The night had begun to overtake the light as Drake sat by his fire. He was cutting up some more wolf meat for dinner from around the neck and skull. Laying it down on his make shift wood grill he laid back and enjoyed the sight.
'The stars are different here. The two moons is quite surreal too, one white and one greyish-orange. It's quite crazy, it's been years since I was able to enjoy the sight since I was stuck in that torture chamber.'
The stars twinkled and shone bright layering over the planet going all the way past the visible sea line. It's as if the end of the world was that way but Drake knew flat earth theories were all false. Even if he was on a different planet and maybe in a different dimension he refused to believe scientific laws were different.
Proof of such theories were somewhat valid because he was able to find iron and copper in relatively similar places that are found on earth. The only thing that baffled him was the abundance of such materials. They were more pure, the iron he found was so pure that back on Earth it was termed 'natural ore'. The mine he found a kilometer south down the beach went deep into a canyon of low laying mountains which was rich in colors found for iron ore. Dark grey, and rusty red which indicates the presence of iron. When smelted down to separate impurities he could then add raw coal with the particles of iron in the form of dust to mix together and smelt into steel.
Drake was in deep thought about how such pure deposits could be found. The copper ore was basically pure copper. It didn't come in the form of malachite which would require lots of chemicals to separate for copper to form.
The more he thought about it the more he began to form a hypothesis in his head. Aether Energy for some particular reason was able to form more natural ore deposits. He had yet to confirm his theory but when searching for more rare materials and resources if they continue to be found in the 'natural ore' state then he will believe his hypothesis to be more concrete. For now there was no way to test it.
Drake thought himself to sleep. The night before and day of there were no beasts roaming on the beach so he figured he would fine. He still built a small hut out of trees and leaves in the form a teepee.
Drake woke up the next day and after having more of the beast meat from right above the skull he could feel the energy moving through his body as if it was water washing away impurities. Drake finally realized that because of the Grade of beast he was eating that the energy was having some effect on his body. He was also able to double his workout load in the morning before feeling tired.
To test his hypothesis he consumed more meat from the skull area and experienced the same cleansing effect and had additionally rejuvenated his energy.
'This stuff is priceless, I guess the food we ate on the expedition was all low grade so it didn't affect me as much? I think Hugo said they were Grade E and F beasts...'
With that in mind Drake got to work. After 2 days of being in the sun the wolfskin had dried a decent amount enough to make a rough bag. Drake figured since the skin was so tough that it would create a decent makeshift backpack.
Drake traveled through the delta occasionally poking around to see if he could find any deposits of coal. Since the delta was continually washing away the ground and the northern side near the forest was in close proximity he was hoping coal would surface. He didn't get his hopes up because usually coal is found deeper in the ground. Although his luck has been good with iron and copper, those can be found in caves on the surface.
The first time over Drake didn't find any but his purpose wasn't to collect coal at the moment. He walked up to trees and using his sword edge began to chop pieces away. Drake's goal was to collect enough wood that he could use to make tiny strands and twist them together to make a makeshift rope to tie the wolfskin together.
After a few hours he completed his task and made his way back. This time he decided to go to farther up the delta near the river and walk around the sides of the forest before completely returning. Scouring the area for awhile he came upon another cave. There was small dark, black markings and when checking it out he found small deposits on the lowest possible level of the cliff in front of him.
'Guess I really am lucky! The rocks have been eroded to the point that sunken debris from thousands of years ago is getting exposed. Although this is surface level I at least have an idea where coal could be. Thankfully this being a delta, wood and other organisms have been depositing for ages.'
Drake needed his bag first so he set off back to the camp. Once he arrived he immediately got to work. Traveling upstream would be more difficult so if he found something he would need later on collecting it into his bag would be a big help.
Poking holes, cutting in different directions, and then folding it up Drake had a simple bag that looked almost like a grain bag with an open top. With straps interweaved he tossed it on his back and made his way up the river.
After traveling about a kilometer up the river Drake came across a beautiful sight. A quick decline of the river where the water overflowed large rocks creating stunning, small white waterfalls. It was only a few meters in height but the sheer amount made it mystical. A thin line of mist coated the surface of water making it hard to see the river below. Plants grew abundant around and on top of some the rock formations flourishing with life. Flowers, trees, and even grass could be seen. Drake guessed if there was ever an immortal in this world, here is where they would choose to live. It had an heavenly aura meant for only immortals, gods, or goddesses.
Drake was enraptured with the sight and basked in the immortal scene. It could have been minutes or hours but he did not know. Drake enjoyed nature but right now his success on finding more resources was key. He went in the southeastern direction from the heavenly waterfalls towards the mountain.
The cliff face and the ground almost did a ninety degree angle but was separated by deep grooves under the face of the cliff. Drake took his time inspecting this area. At one point he noticed a blue gap. Something Drake found inconspicuously odd for this kind of area. He started to remove the rocks as the hole began to glow more. Slowly but surely he could see down the into the blinding light. As he stepped back to regain his senses the stone underneath cracked.
'Crunch-crunch-crack~!'
The stone underneath his feet broke and he fell down the hole slamming into multiple different jutting rocks scraping his skin.
"Arrrgghhhh, shit."
Drake cursed as his body felt multiple points of pain. He was about to test the wolfskin meat to see if it would help but as he was opening his mouth he looked around him.
"GASP.... no fucking way!"
Mouth agape, eyes bulging out of their eye sockets, Drake dropped his food on the floor and jumped to his feet.
"Shiver me timbers!"
In front of him was thousands of heavenly, blue glowing crystals of all sizes. From fingertip size all the way to meter sized boulders! He could feel the energy oozing off them into the cave blessing his existence with Aether Energy. The cave was brightly lit up with stars of pure transparent blue rocks dotted around the cave. Some crystals were almost white while others had a deep blue hue to them with less transparency. Drake began to walk through with his crimson eyes wide open as the blue hue made them radiate a mysterious purple. He had no idea how far he walked into the cave but the crystals still remained in mass.
Drake was utterly dumbfounded. With this he could began his goal, to develop technologies this world has never seen before. The only thing he was missing was money. With his talk with Karn Drake knew that he just struck gold, no struck Aether!
"I-I am rich! No, no, no, no, rich is an understatement! I could make more then an empire from all these crystals! Hehehe~, this is it! Hahaha~ I can begin my experiments with no worry! There are so many head size crystals here I will never run out of material!"
Drakes had a vicious smirk to them as he reveled in the moment while his eyes flashed with a purple-crimson glow.