Chương 3: The Lonely Hammer and the Call of Lae

The battle for rare ores had begun in earnest. While the survivors of Rhertia rested behind the thick walls of Samae and Lord Himmel plotted his next devastating move, I found myself deep in the mining fields of Hagea. The air inside the cave hung thick with dust and the constant ringing of hammers against stone. I swung my pickaxe with everything I had, carving into the fresh nodes near the upper entry line. Each strike echoed like a heartbeat, my own heartbeat determined to prove I could stand on my own two legs.

As I worked, I overheard the other miners talking about me. Their voices carried clearly through the tunnels.

"Erumes… that young boy, only eight years old, willingly going through non-companionship to face the wall of the unknown. What a waste on a youth at such an age. He should listen to adults and not waste time chasing unconfirmed luck." The words stung like a slap across the face. They hurt my ego deeply, but I did not stop. I kept hammering steadily into the node at the upper entry, refusing to give in. My arms burned and my stomach growled with hunger, reminding me of the second challenge I would soon face.

When the grumbling in my belly became too loud to ignore, I approached a group of miners who were melting their ores nearby.

"Excuse me," I said politely.

"I have a question. Where do I get food?" One of the miners looked up, surprised.

"Oh yeah, are you new here?" I nodded.

"Well, newcomer," he replied with a tired chuckle, "you get into the mines, farm the midpoints or endpoints ores. Once you got some, you beat the impurities out of it via the grinder over there." He pointed to a row of heavy stone grinders.

"Afterward you melt it back together and sell it to the Mineral Shop near the entry, where you came from today. They give you coins in exchange, which you use around here to buy clothes, wears, and food. Yeah… good luck hunting, kid." I stood there shocked by this revelation. Suddenly the messages I had received made perfect sense. But they forgot one important thing: I was not a complete newbie seeking easy satisfaction.

I had real mining experience from my father, and I was here for self-strength and glory, not just survival. Laughing quietly in the face of adversity, I walked back into the cave to my node with a grumbling stomach. I hammered on, thinking whether I should go deeper for better growth or stay and build upward. At that moment, a beautiful onyx mineral fell out from the node. Then another. And another. Soon I realized there were many onyx lying around.

I gathered them all into a huge bag, quickly ground them with limited knowledge of the proper technique, and happily fed them into the Melter. After thirty minutes of hard work, I pulled out a big chunk of processed onyx and headed to the shop. On the way, a huge line had already piled up. A shop associate was screaming: "NUMBER 1543 OPEN FOR 1543! ACTIVE UNTIL 1… 2…" A person holding a ticket rushed inside. I went to the right-side box and pulled a ticket. Number 1640. I was surprised at how high the number was.

I had never counted that high before. I smiled, thinking all would be good, and waited eagerly. Time moved fast until my number finally came up. I rushed into the shop and walked up to the counter. The shop lady looked at me.

"You wears, young one?"

"Here," I said proudly, placing the onyx on the counter for exchange. The shop lady burst into loud laughter. Quickly, the other workers behind the counter joined in, chirping and laughing all around me. Embarrassed and not understanding why, I asked, "Is all good?"

"Hahaha! Well… your product is in such poor condition. I really see it that bad rarely, and then an onyx mineral on top? Those are a dime a dozen! Hahaha!" I stomped my foot, hearing my hard work reduced to a laughing session. Broken but determined, I asked how it would be correctly melted if it was this bad.

"Ohhh, good question," the shop lady said, still chuckling.

"I shall tell you. Seems you're new around here. Usually miners who grind or melt meet with broker miners who specialize in their expertise. Those grubby greedy people always approach for a deal rate around 5–10% for their work. You bringing it in here… well, in your case those broker miners saw what you were carrying and did not approach, because your mineral is not hard to acquire and not worth much. Since you brought such a jest here, I'll reward you 10 silver. You can buy yourself a nice meal.

Unfortunately for you, next time I will ignore such bad quality and throw you out. Understood, young one?"

"Yes, and thank you for being so kind," I replied, forcing a smile.

"Yuhu!" With my 10 silver I went straight to the nearest affordable shop and bought the only item they had left: leftover bone stew for 1 silver. After eating, I returned to the grinder and observed other miners working on their ores. A friendly-looking miner came up to me.

"Name's Luad," he said with a wide grin.

"I saw ya before working on that… piece of art. How poorly did it go?"

"Pretty good," I answered.

"I got a stew right after." Luad looked shocked.

"That… No way!" His eyes fell on the small pouch on my belt.

"What's ya name, kid?"

"Erumes Flamma."

"Erumes, nice to make your acquaintance. Anyways, what brings ya back?" He pointed at the small pouch.

"To become better at grinding. I struggle here. Seeing now even in the short time, I am inferior to them."

"Boy, ya were working on an onyx mineral. You should work on better material first." I laughed.

"Ha, thank you. I understand what you mean, though I worked already in caves. I know the mineral rankings right from my Papa." I listed them from highest to lowest: Diamond – Super Solid (very hard density) The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Osmium – Hard Solid (hardest density) Ironcoal – Hard Solid (hard density) Copper – Solid (medium density) Silver – Solid (medium density) Nickel – Solid (hard density) Lead – Solid (medium density) Mercury – Half Solid (Quicksilver) (soft density) Onyx – Solid (soft density) Luad looked perplexed, sweat glazing his brow.

"Then why ya…?"

"Simple," I said.

"I want to work alone on my node with no competition around. From my experience, if you build upwards rather than downwards, in the end your return of goodies is sometimes higher. It's a gamble for sure, but I want to do it. It challenges me, this mountain, and I want to show my father I can do it." Luad shook his head.

"Young one, yaaa crazy! I like that. Let me tell ya somethin'. I am a broker. I will charge ya 25% and I will grind them ores with ya. Before thinking of denying, ya don't have time to delay. 25% for someone crazy is a good deal. Others won't even think of approaching ya. Gunning with the strategy that ya mindin' is big and outargues." He cleared his throat.

"I am rooting for ya success."

"You are right," I replied.

"I take on your offer. It benefits me. I don't have time to observe them long and learn slowly the ways of grinding then melting. The appearance of yours is gladly appreciated." We shook hands in agreement, called a contractor, and signed a piece of treaty. Breaking it would mean paying a heavy fine, ensuring no foul play. Right after that, I went back into the caves while Luad promised we would meet after each cave exit. Time went quickly. I took the node upwards, gathering onyx and bringing them to Luad.

He grinded some at subpar quality, making 2 silver at the shop, giving me 1 silver for every two ores. We ate together and kept the routine going. Until one month and one day later, my node suddenly opened into a rich copper line. I hammered into them like a lunatic and gathered two huge bags worth of copper. Luad, shocked at the quality this time, started grinding like a burning volcano. The moment the product was brought to the counter, 512 pieces came out for 13 gold and 80 silver.

I went straight to business and let Luad keep 5 gold. He happily accepted without correcting me that this was higher than 25%. And it kept going that way for a good 4 days. All of a sudden, a foreman came running through the mines, notifying all nodes. He explained that a horn had been heard on the way to the entrance of the mining encampment. The camp was opened and a huge escort with 1000 horse riders waltzed in. People loudly talked about the guy in the frontline: "ZATTA!"

Zatta and his crew trotted all the way through the middle point without even letting people take their stuff out of the saddle. He screamed: "LADS! I AM GOING TO BE QUICK ABOUT IT! YOU DID IT PERFECTLY, WE HAVE THE QUOTA! BUT NOW WE NEED YOU BACK IN OUR HEARTS LAE! SO PACK YOUR THINGS ONTO THE CARTS... ALL OF IT... MATERIALS AND WORKERS! HOP HOP LET'S GOOOOOO!" People were shocked and rushed into the mines.

I felt saddened about my short stint at the node, but I accepted it and could not wait to show my father my new-found strength and success. Everyone packed the camp, leaving none behind. The miners marched in the direction of the capital. People started talking about theories around them why that quick hold-up, and the commotion grew louder. Just as the departure started, Zatta communicated with his telepathy abilities to all at the same time. There were lots of shocked reactions.

The moment Zatta went to explain why the halt, and since we had time it was the perfect time to lay out our situation on a whole scale. This is what Zatta conveyed:"The bigger cities sent their young ones onto all available camps for a temporary boost in the economy so that our great Reggente Sentrix could get a huge sum for mercenary exchange and reduce a pincer line of warfare to pay the neighbors off to hold the thought of jumping into the hay, saving manpower.

And we all got the information that we bought 10, 000 mercs that are moving onto our capital, as we shall do. Our position in the front is looking… holding out well… enough for the time being." As the telepathic exposition ended, I asked the close-standing associate how this technique works. The answer I got: "Well, from what I heard, some are born with that innate ability, others gained them through training. Not everyone can do it." I smiled after hearing the news, imagining what I could do with it.

The pranks I could pull on people alone would be worth having it. As the caravan slowly moved toward its goal, Zatta forcefully recommended training in the morning when the caravan took a break, or before midnight to keep the body warm. The caravan's tempo was somewhat slow. It was 15 days of cruel training boot camp rather than an adventure. Every morning before dawn and every evening before we slept, Zatta and his officers drilled us without mercy. We ran with heavy packs up and down the hills beside the road.

We sparred with wooden weapons until our arms felt like lead. We practiced formation marching, carrying wounded comrades on stretchers, and even basic survival skills — how to find water, how to start a fire with damp wood, how to treat blisters so they would not slow the caravan. The older miners grumbled, but the younger ones, including Quadi and me, threw ourselves into it with fierce determination.

I trained harder than anyone, swinging my pickaxe as a makeshift weapon during sparring sessions, imagining I was fighting beside my father again. My muscles ached, my hands bled, but every night when I collapsed onto my blanket I felt a quiet pride growing inside me. I was becoming stronger, just like I had promised to myself. Quadi and I stayed close during those days.

We shared our meager meals, encouraged each other when exhaustion hit, and dreamed aloud about the day we would return home as heroes who helped save Bener. The peaceful, lavish countryside we had passed on the way to Hagea now felt like a distant memory. The war was no longer something happening far away in our region's outskirts. It was marching with us toward Lae.

On the fifteenth day, as the walls of the capital finally appeared on the horizon, I looked back at the long road we had traveled and whispered to myself:"Father… I'm getting stronger. Just wait for me." The caravan continued forward, but my heart was already racing toward whatever trials awaited us in Lae.