As Broken and Danko trekked deeper into the cave’s winding tunnels, the only sounds were the faint trickling of sand from the ceiling, occasionally brushing against their skin and hair. The air was thick and still, saturated with the suffocating darkness around them, and the distant murmur of water echoed faintly. Silence held sway, broken intermittently by the clink of their pickaxes striking the cave walls.
“My Lord,” Danko’s voice reverberated around them, “why are you personally taking on a job like this? Venturing into a cave alongside a beast-kin, you could have sent someone else. After all, you are the lord, the Baron.”
“Are you laughing at me, Danko? Do I look foolish?” Broken replied, a hint of teasing in his
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“Kha ha ha, you have me cornered, My Lord,” Danko laughed heartily. “It’s not that, it’s just rare to see someone of your stature down here. I mean, I could easily lead you into danger, right?”
“You mentioned something about a trial domain, didn’t you?” Broken interjected. “That piqued my interest. I wanted to discover it myself, and ensure I could conquer it too.”
“That’s quite ambitious, My Lord,” Danko observed. “But still, you could have ordered anyone else to do this. Although, I can’t deny the journey is quite an adventure. We’re deep in the Earth’s bowels now! If a river suddenly flooded, we’d end up as drowning rats out of breath,” he joked.
Broken smiled, appreciating just how calmly Danko could carry himself, even joking around with a City Lord like him.
[Mineral Detector: Possesses an innate ability to detect rare and valuable minerals, making it easier to locate precious resources when mining.]
Danko possessed an SS-rating talent for mineral detection, a rare and extraordinary ability. Broken was confident that with the right time and opportunities, Danko could achieve incredible things. This was why he had been so curious when Toberry mentioned that Danko had found something noteworthy in the cave.
Broken glanced at his map feature, observing how the cave plunged into the depths with multiple branching pathways. However, he could only see a short distance from his current position; the map’s clarity faded the deeper it went. Even so, he occasionally spotted markers indicating mineral sources ripe for mining. It was clear that this cave had scarcely been explored or utilized so far.
“How on earth do you remember all the paths in this cave, Danko?”
“Kha ha ha ha… I’ve been exploring this cave for the past two years, my Lord,” Danko replied. “City life gets pretty dull after a while, so I’ve been seeking out some excitement down here in these tunnels.”
They twisted and turned through the labyrinthine pathways of the expansive cave. Broken took the initiative to send Toberry a message, documenting Danko’s choices so they could be navigated again in the future if needed.
Eventually, they stepped into a cavernous chamber, softly lit by the faint glimmer of light emanating from the crystal stones embedded in the walls. In the center lay a deep pool of water, its surface unnervingly still and dark. The cave walls glistened with dampness, small droplets trickling down like tears. An oppressive silence filled the space, rendering it as if time itself had come to a standstill.
“How long have we been walking, Danko?”
“It shouldn’t be much longer, My Lord,” Danko replied confidently. “We just need to swim across this large pool tunnel. In about 10 minutes, we’ll reach another chamber on the other side.”
“Swim in this deep, dark pool for 10 minutes? How am I supposed to stay underwater that long?”
The players in the game had to contend with limited swim times, depending on their stamina, usually only ranging from one to five minutes. Only those with special skills or tools could extend their underwater endurance. Broken, unfortunately, had no means of surviving in water for ten minutes.
Danko laughed. “Don’t worry, My Lord. I have a solution. The potions Lord Toberry provided for me will do the trick.”
“Ah, yes,” Broken replied. “I had almost forgotten about those.”
Danko pulled out two tiny vials from his trouser pocket. They were filled with a deep purple liquid. He handed one of them to Broken.
“My Lord, this is an underwater stamina potion. It comes from Mr. Toberry. It should work quite well.”
Broken accepted the small vial and examined it closely, reading the description of the item engraved on its surface.
[Underwater Stamina Potion]
[Extend and maximize your usage of underwater stamina up to 100%, allowing you to stay in the water for longer periods of time.
Duration: 10 Minutes]
“This potion only increases underwater stamina by a hundred percent,” he noted thoughtfully. “Which means if it takes about ten minutes to reach the end of this pool, someone would need to be able to stay underwater for five minutes normally to survive.”
He turned to Danko with a curious expression. “Did you really use this potion to dive into the pool and explore, knowing you risked running out of breath and dying?”
“I guess so, my Lord. But I’m grateful for the gamble; I discovered many amazing things
down there.”
“Are there any monsters in the water?”
“No, my Lord,” Danko assured him.
“I’m not afraid to follow you into this pool,” Broken said, “but if I can’t hold my breath and end up dying, I can revive. You, on the other hand, don’t have that luxury. Your life isn’t
limitless like mine. I don’t think it’s worth risking your life.”
“But, my Lord, I’ve already done it, and I succeeded,” Danko replied. “So, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m used to diving through these watery halls.”
Broken stepped closer to the deep, dark water, hesitantly testing it with his right foot.
[Because of your high affinity with the Water Element, you receive a 50% boost to your underwater stamina. You can stay submerged longer.]
“Not bad,” Broken smiled. “This should make things a bit easier, right?”
***
After Broken and Danko delved deep into the cave, the miners began to murmur among themselves about the Baron’s faith in the Beastkin.
“What do you think the Baron sees in that ridiculous rat-boy?”
“Honestly, I have no clue. Maybe the Baron has lost his marbles!”
“A lot of odd things have happened since he took over,” a third miner chimed in. “Remember
that rain summoning ritual that finally worked after years of failure?”
“Pure coincidence,” someone dismissed with a wave.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to the Baron’s actions.”
“Plus, a few people have ventured deep into that cave and never come back. It’s incredibly
deep, and no one truly knows what lies within.”
“Yes, no one knows what’s in there, but it’s profoundly deep and far-reaching.”
“We really should have forced the Baron to abandon his plan of following that rat boy.”
“So, if the Baron dies there, does that mean we won’t get paid?” one miner asked, worried.
“Damn! Should’ve thought about this sooner. We shouldn’t have let Danko blab about what he found in the cave.”
“You’re all being idiots. The Baron is a player. If he dies, he’ll just come back to life. They’re cursed like that.”
“Well, at least that rat boy won’t come back. I can’t stand how he does whatever he pleases and slacks off on the mining,” the first miner grumbled.