Kyle cracked another egg open and dumped the juices into his stomach.
’Fucking hell!’ Kyle thought. ’How are these eggs so fucking good?!’
’This is like eggs on Earth but like… a million times better!’
’Fantasy Land? More like Drug Land!’
’On Earth, whenever shit tastes this good, it HAS to be unhealthy!’
Kyle leaned his back on the wall and relaxed.
For just a moment, he closed his eyes, savoring the excellent texture of the egg.
The eggs had different sizes.
The small ones didn’t taste as good, but the big ones tasted amazing!
After a while, Kyle stood up.
There were no more eggs…
Except one.
“I saved you for last,” Kyle said as he approached an egg that was even bigger than him.
This was, by far, the biggest egg, and it was much bigger than all the others.
This thing was probably as big as five of the biggest eggs combined.
“That’s probably the egg of another queen,” Theodor said. “For once, you’re in luck.”
Kyle cracked the egg open and took a sip.
Then, he closed his eyes.
It was indescribable.
It was so good!
Kyle started to ravenously consume the egg.
Despite its huge size, Kyle finished the egg in just a couple of minutes.
Luckily, this one seemed to be rather new, which meant the embryo inside was tiny.
When he finished the egg, he just laid down on his back.
“You advanced,” Theodor said.
“Huh?” Kyle asked, opening his eyes.
“You are now a Peak Human,” Theodor said.
“I didn’t notice,” Kyle said with surprise.
“You were too busy eating.”
Kyle climbed out of the egg and lifted his hammer.
’So light!’ he thought.
The next moment, Kyle looked at one of the walls.
’Luckily, we have some great ore here!’
Theodor had explained to Kyle that beasts like Hillstalker Ants built nests around valuable ore. The Ether the ore gave off helped the young ants develop.
Kyle put his hammer to the ore and activated the function to strengthen it.
He stopped from time to time to test its weight.
’Perfect!’ he thought.
The hammer could hardly be swung with one hand, but it was perfect for two hands.
“You can’t improve your mining weapon anymore without endangering its integrity,” Theodor said.
“I can’t?” Kyle asked.
“You created a Craftsmen’s Stone for its core, right?” Theodor asked.
Kyle nodded.
“Craftsmen’s Stone is a Rank D material. It only supports materials up to the Peak First Realm. Your mining weapon already went a bit above that. It’s still safe, but if you strengthen it more, the core might collapse.”
“The metal in front of you is Wasteland Metal, and it’s a Rank C material with a Metal Affinity. It is a material that is used to craft weapons and armor for basic soldiers in the army or officers in cities.”
Kyle grinned. “I assume it’s valuable.”
“This vein is probably worth between one and three Ether Stones.”
’Ether STONES,’ Kyle thought with excitement. ’That’s between 100 and 300 Ether Pebbles!’
“I can mine this, right?” Kyle asked.
“You should have the power.”
Over the next minutes, Theodor explained to Kyle how to mine the Wasteland Metal.
When he was done, Kyle looked at the soccer-ball-sized piece of refined ore.
This thing was heavy!
It wasn’t as heavy as his hammer but probably had half of its weight.
When Kyle saw the ball, he got an idea.
“Hey, Theodor,” Kyle said. “You know how I want to have some armor?”
“You can use this,” Theodor answered. “It will be quite heavy, though. Your speed will suffer a lot.”
“It is also not easy to craft an entire set of armor. I know how to do it, and I can teach you, but you will be spending a couple of days down here for a basic set. If you want some basic functions as well, this will be a matter of weeks.”
“What functions?” Kyle asked.
“Generally, armor made with such materials has a couple of functions.”
“One function allows the armor to compress back into a ball. Like this, you can take it off and put it on easily.”
“Another function is recovery. Your clothing is made of simple materials, which is why it can recover quickly by absorbing your Ether, but the same thing isn’t possible with something like Wasteland Metal without advanced formations.”
“Your clothing has an advanced recovery formation. A basic one only allows the clothing to recover if you inject it with more of the same ore. You can’t use your own Ether.”
Kyle furrowed his brows. “What’s the point of that?”
“The point is that you can repair your armor in the middle of battle and that you don’t need to visit a smith or Artificer to repair it.”
“Another basic function is self-cleaning. This is the easiest to implement and learn.”
Kyle nodded.
“What would you suggest?” he asked.
“Self-cleaning. That’s it. We are relatively safe for the next couple of days due to the deterrence pheromones, but they will disperse with time. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Kyle scratched his head. “So, I will basically have to walk around with the suit of armor at all times?”
“You are the one who wanted it,” Theodor said. “You can take it off, but it will take a couple of minutes.”
’That sounds bothersome.’
’But I really want that armor.’
Sure, running around was nice, but speed was not his specialty.
If he had this armor, that one Adept who tried to kill him in the woods wouldn’t have been able to injure Kyle.
Sure, Kyle wouldn’t have captured him either, but he would have essentially been invincible.
“Will it slow down my attack speed as well?” Kyle asked.
“Minorly. Your arms will have a bit more weight, but the impact won’t be big.”
Kyle took a deep breath.
“Alright, I want the armor,” he said.
Kyle didn’t want to be a swift guy that jumped around.
He wanted to be heavy!
He wanted to be powerful!
“Alright, first…” Theodor said as he started his explanation.