At the Thieves' Guild Headquarters, in the heart of the Southern Plains.
"Boss, there's been an attack on our Fire Mine. Four hundred and sixty dead so far." a thief with a grey cloak and no obvious weapons reported to a man seemingly in his early twenties wearing a blue eyepatch over his left eye.
His remaining eye was a deep green, while his hair was an almost porcelain-white color, barely long enough to reach his ears.
He turned his head away from a dozen clay figurines on a map and looked at the reporting thief with his single piercing eye, "How many?"
"Uh...four hundred and sixty, Barnabus Boss."
"No, you god damned fool!" Barnabus slamd his fist on the table, causing a few figurines to fly off the table and hit the ground. "I ant how many fuckers dared to attack our mine?!"
"Sorry, Sorry! Boss, there were only two that we know of. Two individuals with Golden Core and Foundation Establishnt Cultivation." the thief reported while using Wind Magic to reset the figurines before his Boss lost his temper and killed him.
It was a difficult job, serving Barnabus. His random fits of anger when hearing bad news were generally directed towards his assistant, which usually resulted in their death.
So far, only Birot, the current assistant had managed to survive more than a year around Barnabus, having lasted fourteen months so far. It was quite the achievent, considering the others only made it about three months on average.
Of course, all good things weren't ant to last, which was displayed in the form of a shadow that gripped Birot's neck and twisted it 360 degrees. The assistant's lifeless body, having served its purpose, was sent out the front door, while another took his place and bowed deeply to Barnabus.
"Are you going to cause trouble as well...uh...what's your na?" Barnabus looked at the new assistant, whose dark brown eyes and dium-length black hair reminded him of a younger sibling Barnabus used to be fond of.
"No Boss! My na is Yuriel!" the assistant replied in a loud but respectful voice that was full of anxiety. Like the others, he didn't want to be Barnabus' assistant, but he had no choice. Yuriel owed a debt to the Thieves' Guild from long ago, and if he didn't accept this position, his family would die.
"Good. Pass an order from to the remaining mbers at the mine. They are not to pursue the attackers and will return to Headquarters imdiately. We will retake the mine when the pair leaves."
"What about the extraction research?" Yuriel asked, hoping that the Boss wouldn't give him trouble if it was taken later.
"If only two people attacked us and aren't afraid of the repercussions, it can only be one group: The Yu Royal Family. Only I am strong enough to fight them, but the Thieves' Guild will be no more, and I will lose all the progress I have been working towards." Barnabus explained, although he hated to admit that they were weak.
He continued, "Let the research go, we still have a few experienced mbers that know the process by heart."
***
William and Carl spent the next day delving deeper and deeper into the cave until they reached the very bottom. The thieves from above had retreated a few hours ago, leaving them to search for loot on their own.
This was William's intention from the very beginning, since he knew there was a mine co-located with this Thieves' Guild hideout. That's why he chose it, rather than another small hideout in the Far West Forest Region that would at most give him a few bounties to turn in.
After all, he had plenty of ti, and killing two birds with one stone was always a good plan. His doubts in the beginning of not being strong enough seed to be unnecessary, since he easily wiped the floor using Necromancy.
I guess you could say I, bodied, them. Haha. William laughed inwardly, though only the System that had been to his World would understand that reference.
As expected, William received a ntal image of soone puking from the System. Clearly his puns were amazing.
He refocused on the task at hand, since all that was left was to investigate the area and gather any remaining loot.
He had gathered a few blueprints that depicted the layout of the cave and the type of structural support it received, but other than that and a simple docunt listing an ore-gathering process he already knew, the information was generally useless for now.
He still stored the papers, though, since maybe they'd be useful in the future. Spoken like a true hoarder.
"Hey, William! Look at this!" Carl shouted from afar while encased in a thick armor made of ice, pointing to a small crack in the wall that was glowing red.
He had to shield his face from the heat, which threatened to lt his skin off in an instant, despite the protections William had given him using the Ice Elent.
William walked over and peered inside the crack, unbothered by the intense heat. As he reached his hand forward to touch the fiery substance, however, his skin started to turn a golden brown before a pure-white fla spread across his arm.
"Ah, f*ck that's hot." William complained as he waved his arm frantically. He tried to call Water Mana to douse the flas, but sothing about this unique fla prevented him from using Water Mana, as if it was inherently afraid of the fire.
He cycled through his available Magic before eventually stopping on earth, encasing his entire arm in a block of stone to seal off the airflow to the fla.
The stone heated up quickly and began to lt, but continued pressure and more Earth Mana eventually led the fire to go out. When William looked at his arm, however, it was thin and a crispy-black color, as if it was a severely overcooked piece of bacon.
Carl looked at William's arm with a bit of concern, but heaved a sigh of relief when William's Regeneration Talent kicked in a few seconds later and healed the injury instantly.
"Hmm. That's pretty intense." William comnted. His Heat Resistance Talent was already A-Rank, while his Fire Affinity was S-Rank, and his Hard Skin Talent was SS-Rank. These three Talents combined should make him almost invincible against fire.
And yet, he was still burned. That only spoke volus of the power of this fiery substance.
System, what am I looking at? William asked. His Forging Talent couldn't tell what it was, nor could anything else in his repository of information. Even after checking the docunts left behind by the thieves, there was nothing.
He had no other option than to rely on the System.
-Request requires 35 Potential Points. Yes/No?
35 Points for this? Now I have to know. Confirm.
-The Host is looking at a Greater Fire Vein, the second most powerful natural vein available in Efretta. This specific Greater Fire Vein maintains the stability of the Southern Plains, suppressing the World and greatly speeding up the natural formation of Fire Elental resources within a range of 200 kiloters.
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