The journey from the dragon bridge to the mine took 3 days, and brought Tect right to the shores of the large lake. While passing Tect saw a family of the strange scaled otters playing in The water, when suddenly they all bolted for the shore. Where they had been playing a large turtle bigger than any Tect had ever seen rose from the water. The diameter of its shell was no less than 25ft. Its shell was covered in algae but the skin of its head and neck were clean, and shone a bright emerald.
Tect felt a new emotion coming from his ring, "Aww Torta got so big. I wish I had a body so I could pet her."
"Azulak are you ok?"
"I'm fine, its just this area used to be my home, and that was the pond I used to fish in. I put Torta in there when she was no bigger than a dinner plate. Now look at her, she's almost grown up." Tect could feel sadness in Azulak, clearly there were many things in this world he still treasured, Tect would get him a new body, no matter what.
The large turtle made its way to the shore, as it hoisted itself onto the land its flippers began to change. After about two minutes her flippers had become the legs of a tortoise and she was walking toward a field of absolutely massive melons.
"Tect, go see if she'll let you pet her. I can somewhat feel it if you focus on sending me the feeling."
"Uhm, she looks large enough to eat me. Are you sure it's safe?"
"Of course it is, can't you see she's eating star melons right now. Who would possibly trade a star melon for a scrawny thing like you?" The insult was unnecessary in Tect's opinion, but he could smell the melons from here and there was no doubt in his mind he wouldn't trade that melon for a steak.
Tect crept closer to Torta, being as calm and quiet as possible.
"Hey there little Torta, how are you liking the melons?"
The turtle looked at Tect through one eye as it continued eating. The massive turtle's eyes were amazing so close up, rays of emerald green and sapphire blue radiated outward from her pupil As she changed her focus the shrinking and stretching of her pupil caused the colors to dance.
Tect reached out his hand and lightly stroked her leg. The scales were like well polished emeralds, smooth and cold. Joy radiated from Tect's ring, when it did the turtle's focus shifted to it. She stopped eating and turned. Very gently she touched the ring with her beak, a single tear rolled down her cheek then Tect got the shock of his life.
A new voice was projected inside of Tect's mind, a soft feminine voice that gave Tect a feeling of great power, and modesty. "I have missed you father, restore your body so that we may play again like we used to."
Astonishment radiates from the ring, "As soon as I am able I shall return and we shall swim through the deepest seas together my child."
"Treat him well little goblin, though he probably hasn't realized it. His sacrifice was not in vain. Your people owe him much. If you can acquire a new vessel for him then I shall reward you greatly. Take this, it will protect you." The turtle raised its head high and made a retching sound. When it lowered it's head it held a pearl which it gave to Tect. Then it began to walk back towards the lake.
"Wait, Miss Torta. What is this pearl supposed to do?"
"If it is necessary you will know." Then, Torta sank below the water and was gone.
Tect grabbed a few intact melons then started walking.
His ring radiated pride, clearly Azulak was very happy to see Torta again.
"What kind of turtle is Torta?" Tect was very curious.
"It is hard to explain. Dragons come in many different forms, and the form of our children can be of the mother, the father, or something completely different and new. This world did not have native dragons, but it did have a large variety of mana beast, creatures that after exposure to high levels of mana became more intelligent and usually larger. Torta is the offspring of my sister, who is a Turtle Dragon, and a Native species of this world known as the Island Turtle. Technically speaking Torta is my niece, but she is also the oddity of the clutch. She was neither Turtle Dragon or Island Turtle so she came to live with me where she could be protected since she was and still is too small to survive in the ocean. It looks like 20,000 years have caused her to develop quite well. And she even has some shape shifting ability."
"If your sister is a turtle dragon, and you're not, did you take after your other parent or are you something new?"
"My mother was a turtle dragon, my father was a storm dragon. I got a bit of both, so I am what is commonly called a Hybrid Water Dragon. I can fly as well as manipulate water mana, and lightning mana like my father, and I can breathe underwater like my mother. My breath weapon is a combination of both, electrified boiling salt water. It does wonders for hunting, my food is always flavorful and all hair or scales are removed."
"Do dragons ever have children with humans, elves, or goblins?"
"No, reproduction between mammalian and reptilian species is impossible. Though there are other reptilian races that look similar to dragons mixed with humans or elves they are not true dragons."
"Dragons are cool, I wonder if we will get a chance to meet one."
"I hope we do, an unfertilized dragon egg would be perfect for resurrecting me."
"That sounds kind of like necromancy."
"No it's nothing of the sort, it's a process your people came up with called cloning. It's totally different… at least until we place my soul into the clone, then maybe a little similar."
The two continued on to the mine, mostly in silence, except when Tect would ask questions about some plant or animal he would find. Which was fine for Tect as Azulak was rarely any fun to talk to.
On the third and final day of travel Tect spotted a large archway carved into the side of a mountain that stood apart from the ring of mountains in the Mountain Heart.
"Azulak how big is the Mountain Heart? It's hard to imagine that we could walk for such long distances and still be inside."
"The Mountain Heart is a dormant super volcano, we stand in the caldera which is about 200 miles across. During the formation of the various worlds prime elementals were used to sculpt the land and seas, this is the final resting place of a great Primordial of Fire. Even though it will never erupt again, the land is rich and fertile, and the heart of the primordial creates a gentle heat so that it is always warm here. That's why it was named mountain heart. There are three other Primordial Hearts in this world, and once mana returned they all became active again. This one is the calmest, Sea Heart is a vicious one, it sits deep in the ocean and creates an eternal storm. The other two tend to lie dormant unless something awakens them, then you'll have Tornados or Beast outbreaks. But even so none of the others are on this continent so there is no need to worry."
"Ok, thats good to know. So if the heart is active doesn't that mean it's alive?"
"Not in the sense that you are alive. More like the nerves of a dead animal, a headless chicken that still runs around, except it takes Billions of years for the cores to finally die."
"I see, well if thats the case, what about the cores from the lesser elementals we are here to harvest? Will they still function for so long?"
"No, we will use the mana stored inside during the shaping process. The lesser elementals cores would only stay active for a few years at best but on their home plane they will consume the cores of the fallen to grow stronger. Even here if we do not collect the cores the elementals will fight over them."
"Ok, well what do we need to do first? Restart the power systems, or harvest cores?"
"To get the strongest power crystals we will need to go deep into the mine so it will be best if you learn to fight properly before we try to dive into the heart of the hornets nest."
"Sounds good to me." Tect draws his short sword and walks towards the entrance to the mine. The entrance is massive, nearly 12 feet tall and 8 ft wide, it has 2 sets of old rusted cart tracks but they have nearly turned to powder over time. A few white crystals line the walls providing a nice gentle light in the tunnels. Tect nervously begins to walk down the tunnel when the sound of cracking stones reaches his ears.
"This mine is 20,000 years old, are you sure it won't collapse?"
"This mine is cut from primordial stone, it will still be here after the last god dies of old age and boredom. That sound comes from elementals fighting deeper in."
"That doesn't make me feel much better."
Tect continues deeper, after about 100ft there is a small hole in the wall and a large stone rolls out.
"Thought you said it wasn't going to fall apart?"
"I did, and it's not"
The rock sprung from the ground, unrolling into a creature with four limbs, each sporting 3 claws, a large head with beady eyes and a circular mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It lunged for Tect's throat, but Tect just managed to raise the sword in time to block it.
"You're not very good at this, have you never been trained on how to use a sword?"
"Nope, most people don't like their slaves knowing how to defend themselves."
Regret emanates from the ring, "I'm sorry, I still find it hard to believe that goblins are now slaves. I can help with this. Even though I can't use a sword, as the head of security I attended many demonstrations and lessons. Open your mind to me."
Tect did his best to block the small stone monster and open his mind. When he did, a series of images and memories flooded into his brain. The creature was relentless but that was good, as Tect focused on blocking the attacks he began to adjust his stance based on what Azulak had shown him. It wasn't a huge change, it would still take years of practice to be very good, but for fighting this low level monster it was wonderful. Tect fought the creature for hours, sweat poured off of his body and his muscles ached like never before. Finally Tect blocked a lunge from the creature, pivoted his hips and used the momentum to stab it through the head. The small creature turned into pebbles and a small brown orb was left behind.
"Damn, that was intense. I think that's all I can do for today."
"I agree, we should go back to the entrance and make camp about 15ft away, the elementals won't leave the mine and shouldn't be able to hit you with stones at that distance."
"Ok, I'll grab the core and we'll leave."
"No, leave it. That is a clay core, we need metal cores. If we leave that one here a stronger elemental may come to get it, and we might get a better core tomorrow."
Tect nodded and left the cave. After setting up camp and cooking some food he spent the night reviewing all of the knowledge Azulak had imparted to him. Tomorrow he was going to try to be more aggressive and spend less time defending. Sleep took him quite rapidly after that.