The next day, we returned to the labyrinth and soon I confirmed some interesting things… the damaged parts of the amber that the ants came from had been repaired and it looked like the ants were back to those spots.

  “I know that they can be spawned this easily, but even so… why would the amber be restored too? Is it because it is part of the area where this labyrinth began to emerge?”

  As I stood there, analyzing the amber walls, a new thought began to form. From everything I had learned so far, I had assumed the labyrinths could only generate inorganic resources, metals, minerals, and the like. Organic materials, by contrast, seemed to be the byproducts of the monsters themselves, like scales and mana cores. But even if that theory was true, there was something troubling about the sheer volume of amber surrounding me.

  For the labyrinth to produce this much amber meant one thing: it wasn’t creating it out of nothing. There had to be a massive deposit of it within the mountain from the beginning, and the labyrinth was simply using it as a basis to cover the labyrinth. A resource-rich location like this would be a goldmine for crafting materials, but it also painted a picture of how far the labyrinth could reach.

  “Still, if it’s able to manipulate resources this efficiently, who knows what else it might pull out of this place? What other secrets are buried here?”

  The question was why, considering the knowledge that I had, something like a mountain of amber or even a hill shouldn’t be able to be created that easily. At least not naturally…

  “All right, girl. Just lead the way. Let’s see how far you can go here by yourself. I will get the materials.”

  “Awoo!”

  Glacien began to run, but soon she stopped when the ants began to emerge. She didn’t hesitate to enhance her claws with ice to attack the creatures. Given the difference in size, Glacien could just smash them, but the claws of the ants were things that she didn’t want to underestimate and her instincts as a beast never failed until now.

  Despite her caution, she managed to kill the beasts with relative ease, and then we proceeded after I got the materials. I decided to let her experience accumulate in order to see how far she can go with her current strength.

  “No, don’t touch it. It hurts.”

  Alissandra tried to move her arms to get the fangs of the ants that I snapped from their bodies. She didn’t understand my words that well yet, so she still tried to reach them.

  I let out a sigh since I did some tests with those yesterday and they were some nasty stuff. My Decay Arrows could ignore magical and physical defense, but these materials granted piercing effects. It essentially could rend things apart the tougher the things that they touch are. So, they can also be as dull as a rusty knife if the target has little defensive power. It was quite the interesting effect since I couldn’t understand the logic behind it well.

  I did some tests to make defensive gear as well out of them. The compatibility was bad, but after some failures, I got a glimpse of the nature of the materials. That metal essentially could use more mana according to defenses of the target. I assumed that was the case based on the fact that I made a shield with the materials that could become harder while it absorbed my mana.

  ‘Perhaps I can find better applications for this material in the future… better stock it up, then.’

  While I was busy thinking and gathering the materials, Glacien was already far ahead… I needed to streamline the process of gathering the materials and exploring this place as well. My first idea was to use my bike on rails, and treat this place like a mine, but any changes that I made in this place would eventually be erased by the labyrinth itself, so that was a waste of time.

  The better option would be to process all the monsters outside instead and just store them in my magic bag. While I was thinking about that, I found Glacien eating some of the ants ahead and leaving the claws behind. I couldn’t see those things as tasty, but even Glacien wouldn’t eat every crap that she kills, so perhaps they had some nutritional value. It was another thing that I had to check in the future.

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  “You are making progress fast since you are using more skills. Just warn me before you reach an area that is too dangerous for you to solo, okay? I can heal you, but it is better to be cautious, since those things can probably overwhelm us if we go too deep.”

  “Awoo!”

  Glacien wasn’t stupid enough to leave my field of vision, so perhaps I was just overthinking. Still, caution had always been almost like a surname to me.

  While Glacien was finishing her meal, I went to check the holes that the ants emerged from and then tried to rip apart the amber there… Even with my high strength, I couldn’t. Using my swords didn’t help either… I thought that these things could be mined like ore, but it seemed that my guess was wrong. Only the parts that fell when the monsters emerged could be used. I was able to break those parts with my hands alone after closing them, so it seemed that their durability decreased a lot when they were no longer in contact with the labyrinth itself.

  I did some experiments with the powder that I made using the amber as well, but I only learned that when they were smashed enough, I could see them like crystal particles in a light brown tone. My knowledge regarding alchemy was still small, so I couldn’t compare that information with anything. Well, I had some ideas on how to find what that amber was good for…

  Once again, we only hunted until noon, but we made a bit more progress, given that we were attacked 120 times. That meant that we crossed twelve kilometers if compared to the nine of the previous day. Come to think of it, I should have realized that there was something odd about this labyrinth the moment we were attacked the first time, given that eight ants showed up on the very first encounter.

  ‘This place is like a mountain of experience ready to be dug… However, I probably shouldn’t take my time here. There are far too many things that I am unaware of. I should try to reach the bottom as soon as possible… even if this place becomes as deep as that reverse labyrinth. Fortunately, I have the right skills for this kind of situation.’

  After returning to the outside, I began to work on changing Alissandra’s basket to s seat where I could put Glacien back. That didn’t take much time. I just had to make something like belts to keep her safe there. She was at the age that she would try to get up and stay sitting, after all. With the belts, she wouldn’t move that much either.

  After that, I began to work on the amber and the fangs together. Since they had a connection, I figured out that their compatibility shouldn’t be bad. I tried to add some of the dust amber to some of the stamina potions in all kinds of potions and see if the effects changed overtime, but until now, I didn’t notice any changes. However, when I shaped an amber like a mana core and attached to the handle of a knife that I made using the fangs, I got a result.

  ‘Well, this is unexpected… how come the amber added this kind of effect?’

  As I examined the amber walls more closely, a possibility struck me. What if the amber wasn’t just a static material but something capable of storing mana? That could explain its unusual properties. Perhaps, as it absorbed more mana, it became progressively harder and more durable, perfect for forming the walls and ceilings of the labyrinth.

  But if there was a limit to how much mana it could store, that might also explain why the ants could so easily rip it apart. The amber in those sections probably hadn’t reached its full potential, either because it hadn’t been fully charged yet or because the labyrinth needed to constantly cycle the mana elsewhere.

  “It’s like the labyrinth is optimizing its resources,”

  The amber here was solid, almost impossible , nothing like the brittle shards the ants left behind…