"All right. Leave your pets with in the anti," Hedite said. "I will need to take their asurents. Bring them to those stalls."
Jack and Jet gave instructions to their pets to enter the stalls. Once they did, rune diagrams activated within the stalls.
"That will hold them in place till I finish my work. You won't be able to summon them while they are here," Hedite inford. "Now, about the materials. You will need to find runic tals. These are specific tals needed to craft armor big enough for these pets."
"Where should we look for them?" Jack asked.
"They can only be found in specific places. Very limited specific places. But lucky for you, this village happened to be one of those limited specific places. You see that lake over there?"
Jack and Jet looked over to where Hedite was pointing. It was the lake that Jack had caught a glimpse of the night before. They happened to be much closer to it now. Jack could see that it was a very large lake with clear blue water. Several animals were grazing beside it and drinking the lake's water. Seeing the scenery, Jack couldn't deny this village was aptly nad.
"Those runic tals you ntioned are inside the lake?" Jet asked.
"At the bottom of it," Hedite confird. "Now mind you. These runic tals are not your common materials. You need to mine it by yourself. When this runic tal is taken from its source, it will form a link with the one who mines it. With that link, the runic tals will maintain their power when it is crafted into that person's pet armor. This ans you can't take a runic tal mined by another person. Such a tal will lose its power when used on another person's pet."
"Aw, heck. I was just about to ask you to go get the tals for ," Jet said to Jack. "I am not a good swimr."
Jack rolled his eyes. He had already paid the coins, was this old dude expecting him to do all the work as well?
"Okay, so all we have to do is just head down the lake and mine these runic tals, right?" Jack asked. "How many do you need? Do we need any special tools for the mining process?"
"You only need to mine one runic tal," Hedite explained. "One person can only carry one. Mining another one will have you losing the link with the previous one, rendering the previous one useless. As for the tools, here. You need a special pickaxe to mine it."
Hedite gave them one green-colored pickaxe each. These pickaxes were larger than the normal ones.
"Will one be enough? Will it break upon failure during the mining process?" Jack asked.
"That pickaxe won't fail, but it does break after you completed the mining process. Take care not to stop halfway after you start using it though, or it will break as well."
"Well. It's an easy task then. We just dive into the lake. Look for the runic tal deposit. Use this no-fail pickaxe on it and co back. Sounds simple."
Hedite gave them a grin. She was seemingly amused by Jack's words. "Yes, it is that simple."
Jack felt like the dwarven blacksmith was mocking them. He then asked, "Are the runic tal deposits difficult to spot under the lake?"
"No, they are very eye-catching. They glowed a bright green," Hedite answered.
'Hm, then what's so difficult about getting this tal?' Jack thought. He felt like this woman was intentionally leaving so details out.
"Pay attention though, that there are different grades of runic tal. The higher the grade you can find, the better the armor that I craft," Hedite said.
"How do we determine which deposit had a better grade tal? Any visible difference between the low grade and the high grade?"
"The high-grade ones will have a brighter glow. Lower grades are dimr."
'Still sounds simple,' Jack thought. "Any other things that we need to know before we dive into the lake?" He asked.
"Yeah, try to not die," Hedite replied.
'Damn, woman! If you know sothing, why don't you just tell us?' Jack complained in his mind.
*
While Jack and Jet were talking with Hedite, Grace stayed outside with Oswald and ratis.
"You are not here for a pet armor as well?" ratis asked.
"I don't have one," Grace answered.
"Ah, I see. You are an Inquisitor. May I ask what is your purpose for coming here?"
"a?| I'm just accompanying them."
"Well, since you don't have any special request, you can stay your full thirty days here. Do you wish to spend your thirty days here?"
Jack had ntioned the high mana density in this village compared to the outside. Grace didn't feel any difference when she was at Daminos Square Garden. But now that she had started to dabble in mana sense, she could. There was a ti chamber in Heavenly Citadel to increase her training ti. But training for thirty days here would be much more effective compared to her using the ti chamber daily for thirty days.
She pondered about the option. She was eager to get stronger, but this ant she couldn't accompany Jack since Jack would have to leave after ten days. After so thought, she said, "Yes. I will stay here for thirty days."
She wouldn't be able to level up for these thirty days since there was no monster to grind here, but she thought improving her mana sense ability, for now, was more important than leveling up. Additionally, her level of 49 was already ahead of the current average players' levels.
"I'm glad to hear that, miss. Don't worry, I will keep you company during your stay here," Grace heard a voice from her feet and saw Captain Whitebeard there. She almost uttered a yelp but stopped herself. She made an involuntary step away, though. Whitebeard seed to not be aware or simply ignored Grace's repulsive reaction. It scurried closer again to Grace's feet. Grace tried her best not to think about the rat.
Jack and Jet ca then.
"You are done with the arrangents?" ratis asked.
"Yeah, we just need to get runic tals now, in that lake," Jack answered. "Is there anything dangerous down there?"
"Hedite didn't tell you?"
"No. She appears to enjoy letting us find out by ourselves," Jack said. "Are there monsters inside that lake?
"No, no monsters."
"But there should be sothing, right? Are you going to tell us to find out by ourselves as well?"
ratis chuckled. "Follow ."
The village chief led them towards the lake. They ca by the lakeside. The nearby animals gave ratis a short bow when she ca by. So even greeted her. Jack still felt weird seeing all these talking animals.
"What are we doing here?" Jack asked. They had been standing by the lakeside for a while. He was waiting for ratis to start telling him about the danger under the lake, but she had been silent.
"Wait," ratis said. "There! See that?"
They looked over to where ratis was pointing at. They were confused at first about what she was indicating, but then they saw it. The water at the center of the lake was swirling. The swirling beca greater that it turned into a whirlpool before transforming into a powerful maelstrom.
"At the center of this lake bed, there is a large sinkhole. Occasionally, powerful force burst out of this sinkhole, creating a strong vertical stream that creates that whirlpool. The force that creates that stream is unusual, if you are caught in that whirlpool, the energy will erode your life."
"Let guess, that runic tals that we are supposed to get, they are inside this sinkhole," Jack said.
ratis nodded.
"Great. I know that it's no way this is going to be easy," Jack said with a slightly mocking tone.
"Nothing ever is. Now that if you excuse , I'll return to my duties. I pray for your success in getting the runic tals. You are also welco to explore the village. Just don't create any disturbance, we don't take it lightly if you disturb the peace of our village. Also, don't wander out into the woods, you will enter the Lost Forest if you do. If that happens, you will have to find your way back here again. Please note, however, that the days you are permitted to stay here continues ticking even if you leave this village. So, I suggest you not leave the village."
ratis then left with her entourage of animals, except for Captain Whitebeard, who stayed beside Grace and was still not getting tired of trying to converse with her. Grace was lanting why this rat insisted to stay with her. She only gave the talking rat so simple responses, simply because she tried to not be rude by ignoring it.
"Okay, let's dive?" Jack asked Jet.
"I don't know, man. It's a while since I last swam," Jet said.
"Don't worry. We can breathe underwater in this world. So there is no need to worry about running out of air. You can practice swimming first if you want. ratis said there is no monster in the lake, so you can take ti re-accustoming yourself to swimming before we head for that sinkhole."
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