I turned and asked the girls what they could do.
"U-um, I can cook..."
"Y-yeah, I know how to do housework."
"S-same..."
What a conservative society.
It seemed that these girl mummies were mostly taught how to be housewives or maids or something along those lines. Granted, in terms of aesthetics, they were relatively cute. I didn't exactly have many jobs for them to do but I'm sure I'd be able to get some use out of them.
As smoke filled the air, I looked at the steaks which had finished cooking.
"Well, we can discuss this later, are you guys hungry?"
They all nodded their heads. I took the meat off of the cooking station and passed them to each of the hungry mummies and Chloe.
They quickly dug into their meals and began chomping down on the steaks.
"So Chloe, you think we can fit five mummies in your hut?"
"Huh?" She was still chewing on some food in her mouth, "why all of them in my hut? Don't tell me that you want to sleep with me~"
"I'm afraid I was thinking more along the lines of you sleeping with them."
"Aw~ I'd be down to sleep with you."
"I'm fine."
"Hehe, well on a serious note, I don't think they'll all fit I'm afraid."
"Ugh, I guess we'll split them then."
"Okie~"
With the sleeping arrangements sorted, I finished my food and set up my Minions to stay on watch during the night. I noticed that one of my Scout Minions had died during the day, it seemed that even with escorts, my Minions were still being harassed. There wasn't a great deal I could do without fighting them all out.
Now that I thought about it, the name 'Kidnappers' wasn't really all that accurate for the people who kept on attacking my Minions. I guess I'd call them the 'Cloaks' since they all seemed to wear black hoodies.
Anyways, after setting up my Minions, I decided to call it a day.
I had more grinding to do the next day.
*
When I woke up, I looked down at the two boy mummies who were sleeping in my hut.
I couldn't really be bothered to deal with them so I left them for Chloe.
I stretched a little as I got up from my bed and made my way to the rustic old door. I was greeted by the soft, mild sunlight as I took a breath of fresh air.
Another day, another six hours of mining.
Slowly, I began trekking through the forest once again. My body wasn't as sore as yesterday, it seemed that it was slowly adjusting to the hard labour. After a few minutes of pushing through grass, branches and leaves, I made it all the way to the mountain for the third time.
Now, every single rock I gathered would be used only to craft my demonic weapon. I took my pickaxe out of my inventory and raised it. Staring down at the dull, grey rockface, I swung my enchanted {Silver Pickaxe} with my entire body, slamming it into the stone. Dust filled the air and littered the ground as I collected the rocks.
{+2 rocks}
{+2 rocks}
{+1 rocks}
{+1 rocks}
Again, I planted my feet on the ground and raised my pickaxe, the fresh day meant that I had more than enough energy to swing the pickaxe a few times. With no fatigue in my arms, I swung the pickaxe again, smashing the hard yet brittle stone of the mountainside.
{+2 rocks}
{+3 rocks}
{+1 rocks}
{+3 rocks}
Ah, how satisfying it was.
I raised my {Silver Pickaxe} again. Two swings in, I still had plenty of energy, with the strength in my arms, I swung the relatively light pickaxe and it crashed into the stone. The waterfall of dust and stone fragments raining onto the ground was great motivation for me to keep going. I continued swinging, slamming the stone wall more and more times.
After almost an hour, my arms had begun to fatigue and my swings were getting more and more lethargic. I decided that it was time for a break so I took a seat on a smooth, large rock on the ground. I looked around at the dark green trees and occasional birds which flew by. Now that I looked at it like this, this new place wasn't all that bad. Taking a breath of crisp, cold air into my lungs, I exhaled, letting my worries float away.
After a few minutes, I stood up again. It was time to continue mining away at this infinite stone wall. Like a waterwheel, my pickaxe swung, hitting the stone over and over, eventually, the ground was covered by another entire layer of grey. I continued to fill my inventory with rocks until I couldn't anymore.
In over two hours, I had collected just over two thousand rocks. Opening my crafting menu, I crafted the rocks into two pieces of {Ultra-hardened Stone} before I took out my pickaxe again.
I still had plenty of hours to go. I could likely continue mining for over six hours today as the sun had just barely reached the middle of the sky. I wanted to get the new weapon sooner so I could wield it against stronger enemies.
After almost another hour of continuously swinging the pickaxe, my arms were really struggling once again. I still could only go on for so long before my arms physically couldn't continue swinging. A short break usually was enough to regain most of the energy but as the day went on it was obvious that my gathering rate was decreasing.
Despite that, I was getting quite a large amount of stone. I had gathered three {Ultra-hardened Stone} in total and it was just barely past midday.
Feeling that the strength had returned to my arms, I pulled myself up and began mining again. I felt like during the last few days, I had worked out my arms as hard as a professional body-builder, at this rate, I'll be much stronger without even participating in any direct combat.
With more motivation at hand, I continued to mine away at the rock wall.