World Keeper

Chapter 58: Ore Really?

After practicing more combinations of the various spell components that Ryone had shown me, I got up and left the basement, still curious on those two new energies and their uses. However, since the information fairy known as Terra was still busy, I had to wait before getting my answers. Instead, I went to the most unlikely of places.

The sharp sound of metal striking metal rang in my ears long before I actually reached the isolated area where I had established Tubrock’s forge. The dwarven god was bent over an anvil, striking what looked to be a long slab of black metal into shape with a wide, silver hammer. I wasn’t sure why he was doing this, aside from maybe practicing with the materials. After all, I knew for certain that he had not used actual ores from the world below.

While it is possible for him to go down and mine ores himself, it would use quite a lot of energy to do so, given that he’d be operating outside of his field. Judging by Irena’s condition after fighting the spirit in the living world last time, it uses far too much energy to act outside of a god’s domain. And for him to gather ores, he would have to go down and actually mine them out by hand.

Sure enough, Tubrock stopped hammering at the sheet of metal not long after I appeared. Once he had stopped, it seemed to have vanished into nothingness, as if it was never there to begin with. “Aye, what can I do for ya?” He asked, looking at me. He seemed surprised by my visit, almost as much as I was myself for coming here.

“Well, a question and a favor really.” I thought my answer over carefully. There was something I actually wanted him to do, I just wasn’t sure if now would be the time for it or not. “First, how is everything working out for you? Anything you can think of that you particularly need?”

Tubrock’s thick eyebrow shot up, and he looked at me for a long moment before answering. “Not off the top of my head. Maybe something to actually do, but I can entertain myself well enough.” He pointed his thumb back at the forge, where the fire was still blazing.

“I can see that. Which brings me to the favor.” I cleared my throat, an old habit from before this whole mess started. “Would you be able to make weapons and armor for each of the gods and goddesses? Stuff that would serve to be iconic to them. I can ask Ryone to help with the enchanting, if need be.”

The dwarf thought about this again, but his answer came much quicker this time. “I’d need to consult with each of them to figure out what kind’a stuff they’d want made, but I don’t see why not. Though, I’ll need proper metals if ya want them to be more than just props for around the house.” As he finished saying that, he waved one thick hand around to indicate the Admin Room as ‘the house’.

“Yes, I was planning to get some new metals through the system soon. Once I’ve done that, I’ll see about delivering some to you to use for your forge. While you’re at it, I’d like a weapon of my own, as well. Something that wouldn’t stand out too much. Once swords become more common, that is. Right now, anything made of metal would grab everyone’s attention.”

After hearing my additional request, Tubrock sank into thought. This time, his answer did not come, at least not verbally. After nearly a minute of waiting, he gave me a gruff nod, and waved me out of the forge. Apparently, he had some kind of idea or something he wanted to try, and didn’t want to wait for the inspiration to pass him by. At least, that’s what it looked like to me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I exited the forge, thinking if there was anything else that I needed to take care of at the moment. I could probably head down to the world, see exactly what new classes had been unlocked recently. That could help me understand what the two new energies I felt were. I didn’t really want to try testing them out until I actually understood how they are used. Just because I can’t die in the Admin Room doesn’t mean I can’t get hit with bad statuses… right? I should probably confirm that later.

As I was walking back to the main area of the Admin Room, I bumped into Bihena. Literally, she came out of nowhere, and I stumbled over her, falling flat on my face! “Whoops, sorry about that.” She spoke, seeming genuine in her concern. “Still getting used to moving like that.”

“Yeah… I can see that.” I groaned lightly from the floor, working myself up to my feet. “I take it you were looking for me for something?”

“Ah! Right. I wanted to get some help with something. I was looking at the system settings for the world, and I saw the ‘Martial Artist’ class. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought much about it… But something in my mind told me it was important for me.” As she said that, I could see a somewhat troubled look on her face, as if she herself didn’t entirely understand what she was talking about.

“Uhm… mind explaining a bit more?” I knew what the Martial Artist class was, but I couldn’t understand why her mind would have an instinctive connection to it.

“Ah… Well, this is kind of difficult to explain, but I’ll try.” Bihena took a deep breath, and began. “At first, it’s hard to realize, but after seeing the other gods and goddesses being born, I’ve discovered a few things. Each of us have a set of very vague memories and ideals, based on whatever information you put into the system when you by the personality. Like with Udona, she probably had memories of Terra, and the idea that she was family.”

“Sometimes, these ideals and memories will conflict, like how I realized the feelings you put in some of us were fake. I was able to tell that I should not have felt that way about you, given our history. Other times, the memories are… hard to confirm. Like this, with the Martial Artist class. My mind feels strongly attached to it, but the only information I can put with it from what I know is ‘peaceful fighting’.” As she finished, she grimaced, looking like she said something that made no sense at all.

“Hmm…” I scratched my cheek slightly, thinking about it. I really didn’t know enough about how the companions were created. But, the way she described it did make sense for how to bestow a personality into something that was essentially a living doll. “Well, that is kind of how martial arts are. I was never an expert on the subject by any means, and didn’t learn any martial arts myself. But, from what I understand, several different martial arts were created to help the weak defend themselves and stand on even ground with the strong.”

Bihena’s eyes practically glowed as I explained what I knew. “Can you teach me anything about it? Anything at all could help.”

“Sorry… All I know is that martial arts are special types of fighting that let you use more of your body’s strength. Terra would be able to tell you more than I could about it.” When I said that, Bihena’s face fell, and she looked at the ground.

“And she’s busy helping Udona adjust still.” She said, shaking her head slowly.

“Yeah… I’ve got plenty of things I want to ask her myself, when she is free.”

When Bihena heard that, she looked at me curiously. “Anything I might be able to help with?”

I thought about it, and decided that there really wasn’t any harm in asking. “Well, the first thing is about Irena.” I slowly explained what I had heard from Irena about the situation in the Underworld.

“Ouch. Didn’t know she had problems like that. I’d go there to help if I could, but we can’t exist outside our domains for too long when we aren’t here.” The human goddess explained sadly. “Aside from what she’s doing, I can’t think of a better way for you to help, really. If it were me, I’d probably just trash those factions, but I can see why she wouldn’t want to do that.”

“You can be really violent at times, you know?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Who was it that made me the Goddess of Battle?” She smirked, looking up at me. “Anyways, what else did you need help with?”

“Right. I found two new energy types when I was practicing my magic in the basement. I wanted to see if she could identify them.” When I explained what the energy types felt like, Bihena had a strange expression on her face.

“I, uhm… I think I can help you with one of those. I’m just surprised you have it. You didn’t set yourself as a god without telling anyone, did you?” Bihena looked at me with an accusatory gaze.

I could only shake my head in response. “Too much work, I really don’t want that kind of responsibility. But, I take it that one of them was divine energy after all?”

When she heard that, she chuckled, nodding slightly. “True. Anyways, yes. All of us gods are constantly generating divine energy. It’s the energy we live on, and the reason we can’t act much outside of our domains. The way Terra explained it to me was that each of us have our divine energy attuned to a domain, so using it for anything else spends it far faster than we can produce it. Why you were suddenly able to feel divine energy, and what it means, I’m not sure.”

Well, I had a thought about that part. “I think someone unlocked the cleric job. It is supposed to work directly with divine energy, but I’m not sure how it does so.”

Bihena’s eyes seemed to frown when she heard that. “It wasn’t a human. None of my people have unlocked that class yet. You could ask Ryone, since she deals with all the mystical stuff. Maybe it was an elf that got it.”

“I was looking for her earlier, but she wasn’t in the basement practicing.”

“Ah.” The human goddess nodded. “She said something about going to her dungeon while you were out earlier. She seemed really excited at the time, but I wasn’t paying much attention.”

She probably discovered a breakthrough in some aspect of magic if she was excited. “I see. Well, thanks for the help. By the way, Tubrock is going to be making everyone special weapons here in a little while. Something to serve as an icon for your people.” She seemed surprised when I told her that, but then sank into thought.

“Really? I guess I’ll need to go through my catalogue again later to get ideas.” As she mumbled that to herself, she slowly faded out of view. I kind of wanted to ask what catalogue she meant, but I figured that Terra probably made her a book showing off different kinds of weapons.

Either way, there was still something that I could do while I waited for Terra to get done counseling Udona. I hadn’t yet bought the more magical minerals that could be used to make those iconic weapons! All of this planning would be for naught if I didn’t at least do that.

Making my way back to the bedroom, I sat down at the computer and looked through the market for the various minerals listed. Honestly, there were too many to count, and I had to narrow it down considerably before I could even browse through it with any hopes of finding what I wanted. Even then, there were several options.

Orichalcum

Often found intertwined with copper ore, this ore is able to hold roughly thirty times the amount of mana as silver, while being five times as durable as steel.

6 points

Mithral

Easily mistaken for the purest silver, when forged this metal is able to hold a large amount of mana. However, its natural strength often lacks much to be desired without enchantments.

9 points

Holy Silver

Only found in locations where a god or goddess has personally descended and stayed for an extended period. Holy Silver will naturally retain a trace of divine energy even after being forged, allowing it to channel the wills of the gods.

18 points

Magnartum

When an ore vein of this mineral appears in a sufficient size, it will often cause the ground above it to rise into the air, becoming a floating island. Once forged, the metal will have a natural magnetic field, making it a great choice for shields!

15 points

God’s Iron

Grown only in the deepest regions of a planet’s crust, where the magical energies of the world converge. Once forged, this metal is all but indestructible, and can hold immense amounts of mana. However, only a single vein of it exists in every world.

20 points

Worldstone

Found only at the heart of mountains, the Worldstone is the very essence of the mountain itself. One cubic meter of Worldstone weighs roughly 100,000kg. When forged into an item, that item will in turn weigh one hundred times normal.

5 points

Lightning Ore

This ore can only be found in areas frequently visited by lightning storms. After the electrical energy seeps into the earth, and forms this ore, the Lightning Ore itself will summon the storms. Lightning Ore possesses its own natural mana, which can slowly recharge over time.

12 points

Numbasic

This crystal forms in dark caves, and gives off an eerie chill. Useful for storing large quantities of mana, but will become more fragile as more mana is stored.

13 points

The way minerals were priced confused me. Other systems would be priced by some multiple of five, but most of these just seemed like random prices. They were also some of the cheapest prices I had seen so far. Did it not change much in the system to add a new natural resource? Either way, some of them looked interesting.

I immediately dismissed God’s Iron as a possibility, because there could only be one vein per planet, near the planet’s core. Maybe if my people were traveling through space already, and they could mine out planets easily, it would be different. But right now, that would just be a useless ore. Holy Silver looked interesting… but I had to dismiss it for fairness. If I really did buy Holy Silver, I could almost guarantee that the only pocket of it would be in the centaur continent.

A lot of the different resources seemed to just be there so that people could get their name on the market, and didn’t offer much in the way of usefulness. Out of all of them, the only three that I was considering at the moment were orichalcum, mithral, and magnartum. The last one was a name I had never heard before, but the first two were common tropes with fantasy genres. Though, I was surprised that this mithral was listed as naturally weak. However, given that it is more expensive than orichalcum, it likely has properties to make up for it.

I went ahead and bought both mithral and orichalcum, but decided to hold off on magnartum for now. Floating islands are cool and all… but it would be a bit sudden to have them appear out of nowhere. Maybe I’ll add them as an ore for my second planet.

After buying the two new ores, I was given the option of how to distribute them. I could either do so manually, choosing the exact coordinates for each vein, or choose to let the system place them automatically in suitable locations. Given the size of the new Earth, and my desire to not sit here for weeks finding places to put an ore vein, I chose to let the system take care of that.

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