BXBX NOVEL Chapter 178 - 178
"By the way, where did the puppets go? I wanted to see them work." Symbia says, looking around.
"Just around that rocky outcrop. They\'ve been mining since you started coming to and just finished the first digs." Cain says, pointing at the small pile of ore.
"They\'re only level ten, but they\'re pretty quick. Maybe just because there\'s so many of them. But rocks are easy to break with the right tools, so level doesn\'t matter as much." Symbia says before turning to look up at Carlos.
"What are we waiting for, let\'s go see the puppets."
She\'s gotten so used to being carried that she\'s not even trying to get down, just directing her ride.
Carlos dutifully carries her to where the puppets are working though, making Misha smirk at Cain, who is trying not to laugh.
"They really are cute together." She whispers, moving to follow them.
Cain gathers the pile as they go by, finding that it was a Mythril deposit, totalling fifteen kilograms.
[Hey, where did this ore come from? Did you rob a national treasury?] Dimnys asks in chat.
[Mined it in a level 180 raid dungeon. There will be a lot more ore coming, I just don\'t know what types. I sent the puppets to do it.] Cain responds.
[I\'ll get back to you. I\'ve got a Legendary recipe that needed some of that mythril ore.] Everyone knows that means they won\'t hear from the Dwarf for the next half day or so, but at least she\'s happy.
The next few piles are mostly Shadow Iron, a glossy black metal often used for armor due to the appearance. Not particularly strong like Mythril, but in high demand according to Carlos. There\'s a lot of it too, almost a ton by the end of the first hour. That\'s when they strike Gold. Literally. An entire vein of gold is exposed along one wall of a cliff face and every Puppet is going wild digging it out.
"Looks like we pulled the Legendary Treasure Raid. The mining Guild speaks of dungeons like this as if they were a gift from the system. Most Raids drop tons of iron, coal and copper, with a few hundred kilos of Precious metals, split twenty five ways between the crew. What you pulled out of the first pile was worth more than most runs, but this Gold Vein makes you a truly wealthy man." Carlos laughs, giddy with success.
The agreement is you keep what you get, as always, so that technically means this is all Cain\'s but Carlos doesn\'t mind. The Guild Master seems a generous sort.
"I\'ve got a spare pickaxe if you want to smash rocks." Cain laughs and Carlos looks at the Elf in his arms.
"Nah, I\'m good, I\'ll get my cut when it\'s time to ship everything out. I got a lot of gear drops today. Like I\'m not the only one with an Iron Man title here."
"We\'ve all got at least two. Some of them upgraded titles. So expect a LOT of drops in the future. That\'s why the Guild Bank is so full, we can\'t sell it all in the Beginner Valley without destroying the market." Cain responds.
"You guys seem like a lot of fun. I didn\'t know dungeons were like this, I\'ve never been in one before." Symbia says, making everyone chuckle.
"They\'re really not. This was the strangest dungeon I\'ve ever been through, and the mining loot is highly irregular." Carlos informs her.
"They\'re really good miners though. That reminds me, I should try my new spell to duplicate them. I\'ll make your other forty puppets right now if you\'d like."
"No objections here. Make another ten maids though, I\'ll send them to Montauk to take care of the house there once I\'ve finished up a task script for them." Cain says and Symbia nods, pulling out a maid doll to cast her spell.
"There\'s ten maids. That took a lot of mana, but in only a few seconds, they\'re ready. This class is great. I\'m totally making a haunted house treasure vault." Cain stores them in inventory as the Elf finally gets down from Carlos and goes over to create more miners.
She has to stop a couple times to wait for her mana to refill, but soon enough Cain has eighty puppets mining.
The Snapping Turtles want in on the fun too, joining the lineup at the wall and using their shields as huge shovels to rip free large amounts of debris and gold that the puppets smash into small bits and move to the growing pile.
"Good thing we\'ve got you, Symbia, we\'re going to need our own Fort Knox at this rate." Misha laughs, but the Sculptor looks confused.
"Sorry, forgot you were born here. It\'s a fortress on my home world that\'s used to warehouse entire nations worth of Gold reserves." She shrugs.
"Oh, makes sense. You\'ve certainly got a lot of it. Are Raids supposed to give that much Gold? The miners should be much more rich than they are."
"No, this is not normal at all. An armful of gold split between the group is normal. We\'ve got enough to fill entire rooms to the roof sitting here." Carlos frowns.
At that moment all the puppets start running, before starting to dig on the other side of the area. Did they find something alive? He told them to avoid monsters.
[Legendary Quest: Gold Elemental] Defeat the Elemental to escape the dungeon with your ill gotten gains. Exit portal disabled during quest.
"Carlos, grab Symbia. Everyone else in formation." Cain yells as the huge Golden Elemental smashes a merged Snapping Turtle to the ground, taking most of its life. That\'s not good, Cain has gained a lot of levels this dungeon, even with the experience cap limiting the amount he gains per monster.
He\'s much tougher now than at the start, but even the mighty Snapping Turtles are no match for the Gold Elemental.
[Form Added: Ancient Gold Elemental] Legendary Beings cannot be Summoned at your current level.
It\'s Summoning smaller versions of itself out of the vein in the cliff face though, maybe Cain can get those ones.
[Form Added: Epic Golden Elemental]
Sweet. He\'s not sure what they can do, but they look amazing. Nearly three meter tall golden statues, angry that they\'ve been disturbed. A level of swag any transfer would be proud to walk through town with.
They don\'t seem to be truly solid, cuts mend soon after being made, and dents from blunt weapons pop right back out. It\'s the Oath Breaker that finds the trick to destroying them, piercing its claws deep and penetrating the chest of the Elemental, causing it to crumble into a pile of ore with a shattered metallic orb stuck to the Demon\'s claw.
It makes sense now, the orb is their body, the statue is just a collection of animated golden ore. The great question is if they Summon it or transmute it from their surroundings. Isn\'t lead to gold every alchemists dream?
With the technique to their destruction now known, the Epic Golden Elementals are dropping at a rapid pace, enraging the Ancient one. Unlike them, it doesn\'t quickly heal from attacks, instead it is looking much more battered than when it began. Cain and the clones of Kone are Summoning new Tanks on a regular basis, as they\'re getting killed faster than they can be healed, while Misha and Symbia have retreated to a safe distance.
Symbia is hiding behind a Boulder but Misha has her head up, casting healing spells from near maximum range while Carlos guards the two more vulnerable group members.
"This is as bad as that bloody boss fight." Cain pants, trying to get a spear strike to go deeper into the Elemental, hoping to take it down by more than a sliver of its health.
"At least it\'s dying. Not like we can leave while it\'s active, the quest said it blocked the exit portal." Carlos sighs ruefully.
Cain steps back for a moment, leaving the summons face the Elementals Wrath alone for a while.
"What a time for a Legendary Boss fight quest to spawn. Everyone\'s already beat from the raid and it gets us on the way out." Cain frowns and Kone flops against his side.
"Is there time for a nap? Healing is hard work, and he keeps squishing everything. Even with the Aura regenerating ten percent at at time, he\'s still crushing them."
The boss has a level of self healing, so they can\'t slow down the damage too much. Without Cain in the mix and that huge bonus to his damage from Might of Many, they\'re barely keeping ahead of the regeneration to bring this boss down.
"Take five and grab a snack. I\'ll use Arrows for now, less damage but much less work." Cain agrees, switching to his bow and leisurely firing off multi shots at the boss, three Arrows at a time slamming into the huge Golden target.
"Bite." Kone says, holding a sandwich to his mouth between shots.
"Thanks for that. He\'s below half health now, we\'ve got this. How\'s everyone\'s mana holding up?"
"All good. Both me and Misha plus the healing type summons are enough to conserve mama while still keeping up on the healing. We know some summons are going to die, so if they get too injured we let them fall and just call more once we\'re getting low on tanks. It\'s more mana efficient that way."
Cain looks over the buffs and sees that the Spear buff is active with a ridiculous bonus number, so it renewed with a full stack of Might of Many, but the timer is getting low by the time he finishes eating.
"Time to get back at it, the spear buff will be wearing off soon and we need the damage."