Chapter 28: Mission: Gathering Resources
"Star Watch?" Rollins seemed confused.
"Yes, a Watch is a period of time when guards are guarding. Star sounds cool, but stars peer down from the heavens and watch the Earth," Kyle said.
"Earth?" Sif was confused she had never heard the name, it sounded like a place.
"Oh, uh, Earth, it's the name of the place I come from," Kyle responded a little surprised at his lack of care. Superhero 101, don't give people clues to your identity.
This is especially true when he didn't really know the status of this world or what became of it when he left. Is it just like a video game, or are these real people? He hoped they were real.
"It's where you come from? I've never heard of it before. Can you show me on a map?" She asked. She was interested in anything having to do with her mysterious G-Hawk.
"Honestly, I don't know how I got from there to here. I have no idea how to show you where I come from." He was being honest. He really didn't know how the cylinder room worked.
He was also sure his planet much less his hometown wouldn't be on any of the maps of Miras.
"Strange," Rollins said.
"We should probably get underway," Kyle was eager to move them away from the topic of his homeworld. This point wasn't lost on Sif and Rollins.
"We should head in that direction," Kyle pointed in a north-western direction.
He flew into the valley, making sure to stay low enough so the birds of prey weren't tempted to assault him, but high enough to stay out of the jaws of any wolves.
Sif and Rollins shrugged their shoulders and followed Kyle. It was clear he didn't want to talk about where he came from. They wouldn't force him.
The Rollins siblings caught up to Kyle. "You're the rock expert since You're one of Mr. Davenport's students. What are we looking for?" Sif asked.
"We're looking for surface formations that hint to possible ore deposits." Surface formations were the common method for finding ore deposits in the ancient days of Earth.
Unfortunately, Earth has more or less exhausted this method for finding ore deposits. A world without industrialization, like Miras, was still filled with surface deposits.
It was even possible to find precious metals and minerals if you knew what you were looking for. Kyle knew what he was looking for.
"Brother Rollins, would you mind acting as scout and guard? I'm not able to concentrate on finding ore deposits and watch out for attacks," Kyle said.
He had become more comfortable calling Rollins, 'brother Rollins.' At first, he felt it was awkward, but whenever he said it both Rollins and Sif were happy.
"No problem," Rollins ran toward a hill and climbed up it to view the area around Kyle and Sif.
"Sif, please hold this, and point it wherever I ask you."
Kyle handed Sif a tubed artifact with special glass on its top. It looked a lot like a yellow flashlight. It even had a red button for easy activation.
Kyle made it based on his knowledge of earth geological research, formations of Miras, and all of the reference materials he was reading with Mr. Davenport.
He crafted the body of the device, the glass, and inserted a wind wolf demon crystal as a battery; using the smithing techniques he learned from Mr. Davenport.
He used special materials to create the specific formations in the object to give the device necessary functions. What were these functions?
"Right there, point it there," Kyle told Sif. She pointed the device where he told her but nothing happened. She looked at it wondering if it was broken.
"Sorry, push the red button first."
Sif clicked the red button and pointed it to where she was instructed. A red and purple light shot out from the device and created an x-ray type effect.
Now, they could see what was below the surface. Ores shown in different colors. It showed more than that though.
Sif let the lights rove gently over the outcropping of rocks. She wasn't sure what Kyle was looking for so she increased the speed the light moved along the ground.
"Wait! Go back, what's that?" Sif moved the light back as Kyle instructed. Kyle was about to make a comment, but he suddenly heard Rollins yelling.
"Incoming wind wolf pack, and some mercenaries!" Rollins yelled. He was scrambling down from his perch on the hill.
Sif turned off the device and gave it back to Kyle who put it back into his bag of holding. He ran in the direction Rollins was running from.
He made some hand signs and traced design in the dirt with his foot. It almost looked like he was dancing. Sif was enchanted by his movements. A collection of energy symbols flew from Kyle's fingers and flew into the symbol on the ground.
"Sif, quickly, follow me!" Kyle and Sif ran to the place she had shown the red and purple lights on. Kyle closed his eyes and concentrated.
He then punched straight down. A large hole opened and Kyle grabbed Siff and jumped into the hole. A few moments after they jumped into the hole; the land seemed to reform.
Rollins saw Kyle and Sif fall into a hole of some sort, but he wasn't sure what happened.
He reached the point he saw them disappear when a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle and pulled him down into the earth.
Not long after Rollins disappeared into the earth, a pack of wind wolves ran into view chasing after the human smell.
The wolves had their scent and rushed toward the area their scent leads them. When they reached a certain point, the wolves stopped running and looked forward confused.
It was at that time a group of about twenty mercenaries appeared. They stopped rushing for a moment.
"What's wrong with the wolves?" Meljis a skinny mercenary asked.
"I don't know," was the reaction from their beast tamer, Tahnis.
The mercenaries didn't think too much about it and followed the wolves before becoming trapped in the same formation as the wolves.
"How did we get into a formation?" Galbrak, the leader asked.
"How do we get out?" asked Barj, another mercenary.
"If no one here is a formations expert then we'll just need to wait for the power to run out of it," Meljis said.
"How long will that take?" Galbrak asked.
Meljis looked around and shrugged his shoulder.
"A couple of days?"
He wasn't sure but after answering, he yawned and stretched before sitting on the ground. He pulled a piece of dried meat out of his pouch and started eating.
"Then, we wait. Once we're out, we're going to kill whoever trapped us in this thing," Galbrak said as he sat down in anger.
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Good news! our power stone count is 46. We only need 54 power stones to get an extra chapter released on Sunday.
Let's aim for 250 stones and get 3 extra chapters.
Today's power stone heroes: Ivinok, DaoistzvYmro, MisterPickler, and mysteriousgasmstr
Thank you all for your support! This book wouldn't be possible without you.
--Straythought
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
straythought
straythought Our heroes are already in trouble! Where did Kyle and his friends disappear to?
Let me know in the comments.
If you would like to read more chapters, I'll do a big release on Sundays if we can reach the weekly goal.
This week's goal is:
100 power stones for 1 extra chapter.
200 power stones for 2 extra chapters
250 power stones for 3 extra chapters
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone