CH 165

After going back to the city and resting, we go down to the fifteenth floor, where there are rocky mountains as far as the eye can see.

My attention is captured completely by this magnificent sight created by nature, and then I feel something tugging at my sleeve.

I look down and see Hikari tilting her head with a confused look on her face.

“Master, are we just going to stand here?”

I guess I’ve been staring for longer than I thought.

But this sight really is overwhelming. I see rugged mountains and boulders that look giant even from here rolling down from them. I can’t help but be excited thinking about what it must be like to see them up close.

The staircase to the sixteenth floor should be hidden among those rocky mountains. According to what I read, it doesn’t spawn in the walls around this area.

Basically, we’ll just have to walk around and look for it.

But it’s actually hard to walk in this place. There are small rocks all over the place and sharp bumps here and there. I’m actually scared that I’ll step where I shouldn’t. And of course, there are also big boulders just rolling down.

I think it should be fine, because I picked boots with thick soles, but their weight also means it’s going to make everyone more tired.

And our troubles don’t end there. There are also monsters to worry about.

The ones that appear on this floor are called rock birds.

They don’t attack us after spotting us, and instead keep their eyes on us and follow us.

These monsters seem to want to keep a certain distance and avoid attacking. Are they waiting for us to get impatient and give them an opening?

It’s a good thing there aren’t that many of them, and we get to hide from them in one of the tunnels we see in the mountains from time to time.

We stay still for a bit, and eventually hear them letting out a cry, circling in the sky, and flying off somewhere.

If we get out too soon, they’re just going to find us and follow us again. I’ve read that sometimes they pretend they’re flying away but actually hide and wait, so we can’t be too careful.

Sometimes they get bold, and one even glides over and charges the tunnel. That catches us off guard, and if Sera wasn’t being vigilant, someone might have gotten hurt.

“Nicely spotted.”

“I’ve fought them before. They’re pretty annoying, but I’ve heard their meat is good.”

That phrase lights a fire under Hikari.

She starts saying if we can’t attack them in the air, we should shoot them down with magic.

It’s not easy to talk her down.

Although the magic stone we take out of that one monster is high quality, so I’d like to hunt them too if we have the chance.

But for now, we’re mentally tired, so we’ll be resting here. I also take out special cold compresses for us to use.

“I think it’d be easier to walk around in a regular labyrinth.”

Complains Rurika while sighing.

On the fifth floor, we could harvest things, and the monsters didn’t pose that much of a threat. But here the whole place is filled with rocky mountains and the monsters are those troublesome rock birds.

It’d be one thing if we could at least harvest ore from the mountains… I try using Appraisal once that idea pops into my mind, and pick up reactions of ore.

“What’s wrong Sora?”

Asks Chris with a worried tone, as she sees me staring at the mountains.

“Ah, I was just using Appraisal on the mountains here. There’s some ore in this place.”

“Ore?”

“Yes, apparently these aren’t just rocky mountains. We can dig… Or mine? We can get ore. And it’s not just metal either, apparently we can get something I’ve never heard of called magic crystal.”

“I see. But how do we get it?”

Asks Rurika, and my excitement dies down.

With pickaxes, I guess? But I get the feeling they’d be too big. Maybe we can use a hammer or an ice axe along with something like a chisel to scrape?

But it’d be dangerous to do it here and make rocks fly all over the place. Worst yet, we could cause this tunnel to collapse. I think it’d be fine, but I’m just an amateur, so who knows.

And conversely, if we did it in an open area, the noise would attract rock birds.

“If you’re that interested, why don’t you try it?”

“But it’s just going to cause more risks…”

“But aren’t you curious?”

Can’t argue with that.

“Then we’ll look for a place where we can stay alert and deal with whatever comes. In fact, you should mine where you see good ore anyway.”

Miss Rurika, you’re a genius!

Or I’m an idiot for not thinking of that.

“Sometimes it feels like Sora’s missing a few screws.”

“Yes. He tends to think like a child.”

“That’s just how he is.”

The three childhood friends hurt me with their words, but unfortunately, I can’t think of anything to say back.

But with their kind permission, I accept Rurika’s idea.

Anyway, first I need tools. I’m pretty sure I have hard ore I can use.

“I want to make tools, so feel free to rest up more.”

I make a hammer with Alchemy. It’s in the creation list, so I make it from there. The ore I have is good enough I guess, but it’ll probably break after using it a few times.

It’s a good thing Appraisal tells me where the ore is, so I just have to mine there.

I end up making five of them, but the girls immediately tell me they aren’t going to do it, so I tell them I just made them so I can have spares.