The first couple of minutes were scary since Kyle had to dig while standing outside.
Luckily, after a while, he had created a small tunnel that hid him from the outside world.
Even better, this stone was so hard and durable that Kyle didn’t need to be afraid of a cave-in.
He didn’t even need to liquify the debris to improve the walls.
Because of that, he had plenty of debris to build a little hut that covered the entrance.
The hut looked horrendous and was made of cobbled-together stone, but Kyle still liked it.
He built this!
It was his!
After around two hours, Kyle started to get quite hungry.
Swinging his hammer so much was beyond exhausting.
Luckily, his ore sense was telling him that there was something delicious ahead!
He kept hitting the walls, and after more minutes, he saw something that was not stone.
“Ore!” Kyle shouted with a smile.
He carefully unearthed the mineral and looked at it.
It was fist-sized, dull, and grey.
Kyle could feel some Ether coming out of it.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Earth Stone,” Theodor answered. “It’s the most common Rank E material outside the Cradles. You can find Earth Stone basically anywhere.”
“It’s like the Coral Stone you got from the lake but for Earth Affinities.”
“It’s used in basic tools and equipment for craftsmen, Adepts, and Squires with Earth Affinities.”
“It’s about as worthless as Rank E materials get.”
Kyle scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
That really wasn’t very impressive.
“What? Did you expect some treasure?” Theodor asked with a snort.
“I mean, maybe?” Kyle asked. “Nobody dug here before, right?”
Theodor snorted again. “Geologists from big companies check different mountains for valuable ore. You’re barely a kilometer away from a Cradle. Any mountains close to a Cradle are bound to be worthless.”
“If there were anything valuable in a mountain so close to a Cradle, the mining companies would have already taken it.”
“If you want valuable ore, you can go back to the Abyss Eye.”
Kyle shook his head quickly. “No, thank you.”
“Dangers and rewards go hand in hand,” Theodor explained. “If a big reward would be attainable without a big risk, someone would have already taken it.”
“You are a bottom-feeder in this world. You can only get the scraps the big fish leave for you.”
Kyle sighed. “Yes, yes, I’m weak and pathetic. I get it.”
Theodor didn’t say anything.
Kyle looked at the Earth Stone for a bit and inspected it with his Metal Affinity.
The grey stone shone a slight bit before becoming lifeless again.
Kyle had just refined it.
But that was to be expected.
Sure, refining an unknown material was difficult, but this was the most common and worthless Rank E material in existence.
It was not very difficult to refine it.
The next moment, Kyle threw the Earth Stone into his mouth.
As Kyle chewed it, he grimaced a bit.
’This tastes bitter as fuck!’
He wanted to spit it out, but he forced it down.
As soon as the Earth Stone reached his stomach, Kyle felt more awake.
At that moment, he was reminded of something, and he looked at the Earth Stone with interest.
’Tastes a bit like coffee. Or, more like, coffee grounds. You know, all that shit that the coffee machine turns into a dry cube after making an actual coffee.’
’It really doesn’t taste good, but well, it gives me energy, I suppose.’
Kyle’s hunger had dropped quite a bit, but he wasn’t sure if that was simply due to the taste.
Eating just didn’t feel as appealing anymore after tasting the Earth Stone.
A moment later, Kyle resumed working.
After a couple more strikes, Kyle unearthed more Earth Stone, and he was not sure if he was happy about that.
Sure, he needed food, but the Earth Stone really didn’t taste very good.
For now, he dumped it to the side and just continued digging.
Hours later, Kyle had already created a deep tunnel.
He had been digging for around seven hours by now, and the tunnel was over 30 meters deep.
Hunger assaulted Kyle yet again, and he walked over to his pile of Earth Stone.
Theodor had been right.
There was enough food in the mountain for Kyle.
It just wasn’t the greatest food in the world.
’You know, after eating so much Earth Stone, you would think that I would literally be shitting bricks.’
’But no.’
’In fact, I’m not sure if I took a shit ever since I came here.’
’Either I’m about to die of constipation, or my stomach just turns everything into Ether and leaves nothing behind.’
’Wonder if that’s normal. I mean, the Narvonian Worm had an entire pile of shit.’
“Hey, Theodor,” Kyle asked. “Is it normal to not need to shit?”
“Why are you asking something so disgusting?” Theodor asked with annoyance.
“Because I haven’t taken a shit in like a month. Is that normal?” Kyle asked.
“No,” Theodor answered with disgust. “At least, not for a human.”
“What about dwarves?” Kyle asked.
“Excuse me, but dwarf feces was a subject of study I seemed to have regrettably missed to properly study,” Theodor spoke sarcastically.
“Hm,” Kyle uttered. “Well, I feel healthy. Guess I won’t explode anytime soon.”
Theodor was almost tempted to make a joke about Kyle talking shit the entire time, but he felt that this was beneath him.
After a couple more hours of digging, Kyle went to his horribly ugly stone hut, which had grown quite a lot by now.
Then, he laid down on his horrible stone bed and put his horrible stone blanket over him.
Finally, he tried to sleep.
’First time I’m sleeping outside a Cradle,’ Kyle thought.
He heard some scratches and steps coming from outside the house occasionally, and his instincts were sometimes telling him that danger was near.
Sleeping was not easy.
This place was not safe.
After about an hour, Kyle managed to fall asleep.
Sadly, he would be rudely awakened very soon.