Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1397 - 1396 - Gravity Optional

The group was led down a mine shaft but the expected downward angle quickly shifted to the right and Lind felt gravity move as it did. They were walking upright but he could tell that in relation to where they had come from they were perpendicular to the original plane.

No one commented on it but he noticed the guards using a kind of artifact that was a disc with a spinning piece at the center. The centerpiece shimmered and gravity shifted once more.

Lind realized mining was far more dangerous than he expected. A tunnel collapse could be planned for by supports and testing the soil or rock for instability but when gravity became a variable rather than a fixed point, it made mining a greater gamble than ever before.

It also gave him some ideas about escaping but also that the Hollow Land forces would be far more adept at keeping their miners inline.

He carefully scanned with his vision alone and picked out several arrays that denoted the shifts in gravity. They also were too complex to simply be markers.

They were likely detection arrays for the miners as well.

They finally heard the sound of metal on stone as they rounded a corner to see teams hacking away at the walls. Lind looked around and relative to him saw several teams on the ceiling and walls in his field of vision.

"This passage is yours. You will have 2 months to meet the quota. Do not attempt to leave beyond the red markers or you will be punished severely!" The guards pointed to a corridor that looked newer than the others they could see.

Lind sensed several ores with his nose alone but quickly walked past the 2 men into the dark. His senses alone let him walk easily but he made sure to use his hands to make it seem like he could not fully pierce the darkness.

The others stumbled or just started hacking at the wall. Lind moved deeper into the tunnel.

He paused as his fingers became cold all of a sudden.

The pickaxe in his other hand swung down with precision and the dark passage lit up with cool blue light. The guards and the other miners all froze in surprise but Lind used his hands to confirm what was exposed.

"Cerulean Ice Ore." Lind was surprised to find such a rare grade 6 ore. It usually had to be nurtured in extreme cold and have iron, gold, or other common metals in sufficient quantity to be transformed, yet he detected none of those.

It was useful to make artifacts or weapons aligned with primary water elemental cultivators. It was also able to have its essence extracted for certain elixirs. A very useful ore indeed.

"Oh ho! It seems the loss of your eyes has a nice pay off today!" One of the guards rushed over and Lind stumbled back in feigned surprise. The other guard was keeping an eye on the rest of the group but Lind hid the smile on his face.

The guard had a much better artifact that seemed to resonate with the rock hiding the ore. It peeled away like the skin of a fruit. The glow increased and the ore was exposed as a whole vein!

Greed flickered in the eyes of the guard and his companion. Lind felt a conflict in his heart.

He knew what was about to happen. He could easily use it to escape but it would cost the lives of those that came with him.

They were not criminals nor power hungry fools. They were desperate people trying to survive.

He racked his mind for a solution that did not involve revealing himself when his hand brushed the wall behind him and a smile bloomed on his face.

Before anyone could notice his strange actions, his hand turned to claws and ripped the stone down far easier than his pickaxe could.

The entire sensation in the tunnel shifted quite literally.

The random gravity shifts were not due to some arcane rules of the Hollow Lands but the ore inside the stone!

Lodestones from Earth were magnetic but in the cultivation world they were quite literally forces of gravity! Dark lodestones were a difficult mixing of earth and darkness Qi into a rather fragile metal like graphite or similar material.

Even Lind was unsure of the conditions to make it as none of his Seeds ever pulled it off.

The oddity of the ore, however, was that so long as it was covered over by stone or other materials, it would have a relatively weak pull unless it was a massive vein. He had never seen them until today but their power was undeniable.

Also, the vein he exposed was very small but once exposed it sucked in Qi like a sponge to increase the pull of gravity!

Everyone was yanked off their feet to the right side of the tunnel like strings had been cut. The pressure was increasing too far beyond what Sliver Tier Immortals could withstand let alone their paltry group!

"W–what have you done?!" The guard left behind barely got out but could only look in horror as the Cerulean Ice Ore shattered under the pull. It was a valuable ore but in its raw state it could be destroyed very easily.

The other Sun Tier guard struggled to move but his robes lit up with their arrays to protect him from the gravity.

Lind barely felt the pull but acted as if he did.

"One of them must have struck a damn lodestone vein! Spirits curse them!" The pair did nothing to help the miners despite pleas for mercy. They both glanced once back at the tunnel and shrugged.

"The lodestone will shatter in a day. The rest of that vein should be safe until that is over. We will bring the next crew here and report the tragedy." They looked for a few more moments before leaving.

Lind very carefully refined the dark lodestone and adjusted the gravity. It would no longer increase and in fact slowly decrease.

That was not all he did too. He sneered as he tossed a small blue shard of the Cerulean Ice Ore down the tunnel and out into the other areas. He made sure it would not be shattered and catch the eye of others they had passed.

The other miners were weeping and praying but Lind had no more time as he quietly slipped deeper into the tunnel.

By the time the chaos he unleashed was settled he would be long gone.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Greed is a killer more certain than any other method known. People have to balance greed against survival but more often than not, greed wins.

The mines near the Under Lands were rife with greed. Every day, a guard or miner were found hoarding treasures that got them crippled or killed. The former was punishment while the latter was usually due to the idiocy of not knowing when to let go and run away.

Guran was the current Overseer of the Under Land mining operation. Only grade 6 at best was ever found that close to the forsaken place but it was still essential materials for many cultivators.

He was doing his normal patrol when a bright blue light shot out of a new tunnel. He noticed a pair of guards walking away from it and frowned. He snagged the shard with his aura and his eyes went wide!

Cerulean Ice Ore! What a find!

He frowned, however, at what should have been as fragile as glass felt as tough as any steel in his calloused hand. It was partially refined!

Did some idiot let a refiner walk in with their full kit?!

He doubted it, which left a more troublesome being. A Forger.

Unlike refiners, they only needed themselves to do something like this.

He pushed all that aside as he quickly made his way to the tunnel and saw a horrific scene. A group of ragged miners were being compressed by gravity! A dark lodestone had been exposed!

He also saw an area faintly glowing with blue light. The total lack of guards quickly added up and a grim look came across his dark features. His feral canines revealed the beast he was as he exerted his full Shard Tier aura.

[Kill the guards of tunnel X39765. They have attempted to steal from the Enverate.] The pair walking away heard him and blanched but running was far too late as their former comrades happily complied.

Greed was truly the greatest threat in the mines but catching thieves was rewarding for the entire team. Guran recorded all he saw and added his own notes before he easily walked into the tunnel and shattered the lodestone.

His eyes narrowed as once again he found a partially refined ore. It was much more advanced too. The lodestone had been tamped down and in fact would have slowly released the current victims with no loss of life.

It did not take him long to piece together what had happened.

[To all mining crews: We have an escapee or a spy. They have Forging ability. Description will follow once headcount is complete.] Guran sent the message and knew the other crews would soon know.

It was not good news but it was far worse to hide it. Too many Overseers had been flayed alive after trying to hide such things from the Enverate.

"Whoever you are, get far away from here and cause much bigger trouble." He sent a prayer to the spirits and went to retrieve the roster from the dead guards. No matter what he found, it would only be a disguise but hopefully some characteristics were enough to give a lead.

It was going to be a long day of paperwork and interrogations, but it had to be done.