Chapter 97: They Chose the Category Themselves

A few minutes later, Cassian stood before a gate of light in the Dwarven mountains.

It was several meters high, set into a cliff only a few kilometers from the Dwarven Royal Hall. Light rippled across its surface without spilling over the surrounding stone.

Cassian looked from the entrance to Elara.

"That’s beautiful."

"I made a short scouting run," she said. "It’s a single-Lord Resource Instance. Dwarven guardians. The entrance section wasn’t difficult."

An Instance was valuable even without a Fortune Duel attached to it.

Most had a Boss, usually less intelligent than a comparable enemy in the wild. Their other advantage was a dependable extra yield. Besides Battle Essence and Aether, their monsters might drop resources, Troop Sigils, or other rewards. Some simply packed far more monsters into the same space.

Lords named them after whatever they produced in unusual quantities. A Troop Instance yielded Sigils. A Resource Instance yielded materials.

And now one had appeared beside the Royal Hall.

"Wait here," Cassian said. "I’ll check the full route."

Only a Lord could lead a force into an Instance. He took the nine Eclipse Praetorians and his Legendary Hill King through the gate with him.

The cliff vanished.

They stood in an underground mine. Oil lamps hung along the walls, their weak light reaching just far enough to reveal the tunnel ahead. Several Dwarven miners worked at the rock, their picks ringing steadily.

This was a separate mirror of the mine. Another Lord entering from outside would find a similar space, with their own monsters to fight.

Cassian checked the nearest miner.

[Level 25]

"Clear it."

A Praetorian advanced. The miner had barely turned with its pick before her weapon struck it down.

[Your Eclipse Praetorian has killed a Dwarf Miner.]

[Battle Essence +25]

[Aether +3]

[Iron Ore ×5]

Cassian’s eyes went straight to the last line.

There it was. A fixed resource drop from an ordinary miner.

Elara really had found something good.

For most Lords, acquiring a Blueprint was only half the difficulty of building anything valuable. A steady source of high-quality materials could let them finish buildings they would otherwise leave waiting in their inventories.

This mine would still matter long after the Duel ended.

The Praetorians pushed deeper, with the Hill King following behind them. The Dwarves in their path fell quickly. Cassian took his time inspecting the branches and checking the drops, so it was ten minutes before they reached the deepest chamber.

The tunnel opened into a domed cavern roughly a hundred meters across.

More than a hundred monsters crowded the floor. At their center patrolled a heavily armored Ridgewarden, accompanied by two Longbeard Warriors and more than a dozen Dwarf Throwers.

[Ridgewarden | Level 30 | Epic]

"An Epic Boss in a mine this small?"

Cassian smiled.

The route was short, the ordinary monsters dropped materials, and there was an Epic reward at the end. This was going to be popular.

The Praetorians met the first rush. Their line held while the Hill King drove through the opening toward the Ridgewarden.

The Boss raised its weapon. A heavy warhammer came down against it, and the surrounding Dwarves staggered beneath the impact.

The fight ended soon afterward.

[Your Hill King has killed the Ridgewarden.]

[Battle Essence +30,000]

[Aether +2,800]

[Mithril Ore ×40]

[Mica ×40]

[Instance Exploration Complete]

A portal opened in the middle of the cavern. Beside it, the mine’s access rules appeared.

[Dwarven Mine]

[Maximum Entries per Lord: 5 per Realm Day]

[Daily Safe Capacity: 1,000 total entries]

[Exceeding safe capacity consumes the Instance’s remaining lifespan and may cause spatial collapse.]

"A thousand runs a day. Good."

The mine could support repeated use, but it could not take an unlimited stream of Lords without damage. A thousand entries was its safe daily limit.

Cassian checked the full collection report.

[Epic Resources: 98 units]

[Rare Resources: 250 units]

[Refined Resources: 730 units]

[Common Resources: 2,800 units]

At the familiar weights of a thousand, a hundred, ten, and one point per unit, that was 133,100 Resource Points from a single run.

The Duel would settle three days later at noon. That left parts of four calendar days in which to use the mine’s daily allowance. If Elara filled all four quotas before settlement, the mine alone could contribute more than half a billion points.

Cassian gave a pleased laugh.

"Even without my share, we’d have a fair chance now."

He led his troops through the exit portal.

Elara was waiting beside the cliff. Her eyebrows rose when she saw him.

"Finished already? That was fast."

Cassian gave her a look.

"You could sound a little less surprised."

"I was expecting to wait longer."

He sent her the mine report, then rested a hand briefly on her shoulder.

"Selecting Lords for the runs and keeping the queue moving—that’s important work. I need someone capable."

Elara looked at his hand, then at his face.

"And you’re about to tell me how capable I am."

"Very."

"So you can hand it over and leave."

"You make it sound as though I have nothing else to do."

She gave him a flat look, but began reading the access limits.

"Are we charging for entry?"

"A few dozen Aether a run would be reasonable. They get the materials, the Battle Essence, and the Aether drops. You found it—keep the entry fees for organizing the work."

"No. Put them in the regional fund."

Elara closed the report, her expression turning serious.

"If we send that many Lords through it, everyone will hear about this place."

"They already want the Royal Hall," Cassian said. "A Resource Instance won’t be the first valuable thing in these mountains."

"And it gives them another reason to come."

"They were coming anyway. Leave that part to me."

Kara’s reports were already clear enough. Black Banner was gathering some of the strongest forces in the Marches for a night attack on Riftward. The aim was to reach Cassian and kill him.

If they insisted on bringing their best forces to his doorstep, he would be glad to receive the loot.

——

Sable March had opened a commanding lead in Resource Points.

Then Riftward’s score began to climb much faster.

Run after run ended inside the Dwarven Mine. Ore and other materials entered inventories, and the new gains appeared immediately on the Duel board.

Within an hour, Riftward overtook Sable.

The Shattered Marches Channel erupted.

[Anonymous Lord: Riftward’s ahead? Already?]

[Anonymous Lord: They found a Resource Instance. In the Dwarven mountains.]

[Darian Frost: I only asked. I didn’t think one would actually appear.]

[Mira Calder: Sable chose Resource Acquisition. They chose it themselves.]

[Anonymous Lord: Three choices, and they picked the one with his new mine.]

Even Black Banner’s own Lords joined in.

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Whose decision was that?]

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Sable’s finest judgment. Again.]

The replies made their way back to Varek and Nadia. Nadia had argued for Troop Power, and reports soon spread that she had made sure Varek remembered it.

The mockery only made their anger worse.

Sable kept mining.

——

The next morning, the board showed a different kind of contest.

[Riftward | Resource Points: 350,000,000]

[Sable March | Resource Points: 290,000,000]

At Forgotten Shrine, a generous spread of food covered the round table. Elara, Tobias, and Rowan had joined Cassian for the meal.

Tobias took another mouthful before speaking.

"You eat like this every day?"

"This came from the kitchen with everyone else’s," Cassian said. "Help yourselves."

Elara glanced at the dishes.

"You say that as if every Domain serves this."

Cassian smiled and brought up the latest report. He left Kara’s name out of it.

"Sable has reopened every resource point it can work. Useful or not."

He passed over the details.

"One Common stone quarry in the Outer March has a heavy guard and two shifts of Settlers."

"For Common stone?" Rowan asked.

"For points."

"No wonder they keep closing the gap." Rowan set down his spoon. "Those troops could be hunting. Their Heroes aren’t gaining levels by watching a quarry."

Elara had arranged for the War Lords to clear the mine’s daily allowance as early as possible. It had put Riftward ahead yesterday, but Sable’s two shifts had kept working through the night and retaken the lead.

This morning’s mine runs had carried Riftward past them again.

Now the safe quota was used up. The lead stood at sixty million, and Sable was steadily eating into it.

Elara looked toward Cassian.

"You did put their last point of Fortune on the line. Lose this, and they’re back to nothing."

"Then we work harder too," Tobias said. "Even if our Heroes and troops lose some hunting time."

He tapped the Duel board.

"One point gained or one point lost. That’s a two-point difference between the results. We can’t leave everything to Cassian."

Rowan nodded. Elara did too.

"We can take care of the resource work," she said. "You go and raise your own strength. You’re usually the one carrying us. Let us carry you for once."

Cassian looked around the table, then smiled at her.

"Look at you. Taking care of your Warden."

Elara straightened in her chair.

"I was perfectly capable yesterday, too."