Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 256: The Guild Leader's A Bit Too Carefree

The pickaxe struck a slightly ajar portion of the ore on the wall of the mine. It caused the thudding sound of metal and rock hitting each other, which reverberated on the cave. Dominic struck the same spot and finally excavated the chunk out of the wall.

The chunk of ore dropped to the ground and Dominic picked it up. After checking its quality and pureness, he tossed it to Jun watching behind him.

"This iron ore's at least 60% pure. If every ore we mine results like that, then we can get several kilos of iron by the end of the day. Depending on the vein, we get more than a hundred kilos per month."

Jun calculated in his head.

Does he mean we can get twenty-five kilos of iron weekly? I don't really understand mining, but since he's the expert. it's best to listen to him.

"It's okay. Just do what you think is right and keep mining. By the way, aren't you surprised that ores suddenly appeared in the mine shafts? I heard this mine was already running out." Jun asked.

Dominic smiled and scratched his head. "I'm a bit surprised, but not totally. I mean, look at those glowing gems. I've mined here half of my life and I'm sure they're not native here. I think these gems aren't even from this world. You can call me crazy, but this place is much crazier." 

"Okay then, let's go to the real place you'll be working on."

Jun led the way and Nik's group defended Dominic from the back of the group. They easily reached the special area on the third floor and jumped down the lake.

Dominic had to be carried to the small island in the middle since he doesn't know Waterstriding. 

"Wow. I can't believe that all of this was naturally formed. Even the corridor that leads here was widened by nature. Moreover, this small mountain filled with minerals. What is this? How can this happen?"

Dominic immediately fell in admiration of the wonders of nature. 

Jun watched him with interest since Dominic was the only person who knows the before and after of the mine. Upon seeing the man's expression, he finally accepted that nothing inside here was normal.

He coughed once to catch the old miner's attention. "Ehem... As you can see, this is the mineral mountain that I've been talking to you about. It had all the minerals found inside the mine and I want them all. How many men do you need to mine this every day?"

Dominic pondered and calculated the size of the mineral mountain. With its height and width, if he employed a hundred man, it would be too crowded in the small island. On the other hand, if he chose to get too few workers, everyone would easily get exhausted and there would be no shifts available.

Seeing Dominic thinking, Jun added: "There are no due dates or quota, but I want some acceptable results. We can use the iron to make a more durable weapon and tools. I have no idea what the other minerals could do, but for now, let's mine them and have them on the stock."

Hearing Jun's thoughts openly, Dominic finally had an answer in mind. 

"I need around fifteen to twenty people. Initially, I wanted more people to get faster results. With more people, I can arrange for more shifts and more mining could be done. The cons would be more people to pay and much work to handle. The main reason why I chose to go with fewer people is simple. The area of the mineral mountain is small. If we want to efficiently mine everything without accidents, ten people could mine while the other ten guards the area."

Jun said. "Okay, that's great. If you have some people in mind, go ahead and contact them. They can reach Bernard to get their contracts. Also, you don't have to worry about enemies here. No matter how long you stay here, Giant Rats don't respawn if you're inside the room. Unless there were people on the other floors, then that's the only time that Giant Rats would respawn. I'll assign some combative Scavengers here to guard your mining group. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask anyone of them."

Dominic could only nod and listen to the young man in front of him. 

Jun turned to Nik and said: "Deal with things here. I'll be joining the eastern hunt for today. I heard the Morong town hall was still standing until today, so I'm coming for a visit. It's good manners to talk to our neighbors, right?"

Nik shook his head. "You just don't want to deal with troublesome things."

Jun patted Nik's shoulder, then activated his portal rune while grinning, he said, "Oh come on. You'll just arrange for tools, labors, and storage. Just deal with them as quickly as you can and assign guards here. That's easy, right? Bye bye~"

The group left within the cave was dumbfounded.

After bringing everyone here and saying a few things, Jun really left without any hesitation. 

Nik and his friends were already used to seeing Jun's mannerisms, but for the newly employed miner, Dominic, it was such a shocking scene.

Dominic thought: "So, it was true. Black Haven's Guild Leader is a carefree individual. Too carefree at that."

At the Binangonan town plaza...

Jun appeared with a flash of light and hurriedly ran out towards the gathering site for the journey to the east. 

After taking a few steps out of the premise of the statue, Jun suddenly remembered something. He hopped, skipped, jumped, and came to a halt, then ran back to the portal. He then raised his hand and transferred energy to the portal to repair it. After using 50 energy which equates to 5 durability repaired, Jun felt contented and run away.

If you want people to follow your lead, you must a good example for them to follow. Besides, he had his own portal to take care of.

If the Scavengers and the Elites don't repair the Northern Plains portal when they use it, it would get destroyed quickly and had to be rebuilt or repaired which needs more resources.

It would be okay if it only uses raw resources but if it involves gold and essence shards, it would be troublesome.

Also, Jun noticed that teleporting to a portal that isn't your home costs 50 energy per trip. It was not much but for regular people who don't have many encounters with energy stones, it could be a pressing issue.

Currently, there are three consumption levels when using a portal. When using a home portal for 20 energy, a random red portal for 10 energy, and a saved portal for 50 energy.

On the way to the meetup place, Jun sent Evo a message to handle the announcement. Everything they talked about the benefits and payments from yesterday would be used and implemented today.

Although he didn't receive a reply, Jun knew that Evo would just probably curse him a few times before accomplishing the work assigned with flying colors.

Before he even arrived at the abandoned lot, he already saw Edward's crimson jeepney, Fiery Dragon. 

Adrian, Sheila, and Edward were chatting surrounded by the other Elites.

When Jun got closer, people noticed him which caused the three to notice him. 

"Hey, Brother Jun. Here, here. We've been waiting for you." Edward excitedly greeted.

Adrian and Sheila turned at the same time and watched as Jun made his way towards them.

Jun looked around and noticed the number of people here. "There are more people than usual."

"Yeah. We have two people aside from your little sister that joined us. Our numbers haven't reached twenty but at least we have the firepower to fight anyone." Adrian explained. "On the right is Mr. Errol, on the left is King. Please introduce yourselves."

"Good day, Sir Jun. My name's Errol, a former hunter. Pleased to work under you."

"The pleasure's mine," Jun said. "What kind of weapon are you familiar with? Are you good with the bow? Do you have any experience in hunting bats?"

"I-I..." Errol gulped from the pressure. And no, Jun wasn't putting pressure on him. Errol was someone who's not good at dealing with people. When trading his hunts, he would often get taken advantage of and he would even let the matter go. The only reason why he survived was his trapping abilities.

The mountain was a tough place to live in, but thanks to that same reason, not many people lived around him causing his survivability to rise up on the initial phase.

"I have no familiar weapon but I'm currently practicing the spear. Also, I excel at trapping animals and making traps. I usually hunt game in the mountains to survive and sell some for a few other needs. Thanks to the environment, I was able to survive for some time until I ran out of supplies and had to go to town."

Jun turned to Adrian. Although the man had unique expertise, it was extremely difficult for the man to hunt monsters on his own. How was he able to join Black Haven's Elite Scavenger Unit.

Sensing Jun's doubt, Adrian decided to explain. 

"Errol had Heightened Sense and Entangle. Both were auxiliary skills that help him set his traps and kill the target. The only problem is it takes time to set up his trap and mostly kills around two to three Evolved Carriers. Since the requirements to join the Elite Unit only needs someone to hunt an Evolved Carrier on their own without outside help, he successfully trapped Hunters to their deaths."