Civilization

We slowly progress through the cave, keeping the same amount of caution as before, as well as lighting up the path with fire arrows. It's a slow journey, but we have no choice, danger lurks at every corner. As we walk past the previous battlefield, piles of white stones and powder cover the ground, making progress through the tunnel a slow and tedious process, but after a while, we get past it and follow down the tunnel once more.

I guess there wasn't anything left since we got to the cavern at the bottom without another fight, but just to be safe, we set up a shield wall at the entrance. The goblins and I fire arrows into the darkness, lighting up the cavern bit by bit. Once the coast was clear, we move a bit inside, just enough so that we can fire another set of arrows, this time to our direct sides.

Nothing.

Just darkness.

A good thing, I guess. No more fighting.

"Gibing, anything unusual at the other side of the cavern?"

"Nothing, leader Ian. The other goblins also confirm that there is nothing out of the ordinary at the moment. What should we do?"

"For now, spread out and search the cavern. Make sure to look up as well as down. Be wary of any cracks and crevices and be quick on your feet. Gibing, make sure to look up. There is a large hole somewhere."

"Yes, leader Ian. Let's go everyone."

I sent the goblins first int the cavern. Their superior eyesight allows them to see in the dark, which makes this place the perfect place for them. Furthermore, they had higher agility than most of the other NPCs, making them more likely to escape in a bad situation.

"Everyone, stay on high alert until the coast is clear. Keep your shields up and be ready for anything."

I make sure to warn everyone just in case. Setting up a lot of precaution since this was the final step. I didn't want anything to happen.

After a while, the goblins came back to me one by one, reporting that there was nothing in the area. Gibing, going to the furthest corner of the cavern, came back last.

"I have checked the back of the cavern as well as the top. There is a hole there however, at the moment there seems to be nothing coming out. I also think that there is no way for us to block it, so we would have to be on our guards at all time."

,m "I see, that is unfortunate."

"Furthermore, the ground is very uneven. Lots of small rocks are scattered across the ground, especially closer to the walls. Near one of the walls is a mound of rocks, towering close to halfway up the cavern."

"That would be the excess rocks from Kronos's mining. For now, let's search along the walls for anything left. I'll light up some more torches, so everyone can have one. Look for anything shiny or reflecting the light, okay?"

Our group traveled in the same formation while holding the torches close to the wall and ground. Working clockwise, we made our way patrolling the perimeter.

"Ian, what kind of shiny object are we looking for?"

"It's called copper, Howard. It is reddish brown, but also might have a slight blue tinge to it. When I saw it for the first time, it was beautiful. A whole wall was colored in a sea of red, brown and blue making wondrous shapes and lines. But alas, there does not seem to be much left."

"Don't be so disappointed. We have only just started, and this cavern is huge."

"Thanks, Howard."

"Is this copper important, leader Ian?"

"Gibing, without it, we won't be able to progress HavenFall to the next step. Acquiring copper will allow us to create bronze and in turn create stronger weapons and armor. With stronger weapons and armor, we can increase the range of our patrols, searching the surroundings for more material that can benefit us. At the same time, we can defeat stronger monsters and save other people, increasing the population of HavenFall. There is just so much we can do if we get stronger."

"I see. Leader Ian has thought about this a lot. We must find copper here then."

"Yes, we can do it. Just gotta believe, right?"

"Of course leader Ian."

"Well, Ian your belief might have just been enough."

"What do you mean, Kingston?"

"Look dude. We just passed it. We walked past the corner of the cave looking upwards, but we didn't look downwards. It's small, but it's definitely reddish-brown and since it goes into the cavern, sandwiched by the floor, there might be more if we can dig through the stone."

"KINGSTON! You're amazing! I can't believe we just passed it. Okay, okay, noting that down in my brain. Left corner as you walk into the cavern, potential copper. How did Kronos's golems missed this?"

"Maybe, they thought it was just too small to worry about. I can see not too far down there is a huge hole in the wall. Which meant, that was where the bulk of the mining took place."

"Alright, alright, I can't be too happy. Let's keep going."

Leaving the left corner and proceeding onwards, we got to the start of the hole Kingston had noticed.

"The mining must have been done by both ground golems and flying golems. After all, with the small light from the torch, we can't even see the roof of the hole. Gibing, how deep does the hole look?"

"One of the goblins went inside briefly to check before. It is not that large, possibly the size of Lucina's fields. However, from what I can see, the sides are all jagged and broken in different ways. There are a lot of small holes here and there as well as large holes and while I call them holes, it looks more like they were clawed out. "

"What you say is true. Just by looking at the ground and the sides here, the sizing is too irregular to be done by a pickax and carefully removing the mineral. More like something bulldozed into the side and ripped out the copper. Thank you for the observation Gibing."

"My pleasure, leader Ian."

"Let's move into the hole for now and serif they missed anything."

Like what Gibing had said, the whole wasn't that deep, being only about 20-30 steps deep, however as I suspected the sides of the hole is irregular. Stones are jutting out like horizontal stalagmites, and sections of the wall can be seen carved out. It was definitely a strange sight to see, but eventually we walked through the entire hole with nothing of importance to be seen.

Continuing on, we carefully scoured the rest of the left side, getting closer to the back of the cavern. From what small light the torches can provide, we were able to see that small sections of the cavern were carved out, leaving gaping holes here and there. From my memory, most of the walls of the cavern were covered in copper and the top layer being small amounts of gold, but from Gibing's vision all he saw were holes of crying shapes and sizes littering the cavern walls.

Nothing on the rest of the left side, and nothing at the back of the cavern. Making our way to the right side, one of the demi-humans spot something shiny on the ground. Hurrying over to pick it up, he notices that it's a reddish stone with blue streaks all around it. Brining it back to us with a huge smile on his face as I congratulate him on finding our first copper ore. While it might be small, it was definitely something. It was a start.

Moving on, the right wall was the same as the rest, just holes here and there, as well as the right wall next to the cavern entrance.

Nothing.

Scraped clean, except for that one spot that Kingston found.

"Kingston, I'm glad you saw that bit of copper. I would have been extremely sad and disappointed if we found nothing after all that hard work."

"Well, it might still be a small amount of copper, you know."

"I know, but at least we will be able to come back with something from here."

"How do you suggest we go about with mining it?"

"There are still a couple of goblins that mined before. They were the previous miners from Balta's camp. We go back to HavenFall, get some pickaxes using the golem's body, and come back. I also want some people to carry the stones and powder back home as well. It will be a large project. Get only the minimum amount of scouts in the forest and have a team of 5 staying back to keep constructing houses. The rest will come and transport the white stones and golem cores. Let's go back home."

"Yes, leader Ian."

And with that, our cavern journey comes to an end. We exit the cave and see Luna sleeping on the side, cuddling the other wolf cubs. It was night and the moon was at it's highest.

"Ian, how about we rest here for the night and return in the morning."

"You know, Howard, I was just about to suggest the same thing."

"David, Kingston, you two are on night duty first. Switch with the next two after an hour."

"There is no clock here, Ian. How do you think David and I will know when an hour is up?"

"I know that, look at the moon. Once the moon touches the cliff from this angle, then an hour has approximately gone by."

"Damn, how did you learn that?"

"Old man Hus taught me. Neat isn't it?"

"Very neat."

With that, I started a couple fires and used the wall as a pillow. The soft splashes of water and the slight whispering breeze fill my ear. I let all the fatigue out during the day and let out all the tension. I close my eyes and drift into sleep. Another night in Settlement, yet it strangely feels more comfortable than sleeping outside the game.