Chapter 958: A Prospector’s Prospects
<span style="font-weight:400">Once Lifre was able to talk more coherently, I managed to get a better understanding of what she was talking about. “You found a gemstone that is able to immediately grant someone an extra domain?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s right!” Lifre nodded her head emphatically. “It needs divine energy to use, so it should only be useful for people that are already gods. Oh, and I think it might also be able to change an individual’s existing domains, too!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s… powerful.” I gave a small sigh as I said that, before shaking my head. Thankfully, despite the power of this gem, I didn’t feel like it would disrupt the world’s market too much. These gems were bound to be in limited supply, and we already had an entire floor of Fyor that could passively generate gods just by living in that floor for a while.
<span style="font-weight:400">On the other hand, I was more curious about the gems that could be created via other energies. <i><span style="font-weight:400">It even created something from World Sight, so it can work with saint level energies… what would happen if World Shadow was used for it?</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">I wasn’t particrly concerned about using the gem to obtain a new domain for myself, given my abilities as the Keeper. If anything, I might use it to recover my Illusions domain if my host ever dies. “Lifre, I want you to mine out the rest of the blue gems from that vein, and see if there are any more divine gems in the mix. From your description, it would make sense if there was only one, but it’s best to check.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If you can’t find any, get Tubrock to help you locate another vein. I also want you to take a Digital Conversion Scanner with you, and scan both the divine gem and its derivatives.” The energy requirements to recreate these stones should be extremely high, but it was better to have the option avable. More importantly, with my reserves, I should be able to make them more easily than most. If something happens, I can ‘reward’ someone with a divine stone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Got it, boss!” Lifre nodded her head. “My clone’s still been mining things out while I came here to report. Right now, I’ve gotten most of it done… so I can say <i><span style="font-weight:400">pretty</i><span style="font-weight:400"> confidently that there is only one divine gem per vein!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Sometimes, you are efficient in the strangest of ways. Right, then you can take Tubrock and the scanner. I’m sure he’ll be interested in this gem that can mass produce powerful crafting materials.”<span style="font-weight:400">
<span style="font-weight:400">Lifre quickly nodded again, before turning and bolting out the door. Seeing her go like that, I couldn’t help but sigh and shake my head. Most likely, Tubrock would be using Admin Room controls in order to find the gem, in order to conserve his divinity, but that was fine. There was no reason to force him to do it manually when he had another option avable to him.
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<span style="font-weight:400">There was a sh of golden light, a pair of figures appearing within the mountainous hills of Fyor. Lifre had changed out her typical blue and silver outfit for a brown hiking outfit, Tubrock dressed rather simrly. “Onwards!” The dwarven god shouted, pumping his fist into the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">Lifre let out a lightugh, nodding and running to follow along after him. “I’m surprised you’re not cheating, but this is fun!” Tubrock marched through the mountains, holding a small device in his hand that seemed to be scanning the ground that they passed over.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aye, there’s no point in just doin’ what’s convenient all the time, is theress? This is the thrill of discovery! Who knows how many other new materials there could be in this forsakenndscape? If I were to just use a screen to look it up, I’d lose out on the journey!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You were bored.” Lifre grinned, Tubrock nodding his head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aye, that too. Besides, there’s another way that we can speed things along without usin’ those greater tools. Ain’t that right,ss!?” He shouted, looking off into the air instead of at Lifre, who tilted her head curiously.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So you saw me…” A voice floated over on the wind, before green light condensed into a young halfling girl dressed in simr hiking gear as Tubrock and Lifre. She offered a small smile at the duo, nodding her head. “My apologies, but there aren’t many people on this floor, and the Greater ones don’t usually visit. So, I was curious.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“All’s fine,ss.” Tubrock nodded his head with a fatherly smile. “No need to fuss. We were just on a journey of discovery, looking for what new materials await us on this floor! Would ye like to join us?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Discovery?” The girl blinked. “But, I can--”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No buts!” Tubrock shook his head firmly. “No in-depth scans, no pinpoint uracy. Ye can be a dowsing rod, but otherwise this is an adventure!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Now you’re talking mynguage, gramps.” Lifre said with a grin, the World Spirit of Fyor blinking slowly.
<span style="font-weight:400">“An… adventure…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aye! Yer always dressed like that, so surely ye’d like to go on an adventure, right?” The girl looked down at the outfit she was all but born in, before back up at Tubrock.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I… I think that would be nice.” The spirit said with a nod, Tubrock grinning broadly.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fantastic! In that case,e along! We’re off to find some precious materials!”
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<span style="font-weight:400">It had been more than two hours since Lifre left to retrieve the divine gems with Tubrock, and there had not yet been any word back from them. Honestly, I had been expecting an update within minutes, knowing Tubrock. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Did Lifre drag him around to do something else, or..?</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">I shook my head as those thoughts shed by. If anyone was able to handle Lifre, it’d be Tubrock.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“There’s something over that way, I think.” The spirit spoke up, pointing off to the right. The group had long since elerated their pace, only spending a couple of minutes searching each area before teleporting thousands of kilometers at a time.
<span style="font-weight:400">Whenever they arrived at a new area, the World Spirit of Fyor did a very general sweep of the area to point them in the basic direction of something undiscovered. However, because her scan was so vague, there were times when they encountered the same item as before. For instance, there were three instances in which they encountered what Tubrock had taken to calling Singrity Iron, a super dense iron ore that weighed more than a hundred thousand kilograms per cubic inch. Even Lifre struggled to lift this ore to put in her inventory.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aye!” Tubrock smiled jovially, not even minding if it might be another repeat. He was having fun with the process more so than the destination. He aimed his survey scanner in the direction that the World Spirit had pointed, the trio quickly making their way over.
<span style="font-weight:400">As he walked, he kept his eye on the scanner, stopping only when he saw a change in the readings. “This is the spot. Lifre, it’s your turnss!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I realize I ended up just getting turned into manualbor, but honestly I don’t mind at this point.” Lifre grinned, her arms turning into giant drills as she dove for the spot where Tubrock indicated. Stone shattered, dirt flying into the air as her body descended.
<span style="font-weight:400">Soon, Tubrock could see specks of blue crystals flying up with the stones, a wide smile spreading over his face. “Aye, I think we hit the jackpot this time!” He said, looking into the growing pit that Lifre was digging.
<span style="font-weight:400">The World Spirit blinked, looking over and into the pit herself. Inside, she saw the sparkling blue gemstones covering the walls at the deepest areas. Her eyes went wide, and she let out a faint gasp. “It’s really pretty…” She said in amazement, her eyes turning the same blue as the gems.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Aye, that it is.” Tubrock nodded his head, patting her on the back with one of hisrge hands. “It’s easy to miss things like this when you never take the time to properly enjoy it,ss.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The World Spirit looked back at him in confusion. “Did you… ask me toe out with you on purpose, just to show me this?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Tubrock paused at that, before letting out a deep chuckle. “I didn’t, but I admit that it would have been smart of me to do so! I just wanted to have another partner for an adventure, and you seemed like you needed something to do yourself.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The World Spirit thought of that for a few moments, before nodding her head. In truth, she had enjoyed this little adventure with the two of them. She didn’t have many chances to just appear and interact with the people of the world. Due to her world’s segmented nature, it was harder for her to sense what was happening in a floor where she did not have her current focus set.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I got it!” Lifre shouted, jumping out of the pit while holding a golden gem the size of a fist. However, to Tubrock’s surprise, she immediately threw it down to the ground as soon as she emerged.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oi! Be careful with that,ss!” He rushed over, only for Lifre to shout out.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t let it touch your divinity! I still need to scan it first!” She opened up her inventory, starting to get the smaller scanners as Tubrock paused. Realizing that it might destroy the gem if he touched it hastily, he pulled his hands back.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well… I can experiment with it after you’re done. Who knows, it might not even have an effect on people like me.” Since the domains of the Greater Pantheon were set by the system, it was likely that an item within the world wouldn’t be able to modify their domains naturally.
<span style="font-weight:400">Regardless, Lifre did her best to quickly set things up, before using a w she took from her inventory to take the gem and ce it into the scanner. Only then did she let out a relieved sigh, hitting the button to start the process. “And, done! Now we’ll just need to wait to let this finish, and we should be able to head back whenever we want.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The World Spirit hesitated when she heard this, looking at the two of them. “Does this mean that the adventure is… over?” She asked curiously, the two exchanging nces.
<span style="font-weight:400">A small grin formed over both of their faces, before Tubrock shook his head. “There’s no rush. I’m sure thed will understand if we’re dyed by a bit. Besides, who knows if there might be more treasures that await us on this floor?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“See, this is the spirit of adventure! This is what I live for!” Lifre shouted happily, a bright smile forming on the face of the smaller spirit. She clenched her hands in front of her chest, looking forward to what else they might discover.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“...Where are they?” I asked myself, walking through the halls. It had been two days since I sent Lifre and Tubrock to Fyor. Even if they searched the hard way, it shouldn’t take this long for Tubrock to discover a mineral vein.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Tubrock is there, so there shouldn’t be any chance of something dangerous happening. In the worst case scenario, he would have notified me if his avatar and Lifre were in trouble. Could it be that those gems are really just that rare?</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Given the nature of the gem, I was inclined to believe that that might be the case. Still, it was worrying for them to be out for so long on what I thought was a rather mundane errand.