"All right. Leave your pets with me in the meantime," Hedite said. "I will need to take their measurements. Bring them to those stalls."
Jack and Jet gave instructions to their pets to enter the stalls. Once they did, rune diagrams activated within the stalls.
"That will hold them in place till I finish my work. You won't be able to summon them while they are here," Hedite informed. "Now, about the materials. You will need to find runic metals. These are specific metals needed to craft armor big enough for these pets."
"Where should we look for them?" Jack asked.
"They can only be found in specific places. Very limited specific places. But lucky for you, this village happened to be one of those limited specific places. You see that lake over there?"
Jack and Jet looked over to where Hedite was pointing. It was the lake that Jack had caught a glimpse of the night before. They happened to be much closer to it now. Jack could see that it was a very large lake with clear blue water. Several animals were grazing beside it and drinking the lake's water. Seeing the scenery, Jack couldn't deny this village was aptly named.
"Those runic metals you mentioned are inside the lake?" Jet asked.
"At the bottom of it," Hedite confirmed. "Now mind you. These runic metals are not your common materials. You need to mine it by yourself. When this runic metal is taken from its source, it will form a link with the one who mines it. With that link, the runic metals will maintain their power when it is crafted into that person's pet armor. This means you can't take a runic metal mined by another person. Such a metal will lose its power when used on another person's pet."
"Aw, heck. I was just about to ask you to go get the metals for me," Jet said to Jack. "I am not a good swimmer."
Jack rolled his eyes. He had already paid the coins, was this old dude expecting him to do all the work as well?
"Okay, so all we have to do is just head down the lake and mine these runic metals, right?" Jack asked. "How many do you need? Do we need any special tools for the mining process?"
"You only need to mine one runic metal," Hedite explained. "One person can only carry one. Mining another one will have you losing the link with the previous one, rendering the previous one useless. As for the tools, here. You need a special pickaxe to mine it."
Hedite gave them one green-colored pickaxe each. These pickaxes were larger than the normal ones.
"Will one be enough? Will it break upon failure during the mining process?" Jack asked.
"That pickaxe won't fail, but it does break after you completed the mining process. Take care not to stop halfway after you start using it though, or it will break as well."
"Well. It's an easy task then. We just dive into the lake. Look for the runic metal deposit. Use this no-fail pickaxe on it and come back. Sounds simple."
Hedite gave them a grin. She was seemingly amused by Jack's words. "Yes, it is that simple."
Jack felt like the dwarven blacksmith was mocking them. He then asked, "Are the runic metal deposits difficult to spot under the lake?"
"No, they are very eye-catching. They glowed a bright green," Hedite answered.
'Hm, then what's so difficult about getting this metal?' Jack thought. He felt like this woman was intentionally leaving some details out.
"Pay attention though, that there are different grades of runic metal. The higher the grade you can find, the better the armor that I craft," Hedite said.
"How do we determine which deposit had a better grade metal? Any visible difference between the low grade and the high grade?"
"The high-grade ones will have a brighter glow. Lower grades are dimmer."
'Still sounds simple,' Jack thought. "Any other things that we need to know before we dive into the lake?" He asked.
"Yeah, try to not die," Hedite replied.
'Damn, woman! If you know something, why don't you just tell us?' Jack complained in his mind.
*
While Jack and Jet were talking with Hedite, Grace stayed outside with Oswald and Meratis.
"You are not here for a pet armor as well?" Meratis asked.
"I don't have one," Grace answered.
"Ah, I see. You are an Inquisitor. May I ask what is your purpose for coming here?"
"… I'm just accompanying them."
"Well, since you don't have any special request, you can stay your full thirty days here. Do you wish to spend your thirty days here?"
Jack had mentioned the high mana density in this village compared to the outside. Grace didn't feel any difference when she was at Daminos Square Garden. But now that she had started to dabble in mana sense, she could. There was a time chamber in Heavenly Citadel to increase her training time. But training for thirty days here would be much more effective compared to her using the time chamber daily for thirty days.
She pondered about the option. She was eager to get stronger, but this meant she couldn't accompany Jack since Jack would have to leave after ten days. After some thought, she said, "Yes. I will stay here for thirty days."
She wouldn't be able to level up for these thirty days since there was no monster to grind here, but she thought improving her mana sense ability, for now, was more important than leveling up. Additionally, her level of 49 was already ahead of the current average players' levels.
"I'm glad to hear that, miss. Don't worry, I will keep you company during your stay here," Grace heard a voice from her feet and saw Captain Whitebeard there. She almost uttered a yelp but stopped herself. She made an involuntary step away, though. Whitebeard seemed to not be aware or simply ignored Grace's repulsive reaction. It scurried closer again to Grace's feet. Grace tried her best not to think about the rat.
Jack and Jet came then.
"You are done with the arrangements?" Meratis asked.
"Yeah, we just need to get runic metals now, in that lake," Jack answered. "Is there anything dangerous down there?"
"Hedite didn't tell you?"
"No. She appears to enjoy letting us find out by ourselves," Jack said. "Are there monsters inside that lake?
"No, no monsters."
"But there should be something, right? Are you going to tell us to find out by ourselves as well?"
Meratis chuckled. "Follow me."
The village chief led them towards the lake. They came by the lakeside. The nearby animals gave Meratis a short bow when she came by. Some even greeted her. Jack still felt weird seeing all these talking animals.
"What are we doing here?" Jack asked. They had been standing by the lakeside for a while. He was waiting for Meratis to start telling him about the danger under the lake, but she had been silent.
"Wait," Meratis said. "There! See that?"
They looked over to where Meratis was pointing at. They were confused at first about what she was indicating, but then they saw it. The water at the center of the lake was swirling. The swirling became greater that it turned into a whirlpool before transforming into a powerful maelstrom.
"At the center of this lake bed, there is a large sinkhole. Occasionally, powerful force burst out of this sinkhole, creating a strong vertical stream that creates that whirlpool. The force that creates that stream is unusual, if you are caught in that whirlpool, the energy will erode your life."
"Let me guess, that runic metals that we are supposed to get, they are inside this sinkhole," Jack said.
Meratis nodded.
"Great. I know that it's no way this is going to be easy," Jack said with a slightly mocking tone.
"Nothing ever is. Now that if you excuse me, I'll return to my duties. I pray for your success in getting the runic metals. You are also welcome to explore the village. Just don't create any disturbance, we don't take it lightly if you disturb the peace of our village. Also, don't wander out into the woods, you will enter the Lost Forest if you do. If that happens, you will have to find your way back here again. Please note, however, that the days you are permitted to stay here continues ticking even if you leave this village. So, I suggest you not leave the village."
Meratis then left with her entourage of animals, except for Captain Whitebeard, who stayed beside Grace and was still not getting tired of trying to converse with her. Grace was lamenting why this rat insisted to stay with her. She only gave the talking rat some simple responses, simply because she tried to not be rude by ignoring it.
"Okay, let's dive?" Jack asked Jet.
"I don't know, man. It's a while since I last swam," Jet said.
"Don't worry. We can breathe underwater in this world. So there is no need to worry about running out of air. You can practice swimming first if you want. Meratis said there is no monster in the lake, so you can take time re-accustoming yourself to swimming before we head for that sinkhole."
