Treasures of the Lost World: A Men’s Adventure LitRPG, page 7
Siobhan crouched opposite me, her fingers expertly probing the drake's flesh. She extracted a glossy black orb from one of the severed tentacles. “Some eyes are intact. Eighteen of them.”
“Oh good, I’m sure those are useful for something,” Vanessa said from where she examined the central mass. Her tail swished as she worked, betraying her excitement. “Ava will love those. But – help me here? I want to see what it has for hearts. Working a hunch.”
I moved to help Vanessa with the drake's chest cavity. Together we pried apart the scales, revealing the internal organs. Seven hearts lay nestled among the viscera, each one jet black and pulsing with residual energy despite the creature's death.
“Monster Hearts,” I said, carefully extracting them. “Just like the ones from the Abhorrent Mother's creatures.”
Vanessa's ears flattened slightly. “I was afraid of that. It looks like a mutant – slimier than what the Mother had, but still a mutant. Those were unique to her minions before.”
I reached deeper into the cavity, my enhanced strength letting me push aside bone and muscle. My fingers closed around something larger, heavier. When I pulled it free, we all went silent.
A Boss Heart sat in my palm, its surface swirling with the same malevolent energy I'd seen in the hearts of the Stitched Tyrant and Abhorrent Mother.
“Well, shit,” I said.
Siobhan stood slowly, her red eyes fixed on the heart. “That shouldn't be possible. Only true Bosses carry those.”
“I don’t like the implications of normal monsters having them,” I said.
“Me either.” She paused, then continued after a moment, “Maybe… this was meant to become a boss.”
I turned the heart over in my hands, studying its surface. The patterns matched what I'd seen before, the same corrupting influence that marked the Emperor's direct creations.
“A larval stage?” I asked.
Siobhan nodded. “The Emperor must be creating replacements for the Bosses we've killed. This Watcher Drake was likely growing into a new one.”
“That makes sense,” Vanessa said, wiping ichor from her hands. “The Monster Hearts support that theory. If it was replacing the Abhorrent Mother, it would need to create the same type of minions.”
I stored the Boss Heart with the others, my mind already racing ahead. “Which means we should expect a replacement for the Stitched Tyrant too. We need to prepare.”
“More defenses?” Vanessa asked.
“More everything,” I said, standing and surveying the surrounding carnage. “But first, let's deal with your Crawler.”
We walked back to where Vanessa's damaged vehicle sat listing to one side. The bent leg had torn partially free during her final maneuvers, hanging by twisted metal and hydraulic lines.
“Sorry about the damage,” Vanessa said, running a hand along the Crawler's hull. “I got a bit enthusiastic with the driving.”
“No worries,” I said, placing my hand on the vehicle. With a thought, I pulled it into my inventory, the massive machine vanishing in a blink. A moment later, a fresh Crawler materialized in its place, dropping the few inches to the ground with a solid thud.
“Much better,” Vanessa said, already climbing into the driver's seat. “Though I promise to be more careful with this one.”
“I thought you were going to be careful with the last one,” I reminded her.
She stuck her tongue out at me. “That was different. I didn't know about the tree.”
“The tree that was directly in front of you?”
“Details,” she said, starting the engine.
I climbed back into my own Crawler, Siobhan settling into the gunner's position above me. We pulled away from the battle site at a more relaxed pace, the urgency gone now that the threat had passed.
“I’m surprised you got out,” Siobhan said after a few minutes of driving. “Most would have stayed in the vehicle.”
“Most don't have Cyclone,” I said. “Besides, sometimes you need to get your hands dirty.”
“Or covered in drake blood,” she said. I caught her slight smile in the rearview mirror.
“That too. Though I've had worse.”
“I’ve heard.” She gave me a dry smile. “I’m glad I missed the Stitched Tyrant. That much rotting flesh sounds… unpleasant.”
“Oh, it was.” I looked at my blood-spattered armor. “Hope you don’t mind the sight.”
Siobhan licked her lips. “Michael, I’m a demon. You’re covered in the blood of your enemies. Do you really think that’s a negative for me?”
“Then I hope you’re enjoying the view.”
“Oh trust me, I am.”
We drove in comfortable silence for a while, following the river upstream. The terrain grew rockier, forcing us to slow down and pick our path more carefully. The Crawlers handled it well, their legs extending when needed to maintain stability over the uneven ground.
“What do you want from all this?” I said eventually. “Once we get the colony established, I mean.”
Siobhan shifted in her seat, and I could feel her considering the question. “Freedom,” she said finally. “Real freedom. Not just from bonds or contracts, but the freedom to choose my own path.”
“That's pretty broad,” I said. “Any specific dreams?”
“You first,” she said. “What does the great colony founder want once the founding is done?”
I guided the Crawler up a steep incline, the treads struggling for purchase on loose stone. The legs extended automatically, providing the extra stability we needed.
“Well,” I said, “I want to spend more time with you. And Vanessa, and Naomi, and Kyrela. Maybe actually have time for proper dates instead of squeezing romance between monster attacks.”
“Trying to make this about romance?” Siobhan asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “You’re sweet, but I asked what you want. Not what we might want together.”
She had me there. I focused on navigating a particularly rough patch before answering.
“Fair,” I said. “You want the real answer? I want to explore. See more of this world. There are so many places we haven't even touched yet. Mountains, deserts, maybe even other continents.”
“And?”
“Find more of the frozen people. Like Vanessa's citizens in the palace, or Naomi's village. There have to be others out there, waiting to be freed.”
“That's a worthy goal,” Siobhan said. “How many do you think are out there?”
“Hundreds? Thousands? This world had thriving civilizations before the bosses came. They can't all be gone.”
“The bosses were thorough,” she said, her voice taking on a darker edge. “But you're right. Some must have survived through various means. Stasis, petrification, temporal locks.”
“Each group we find adds to the colony – the civilization we’ll build here,” I said. “We’ll grow faster than any earth-settled colony ever could. Plus, imagine their faces when they wake up to find out we've been pushing back.”
“It would give purpose to the exploration,” she agreed. “Not just wandering, but searching for survivors.”
“Exactly. And between rescue missions, we map the world. Document what's changed, what's stayed the same. Build a real understanding of this place.”
“Ambitious,” Siobhan said. “How long do you think that would take?”
“Years. Decades maybe. But what else are we going to do? Sit in the colony and wait for some warlord to build up elsewhere?”
“Some would,” she said. “Many would call it enough just to have survived and built something stable.”
“Not me,” I said. “I've never been good at sitting still. Ask Ava about my training schedule back on Earth. She'll tell you I drove everyone crazy with my need to keep moving.”
“I can imagine,” Siobhan said dryly. “So this grand exploration plan - would it be just you?”
“God no,” I said, steering around a fallen log. “I'd want all of you with me. Well, whoever wanted to come. Set up base camps, explore in teams. Make it a proper expedition. Build mini factories to serve as the basis of new cities down the line.”
“And Ava?”
“She’ll have a body by then. I’m sure she’ll want to come with us - Ava would hate being a governing AI for the rest of her existence.”
Siobhan was quiet for a moment. “It's a good dream. Better than I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
“Something more... conventional. Build the colony, establish trade, create a legacy. The usual ruler aspirations.”
“That sounds boring as hell,” I said. “I’ll do it for my initial term, but after that? I’d rather leave that to people who actually like paperwork. I'll take monster-infested ruins over tax documentation any day.”
“You'd give up power that easily?”
“It's not about power,” I said. “Never has been. It's about keeping people safe and building something better. Once the colony's secure and self-sufficient, my job's done.”
“Most would disagree.”
“Most haven't seen what I've seen,” I said. “There's so much more out there than just one settlement. We could spend lifetimes exploring and barely scratch the surface.”
“We?” Siobhan asked, and there was something in her voice I couldn't quite identify.
“If you want,” I said carefully. “I'm not assuming anything.”
“I like it,” she said after a pause. “The exploration, the rescue missions. It suits you. And...”
“And?”
“It sounds like the kind of freedom I've been looking for.” She smiled. “So how do we get there?”
“I start being smarter,” I said, pulling out my Stonepiercing Goggles from inventory. “Yell at me if I’m about to drive into something rock. For now, let's see what secrets these cliffs are hiding.”
The goggles settled over my eyes, their enchantment activating immediately. Everything that was stone or dirt vanished, leaving me looking at an eerie landscape of vegetation floating over nothing near a river that carved a path through the air.
“Anything?” Siobhan asked.
I looked at the cliff face ahead of us, adjusting our course slightly to get a better angle. Through the stone, I could make out veins of different materials running through the rock like frozen lightning.
“There,” I said, pointing to a section about thirty feet up. “Looks like metal deposits. Could be tin or gold, hard to tell from here.”
“How deep?”
“Maybe twenty meters in. So easy pickaxe distance.”
“Or,” Siobhan said, “we could look for a natural cave system. These cliffs usually have them.”
I continued looking as we drove, the goggles revealing the cliff's hidden structure. She was right. Several hollow spaces showed as dark voids.
“Got one,” I said, steering toward a pile of rubble at the cliff's base. “Looks like an old collapse. The cave system behind it is still intact.”
We pulled to a stop near the rubble pile. Vanessa's Crawler drew up beside us, her window rolling down.
“Find something interesting?” she called out.
“Maybe,” I said, pulling off the goggles. Through them, I'd seen the veins of ore spreading deeper into the cliff, concentrated enough to be worth investigating. “Definitely some kind of metal in there. Could be what we're looking for.”
Once we reached the spot, we climbed out of our Crawlers, the engines ticking as they cooled. I pulled my Noctaine Pickaxe from inventory.
“Stand back,” I said, approaching the rubble pile. “This might get messy.”
The first swing connected with a satisfying crunch. The pickaxe's enchantment activated, pulling a perfect cube of rubble away from the pile. The meter-wide block vanished into my inventory, tagged simply as Gravel 1.
Immediately, loose stones cascaded down to fill the void I'd created. The entire pile shifted, settling into the new configuration with a grinding rumble. I swung again. Another cube vanished, another cascade of stones took its place. “The gravel keeps filling the gaps.”
Vanessa leaned against her Crawler, watching with amusement. “At least it's going into your inventory. Imagine if you had to haul it all away by hand.”
“Fair point,” I said, continuing to work. The pickaxe carved through the rubble like it was soft clay, each swing removing another perfect cube. My inventory filled steadily: Gravel 10, Gravel 20, Gravel 30.
“You know,” I said between swings, “it might have been easier to just go straight through the stone wall. Skip all this loose stuff.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Only for the closest deposits. The ones deeper in would still need tunnels. And you’d have to widen them for belts. This way, we get a natural entrance and save time overall.”
She was right, and I knew it. I paused to wipe sweat from my forehead. The work wasn't particularly hard with my enhanced strength, but the repetitive motion and constant cascade of gravel made progress slow.
“Hey Siobhan,” I said, “remind me to craft Noctaine Pickaxes for you and the other girls. Would make this kind of work go faster with help.”
Siobhan studied the cliff face intently, as if the rock patterns were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen. Her lips curved in the slightest smile, but she said nothing.
“I know you heard me,” I said.
She tilted her head, red eyes still fixed on the stone. “Did you say something?”
“You're terrible at pretending,” I said.
“I have no idea what you mean,” she said, her tone perfectly neutral.
Vanessa laughed. “I also heard nothing.”
“Brats. Both of you.” I turned back to the rubble, shaking my head but smiling. Another dozen swings and the pile had shrunk considerably.
The pickaxe bit through a particularly large stone, and suddenly there was nothing behind it. Cool air flowed out through the gap, carrying the musty scent of deep caves.
“Got it,” I said, widening the opening with a few more swings. The hole grew until it was large enough to walk through comfortably.
The enchantment on my helmet activated as I stepped into the darkness. The world lit up in clear detail, shadows banished by the magic. The cave stretched away into the cliff, its walls rough but stable. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, the sound echoing off stone.
“How's it look?” Vanessa called from outside.
“Promising,” I said, scanning the walls. My enhanced vision picked out the variations in stone, the different mineral compositions standing out like colored veins in marble.
There was a glint of something different about twenty feet in. I made my way over, careful of the uneven floor. The deposit ran through the wall in a thick vein, its color distinct from the surrounding rock.
I swung the pickaxe once, extracting a sample cube. It materialized in my inventory with a new tag: Tin Ore Block 1.
“Found the tin,” I called back.
“Finally,” Vanessa said, appearing at the cave entrance with Siobhan. “Ava will be thrilled.”
I carefully replaced the block I'd removed, pressing it back into the wall. The drill would need solid material to work with, not empty space. The ore block clicked back into place as if it had never been disturbed.
“Smart,” Siobhan said, watching me work. “Maintaining the integrity for extraction.”
“Not just that,” I said. “The drills work far more efficiently than a pickaxe. If I tried to turn that block into bars, I’d get 10% of the yield than if I let the drill process at the first step.”
I moved deeper into the cave, following the wall. Another deposit caught my eye, this one darker and more familiar. I extracted a sample to confirm.
“What’d you get?” Siobhan asked.
“More iron,” I said.
“Do we really need more?” Vanessa sounded a bit let down.
“There's never too much iron,” I said, replacing the block. “We go through the stuff like water. Every conveyor belt, every mechanical arm, every gear and plate.”
“Point taken. The sacrifices to the Factory God,” Vanessa said.
“Something like that,” I said, continuing my survey.
The cave curved left, following some natural fault in the rock. I traced my hand along the wall, feeling for temperature variations that might indicate other deposits. The stone grew cooler as I went deeper, and my breath started to fog in the air.
A black seam ran through the far wall, obvious even without special vision. I didn't need to extract a sample to know what it was.
“Coal too,” I said. “We can set up a nice little mining operation here.”
“Three resources in one cave,” Siobhan said. “Lucky find.”
“Agreed, although we still need gold,” I said, replacing the coal block. “Still, I'll take what we can get.”
I made another circuit of the cave, checking every wall and even the ceiling with the Stonepiercer Goggles on. No glint of gold caught my eye, no telltale yellow veins running through the stone.
“That's everything,” I said, returning to where Vanessa and Siobhan waited. “Tin, iron, and coal. Good haul, even without the gold.”
“We'll find gold eventually,” Vanessa said.
“Yeah, we will.” I considered. “I think I’ll take a train down to look underground. Bring everyone with me. Ore density increases with depth, more likely to find it down there.”
I pulled out a handful of torches from my inventory, placing them around the cave to mark the deposits clearly. The magical flames burst to life, casting dancing shadows on the walls. Each deposit got its own torch, making them easy to spot when we returned with drills.
“We'll need to run power lines,” I said, mentally calculating distances. “Probably extend from the river station. Set up a conveyor line back to the main route. I’ll run a train line from here back to base to carry it.”
“More spaghetti for the network,” Vanessa said.
“Ava is going to do her best to keep it clean,” I said.
We made our way back out of the cave, squinting as our eyes adjusted to the daylight.
“Good progress,” I said, surveying our work. The cave entrance was clear, the deposits marked and ready for extraction. “I’m going to get to work. Vanessa, do think you can get back to base on your own?”
