BXBX NOVEL Chapter 458: The Machines
Chapter 458: The Machines
Kat and Kamiko gave a quick nod before turning around to find the door had transformed into one made of fire. The fire was a strange mix of blue and orange that seemed to mix and intermingle, bleeding into and out of each other with no rhyme or reason. Kat stepped forward first, pressing her hand against it and finding it somewhat squishy. Pushing harder… nothing seemed to happen until she hear Kamiko cough behind her.
Turning, Kat saw Kamiko with a big grin on her face, they stared at each other for a second before Kamiko said "You need to turn the handle silly"
Kat turned back to the door, and noticed that the area where the handle used to be was every so slightly wider than the rest of the door. *Ok that's just annoying. There's only a slight difference between the handle and the rest of the door. How did Kamiko notice? No, she has that skill I just wasn't paying attention.*
Of course, that wasn't true either. They both had the skills but neither was using them fully right now, Kamiko had just been in Kat's position a few times. This was the demon equivalent of pushing on a door that had a big sign saying 'pull' on it that you didn't really pay attention to.
Now making sure that she turned the nob first Kat tried to push on the door only to find her hand going through. A mild bout of annoyance shot through her as she realised that the door didn't open, it let you through made Kat frown slightly but she stepped into it anyway. Colourful flame surrounded her before she found herself deposited in a dusty room. Kat didn't just stand still, she made sure to move out of the way for Kamiko who followed behind.
The room was both large and small. In most ways, it was tiny. A bunch of tightly packed coats stood to one side and a dirty window on the other. There was a bench in the middle and a couple of old shoes falling apart underneath it. The main thing preventing the room from simply being declared small was the fact that it was three times the height of a normal room, and the exit was actually two doors. One for people around Kat's height and another for people who'd treat this whole room as a changing area, a cramped one at that.
A particularly large peg also rested near the roof of the room, presumably for an equally large coat. Still, Kat and Kamiko didn't linger, they could already feel the dust getting to them. It was actually worse for Kat as she felt her regeneration work to push the stuff out of her lungs in tiny amounts instead of allowing it to build up. This led to it pushing out through her skin and made it feel like somewhat like she had small bugs crawling through her skin.
*Note to self. Never, ever, go into an extremely dusty place like this without reason. This… this feeling is horrible. I never thought the weakness of my regeneration would be DUST. Dammit, just… just cut into me or something. At least normal pain is sharp and over with quickly. This is… an eery lingering feeling that I do NOT like.*
Kamiko, sensing Kat's rising irritation along with her own throats complaints made her way outside just as fast. They were greeted by a barren hillside with a number of wholes dotting the surrounding landscape. Various demons in mining gear with pickaxes over their shoulders walked in front of a cart that looked to be for storing ore that was floating behind.
Other teams were coming up from the Earth in the distance, but before Kat could spend any time looking around a voice sounded beside them. "My two adventurers!"
Turning, Kat found someone that had to be the same type of demon as Rock was albeit much older and taller. Where Rock looked a bit like a human that still needed some details filled in, this figure looked like he'd be more at home with the ground behind them than a person. Where Rock was a mix of sharp and flat lines, this demon had cracks running across his form, as well as what looked like chips missing in places.
He was also a dull grey like crushed stone but still retained some shine to him because the sun was currently reflecting off his shoulder. He was in a big coat that fit his form somewhat well. It was mostly the large rocks in place of biceps that strained against the fabric that gave cause to assume it wasn't the best fit. He also had a large yellow hat that was two sizes too big with the word 'Foreman' written on it.
"That'd be us sir!" said Kamiko cheerily, mostly from just being away from the damned dust.
"Great. I'll just need to get you both a set of masks and then I show you the area we need you to clear out. I'll also be going over basic safety in the mines as well as some advice that's not quite as iron clad." Said the stone man. It was also now that Kat realised he sounded completely normal. Well, he had the slightest tinge of a British accent somehow, but for a lot of people that was normal.
He then turned around and started marching towards a nearby box that was leaning up against the shed they'd just left. He opened it and started digging around as he continued the explanation. "Right, so, my names Stone, and I'm the foreman here. It's my job to keep all the other idiots on task, though I'll grant you it isn't too hard. Most of who we get down here and the less intelligent demons who still want to make good Candle.
"Because of this, I expect you to be polite, but if they start doing something stupid because you're both Succubi give them a good slap upside the head if you need. They aren't smart enough to hold it against you and neither am I. We just don't see a little of pretty lasses around here and as I said, not that smart.
"Right, next up, don't let your Demonic Flame loose. Confined to your hand is fine, burning your enemies is mostly fine, but DO NOT let it sink into the walls. A lot of the stuff we're mining reacts to the stuff in ways we don't want. If you hit one of the ores that become harder when energy is applied we will not be happy campers when it's time to excavate. Ah, found them!"
Stone, and Kat was sensing a them with these golem types because what a name, turned to them both and through over what seemed like a combination between a face mask and a scarf. Putting it on, the fabric seemed to 'click' somehow around her mouth and nose, moulding itself to her before freezing in place and acting more like plastic then cloth. Breathing in, Kat found it a slightly strange experience, like the air wasn't quite right. That was probably just the filtration getting rid of normal air stuff though.
Kamiko put on her own mask before asking. "Hey, hey, um, where are the machines? I believe the guy who sent us here said you used them to excavate but it just seems like demons…"
Stone gave a full belly laugh as he slammed the box shut and stood up tall, before gesturing them to follow for a bit. "Ah, that old coot. He loves telling that joke. At some point the mining division here was named 'the machines' or 'machines' for short, and now a lot of the employees joke about that. Nope, this is almost all muscle powered!"
"Why?" asked Kat "Surely you have better tech for things like this"
Stone stopped just outside one of the nearby tunnels and said, "The simple answer is it's more cost efficient. The longer answer is really complicated. The more complicated gist of it is that the rock here is much tougher then it looks and doesn't exactly guarantee a profit. It's just easier to enchant some basically unbreakable picks and hand them over to some miners and tell them to go nuts.
"It essentially boils down to the number of interesting materials in the soil and how they all react differently to demonic energy. The demons here can use it to enhance their muscles for the swing, but not coat the pickaxe. On top of that, if we were to say use… explosives, we could set of a chain reaction if we found some of the more volatile stuff. So… not only would it be expensive finding powerful enough explosives, it would be dangerous too.
"We also don't get more powerful demons here because this isn't a high priority sight. They have more profitable areas they get sent to."