After a quick breakfast of porridge and some of the new smoked crab meat, James armored himself and took his Green Iron War Hammer in hand.

Walking out of the alcove, James stopped just shy of the edge of his ward and looked around. Down the wall, to the left, was the tunnel leading to the staircase to the upper floor. Turning his head to the right, he saw pebbly beach, the lake in the distance, the nearby pond, more pebbly beach, and then the wall to the right.

James decided to explore to the right. Partly to avoid the staircase and any potential spider monster encounters, but also to keep his shield, held in his left hand, between himself and the lake.

He stepped out carefully. There were no monsters nearby, just some bird monsters flying near the lake. He walked carefully along the grey slate wall, looking for monsters primarily but also keeping an eye out for any veins of Green Iron Ore. He passed by the pond where he had nearly drowned, and saw here and there scattered smaller ponds, little more than puddles really, but just as rich in undine essence. James kept his distance. Although he had survived his first unexpected plunge, he had no interest in trying again.

For several hundred yards the grey slate wall was empty of anything except the occasional trickle of Pure Water flowing from a crack higher up on the wall. Eventually, James found another alcove.

He carefully approached, hugging the wall. Cautiously he peeked around the edge, scoping it out for monsters. Thankfully, there were none. Even better, there were several colored streaks in the grey slate of the wall, including some green streaks, along with a waterfall feeding a small pool and a stream leading down towards the lake.

James pulled a handful of warding stakes from his magic bag and created a large ward that covered the entrance to the alcove as well as a dozen yards extending outwards. Plenty of room to maneuver in case monsters showed up. With that done, he investigated the alcove.

At the deepest part, about twenty yards in, was the waterfall. It fell from somewhere above the cloud level in a broad sheet several yards across, before plunging into a small pool kicking up spray and mist, blocking the view of the wall behind it. The pool was half a dozen yards across and fed a small stream, not even knee deep, leading out towards the lake. Veins of Blue, Green, and Brown Iron ore striped the walls, with only tiny slivers of Red Iron ore found here and there. James also noted a large vein of regular iron ore, but only the one, and it only rose from the ground to about waist height before cutting off unnaturally.

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Coal was entirely absent, but James had plenty stored away in his magic bag.

Other than the waterfall, stream, and ores, the alcove was empty, just another stretch of pebbly ground like any other nearby.

James plodded over to the waterfall.

[Water Identification]: Fresh Water (Undine Essence)

By the time he got close enough to use his [Water Identification] skill, the spray from the waterfall was striking his armor, wetting him thoroughly.

Something tickled at the back of James' mind. Like an instinct… He felt the urge to see what was behind the waterfall, and all the spray. The pool beneath the waterfall looked deeper than he was tall, so he was wary, but there was a small path around the back of the pool, along the wall. James hefted his shield above his head, to divert some of the water, and was surprised that when the undine-infested water struck his shield, it rebounded vigorously, splashing the water outside the pool and onto the beach, scattering pebbles as it struck. He also felt his mana being consumed, but only faintly. Nothing like the water spear he had [Reflected] twice now.

With the waterfall diverted, the mist quickly died down, and behind the waterfall was… nothing. Rather, there was a small alcove behind the waterfall, but nothing was there at all.

James felt vaguely disappointed and then quickly retreated away from the pool of water, letting the waterfall resume its natural course.

He walked out to the center of the alcove and eyed all the ore around. He had plenty of Blue and Brown Iron, but he wanted all the Green Iron he could get, given it had been quite rare on the upper floor. James debated removing his armor but ultimately decided to keep it on, just in case. Even though he was wet.

For the rest of the day James mined out every bit of Green Iron Ore he could find in the alcove, accumulating a fairly large stack of ore. Once he was done mining, he ate some of his bread and took a break.

Out at the edge of the ward blocking the entrance to the alcove there were several crab monsters skittering back and forth, testing the edges of the ward for weakness. No bird monsters though.

James put away his pick-axe and ore, and picked up his shield and hammer.

He made quick work of the crabs and tossed their corpses into the ward. He wanted to explore just a little more before he continued on.

He walked out to the right again, following the wall and avoiding any large ponds. The only noise at first was the crunching sound of his boots on the pebbles, but eventually he heard it growing louder and louder.

The squawking of bird monsters.

The wall ahead curved outward, blocking his view of the wall behind. James raised his shield, fully alert and cautious, as he came around the edge…

And saw a wall full of shallow holes, all filled with nests of dried plant material, all filled with at least one bird monster, with dozens of bird monsters flying about. Maybe hundreds of bird monsters in total.

James froze.

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