novelraw Chapter 137: The Second Person in the Mines
Chapter 137: The Second Person in the Mines
Back in the mines, Leon took the elevator straight to the 10th floor. Only after stepping out did he realize how pitifully small this level was, with no visible ore in sight.
The last time he descended from the 9th floor, his mind had been entirely on the Cherry Bomb. He had gone straight to the elevator, powered it up, and returned to the surface. Now, standing here again, he finally noticed the true state of the 10th floor.
One thing puzzled him—there was no treasure chest in the center where one should have been.
In the game, the 10th floor always had a chest containing a pair of boots, a gift from Mr. Qi.
But now, the place was empty. Leon couldn’t help but suspect that Mr. Qi hadn’t prepared a gift for explorers here… or perhaps he had never intended to place a chest on this floor at all.
Still feeling doubtful, Leon took a lap around the level. He found no chest, but in a rocky corner on the right side, he discovered the stairwell leading to the 11th floor.
After one last glance at the barren 10th floor, Leon sighed and descended.
Upon reaching the 11th floor, he set aside his disappointment and began searching for an area with a dense cluster of rocks.
The terrain here was a bit more complex, with several tunnels branching out, each ending in a small chamber.
After dealing with two unfortunate Slimes, Leon finally found a small patch of copper-bearing rocks at the end of one tunnel.Without hesitation, he pulled out a Cherry Bomb, lit the fuse, and tossed it into the crevice between the rocks.
The fuse burned with a faint hiss, audible enough in the enclosed space of the mine. Leon counted three seconds before the Cherry Bomb exploded.
“Boom!”
The muffled blast shattered all the surrounding copper-bearing rocks, their fragments quickly melting into the walls, leaving behind a neat pile of Copper Ore.
Leon scooped them up, then examined the cleared area. He estimated the blast radius to be around two meters—true to the system’s “small explosion” rating.
Interestingly, while the bomb easily broke apart copper-bearing rocks that normally took him several swings of his pickaxe, it left the surrounding cavern walls completely intact.
Whether it was due to the rock’s hardness or the mine’s own rules, Leon was relieved. If the walls were fragile enough for a Cherry Bomb to destabilize them, he’d have to seriously reconsider using explosives at all—he wasn’t about to hand over his first life to a cave-in.
Now certain the bombs wouldn’t threaten the mine’s structure, he felt at ease and began to wonder about the effects of standard and mega bombs.
For the rest of his mining, Leon mainly used his pickaxe. He only used a Cherry Bomb when he came across a particularly large cluster of copper-bearing rocks. After all, they weren’t cheap, and he wasn’t exactly rich in resources yet.
Perhaps his luck was good today, because before long, he found the staircase to the 12th floor.
It was only noon. He had entered the mine around nine, and in just three hours—despite wasting some time earlier hunting for a lighter—he had already made it to the 12th floor. The efficiency was startling and drove home just how much luck mattered.
He didn’t rush to explore further. Instead, he sat down for lunch: pancakes he had prepared earlier that morning.
Fresh from his System Backpack, they were still faintly warm, tasting just as if they had come straight off the pan. A bite of pancake, a sip of water—before long, he was full.
Brushing the dust off his clothes and shaking the dirt from his hands, Leon headed down the stairs to the 12th floor.
And there, to his surprise, he spotted a familiar figure.
“Linus?”
Huddled behind a half-man-high rock was an elderly man in a dirty, tattered coat, his white hair messy as ever. Leon instinctively called out.
“Shh!”
Linus put a finger to his lips, then beckoned Leon over.
As soon as Leon crouched beside him, Linus pulled him down and pointed behind them at the six o’clock position.
“Keep your voice down. Don’t scare those two.”
Following his gaze, Leon saw a color-shifting Slime pinning down a green Slime beside a boulder. The two were stacked together in a rather… suggestive way.
“They’re mating?” Leon asked, swallowing.
“Mm. Interesting, isn’t it?” Linus replied quietly.
“You came into the mine just to watch this?” Leon honestly didn’t know what to think. This was… a bit too weird. Sure, he could understand watching certain things for personal entertainment, but Slimes? Really?
“I think you’re imagining something dirty,” Linus said, giving him a suspicious look before explaining softly, “That’s a prismatic Slime—a rare variant. They’re extremely skittish. I’ve been tracking this one for a long time.”
“You want the prismatic slime jelly too?” Leon asked. If Linus said yes, Leon would back off—after all, Linus had found it first.
“I don’t need the jelly. I’m here to catch the newborn prismatic Slimes after it mates. But you… you know about the jelly? Did Rasmodius tell you?”
Leon nodded. “Yeah. He needs prismatic slime jelly, so he asked me to keep an eye out while I’m in the mines.”
“Good. Then our goals don’t clash. Stay here. I’ll go first. Like I said, prismatic Slimes are timid. If we don’t finish the fight quickly, it’ll burrow into the rock and disappear. Once it’s gone, finding it again will be a real pain,” Linus warned.