I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 360: 360:A blue mineral?

He immediately sorted by price. The cheapest options were exactly as terrible as he’d feared.

There was basic steel blades, temporary weapons, training-grade swords, and low-quality mass-produced weapons that might survive against Tier One beasts and possibly Tier Two if he was careful.

He scrolled farther.

Anything he would actually trust during serious combat quickly entered prices he wasn’t willing to pay.

Silver selected one.

[Reinforced Contractor Longsword.]

[Price: 540 AP.]

He clicked at that.

”No.”

Another.

[Tier-Compatible Alloy Sword.]

[Price: 720 AP.]

He closed that immediately. Another decent option exceeded a thousand.

He leaned against the rock.

”I’m already broke and still halfway down a mountain, and you want five hundred for a sword that isn’t even particularly impressive.”

The system remained silent.

Silver looked at the cheap weapons again.

He could buy one but wasting AP on something he would replace immediately after reaching civilization made no sense.

He still had his handgun and his spatial abilities. Primal Strength Level Three had considerably improved his close-range physical capability.

He closed the shop.

”No sword for me today.” He resumed walking. ”I’ll buy one outside like a normal person.”

That thought felt almost luxurious since he had developed very modest ambitions.

The terrain became increasingly sandy as he descended.

Vegetation thinned for a section, leaving exposed pale rock covered by loose gravel. Silver moved carefully, testing every step before placing his full weight down.

The first few meters were manageable, then the ground disappeared beneath his right boot.

Silver slipped and his body dropped as loose sand poured downhill. His left foot also lost traction because of it.

”Dammit!”

He grabbed for the nearest rock and missed. His body started sliding downhill.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

Silver drove his hand into the loose ground and caught a protruding root with the other, his momentum stopping abruptly.

Sand continued pouring around him. For several seconds, he remained there with one knee against the slope, then he slowly pulled himself upward.

[Primal Strength Lv3 proficiency increased.]

He breathed heavily.

”I understand. Everything is training.”

He pushed himself upright. That was when something flashed blue near his boot.

He stopped.

The sand he’d disturbed had exposed part of the ground beneath. Something reflected the sunlight.

He crouched only to see something beautifully blue, so he brushed away the dirt. A small section of brilliant blue material appeared within the stone.

He frowned.

The mineral was darker beneath the surface, but where sunlight touched the fractured edge, it produced an almost glass-like shine.

Silver scraped more soil aside and the blue continued.

”What the heck is this.”

He activated Insight.

[Insight Activated.]

For several seconds, nothing happened, then limited information appeared.

[Unidentified Mineral Deposit.]

[Energy Density: Above Average.]

[Mineral Purity: Undetermined.]

[Detailed appraisal unavailable.]

His eyebrows rose.

”Unidentified?”

That immediately made it more interesting. Insight could identify beasts, plants and most common materials he’d encountered.

Whatever this was, either it was uncommon enough that the skill couldn’t properly classify it at its current level, or the raw mineral required specialized appraisal.

Silver dug around the exposed section with a small utility tool from his supplies.

The more dirt he removed, the larger the blue vein became. It continued beneath the slope.

This forced him to stop digging. He looked downhill, then uphill, and then at the mineral.

A greedy person might have started excavating immediately but he had no intention of spending another night on this mountain because he decided to become a miner.

He selected one exposed chunk approximately the size of his fist.

It took several minutes to loosen. When it finally broke free, he held it beneath the fading sunlight.

The mineral glittered.

Blue ran through the stone in crystalline patterns. Even without knowing exactly what it was, he knew one thing.

It looked expensive.

”You’re either valuable or you’re going to make me look extremely stupid when an appraiser tells me you’re decorative rock.”

He rotated it and the light caught it again. He thought about selling it to probably a collector but then Ravenna appeared in his mind.

He imagined seeing her after everything. He stared at the blue mineral.

”A necklace.” He considered it,” Maybe a bracelet, a pendant would probably look better.”

Silver smiled.

”Compensation.” He paused. ”No, that’s not nearly enough compensation.”

Still, it was a beginning.

He placed the chunk into storage, then he carefully pushed the disturbed soil back across the exposed vein. He added loose stones and dragged sand over it.

By the time he finished, the blue material was no longer visible from several meters away. He then memorized the surroundings; a split rock formation above, three crooked trees to the east, and a pale cliff face below.

He wished his phone hadn’t disappeared because coordinates would have been considerably more reliable than remembering oddly shaped rocks.

He considered using the Emergency Survival Beacon’s position information, but he wasn’t going to start manipulating the device while it was actively broadcasting his survival signal.

He could return later with equipment, and preferably without a Rank Six queen living somewhere inside the mountain.

Silver stood and stretched a little. His body protested less than before, so he checked his condition again.

[Physical Condition: Recovering.]

[Muscular Trauma: Minor.]

[Internal Damage: Minimal.]

[Mobility: 96%.]

He stared at the number. Several hours ago, he’d been rolling down a cliff wondering whether Iron Bones would prevent him from becoming a corpse.

Now he was at ninety-six percent mobility. The recovery medicine was doing its job and the upgraded physical skills were helping enormously.

Silver flexed his injured shoulder, still painful but functional.

He smiled.

”Level Three is nice.”

The system responded with another notification almost immediately.

[Iron Bones Lv3 proficiency increased.]

He laughed.

”I wasn’t even doing anything.”

[Recent physical stress processed.]

”Fine.”

He continued downhill. The sun was beginning to lower now, stretching shadows across Death Row Valley.

He moved steadily and didn’t rush. He had survived too much to die because he slipped on sand fifty minutes away from safety.

With every careful step down the mountain, Silver moved farther away from the underground nightmare that had swallowed nearly his life.