“This is a nice cave,” Micro said as he walked blindly down the dusty mine. “Lots of metal in here, and no monsters so far.”

  “Just turn left at the second branch up there,” Blue replied, shaking her head in frustration. “And don’t you know better than to say stuff like that? You’re a walking, talking jinx, for crying out loud…”

  “Can you see them?” Micro asked. “How far ahead are they?”

  “I don’t have enough energy to see how far ahead they are…” Blue said as she peaked out of Micro’s pocket, looking down the path ahead. “But they definitely went that way.”

  “Thanks, Blue,” Micro said cheerfully.

  “I’m never going to be able to recover at this rate,” Blue pouted. “I need some better Core Cards. Those skills barely use any energy compared to my pixie powers.”

  “Fuel efficiency is important these days,” Micro replied. “You never know when the cost of gas is going to shoot through the roof over night.”

  “I’m starting to come around to that idea,” Blue said, straining her eyes to look ahead. “Shooting through the roof is fun too though.”

  “Do you have a lot of pixie powers?” Micro asked.

  “I’ll show you one day, if you’re still alive by the time I recover.” Blue stretched her neck a little and rubbed her tired eyes. “Meat does speed things up though.”

  “Let’s eat more soon,” Micro replied as several large chunks of rock fell on top of his head, breaking into pieces over his helmet and creating a thick cloud of dust. Micro waved his hands in front of him, but the dust had grown so thick that he couldn’t even see the glowing armour on the hand in front of him. “Wow, I can’t see anything at all now. Are you sure they’re okay?”

  “I caught a glimpse of something moving earlier, but that used up most of my power,” Blue answered. “There’s a lot of rocks in the way… Like, a lot.”

  “Oh, right!” Micro said enthusiastically. He began to channel energy through his eyes, and suddenly the energy of the mountain began to shine through the dust, and the shape of the tunnel he was walking in slowly revealed itself. Though the shapes were vague, he could at least avoid walking into the walls. “Look at all this energy!”

  “I’d be making use of it if you would stop distracting me,” Blue replied. “Shut up for a while.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Micro laughed. “Are you feeling alright?”

  “So… sleepy…” Blue ignored him as she began to meditate in his pocket, slowly absorbing the energy around her.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Micro whispered, then turned his attention to the tunnel in front of him.

  ~

  “It just goes on and on…” Micro was surprised by how long the tunnel extended into the mountain, but he enjoyed the increasingly strong smell of iron that found its way through his armour and into his nose as he continued. The cave-in had caused much of the tunnel’s ceiling to collapse, making it difficult for him to walk at a steady pace through the uneven rubble. After walking for an hour or so, he finally came to a point where the tunnel split into two, so he tapped gently on his pocket to alert Blue. “Which way from here, Blue?”

  “Hold on…” Blue stirred from her trance and climbed partially out of his pocket to look. “Looks like they’re trapped, but they’re alive, probably. Turn left.”

  “Thanks, Blue,” Micro replied, then continued down the dusty tunnel.

  “Not that I care, but why are we doing this?” Blue asked with a bored expression. “Did they owe you money?”

  “They’re not cultivators, so they’re probably in trouble,” Micro quickly replied. “Caves are dangerous, after all.”

  “So?” she asked with a small shrug.

  “So we should help them,” Micro replied. “Spark would be sad if we didn’t, and she’s a good passenger.”

  “Well, here we are.” Blue sighed as Micro came to the apparent end of the tunnel, where loose rocks and broken logs prevented him from walking any farther.

  “They’re on the other side of this?” Micro asked, unable to peer through the wall of rocks in front of him despite being able to see the energy in the rocks.

  “Have fun,” she replied. “Wake me up if you—Actually, don’t wake me up.”

  “Goodnight, Blue,” Micro said as he bent over to pick up a rock. He was surprised by how light it felt in his arms compared to the last time he’d helped move boulders in a cave. However, after throwing it out of the way, he came face to face with a much larger rock. It was twice his height, and he could clearly see from the energy it radiated that it was dense with iron. He decided to test the limits of his strength, but he was unsurprised when he failed to move it even slightly. “Hmm…”

  He then recalled the way Kel’s attendants had skillfully carved their way through a cave wall with aura coated shields in search of the Turtle Art dungeon’s portal. However, he lacked both a physical shield and the Spirit Shield Skill at the moment. He recalled Lena’s warning against using a Spirit Wave attack within a cave, and his Storage Skill lacked the space for such large rocks. He tried attacking the rock with his Turtle Art armour, but did little damage to the iron-rich boulder.

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  “Oh! Vale’s gift should work!” he suddenly proclaimed as he summoned a large hammer of aura in his right hand. He swung it down at the boulder, and was pleased to hear a metallic sound ring out as the hard surfaces met each other. “This is perfect!”

  He swung the hammer at the centre of the boulder several more times, and large cracks gradually formed on its surface. Wishing the hammer were slightly bigger, he instinctively rooted himself in the ground using the Mycelial Art to increase the flow of energy to the glowing tool, and he struck the boulder again.

  “Great!” he celebrated as the boulder instantly split into a dozen pieces, but he was surprised when the vibrations of his hammer caused several large rocks to fall on his head, cracking his armour slightly. “Okay, a little less power…”

  He moved several of the small rocks out of his way and proceeded toward the next boulder in his way, then practiced striking it with some restraint. He watched the pieces of the boulder crumble, then stepped back quickly, hoping not to get caught beneath any rubble, but he was successful in breaking the rock without causing any further cave-ins.

  And so he continued through the fallen rocks and ore, slowly clearing a narrow path through the rubble in the direction Blue had pointed. Several times he was nearly crushed beneath the loosened rocks of the mine’s ceiling, and several large insects attacked him, but he was able to protect himself with the Turtle Art. The most strenuous part of his journey into the wall of rocks was clearing away the rubble as he broke it apart. Not having nearly enough room in his dimensional storage, he had no choice but to transport each rock farther and farther back up the mine. After enjoying the process for a while, he was caught off guard when he lifted one rock from the pile, and a strong gust of wind flowed through the hole it left behind, clearing out much of the dust in the cave and allowing him to see more than just the energy around him, though it was difficult to see much with just the light emitted from his Spirit Hammer. He cast off the ethereal armour he wore and took a deep breath, intoxicated by the metallic smell.

  “Hello?” he shouted into the hole in the rubble. He waited for a moment as the echo of his call faded, bringing his ear closer to the gap in the wall of debris. He noticed the flickering light of a weakly burning torch through the hole, accompanied by the faint smell of smoke. “Excuse me! Can anyone hear me?”

  “This… way…” a faint call echoed, though it wasn’t a familiar voice.

  “I’ll be there soon!” Micro shouted back, then continued his journey through the last of the fallen rocks and ore, allowing more and more air to rush past him, and he finally stepped through to the other side. There he was finally reunited with Kern and his oldest daughter, Ember, but he was upset by the state they were in. “Oh dear.”

  “Ugh…” Micro mistook the old blacksmith’s breathing for monster’s growl at first. Kern lay unconscious with his legs trapped beneath a large rock, while Ember applied pressure to a wound on his arm, but Barb was nowhere in sight.

  “Where’s your mother?” Micro asked as he scanned the cave.

  “She was farther down the tunnel, behind these rocks…” Ember coughed. Her face was covered in dust except for two lines on her cheeks where tears had washed it away, and she seemed to be in a daze as she looked slowly up to see whose voice she had replied to. “Who—”

  Micro immediately stepped over Kern and rooted himself in the ground next to the boulder on top of his legs. The glowing hammer in his hand shone brightly for a moment as he lifted it over his head, then he swung it sideways into the boulder.

  The impact echoed through the mine, and Micro waited until the sound had faded before striking the boulder again, mindful of each small rock that fell from the ceiling with each impact. The rock trapping Kern gradually broke into smaller pieces which he could throw safely down the mine, and soon the tunnel behind it was revealed. Ember attempted to wipe her eyes on her sleeve while continuing to use both hands to keep pressure on her father’s arm, but she understood little of what was occurring.

  “There you are,” Micro said with a satisfied look. He kicked some rubble out of his way and walked over to where Barb lay unconscious on the ground near a pile of fallen rocks. Tools and broken timber littered the ground around her. He moved his energy back to his eyes, and though she was scratched and bruised, Micro was content that she would survive based on the modest amount of energy he could see flowing through her. He turned back to see the same life force still flowing through Kern and Ember, though Kern’s seemed much weaker.

  “Who are you?” Ember asked, still unable to see clearly.

  “Wasn’t there one more of you?” Micro asked.

  “It was just us three…” Ember replied.

  “Huh…” Micro frowned, but he soon shook his head and shrugged. “Oh well. Let’s go.”

  “I can’t move him alone, and my mother…!” Ember cried. “Where did you come from? Did you come here alone?”

  “Looks like bad puncture.” Micro frowned as he leaned closer to Kern’s arm. As his face grew nearer to Ember’s, she suddenly gasped.

  “You?! But how did—” she shouted, but began coughing before she could finish her question. “How—”

  “Here,” Micro said as he ripped a long piece of cloth from his sleeve, gently pushed Ember’s hands away, then wrapped the cloth around Kern’s wounded arm tightly enough to prevent any more blood from flowing. He then looked up at the shocked Ember, and smiled. “Humans are much easier to patch. Can you walk?”

  “Walk…?” She stuttered. “No, my ankle. It’s not—”

  “Three extra passengers,” Micro said with an anxious sigh. “I don’t think the energy cab will work this time…”

  He stood up and attempted to create a box of energy large enough to accommodate the three wounded passengers, but the Turtle Art wasn’t able such a large object without Micro himself remaining rooted to the ground. Tears of frustration formed in his eyes.

  “What kind of truck can’t even carry three people…?” he quietly lamented. “What to do…”

  “Just take my mother, and I’ll stay with—” Ember’s plea was interrupted by a rumbling from deep in the mine. Ember’s panic faded to helpless resignation while Micro continued to think to himself with a strained look on his face. However, a moment later, Micro took note of a particular rock and nodded his head.

  “It’s a bit smaller than a proper bed, but it should do,” he said as he walked around it and placed both of his hands on its side. It was a large, flat rock, which had fallen from the ceiling during the cave-in. With a grunt, he slowly began pushing it toward the tunnel he’d created while Ember watched in a daze.

  “What are you do—” She began, but Micro suddenly appeared behind her and lifted her up. He quickly placed her on the rock, then ran back to her mother and repeated the process. Finally, he carefully picked Kern up off the ground, ignoring the uncomfortable cracking sounds coming from his legs as they swung freely, and placed him between Ember and Barb on the rock.

  “This probably won’t be a very comfortable ride,” Micro said with an apologetic tone. Ember could only blink in response as the rock she was placed on began to move steadily through the mine toward the exit.