Stratos Mine

"Whoa..." Elric reacted with a silent whisper.

The cave was dark and damp but had lamps that lit up the place. The light which shone was reflected by the countless gems that were being exposed inside the cave walls gave it an impression of a starry night.

Edward guided Elric to his usual post and started to teach him everything there is to know about mining.

"Elric, you always have to be careful whenever you swing a pickaxe. Accidents happen when one is careless." Edward warned as he positioned himself to show his stance and form for Elric to imitate.

As calm as he was, Elric could not contain his excitement and quickly swung his axe and perfectly imitated his grandfathers form making the eldery man chuckle with how obviously excited his grandson was.

"Good! It's good to be young and motivated. Keep going my boy!" The older Greyreid cheered.

"Don't forget to put the raw ores inside the cart alright? We have to finish our quota today or they'll take it out on us."

"There are so many ores here so why don't we just use these for ourselves? They won't know if we sneak a few out, right?" Elric asked staring at the ores in his hands.

"Keep your voice down! Do you think no one has thought of that before? This place is littered with guards and more importantly, most of them are Amplifiers. What do you think will happen when someone gets caught sneaking a few ores outside?" Edward scolded his grandson for his greedy remark."

"Hey! Both of you pipe down and get back to work!" A guard with a bald head barked at the two of them. His eyes were the same colour as the officer who gave them a warning before they entered but it was much darker for some reason.

Elric tried to focus and read the information of the guard which popped up like a screen.

[Ley Ochre] [Race: Human]

[Job: Guard] [Age: 34]

[Class: Amplifier] [Stage: Yellow]

[Status: Normal]

[Physical]

Strength - 18

Agility - 13

Vitality - 16

Dexterity – 11

[Mental]

Intelligence - 9

Wisdom - 7

Charisma - 5

Sense – 9

[Skills]

Boost Strength (Inactive)

Boost Speed (Inactive)

'He's a Yellow Stage, that means he's transcended the Light Yellow stage making him stronger.' Elric thought as he stared at the guard.

"What are you looking at boy?" The guard sneered at Elric.

Elric quickly looked away and went back to mining with his grandfather.

"Hey Greyreid! Teach that boy some manners, will you? Tell him to keep his head down or else. Traitor scum..." He trailed off with anger in his voice.

"Yes, absolutely. Come on Elric, keep working." Edward nodded with his head down to avoid any trouble.

After a few hours of silent mining, they had an hour of break to eat the lunches they've brought.

After they resumed their work, Elric struck a part of the cave wall which revealed a dark yellow ore.

His eyes grew with excitement as he hit the side to further expose the yellow ore. He then called for his grandfather.

"Grandfather! Come here and look!" He exclaimed in a silent volume.

"What is it my boy?" His grandfather quickly came to take a look.

"It's Amber! I found Amber!" he said in a loud whisper to not attract any attention.

"Good work Elric! That's a good find! Do you remember what this is worth compared to this Onyx Ore?" Edward asked as he patted Eric's back for the achievement but not letting go of the chance to test his grandson's studies.

"Of course I do! If the standard sized gems that the Kingdom distribute, which is as big as a thumb, then one of these Amber ones are a hundred times the worth of a single Onyx gem." He answered proudly.

Currency

Diamond - 1,000,000

Ruby - 100,000

Emerald - 10,000

Sapphire - 1,000

Amber - 100

Onyx - 1

"It's good to always remember what you've learned. There are more precious gems out there but are harder to find since we would have to go deeper into the caves." He kept lecturing.

"It's more dangerous and more rare that's why they are more valuable just like Sapph— AAAGHHH!!!" His words were quickly cut off as he screamed. Edward was kicked on his side which sent him halfway across the other side of the cave.

*THUUUUUD!!*

A loud sound quickly echoed the whole cave as Edward's body crashed to the ground. He immediately coughed up blood and spat blood on his right hand that tried to cover his mouth and his left hand gripping the part where his side was attacked.

"Grandfather!" Elric yelled and quickly ran towards his injured grandfather and sat beside him to support his head on his lap.

"I thought I told you to stop with the useless chatting! I warned you properly so you got what you deserve. You worthless traitor scum! Get up and get back to work!" The vicious guard raged and ordered at the old man he just attacked and to his grandson which sat beside him.

Everyone inside the cave witnessed the situation but most of them ignored it. But some of the villagers were concerned and tried to react but were warned by the other guards to not make a move.

Since society has deemed the Amplifiers a higher Class than the Transmuters because they were physically weaker, they were discriminated against. More so for the Classless which had no skills to utilize the Enliven inside their bodies.

"What are you all staring at!? Get back to work!" Ley Ochre shouted at the other villagers who stopped mining that seemed to pity the old man lying on the ground.

Elric who was filled with rage tried to calm himself and instead of acting out, he checked the guard's stats once more.

[Ley Ochre] [Race: Human]

[Job: Guard] [Age: 34]

[Class: Amplifier] [Stage: Yellow]

[Status: Amplified]

[Physical]

Strength – 18 + 5

Agility – 13

Vitality - 16 + 5

Dexterity – 11

[Mental]

Intelligence - 9

Wisdom - 7

Charisma - 5

Sense – 9

[Skills]

Boost Strength (Active)

Boost Speed (Inactive)

'This bastard! He used a skill to attack my grandfather!' Elric was filled with rage once more and tried to get up but was stopped by Edward.

"I'm okay boy, just help me get up." The old man grunted in pain as he struggled to get back on his feet even with the help of his grandson.

He checked his grandfather's status to see if anything was wrong.

[Edward Greyreid] [Race: Human]

[Job: Miner] [Age: 67]

[Class: Classless] [Stage: N/A]

[Status: Injured]

(Broken Rib - 1)

[Physical]

Strength - 6

Agility - 5

Vitality - 3

Dexterity – 7

[Mental]

Intelligence - 8

Wisdom - 9

Charisma - 4

Sense – 6

After seeing his grandfather's injured state, Elric sat his grandfather down and tried to confront the guard but was halted by the Head Miner's actions.

The Head Miner stepped in and talked to the still enraged guard who was bent on harassing the two. Fortunately, the Head Miner succeeded in calming him down and settled the situation.

Elric was moved by the Head Miner's actions since they were not used to kind gestures from people other than the Steele and Cornflower family. He couldn't help himself from checking his status.

[Robin Dodger] [Race: Human]

[Job: Head Miner] [Age: 36]

[Class: Transmuter] [Stage: Light Blue Stage]

[Status: Normal]

[Physical]

Strength - 11

Agility - 9

Vitality - 8

Dexterity – 12

[Mental]

Intelligence - 8

Wisdom - 7

Charisma - 9

Sense - 10

'This man is the Head Miner for a reason.' Elric thought as he analyzed his status screen.

After talking with the guard and parted ways, Robin walked towards Elric and his grandfather with a gentle smile on his face.

This sent a shiver down Elric's spine for some reason causing him to tense up and freeze.

He leaned his head towards Elric who was still petrified by the seemingly cold aura the man who was in front of him was showing.

Then he whispered in his ear with a malicious tone that suited the dirty grin on his face.

"You better not do anything reckless or else you'll regret it."