God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The pick point of the pickaxe bit into the rock with a sharp crack.

A thin plume of dust burst upward, curling in the dull crimson glow of the Rift light. The sound reverberated through the chamber, smaller than the cacophony made by the strikes of the other dwarves', but carrying a tone of its own at the same time.

Almost like a different note in the same song...

Beorstone's eyes narrowed as he studied the spot Cain had struck with eyes like that of a jeweler analysing the structure and beauty of a piece.

He didn't say anything, but his expression seemed rather appeased.

Cain on the other hand, was oblivious to the fact. He hefted the pickaxe again, his shoulders tightening and his grip adjusting instinctively as the weight settling comfortably into his palm.

"It really does feel right…" he muttered to himself.

This time he struck lower and at a sharper angle, letting the tool's head bite in and tear out an even larger chunk of stone.

More dust and fragments flew around as he continued, completely lost in the rhythm.

"Stop!" Beorstone suddenly called out.

Cain froze mid swing and turned to look at him.

Beorstone had a wide grin on his face and an excited look in his eyes as he leaned forward,

"Take a look, kid."

Beneath the chipped rock, he glimpsed a faint glimmer of... something?

It bled with a soft glow— nothing too bright, but more than enough to catch the eye in the dark cave.

A low hum rolled out from Beorstone's throat,

"Hmm… aye… she did sing to ye. Indeed she did." the dwarf muttered.

Cain frowned. At some point, he hadn't even realized that he had dug so deep, practically creating a other tunnel in the wall.

He looked down at his hands clenched around the shaft of the pickaxe. A few runes glowed between the gaps of his fingers.

"This is..."

Beorstone patted his back,

"Ye've the true makings o' a man, Cain—aye, well done!"

Cain pursed his lips, "I have no idea what just happened."

This was no the first time he had gone digging for ore. However, he had never done it this way before. Feeling every strike made the ordeal feel very personal, as though the rocks were speaking to him every time he struck them.

Beorstone tapped the side of his head with one stubby finger,

"The rocks spoke to you. Not with words, lad, but with feel. With the way she breaks and the way the dust falls. The stones tell ye where their hearts are buried. They speak in the tongue of the mountain spirits. You can hear it, but only if you listen closely enough."

Cain felt like he had just learned something invaluable.

However, no matter how hard he tried to grasp it, it just hung in the air slightly above him, waiting for just one final push.

"That's pretty solid advice. I'm surprised."

Beorstone's large hand smacked him on the waist. His eyes widened in pain

"Don't push yer luck, kid!" Beorstone said with a rowdy laugh.

Another swing followed a moment later.

This time the stone gave way to reveal the entirety of the vein he had just discovered; a thread of shimmering blue running like a frozen river vein through the wall.

"By Fuji's beard, ain't she a beauty! Come on, Cain. Have a good look. This here's yer findin's."

Cain leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he made use of the {Eye of General Observation}.

"Oho? Boss. This 'ere's no common ore vein." Baldur's voice suddenly appeared right behind.

Startled, Cain turned his head. In his mind, he couldn't help but wonder how the stocky dwarf had gotten beside him so quickly without him noticing a thing.

"Eh? This world is so strange! What are {Manafrost Stone} veins and {Red-veined Beryl} deposits doing so close together?"

Cain looked down.

Gungir's head was poking in between his legs, his face scrunched together as he analyzed what was before him.

Cain felt the urge to drag the dwarf by his scruff and throw him to the other end of the cavernous chamber.

Gungir looked up at him,

"They are both of contrasting elements. They shouldn't exist in the same place at once. Also, here is the digging routes I've drawn up."

Cain raised a brow and took the paper from the Dwarve's hand,

"So quickly?"

Gungir shrugged his shoulders, "We work fast."

Then he turned to Beorstone,

"Boss, we can really start diggin' now."

Beorstone nodded with a gruff huff then turned to Cain,

"Sure thing. Cain, I'll leave this one to you. You can have me pick."

Cain opened his mouth and tried to protest, but before he knew it, it was already too late.

He looked around in shock.

All five of the dwarves had disappeared. With a single sweep of the {Beholder's Eye}, he was able to tell that they had gone down a tunnel that seemed to have just magically spawned.

Cain looked down at the vein of glowing, crystalline ore that closely resembled frozen crystals of water.

He could also sense the very strong essence of the water element gushing from the exposed deposite.

He huffed and immediately got to work.

Careful to only dig into the stone around it, he finally managed to feed up the rest of the ore deposit.

Now all that was left, was to actually pull the ore out of the ground.

And there were multiple ways to do this. He could break up the ore into smaller fragments and store them individually, or he could extract this one whole.

However, the current piece was simply too big. It was even larger than he was.

Its soft, cool blue glow was a direct contract to the nearly ominous crimson light coming from the edges of the Rift.

***

{Manafrost Stone}:

Description: A unique, special-grade elemental mana stone ore that can only be formed when concentrated, appropriate forms of the water element bleed too deep underground, becoming trapped and unable to disperse. Can be used to rapidly decrease the risk of mana overload in large magical machinery, among other uses. This effect is proportionate to its size.

***