Stepping through the gate, they were greeted by absolute darkness as they slowly sank down to the bottom of the cave, using . This was so deep below earth, that there was truly no light, not even the obligatory mushrooms or creatures with bioluminescence.
Even when using , there was barely anything he could see. All beside him cast a spell with the flick of her wrist, illuminating the whole cavern that contained the hell gate in a dim glow, just enough to aid and see everything clearly.
As the information gained by the golems described, it was a humongous subterranean room. The edges of the hollow were lined by natural columns where stalactites and stalagmites had fused to strong supports.
The floor and ceiling were smoothed and contained the arcane formulas to create and sustain the gate floating in the center of the cavern. Someone had clearly refined this place to set up the spells properly, yet this stood in contrast to what the golem eyes reported,
Apart from the gate, they had yet to find the demon kin living here or traces of their habitation. Only this gate indicated that something other than beasts lived in these tunnels. It lightly raised his suspicions, but he also thought it was better this way.
If there was nobody living, nobody could object to them about mining in this place. It had been a long while since Seth had a chance to go prospecting himself, now he not only had the sorceress by his side to identify magical minerals fit for enchantment, he also had which allowed him to spot and appraise epic metals and minerals from a moderate distance.
“Oh, there's already some stuff to raise your little enchanters here,” Al commented with a whistle, the moment they were able to see the cave a little better. The moment she said it, Seth's field of viewwas also filled with five or six windows showing appraisal results.
, , ... quite a few names Seth had never heard, mostly because they were not for him. These were all catalysts and foci used in spells, magic formations, and arcane enchantment. Even the blacksmith was a little stunned.
“Oh, this one is nice,” Al exclaimed, breaking one of the from the cave wall. When Seth's eyes wandered off it, it showed that this particular piece was actually epic-rated!
Just this “entrance hall” had five different kinds of magical minerals and a kind of mold that was at least uncommon, some were rare and some pieces were even epic. They took a few samples, especially the epic ones, before continuing to explore the true worth of these tunnels.
They knew the layout of a big part of the cave system thanks to the golem eyes. Although the scout could identify special resources based on appearance, it took him and Al to check on the wealth and kind of resources that were hidden in this place. Of course, it also took their expertise and muscle. After all, these tunnels were not empty.
The whole cave wall was falling apart in chunks when the blacksmith started swinging the legendary pickaxe, he had forged from a piece of legendary that held the attribute of increased damage in the darkness. A single strike turned a stretch of 2x4 meters of wall into handy pieces of copper ore.
Seth took another swing, filling the floor with chunks of ore. He was in the middle of picking them up with some help from Al'Zalsar when he heard a notification sound and brought out his table. It wasn't a tablet computer, but the magic device that allowed him a direct connection to the eye golems still left exploring the caves.
“The golems finally found a structure that resembles the birthing pools...”
Seth's words trailed off, when he followed the mapping of the tunnels, from the gate to the place the golem eye indicated. It actually was not too far away from the gate, but looking at the footage of the golem, it looked like there was a cave-in of sorts.
“Hey, if we go back a little and take one of those tunnels you closed off, we can probably dig a shortcut to that place,” she said after looking over his shoulder and seeing the map. The sorceress threw a meaningful look at him and the pickaxe still in his hands.
“Looks like you are also curious,” Seth said with a chuckle. They had not seen any sign of demons down here and now the important birthing pool had not been moved far away from the gate, despite the apparent disaster it caused in other worlds. Something was fishy about this.
They followed Al's suggestion and went to one of the dead ends they had passed earlier. Demonic beasts inside them were quickly skewered by rock spikes. Since he already had his giant rod in hand, he also shot a little with it, so he didn't get rusty with .
“I guess we should just pass by the dead ends,” Seth mumbled when they actually found resources not marked by the golems beforehand. After all, the small scout devices could only recognize so much.
“Oh, look! An Auretic Toadstool,” the Sorceress exclaimed. “This can be used as a catalyst in rare and epic enchantments, “ she commented happily and put it into her inventory. her tone suggested that she was completely in gathering mode, it didn't matter that they were technically in a hostile demon world.
“This should be the place.” Seth stopped a few moments after she found her toadstool. They were about halfway down the tunnel, the dead end was visibly in the distance. Seth twirled the pickaxe in his hands and then started digging straight down.
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