Nathan knocked on the door. A few moments later Frank opened it up and his eyes went wide. “You’re Nathan!”

Frank wrapped both of his arms around Nathan. “You saved my life. Fucking hell, I can’t ever repay you properly!”

Nathan couldn’t move his arms to hug him back, both pinned to his sides. “It’s alright there Frank. I did what anyone would do in the situation.” Nathan thought about it for a moment. “Well, anyone who actually cares about people and not money.”

Frank let Nathan go and took a deep breath. “What do you need? Money? A Geomancer? Sex? I can do whatever you need man.”

Nathan held up his hands to stop Frank in his tracks. “Woah, I don’t need anything. Well, none of those things, especially sex.”

Frank nodded. “Well what do you need? Name it and it’s yours.”

“Advice, and some information if possible. Geomancy, that’s Earth Magic right? Do you know much about gems by any chance?” Nathan asked.

“Do I? I plan on becoming a proper crafer once I hit level 20. I have a barely higher than average skill point gain per level. I have a half dozen books on the subject. Let me guess, you want some gems to enhance your casting?” Frank went to his bunk chest and pulled out a bag.

“I have a handful of small ones I use, but you can have them all. It’s worth it since you saved me.”

“I don’t need them- woah that’s a lot of gems.” Nathan saw a rainbow of colors inside the bag Frank held open. “How can you afford them all?”

“Oh I don’t buy them, I have a skill that lets me find gems in the ground. Well, it does more than that, especially with the Meta Magic skills, but that’s beside the point. I dig these up myself. When I need money I trade them in. It’s how our party does so well with only three people. We use items to fill in the gaps we can’t cover individually.”

Frank gestured to Nathan. “Number one being healing.”

Nathan nodded, doing his best to not drool over the gems. As a Doctor, he was no stranger to large amounts of money, even more so after all his debt was paid off. He had a few gold watches along with a few high quality life items in his house including his house as well.

“Listen, my group is going to the mines tomorrow, I need emeralds to help with my [Remove Poison] spell. I am more than willing to buy them off you, for a fair price of course.”

Frank nodded. “That’s smart, you know what happens when the Emerald is used up right? Poison Affinity Gems are highly illegal for a reason.”

“I have a book that covers it. Can I ask why they are illegal?”

Frank stood up so he could look Nathan in the eyes. “Affinity gems are used in crafting all the time. Slap the poison affinity gem into a dagger, and you can poison anyone, even those with high poison resistance skills. The higher the affinity the more potent the poison. Those types of gems are sought out by assassins. King Matrol does not want them in his kingdom if he can help it.”

Nathan felt a little surprised at that. He never would have expected to use the gem like that. Now after it was explained, it made perfect sense. He just assumed it was like Nuclear waste, something completely useless and just needed to be properly disposed of. “Well that explains it. Yes, I know the healer at the Clinic, Ragnork. He and I...know each other to say the least. I’ll give it to him if it goes all the way.”

Frank went back to his chest and started to rummage around. “Hold on a second. I can do you a better favor than this, what other spells do you have?”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because, I am going to do you a huge favor. I know you have the basic healing spell, Magical Healing Hands or whatever it’s called. What else do you have?”

“It’s [Healing Touch], I have [Cleanse] and [Invigoration Ray] which is just a ranged [Healing Touch].”

“That’s it? Holy fuck how did you save my ass?” Frank looked a little pale thinking about his near death experience. “No Tier 2 Healing spells either? Alrighty, what’s your weapon of choice.”

“Ahh, I don’t like fighting.” Nathan said, not wanting to answer.

Frank started to pull out small sticks and a couple other bags of gems. “Nonsense, every healer has a weapon, how else will you defend yourself. Let me guess, you are a wand guy.”

Nathan sighed. “I use a Spear. I don’t have any skills but the first one for it.”

Frank looked up slightly surprised. “Spear? A frontline Healer? Awesome! That puts a twist on it, but makes it easier. Okay, do you have your spear with you?”

Nathan held his hands up as a show. “Do you see a spear?”

Frank groaned in annoyance. “Bah, okay. Can you bring it to the workshops? No wait, shit, you are still Iron rank. Okay, do you know where the hallway to the Kitchens and the training grounds has the fork to go either way.”

Nathan nodded slowly, wondering if coming to Frank was a bad idea.

“Right good, meet me there. Don’t freak out when you see me though.” Frank took a bundle of supplies and ran out of his room, leaving Nathan alone.

“That guy is weird. But for some reason, I like him.” Nathan was interested in what Frank was going to do, so he went to grab his Spear from his own bunk.

He walked down the hallway to the fork and waited. He looked down all three paths waiting for Frank when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Ah shit!” Nathan cursed in surprise.

“I said not to freak out.” Frank was wearing different clothes, a leather apron along with a pair of fancy goggles were on his face. He held out his hand. “Spear?”

Nathan handed it to him slowly. “Where did you come from? I couldn’t see you coming down any of the hallways.

Frank pointed behind him. “Workshop area, Bronze ranks and higher only. Come back in the morning, and my payment for you saving my life will be finished.

Nathan was about to say something, but Frank disappeared into the wall. Nathan put a hand on it trying to follow. His hand made contact with solid wood. “Fucking magic, I hate it.”

With nothing else left to prepare, Nathan spent his evening back in the library going over more books. The Vitamancy book continued talking about applications of Healing magic and the different themed builds around them.

Nathan was surprised to read about certain front line tanks that healed themselves in fights against large and powerful monsters. Constantly enabling themselves to be bait and targeted so others can attack the monster without worry for fighting.

“That brings up a good question, why are there still monsters roaming about?” Nathan asked himself aloud.

If people have been doing this for years upon years, surely they would be extinct if not mostly wiped out. Especially near cities like this one. “Is it the Dungeon Cores? Brawn and the others mentioned that the slimes are made from them. So do the Spiders and other creatures get made the same way? Some sort of monster making factory that pumps them out. But how does it work?”

Nathan was starting to regret not picking the slime dungeon, but knew the group could always go there for the next mission. Plus, he still would rather not fight any slimes any time soon. “How does it know to make slimes? Can it choose? Does someone else change it? Where does it get the materials for making a slime?”

Nathan started to repeat a nast old habit of his, nail biting. He did it all the time in school when he was stuck in a loop of ‘whys’.

Why did this medicine work the way it does. Why does the body increase its temperature to fight off infection when the brain can’t handle high temps itself? The brain controls everything, so why does it risk itself like that?

Nathan chewed off the nail on his left thumb. “Why in deed.” His mind wandered to Earth's fictional stories. Monsters used to apparently roam all over the planet, and in some cases still do. Crocodiles, Tigers, the endless underwater species, even plants and bugs that could be seen as ‘monsters.’ Then there were the more fictional ones. Dragons, Harpies, Demons, Angels, Gods and super humans.

Nathan called over one of the Helper robots in the Library and asked for some books on the subject.

“I am sorry, but books on the Monster Cycle are limited to Steel ranks and higher.”

“What? Why! Ugh, any books about the Dungeon Cores and how they work?”

“Bronze rank at a minimum.”

“What about books on the different monsters in this world?”

“We have numerous books on the subject, and a few generalized glossaries that categorize the different species of Monsters that have been found throughout history. Would you like for me to fetch those for you?”

“No, I don’t care about that, not right now. What about books on why we haven't destroyed Dungeon Cores to stop the spawning of monsters?”

“Such a topic is mentioned throughout several books, with varying degrees of talk on the subject you request. Can you please narrow your search criteria.”

Nathan tried to think about it for a moment. “Any books with a timeline of history since the discovery of the first dungeon core?”

“Certainly, there are two. Shall I fetch them for you?” The Helper asked.

Nathan nodded and waited till he returned with his two books. The idea that he should do more to prepare for the mission tomorrow crossed his mind. A small ping of guilt came across him, and he sighed in defeat.

When the Helper returned Nathan sent the books back in favor of a book talking about the mine he is going to be exploring tomorrow. He was disappointed that no map was available, and the only information that he did find was that the mine was one of the main resources Twin Oak exports.

Not only was it known for its Shadow Affinity Gems, but the creatures as well. Spiders were one of the main creatures to find inside. Scorpions, Bats, and a slew of bugs are also inside. It is owned by a noble house, and hires out work forces to both mine and keep it clear of problematic monsters.

“Guess tomorrow is a two for one special.” Nathan thought to himself.

The mine itself has three main resources, but only well known for its Shadow Gems. The other two are: Copper and Lead.

“How big is this mine? How many monsters are we expected to kill there?” Nathan was starting to think this ordeal was bigger than he and the rest of the party could handle.

Nathan couldn’t find anything else useful and decided to call it a night. He took a few notes down of names and other information that would hopefully become useful tomorrow. Now all that was left is to welcome sleep.