Spirit Taming

Chapter 261: Start Digging

Professor Wright gave them a wave as they went inside. She promised that no one would be able to even get near the dungeon entrance while she was waiting outside. It was very reassuring to know that they would have a dungeon to themselves But what was even weirder was that a simple collapse of a dungeon had completely shut it down.

Especially since it seemed to have been very popular for many taming groups.

However, Clark could guess why this was the case. The dungeon was a big material dungeon. The important part was the metals and ores taken from it. Most people could care less about the beasts within which meant that they were not tamed. They were nothing to waste materials on or training for years. The materials farmed from the dungeon would just be made in to armors or weapons.

Even homes could be fashioned using the materials in some ways.

"After things are cleared, we are really going to be splitting up?" Jerold was glad that he was with Clark and Maria, but when he saw that the others were looking around more nervously when it came to their pairs, he wondered if they would really split up. The chance to learn with and from elites or a third year student was too hard to grasp for them.

"Why not? You are getting a pretty great deal. We are elite students that have been lumped with you. That means we expect you to catch up for the sake of this tournament. Even Ralph is allowed here."

"What is that supposed to mean? Huh? We are lucky you aren't trying to sell our souls for money. Merchant family…pfft." Ralph's response made Isa laugh continuously she knew that it would be fun to mess with him a little since he was clearly too hot headed to just let it be.

"What Isa is saying is simple. The tournament was supposed to be different this year. Because of the enemies our team has, they caused even more trouble with an already tough situation. Now you have the opportunity to be put through the toughest training to be fashioned in to elite students on par with those that you will see in the north.

It is best not to waste it." Ella's calm demeanor made everything seem a little brighter in the darkening cave that was the dungeon.

"I wondered if this will remain a cave. It could be the same all the way through." Since Maria didn't see much point in focusing on the training for now, she changed the topic by asking Clark what he thought about the dungeon.

"Who knows what this will be like. It could open up in to a mountain but I feel like it will be a cliche mining dungeon. That would make a lot of sense when it came to why the dungeon collapsed. It could be a massive mining mountain dungeon. I heard there are a lot of dungeons like that inside." Clark wanted to give better information but he was completely lost. The inside of dungeons was a mystery.

Naturally, there would be some outside mystical force that stopped people from going outside the space that was a dungeon. But some of them were so massive they could be an entire mountain. Clark had a similar experience with the living stone dungeon. It was huge inside, enough to hold a small village and chapel. But it was still considered small compared to some dungeons.

Comparing it even further to a dungeon attached to an entirely different world was also harder to comprehend. It was why so many people became scholars trying to discover the hidden intricacies of dungeons. Even those that focused on space law were lost when it came to the way of existence.

"Oh, I understand why someone would not want to deal with this." The dirt and stones that completely blocked the end of the stairs they had climbed in to the caves were not good at all. "The entire first section of the dungeon might be collapsed!" Reese felt that this was the end of their attempt.

"This is a good start. There are already important earth crystals that my earth prince can sense from this pile. I assume there were many things in the ceiling which caused people to dig upwards. That would surely cause a collapse. Human greed knows how to make trouble." Ella noted down her theory as a wispy figure left her taming space and melded in to the rocks and dirt.

"That's your turn too. Go and see what you can move around." Isa pushed her crystal golem toward the wall of dirt and stone. "Whatever snacks you find you can bring back here and I will store them away for you." The little crystal golem seemed to bounce up and down a little showing its joy. It could sense that Isa was looking to reward it for hard work.

The soft rumbling as the crystal golem dug itself in to the earth was matched by the cracking and tumbling stone. There was soon a small entrance that only a beast could get through going on to the dungeon properly. "It seems like this will take a few moments. It's a good time to remind everyone that this may have been the case for some time. That means we will have beasts to deal with.'

Clark picked up a dark stone and used the system to check what it was. It was too heavy for it to just be a stone so he had an idea that it must be a piece of ore from this dungeon that had come loose in the collapse.

'Dark iron ore- common

The dark iron ore has a very weak darkness affinity. But where it shines is when it is heated. This activates the special structure that makes it a common building material. It can be purified to have a null energy typing that is simply metal but can also be altered to take on larger amounts of darkness energy.

However, there are rare pieces of this ore that have both metal, darkness, and spiritual type energies trapped within. These pieces are normally in larger ore veins and require extra care when mining.'

"Brad, tell me if you like this. If your possessed help does, then we will look for a better quality. Reese, you too. If your sword likes it we might gather some here." Clark watched carefully. Reese's face became a frown but Brad's became surprised. "I see, then Brad will be getting the majority of materials here."

"Found something already?" The crystal golem returned and handed over a large chunk of earth crystal. It had been damaged but it had a potent earth energy within it. But where the crystal golem saw value was not in the earth energy but the structure of the crystal. It was flat and sharp just like portions of its body. "Good job, let's see if you can find more."

Seeing that Isawas so sweet with her beast even though it was a golem that could normally not show emotions, the other wondered if their bonds meant even more than actually seeing their beasts. Naturally, Clark's team had already figured this out, but the others had not.

"Hey. My molten boar smells something good." Clark raised an eyebrow at this. Ralph had yet to bring his molten boar out of the taming space, yet, he said it could smell something.

"Is your molten boar able to smell with your nose?" Maria had heard of this happening. It was similar to how Grace's wind whistler shared the sense of wind around her and it to help Grace feel more things happening around her.

"Always been that way. That's why I was able to hunt out food when I needed it." Ralph didn't hide that his boar had helped them eat in the past. It actually explained his tenacity to a degree.

"Then let it go digging. If it gets stuck Ella and Isa will help." Ralph grinned like a mad fool that had been given permission to run wild.

In a single motion, Ralph waved his hand and released the molten boar from the taming space he had been allowing it to test in. The heat that came around them was, luckily, devoid of any poisonous fumes from melting metals within the molten boar's body. But the molten boar was too excited to be let off the hook. It sniffed loudly before charging in to the tunnel made by the crystal golem.

First was kicked out behind it but the sounds of steaming soil were clear. The sounds of chinking and shattering stone also became clear to everyone. The molten boar was easing even the smallest pieces of ores to fill its stomach.

"That was my fault Ralph. I forgot that your molten boar needs a lot of ores and metals to help it remain full. I will be better about that in the future." Clark could see the error in his ways. They had not brought enough metal to properly feed Ralph's molten boar.

"It's fine. At least you know now. He was sleeping anyways. It's fine." Ralph was silent for a while after that before his head perked back up. It seemed his boar had found something too.