by R. A. Mejia
Moe dived to the side, but Innie, Meanie, and Minnie set their feet and raised their iron picks defensively in front of them. My heart would be breaking at their bravery if I had one, but I couldn’t stand the idea that they’d sacrifice themselves to save me since I was the one who was supposed to be protecting them. I wanted to throw myself in front of them and push them out of the way as the monster’s powerful dive brought its outstretched talons close but the talons never landed. I heard an explosion to my right and felt a splatter of blood and feathers as the monster was blown off course. I felt it crash into the ground two feet to the left of me. I couldn’t turn my head due to the repair program locking me down, but out of the corner of my vision and through a cloud of smoke, I could just make out Greebo, on his knee, holding the smoking Flintlock Rifle in his hands. The Lightning Condor cawed loudly and shifted, not out of the fight yet, and I worried it would still be able to harm the brave goblin miners. Then Moe leapt onto the bird’s back with a loud yell, forcing it back to the ground. The other miners joined the dogpile, smothering the deadly creature and holding it down until Manny and Greebo reached them and stabbed the monster to death.
The stream of notifications signaling that the last monster had been defeated was completely ignored by the group. Greebo raised the rifle high in the air and shouted in victory, and the rest of the goblins and Divas shouted with him.
Chapter 26 - Tipsy Miners
The entire fight with the Electric Condors took less than the shortest repair estimate from the Metalman OS. This was evident as I was frustratingly unable to help my friends with the end of the fight and watched, frozen in place, as the Divas and goblins celebrated their victory over the condors. They cheered and congratulated each other for surviving such a challenging fight and the fact that Manny and each of the goblin miners had gained a level. While celebrating, they also tended to their wounds. Everybody had lost some health during the fight, whether from the wild grasps of the condor’s talons, or their electric Spark attacks.
Among the Divas, wounds were light with Devena and Dannie having taken the most damage with bleeding slashes along their forearms where they’d tried to fight off the diving condors. Among the goblins, despite his superior armor and health, Manny had taken the most damage. His normally well-polished scalemail was dirty and blackened from where the Spark spells hit. There were also several rents in his shield and armor where the condor’s talons had gotten through, and blood leaked from beneath his armor onto the ground. Greebo and the twins, fast as they were, did not come out unscathed from the fight either. The trio was a bit below half health and sported several dark stains where their leather armor had been scored by the monster’s beaks or talons. The miners were the squishiest of our group being the lowest level, and while they’d taken little damage, it had hit them the worst and most showed electrical burns along their arms and torsos.
I watched as Greebo reached into his backpack and took out rolls of bandages and small vials filled with a red liquid. Devena and Danni helped wrap up the group’s gashes and wounds as Greebo handed out health potions to the most hurt. He gave small blocks of food that increased everyone’s natural health regeneration. It was only a small increase, but it would help rebuild a body’s blood supply.
The quickest repairs the Metalman OS could complete were done by the time everyone’s wounds were finished being wrapped, and I was able to move again. Unfortunately, those repairs only restored 10% of my health and did not rebuild my destroyed hands. Still, I was glad to be able to contribute again as I got to my feet and joined in the victory celebration.
I walked up to each goblin and slapped them on the back with my stub, asking about their health and if there was anything they needed. Time and again, each goblin was more concerned with my health and stared wide-eyed at the cracks in my iron plating and my missing hands. When it was time to talk to Greebo, I found him sitting on top of the dirt wall I’d made down the hill, looking out toward the forest with the Flintlock Rifle in his lap. I climbed the pile of compressed dirt, and he turned as he heard me approach.
I paused and noted the white bandages he had were already stained with blood as they peeked through his torn armor. Part of me felt ashamed I’d had to lay the burden of protecting the groups on his shoulders, but another part was proud that my friend had gotten the job done and protected everyone. I tried to give him two thumbs up, my non-verbal gesture for a smile, but just ended up waving my arm stubs as I asked, “How are you Greebo?”
He looked at me with a dirt-smeared green face and an expression of concern as he asked, “How am I? You’re still missing hands. Doesn’t that hurt?” He said, poking my stubs with his green finger.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t feel pain the same way you guys do. It’s one of the big benefits of being a Metalman. I’m feeling ok.” I held up my forearms and said, “I’m just not 100% functional yet. It’ll take me a few more hours of repair work to rebuild my hands and even more time to fix all the damage to my internal systems and armor plating.”
Greebo smiled, glad to hear I was not permanently hurt, and held out the Flintlock Rifle he’d borrowed from me. “I suppose you want this back now?”
I thought about it and shook my head. “Not yet. I still need to rebuild my hands, and until that’s done, I can’t even use it. You keep it until then-in case other flying monsters appear.” I slapped my faceplate with my stub in frustration. “I really should have thought about how we’d fight those condors before they came. I’m afraid I failed you guys on that front. But not for long.” I nodded to myself and walked up to one of the forest trees and called out the command to activate my deconstruction tool. For a moment, nothing happened and a deep fear struck me. What if my deconstruction or repair tool was damaged? How would I help my friends? How would I help myself? Then the armor plating along my forearms, though damaged, split apart and the cylindrical tool in my left forearm popped out. I sighed in relief, and though it moved a little slower than normal, a blue light shone from it seeking a target to deconstruct. I aimed it at the tree, and the light changed to green and started to break down the object.
I knew what I was planning to do and how much wood I’d need, and it only took a few minutes to deconstruct the wood from the tree. Thankfully, I already had schematics for what I wanted to build. The light from the cylindrical tool in my forearm changed to red as it switched to fabrication mode and built the curved wooden length of a short bow already strung with string layer by layer. The bow took nine minutes to finish and while I gained 10 XP for making it, I couldn’t hand it to any of the goblins. So, I called over Manny.
“Here is something for you to use in case we come across more flying monsters,” I told him when he reached me.
He looked down at it then shook his head. “Nope. No good to me. I don’t have much dexterity. If you could make me some axes or hammers to throw, I could use those though.” He then poked the rents in his shield and scalemail and added, “Could use some repair to my armor too.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you could use some repairs. I need to use the metal we brought to rebuild my hands, but we can buy more iron once we sell the tin we are mining.”
Manny nodded, understanding that I needed my hands more than he needed his armor repaired. Without saying anything else, he turned and went back to his post between the earth walls.
I wanted to give the short bow to Frik, but Greebo shook his head. “No, Bolts. If you give one of the twins something, the other will whine and complain that it’s unfair that they didn’t get one too. If I understand you right, you want to arm us all with something we can use at range?” I nodded and he continued, “Well, just make another short bow and some arrows for them both before you give them anything. It’ll save us all from their arguing.”
It took another fifteen minutes to make another bow and some arrows for each of them. I didn’t have any leather to make a quiver, but Greebo pulled a wolf hide from his bag, and I used that material to fabri
cate small quivers for each twin. When I presented the bows and quivers of arrows to Frik, Frak’s eyes widened, and his expression turned sour. He had a finger out, undoubtedly ready to complain that his brother got something he didn’t, when Greebo threw the other short bow and quiver at him. His sour expression brightened, and the two ran off to practice with their new weapons.
Innie, Meanie, Minnie, and Moe were already back at work on the resource node, and I didn’t want to disturb them as they worked. I approached Devena, though, and while she assured me that she and her ladies were fine, I could see rents in her chainmail and chips in the bladed sides of her battle-axe. I promised myself that I’d repair all of the Diva’s equipment once we sold off the tin.
The immediate needs of our group satisfied, I got back to deconstructing the tin ore that the two groups were carving out of the hillside. All of the large grey stones were broken down to small stones. From what I could tell, between them and the human group on the other side of the hill, the resource node was quickly running out of material. Thankfully, the recent upgrades I’d taken to increasing the efficiency of my deconstruction tool helped quickly break down the ore. Only after I’d finished working on the ore and checked on the fighters manning the earthen walls that I’d made did I sit down and start the two-hour repair process to rebuild my hands.
While I sat, frozen once again, I looked over the notifications from the fights. In total, I’d gained 1,048 XP from the three fights, even if I’d barely participated in the last one. It wasn’t bad considering how many other people participated in the battles and that it was only a few hours work. As I sat there, watching each layer of my hands be built, I contemplated how we could do better. A larger group at a resource node meant more powerful monsters would attack. As long as we were prepared and weren’t overwhelmed, we could route the monsters. The key would be controlling the number of enemies we faced at any one time. The dirt walls I’d created did a decent job of funneling the enemy, but I could do better. I could create something that was relatively quick to fabricate and would provide better protection for the defenders and create choke points to fight monsters. When my mind recalled the Lightning Condors and how they’d ignored the walls, I was determined to also make ranged weapons for each member of our group. Never again would any of them not be able to fight off a flying opponent.
As I contemplated future plans, I saw the Divas and the goblin miners collecting their tools and bits of ore from the ground. I wondered what was happening but was unable to speak to ask.
Devena noticed the mining groups too but knew what was happening and called out, “Ok, ladies and goblins, it looks like the node is all dried up. Time to collect your things and move out.”
I’d been told the resource node would end soon with so many people mining it, but I’d not expected it to finish this soon. I was still only halfway through my repairs. Yet there was nothing I could do as the goblins and the Divas put their tools away and loaded up the processed ore I’d left for them in their backpacks. Greebo, with his superior carrying capacity, was given the most ore, and his ever-expanding backpack was stuffed with so much stuff that it was twice as tall as he was.
I wondered if the Divas would just leave now that our common goal had been fulfilled. Yet they did not go. Instead, they waited with the goblins. The goblins had seen me repair myself enough that they knew what was happening, but the Divas waited as my systems were fixed. Dannie even sat in front of me and watched fascinated while my hands were rebuilt layer by layer. When the repairs were finished, I jumped to my feet and startled Dannie, who’d not been expecting me to move so suddenly. I laughed as I wiggled my fingers and flexed my hands, happy to have my appendages back.
The goblins all congratulated me on my repairs, and the ladies peppered me with questions about how I could rebuild myself as I deconstructed the rest of the ore the two groups had mined. When I was done, I took back the rifle from Greebo, who looked a little reluctant to hand it over, and we all walked back towards the entrance to the dungeon. Along the way, I tried to answer the Divas’ questions the best I could by describing the repair process as a mechanical version of what their bodies did when they healed. Just as their bodies rebuilt their blood, muscles, skin and other tissues when they were injured, my class let me do the same with non-organic materials. Most of the miners looked confused by the comparison, though Dannie nodded in understanding. I recalled that they all lived in a world of magic and likely had little understanding of cellular biology. When I emphasized that it was a special class feature, they accepted it as a kind of magic peculiar to my class.
We moved slowly through the thick forest and had to take special care when climbing down hills or up from the river due to how burdened we were. I was worried that we’d be prime targets for another robbery, but in the end, we managed to leave the dungeon with little trouble, only having to fight a small group of Fire Foxes, who stood little chance against so many opponents. Perhaps the robbers also saw our large group and thought they would be better off targeting easier prey.
Regardless, as we left the dungeon, I saw that the sky was starting to turn red as the sunset and the road out of the dungeon was full of people heading towards the stalls and buildings of the market. Much like the early morning when most adventurers entered the dungeon, the food and drink stalls were doing a roaring business. I felt a pang of envy for their ability to eat such good-looking food but shifted my attention as the crowd moved forward. I saw that merchants were buying all the monster parts and treasures that adventurers had claimed in their dungeon dives. I could hear arguments and negotiations as sellers and buyers vied for the best deals.
The Divas and us steered our way through the crowds to the Merchant’s Guild, and we joined the line of miners there looking to sell our ore. I had already divided up our share of the processed tin from the Divas ore as I deconstructed it, so there was no need to do anything but wait as the line moved forward.
Eventually, it was our turn and each goblin emptied out their backpack of the small soft silvery-white tin cubes onto the assessor’s wooden table. The assessor was a bald dwarf with a thick black beard that was braided down to his chest. He looked down at the pile of cubes curiously as the goblins poured them out from their backpacks. He took one cube from the pile and scratched it with a knife he’d pulled from his overalls then weighed it in his hands while nodding to himself. He looked up at our group of goblins and at me then he looked back at the goblins. “Who’s the leader of your company?” he asked
The goblins all turned back and pointed at me, and I stepped forward. “I am,” I said.
The dwarf looked taken aback for a moment then composed himself, though I could hear him mutter something about ‘golems leading gobs’ before he said more clearly, “This is a fine pile of smelted tin. Though, we don’t normally get it in cube form. It's unusually pure, and for that, we’ll give you twenty-nine copper per pound.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of the offer. Unlike copper or iron, which had set prices, tin wasn’t listed anywhere. I knew that smelted copper sold for twenty-five copper a pound and iron sold for one-hundred copper a pound, but I had no notion of what the tin was worth or how high in demand it was. I knew that bronze was made using tin and copper, but that was it. Still, one thing I had learned from Greebo and our time trading in the market was that this world expected some haggling. I pointed at one of the cubes and said, “This is the most efficient way to process any metal--small, easy-to-melt-down cubes in perfectly weighed and measured quantities. I challenge you to find a more pure product. That, at least, warrants a price forty copper a pound.”
I thought I saw the black-bearded dwarf’s lower lip twitch but he shook his head. “Nope. Not much call for tin except by some craftsmen that use it for small projects and a couple of dwarves I know. If it was iron or steel, I’d say you made a point. But the guild will likely sit on this batch of tin for a good while before we can find some buyers. No, I’ll only go as high as thirty-two c
opper a pound, and that’s only because of how easy it will be to store and its purity.”
I wasn’t sure I could get a better price and accepted the offer. The dwarf smiled as a notification window popped up in front of each of us, confirming the terms of our deal and each of us accepted. He motioned to two burly men behind him, and I knew that, despite the increase in the haggle skill notification, that I’d likely gotten the worse end of the deal. But with tin being priced above copper, I also knew we’d make out better than we did on the lower levels of the dungeon. The two men shoveled the tin cubes onto a large industrial-sized scale, and the dwarf carefully noted the weight of all the cubes before pulling out a bag of coins from under the desk and counting out what he owed us. I watched carefully to make sure that he did not short change us, and when he was done, we had seventy-two silver coins in front of us. It was almost double of what we had made on our best day mining copper on the third level of the dungeon. I swept up the piles of coin and handed each goblin their share. The miners had already paid back the initial investment we’d made into buying them their class and equipment and would get a fifth share, twenty-three silver, that they split between each of them. The goblin fighters had yet to pay back our investment, but they still got a stipend to cover their expenses. The rest of the silver went into my internal inventory, and our group moved away from the assessor’s desk, and the next group of miners dropped their ore on his table with a clatter. I broke away from goblins as they excitedly counted their coins to buy the materials I’d need to fully repair myself and made arrangements to have the material delivered to my room at the Gnomish Research Institute.