will not be staying here alone.”

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