Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 88
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 88
Mining.
It was a field quite popular among life-skillers.
Satisfying impact and clear rewards!
Some players enjoyed that taste so much they gave up all other life skills and spent their time searching for minerals.
On top of that, minerals played a huge role in <In the World>.
They went into basic crafting materials and were always in high demand, and well-refined iron sold for high prices on the exchange.
Making armor, making swords.
Minerals were even used to repair broken items or items whose durability had run out.
That was also why newbies, after raising their gathering level to a certain point, holed themselves up in mines as if they’d made a pact.
Although it was slower than herb gathering, if you quietly stuck with it, a clear reward came back.
And since it was a mine, you didn’t have to diligently wander around, which made it less of a hassle.
So back in the early days when Lion needed money, he used to seclude himself in a mine for closed-door… no, closed-mine training.
But—
That was only a game; in reality, it wasn’t done much.
Because wielding a pickaxe required enormous stamina and know-how.
That’s why real mines used jackhammers, wasn’t it!
So no matter how much Gathering Proficiency Lion had achieved, he couldn’t handle a pickaxe skillfully.
Now that he thought about it, pickaxes looked crude, so he’d assumed you simply swung them hard, but the truth was they needed quite delicate control.
‘Could I call that another kind of charm?’
The fact that they required delicate handling despite their rough exterior!
Though it was a charm only Lion felt, of course.
Tick!
[You have obtained Glowstone Powder.]
- Glowstone that turned to powder after a failed gathering attempt.
- It has lost all value as a glowstone.
“Hmm.”
As the saying went, you couldn’t fill your stomach on the first spoonful.
Lion looked at the broken glowstone and clicked his tongue.
Pickaxing was definitely harder than herb gathering.
It seemed it wasn’t for nothing that it unlocked at Gathering Proficiency level 1.
But—
“It’s fine. There’s plenty more to mine.”
Lion packed up the glowstone powder, put it into his inventory, and headed straight for a new glowstone.
Herb gathering hadn’t always been successful from the start either.
There had been plenty of times when roots snapped off like Freyania’s pulls, and times when he yanked carelessly and crushed the precious leaves.
‘It’s stranger to be good at something from the start.’
Lion steeled himself and picked up the pickaxe again.
And he swung it again at a new glowstone.
Clang!
[You have obtained Glowstone Powder.]
Another failure.
Clang!
[You have obtained Glowstone Powder.]
Even though he failed again, a faint smile tugged at Lion’s lips.
Because when he lined up the failed glowstone powders in a row, he could see he had accumulated quite a lot.
And on top of that, it felt like he was exerting less effort than before.
“Hoo.”
He had a feeling success was just around the corner.
“All right, stay calm.”
He crossed his feet, steadied his aim so the pickaxe would hit the target precisely, and moved.
Clang!
He swung the pickaxe and cleared away the soft soil and small stones around the target.
It was the cleanest and most efficient swing so far!
The glowstone wedged between the rocks became even more clearly visible.
“Hoo.”
Of course, it was on a completely different level from clearing soil.
The accumulated recoil from all the swings left his arms and back tingling.
‘If it weren’t for the travel clothes, my back would’ve given out.’
The travel clothes Andrie had made were absorbing most of the impact from the pickaxe.
So fortunately, only minimal impact reached him, allowing him to keep swinging.
Anyway, after a few more swings, all the useless bits crumbled away, and the glowstone ore was completely exposed.
[You have obtained Glowstone Ore.]
- Still contains more waste rock than glowstone.
- Wouldn’t it be nice to refine it a little more?
Ore, not powder.
It was a modest achievement after countless attempts.
“Great, so that’s how it’s done.”
He really was a fast learner.
The knowledge and techniques sorted in his mind were being absorbed by his body.
Clearly, that was the learning ability befitting Gathering Proficiency level 1.
[Gatherable Types: Mineral Veins and Poisonous Herbs have been added.]
If he hadn’t reached proficiency level 1, he might have had to leave with regret.
“It’s also thanks to Mudu and Andrie.”
Without Mudu’s tool set and Andrie’s travel clothes, he might have hurt himself instead.
Clatter!
Lion set down the pickaxe and fetched a hammer and chisel.
The next task was to knock off the rock and soil clinging to the glowstone.
He could have just taken it as it was and handed it to Mudu, but since he had started this, he wanted to see it through properly.
That was a habit of Lion’s.
‘Enjoyment over efficiency.’
“Still, I should practice on some other stones first.”
Lion rummaged through the glowstone powder pile.
Among them, there were quite a few that were close enough to ore to practice on.
“Every bit will come in handy.”
Lion placed the chisel against the soil-encrusted
part and struck it lightly with the hammer.
And then… Crunch!
“…”
Even though he had struck as carefully as possible, the glowstone crumbled into pieces without resistance.
That meant the glowstone was more brittle than he thought.
“Phew. If I’d started right away on the real one, things could’ve gone badly.”
Lion practiced a few more times, got the feel for it, then brought over the intact ore.
For some reason, this made him tense up.
‘But it’s not a bad feeling.’
Wasn’t it just a pleasant flutter?
Perhaps from the heat of the hot spring, Lion’s face had grown flushed.
It might seem strange, but from Lion’s perspective, it was like he’d gotten a new toy.
Of course… it was hard for ordinary people to understand.
If he was happy, wasn’t that okay?
Lion held his breath, placed the chisel with extreme precision, and struck the hammer carefully.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Cracks proved more fatal to stone than expected.
It was similar to how a single droplet could split a massive rock in two.
Crack…
At some point, it suddenly split open like a ripe watermelon.
Lion picked up the fallen stone fragment and brushed it off with a brush.
Fortunately, only the stone came off cleanly, with no loss.
Then a little more. Tap. Tap. As he lightly tidied up the area…
[You have obtained Hot Spring Luminous Stone (★)!]
- Flowing tears dried and dried until they finally became a stone.
- While in possession, you can open your eyes underwater as usual.
- If ingested or used in a special way, it raises affinity with beastfolk.
- Only the skilled can gather this luminous stone.
[Usage: Alchemy, Beast Taming, Cooking]
[☞ Click to view the recipe.]
“Got it!”
Lion held the luminous stone preciously in his hand, savoring the sense of achievement!
This sensation. This feeling!
And maybe thanks to his equipment, a star had barely been attached to it.
“Hm?”
Lion looked at the description.
“Can it be used as well?”
When he had looked at it with Expert’s Eye, only the ‘ingestion’ method had been listed, but now a usage method had been added as well.
Lion glanced once at the flame grass scattered around, then at the luminous stone, and his eyes sparkled.
A good idea had suddenly popped into his head!
‘I’m not sure about beastfolk affinity, but… maybe…’
He thought he could make something pretty good.
“Alright. Next!”
Lion picked up the pickaxe again, prowled around the hot spring, and mined luminous stones to his heart’s content.
Until the travel clothes, which boasted impressive waterproofing, were completely soaked in the hot spring water!
“…Young master?”
Eventually, Elvia, who had finished several rounds of patrol, couldn’t take it anymore and called out to Lion.
It was obvious that if he was left alone, he’d keep at it until he caught a cold, or even frostbite.
“I think you should head back now.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Lion pick up the last luminous stone and straighten his back.
Crack!
“Oww.”
Maybe because he’d been hunched over so long, his back hurt all over.
He felt like the stamina he’d painstakingly built up had been halved again, but Lion smiled brightly.
“Has it been that long already? I snuck out, so I should head back soon.”
Lion gathered his now-bulging bag and stood beside Elvia.
“We’ll be heading back now.”
At the voice saying, ‘Please close your eyes for a moment,’ Lion closed his eyes.
“Peep.”
Nature closed its eyes as well, mimicking Lion.
“You may open them now.”
When he slowly raised his eyes that had been closed for a moment…
They had arrived at Bydantis Castle.
‘It really was amazing.’
Long distances were impossible, but for short distances, this kind of teleportation was possible.
Probably the method used to abduct Freyania in Mimir Forest before had been similar.
If long-distance warping had been possible, they would probably have used Elvia’s help instead of a Warp Gate,
since the motion sickness from Warp Gates was truly horrific.
Lion received a change of clothes and a towel, changed, and flopped onto the bed.
After finishing his not-quite water play, he felt pleasantly tired and sleep washed over him.
“There’s still some time before dinner. Please get some sleep.”
“Thanks.”
Lion slowly closed his eyes, and like that, he fell into a deep sleep.
Without even having had dinner.
And so, late at night.
“…”
Lion opened his eyes wide and sat up.
‘What time is it?’
Checking the clock in the dark, it was already past the wee hours.
He must have slept so soundly that Elvia hadn’t woken him.
Thanks to that, Lion had gotten a good night’s sleep.
His back was fully recovered as well.
So then…
He was hungry.
Extremely. And there was a food he desperately craved.
That was…
‘Ramen.’
The scary thing about ramen was that once it came to mind, it kept surfacing until you cooked and ate it.
And how honey-sweet it was to have a cup of ramen after water play!
‘I can’t resist.’
Lion sprang up from the bed.
“…”
Nature, who had been deep in dreamland, rolled off Lion’s stomach with a flop and opened its eyes in confusion.
“Nature.”
“Peep…”
Looking at Lion, who had grown quite solemn, Nature made an expression as if to ask, ‘What’s with him?’
For a chick, it was quite expressive.
“Let’s go.”
Lion scooped up Nature, secretly left the room, and headed to the kitchen.
Since Bydantis Castle had few servants, naturally no one was there in the kitchen at dawn.
It was even pitch-dark… but that was fine.
Lion took out a few luminous stones and set them around.
They gave off a soft glow, just right.
At this brightness, no one would come looking.
“All right.”
Lion instinctively rummaged through the kitchen and gathered ingredients.
Since he was going to eat, he wanted to do it properly, so he even brought eggs and green onions.
But one might think, ‘Isn’t the most important ingredient missing?’
The noodles, specifically.
Obviously, ramen didn’t exist here.
There was no way fried, specially processed noodles existed in this world.
But did that mean he couldn’t make it?
That wasn’t the case.
‘I can at least make something similar.’
Lion fetched the pasta that most resembled ramen:
fusilli lunghi.
It was a type of pasta that was curly and long like ramen noodles, so it could give off a similar feel.
It was one of the methods Lion had used back when he lived alone and wanted to take care of his health.