Chapter 12 - Mining

As Dawn was waiting in her room before sleeping, she thought about mining.

What do I know? It’s mainly breaking open rocks to remove them… is it? Minecarts? That’s later, that’s just easier to move the rocks. Rock, you break them apart with a pickaxe? I’m ignorant of much. How to research this… are the teachers doing anything? Yes, learning from Lynn. I’ll find them and get them started on writing. Should I stick around with the miners and try to improve their work? The phrase… “Safety regulations are written in blood,” was it? I’ll stick around, watching them and studying magic.

----------------------------------------

When the next morning came, Dawn left her house to find three people standing outside.

“Are you the miners?”

They nodded, nervousness apparent upon their faces.

“Follow me.”

The four of them walked out of town and headed to the nearby mountain.

As they walked, Dawn thought about what to have them do.

Dig it out? Take too long. Dig just a tunnel? Would work for now, and expand our reach. Just dig up materials? I don’t know how, nor do they. Later, that can be done.

They arrive, and Dawn began to instruct them. “You will build a tunnel through the mountain. The process is simple. You will manifest a pickaxe, this tool here.” Dawn showed her pickaxe. “Then strike the mountain.” Dawn's swing tore through the stone, and when she withdrew the pick, the broken stone fell.

“You will mine a tunnel through this mountain. I’ll be supervising you for the majority of the time, but you are all responsible for your own safety. If something seems wrong or dangerous, call me over to check. Any questions?”

The three miners were silent.

“Manifest your pickaxes.”

The two Foxshire miners manifested perfect pickaxes, while the Plerith miner couldn’t.

“Ah, I’ve forgotten. What are your names?”

“Luke,” one of the Foxshire miners answered. “Sawin,” said the other. “Lauren,” the Plerith miner finished.

“Alright. Luke and Sawin, you two begin to mine. Lauren, I’ll be teaching you magic when I return.”

Dawn turned on her heel and hurried into the woods.

----------------------------------------

When Dawn returned, she found the 3 miners exhausted. The Foxshire miners were lying down, while Lauren was bringing water to the miners.

So Plerith has pottery.

“Luke and Sawin, take a break for now. Lauren, your lessons will begin now.”

Dawn rushed through her magic lessons, getting Lauren to manifest a small amount of mana before sundown. Midway through, she took a break to send Luke and Sawin back to work, keeping a watch on them while still teaching.

“It’s nearly sundown. You are all dismissed for today.”

----------------------------------------

The next day, Dawn left Lauren’s training to themself. When Luke and Sawin took another break, she walked inside to check the cave.

Magic is truly powerful, with these two capable of tunneling several feet in just a day.

Dawn's focus moved to the walls, noticing the walls shifting ever so lightly.

The cave needs to be reinforced.

“Luke, Sawin. Don’t enter the cave for now.”

“Why?” Sawin asked, before covering his mouth in terror.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“The cave is at risk of collapsing.”

----------------------------------------

Dawn returned from hunting with a tree log.

Tossing it on the ground, she removed the bark swiftly. She manifested a saw and began to split the log in an attempt to make a plank. The plank was poor.

What did I do wrong… the width is inconsistent.

“Lauren. Do you still have the bowl you used to bring water yesterday?”

“Yes, but it’s at my house.”

“Grab it, fill it up with water, and get back to me. Keep practising your manifestation as you do.”

----------------------------------------

When Lauren reappeared, Dawn asked for the bowl. She manifested a small capsule in the water, filling it mostly with water but leaving a small bubble. She pulled the capsule out, attached a flat bar to it, and laid it upon the log.

With her new level, Dawn resawed a very thin plank to get one edge smooth. She rolled the log over and cut the remaining 3 sides to make a square. With a newly square log, she cut it into 6 planks.

They all look good. Now, how to reinforce the cave. Two vertical bars and a cross on the top. I’ll need to be in the cave from now on, though. I need to get research on lumberworking done.

Dawn walked into the cave, dragging the plank and laying it upright against the wall.

Too tall, and I need to brace it.

Dawn dug out a small part of the ground, shoved the plank inside and lifted it to the ceiling. Finding where it’s too long, she sawed the end to fit. She did the same with a second plank, and laid a third on top.

Hopefully, that will do.

Dawn called the miners to continue their work, keeping close behind them to watch over the cave.

----------------------------------------

Three days after reinforcing the cave, Dawn noticed the rocks beginning to slip and heard a rumble.

“GET OUT OF THE CAVE!” Dawn yelled, manifesting a flat barrier to hold up the ceiling throughout the cave. As the rocks fell, the miners ran out. The ceiling fell, pushing Dawn to the ground.

Are they out of the cave?

Dawns attention slipped, the barrier disappeared, and the rocks fell.

----------------------------------------

Dawn reawoke outside the cave, naked again.

If enchantment exists, I should make clothes that stick with me after death.

Dawn ran over to the woods to make a third set of clothes. She went back to the cave to find the miners sat in mourning outside.

“I’m not dead.”

The three miners stood up in shock, one even tripping over himself.

“As mining is too dangerous, I’m calling it off for now. I will offer you two choices. Become farmers, or help conduct research on how to mine.”

The miners talked to each other, discussing it.

Dawn waited several minutes, before the three nodded in agreement and asking, “can we all do research?”

“That’s fine.”

----------------------------------------

Dawn found the 3 teachers chatting with Lynn.

“Your majesty!” Rosalia called out.

“How is research coming along?”

“Well, we’ve learned the runes, but we haven’t understood them well enough to reanimate any skeletons.”

“I see. You may stop now. I have three new research tasks. The first is making writing, the second is improving hygiene, and the final task is building. You will finish writing, and when you’re done, move on to hygiene and building. I’ll send you 3 new temporary researchers until building research is complete. Any questions?”

Lynn stood up and asked, “What about me?”

“You have 4 job options. 1 is a farmer, 2 is a teacher, 3 is a soldier, and 4 is a miner. If you pick mining, you’ll join the teachers as a temporary researcher. What do you want?”

Lynn started thinking before sitting back down to continue thinking.

Dawn didn’t wait for Lynn to answer before asking Rosalia about the runes used for reanimation.

Rosalia showed Dawn the 2 runes, [Soul] and [Control].

“What have you been experimenting with?”

“Ah, here!” Rosalia said while handing a rat corpse to Dawn. Dawn saw the runes carved into the corpse. Dawn flowed her mana into the rat, feeling the [Soul] rune consuming an incredible amount of mana. And after consuming the entirety of Dawn's mana, the rat began to rise.

“Wow!”

It must have consumed my mana to create a soul.

“Uhm… is now a good time?” Lynn asked.

“Have you decided?”

“Yes, I want to be a soldier!”

“Understood. Report to me tomorrow morning.”

Dawn noticed her mana had returned, and grabbed the reinanimated rat. She burned the rune of [Soul] off, before casting [Soul] to catch the soul. She carved in a new [Soul] rune, put in the soul and flowing mana into the rat. The rat was reanimated again, without the incredible mana cost.

“Your issue, Rosalia, was your lack of a soul. You kept pouring in mana to create one, but lack the mana to make one.”