Master of Dominion-Chapter 41:Mines

The three sisters huddled at the corner of the fences, conversing quietly as they watched Rael and Xaphxan from the corner of their eyes.

"So what do you think?" Iyvre posed the question to her sisters.

"I think we don’t have much of a choice," Ayobe answered, crossing her arms. "Besides, he does have a boundary ward sigil and from what I observed while helping him set it up, it does seem reliable."

Iyvre nodded, then turned to Yasmin. Yasmin squinted her eyes before taking a breath.

"Look, I’m not so unreasonable that I can’t see this might be our only way," she said. "But you both know I hate sharing the same breath as humans."

"I know, Yasmin and we share your pain," Iyvre said, laying her hands on both Ayobe’s and Yasmin’s shoulders. "But this is for our survival. And after we... well, if we’re able to survive, we leave."

Yasmin slowly nodded.

"Alright but I say we should be wary of him. I found some strange potions in that building I searched. They did smelled weird. And we also have to consider the fact that he’ll have the upper hand in our ’alliance’ as long as we can’t use aether."

"You’re right on that one," Ayobe responded.

"Well then, if he wants us to work together, he’ll have to put us on equal grounds. After all, I’m sure he knows we’ll be useless without aether," Iyvre said with certainty.

---

How the hell do I remove the debuff my territory has on them? Damn shit-ass system with no hints, nothing. Tsk.

Rael led the way forward, his face growing increasingly grim as Xaphxan trailed behind him.

He knew allying with them would be worthless if they couldn’t even use aether which was exactly what his territory prevented. Of course, he was still unaware that the moment Xaphxan had chosen to work for him, he had been freed to use aether within the territory.

It wasn’t long before they reached a hollow cave the same cave Rael had used to complete the tier 2 quest, and the former, or perhaps still current, dwelling of the redskins.

The reason he’d chosen this place to search first was because he had noticed the difference in the rocks deeper inside the cave. The outer walls were made of dull gray stone, while the inner cavern held reddish rock and sand. To Rael, it looked like signs of limonite an iron ore. Of course, that was knowledge from Earth, and he had no idea if it applied in Goldoria, but it was a start.

"Come on and watch out for spiders," Rael said as he headed inside.

Xaphxan paused, eyeing the jagged edges of the cave he took a breath, then cautiously followed.

As they delved deeper, Rael narrowed his eyes when he noticed fresh, thick webs clinging to the ceiling, stretching toward the collapsed cavern. He wasn’t surprised though. It wasn’t like he could wipe out an entire species they would reproduce eventually. Still, a ranked one would take time to reappear.

The deeper they went, the darker it became. Xaphxan chose to cast a fireball spell, but used it only as a glowing orb in his palm to light their way. Rael didn’t really need it since his warrior senses were already on constant alert.

Rael glanced at the tennis-ball-sized flame resting on Xaphxan’s palm and wondered if there was a lamp-based spell just based on lighting the way .Manuscripts, regardless of type, usually started with at most two spells or techniques. And to him It seemed wasteful or useless for someone like Xaphxan who clearly hadn’t grown up behind high walls to have such a manuscript that had no effective combat use,well maybe his other spell does

Noticing Rael’s gaze, Xaphxan suddenly remembered something.

"Um... sir, I wanted to—" He paused, gauging Rael’s expression. Seeing no irritation, he continued. "Thank you, sir. For trusting me... and for releasing the seal you placed on me."

Rael stopped and slowly turned his head, brows knitting in confusion.

"Seal?"

"Yes, sir. My aether I can use it now."

"Of course you can. You’re not in my ...." Rael cut himself off in slow realization, then asked instead, "Where did you feel you could use your aether again?"

"Oh, as soon as you accepted me, sir," Xaphxan replied, clearly bewildered. Wasn’t it his doing?

"Oh. Okay." Rael said simply, turning and moving deeper into the cave without another word.

’Hmm, so that’s how it is’, he thought, seeing it as a great advantage. It seemed that anyone who entered his territory would have to either bow to him, align with him, or be reduced to a mere mortal. Still, Rael wasn’t sure if it worked on aether beasts. The only ones that had encroached on his land the Hellworgs had been slain too quickly to tell. Neither was he certain it would work against higher-ranked aether users. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He hoped the debuff might also come in handy against the Withered, though he doubted it. Those abominable creatures didn’t seem to run on aether at all probably starved of it, hence their crazed hunger to consume anything that still had it.

Reaching the collapsed cavern, Rael saw no signs of the redskins not even the corpses of the ones he had killed. He’d kept the ranked one’s body in his magic pouch, but the rest were gone. Judging by the gnawed stones and little bits of scattered remains, their kin had likely eaten them.

He descended into the cavern, Xaphxan following behind, increasingly spooked by the unnatural stillness.

What is he really looking for? Xaphxan hesitated before moving again.

...

"Hmm... a little sharp in taste," Rael murmured from where he knelt. He scooped a pinch of the red sand onto his finger and touched it to his tongue, a sharp metallic tang spreading across it.

"Seems I wasn’t wrong after all. But where to start?’ he thought, scanning the deepest part of the cavern.

Rael rose and turned to Xaphxan, who had been watching his boss’s strange behavior in silence.

"The tools," Rael said.

"Oh." Without wasting time, Xaphxan dropped the digging tools he’d been carrying, letting them clatter against the stone a total of three pickaxes and four shovels.

Rael picked up two of the pickaxes and tossed one toward Xaphxan, who caught it clumsily.

"Dig," Rael commanded as he started hacking into the ground where he stood.

Seeing that his boss had no intention of explaining himself, Xaphxan grumbled inwardly but didn’t dare voice it. He tightened his grip on the pickaxe and began digging as well.