Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 93: Dungeon Entrance

The Geode was impossible to miss. Easily twenty feet tall, the base encased in igneous and sedimentary rock. The metal refracted light as efficiently as any diamond or gemstone. Facets and surface scoured and formed by water in the same manner as stalagmites and stalactites.

Most noticeable, the metal deposit was affecting the ambient magic and small ley-line that was spiraling down the cave system. Drawing the energy in and super-charging it somehow. The process seemed to take the energies from the ley-lines, cycle them, and then disperse the collected energies, increasing the ambient magic exponentially.

The results were reminiscent of a thunderstorm. An ozone smell in the air, and an electrical charge that caused the fine hairs on your body to stand. As particles were continually cycled, they would invariably collide, giving rise to those electrical charges.

"Caraid, is it supposed to do that?" I asked.

<[Silinium can only be found within the path of ley-lines. One of the reasons the metal is so valued is it's conductive and enhancing properties. It can absorb magical energy and ionize it, releasing processed and filtered condensed particles that enhance other environmental elements.]>

<[Earth, Air, and Water aspects are especially adept at refining those charged particles and increasing their effectiveness.]>

<[People, plants, and animals are able to absorb this refined magic. Evolving and growing substantially faster than those of the same species without access.]>

<[It is one of the reasons why Silinium is tightly regulated.]>

<[To mine these deposits could have long-lasting ecological impact on the area. And since there is flowing water within range, that sphere of influence for this Silinium deposit could be massive, the water, that waterfall is collecting and dispersing the refined energies.]>

"Why would anyone want to mine Silinium if the benefits to the environment are so large?"

<[Imagine focusing those attributes on a microscopic level in array and rune-crafting.]>

<[Planetary portals can be created using lesser metals. Silver works well. But when you consider the distance between planets and solar systems, these lesser metals simply don't work as well.]>

<[Silinium has one other unique feature. It retains a kind of memory, a resonance with the deposit it is mined from. These like-charged deposits vibrate and synchronize in a harmonious blend that allows the exact same magic variables to be isolated and duplicated.]>

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<[A chain of Portals can be linked, with access restricted to only those other Portals that contain the same Silinium magical signature.]>

<[It doesn't matter how the metal is worked or formed. It retains the characteristics that it absorbed as it was formed, a kind of polarity, and always recognizes similar polarized metal, that has been extracted from the same deposit.]>

<[Silinium's ability to store, process, and release purified mana allows for a measurable upgrade in distance and efficiency. Raw Silinium and the mining of the metal are restricted, for the most part. What Silinium is harvested has been restricted to Portal technology.]>

"This Geode is immense. At least five or six hundred tons of materials just in the metals that can be observed. Certainly, there has been research done to test at what rate removal is possible without impacting the surroundings?" I wondered.

<[There have been. It is safe to remove five percent of any Silinium deposit. One of the interesting benefits of this kind of metal farming is the ability of the Silinium to restore and replace those metals that are removed. Master Class Miners have theorized that the magics absorbed from the ley-lines are not only purified and released but contribute to the growth and production of Silinium itself.]>

<[There have been a few people, mostly considered pseudo-academics, that have theorized that Silinium is a life-form.]>

<[The Gods have never validated or denied this claim, so it crops up occasionally. Conspiracy theories have even bandied the idea that the metal was essential in the evolution and creation of Sidhe.]>

<[But Sidhe know that their 'evolution' was a product of Divine Will. We have communed with our Gods. Our creation histories are not a myth but a fact. Accounts shared with us by the very Gods who spread forth their hands and created the Tuatha de Danann in their likeness.]>

"Then how do they explain the metal appearing on other planets? Why did Sidhe evolve only on Talahm?"

<[Silinium has never been discovered on any other planet. It is unique to this world.]>

<[It is the one export that even the Planetary Council refused to restrict.]>

"If Silinium can only be found on Talahm, how did the other Pantheons construct Portal systems?"

<[Inefficiently.]>

<[They had to use a network of stepping-stones. Portals, using silver, would be constructed on platforms that were transported to set locations to act as relays and anchors.]>

<[These relays allowed for a sequence of hops to be linked, allowing transportation to occur. Each platform had the ability to broadcast and teleport between each other, their reach on average over a distance of one light-year.]>

<[But the cost and the sheer number of relay stations required to link systems together is problematic. That's why Silinium is so valued. And why Haygan may have been motivated to break trust with Duke A'Daoine.]>

<[Profit and power can turn even the most honest man, corrupt.]>

"I don't see any tool marks, nothing to suggest this node has been mined," I said aloud, not sure if anyone else might have insight into why that might be.

"There wouldn't be unless the intention was to destroy the mine," Lohne explained.

"This is a main Silinium node hub. It has branching roots that open into lesser geode deposits. It is those lesser deposits that are probably being mined.

"If you mine the main node, you risk damaging the growth properties inherent in the metal."

"Silinium's ability to grow and restore mined ore was the impetus behind botanists hybridizing plants and gene manipulating them so that they produced metals and resources," she explained.

"No one would risk damaging the rootstock of this vein. Not only would there be ecological consequences, but they would be destroying future financial considerations."

"It's easier and makes more sense to harvest the seed stock the Silinium branches produce. Fist sized sproutings that can be harvested, and even transplanted to grow in other locations."

"The dungeon entrance should be close. They always spawn near great nexus of magic, and Silinium nodes and ley-lines are as about as powerful a nexus as you can find, on any planet," Uron informed us.

Careful scouting allowed us to map out the remainder of the cave system. We found where the mining was being conducted, and an area that had been protected behind a formation to blend into the surroundings and deceive the eye. It was easily recognized and neutralized since we knew that the dungeon existed.

Once we broke the controlling array, what had been a featureless wall transformed into a passage that skirted the Geode, a hall that snaked behind and led to a stabilized portal, pulsating with energy. The obvious entrance to the dungeon.

As we approached the portal, the System was kind enough to supply the name of the dungeon.

[You are about to enter a dungeon instance.]

[Dungeon Information: CERN the site of the Hadron Collider.]

[Location Earth: Geneva Switzerland]

[Level - 0]

[Proceed Yes/No]