Chapter 42: Descending into the Mine

[Control Flames], an evocation cantrip.
After casting, a small ball of fire appears in the palm of the caster. This flame can last for 10 minutes and provide bright light sufficient for reading and writing within a range of about six meters in diameter.
This flame causes no harm to the caster or to the items held on the caster's person, and once thrown by the caster, it bursts forth with a pop upon the impact surface.
"As for its power..." At this point, Paul paused to think: "If it hits a goblin, regardless of whether it strikes the head, torso, limbs, or thighs, it is dead for sure.
And if it hits an ordinary human, as long as that person is not wearing armor, even if they miraculously survive, they will be burned beyond recognition. Without prompt medical attention, they will most likely not make it."
With that, he cast a look at Li Rui filled with envy and jealousy.
He had served as a druid apprentice for three years before receiving the first spell granted by nature.
Yet Li Rui had wallowed in luxury in the town for three days, taken a nap on a thatched roof, and acquired a spell...
Looking at Li Rui's beaming, cheerful face, Paul could only curse the heavens for being so blind as to let a fellow like this stumble into such good fortune!

When they climbed down from the thatched roof and shared this good news with their teammates, the reactions of the others were much the same as Paul's initial response.
The least dramatic reaction came from Millie; she merely widened her pale green eyes and stared at Li Rui with an expression of envy.
Brook's reaction was moderate. He rolled his eyes and then turned his head away, unwilling to look at Li Rui's happy, smiling face any longer.
The most violent reaction came from Galon. The barbarian walked straight up to Li Rui, hoisted him up with a hand as broad as a palm-leaf fan, and began rubbing him back and forth against his own body as if he were holding an oversized bath sponge!
"Hey! Galon! What the hell are you doing?!"
The "bath sponge" kicked his legs in vain, letting out squeals of protest like a slaughtered pig, yet his strength was completely crushed by the barbarian, leaving him to wave his limbs helplessly and beg the others for rescue.
"You brat must have crawled right through the Goddess of Luck's underpants, and she probably pissed all over your face," Galon said with a deadpan, booming voice. "I need to rub some of that pee off on myself."
"Goddamn savage!"
If all barbarians behaved like this, Li Rui could only say that the savages in this world damn well deserved to be lifelong losers!

………………

After the laughter and horseplay subsided, the group engaged in a warm-up morning exercise, followed by breakfast before leaving Thatched Pot Village.
For the next three days, they maintained this exact rhythm.
Warming up in the morning, hitting the road after breakfast, taking shelter from the sun during the midday rest, and training intensively at night. Barbarians like Galon and Li Rui even had to undergo extra training involving boiling water and the Ice Cone spell.
A barbarian's physical recovery ability was extremely high; having boiling water splashed all over his body at night, he would shed a layer of dead skin by morning, and his new skin's resistance to high temperatures would increase just a fraction more...
Meanwhile, Li Rui was gradually growing accustomed to his [Spell-like Ability: Ice Cone]. After three days of practice, his ice cones could consistently hit the target within ten meters.
The [Ice Cone] was rated as a 1st-level spell, and its power was vastly superior to [Control Flames], which was merely a cantrip.
Struck by an [Ice Cone], even if one were wearing armor, as long as that armor lacked defensive enchantments, the person could be considered dead for certain.
Without immediate treatment from a priest, within ten seconds, the fellow hit by the [Ice Cone] would turn into a frozen chunk of meat.

Aside from becoming slightly more proficient in his spells, Li Rui's marksmanship had also improved somewhat under Millie's instruction.
When he had first acquired the light crossbow, it took him about three shots to hit the target within ten meters; now, that had steadily improved to hitting the target twice within ten meters.
As for his halberd...
Even the captain of the Golden Wheat Town guard who had helped him choose the weapon earlier had only thought that with this thing in hand, he could effectively judge the distance to enemies.
As for dealing damage, he shouldn't even bother dreaming about it. If he could jab a few times to rack up a bit of damage, great; if he missed, it wouldn't affect much anyway, since a sorcerer would never lack teammates.

In short, after three days of travel, they arrived at their destination: Copper Mine Town.
Upon entering Copper Mine Town, they immediately noticed the expressions of worry etched on the people's faces.
After making some brief inquiries, the group learned the reason behind it.
Unsurprisingly, it was all because of the mind flayers.

Upon deciding to evacuate, the civilians of Golden Wheat Town, Sentry Town, Blackrock Town, and the villages along the route had all begun migrating rearward.
Although the Golden Wheat Plain behind the three towns was only a small plain, it still supported tens of thousands of humans.
With the Golden Wheat Plain suddenly becoming indefensible, this crowd of tens or even over a hundred thousand people flooding toward the rear caused the prices in Copper Mine Town to skyrocket crazily, plunging everyone's standard of living.

Regarding this matter, the five members of the "Claw of the Earth" party had no solution. They could only feel grateful that before setting off, Guild Master Nova had gifted Li Rui a carriage. Now they possessed a whole carriage full of various supplies, so they didn't need to waste their hard-earned money here in Copper Mine Town.

Since they would be descending into the mine shafts to fight next, the group unanimously decided to temporarily store the carriage and some of their supplies at the local temple.
The temple in Copper Mine Town belonged to Moradin, a dwarf god.
"Speaking of which..." Li Rui stood at the entrance of the dwarf god's temple, looking at the gleaming golden bronze structure, and asked with some puzzlement, "Why is there a temple of the dwarf god in human territory?"
Paul shrugged and countered with a question: "Do you know of any human deity who specifically protects miners?"

Li Rui's knowledge of the world's deities entirely stemmed from [Jaye's Memory of Common Speech], but Jaye himself hadn't known many deities, so naturally, he didn't know the answer to Paul's question either.
"Well there you have it. Miners always need to find a god who can bless them, don't they?" Paul ended the topic and was the first to step into the temple.

Upon entering, Paul approached the temple priest to explain that his group had come to Copper Mine Town to clear out the undead in the mine, hoping to temporarily store their horses and carriage at the temple. He also indicated that the temple was free to use the horses during this period, provided they weren't worked until thin or injured.
"You've come at just the right time," the priest of the dwarf temple readily agreed. "The miners of the Amos Mine have been panic-stricken lately and none dare to go down into the mines. With so many refugees flooding into the town, food shortages mean supplies have to be hauled from elsewhere. Having an extra horse means we can transport quite a bit more grain."

Having the horses put to work hauling grain was considered a good thing; at least the large beasts wouldn't starve while hauling supplies, and no one would be bold enough to steal livestock belonging to the temple's grain transport team.
After settling the horses, all five of them shouldered large packs and walked toward the local adventurers' guild.