[Farmer] Mage

The air bit at Cal's skin and wanted to seep into his body to cause havoc.

He appeared in an area covered in a ghostly, green-tinted fog. He couldn't see over twenty feet beyond the spot he stood, but at least there wasn't the constant worry of falling into a river of lava. He shrugged off the sharp bite of the corrosive air by coating his body—clothes and all—with a layer of mana to ward off the effects. It didn't cost him more mana to supply the protective layer than what was naturally replaced, but it was significant enough that it was too close for comfort.

He was tentative as he used [Mana Sense], prioritizing the upkeep of the mana layer around him. As he suspected, something dissolved the mana tendrils when they reached twenty feet from his body, the same distance his eyes could see. The fog blocked his mana from venturing too far. He could try to brute force the mana tendrils, but keeping himself unharmed and unaffected by the corrosive air was more important.

Cal took slow steps as he started his descent, prepared for any sudden changes at the edge of his vision. He would prefer that there were none so he could just saunter directly to the void with no distractions. It was the opposite of what he should wish, since gathering materials was the goal, but the less time he spent here, the better. Any beasts that were relatively strong would force him to deprioritize the mana layer protecting him, and that could mean death simply by existing in this area.

Tavia should have had a better time here. As long as her boost is still active, that is.

He hoped that also meant she could spare her attention to pick up some materials.

Cal narrowed his eyes when the green fog thinned, gaining a red tint. The ground—which had been mundane thus far—showed small cracks that were increasing in number at a rapid pace. It got to where he feared that he might have to deal with more lava.

Unfortunately, it was worse than that. He could feel the corrosive air get stronger.

He pumped more mana into the layer around his body. It was now at replacement level. If he needed to use a spell on top of maintaining the layer, his mana reserves would not be able to replenish.

The fog thinned further, revealing a world tainted red, resembling a landscape that should not exist naturally in this world. The cracks that appeared on the ground had gentle streams of rust-colored liquid flowing through them, and the closer he approached the streams, the more vicious the corrosive air got.

Cal stayed far from the streams. Of course, that was after the lesson he learned by venturing closer. The frightening sap of his mana reserves was enough to warn him off any more attempts.

Other than the barren, red desert, this area only had large boulders the size of small hills dotting the landscape. If not for the black veins decorating the surface of the boulders, they would have nearly blended in. It might be something to investigate, but that thought didn't last long before being discarded.

Cal did little other than focus on getting the hell out of this place, eyes locked onto the void nearing with every step in his descent. He did the bare minimum to keep himself alert to any beast that might look to ambush him, but he suspected the largest challenge of this area was the severe corrosive air. He couldn't see any alchemist surviving here, not when the minimum would be to possess the mana reserves of an [Apprentice Mage].

It wasn't long before Cal stood before the void. The corrosive air was the weakest it had been since he first entered the area, and that allowed him to replenish his reserves. His top priority—get out of here as soon as possible—changed.

There was a particularly large boulder several hundred feet away, and the black veins on it were also on the larger side. Now that he knew getting close to the void would lessen the need to sustain the mana layer around his body, taking the risk of digging out whatever those black veins were no longer seemed like a suicidal idea.

Cal used [Mana Sense], now that he could spare the mana for it, and the feedback of nothingness only helped him settle on the plan to dig out the vein. His voidiron shovel might get damaged, but if the black veins led him to voidiron like he suspected, Orrin could just replace the shovel for him.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

He pulled the voidiron shovel from the storage pouch and closed the distance to the boulder via th4e safest path—not that it really mattered. His mana reserves roiled as it supplied what was necessary to maintain the protective mana layer. The mere act of standing close to a black vein was worse than anything he had felt so far in this area.

Cal jumped to a spot where the vein was the largest and plunged the shovel's blade into the boulder. He was relieved that it didn't deteriorate immediately and tossed a chunk of rock to the side. He repeated the action, and kept doing so while increasing the mana supplied to the protective layer around him. The deeper he dug, the more corrosive the air got. At this level, it would easily melt the skin off his bones.

This better have voidiron. Cal's thoughts were unkind as he kept his pace. He could see the black vein changing from the monotone color to something that shined, though that was relative since everything here had a red tint. It was barely noticeable, but since it resembled what he knew voidiron pellets looked like, his dissatisfaction at being turned into a miner reduced.

[Advanced Shovel (Voidiron)] has degraded to Good Quality.

Cal dismissed the alert casually. He could see how each plunge of the shovel changed it minutely, so he expected the degradation. Still, it couldn't have been over thirty digs. Shocking, for how damage resistant voidiron was supposed to be.

His eyes widened when he felt a slight resistance as the shovel's blade sank into the black vein. It was the first time he had felt anything of the sort with the voidiron shovel, and just in time. His mana reserves' depletion below the halfway point would have necessitated a retreat for replenishment. The excitement of the voidiron ore didn't mean he would forget safety.

Cal pulled the shovel out before he forced it back down, but was stunned when a sharp sound rang out from the point of contact. The blade was stuck and could go no further. He pushed the handle around to see if he could crack open the ore the sh9ovel was stuck in, but he was too cautious to make any progress.

"… Well, I already got this far. No point in stopping now," Cal said, trying to convince himself.

He pulled the shovel out and grunted as he struck down. The blade widened the crack in the ore as it sank just a little deeper, and this time, he didn't hold back in trying to pry it open.

Cal winced as the shovel's hand bent from the force he put on it, and he was worried about an unlikely break that could hurt him from the recoil.

[Advanced Shovel (Voidiron)] has degraded to Average Quality.

He noticed stress marks on the handle, and he would have stopped right then if not the finally making progress on opening the ore.

Cal about fell over when the shovel suddenly gave way, accompanied by the ear-splitting crack of the ore breaking open followed by the sound of a multitude of small pebbles rushing out. The voidiron pellets he was hoping for apparently existed in nature instead of being made by purification as he had assumed, but that was the last thing on his mind.

He jumped, launching himself out of the small hole he had dug himself into, and landed far from the boulder. An intense concentration of corrosive gas that overwhelmed his protective mana layer accompanied the release of the voidiron pellets.

Cal dropped to his knees and spat out blood that filled his mouth. The clothes he wore somehow survived, but the skin underneath was not so lucky. He could feel it bubbling as his body tried to push out the corrosive gas that slipped past his pores, and worse, his face was affected, too.

He groaned as he stumbled to his feet and pushed himself to walk to the void. He had to regain control over the situation he got himself into, and that started with getting his mana reserves back to full.

Cal dropped back to the ground when he reached the void and wheezed in air through his ruined airway. He no longer had to spare mana to prevent more corrosive air from infiltrating his body, and he put every to fighting what was already in him.

He winced as his body released a sickly green gas into the red landscape. Most exited through his pores, but he couldn't expel some in an orderly manner because it was too much. His skin bubbled under the pressure before bursting in a bloody mess. All he could control in those situations was the location, preventing delicate parts like his face from being blown beyond recognition.

Cal let himself relax when he sensed his body free from contamination. He pulled a healing potion from the storage pouch and gulped it down, sighing in relief when his skin knit itself together and his damaged airway slowly recovered. Unfortunately, the corrosive air caused greater damage than he assumed, since one potion didn't heal everything.

He regretfully took the last healing potion from his pouch and finished it, happy that it was enough to heal his body fully.

I need to buy better healing potions when I get the chance.

Cal stood and dusted himself off, eyes returning to where everything went wrong. He could see the hole he had dug in the boulder, and he could also see the plume of green gas coming from it.

He left his voidiron shovel behind in his haste to get himself out of danger. As much as he wanted to write it all off, he wasn't about to let his hard work go to waste.