Tunnel Rat

Milo logged into the game and emerged from his small tent. It was utterly dark in his camp. There was a slight glow that he recognized as part of the patterns on his watch lizard. He used his ring to start the tiny fire under his fondue pot. He noticed that the pot was suspiciously clean. His watch lizard gave him a look of total innocence, and then his long tongue darted out and dragged in a spider.

The lizard watched Milo as he washed the pot out and then added cheese to melt. When he saw the cheese, he leaned back and sat up like a dog, rolling his eyes. Since each eye could roll in a different direction, it was a bit unnerving. Milo tossed the lizard a bit of cheese and watched it jump and catch it in its mouth. Satisfied, the lizard lay down for a nap. Milo patted it on the head lightly. "You have a name, fella? What do I call you?" The lizard didn't seem to have an opinion on that. "Fine, I'll call you George. Good job, George, I'll call for you next time I'm in camp." George understood or seemed to. He stood up, yawned, and disappeared.

With a bit of melted cheese and bread, Milo was ready to begin exploring again. As he exited the back area of the tunnel, he got a system message asking if he would like to make this his camp. Milo hit 'yes' and felt excited. He was deep underground, living in a hidden cave, and couldn't be happier. Time to see how far this crack goes up.

Listening carefully, he heard nothing and began to scamper up the cable. After another 100 feet, he came to the top of the cables. The crevasse had gotten narrower and continued upward. Heavy timbers had been put in place across it both to provide walkways and to support the cables going down to the crude elevator. The cables were looped over large wheels and then threaded through a machine where they emerged on the other side and could be wound onto large drums. The machine must pull or lower the four cables simultaneously. There was a crank on one side with an assortment of gears. Anyone who could turn that crank would be stronger than 10 of Milo. On the other side, he saw where another machine had sat, probably the engine to drive the elevator.

He wondered what the dwarves uses for power. Coal? Wood? Some type of magic? In a world with spells that created lightning and fire out of nothing, a spell-driven power plant didn't seem farfetched.

On one side of the crevasse, there were extensive mines similar to what he’d seen lower down. After about 200 feet, only the main tunnel kept going. He followed it to a set of stone stairs mostly blocked with rubble and turned back. On the other side of the crevasse, there were a few long shafts dug. Milo saw what he thought were bits of ore in the walls. This area looked like it hadn't been worked and might be a decent spot to work on his mining and maybe make some money. He brought out his chest and took out ore sacks, his pick, and lantern, then dismissed it.

With the better light, he could see a seam of ore about 2 inches wide on either side of the tunnel. He swung his pick hard at the ore, and the pick went into the stone about 2 inches and stopped. After several more swings and a little work, he knocked loose a chunk of ore and examined it.

Deep Copper Ore

Medium Grade

You have earned five experience points in Mining and five experience in STR.

It was a start. He needed 50 experience or ten chunks of ore to hit level one in mining, which would also give him another point of STR. Maybe things would go a bit easier then. He wasn't really concerned about it. He had put in years of work in the real world, moving around machines, repairing systems, and spending hours fixing what he could. A little bit of grinding in a game was nothing compared to that. And he was making money at the same time.

Milo fell into a rhythm. Chnk...chnk...chnk....thunk. Three swings and a chunk or ore dropped down. He worked the seam from the top to the bottom, going in a foot. Then he had to widen the hole on each side so he could go deeper into the rock, following the seam of ore. After about 20 chunks had fallen, he saw a much brighter piece drop.

Deep Copper Nugget

High-Grade Metal

You have earned 25 experience points in Mining and 25 experience in STR

The nugget was almost entirely made of pure copper with few impurities. It was nice to see that something besides just ore was in the mines.

Chnk...chnk...chnk....thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk....thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk....Crack! He'd hit something different. Looking at the spot he'd hit, it looked like a copper egg. He was starting to reach for it when it cracked open, and a small copper-colored snake worked its way out of the egg and dropped to the ground. It was only a foot long.

Hatchling Copperhead

elemental

The snake coiled itself up into a small pile and stuck its tongue out. It was so cute! Milo wondered if he could tame it. He was pretty sure George liked cheese, and he ate any bug he could find. Milo didn't have any bugs, but he did have some cheese. He took out a small piece of his cheese from his pouch and held it out. The snake eyed him with suspicion, then eyed the food. It stuck out its tongue and licked the cheese.

"It's all yours, little guy, go ahead, eat it."

The copperhead launched itself at his hand and bit deep, sinking sharp fangs into the tender part between the thumb and his index finger.

Hatchling Copperhead bites you for 5 points of damage.

You have been poisoned!

You take 5 points of damage. Your Health: 250/260

"Ow, dammit, let go!" Milo danced around, trying to dislodge the snake. After biting him again, it dropped off to the floor. Milo looked at his hand. The area around the bite was turning green. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle as the snake bit him again.

Hatchling Copperhead bites you for 5 points of damage.

You have been poisoned!

You take 5+5+5 points of damage. Your Health 225/260

Milo jumped back. The copperhead hissed at him, sounding like a leaky steam valve. The pick would be hard to hit the snake with. He pulled out the machete instead. As the copperhead slithered forward, he brought the machete down on it, cutting it in two. The snake turned into some nasty-smelling green gas, leaving only a coppery-red nugget of metal where its head had been.

What a Meany! You killed a baby snake!

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

You receive High-Quality Pure Copper Nugget

Milo sneered at the message. Guilty? The little shit had disdained his offering of food and then bit him three times. It earned that death! And it was still hurting him!

Milo continued to take damage as his hand and ankle swelled up, and the skin turned green. The messages and damage stopped after a few more. All told, the three hits and poison had done 90 damage in total. That was horrible! He'd almost been killed by a baby snake.

Too late, he remembered someone in the guild hall saying to be careful about copperheads. He hadn’t known what a copperhead was at the time. The next time someone said, "Be careful about..." he promised that he'd ask questions and pay attention.

Time for cheese. He was hungry, and it would help with recovering his health. He wasn't going to keep mining with a throbbing hand and a swollen ankle. No more snake taming! Unless maybe he could put it in a cage somehow? After a very large lunch of some nice camembert and a slice of edam, he took a quick nap. Nothing killed him while he slept, and he awoke feeling quite a bit better.

He was definitely going to need more cheese. This stuff was great! Tasty food and it increased his health and healing rate and made him stronger! He got back to his mining, being more careful about what he was hitting. The little egg had a very thin shell that crumbled in his hand. Hopefully, he could spot the next one and avoid hitting it.

Chnk...chnk...chnk....thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk....thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk....Milo continued to expand the opening and follow the vein of deep copper into the side of the tunnel. Each sack held about 50 chunks of ore, and he'd almost filled the first sack entirely when he pulled down some ore and rock to reveal a bright vein of pure copper. If a small nugget was valuable, this much was going to keep him in cheese for a month.

That was when things went bad. The coppery vein seemed to pulse and shift. Milo scrambled backward immediately, hoping that this wasn't another elemental. Which, of course, it was.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker Level 3 (fast, poisonous, elemental)

mature elemental

Shit! Milo fired off a Bone spike immediately and followed up with a skull.

Bone Spike has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker for 50 points - 10 points (armored skin). Health: 260/300

The elemental was just done forming and hadn't moved yet when the Bone Spike hit it. It snapped at the protruding bit of bone. The skull bounced up to rest against its gleaming hide. Milo had leaped to the side immediately after the throw, getting out of the mouth of the narrow crevice.

The snake whipped around the corner. Milo slammed down Shadowblight, trying for a shot to its head. His attack just barely missed as the snake dodged to the side. The elemental lunged forward, sinking a fang into his leg and retreating. Milo had tried to dodge, but the thing was coming at him too quickly. He fell backward in a roll, coming to his feet and firing another Bone Spike

Exploding Skull has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker. The shrapnel from the blast bounces in the enclosed space doing double normal damage. First hit: 80-10=70 damage. Second hit: 100-10=90 damage. Total damage 160 points.

Health: 100/300

Copperhead Vein-Lurker is angry and is going to swallow you whole and slowly digest you

Fast as lightning, the snake struck at him, biting his leg, which immediately started swelling and turning green. This snake’s venom was much stronger than the hatchling.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker bites you for 30 points of damage. You take an additional 30 damage from poison!

Your Health: 200/260

His second Bone Spike missed; the snake was better at dodging than he was! The elemental struck again, and he swung with Shadowblight, trying to at least knock it off course. His weapon hit the snake’s head, but with the haft, doing no damage, but at least he wasn't bitten again. But the poison did another 30 damage to his health. A second bite would leave him dead for sure!

The snake was coiling for another attack. Milo tossed the last skull he had handy.

Exploding Skull has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker. Damage 100-10=90

Health: 10/300

So close! Can the youthful challenger take down the veteran elemental?

The blast disrupted the Copperhead’s strike and wounded it badly. Milo swung with his weapon, trying for a hit. He had a better chance, with the snake momentarily stunned. He still missed! The snake didn't.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker bites you for 30 points of damage. You take an additional 30 damage from poison!

Health: 75/260

Bad news, fans! Our boy seems to be on his way down! Are we seeing a Copperhead comeback?

The poison was burning in his wounds, and his vision was bleary. He'd dropped his weapon somewhere...In desperation, Milo leaped onto the elemental and clawed at it, his tail slapping down on its head.

Here it is, folks! The rat is striking. He's going for the throat. Can he pull it off?

Tail slap fails to wound Copperhead Vein-lurker.

Weak Claw fails to wound Copperhead Vein-lurker.

Weak Claw...critically hits Copperhead Vein-lurker. You have slain the Copperhead Vein Lurker! Maybe there is some mongoose blood in you somewhere.

You have earned 500 experience that may be applied to any of the following skills: Bone Casting, Small Blades, Acrobatics, and Dodge. You may apply an equal amount of experience to the stats that govern those skills.

You have earned five Enhancement Points. Base 3 points + 2 points for a creature over your level with special abilities.

Speaking of special abilities...like poison...

You have taken 60 damage from poison...

You have taken 60 damage from poison...

You have died.

Don't despair. Death in Genesis is not permanent. If you were a permanent resident of the world, you would receive time to reflect on your errors in life, receive counseling, and take a refreshing walk out of the underworld. Some people are back quickly. Some take years. And some decide to spin the wheel and incarnate as something new.

As a visitor from another world, you have different options:

-Hang around in a cloudy gray area playing video games. You'll like Tetris, I bet.

-Log out and go back to your boring life.

-Retire to your personal room, which in your case is your Arcane Library.

Oh, and congratulations on getting to Level 2!

Milo was a bit disappointed. He knew he wasn't a great fighter. That wasn't where his skills lay. Still...a snake? He'd died to a snake? That just felt wrong somehow. He consoled himself with the thought that the snake had died first.

He logged out to go check on his systems and see how much fun Kaminski was having. Sydney wasn't even waiting to ambush him; she was much too busy dealing with the chaos Milo had inflicted on the world.

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