The question that had just come out of Blake's mouth was directed at nothing other than exactly some strange statues that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. They were two simple statues that had no relation whatsoever since they had a completely different design from each other, one measured about two meters, was orange with white polka dots, and had the shape of what seemed to be an elongated rabbit standing on two legs, while the other was some sort of thin tube with a puffy top having a rather creepy face on it.
Blake stared at these figures for a long time until he thought there was nothing special about them, but once he used his hand to touch one of them, he realized that they didn't seem to be that simple.
"It moved?" It was the first thing that came out of Blake just as he used his hand to touch it a little, the statue with the peculiar face had moved in a left turn making the face look in a new direction. Blake tried to turn it again, and as if it were obvious, it turned the same way again until a small "clack" sounded as the statue's face looked in the direction of the lake that seemed to separate most of the forest.
Just when he heard that noise, Blake thought that he had activated something that could be a trap or something, but when he saw that nothing really happened, he turned his eyes to the other statue to try to do the same thing again. Maybe something was affecting him for him to do that since, knowing Blake's attitude, he would have refrained from touching anything else, but it seemed that his curiosity was stronger.
The same situation was repeated, when he touched the statue of the rabbit, it also turned completely until what seemed to be his face was also looking towards the lake giving the same sound as the previous statue, but unlike the last time, Blake could realize how something new had happened.
"Is this an entrance?" What happened after that peculiar sound was heard was that, in the middle of both statues, the ground seemed to tremble suddenly, the earth began to separate in specific areas and the small weeds continuously disappeared from the place, resulting in an area clear enough to notice the edges and details of what seemed to be some kind of entrance. "Well, it seems so, but I don't see a way to open it."
Even though it looked like an entrance somewhere, there didn't seem to be a way to access whatever was behind it, the entrance was made of completely solid rock and even though Blake tried to use his strength to separate it, it was completely closed.
He thought maybe there were more statues around the area or something, but he gave up when he didn't find anything like it. He felt that something really mysterious was hiding behind that strange entrance and that it would be a shame not to discover it, but when he turned his attention to it, he managed to read a message.
'When faces are seen, doors will show what they hide.' The message seemed to be too clear, Blake turned both statues to face each other, but nothing really happened, he thought maybe he was doing something wrong, but when he put his gaze on the other side of the lake managed to catch sight of what appeared to be the same type of statues he had just moved, they looked pretty much the same, the only thing different was that they weren't looking in the direction of the lake, so Blake quickly he connected the dots and knew what to do next.
"Wait, that's it?" Just as he was about to leave, he managed to see something else that made his joy show on his face again. A few meters from the statues were several clusters of rocks, but unlike the normal ones, these had gray bumps that Blake had been looking for hours. "Finally! I thought Gaius had lied to me when he said that I could find them in the forest, I'd better gather as much as I can just in case."
Seeing that what he was looking for was right in front of him, he was not going to waste time and for some strange reason suddenly disappear, so he quickly took out his tool from the inventory and prepared to collect the minerals.
"That's right, I haven't seen the information on the hammer."
{Cheap hammer. Level 1.
An old and used hammer. Too weak to break large rocks, but still good enough to flatten the earth.
+3 ATK when equipped
Selling Price: 270G.}
"Then how am I supposed to break rocks with this?" Once he saw that information, Blake greatly doubted that the hammer that seemed to be made of simple wood could actually break the rocks in front of him, but he could only sigh and wait for the outcome of all of that.
He raised the hammer over his shoulder and concentrated his strength so that it had enough power to extract the gray parts that were in the rock, and unlike what he thought, he did not feel any resistance when he saw how the hammer impacted directly with the rock and from these large gray pieces fell to later take them in his hands and listen to the voice of the system.
[Acquired: Iron.]
[Acquired: Scrap.]
[Mining skill, increased.]
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, an extra skill." Not paying too much attention to the new skill he obtained, Blake put his interest in the minerals he just got and wanted to check if everything was alright.
{Iron. Level 1.
Metallic ore is used to make weapons and accessories. It can be found in abundance.
Effect on upgrades: DEF +1, ATK+2.
Sale price: 50G.}
{Scrap. Level 1.
A mineral is of very limited use, which is why it does not have a high price.
Effect on upgrades: ATK-4, DEF-2.
Sale price: 20G.}
"The iron seems to be just what I was looking for, but the scrap… I must say that it is indeed just a piece of scrap. Gaius didn't tell me exactly how much iron he wanted, but I guess this will be enough, the size of it is as big as my fist." And following that thought, Blake put everything in his inventory thinking about what to do next.