The Quarry Development
The road from Edenberg to Asus Mountain didn’t take long. It had always been fairly close, and riding on Ikelos made the journey even faster. We arrived at the foot of the mountain in the blink of an eye and carefully scanned our surroundings. The beautiful mountain scenery caught the eye, but we were more focused on locating the Gorax herd that supposedly lived here. Yet no matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t spot them.
“Can’t see them from here.”
“We’ll probably have to go deeper inside.”
To avoid provoking the creatures, we advanced cautiously. Just as Adela had claimed this place would make an excellent quarry, granite greeted us everywhere we turned. We lightly climbed the steep mountain path until we reached a suitable basin. In its center, a cluster of Gorax huddled together.
They had been eating. Using their massive claws to shatter solid granite into bite-sized pieces and crunching away, the beasts suddenly fixed their gazes on us as we appeared at the edge of the basin. Despite their deceptively gentle appearance, they were Silver-rank monsters. Sensing our presence from below, they watched us warily. Neon’s face tightened with unease.
“They’re not going to charge at me, right?”
“Just hide your dark mana properly.”
“I’ve been suppressing it since we left the city.”
Not a single speck of dark mana could be seen in the power he raised over his palm. It was the result of his desperate efforts to avoid drawing the attention of monsters sensitive to dark mana. Thanks to Adela and Beatrice acting as his instructors, he could now conceal his dark mana so well that even a saint wouldn’t notice unless he revealed it himself. Still, the anxiety on his face came from experience. Fighting Silver-rank monsters at the level of a 5th-circle master required going all out, and that meant exposing his dark mana.
He was used to getting knocked around, but since he’d be taming them and seeing them often, Neon didn’t want to make a bad first impression. He offered a suggestion.
“Should I spray some hallucination incense? If I erase the dark mana traces properly, it should work before the Gorax notice.”
“It’s fine. I’ll handle the taming myself.”
I shook my head at Neon’s suggestion and stretched with a confident grin. Seeing my expression, he seemed to trust me. He stepped back after saying he’d leave it to me. I walked toward the creatures with light steps.
After reaching Gold rank, my physical abilities and overall stats had risen significantly. I could now perform movements I couldn’t manage back in Silver. But the biggest expansion at this stage was my vessel. It was the total amount of power a human could contain—the awakening of the bloodline that had only manifested in tiny traces until now.
Recalling the power displayed by the leader of the Flame of Doom in the Central region, I moved according to my instincts. A force different from mana. A power close to the concept that allowed the world itself to take interest and communicate. The moment it manifested outward, curiosity replaced the wariness in the Gorax’ eyes.
“Gruuu?”
“Gruuk?”
Their hostility crumbled in an instant. Curiosity filled the void and drew the entire herd toward me. The creatures that approached sniffed at me or licked me with their tongues. Having grown used to being licked by Laserdon whenever the bear got bored, I accepted it calmly and gently scratched their heads.
“Gurrrrk…”
“Feel good?”
When I scratched their backs, they half-rolled their eyes in pleasure. I couldn’t help but chuckle. They really are just oversized pets.
My heart was beginning to relax at their harmless demeanor when—
BAM!
The Gorax whose head I had just scratched unconsciously moved its hind leg as if scratching an itch and slammed into a protruding boulder. It shook the rock dust from its leg and returned to its spot. I immediately revised my opinion. Not a gentle pet. More like a gentle tyrannosaurus. If I let them roam freely just because they seemed docile, who knew what trouble they’d cause. It would be best to raise them inside the Water Realm.
While I was lost in thought, I finished scratching every Gorax that approached. Their attitude changed noticeably, becoming far more friendly. Their hostility had already been weak thanks to my bloodline, but after being treated so well, they seemed to consider me a friend. They kept shoving their heads against me, acting cute.
Thud!Thud!
Each headbutt felt like being struck by a siege hammer, but my Gold-rank body endured it.
“Gruuuk!”
“Gruuuu!”
“Thank goodness my talent is outstanding, separate from the bloodline.”
I soothed the Gorax pressing their heads against me from all sides and let out a sigh of relief. The bloodline that let me communicate with the world and the talent I possessed were separate powers. If my talent hadn’t been exceptional, my skills would have stagnated at Bronze rank at best. In that case, I wouldn’t have been able to withstand their affection and would have been rolling across the ground. Or maybe I wouldn’t have even made it this far.
After roughly accepting their displays of affection, I spoke to the one that seemed to be the herd’s leader.
“Any interest in being tamed? I’ll treat you well.”
“Gruu?”
“If you want, accept the contract.”
The thread of the contract flowing from my palm reached the Gorax leader. After glancing back and forth between me and the thread for a moment, it accepted without hesitation. The mana required for the contract drained away, and the proof of our bond was engraved on my soul. The rest of the herd followed suit, accepting the contract and becoming tamed.
In the blink of an eye, nearly twenty Gorax had been tamed. My companions, who had been watching from afar, approached with astonished faces.
“It worked?”
“It was possible because they’re docile. If they were Nepentula, it would’ve been a fight to the death.”
The image of a Nepentula that would keep regenerating no matter how many times its legs were shattered, only to try sinking its fangs into my throat, suddenly made my blood boil with competitive spirit. Come to think of it, Nepentula and I had quite the connection. From hatchlings to mature specimens, I had subjugated them all. When the memories resurfaced, my gaze naturally turned to Neon.
This guy has a deep grudge against them too, doesn’t he?
We’d been together since the hatchling Nepentula incident. In a way, he had been with me for practically my entire life as an adventurer. Adela had been with us for about ninety-five percent of it as well. I’d expected to make comrades among the Northerners, but I never dreamed I’d end up with a Central black mage and two War Ant queens… no, one princess who had now become a queen.
Chuckling at the thought, I separated myself from the Gorax herd and looked back at the mountain.
“Since we’ve achieved the bonus objective, shall we get to the main task?”
“I’ll make the quarry,” Adela declared enthusiastically in response to my mutter.
Now that the Gorax, the original masters of this place, were under my command, all that remained were miscellaneous monsters and granite. Thanks to the business rights secured through the support of Veil Edenberg, the regent of Edenberg territory, we could level the entire mountain if we wanted.
I heard the front lines are in desperate need of stone. Granite should be decent material. Might as well process some for delivery while running the quarry.
Sure, why not supply them too.
Then I’ll put in a formal request through the adventurers’ guild. The compensation from the front lines will be quite generous.
According to Veil, even running the existing quarries at full capacity couldn’t meet the front line’s demand. There was no risk of business conflict. After all, our operation was a one-time extraction to produce stone for a fortress. There was no reason to fight over rights with the stone guild.
Adela crunched on a piece of Gorax shell that had fallen from its body, storing its traits. She spread both hands wide. Nutrients and mana gathered from her bodily organs, based on manipulated genes, forming egg-like shapes. When she tossed them to the ground, they rapidly expanded into two-meter-tall giant cocoons.
“You’re making them without any base facilities even though they’re not mass-produced?”
“This much doesn’t require an artificial womb for colony production. My level has risen that much.”
A War Ant queen that would grow into at least Silver-rank as an adult. Having traveled across the North and Central regions with me, collecting various genes and raising her own strength, Adela had become far more powerful than an ordinary queen. Until now she had been called a princess because she lacked a proper nest, but now that she was beginning to build one, she had truly become a queen. She puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips, radiating confidence.
She looked exactly like a child insisting she was an adult. I smiled at how adorable it was and turned my gaze to the cocoon that had fallen to the ground. In just a few dozen seconds, the now-hardened cocoon split open, revealing the ant inside.
A worker ant with scale-like armor added over its hard shell and claws capable of easily splitting granite moved its antennae to examine the surroundings. It soon realized its task and swung its claws like pickaxes at a granite boulder.
When I looked back toward Adela after watching the scene, dozens of cocoons were already scattered across the ground. As they split open one after another and worker ants emerged into the world, I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
“That production rate is seriously insane.”
“Older queens are even faster than me.”
“And those kinds of beings were common in the ancient civilization?”
Just what had they done to cause all these creatures to run wild? And how had they stopped it, leaving only remnants behind?
I watched as the dozens of worker ants that had appeared in mere moments began slaughtering the granite boulders. Adela, who had been strictly supervising their diligent work, puffed out her chest with a triumphant expression.
“Most queens are weak. Plus, their colonies are fixed in place. If you organize a special forces team and assassinate the queen, the war ends.”
“That’s why the North mainly uses assassination tactics.”
“But I’m different. I have the North as allies, I’m strong myself, and above all, I’ll create a nest in the Water Realm! I’ll complete the mobile nest that every queen dreams of!”
“Amazing, Adela!”
“And to do that, money is the best.”
“The best, Adel…?”
Why did it always come back to that?
“If there are hard-to-get materials, just put in a request at the adventurers’ guild. Give the materials to craftsmen and they’ll make incredible equipment. Hunt monsters, earn money, and the North will like it. Cities are much more comfortable to live in than the wild.”
“……”
“Argo and Owen told me. Black mages are walking wallets. Let’s keep living together while we fleece black mages from now on.”
“R…ight.”
How on earth had she turned out like this?
I could tell she was expressing camaraderie and trust in her own way, but her phrasing was a little… off. Beatrice, who had been quietly producing worker ants beside us, gave Adela an incredulous look. When her gaze shifted to me and Neon, we both subtly avoided eye contact.
Wasn’t the captain of the royal guard who had served Adela to the very end named Zeno? I had the feeling that the guy Owen had killed was watching us from the heavens with a complicated expression.
Hey, how was I supposed to know she’d adapt this well?
“…Let’s educate her later.”
“Four hours of study a week clearly wasn’t enough.”
“We need to make it two hours a day.”
“Agreed.”
We’d have to teach her separately and make sure she didn’t completely turn into a slave of capitalism.