I bent down and touched the liquid. My hands came away sticky. “Crude oil maybe?”
Soon, I came to the first spot that Mac had marked. As I turned the last bend, I immediately noticed a dark green crystal about the size of my finger jutting down from the ceiling of the cave.
“Hey Mac? Is this first item of interest hanging down from the ceiling of the cave?” I whispered.
[Yes, it should be a hexagonal prism in shape. My scans can’t pick up color but I suspect it will glitter in the light. Do you see it?]
“Yeah, it’s some sort of glowing crystal. I’ll try and break it off as cleanly as possible so you can examine it in person,” I said as I tried to get as much of the crystal as possible. It snapped like glass and left a smooth edge. I didn’t quite get all of it, as the crystal clearly continued on into the ceiling of the cave. “Got it.”
[Good, the big lizard that hunts in this area is still sleeping, so we’ve got time to hit up the second location of interest.]
“What’s that about a big lizard creature?” I asked suspiciously.
[Oh nothing, Theo. You just do your human work while your friendly AI does all the hard thinking and planning.]
I snorted in response, but I kept it quiet. If there really was a big lizard creature, I’d prefer to avoid it.
[Okay.] Mac began, his tone becoming serious again. [Continue down the same direction we were headed. Forward and to the left. There should be a round chamber with two entrances. The main one will be directly across from you. You’re coming in from a side entrance. I don’t get a huge amount of detail on this scanner, but I’ve picked up multiple items of interest in that room. They’re small, a little bigger than that crystal you just picked up. Word of caution though, they appear to move every time I’m able to do a new scan, so it is entirely likely that they are some sort of living creature. Observe them before making a move.]
Soon I came to a small room filled with ankle-deep water.
“The ground is covered in water, Mac. I can’t see anything.”
[Based on my scans, there’s usually a sizable number of these things sitting on top of the water or near the edges of the pool. Look closer.]
That’s when I noticed something squirming under my foot. It was a little blue beetle that blended in extremely well with the water in the underground pool. They must have incredibly tough shells to be able to survive me stepping on them.
I decided I’d have to collect a few of them just so Mac could determine if these were in fact the item of interest. If they were, I’d come back with the proper tools.
And so, I started scrambling in the mud trying to pick up beetles. They were fast and tough little insects though, and some of them could pinch quite hard. Eventually I decided to just try to stab the mean little creatures with my spear, but much to my surprise the bronze spear point kept bouncing off their shells.
Eventually, I managed to skewer one, but only because I switched to my fancy new iron short sword. I hated to blunt my brand-new weapon on the hard rocks of the cave floor, but I’d already promised myself I’d buff out any scratches at the next available opportunity.
I was so immersed in the process of collecting bugs that I didn’t even notice when a group of people approached from the other entrance.
They spotted me at the same moment I spotted them. None of them were particularly hulking in mass, and they all shared the same hair color, a pale shade of blue. They were wearing a mixed assortment of cloth and robes that looked like they belonged in a fantasy game.
That wasn’t the only thing that gave me the fantasy vibe though. Each one of these newcomers sported a pair of pointed ears. They were elves after the same manner as the ones I’d seen in the brothel back on Earth.
What’s more, all of them were female. Based on the size of their… assets… I was certain each one of them was over the age of eighteen, but I couldn’t spot anything more than that. Maybe it was just the difference in species, but they all looked like they were somewhere between twenty and thirty.
The biggest breasted one was wearing a sort of leather that had been studded with the shells of the various beetles into something that looked like an attempt at studded leather armor. I’d always been told that studded leather armor was just a fantasy thing, and it was never really used in medieval times. But I suppose big breasted elf warriors don’t take their fashion advice from historical re-enactors.
“Chaka!” The big-breasted elf bellowed. Strangely, she sheathed her sword, which appeared to be made of some sort of gray wood. Instead of trying to swing at me, she opened her arms and ran at me, like she intended to tackle me to the ground.
I wasn’t about to let that happen. I buried the butt of my spear in the ground like I was preparing to face a charging bear. Honestly the big elf wasn’t that far off a small bear in terms of size or musculature. Nothing sleek and slender about this one, she had the muscles of wrestler. The low stance and arms splayed wide only reinforced that image.
I quickly learned that an elf is not fooled as easily as a bear. She brought herself to a stop just before impaling herself on the spear and swept the point aside with a backhand. Then she dove towards me, fingers extended like claws ready to dive onto me. I had a brief moment to consider the fact that she dropped her weapon to her side and sought to subdue me with her bare hands. That meant she wanted to capture me alive.
Our eyes met in that moment, and I noticed something strange about them. She wasn’t snarling in anger or battle lust, but her face had a heated flush to it. Coupled with her wide eyes and a creepy grin on her face I’d almost say she was aroused.
These elves were hot, but death by snu-snu wasn’t on my list of things to do today. I drew my iron short sword. That actually caused a flicker of fear in the elf’s expression, and she backed away about a pace. Then her friends caught up and her confidence returned.
I started backing up quickly, waving the short sword in front of me.
[Theo! The latest scan came back, there’s six human-sized creatures approaching your position, get out of there!]
“Too little too late Mac!” I yelled.
One of the elves dove too close, and I managed to nick an exposed hand. She was wearing thick leather gloves, presumably for picking up beetles, which turned what might have been a hand-severing blow into a light scratch. Whatever leather those gloves were made out of, it was tough.
Still, she howled in pain and fell back like her flesh was being seared by a hot iron. Maybe it was. Wasn’t there some legend about fay creatures having a weakness to cold iron?
At any rate, two of the elves pulled their injured comrade back. The big one was still coming at me aggressively though.
“Stay back! Or I’ll slice you too!” I shouted warningly at her.
She cocked her head, having not understood a word of what I was saying.
“Ye’shu, chaka!” She bellowed in reply, along with a whole line of nonsense.
Unknown language detected. Assembling Database…
Now was not the time for a big blue screen to appear in my vision. Luckily, I was able to wave it away with a thought, but that might have been a problem if one of the elves had chosen to strike at the exact moment I’d become distracted. There had to be some settings to change that would fix that. I resolved to deal with it as soon as I was free.
The notion of distractions gave me an idea. I purposely made a misstep while trying to move backwards, making it look like I was about to stumble. Sure enough, my opponent dove towards me, ready to take advantage of my perceived weakness.
But it was a ruse. I kept my eyes on her while I quickly regained my footing and turned my half-stumble into a spin. That’s when I pivoted and slashed for her face with my sword.
I thought that would be the end of the fight, but just before I made contact with her, her face turned blue. And I don’t mean turned blue as in she’d been holding her breath. Her face literally turned a deep shade of murky blue, mirroring the beetle carapaces
on her chest.
My sword came to a dead stop against her face, not cutting her in the least. It was like I’d tried to slash a piece of stone. Instead of cutting into her flesh, the tip of my sword shattered off. Apparently, I hadn’t hammered it enough if it was still that brittle.
Still, the attack wasn’t entirely useless. As soon as my blade fell away, she collapsed to her knees and clutched at her face. There was no visible marking there, but her eyes were screwed shut as if she was enduring incredible pain.
She was disabled for the time being, and that was good enough for me. My objective was to get away, not kill her. Besides, she was kind of cute, in an aggressive, muscular sort of way. I couldn’t really bring myself to ruin a pretty face while she was helpless.
It wouldn’t be wise to stay. She had friends not far behind. One of them had already caught up, but thankfully she was more interested in tending to the big-breasted elf than in attacking me. So, I made my escape quickly.
I made it back to Mac and sealed the hatch behind me. Luckily the cleaning-obsessed AI hadn’t gotten to polishing the outside until it sparkled, and it still blended in reasonably well with the surrounding stone while the door was closed.
“Mac, there were elves down there.”
[Elves. Oh great. First you convince me to go to an elven brothel and now you drag me into a world where I’m stuck with the damnable things.]
“I lost both my weapons. No more bronze spear, and I’m stuck with half an iron sword. It will take me weeks to repair this thing.”
[I can give you another set of plastic blades. I think I’ve made the design a bit better this time around.]
I shook my head. “Save the points. We’re going to run low soon as it is. Oh, not everything was a waste though,” I reached into the pockets of my now thoroughly worn out pants. Out of one pocket I pulled a crushed beetle and out of the other I pulled the piece of crystal.
“Ah! Perfect. Let’s give those things a try. You should be getting a pop up any second now…”
Resources detected. Dismantle for points? Yes / No
I selected yes, and the two items vanished from my hands. “What’s the haul?” I asked Mac. His voice was no longer echoing through my head now that I was within the ship and able to talk in person.
“Twenty points for the crystal and twelve for the bug. Would have been more if the shell was intact. It brings your total up to one-twenty-four.”
I nodded appreciatively. “That’s actually really good, considering that you can make a plastic shield for what? Half a point? And simple tools for even less. It might be enough for me to risk going down there with a bucket and trying to grab a few dozen of those bugs.”
“Yes, maybe. Although I should point out that with the basic mana generator up and running, The Wanderer has massively increased its passive resource generation system. We now get a new one about once a day, and I speculate things will only increase from here.”
“Oh, speaking of, have any new options popped up now that we’ve repaired the command center?”
“Lots! There are all sorts of things we can buy, take a look for yourself!”
Smith’s Workshop [200 points]
Personal Chambers [100 points]
Hydroponic farm [300 points]
Dimensional storage [200 points]
Alchemist’s Laboratory [200 points]
Medical Bay [400 points]
“Smith’s Workshop seems like it would be quite useful to us right now.”
[I know.] Mac said sadly. [As much as I’d like to have access to the many cleaning solvents that could be provided by an alchemist’s laboratory, I understand your fixation on metal. It makes sense that you’d have metal envy. After all, you humans are born with just a bit of iron in your blood and little else.]
“Haha, I assure you, I’m not jealous of the fact that you occupy a tiny immobile box.”
[Mind over body, my fleshy minion.] Mac said.
I spent a bit more time keeping Mac company before hunger forced me to leave. I wanted to be certain that the elves wouldn’t track me back to my camp.
I looked at the only option I could afford. “What will Personal Chambers give us?”
[Mostly what it sounds like.] Mac answered. [It’s a room with a bed and a closet. It comes with a few sets of clothes, although nothing spectacular. All these rooms require additional improvements before they become really interesting. Based on the files I’ve been reading, if you invested a few thousand points into Personal Chambers upgrades, you could build a bedroom fit for an emperor!]
“So just buying the room doesn’t give us the whole kit. It just makes room for additional upgrades. That figures. What about the medical bay and dimensional storage?”
[The medical bay is fairly highly priced, but it starts out with more than just basic supplies like the Smith’s Workshop. You get a rudimentary medical drone under my control capable of keeping you alive through any reasonable injury. It won’t grow any limbs back, but it will be able to keep you from bleeding out. Provided you can get to it soon enough.
[As for the Dimensional Storage? I’m particularly interested in seeing that in action as well. From what I understand, this ship doesn’t move through any propulsion mechanism. Rather, it travels entirely through folding and weaving its way across space time. The Dimensional Storage room is a more utilitarian application of this ability. It’s simply a room with folds in space that allow you to store vast amounts of materials in a tiny space. Apparently, there’s even an upgrade that will allow you to keep a tiny portal on your person, so you can store items on board the ship without even having to visit in person.]
Eventually I was ready to leave. I wasn’t willing to throw my points away on unlocking the Personal Chambers, though I was tempted to. I ended up shattering one of the glass cylinders that looked more disposable. Now that more of them were growing like plants I didn’t feel so bad about breaking them. With Mac’s 3D printing skills, we made a decent glass-tipped short spear and a short dagger. I still had the lower half of the iron short sword I’d made before in its sheath as well. I figured I’d grind it down and make it into a knife.
Camp was just as I left it. I looked around, but I wasn’t the best tracker. It didn’t seem like there were any footprints beyond my own.
Eventually, I made my way to my fish traps and got some food. I’d start panning for more metals tomorrow and make one last dive to collect a few blue beetles. Mac assured me that he hadn’t seen a group of armed elves like that during any of his previous scans. It was probable that I’d just gotten very unlucky by running into them.
Mac and I wanted to relocate The Wanderer, but as I’d suspected, it was just as heavy as something of its actual size, despite having the physical dimensions of a telephone booth. Our only other option was to stack a few stones to block off the corner I’d run through. We could only hope that would keep the elves from finding The Wanderer too fast.
I was getting a bit of work done collecting more magnetite when I heard a rustle in some nearby leaves. I was still on my guard from the confrontation with the elves early that morning, so I dropped the prospector’s pan instantly and reached for my weapons.
Nothing happened. I waited and listened, but I heard nothing but the ordinary sounds of the forest.
I shrugged and went back to work. Or rather, I pretended to go back to work. In reality, I was keeping a close eye on the brush just on the other side of the creek.
There was another similar sound to my right, and I turned to take a closer look. Maybe a thrown stone? That was a mistake. The moment I was facing away from the brush, a purple-haired leaf-clad figure leaped from the undergrowth and soared clear into the air. It was a jump I wouldn’t have thought possible for anyone who wasn’t an Olympic athlete, but this elf managed it with ease.
She was smaller and lither than the blue-haired ones, and her face was covered in dark green paint to obscure her features. Her hair had twigs and leaves woven through it, but its
deep purple color was still the easiest thing about her to make out.
The purple haired elf threw something at me. Some sort of dart it looked like. Luckily, I was still feeling paranoid and so had kept the shield Mac had printed up for me close at hand. The dart sunk into the big round piece of plastic rather than my flesh.
That’s when I noticed she wasn’t the only attacker I had. She had a partner flanking my other side, and this one was wielding something that looked like a net. She threw it at me expertly, spinning the net as she threw it, so the weights would spread out and entangle me. The string was light and coarsely woven, way too big to catch a fish but plenty tight enough to trap me. Clearly, it had been made with the intention of catching people.
I dodged as best I could, holding my shield up high to keep from being completely entangled. I was partially successful, as most of the net trailed on the ground at my left. I wasn’t completely free though, and I still had to waste precious seconds reaching over with my right hand to pull the net off me. Untangling myself cost me precious seconds, which the elves used to close the distance between us.
One of them was wielding a piece of that gray, metallic wood. I recognized it as the same material those blue-haired elves favored for their weapons. The other elf had two fistfuls of darts clutched in her hands like ninja stars. Both of my assailants were young and incredibly attractive. I was beginning to suspect that the vast majority of elves were beautiful, feminine creatures.
This purple-haired bunch fought differently from the blue-haired ones. They were less aggressive, but trickier fighters. This was reflected in their slimmer, more agile build. Where the blue-haired elves had been muscular Amazons, this purple haired bunch was supple and thin. Unfortunately, they were faster than me, and weren’t engaging me directly. I couldn’t use my iron blade on them, especially considering the vastly shortened length. By the looks of their coordinated movements, they were trained and practiced at this sort of thing. This was a bad match up and I didn’t dare hope I could beat them in a fair fight.
Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1) Page 8