005

As he looked inside his hands, he saw shiny stones who seemed to contain a living rainbow inside of themselves. He had heard about this kind of stone when he was younger. One of the old miners spoke about it as if a myth.

These stones were Rainbow Diamonds.

They were Diamonds who had been exposed to fluctuating lights for more than a century and absorbed its properties. As he turned his gaze to the walls of the cave, he understood how this had been possible.

The light from the Moon Quartz reflected on the little pond and, due to the water, the Diamonds ended up influenced by the refracted lights.

Still, as he gazed back at the little stones that kept sparkling and alternating their colors, he felt overjoyed. He found one of the rarest precious stone he knew of. Something he knew through a legend at that. It was nearly to the point that he would jump from the excitement.

However, he calmed down soon enough as he recalled his situation. He was here to die. Well, he had been sent here to be milked even of his death. If he got up with those precious stones…They would end in someone else's pockets. And those things were worth far more than Moon Quartz. More than anything he ever came into contact with to be honest.

And there wasn't just one of those stones.

So, how could there still be some of those stones here? He wasn't the first to be sent down here in a century. The others who came down must have found them too. Or at least, the pond. Wouldn't any of them have tried to take a bath? It seemed far-fetched but not impossible.

Some of them came down here with hopes due to the Quartz. Those guys would likely mine the Quartz and go back up. It was possible that they didn't come into contact with the pond. They could have found it beautiful and left it at that.

But those who came here from despair like him, with no hope to survive? He believed that they would have wanted to try a bath too. And if they did, they would have been in the situation he was now. Faced with a fortune in precious minerals yet unable to make use of it.

What would they have done?

They probably thought something along the lines of "If I can't have it, no one will" and left it all here. That's what he was thinking right now. He certainly didn't plan to get any of it back up, if he went back up.

Right. Now that he thought about it, there were no remains. It was hard to believe. There should have at least been some bones around… Unless something here could affect the corpses? Did the Quartz have this ability, he didn't know. But this spooked him. It got scarier quickly.

But then again, he was on the death row. He managed to calm himself down. He played around with the little priceless stones in his hand as he contemplated on what he could do. One of the possible outcomes was him dying down here. He wasn't quite fond of that one but it was the most likely.

He could go back up. If he brought back the diamonds, they would take it from him and maybe even send him back down here. They would likely send more miners down too.

He could go back up with only Moon Quartz. They would likely have him go back to his every day mining if he did. He would be given his previous shitty life back. Until he died from the quartz sickness that is. And if he survived for a week, or even just more than a few days, they would likely send him back down here for more Quartz. It was a valuable mineral that they had yet to find ways to excavate. If there was a miner who could without risks… Bad end.

None of the options were worth grabbing.

But then again, there was only one tunnel. He could either stay way down here or go back up through the exit he entered from…

That's when he had an epiphany. He looked at his trusted partner, the pickaxe, and pondered the validity of his new idea. It did not take long for him to make up his mind. He probably had enough for a week in rations and this might just be enough.

He got up and took the ration boxes from his bag. There were fourteen alongside seven canteens of water. He finished three boxes and two canteens already. He placed those, which were empty, on the side.

Then, he pondered.

While the tunnel he was in wasn't linked to the rest of the mine, it wasn't far from it. There should be some mining tunnels close by if he walked back up some. He had eleven rations left. With that, he could probably survive fourteen days if he ate sparingly. In fourteen days, could he make a tunnel wide enough for him to cross? And could he make one that linked this mine to the other?

Forget about whether he could make the tunnel in the first place. The probability of successfully finding a tunnel on the other side was minimal. After all, if he went to dig on the other side…he would never find an exit.

Still…This was probably his own last chance to survive all this. It was a gamble with his life on the line. But it was hope. Because at least he had a chance now. He looked back to the pond. If he survived, he would use this to turn his life around.

He grabbed the empty boxes and canteens and got inside the pond. He planned to fill the boxes with the rainbow diamonds and the canteens with half-water and half-diamonds. Well, if he managed to find enough diamonds. If he didn't, then so be it, he would take as much as he could and move on.

If he spent too long here, he would be screwed. He needed to keep his own greed in check.

What would be the point of having more stones if he died?