BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25 (XXV) A New Plan
A few hours later, Jackson awoke with a slight groan, exiting the tent, rotating his arms in wide circles as he awoke his stiff muscles, stretching his body and legs. He accessed his inventory, removing his armor before running out to the ocean and diving into the cold water.
"WHOOOO!!!!" He exclaimed, emerging from the water, shaking his head, and wiping the freezing, salty water from his face. He rushed back onto the beach, hugging his arms and his jaw shivering as he rapidly equipped his equipment.
He returned to his tent and grabbed his Gobbii Bag, taking stock of the contents:
[Journal]
[Climber\'s Cartridge Case]
[Hollow Whistle]
[Ho\'Kikomo Fruit]
[Mutated Hollow Skull x12]
[Common Hollow Spirit x 12]
[Hollow Skull x 8]
[Asura of the Four Rivers Skillbook]
"Alright! Let\'s see how useful you are!" Jackson said with a smile, fully intent on filling the Gobbii Bag to its absolute limit. He turned toward the gigantic volcano in the distance.
He climbed the mountains, approaching one of the many large tunnels dotting the entire mountainscape. The cliffs were barren; he heard not a single sound as he slowly ascended. Despite the eerie silence, he knew that whatever made these tunnels would probably be present.
Jackson entered a large tunnel, strolling, passing a myriad of paths shooting off, twisting, and turning deep into the ground. Piercing through the rigid rock walls, various gemstones of different sizes and colors sparkled off the sunlight.
Jackson knelt next to a bright deep-purple tanzanite, reaching for it, but could not free it from the sturdy rock. He balled his hand into a fist, the leather of his metallic gauntlet stretching before he pulled his fist back and punched the wall next to the gemstone.
The stone splintered into dozens of tiny pieces as he punched around the tanzanite repeatedly until the rock wall could no longer support its weight, as it fell to the ground.
The tanzanite was the size of a baseball, with jagged edges jutting out in various directions. Jackson brushed his hand over the gemstone, brushing some dust off as he shook his head, placing it in his Gobbii Bag.
Unlike the gemstones found on Terra, precious stones collected from God\'s Tower had this inner glow. Although the procedures for processing the gem are the same, the results are wildly different.
You may be able to get many decently sized gems from a stone this large on Terra, but only one tanzanite can be processed per gemstone found in God\'s Tower.
Jackson sighed as he stared down the tunnel, tiny sparkles twinkling like stars as he began walking deeper, breaking away the walls and collecting every precious stone he came across.
He completed this monotonous task for a few hours before he came across a massive cow-sized ant. He ducked into an adjacent tunnel and peeked out, observing the creature.
Its exoskeleton was a dull glossy metal, and each metallic body part had a gap, revealing black cable-like tendons connecting each section. With every step, it took, each of its six legs slightly crushed the rock beneath it.
Mount Nina Urqu is home to a colony of giant ants called Mietalajed Ants, and all of these tunnels were dug by these insects utilizing the sharp, metallic mandibles that jutted from its head.
It began eating into the tunnel wall before turning around and excreting a large garnet from its behind before vomiting on the wall, the thick, paste-like substance adhering the gemstone partly in the wall and clicking excitedly as it quickly dried.
\'I can\'t believe I\'m picking up ant waste...\' Jackson thought, grimacing at the sight unfolding in front of him.
The ant turned its head, looking around as its antennae began wildly jerking around in the air, and turned its blank blue eyes at him as he quickly ducked behind the wall.
"Shit!" He whispered, quickly running down the adjacent pathway, sprinting away from the giant ant, thinking of what to do, \'I can\'t kill it... That\'ll only bring the rest of the colony here... Wait! That\'s it!\'
Jackson dug his heels into the ground, skidding to a halt as he turned around, raising both fists, the floor slightly vibrating underneath him as the Mietalajed Ant charged through the tunnels.
"I was planning on waiting until tomorrow, but whatever, it\'ll make this part easier!" Jackson grinned as the ant came into view. It rushed toward him, wildly clicking its mandibles, its antennae dancing wildly in the air.
Jackson smacked the mandibles away from him as he slipped behind them; immediately, he raised his arm, slapping his palm down with a sonic boom against the ant\'s head.
The ant stumbled slightly, the impact resounding through its entire body, violently reverberating its internal organs as it collapsed to the ground; blackish oil-like blood began oozing out of every orifice.
Jackson grabbed one of the metallic antennas and quickly began dragging it out of the tunnels and away from the volcano, huffing as he carried the extremely heavy ant up the nearby mountains.
There was only one natural predator for the Mietalajed Ants: a colony of fox-sized hornets that build their nests high near the peaks of the mountains surrounding Mount Nina Urqu.
The Muraŭjoŭka Hornets preyed upon the ants, utilizing their stingers to inject their eggs into the ant by landing on its back and stinging the gaps in the ant\'s armored plates.
Jackson dropped the corpse at the mountain\'s base, looking high as tiny shadows fluttered around. He turned around and noticed more ants flooding out of the tunnels as they rushed toward him.
He quickly darted away from the mountains, rushing toward the ocean. Although he may not have been splashed with blood, he felt confident that the pheromones released by the dead Mietalajed Ants had marked him as a target.
He sprinted into the water, diving in and floating on his back as he looked out to Mount Nina Urqu, a large smile on his face, "With the soldiers out fighting in an accidental war, it\'s time to pluck the castle clean!"