Further work is required. [Day 7]

With my Enhanced Senses evolved I moved on to my other skills to level up which was the throwing skill. Currently, I was ok at throwing at sitting targes, but I can still improve it. I also need to work on moving targets and to do this I just needed to practice. Using the spare rabbit horns, I use those to practice to not damage my knife and because there were a lot of spare horns.

Marking an X on a tree I would then just throw as many horns as I could at the tree getting the accuracy better, rotation and speed of the throw. I would then also add in some variety of moving whilst trying to throw which I mostly failed at, but I kept on trying.

I managed to progress quickly and get a level.

[Skill has levelled up: Basic Weapon Throwing 1/5 -> 2/5 ]

Keeping this up I continued until lunch when everyone had returned. Before heading out I picked up a bit of wood to make makeshift torches to be able to explore the dark.

After the quick lunch, we head for the mountains to search every part of it to find our prize.

Like the same as yesterday, we followed the same path but did not find monsters on the path this time. With us knowing the path we managed to get up further than we did last time and so with more time to spare searching we managed to find a cave entrance.

Me: "Alright nice work guys whilst I make the torches decide which team will come with me to explore the cave while the rest of you stay in this area and explore more of the mountains and what the entrance is for when we return."

Whilst they were deciding that I made a small fire using the flint and stone to light some scrubs. With a small fire going I set one of the sticks on fire and place the other sticks in my backpack. When the current stick is about to go out, I would light a new stick and keep the fire going.

With the torch reading, I head to the cave and can see that Valret, and his team will be coming with me.

Me: "Alright before we head in Valret get a stick from my backpack and light it using my flame. Everyone else sticks to someone who has a torch."

With the team ready we head into the cave system. With the lights for the torches guiding us we make a slow and steady journey down into the dark.

Being inside the cave is better than I thought there is still a draft of wind, so it is cooler than I thought. There is more room to move in than you would think like three of us can go side by side, so it feels a bit like a sidewalk.

Though it is a bit eery as well with the shadows and the light fighting each other one guiding, one disorientating. The flickering battle is displayed on the stones around us along with the echoes of sound that hover around us like a bubble.

But keeping cool we head further as this is important to our village's survival. Making sure to look at the walls we are looking for any red stone which will be iron due to the oxidation of it making it turn red. So, it is an obvious rock.

Another thing to do when heading into the cave is to keep track of time as we head further in. to do this, I will keep track of how many sticks of wood we burn during the trip. I will also consider the fact that as we head further into the caves less oxygen will be available to the fire so will burn slower. Based upon the fire back when I was in the home cave lasted for 25 min before needing more, I will say these sticks can last from 30 to 45 min with less oxygen.

So, once I go through 8 sticks, I know it has been around 4 hours and that we should be out of the caves or heading back.

Further in we haven't found anything from iron to monsters yet, so we continue further in.

I can feel the breeze in the air pick up, it must mean that we are going to reach a larger area up ahead.

Eventually meeting a break in the tunnel, we arrive at what I suspected is a large room, but room is an understatement. It is a massive open expanse, and it is gorgeous. Large stalactites hang from the ceiling creating these massive spikes from the ceiling and look like beautiful crystals. Rising from the ground are large Stalagmites creating these kinds of pillars from the ground. But what they both surround is a large expensive area of water drifting from our side into the dark distance further than we can see.

The water is completely still and has a slight green tint to it making it so you cannot see to the bottom of the water. It always terrified me when looking at the water like this. What could be at the bottom?

This looks like a massive reservoir of water and must somehow feed the river which flows out of the mountain.

Although I would like to look further at this beauty, we must continue our quest here.

Looking around the cave we sadly don't find much but it did lead to finding out that identity does not work on non-living organisms as when I was looking around, I thought that there might be other minerals that were here. So going up close to one I tried to identify but was told there was nothing to identify. So, getting closer I try to identify again but was told nothing again.

So, I assumed that non-living things can't be identified as there is only one rock who is living, and he is not here.

Although you can identify weapons. Maybe raw unprocessed materials can't be identified as that would explain why you can identify weapons and the magic cores as those are processed.

Valret: "Lothran I found another tunnel leading further down."

Me: "All right lead the way Valret."

He then leads to a crack in the cave wall, so we all must squeeze sideways to get in and continue exploring. This is making me a bit claustrophobic, but we continue to wiggle our way down along with it feeling like it is getting tighter and tighter.

Just when I think it was going to get worst it suddenly opens leading to a smaller expensive area that echoes our movements even more.

Guard: "Sir I think we found what we were looking for." He says to Valret and me whilst point to a small second of the wall which is red.

We all head towards it to look. Not really being the perfect expert on metals we would have to take a sample back to Horst the blacksmith to check it is what we need.

Me: "Nice spot, take a sample of it and put it in my backpack Horst can check it when we get back to the village." Saying that I place the backpack on the ground whilst they use a horn and club to chisel the iron away.

Looking around the cave I can see that there are no other entrances here meaning that this place is a dead end, but we got what we wanted. Looking back at the way we came through here I realise that getting the iron, if it is iron, out of this place will also require a lot of work as we need to create a tunnel between the two open expanses.

With them all working on it we manage to get it done quickly and store it in the backpack. We then head back out and head for home.