Dungeons suck. When the Mana/air percentage is roughly 65% the area becomes barely hospitable to humans and very pleasant to monsters. They multiply and their cores act as beacons that collect more Mana into their nest. But when the percentage is in the 85-98% range, the area collapses in on itself. This makes independent spaces that we know as dungeons.
No less than one floor and no more than three, the monster population explodes again due to the Mana and lack of hunters. Then the population will start to devour the dungoen itself, leading to a stampede that will ravage the surrounding area until equilibrium is met. Why am I explaining this?
"The northeast mine that our territory owns is in fact a dungeon." Marcus says in all seriousness to his houseguests.
Nix's and Solus' eyes glazed over, Arthur spit out his tea, and Madeline broke the handle off of her own teacup. A dungeon was a dangerous thing, capable of making and breaking entire kingdoms.
"I don't know about the southeast mine. I'm still waiting on proper documentation from someone." Marcus gives a side eye to his butler. He knows what's up, and it looks like young master Quinn is being a little bitch by refusing any and all forms of contact.
"How sure are you?/Truly?" Solus and Arthur both spoke up. A dungeon is a great way to bring in Mana rich materials as well as free labor in the form of the Adventurers guild.
"I went there myself. It's mostly Diamond Cutter Worms of varying sizes. I went and grabbed some of the little ones and put them in a giant compost bin. It was our territory's iron and Mana ore mine once upon a time."
The women (and Arthur) made a face at the mention of Diamond Cutter Worms. They eat all forms of scraps and decaying matter just like normal worms. But Diamond Cutters are Mana charged and can grow up to 9 feet long with a diameter of 5 feet. They eat all types of rocks and ores on top of the previously mentioned items. They are known as being gluttonous mine eaters that almost once ruined a dwarven kingdom.
Their waste is the powdered and filtered form of the material they eat. So unless you have a giant magnet to collect all that iron sand, you can kiss your crops behind. If a stampede comes in the form of Diamond Cutters...they need to nip this in the bud.
"Fortunately, I let Ms. Kaith at the Adventurers Guild handle the necessary paperwork. But I thought I would let the people most likely to be involved with it in the future to know now."
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It made sense. Solus and Nix ran the Mage Hall. They would process any Diamond Cutter hides before they get turned into armor by the Leatherworkers two streets over from the Blacksmiths. And Arthur would need to let the royal court know to send an inspector.
"Anyone want to add anything before Madeline and I break out the lunch?" Marcus asked as he got up to leave the room.
"Well, the gravity flooring is ready for pickup. But that's not as important as a dungeon." Nix stated as he got up as well, giving one last head scratch to Ash. "What's for lunch?"
"Sliced roast pork sandwich. "Madeline replied as she speed walked to the kitchen so she could do her job.
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Speaking of giant magnets, Marcus had one commissioned. A 9 foot iron staff wrapped 30 times in copper wire. He personally had the 'Ul' (Spark) rune etched on a plate that connected to the ends of the copper wire. He spent a week operating the electromagnet to collect all of the iron sand on the first floor. He would activate it, dump what was collected into a wagon, and then swap wagons with someone on the outside. Giving the blacksmiths a steady supply of sand they could turn into premade ingots would save time and material costs in the long run.
Solus and Nix were once again impressed with Marcus' custom Mana Orientation Method that let him use magic continuously. It wasn't as special to him as it was to everyone else. So he was concerned when Solus jumped for joy when he promised to teach his method to the Mage Hall's in coming newbies.
The standard mana orientation method is to wrap the ring of Mana around the heart and any new ones will be placed on top, pushing down the previous ones. This cylinder stack like method is good and all, but the more rings you have, the tighter they wrap around the heart. Some people have even had their hearts crushed as the made their way to the final known stage of Magehood, 8th circle Arcmage.
Marcus Allen's method makes all Mana rings cross each other. He's already at 6th circle Solmage at 19 because of his orientation. He currently has 3 rings at a 45° angle crossing from top left to bottom right and three more in the opposite direction. And instead of placing them on top of one another or making some rings bigger to avoid collision, he guaranteed collision.
At the touching spots of this Mana Net, he made little nodes where the flow could switch in either direction if it wanted. With 9 each in the front and back of his heart coming to a total of 18 stars switching up the flow and making his Mana flow incredibly stable. There is also the upside that during advancement the older Mana rings squeeze and stretch against each other instead of against the heart. He could theoretically go beyond the known limits.
But that is neither here nor there.
Now he's just a local lord that is doing all of the mining in the area. But with the first floor almost done, the Adventurers Guild should soon be sending people to clear out the monsters. Diamond Cutter leather could make some great gear in the field and in the home. Maybe he could have someone look into leather furniture...
