One hundred and eight pickaxes, one hundred and eight miner hats and one hundred and eight eager killer rabbits ready for some mining action were stationed at the entrance of the dwarven mines.

The other killer bunnies who couldn’t join were ‘too big’, according to Noir. Rino felt slightly bad for the killer bunnies who evolved into the superior human-monster hybrids. Kamiya begged the black cat for a chance, but Noir remained unmoved, and Rino let the black cat do whatever it wanted.

As Rino was unable to fully set up the mana web array in the unexplored parts of the mines, he decided to place an urgent order with the weavers back in Spudville to sew together one hundred and eight miner hats that he could sew light-emitting runes into. 

Dark vision was useful if one did not need to differentiate colours. Rino wouldn’t put in so much effort preparing for this excavation expedition if dark vision worked. Sadly, these killer rabbits could only see outlines of objects in the dark with their dark vision, and Rino needed them to see more than just the outline when mining. Thankfully, the ores that mattered most when digging with magic were colours that the killer rabbits could see and avoid.

Rino did not realise that some monsters and animals could not see the full spectrum of colours. Noir pointed out that smelling ores might be easier than looking for them because the rocks looked the same to the rabbits who had not evolved yet.

New arrangements were made, and Noir would spearhead the mining operation to tell the monster rabbits where to dig while Rino and some of the genesis fairies extended the mana web array and created the lighting they needed.

Knowing that the monster rabbits would work very quickly and efficiently, Rino estimated that he would only need an hour at most before they found their first bit of tin and iron ores. Noir did not understand why those miner hats were necessary, but he soon will.

“Remember to reinforce the tunnels with earth magic. The last thing we need is for the tunnel to collapse in itself. Wait for Noir to give you the go-ahead to dig and listen to his instructions,” Rino told the leader of the rabbit squad.

Saluting, the hundred and eight rabbits split themselves into teams of nine and spread out. Noir led the team to follow him through the small tunnel that he dug using magic as the others started to widen the passage so that even the hobgoblins could comfortably walk through it.

Steps and slopes were created by the teams who were not expanding the path, and a team was reinforcing the tunnel structure with earth beams as if they had done this before. The coordination of these espionage experts never failed to impress Rino. He still could not understand how they were able to work so seamlessly without verbal communication. They reminded him of a colony of ants when they worked. Everyone knew what to do and filled in any holes that needed filling without getting told.

Leaving the path-building to the rabbit clan and Noir, Rino checked his quest. There was still almost a day before the deadline, so they should be able to make it.

The genesis fairies spread out to take an unlit mineshaft each to extend the mana web array from the main teleportation circle that Rino created. It was slightly sneaky, but Rino used a trick he learned from the earth gnomes and laid the mana web circuits beneath the mountains using the small air cracks.

Rino used this chance to tie the mana web array to the secret vault when everyone was busy. The lich checked his surroundings frequently while setting alarm spells that would alert him if someone strayed from where they were meant to be. At the same time, he created multiple barriers to restrict mining activities and exploration. The dwarven facilities such as the grand furnace room and cafeteria could be repurposed after Rino found someone to take on the huge renovation project.

Slowly but surely, Rino could feel the zapping of his mana reserves as everyone worked. It was only ten minutes into the mining project, but already, Rino could see a significant dip in his mana reserves that were usually very full. There was no doubt now that the mana depletion he experienced after contracting Kamiya’s clan was due to his subordinates’ mass use of magic. The more intelligent the monster, the more mana it took to summon them and support their activities.

Still, it was a small price to pay for efficiency. He could rely on the killer rabbits to finish his tunnel and for Noir to get to the tin and iron ores before dusk today. On the other hand, he wasn’t so sure about his personal progress with this private project. The dwarven caves were huge, and Rino had so much ground to cover, even with the genesis fairies helping him light up the mineshafts.

Thankfully, these communal spaces had wider passageways and higher ceilings. Ignoring etiquette about riding mounts indoors, Rino summoned Mutt and told the sabre tooth wolf where to go so that he could connect the mana web array quicker.

While Rino worked, Noir watched the crazy rabbit monster drill through rocks. Even if these monsters were gifted in dark and earth magic, they shouldn’t be able to tear through rocks like paper. Rino and Noir struggled so much just to get to where they were yesterday. What kind of pickaxes were they wielding that made mining so easy?!

Using his appraisal skill, Ace studied the stone pickaxes that the rabbit monsters wielded and almost fell off his rock. What kind of insane magician added national-level enchantments on a regular old stone pickaxe?!

After recovering his rationality, he calmed down and finally understood a few things. Firstly, Rino was crazier than he thought. The lich spent so much mana creating godly tiered regular items such as this improved stone pickaxe design that Ace hated to admit worked very well in those tiny paws.

Secondly, Ace learned that when accumulated, Rino’s mana was capable of casting several catastrophe spells at least ten times in a row before it was depleted. Looking at the multiple enchantments on these stone pickaxes and confirming that every single stone pickaxe had the same level of enchantments as the last, Ace deduced that Rino did not take ten days to enchant one stone pickaxe. It was more realistic to assume that he enchanted ten pickaxes in one day.

No wonder the lich took so long to finish his windmill quest! He must have been too busy making preparations like these for the Nightless Underpass.

Then again, if Ace recalled correctly, these killer rabbit monsters did not use pickaxes to build that impressive structure. They used magic to power through. Rino only received his improved pickaxe recipe lately after he finished the water wheel construction quest. When did the lich find time to enchant so many items in between then and now?

As Noir was thinking, Rino sneezed on his end. That was odd. Liches do not sneeze. They have no functioning noses to get irritated by. The dwarven library was so dusty, but Rino never once sneezed while he was there. However, that violent shudder through his skull and pressure travelling through the non-existent nasal canal told him otherwise. That was definitely a sneeze. How very odd!

Phil, who was monitoring the reflecting pond from above, wondered if he should let Ace know that Rino did it all in just a few hours while Ace was napping in his incarnate’s body to return briefly to his office for a rushed prayer-answering session. The god of landscaping decided to withhold the information for now. It did Noir no good to act out of character when tin and iron ores were waiting to be found.

It took almost no time at all for the killer rabbit’s exploration team to reach the black mana absorbing rock, and Noir snapped out of his thoughts. He had a job to complete.

“Stop, fill up the ground around the rock and back out. We are heading in a different direction but make the passage wide enough for future carts to pass through. Dig a bigger bend to the left to avoid the black rock.”

Listening to the black cat without questions, the monster rabbits mined carefully as a new team took care of the exposed black rock. Their use of earth magic was very skilful, and Noir did not need to remain behind to monitor their work. If anything, these monsters were very meticulous. Rino probably left him in charge of directing them because he had faith in their abilities.

Within the next hour, under Noir’s direction, they found the first deposit of iron ores. The iron ore deposit had a reddish tinge to it, and Noir rejoiced, telling the rabbits to dig around this deposit instead of through it. The tin vein should not be too far from this huge iron pocket that they could empty later.

At the first flash of a silvery compound, Noir halted the mining crew.

“That’s the stuff we need,” Ace told them. “Don’t mine anymore. Focus on making the passageway down to this resource pocket comfortable for travelling. Inform you master that we found both iron and tin ores.”

The team leader complied and quickly relayed the message while the rest of his team took a breather, looking around at the strange stuff called iron and tin.. Rocks were rocks to them. Why was the black cat so excited?