"Can you use magic to make this boat smaller?" Ben asked, eyeing the tunnel ahead. The boat barely had enough space to squeeze through. They could try maneuvering it, but there was a huge chance they'd get stuck.
After passing the narrow tunnel, they would enter a massive open area. Calculating the mana she would need, Elvira gave a nod. "Since it's not for long, I should be able to do it." She then raised her palm.
Ben sighed and pulled out another white gemstone, grumbling internally. 'Why even bother calculating when you're just going to ask me for another gemstone in the end!?'
Elvira took the gemstone with a gleeful expression before starting to cast her spell. A magic circle appeared over the device on the boat. "Compactus!"
A surge of magic burst forward, enveloping the entire boat. A moment later, a creaking sound filled the air as the boat started shrinking. It didn't change much—only about 15%—but that was enough to get them through the tunnel. 'Seems like casting this spell takes almost all of her focus,' Ben noted. From her expression, he could tell she couldn't be disturbed. At the same time, Elvira also boosted the boat's speed to ensure they passed through quickly.
The moment they exited the tunnel, Elvira dropped to her knees, breathing raggedly. Sweat covered her face as the boat returned to its normal size. They drifted toward the entrance of the ruin, where a solid surface awaited them. Even the ground was made of the same white gemstone, but Ben had no interest in digging through it right now. That was the only place they could stand. Walking beside Elvira, he took out a handkerchief. "Here."
"Thanks," Elvira replied, using it to wipe her face. She felt a bit bewildered—where the hell did Ben even get this? But she didn't ask. There were more important matters at hand. "My beloved, that's the entrance to a ruin."
Ben followed her gaze. "That? It's just some weird carvings. Don't tell me you can activate it and teleport yourself inside."
"Yes, you're right."
'So it's like a dungeon…' Ben thought to himself.
"The moment we enter, we won't be able to leave unless we find another exit."
"Are there any limitations like how many can enter? Also, can you figure out how big the dungeon is?" Ben was already planning to create a bunch of krell soldiers to help explore. The more, the better. That would increase their survivability inside.
"Give me some time," Elvira replied while catching her breath. She jumped down from the boat and placed her palm over the carvings.
Ben and his krell soldiers also disembarked. He ordered them to guard the boat since he didn't want to store it in his inventory. Right now, he only had four empty slots left, with the other six already filled.
As he waited for Elvira, Ben took out his pickaxe and started mining the white gemstones. Each strike against the stone made him grin.
[Ding! You obtained 13x White Gemstone!]
[Ding! You obtained 12x White Gemstone!]
[Ding! You obtained 18x White Gemstone!]
'Mining on the source gives really different results.' Based on pure math, he should have gotten more—each block was 1x1 meter—but the outcome was still amazing. Who knew where the rest went? Maybe the corrupt system was taking a cut, or heck, maybe the author was just too lazy to use large numbers and calculate proper sizes??
Anyway, the results were satisfying. In a short period, he had already tripled the number of white gemstones in his inventory. Ben than stopped mining, as Elvira start to speak. "We can enter with four people. Better to make more krell scouts, my beloved. I cannot determine the size inside, so it's better to be safe."
"Does the dungeon have other limitations? Can I use my abilities inside? If yes, I'll just create them in there."
Ben purpose were to find out the size inside first so he can choose which one to create, but Elvira's eyes lit up as an idea struck her. "If it works, we can probably exploit this. The limitation on people only applies when entering. You can create more inside as long as your ability isn't sealed. But honestly, I've never heard of ruins that seal artifact abilities."
"That's great. You should rest first. Use the white gemstones to recover your mana." Ben planned to mine more white gemstones to make sure he had enough stockpile inside. But before he could move, Elvira raised her palm again.
"Just use the ones from before. You still have plenty left. It should be enough for you to recover."
Her gaze remained firm, her palm still extended. "Stingy husband! You have so many, and you're still so stingy!"
Ben's lips twitched. He didn't even have the energy to complain about her calling him 'husband,' nor to argue whether it meant the same thing to him, a human, as it did to her, an Aetheris. He just tossed another white gemstone into her hand. Her expression instantly softened into a warm smile as she happily sat cross-legged and started meditating.
'That change in mood… One thing's for sure, Aetheris women aren't much different from us humans,' Ben thought as he returned to grinding for white gemstones. His goal was to fill two full stacks—around 1,800 white gemstones.
It didn't take long for him to fill those stacks, leaving him with only four slots left in his inventory.
Ben then pulled up the creature creation screen and started modifying the krell scout. He replaced their chitin armor with the one he got from the Ant King. 'This should do.'
[Processing… Making final adjustments and calculating final cost…]
[Krell Scout | Complexity: 12 | Cost: 426 Mana, 300 Biomass]
Seeing the numbers, Ben raised an eyebrow. His last creation was way cheaper than this. A large krell soldier had only cost him 276 mana and 320 biomass. But this one—426 mana for a smaller unit???
'How the hell does the smaller one cost more? Shouldn't the bigger creatures be more expensive!?'