Spirit Taming

Chapter 262: Roaming Beasts

The tunnel that the crystal golem had made had been made even larger by Ralph's molten boar. It had been able to push a lot of the stones and soil side that the crystal golem would have needed more energy for. But when the crystal golem came back out ahead of the molten boar moving with a lot more energy, everyone wondered what it was so energetic about.

The dirt was pushed aside yet again as the molten boar backed out of the tunnel. But what kept everyone wondering was that it was seemingly dragging something. The thud of something being dropped before the molten boar returned to Ralph's side made everyone focus on the thing that had been brought to them.

'Steel clawed mole- common

The steel clawed mole is a simple beast. It spends its life blind and only focuses on the vibrations of the earth. It will consume ores and stone to create tougher claws so it can better carve through the earth. It has almost no growth potential but can be a decent partner for anyone focusing on cave explorations.

The problems these moles cause when they outgrow their homes are numerous. They have been known to be the cause of many tunnels collapses in many mines. They are not always the culprit because they will use their shed hair to properly hold their tunnels if they travel them enough times.

But when their tunnels begin to collapse due to outside intervention, it naturally leads to many tunnels collapsing.

These beasts somehow manage to make their way in to many mines, caves, and dungeons. It is thought that they will spend their lives migrating the entire world just to find a place with something they would like to eat when it comes to ores.'

"These things are pests. I feel like we should try to exterminate them while we are here." Ralph wanted to stomp on the perished mole that they had found. But Clark was looking at it very closely.

"If we hunt them while we are here we can basically fix the issues this dungeon has. But what worries me more is that these are not the beasts that live in this dungeon naturally. And this one has no sign of being crushed, it looks like something broke its ribs here."

Ella jumped at the chance to analyze what might have killed this steel clawed mole. It was a chance to gain valuable knowledge about a common beasts but also challenge her observation skills. Especially since she still had an idea about the beast that lived in this dungeon already.

"This was caused by something solid and blunt. To be clear, it appears to be a hammer or a weapon. Not by a beast's body. Or it could be a golem. But I would say it might be a hammer tail lizard. They can range from small to large and are known for living in any dragon with high earth materials.

They don't need to eat much other than stone so they leave ores alone. But they are slightly territorial." Ella paused while thinking.

"That doesn't make sense. If this is a common dungeon and people come here a lot, why would they be here? They would have been hunted to almost nothing. There wouldn't be one old enough to be this large unless…. Ha! Unless they were in a hidden den or tunnel that they had made." Ella seemed to have gotten a breakthrough in her analysis that perfectly explained things.

"This collapse was started by the moles and most likely found an unexplored portion of the dungeon. Mountain or mine dungeons are often like this. That means there are hammer tail lizards that have been left to grow very large that now have access to this larger expanse cleared by tamers."

"So that means you think that this is a much more dangerous place than we originally believed. It also means that there are high odds that there were tamers rapped and hunted here by the hammer tail lizards. They are larger and have a larger sense of territory." Isa summed up the dangers and fears that everyone had.

While Clark's team was analyzing these things, Grace, Reese, Jerold, and Brad were forming their own small group. "This is real, right? They are actually learning so much from nothing." Brad was a little more stunned since he was still trying to figure out how the materials here would be able to help his possessed helm grow in to a living armor or even more.

"This is why they are elites. They see things we do not and connect them. But they have to have had more than just teaching. Some of them have mentors. It must be that teaching." Reese had drawn his own conclusions. But Jerold and Grace felt that this was not the cause.

"They seem to have some family backing, but not all of them. Clark and Ralph are different from the others. They are real geniuses." Grace had affirmed this in her mind. There was no other explanation.

"No, anyone is a genius if you work hard enough. We just didn't hunt out the right opportunities. We let others take things from us but we didn't find another way." Jerold felt it was bittersweet. If he had felt this way earlier he might be even more ahead of where he was now.

"I want to enter the dungeon anyways. It's fine if it is more dangerous. I can't get stronger if I let everyone around me do the work. And since you said that these are lizards and not golems, my partner's poison should work on them. I can kill these lizards and get stronger while doing it." Hearing Jerold's outburst, the rest of the group smiled a little.

"That's a good attitude to have. Forget the partners we were going to have, we are going to fight some good battles and map out the new portion of this dungeon. Partners are great but battling things is more fun!" Ralph was instantly fired up. To prove this, his molten boar charged back in to the tunnel to help clear it away even more.

"That might be the improper mentality but I like the energy. Ella, your partner has been ready for a while now to clear the way for us, right? Can you do it?" Maria felt that this kind of mentality to have was not poor in the least. She wanted to see others rise up. It was the same thing Clark was doing even though they had ulterior motives.

She wanted to see those beaten down and weak take back their equality.

"Yes, I was distracted. I apologize. My earth prince, open the way for us then return to me. I will let you roam around after we get our bearings." The soil shook as soon as Ella asked this. The soil was forcefully compacted to create a tunnel for them while the rocks and stones seemed to be forming a smaller body. It was definitely not a golem but something similar.

"Without form, the earth prince is not truly an earth prince. It is using stones for now but I believe that it should make a solid body from the toughest ores it finds here. It will make it more detailed and able to interact with things around you better." Clark knew that Ella already had this in mind. But he wanted to keep the sharing of information open.

That was the best way to watch the new additions to their group learn more.

The crystal golem and molten boar were at the other end of the forced tunnel. This seemed to be the main resting area of every tamer that came in. Many tools were scattered around while piles of ores and tough stone were placed here and there. But the most valuable thing was that there were multiple maps that pointed out the tunnels that branched from the room.

"It appears that there are multiple tunnels. We have no idea where the hidden den was and how big it…" Grace was about to attempt her own analysis of where she thought the opening was. But when they felt a tremor, they all could tell the direction of where the opening was.

"We leave this portion of the mine for last. If we do that, then we can gather whatever was left behind in these two mining passages.' Clark's greedy grin mirrored what Isa was thinking. But no one was going to argue. It was only fair that they claimed what had been left behind by so many tamers that had rushed away. Ella had already begun to gather the ores that were in the main room.

The tools were even taken away. All could be sold or used elsewhere.

"Oh, and if we have to do a little extra work, that won't be a bad thing. I wouldn't mind a little muscle training since we will only be here for a day or so." Maria's final recommendation stopped the newest members of their group. They all knew that Maria was ready to drop them in to a world of brutal mining for physical training.