"I knew you would agree," Yve said with a smug smile on her face as she clasped her hand behind her head and walked behind Aksel observing his sulking shoulders.
"You don't really have any other option besides this. Living with a parasitic brand makes everything so much easier," Mort added trying to uplift his friend's mood.
Aksel had agreed to get the brand but there was a pricking in his heart that still made him slightly uncomfortable to kill someone to get it. Turning to look at his shaggy-haired friend who was smiling at him and a mocking look from Yve made him feel jealous of how relaxed and in control of their senses they were.
'You have to kill if you want to live.' That is what Krentis had told him and he agreed with him completely and yet….
"I don't fucking care about how you are feeling but can you stop looking so depressed! We all had to go through this at one point in our time. You should better get used to it!" Renee's voice startled him and turning to look at the bleached beauty beside Yve scowling at him, he gave her an apologetic look. She had only ever teased or flirted with him so to hear her scold him was a different kind of new that had not only shocked him out of his senses but also the other two members of the small group.
Noticing their gazes on her and especially Mort's impressed look she huffed and looked away as she muttered, "I can't believe I have to accompany you, kids, when I could have gone to the city with the others to steal some clothes that I like."
Rolling his eyes at her expression Mort realized the reason behind her grumpy yet wise words and clicking his tongue he couldn't help but comment, "What use would it be to get some nice clothes you would still look as unappealing as you usually do."
It was a mystery to both Mort and Yve as to why the ever-friendly and nicest goofball in the entire world was always such a jerk to her. They wondered what could have transpired between them to have this animosity crackling every time that they encountered each other.
Knowing that if Aksel didn't intervene then their fight would continue to transpire for the whole of that day he said, "Hey, where did you say was that mine again?"
That brought Mort's attention to him instantly and Yve catching the hint started a conversation with Renee who although glared icily at Mort found her attention grabbed by her topic of conversation and started telling her all about the high-end fashion in the city.
Looking around the barren land outside the city of Novus that they had been walking on Mort looked around for a little bit and then spotting something he said, "You see those uneven rock structures in the distance, it's just there. We enter the mines from there."
Although the land surrounding Novus looked almost similar in its barren coarse texture and no life forms Aksel had started understanding the different layouts and places a little better now. They had entered the city by the gate that had been situated on the south of the city. The forest was located on the east and the mines were located on the west.
The west part of the land was slightly rocky in comparison to the other sides and kicking a stone Aksel felt his spirits lifted by a little as he remembered the reason for his arrival at the mines.
He was going to find the material needed to make his weapon.
Looking at the sword on Mort's shoulder Aksel remembered the green glow of the lethal weapon and unable to stop himself he asked, "Are you sure that these mineral stones are strong enough to make a weapon?"
"Edurus that's what we call the stone and it is stronger than any material in this world. It is even stronger than diamond," Mort scoffed laughing at the disbelief that was clearly there on Aksel's face.
"But if it's so strong then why didn't the System use it? I haven't seen any Contrivos with equipment made out of these stones," Yve quipped from behind, having given that topic some thought on her own as well. She was to get a weapon too and she had been excited about the prospect of a new staff that would be easier and deadlier to handle.
"This is another one of the System's mysteries but since none of us have any recollection of the mention of this stone or any such other thing similar to it in our memories we can only come to this conclusion that the System is unaware of its existence," Renee added in, feeling slightly left out from the group even though she had been reluctant in joining them herself.
"But is that even possible? After all, the unbelievable things that the system has obtained, is it probable that they didn't come against it?" Aksel asked to no one in particular as he brainstormed on his own.
"Anything is possible in this world. It could be that the System itself had only ever focused on the things inside the city and never bothered to look much around. To say the truth who would expect to find such treasured stones in a place like this?" Mort said spreading his hands around as he pointed to the vast expanse of nothingness that loomed around them.
The twinkling lights of the city were too far from where they were and it would make sense if the system had never traveled this far to look at an uncultivated land with rocks scattered around when they could be developing and mind-controlling their puppets for whatever twisted reason that they were doing it for.
"Well, you should better stop thinking about that and just focus on finding the perfect stone for your weapon," Renee said closing the topic. She didn't like thinking much about matters that usually didn't seem to have a proper answer.
Dropping the topic Aksel noticed that they were now just a few steps away from the mine and suddenly asked a question that struck him, "Are there any dangers in there?"
He visibly saw Mort cringe at his question and barely meeting Aksel's eyes he said, "Let's hope we don't greet any dangers. I have only ever heard about them and they don't sound so good."
The elusive answer was alarming and squeezing his brows together he was about to ask again when Yve huffed, "Oh what were you expecting anyway? We are going to go underground. Layers below the mud, there are bound to be some kind of shit crawling inside."
Scowling at her he was about to cross-question her when he heard Mort call them over to a huge rock that he pointed at with a smile, "This is it."
Moving it to the side with a little effort and help from Renee the rock revealed a dark tunnel with nothing in sight. Lighting the headlight strapped to his forehead Mort angled his head to let it shine down to reveal a ladder fixed to its wall for people to climb up and down into the tunnel.
"That looks creepy as fuck," Yve muttered peering in with her own headlight but the base of the tunnel was not visible to her.
"Are you sure it's even safe to go in?" Aksel asked as he looked at the bottomless pit wondering what creature would be standing there at the end of it ready to devour them.
"Honest answer, no but you aren't really safe anywhere in this world unless and until you stay cooped up in the base," Mort answered patiently, understanding the emotions Aksel must be going through as he himself had been there a year back.
Aksel couldn't agree with that option and besides his curiosity for this new place and his excitement for his new weapon far exceeded fear and nodding at him Mort muttered, "Everything would be good as long we don't get attacked by something halfway down this mine."
"That wouldn't be a problem. After landing down there has been a set of metal gates installed to ensure our safety to some extent," Renee filled in the remaining gaps in this story making the two new Rueses feel more at ease now.
Looking at the three of her companions she realized that the two new ones weren't as intolerable as Mort but this place wasn't her favorite place to hang out with acquaintances and the sooner they got their work done here the sooner she would be free from their grasp.
"Enough yapping," She, therefore, said as she switched her own headlight and started climbing down, "I am going in first, the two of you can follow next and Mort at last."