☼ Red Sands Desert

[Ergo War]

Post 3/3 for Actual Mining! I

"Hm, thanks for that," Bast muttered while rubbing the spot where Mononoke had pinched her. There was definitely going to be a bruise, that was for sure. "Give me a report."

Mononoke nodded and followed Bast into the mine.

"The schematics were delivered. After creation was finished, the weapon was turned over to me. A sawdust-covered man demonstrated its usage to me. Studs extend and retract. Looks very painful."

Once again above ground, Bast sorted through another disappointing haul, then decided to try on the gauntlets. They fit wonderfully and looked exactly as intended.

"Good job. I'm sending you to the Village, so drop them off in the armory and bring me back some food and drink."

The woman then reverse-summoned Mononoke back to her estate.  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

It was back to the grind for a while. Bast re-cast Yuishiki--that was the name she had given her new technique--with lessened effect, then headed down into the mine again. The dull pain in the middle of her forehead remained, but this time she was much calmer. It seemed this was about the right amount of control. Just to see if the Jutsu worked at all like a seal, she placed a Tebanasu Fuuin at the point of the pain, set to have it end a few minutes after she was done sorting through this new haul. Sure enough, as she shifted the rocks into their respective piles, the pain faded and she knew her Jutsu was working as intended.

((This round: 50 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

This was getting monotonous. So monotonous, in fact, that Bast's mind began to wander even under the influence of Yuishiki. Her body still moved like a precision machine while mining, though, so at least she had that going for her. The thought of food was rapidly becoming more alluring than work. If Mononoke showed up then and there with a delivery of food, it wouldn't be soon enough. Bast ascended from the mine again and sorted out some more of the rocks.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

Another bust. Bast sighed and tossed the few meager pounds of coal she had unearthed into the ever growing pile. It was just as she was despairing over the results of her recent haul that Mononoke came into view, a bag full of books on her back, a jug at her side, and a few boxes of food in her arms. Keeping one's strength up was a key part of mining, too, or so Bast's hungry mind justified chowing down as soon as the food arrived. The jug contained tea with a few sprigs of mint mixed in, and the food was a simple meal of rice, alongside grilled meat and vegetables. There was a lot of food, but Bast managed to down about half of it in one go. Afterward, she surveyed the mind materials and pondered how to make this more enjoyable.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

This spot was a bust too, Bast realized as she continued to mine. At her side, a clone was reading one of the books out loud. She couldn't remember where she'd gotten it, but it was a very strange tome.

"And thus, the wolf god sprinted across the land, a chain of beads around its neck," the clone read. "Everywhere it ran, flowers blooms and the shadows fled. It used the beads to lash out at any demons, and made sure to always go back to the big peach tree at the end of the day."

The story seemed almost like it was describing the events of a game some children played, but it was a bit too in-depth for that. Teenagers, then, she concluded. It was a description of a game played by teenagers, regardless of what the author blurb said about clovers and platinum.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

Bast never thought she'd be glad to see quartz again, but she was. She really needed to pick a better spot. Perhaps one on the other wall would do, she thought as she sifted through the chunks of rock and ore. The clone, meanwhile, was rummaging through the books to find another one to read. The one about the wolf goddess was over, leaving the woman wondering if the next story would be as good. She awaited the answer to her question eagerly.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

She was getting closer. Bast had moved from the spot she had picked dry to another location a few feet down and was getting better results. Not significantly better, but at least slightly improved. Meanwhile, the clone was flipping through a factbook about radios and rattling off anything interesting. That made for a rather boring session of mining. The long pauses were only punctuated by disappointing facts.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 7/7 for Refinement

"God, this is so frustrating!" Bast cried out, swinging her pickax at the wall. It crumbled away, revealing a rich collection of stones and minerals, including another Gelel stone. So much for patience leading to good things.

The ex-Kazekage picked up the pickax once more, with the zeal of a miner who'd just struck gold. In fact, as she soon found out, she had actually struck gold, even if there was just a small amount. Now, if only she could find some buried treasure, she could have an excuse to go home and inspect the contents for a while.

Of course, it wasn't like she wanted to go home. She could hardly claim a desire to be near that den of death and misery, the Residential District. There would be plenty of time to find corpses for the next several years. For now, at least, she had some time away from things. She was repaying a debt and also gaining some valuable experience working in a mine. There was nothing wrong with that.

The community had been disturbed. In fact, it had been nearly destroyed by an overgrown beetle with a Chakra imbalance. That was a solid defeat for Sunagakure. In the end, that's all that could be said. Even if it was a sneak attack, even if they were surprised, they still should have been able to move more effectively. Now, by her count, there was an almost 80% mortality rate for citizens in the residential district. It made her sick to think about that number.

There was no excuse. She had to get stronger.


((This round: 50 lbs. of orichalcum, 0.375 lbs. of Gelel.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 7/7 for Refinement

What was there to do? In what way could she help? Could she get strong enough to single-handedly eliminate the threat posed by a Bijuu? Even worse, could she get so strong that she could do so without risking the Bijuu's life? A Tailed Beast's destruction meant instability and uncertainty. They needed neither of these things for a strong community.

She dusted off a rock, then tossed it in the appropriate pile. Noting how high the useless gravel mound was getting, she ordered Kanpai to clean it up and fire it at the ball of waste from the Residential District. That would at least consolidate the mess she was making.

During the fight with Choumei, the ANBU had been scattered, nowhere to be seen. Their help could have turned the tide of the battle, but now they had to lend their hands toward grave digging instead. As she tossed yet another stone into the pile, the woman wondered if they would cremate the bodies. Ayame and Daichi would probably be against it, given their noses. At the same time, though, it would be much more efficient and save a lot of space to do so. Either way, there was a massive cemetery inbound in Sunagakure.

Bast's clone smacked her gently on the forehead with a book, right where the pinprick of pain from Yuishiki was.

"You made that Genjutsu to get your mind off of things, not focus on them," it chastised her. "If you're going to deal with those emotions, I suggest taking a break. Don't want you causing the mine to collapse with a poorly aimed swing."

"Shut up. The one person I won't have lecturing me right now is a clone of myself. Yelling at myself is a job I shouldn't outsource."

((This round: 50 lbs. of orichalcum, 12 lbs. of iron.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 7/7 for Refinement

She had to get stronger, but how? Was mining all day going to make her a better Shinobi? Was it going to make her more capable of saving her Village? It had been a long time since she felt this way. Yet, paradoxically, it had also not been very long at all. Death was always what brought out these feelings. The last time was when a squad came back from Saraswati minus one member, she thought. It certainly wasn't the UHV's attempted invasion of the Village, since they had done a good job on that one. Perhaps it had been even further back.

Rocks fell from the wall into the Princess' waiting arms. Three taps and something would fall, that's how things worked. Mining was a much more simple life. Nobody was dying around her. Nobody was attacking people she cared about. There was very little responsibility to anyone other than herself.

"This train of thought is going a strange place," she mumbled to herself. "I'm not going to become a hermit miner. This place doesn't even have a bathroom."

With that bit of humor aside, she resurfaced to go over her spoils. It was practically the same as the last time, so at least she was consistent. She sorted out, sifted, and brushed off the rocks quietly.

((This round: 50 lbs. of orichalcum, 11 lbs. of iron.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 7/7 for Refinement

Once again, she hit pay dirt. This was quite the haul, she commented to herself. There was a very sizeable chunk of Gelel in the mess, she noted. It was the first thing to be cleaned and pocketed. There was no reason to leave perfectly good Gelel stones lying out in the open. They could be put to good use in variable marbles. For that matter, it was likely that Masahiro would want some of them too. She wondered how much orichalcum a Gelel stone would count for. Without a message from him, though, she would have to wait to find out.

The pain at the center of her forehead prickled. It really wasn't doing a fantastic job of making her focus only on the task at hand. As good as it was at keeping her satisfied with the work, it wasn't really serving its original purpose. As it turned out, changing one's perspective didn't necessarily keep their mind from wandering. Even if it was Genjutsu, it was hard to argue it was mind control. Yuishiki's effects would have to be investigated more later, she concluded.

With so much raw ore and stone sitting about, Bast concluded it was time to contact Masahiro again. She took out a piece of paper once more and scrawled a note to him.

Masahiro,

I've got a few hundred pounds of orichalcum here waiting for you, but I have not received confirmation you got the last shipment. How should I proceed? There is also a significant amount of other material here from the mining process; given that you are the contractor, do you wish to take claim of all of it, after I skim some off the top? Some of the stones are very useful in variable marble creation. I'm sure you understand.

- Bastet

With the note finished, she reverse-summoned it to Masahiro's summoning seal, then sat down and started sipping from her jug of tea.


((This round: 50 lbs. of orichalcum, 0.5 lbs. of Gelel.))

Wolfe Whitehorn

 

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

The stench of mint rolled out of the jug of tea as Bast took a swig. She always loved the tingling sensation of the odor filling her head. It felt cool, even on the hottest of days, and even when the tea itself was hot. She shuddered and descended into the mine once more, this time only halfheartedly swinging the pickax. She still awaited a response from Masahiro, so it would not make sense to do much work. She left with meager earnings, but it was what she had worked for, so it wasn't exactly upsetting.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

It was oddly hard to justify stopping and waiting for a confirmation message after getting going like this. Bast descended into the mine once again to knock a few chunks off of the wall, then resurfaced to sort them out. She was starting to enjoy the activity. Perhaps toiling away had its own rewards, or perhaps she had Stockholm Syndrome. As she ogled a particularly smooth lump of coal, she began to think it was the latter. There was no way anyone could enjoy something like mining so much.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))  

[Ergo War]

Post 2/2 for Actual Mining! I

The strange presence deep beneath the earth hadn't moved in a while. Bast wondered if this was significant or not as she peeled back some more rocks from the wall. At this point, she was getting slightly worried about the ceiling's support, so she used Doton Chakra to pull up a stone pillar to support it better. With this done, she rode on the Princess' back to the staging area and began to sort through the rocks. There wasn't that much again, but she also wasn't trying particularly hard. If the piles got much larger, she'd have to ask the Hoatzins to step back, which she didn't feel like coordinating at the moment.

((This round: 0.25 lbs. of orichalcum.))