On the Third Layer of the Eternal Mineshaft sat the grand and majestic Clay City.
Aside from a few buildings used for housing, the ore warehouses numbered well over a hundred thousand.
Exploders queued up to blast rock, Recoilers carved tunnels from within the rock strata, Slimes dissolved rock and ore, Giant Birds served as transport helicopters, Mimics specifically targeted the glittering gems, and tens of thousands of industrious Mole Miners formed the main mining force.
The Varanium-Flame Giant Python wasn’t a real python, but a proud creation of the Clay God, Gelun.
Created from Varanium Ore and Flame Crystals, a Varanium-Flame Giant Python, when its body ignited and heated up, would produce a terrifying magnetic force. After the giant python slithered through the mineral soil, its entire body would be covered in countless pieces of ore, transforming it into an ore snake.
The various mineral-rich soils of the Earth Core layer were astonishingly abundant.
There were scorching lava layers, extreme frozen layers, barren dark soils, or the rumored Divine Soil of Eden that could double the yield of any crop.
The Earth Core World should have been a place of darkness and shadow.
But the multicolored ores, piled to the brim in Clay City and even overflowing outside onto the streets, lit this world as bright as a colorful polar day…
All the creatures of the Eternal Mineshaft dedicated almost their entire life’s energy and dreams to the mine, laboring busily year-round as if it were a single day.
Without a direct order, Spear and Shield would guard the Aether Gate all day, never leaving their posts.
Therefore, only Weilin, Shi Luo, and Mushroom had come down to the Mineshaft’s First Layer.
They hovered high in the void, looking down at the bustling scene below, like an ant nest.
At that moment, Weilin felt like a capitalist exploiting her workers. Kind as she was, a sense of guilt welled up in her heart.
A Giant Bird, its beak dragging a large bag of gold ore, flew past. It suddenly saw the Lord of the Mine and the two mighty Guardians right before its eyes. “Caw—” it cried out, its black-feathered wings folding inwards, preparing to perform a strange-looking salute…
Weilin raised her hand to greet it, but was stopped by Shi Luo’s outstretched arm.
But then, the bag of gold ore suddenly slipped from the Giant Bird’s beak, and the glittering ore rained down.
“Caw-caw—!!”
With a mournful shriek, the several-meter-long bird’s massive body shot downwards, chasing the falling ore, leaving a flurry of feathers in the air.
“Ah… shouldn’t we help it?” Weilin asked pitifully.
The Time Devourer loli shook her head coldly. “Hmph. It’s just a common ‘miner’ from the very bottom of the mineshaft. To be able to gaze upon Your countenance from so close is already a tremendous honor.”
“Mm… But it is still mining for me. Isn’t this a bit… wrong?”
“But someone has to do the low-level work, don’t they?” Shi Luo gave a cold hum. “…Besides, they aren’t without a chance to stand out.”
“The Eternal Mineshaft is filled with every precious ore found in the world, free for them to consume. A Slime can evolve into a Slime King. If a Mole evolves sentience, it can become an elder-level commanding role. After a Mimic evolves, it’s randomly teleported to an underground city on the surface for training… It’s precisely because the Eternal Mineshaft offers unlimited opportunities that they are willingly in Your service.”
“…Alright, I see.”
If they were willing, then there was nothing to feel guilty about.
Weilin nodded slightly, then her gaze turned cold. “Speaking of which, is Gelun slacking off again?”
“Master, that’s not the right way to put it. Would Master Gelun still be Master Gelun if He didn’t slack off?”
Mushroom seemed to be defending Him, but she was clearly just snitching.
She wanted to sow discord among all the other Guardians, one by one. That way, Master would belong to her alone.
“I shall wake Him.”
Shi Luo gave Weilin a slight nod, then turned her petite body to face the ore-lit Clay City below.
“Clay God—come out at once!”
The Time Devourer’s Mana reached a staggering 72,000, a level rarely matched by anyone close to Weilin. Right now, her vast, world-penetrating demonic voice boomed and trembled above Clay City.
As soon as Shi Luo’s voice fell…
“I… am… work… ing…!”
Immediately following, a voice, as heavy and ancient as ten thousand jun of rock, thundered from beneath the earth, equally deafening.
Weilin was almost moved into believing it.
But three seconds later…
“I… am… work… ing…!”
The exact same voice, with almost unchanged volume and tone, boomed from the ground once more.
“I… am… work… ing…!”
Every three seconds, with perfect precision.
“I… am… work… ing…!”
Again…!!
“I… am…”
The Mushroom Empress let out a cold laugh and unleashed her surging Mana. As her delicate, fine arm rose, the ground at the source of the sound suddenly quaked violently. Then, countless gigantic fungal organisms, magnified a hundredfold, burst through the earth. As they sent shattered soil and gravel flying, the flourishing cluster of fungal life also lifted up… a repeater the size of a villa.
?
He molded a repeater to slack off?! Weilin’s face turned green. She flung an Illumination Spell from a distance.
A blade of flame descended from the sky, cleanly splitting the giant repeater in two. It exploded in midair, ending the repeated message.
“The Eternal Mineshaft’s Lord has arrived! Clay God, come out!”
Shi Luo’s brows were deeply furrowed as she gave an even sharper reprimand. Though she was no God, she was once a master who controlled time, and her terrifying pressure was even greater than that of a true God.
The Eternal Mineshaft’s Lord has arrived…?
Finally.
With no excessively large tremors, a sixty-meter-long crack suddenly unzipped at the center line of Clay City. Then, the palm of a giant reached out.
This move… reminded Weilin of a certain man with a zipper-themed Stand ability.
About fifty meters tall, a clay giant composed of alternating rock and crystalline blue energy climbed out from the zipper-like crack, carrying the air of someone who’d just woken up. But facing Weilin, all that grogginess turned into the docile mumbling of a good baby.
“Master came at just the right time, gu… I was just about to get up and work, gu…”
Mushroom immediately pressed her nectar-sweet pink lips close to Weilin’s ear and whispered with seductive cunning, “Master dear, did You hear that! He’s still saying ‘gu’… If Master Gelun were just a little harder working—ate more, grew more flesh, molded more people—the land would have been dug hollow long ago. Yet He’s ‘gu-gu-ing’ all day! Is He the Clay God or the Pigeon God?”
Weilin was truly getting a headache. Aside from the astute and steady Time Devourer, none of the other Guardians gave her a moment’s peace…
“Gelun, relax. I’m not here today for a surprise inspection.”
Then, Weilin proceeded to tell the Clay God about the Aether Gate’s Advanced Technology.
“So, you can also put your Golem creation work on hold for now. After all, digging from the Earth Core all the way to the surface… it’s simply asking too much of everyone. Now that we have the Aether Wormhole, we can start formulating a plan to dominate the surface’s mineral resources.”
“I understand, gu…”
“If you understand, then stop saying ‘gu’!”
“I’ll go make the arrangements right away, gu…”
“Due to the interconnected nature of the wormholes, the existence of the Eternal Mineshaft might risk being exposed to the outside world. This matter is of grave importance. You will deliberate with Little Shi… with Chief Supervisor Time Devourer before making any arrangements.”
After speaking, Weilin flung out a ‘Vertical Aether Wormhole’ emitter. A wisp of pale-white light shot upward like a bolt of lightning.
“Since everyone is here, let’s test it directly…” Weilin raised her gaze, her eyes closely tracking the faint point of white light shooting straight upward. “I also want to know… exactly what kind of place lies on the surface, vertically aligned with the Eternal Mineshaft!”
