Chapter 36: Report and New Materials
4 days came and went as Lucas felt the high of a lifetime. Seeing results so quickly by just your efforts alone was something that people coveted and it was something Lucas had never felt by doing a good thing.
After finishing all his upgrades on the base that he needed a pop-up appeared in front of him.
Lucas stared at the notification with disbelief as a feeling of power surged through him. It was untapped potential that was about to be used to increase his power.
'Allocate 50 points into endurance, 50 into strength, and 50 into dexterity,'
Lucas felt his muscles swell and become more defined as he became just that much more powerful.
After consolidating his newfound power Lucas began to leave his cot to see if anything else needed to be done but found a familiar face pop into the room right as he was prepping his backpack with his tools.
Ryan Grint, the base's local Botanist, smiled at him before gently bowing.
"Sir, our scouting party has returned,"
A smile appeared on Lucas's face at the man's respectful attitude towards him. Some people in the camp respected him... others feared him. He liked to be respected nowadays more than being feared so it always put a smile on his face when someone seemed to smile around him instead of grimacing.
"What did they report, Ryan?"
The man with ash brown hair looked at Lucas with his green eyes and he shook his head lightly before replying.
"It seems that they found natural mines that have formed across the city. On top of that, there seem to be natural dens for powerful monsters scattered around. We lost a few men when they tried to investigate one."
Ryan took a shuddering breath before continuing.
"They have found that there are other settlements scattered around in major districts of the city and that we are not the only ones who have managed to survive."
"The project manager, Gavin, should be able to explain to you what exactly they found in the den as well as what minerals they recovered,"
Lucas nodded at the man before waving him away. He grunted as he sat his pack on the ground and emptied it out.
'Looks like I'm gonna be going on a little adventure here soon... Can't have people dying for nothing, now can we?'
---
After Lucas packed an adventuring pack, filled with rations and water, he moved outside to a small tent that had just been set up.
Approaching, what seemed to be a group of tired people, Lucas waved towards them and approached.
A muscular man seemed to be in charge of them and he was helping put up what they found on display so that whatever it was could be further analyzed.
The muscular man was around 5 foot 10 inches tall and didn't wear any shirt of any kind. He had ripped jeans on and had a large backpack strapped to his back. He was lightly tanned and his hair was neatly buzz cut.
"Don't you dare fall asleep on me yet! We still have to get these minerals on display for Ryan before you all can go and pass out in a hay pile or something,"
Lucas glanced at the name tag of the person and noticed that he was probably the highest level person he had seen in the camp thus far.
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He smiled brightly as he greeted the man.
The scowl on Gavin's face immediately disappeared upon seeing Lucas and he immediately went in for a hug which Lucas accepted in a slightly awkward manner.
"I have heard great things about you, sir, King!"
Lucas's face instantly soured as his hand reached towards his bat on instinct.
"Don't you dare call me that again. You hear me!?" Lucas shouted as anger filled him.
Silence filled the camp for a moment before Lucas finally realized what he did.
"That is a name that is meant to be dead. Call me Lucas instead," He said while putting his hand on his head instead of on his bat.
Gavin immediately realized he had done something wrong and that it was something to avoid.
"Anyway, boss, we found some interesting metals inside the mines entrances,"
He moved towards a table that had various crystals and hunks of metal on it and motioned towards them. Half of them had name tags on them while the rest were blank as if waiting to be identified.
'Mana Steel, Holy Steel, Crystal Uliblight, Demon Stone, and Blood Gems...'
Lucas let out a low whistle at the sight of all the strange items in front of him.
"Perhaps I can make some real weapons with these materials!"
He rubbed his hand and identified the rest only to find that they only had question marks above their tags.
He frowned and picked up the remaining three items to inspect them manually.
One of the three items on the table was a simple-looking white orb. After picking it up, Lucas noticed that there wasn't a single impurity visible on it and it seemed to capture light in a way that other gems he had seen couldn't hold a candle to.
The second item on the table was a hunk of metal that felt hot to the touch. It was a dark shade of red and seemed to remind Lucas of the charred scales of the dragon he had seen at the compound.
The third, and last, item was a simple-looking piece of metal. The only strange thing about it was that it had a simple-looking rune etched into it.
"Strange... Very strange,"
"Indeed strange, Boss!"
"I tried using some of my identification skills and they all came up with nothing. I thought maybe a big shot like you might be able to figure something out but it seems like I was wrong,"
Lucas nodded at Gavin's response and instantly thought of ways to try and incorporate these new items into his gear.
Gavin spoke up and snapped Lucas out of his reverie shortly after however.
"The monster den, sir,"
Lucas raised his head and nodded at Gavin to continue.
"It is located not too far away from here. It is about 3 miles south if I am correct in my assumptions."
"What was in it?"
"I'm not sure, sir, I only sent some men to check it out, thinking it to be another mine... but then I heard the screams... we ran as fast as possible after that. I don't want to lose any more of my boys and I'm not about to put my neck on the line to see what the hell was in that cave."
"Hmm..."
"I will take a look into this personally. If it is so close it means it should be taken care of before it comes after us,"
Gavin nodded and moved his eyes over to the materials on the table as if indicating whether Lucas wanted any of them.
Lucas nodded at the obvious unspoken question and took three chunks off the table.
'Mana Steel... A highly mana conductive substance that can be used to create conduits and route magical energy,' Lucas read from the system before scanning the next one.
'Crystal Uliblight, A crystal that holds high affinities with elemental energies. One of the few materials that can be used to combine elemental energies or switch them out easily,'
'And this thing...' Lucas eyed the rune on the chunk of metal in front of him.
'Couldn't hurt to give it a try...'
After talking a little bit more with Gavin, Lucas headed towards a small scrap yard that had been made to help categorize the electronics and bits of metal that had been scavenged from the surrounding area.
He scanned the shelves and looked for something that could be useful for what he had in mind. Then he saw it.
A black leather glove laid plainly on one of the shelves as if discarded. Lucas quickly examined it to find it in excellent condition.
'This should do just fine...'
Lucas prepped all of the materials for what he wanted to do and in the process leveled up
He fashioned the Mana Steel into small flexible strips that lined the inside of the glove as well as along its fingers.
He turned towards the Crystal Uliblight and quickly set it into the center of the back of the glove. Making sure that it was connected to the Mana steel and that it wouldn't interfere with his movements.
Lucas turned his gaze over to the rune and frowned.
'What am I supposed to do with you?'
After some contemplation, Lucas chiseled the rune out of the steel and put it in the center of the palm of the glove, opposite of the Crystal Uliblight.
Lucas examined it with his
'Not bad, not bad,' Lucas praised himself as he grabbed the elemental fragment he received after killing the sandstorm elemental.
He placed it just above the Crystal Uliblight and whispered the words