Brownies had the passive ability to Mine thanks to their Starting Racial Skills. They can Mine all they want without the necessity for the Mining Skill, and if they combine such Skill with their Racial Skill, they can mine even higher quality materials. The only two other races with this innate Mining Ability were Dwarves and Gnomes.
Like this, Lily ended gathering a lot of materials in her way through the caves, finally reaching somewhere, as she found herself surrounded by many small people!
"Uwaah, they're so small and cute!"
She saw chocolate-skinned brownies like her smacking the ores with their pickaxes or hammers, and even long bearded gnomes helping them. The Miners, which were around twenty or over that suddenly saw her getting into their mining grounds, most continued working and ignored her. It wasn't uncommon for kids to get into the caves sometimes. However, a group of curious Brownies quickly ran to see her.
"Hey! What's your name? I have never seen you before!"
"Wow those clothes are awesome! You look like a tomboy."
"Where did you got such a high quality hammer?"
"I like your white hair."
"E-Ehhh?! Uwaahhh!"
Lily was suddenly swarmed by adorable Brownies; she could had never felt so happy in her entire life. She suddenly realized this game was the most incredibly thing there was if it allowed her to be with adorable little Brownies, who were like the kids she always dreamed to have. She was honestly rather fascinated by being surrounded by them, this was a dream come true.
"I-I am a Player... Name's Lily. Are you people of this village? I am looking for a friend Elay- I mean, Planta..." She said.
"Player? What's that?"
"A Player is... Dunno."
"I think it is immortal people?"
"Something like that."
"Well anyways come with us, do you want to mine?"
"I've already mined some ores myself..." Said Lily, but the other Brownies didn't believed her, she wasn't bringing anything with herself after all. "Here!"
However, she quickly surprised them as she opened her inventory, dozens of shiny ores, crystals, and even mushrooms of rare and high qualities appeared, amazing the Brownies and even the nearby miners immersed in their work.
"Woah, she just summoned items out of the blue?"
"Oi, what's that?"
"Amazing! Is that space magic?"
"No this is Inventory, it is something Players have... You don't have it?" Asked Lily curiously.
"We don't have such a fancy Skill at all!"
"Hey, hey, you can use it to store stuff? Can you help us carry things back to town? I think we could do it easier with your help!"
"We'll give you some food in exchange, and money!"
"Eh? R-Really?" Asked Lily. "I'll do it for free, don't worry. But I would love a meal if you can."
Ding!
[A New Beginner Quest has been created: [Help the Brownies and Gnomes carry their Ores back to the Village]!]
Like that, for the next hour, Lily began gathering the drops from the mining process inside her Inventory and walked back and forth between the village and the mines, meeting many brownies and gnomes in the way.
Some were curious about her being a player, others feared her and didn't spoke with her, but she already had a small group of Brownies that began treating her almost instantly like a friend. Brownies were a very innocent and almost naïve tribe; this is why the grumpy gnomes had to protect them.
"Phew, I think this should be the last one?" Lily said with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah! We are almost done! Thank you!"
"Thanks to you we won't be so tired, so we can cook tasty meals together."
"I'm hungry..."
The Brownies were so adorable and straightforward that they quickly soothed Lily's heart, she wanted to spend more time here with them and know them better.
However, something unexpected ended happening.
TRUUUUMMM...!
Tremors started happening across the entire cave, interrupting the mining and gathering process. The gnomes and brownies suddenly panicked, as they felt shocked of what was happening.
"What was that just now!?"
"I don't know..."
"Monsters?"
"But the entrance to the deeper areas is closed, monsters can't-"
"Unless... that wall was broken?"
"ROOOOOAARRRRR!"
The roar of a monster echoed across the caves, as enormous claws suddenly emerged from within the end of the mining grounds, the enormous and furious face of a Drakon appeared, with several others behind it!
"Ah, what a nice surprise."
And the voice of a young man echoed behind the Drakons, as the small people noticed his eyes glaring from behind, a malicious smile curling on his lips.
"My dear Drakon, have a good meal!"
"GROOOARRR!"
"ROOOOAARRR!"
"RAAAARRR!"
The enormous, scaled beasts rushed forward, as the Brownies and Gnomes ran for their lives. However, the higher leveled monsters were quickly and vicious, catching many of them with their long claws and scratching their bodies, breaking their clothes, and splattering blood across the cave.
"Ahh...!"
Lily felt paralyzed at the gruesome scene, the little fairytale she thought she was living was quickly interrupted by the other aspect of the game she had forgotten, monsters, danger, and death.
"Lily run! Run!"
"Come! Don't stay there, they're coming!"
"Lily!!!"
The little Brownies tried to bring her with them, quickly grabbing her clothes and trying to her off her paralyzed state, which was actually due to the intimidation skills of the Drakons.
"Planta... where are you?!" She began to think, suddenly panicking, as she received a call from her.
"Lily! Are you there?! What's wrong?!" Planta heard the screams and everything, panicking.
"Monsters!"
"Damn it, did they came from the depths again?"
"T-There are a bit too many this time..."
"Run!"
"Uwaah! Planta, hurry! There are a lot of monsters... I'll run for now, I don't know if I can beat high level stuff yet..."
"Yeah, you do that, wait for us!"
The call was suddenly closed as Lily regained control over her own body, running with her Brownie friends as fast as she could... However, the claws of the Drakon neared closer.
CLAAASH!
