Chapter 66 – Let’s Gather Metal

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I activated the appraisal skill again, in order to find the precise location of different veins that were not iron.
Once I knew the location, the rest was much the same.

I asked Hippolius to break the rock walls.
And once we reached the vein, I just used the appraisal skill to grasp the composition, and then craft the ingots.

When extracting metals with a lower content rate than iron, the magic energy depletion was great.
However, what I was doing was still the same. And so I continued to mine more metal.

“Still…”
“Kyuo?”
“You sure have a lot of magic energy, Hippolius.”
‘A lot?’
“A lot more than I imagined.”

Hippolius had already fired numerous magic bullets, and crushed boulders for me.
After seeing how powerful they were, I had assumed that Hippolius would not be able to fire very many of them.
Even if Hippolius was a high-ranking dragon.

However, Hippolius continued to break the rocks with ease, while looking very energetic.
In spite of shooting dozens of magic bullets, Hippolius looked completely fine.

“You really are an amazing dragon, Hippolius. I can’t believe you are still a child.”
“Kyuoo! Kyuo!”

Hippolius wagged its tail happily.

Well, I could not fall behind.
If I could not crush the rocks, I would do my best to extract the metal and gather it.

Still, after continuing this for some time, I started to get tired.
I still had plenty of magic energy left, but my mind was growing tired.
Perhaps it was because I was memorizing compositions after using the appraisal skill.

‘Pii. Are you tired?’
“A little.”
“Pii.”

And then Pii, who was on my left shoulder, changed shape.
Pii then stretched along my neck, so that it was on both my left and right shoulders at the same time.
And then Pii began to move as if massaging my shoulders.
My sore muscles began to relax. It was also massaging my neck, which felt very nice.

‘Pii? How is it?’
“Ah, it feels good. You are very skilled at massaging shoulders, Pii.”
“Pii!”

Pii seemed very happy as it continued.

“Do you know a lot about massaging, Pii? Have you done it to humans before?”
‘No!’
“I see. That’s impressive.”
“Piii.”

And then Pii explained why it was good at massaging shoulders.
Apparently, when shoulders were stiff and sore, it affected the flow of magic.

“Now that you mention it, it is probably true.”
‘Massage that part!’

So Pii was looking at the flow of magic energy, and massaging the parts that were stagnant.
When using the appraisal and crafting skills, your shoulders get sore, even if you have good posture.
I did not know what the reason was.
However, it made sense, if you considered that the magic energy had become stagnant.

“That’s very interesting.”
‘Theodore. Do you feel better?’
“Aye. My shoulders feel much lighter. Once the soreness is gone, my brain also feels lighter.”
‘Good!’
“Thank you.”

I thanked Pii, causing it to jiggle happily.
And then Pii hopped over to the head of Hippolius, who was relaxing nearby.

‘Is Hippolius sore too?’
“Kyuo?”

Pii then began to move around on the confused head of Hippolius.

“Kyuoooo…”
Hippolius opened its mouth and closed its eyes.

“Does that feel good, Hippolius?”
‘It does!’
“I see. That’s good. Pii really is a skilled masseur.”
“Pii!”

I gently petted Pii, who was squeaking happily.
And while Hippolius was resting, I returned to my work of gathering metal.
After that, things continued very smoothly.
I suppose it was because Pii’s massage had taken care of my sore muscles.

“To think that sore muscles were affecting my work efficiency so much…”
‘Hippolius is also energized!’
“I see. Thank you, Pii.”
“Pii!”

When it was past midday, we were able to finish gathering all the metal that we needed.
I stored all of the ingots that I made in my magic bag.

“Our work is done!”
“Kyuo!”
“Pii!”
“Let’s eat a light meat and then go back.”
‘Eat!’
“Pii!”

The base was quite a distance away from us.
And there were no paved roads. So it would usually take about three hours to return on foot.
However, if we rode on Hippolius, we would likely be able to return in about twenty minutes.

“We could rush back to the base and eat there, but I also want to gather some edible plants on the way back.”

That would mean taking our time.
And so it would be better to just eat lunch here.

“Will you eat too, Pii?”
‘Eat!’

Pii replied energetically.
Eating wasn’t always necessary for Hippolius and Pii.
However, eating was one of their great pleasures.
It was like snacking for humans.

And since they had done so well, I wanted to reward them with some food.
And so I took out some grilled meat from my magic bag.

I then put them on two plates and placed them in front of Hippolius and Pii.

“Sorry that it’s just the usual meat.”
‘Delicious!’
“Pii!”

I watched as they ate the meat happily, and I ate some as well.

Next Chapter

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