Supreme Magus novel Chapter 1005

Chapter 1005 Talent and Experience Part 1

Royal Prospectors would use arrays to detect the presence of enemies and crystals alike. Thanks to earth magic, they could safely dig new tunnels or expand the natural network of caves.

Then, it would be the miners’ job to dig around according to the information provided by the Prospectors. In their original state, mana crystals didn’t like magic. Using powerful spells in their proximity could easily make them explode and trigger a chain reaction that would wipe out the entire crystal vein.

The tools the miners used were enchanted so to improve their durability and efficiency. A single worker could dig faster than a drill, but with crystals, skill and finesse were more important than speed.

"Gods, give me strength." Quylla turned pale while entering the tunnels.

"Since when are you afraid of enclosed spaces?" Friya could understand if the memories of Kulah still haunted her sister, but she knew for a fact that until a few months ago, Quylla had no such problem.

After everything that had happened at the White Griffon, Quylla had lost her naivety and put up a thick skin. After escaping from the Odi ruins, she didn’t lose a single night sleep and visited several underground ruins.

That and the fact that Quylla didn’t answer the question, made her sisters worry.

The caves were dark and damp, bearing no trace of previous mining activity. The Prospectors removed the asperities in the ground and made it coarse so to provide a firm foothold.

After a few hours, the expedition had yet to find any sign of mana crystals or of living creatures dwelling underground.

Before exploring deeper, the Prospectors had to safely enlarge the tunnels and stabilize the complex while the miners collected rock samples that would be later studied at the camp with alchemical equipment.

Phloria had no intention of sitting idly, so she listened to the scouts’ reports, and then she took flight to study the area from above. Based on what she had seen so far, Phloria ruled out the hypothesis of an illegal mining operation at the hand of human bandits.

No matter how skilled or cautious they might be, humans were bound to leave traces of their passage behind. They needed light to see in the dark, food to keep their strength, and tools to work.

After long hours of hard work in the mines, even if they still had the energy to close the passages, they were bound to make mistakes. Undead, on the other hand, needed nothing but a safe haven where to hide during the day.

Day after day, they would make mistakes as well, but to find them one had to think outside of the box.

The entrance to the caves was located in a small clearing that the Prospectors had widened at their arrival but the surrounding terrain was hilly, leaving a lot of places for the undead to hide.

All officers of the Griffon Kingdom had thoroughly studied undead ever since the invasion had become public knowledge and Phloria was no exception. First, she checked the surrounding area for kilometers, to make sure that the lack of greenery wasn’t limited only to the caves.

Once that she ruled out the presence of undead plants, she marked all the hills big enough to hide the food stocks that such a strenuous operation would require. The undead could lay almost anywhere as long as they were shielded from sunlight, but their victims were another story entirely.