It had beco a routine for Shennong.
He would dig for a few hours, return to their hideout, and Yenissa would fuck him senseless, feed him, and then send him back to dig, hoping to find Lunamarite. It felt like the best cycle of his life, but he knew they had to make so progress.
This went on for a week, and Shennong had genuinely dug through more than half of the forest.
Still, he wasn’t able to find a reliable source of Lunamarite—until one day, when he was digging as usual. Suddenly, he saw a blue light leaking from a crack in the soil. Curious, he gave one last strike with his golden pickaxe. The soil was sent to his [Inventory], and in front of him lay a truly magical scene straight out of a fairy tale.
He had broken into an enormous underground cavern, at least 400 ters deep, a hidden world beneath the surface of the jungle. The walls of the massive cavity were completely covered in Lunamarite, glowing with an ethereal blue radiance. The crystalline formations pulsed gently, as if alive, casting soft, shimring reflections across the cavern.
Rivers of luminous water flowed through the landscape, their glow blending with the Lunamarite’s brilliance. Strange, translucent jellyfish-like creatures drifted up and down in the water, their glistening bodies pulsing with soft, bioluminescent hues—so a bright cyan, others shifting between violet and deep blue.
But they weren’t the only creatures here. Strange, eel-like beings slithered through the water, their elongated forms undulating with an unnatural grace. Above, along the cavern ceiling, glowing serpentine creatures coiled around rocky outcrops, their amber eyes observing from the shadows.
On the banks of the glowing rivers, small quadrupedal creatures scurried about, their skin reflecting the light like polished gemstones. So had elongated, shimring spines along their backs, while others possessed translucent wings that fluttered, allowing them to hover for short distances.
Shennong was breathless. This wasn’t just a deposit of Lunamarite—it was an entire ecosystem built around it, thriving beneath the earth. He had never seen anything like it. What humans collected were rely fragnts of Lunamarite that had surfaced as a byproduct of this bio, but here lay the true source. He knew that if humans discovered this place, it could spark an economic revolution for any nation that controlled it.
For a mont, he forgot why he was here—forgot about the digging, about everything. He simply stood at the edge of the cavern, srized by the beauty of the hidden world before him.
"This is... this is insane!" he muttered to himself as he stepped into the Lunamarite Bio. It was the most breathtaking sight he had encountered in all his years of digging. The thought struck him—if he could recreate a forest with the ambiance of this bio, it would be his greatest achievent.
Without hesitation, he got to work. First, he carefully observed his surroundings, ensuring there were no harmful creatures lurking nearby, waiting to ambush him while he mined.
He walked around the bio, taking ntal notes about the creatures inhabiting the Lunamarite Bio after carefully scanning them. One striking characteristic he noticed was the abundance of water bodies.
He didn’t want to admit it, but the eerie silence and the overwhelming darkness of the bio sent a shiver down his spine.
"Am I really going to ruin this place?" he muttered to himself, conflicted. He knew that extracting a significant amount of Lunamarite would likely devastate the ecosystem, so he had to be extrely careful and moderate in his approach.
It can’t be possible that this is the only place where this ore exists. There must be more than one deposit. The thought reassured him. From both a geographical and scientific standpoint, it was unlikely that a mineral would form exclusively in such a limited area.
He observed the whole cavern carefully noting that several tunnels extended beyond his imdiate reach.
"If these veins lead sowhere else, there could be another deposit," he mused.
But there was sothing else. Deep within the cavern, his felt a fluctuating energy signature—sothing pulsing beneath the surface, almost as if the Lunamarite itself was alive.
But for now, he decided to collect enough to cover the area without completely ruining the cavern and began mining. First, he laid down so ropes and torches since the cavern was enormous, and he needed to climb to reach the mineral with his pickaxe. Just in case, he also built a wooden hut for shelter.
For added safety, he set up traps and spent the entire day mining.
As Shennong swung his golden pickaxe, the cavern echoed with the rhythmic chi of tal against crystal. Each strike sent small shards of Lunamarite tumbling into his [Inventory], their glow lingering montarily before vanishing.
Hours passed, and the deeper he delved, the more he realized the true complexity of this bio. The Lunamarite veins were not simply embedded into the rock; they pulsed, their glow shifting in intensity as though responding to his presence. He was no mage, but he could feel it—an energy humming beneath his feet, sothing ancient and aware.
By the ti he had gathered enough Lunamarite to fill a significant portion of his [Inventory], exhaustion was creeping into his limbs. He retreated to the wooden hut he had constructed earlier, setting up a small fire using dry wood from his supplies. The flickering flas provided a comforting contrast to the cavern’s cold, ethereal glow.
He took out a portion of dried rations from his [Inventory] and ate in silence, his thoughts drifting. If Yenissa saw this place, she’d lose her mind. "I think I miss her. Maybe I should go back for today."
He left the hut and followed the marks he had made so he could easily find the place where he had entered this bio. He kept following them until he reached the end of the tracks, but sothing strange had happened. In front of him, there was no cavity; instead, the place was covered with Lunamarite, and Shennong felt uneasy.
"Did I make a mistake?" he muttered to himself. He decided to walk around to find the cavity, but no matter how much he searched, the exit was nowhere to be found.
"This... this isn’t possible," he muttered, stepping back. His instincts scread at him—sothing was very wrong with this place.
With no other option, he decided to return to his wooden hut and figure out his next move. Maybe he had simply taken a wrong turn. Maybe he was just tired and imagining things.
But as he retraced his steps through the cavern, his unease deepened. The air felt heavier, charged with an unnatural energy, and the once-familiar glowing landscape seed subtly... different.
Then, he saw it.
His wooden hut was gone.
In its place stood a house made entirely of Lunamarite. The crystalline structure pulsed with the sa ethereal glow as the cavern walls. The logs he had carefully stacked, the ropes he had tied, even the small fire pit he had set up—everything had been transford.
Shennong’s breath hitched. His instincts had been right. The Lunamarite wasn’t just a mineral—it was sothing alive.
His eyes darted to the veins of ore he had mined earlier. They had grown back, as if he had never touched them. The pickaxe marks had vanished, and the cavern looked pristine once more.
A mix of fear and exhilaration rushed through him. This was incredible. An infinite supply of Lunamarite. He could mine forever.
But then he felt it.
A cold, creeping sensation slithered around his ankles.
His breath caught in his throat as he looked down. Lunamarite was growing beneath him, spreading like living vines, climbing up his legs with an eerie, deliberate motion.
"Shit!"
Without hesitation, he swung his golden pickaxe, smashing the creeping Lunamarite off his legs. The shattered fragnts glowed montarily before vanishing into the air, as if absorbed back into the cavern, but in reality they went back to Shennong’s inventory.
Shennong panted, his grip tightening on his pickaxe. This wasn’t just a strange mineral—it was an entity. It was growing, adapting... and trying to trap him.
"No way in hell I’m staying here."
He turned and sprinted toward the location where the exit should have been. The path was gone, but he knew where he had co from. He had to dig his way out.
Raising his pickaxe, he swung it toward the Lunamarite wall—
—but before it could strike, sothing snatched it from his grasp.
His fingers closed around empty air as his prized golden pickaxe was yanked away. His eyes darted upward, and his blood ran cold.
A massive blob-like entity, pulsating with the sa Lunamarite glow, lood before him. Its gelatinous form rippled, shifting in eerie waves, and inside its translucent body, his golden pickaxe floated, suspended like an artifact in a display case.
Shennong gritted his teeth, fury rising alongside his fear. "You bastard! That’s mine!"
The blob pulsed in response, as if mocking him.
He clenched his fists. He had to get that pickaxe back. That wasn’t just any tool—it was his key to survival, his best weapon, and he wasn’t about to let so glowing lump of goo take it from him.
"Fine," he growled, cracking his knuckles. "You want to play dirty? Let’s see how you handle this."
His mind raced. He wasn’t a fighter, but that didn’t an he was defenseless. He just had to outthink whatever the hell this thing was.
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