Rindou scavenged through the ice revenant's corpse, isolating the most useful and valuable materials for retrieval. Not everything could be used after all. With such a brutal clash of weaponry and skills much of the ice revenant's body -its armour- was covered in deep gashes and splintering cracks. The Harkers would be lucky if even 10% of its corpse was usable.
Damage to a monster's body was a very common occurrence in their line of work so it was integral that at least one member of the party was skilled in identifying the quality and usability of what remained, Rindou just happened to be that person. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e'-novelhall.net
Rindou continued to shuffle through the corpse with an ever growing frown, the results of his search being subpar at best. The group were tired from the long trek and previous battles thus they neglected the care aspect when it came to hunting the ice revenant. Much of the corpse was trashed, even the revenant's core was pretty much scrap as it littered the ground in countless fragments.
"Haaaaaaa" Rindou let out a deep sigh filled with disappointment; he was ready to completely write off the entire corpse bar a few slivers of metal when a glimmer caught his eye.
"Huh? What's this thing?" This wasn't the first time his team had hunted an ice revenant, so he was confident that he knew every single inch of usable material but apparently he was wrong.
Rindou moved a couple chunks of metal to the side revealing a small spherical object covered in intricate runes. It was the runes that glimmered in the light, drawing his attention.
"A runic stone?" Rindou was perplexed by the object now resting between his fingers. It was a small black stone no larger that 3 inches in diameter and decorated with silverly coloured runes that he couldn't recognise. Truly a baffling object that had no business being with the ice revenant they just killed.
"Jakka come over here for a moment." Since he couldn't identify the rune himself Rindou called upon the Harkers eminent mage.
Jakka begrudgingly dragged his tired body over to Rindou dropping his current task.
"Take a look at this, have you see these runes before?"
"Hmm." Jakka took hold of the runic stone and started investigating it. He rubbed it between his fingers, squeezed it, weighed it and examined the intricate runes before inserting a snippet of his own mana into it. The longer he ruminated on the stone the deeper his frown grew.
"Sorry boss I've got no idea." Jakka shrugged his shoulders and passed the runic stone back to Rindou. He could identify that some of the rune had links to the spatial element but that was it. He had no clue what the stone did once filled with enough mana.
Rindou gave the runic stone one last look before lightly tossing it upwards and catching it with his other hand.
"Guess we'll have to commission the guild for answers." The adventurer's guild was home to a great many services, not only did they facilitate the creation and administration of quests for adventurers they also offered dismantling services, item storage as well as identification services. Items that could not be identified by their finder could be deposited with the guild for a small fee.
The guild would then utilise its vast network of knowledge and connections to analyse said item.
The stones would even allow those who weren't strong enough to reach the floor of peace to see it in the flesh. This not only included newbie adventurers but also merchants who perhaps wished to set up shop on the Dungeon's safety floor. The Floor Jumping Stones would allow these merchants to easily transfer large swaths of materials down into the Dungeon.
Getting stuff back out however would -for now- be restricted to the old fashioned way. Frost planned to release different degrees of the Floor Jumping Stones as time went on.
"So we'll be getting a lot more DP soon?" Daki said with a sparkle in her eyes, her ambitions clear to see.
"I just got you a 4 star mine, where would you even find the time to enjoy anything else." Frost shook his head in dismay; this was the first time that wasn't briefly in bed that he'd seen his girlfriend since the polar thulium mine became operational.
During the first few days she didn't even sleep, constantly experimenting with the polar thulium, learning its traits and behaviours with other materials. Eventually she even roped in Borris and now the two of them were working together on some special project involving the 4 star material.
"For a blacksmith there's never enough materials hehehe." Daki giggled mischievously, eager to get her hands on more mines if Frost could be convinced.
Daki's feet started to find their way towards his groin in an attempt to seduce him and trade sex for a new mine.
"Find a good use for the materials you currently have access to then we'll see." Daki's enticement stopped at his words, she even puffed up her cheeks in protest, but the sudden withdrawal of her touch seemed to rile up her boyfriend.
"Oi who said you could stop, I've been methodically massaging your calves and it's the first time in days that we've been able to have some alone time together." Frost was determined to get in some good romantic interactions with Daki before she vamoosed back to her forge.
Daki bore a blank look for a second before it was replaced with a seductive expression, her feet once again moving towards Frost's groin while she sat up and licked her lips.
"If you wanted sex you only ever have to ask Frost dear, I'm always up for some romping in the sheets my love." Daki though passionate about forging was no less passionate when it came to a very healthy sex life, hell if she could somehow combine the two a lifelong aspiration would be fulfilled.
Frost smiled from ear to ear before planting a sensual kiss on Daki's luscious lips.
"Well a gentlemen never refuses a lady's gift." As Daki's feet wormed they beneath his robes his hands stretched out and started caressing her supple body, one to her chest and the other below.
"Ahhhhn!" Daki let out a devilish moan as Frost's skilled hands got to work which seemed to galvanise her boyfriend's efforts.
Ten minutes later the two of them made for the bedroom and didn't come out for the next two hours. When they finally left they did so with dishevelled clothes and ruddy complexions.