Entering the Veyrier Mines gave the distinct feeling of entering another world. The whole mountain interior seemed to have been transformed into a glowing rock—somehow, every surface was tinged with an iridescent light that was a predominantly green shade.


    The light was a sickly green, and there was a poisonous mist in the air that seemed to generate from small, pale green gems that jutted out of the walls intermittently. The Schema identified them as F-ranked Poison-attuned Mana Beads.


    I had collected plenty of vials of antidote, but with my Physical Defense, I wasn’t losing any HP, and Samantha assured me there would be no adverse effects due to the relatively low dosage.


    The tunnel I was following was about seven feet in diameter, with rough edges where I could tell people had picked at the sides of the tunnel.


    Presumably, these tunnels used to hold more of the Poison-attuned Mana Beads, before the prisoners mined the walls.


    The first fork came after just a minute or two of walking. I felt a moment of relief that I had had the foresight to request the other former prisoners to stay by the warehouse in case anyone came out of the mines.  It would be a shame if Petra and Justin came back a different route, while I was looking for them.


    “Petra! Justin! Ezma!” Uman had told me a bit about Ezma during our journey to Hiver Town.  She was a small woman, about 30 years old, with long black hair and a small mole on her left cheek.


    My voice echoed through the empty mine down both paths.  One path led downwards, deeper, and the other stayed flat.


    If this was anything like the games I’d played, the deeper you go, the better the loot. They probably were forced to go deeper into the mines, in order to find the valuable gems and ores.


    I put all my floating points into Luck.  Samantha had been a bit cagey about the details of how Luck worked.  Yes, it increased the loot that would be dropped by a monster upon death, but Samantha assured me it could do much more.  Hopefully, it would help me find my family.


    Then I took the path that led down, deeper into the mountainside.


    I could tell, as I continued my descent, that the poisonous mist was getting stronger.  I hadn’t lost any HP yet, so I wasn’t too concerned.


    Not much later, I found another fork, this time both paths staying on the same level. In order to never lose yourself in a maze, always take the path on the right.


    I’d heard it somewhere, and I went with that decision.  It would help me find my way out, anyway.


    I found another fork, and another, and then I started to get worried.  There was no indication that these mines were going to end, and it would take hours to travel the whole thing.


    There were some more Mana Beads studding the wall, but there were also scratches and grooves as well, so somebody had come this far with their pickaxe.


    I had lost track of the number of forks that I encountered, and I hadn’t retraced my steps at all.  Every few minutes, I would shout, but I couldn’t hear anybody.


    Eventually, I found another downward slant, and I descended once again.


    The mist grew thicker.


    I had no idea how long I’d been in these mines, and I was starting to worry.  I hadn’t found a single person. Either these mines were incredibly massive, or something else was going on…


    I picked up the pace, the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing worse.


    Suddenly, turning the corner, I found a giant cave, with a pool of water and giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling.


    It was a beautiful sight, tinted green by the poisonous gas, but also illuminated by dozens of gems of a variety of colors, and even glowing plants.


    There was still no sign of people, and there were about six different paths leading out of the cave.  I took the rightmost path, once again, which led me even deeper down into the mountain…


    I was starting to lose my patience, and my sanity. I had already lost track of the time I had spent wandering through this maze of tunnels.


    I finally lost my first hit point, as well.  I drank the first of my antidote vials that I had looted from my kidnappers, and then continued down the depressingly lit tunnels.


    Then the earthquake struck.


    There is nothing more terrifying than being deep inside a mountainside, and then hearing tunnels collapse around you, and the earth shaking under your feet.


    There was nowhere to go for cover, nowhere to hide.  I just crouched on the ground, watching the ceiling above me, ready to move if need be.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    What was that?


    <Would you like me to answer?> Samantha asked, pristinely.  <I can’t tell if you are still playing the game ‘Pretend Samantha Doesn’t Exist.’>


    Yes, just tell me what it was, I shot back.


    <Well, you see Jarek,> Samantha started, <We are now on the second week of the Atropos Schema. Day 8, if you will. The second week is the second stage of Acclimation, meaning the world will receive another influx of Mana and energy from the World Core, the second wave of monsters will appear all over the world, and even more valuable mineral deposits can be discovered around the world. Earthquakes are one of the ways the world adjusts to the stress of greater mana density, and also it’s a little toy the Schema likes to use in order to ‘shake things up a bit.’>


    You knew this was going to happen? And you still let me go in without saying anything?


    <Jarek, I really can’t win with you. If I had warned you, would that have stopped you from entering and searching for your siblings? Also, as long as you keep your Luck stat up, the tunnels won’t collapse around you.>


    I paused, swallowing my pride and sharp retort.  No matter how angry I was, no matter how frustrated I was, Petra’s life, Justin’s life, and my life were all in danger.  If any of the tunnels I had taken had collapsed, then I had no idea how to get out of here.  The most important thing was to find Petra and Justin. Then, I could deal with Samantha.


    What else do I need to know?


    <The first thing you should notice is that the tunnel behind you has collapsed, which means you only have one path out of here at the moment.  Secondly, the mist density is increasing.  It isn’t a danger for you at the moment, though.  You are deep enough into the mines here that you should expect to find extremely valuable and extremely dangerous monsters appearing.  We should both hope that your siblings never came this deep into the mountain.>


    Glancing back, I noticed that what Samantha said was true.  It was suspicious. Did the Schema have it out for me?  Even with my enhanced Luck?


    There was nothing for it, except to move on.


    Just a few minutes later, my ears perked up slightly at the sounds of battle.


    <Don’t just rush into it,> Samantha said, as I picked up pace into a jog. <You don’t know yet what you’re running into.>


    I continued my jog forwards, disregarding her advice. It could be Petra, or Jarek, in trouble.


    Not too far ahead of me, I could see an opening—another giant cave, this one about the size of a football field, with a pool of water.  I slowed my approach, hid behind a rock, and watched, realizing that I couldn’t understand a word that the people ahead of me were saying.


    There were four people, fighting against what the Schema identified as crystal golems.


    The golems were generally about a meter tall, formed of a combination of rock, crystal, and gems, and they came in a variety of different shapes.  Some moved like dogs, hounding the team of four. Some slithered along the ground, and others lumbered on two feet like humans.


    The golems were each around level 40, and there were several dozen of them in the room.


    <Don’t move,> Samantha said, in my ear. <They aren’t speaking any language from Earth.  They are speaking High Imperial, the language of the Human Empire.  This means they are human invaders—renegades, since the Schema hasn’t approved their appearance here on Earth.>


    I felt a headache growing. Why are they here? I thought this Zone was claimed by the fey?


    <It’s not so easy to lay claim to a whole zone.  The Human Empire is a powerhouse that doesn’t fear the fey.  But look at their equipment. These are scouts, not Imperial soldiers.  They are probably just here to see if there is anything the Human Empire should steal from the Fey.>


    The four Imperial scouts had their backs against the wall, but they were holding their own against the golems.


    Three of them seemed to share similar classes that focused on agility.  They wielded knives, bows, and relatively short swords.  These three all wore similar identical clothing—light leather armor that covered every inch of their skin. The fourth member of the group held a wand in her right, and a knife in her left, and she seemed equally proficient with both weapons.


    Why would they appear here?


    <There are a lot of different teleportation tools, and the illicit ones tend to be highly inaccurate,> Samantha responded.  <From their conversation with each other, they did not expect to appear here.  They are actually rather frustrated.  Crystal golems are a tough target for such low-damage scouts.>


    It was ironic, hearing Samantha use the term “low-damage.”  These scouts were steadily killing the crystal golems.  I didn’t want to use Identify on them in case that would reveal my presence, but if they could defeat level 40 golems, they were probably level 30 or 40 as well.


    <I suggest you wait for them to kill most of the golems, and then you attack, when they least expect it.  Thanks to your bounty hunter mission, killing renegades will grant you a lot of loot.>


    For all I know, they could be friendly, I shot back. You’ve lied to me before. Maybe they are emissaries of peace. Even as I said it, I recognized how ridiculous it sounded.


    Samantha laughed. <Alright. Just wait for them to defeat the golems, and then walk up to them.  They will attack you right away, to gain your equipment and torture you for intel.  You can probably take them, if you follow the combat shadow.  Without the combat shadow, though…>


    Fuck you. I hated how no matter what, Samantha found a way to make herself necessary.  I could just walk away. But if what Samantha said was true, and these people would torture the people they found in the mines, then I couldn’t let them encounter Petra or Justin.


    It was a relatively boring wait, but I used the time to familiarize myself with their fighting styles.


    The magician was the leader. The four of them fought with a casual ease, and as I watched, I couldn’t help but admire how little damage they took, despite the golems’ overwhelming numbers .  They were able to dodge and evade most attacks, without breaking their formation and endangering their companions.


    They fought in a triangle, with their backs to the wall, and they would take turns rotating which one of them was inside the triangle every minute or so. The scout that was currently in the middle of the triangle would either take a healing potion if necessary, meditate in the case of the magician, or use ranged attacks against the crystal golems.


    They fought like a smooth, well-oiled machine, until just two golems were remaining.


    Then, without giving a single sign or gesture, they charged towards the rock I was hiding behind.


    At the same time, the magician launched a quick spell, which flew directly towards the rock I was hiding behind, exploding the rock in a flurry of shards, which flew towards me and clouded my vision slightly.


    I could just barely make out the figures of the four scouts, rushing towards me, still maintaining their formation.