"History of the Geomarrow Development Team, Distribution Map of Underworld Buildings, Geomarrow Vein Distribution Points, Basic Guide to Mechanical Maintenance... Svarog, how come you don't have any useful books here at all?"
Fu Zhu flipped through the books Svarog handed over, one by one, but didn't find any that could be useful in the current situation.
Despite his complaints, Fu Zhu still converted all the books Svarog passed over into MC books and stuffed them into his inventory.
"Response: Due to the Eternal Freeze and the lockdown between the Overworld and Underworld, gaps in documentary records are considered a normal occurrence."
Svarog gave a simple reply and continued placing various books one after another in front of Fu Zhu. However, every so often, it would look up towards the outside of the villa, seemingly waiting for a certain little girl to return.
Fu Zhu glanced up at Svarog. Although it was a robot, he could still discern from its subtle micro-movements how much it valued Clara.
"If you're worried, why not just go out and look for her yourself?"
Svarog's large bulb-like eye flickered slightly, but it ultimately rejected Fu Zhu's suggestion.
"Negative. Until you, the intruder, have departed, I must protect Clara's home."
"What's the point of a home if the person is gone? Also, could you stop using such an unpleasant term like 'intruder' to describe me? Either call me Fu Zhu directly, or refer to me as the Village Hero."
"Negative. Fu Zhu, your actions do not align with the literal definition of a Village Hero."
"What nonsense! I'm the kindest person there is!"
Fu Zhu picked up a dust-covered book, patting it clean. "Look, aren't I helping you tidy up these useless books right now? Having so many books lying around your house just takes up space! In what way do I not conform to the literal meaning of a Village Hero?"
Svarog's large bulb-like eye flickered for a while, then it fell silent.
[Achievement Unlocked: Acquainted with Svarog]
[Achievement Points Gained: 5]
Fu Zhu raised an eyebrow upon seeing the system prompt suddenly pop up. He hadn't expected the achievement to trigger only now, after all this time.
Could it be because he hadn't told Svarog his name until now?
Looks like he'd have to announce his name first thing when meeting people in the future. Or perhaps, make his name resound throughout the universe, so everyone knew him, and achievements would trigger automatically upon meeting.
After extracting another two stacks of books from Svarog, Fu Zhu told it to stop.
He currently didn't have mods like backpacks; his default inventory space was limited. He needed room for other things, so carrying two stacks of books was already the limit, and it was temporarily sufficient anyway.
"Svarog, where's my ore vein? Point me in the right direction."
Fu Zhu spread the previously found map on the table, stepping aside to let Svarog show the way.
After all, he was currently in the real world, not the world of MC. Ores in the real world weren't like in MC, where you could just dig randomly and find heaps of minerals.
If Fu Zhu wanted to efficiently acquire minerals, he either had to use Chain Destruction to dig straight through or find the location of an ore vein and dig directly along it.
Svarog stepped forward and drew several circles on the map for Fu Zhu with a marker pen.
"These are the locations of the ore veins under my control."
Fu Zhu glanced at the locations on the map, then opened his own minimap and marked the corresponding spots on the terrain.
"Okay, got it."
Knowing the locations of the ore veins, Fu Zhu turned to leave. After taking a few steps, he seemed to remember something and turned back to address Svarog, who was still standing by the table.
"Svarog, if Clara comes back, remember to tell her to keep the milk. I'll come back for it later."
"Why?" Svarog's tone was as devoid of fluctuation as ever, but Fu Zhu could still detect a hint of confusion in its words.
"Sparing you was the deal I made with Clara. Sparing Clara is the deal I'm making with you. Understand now?"
"..."
Svarog's system momentarily entered a frozen state.
Fu Zhu waited a few seconds. Seeing no reaction, he took it as tacit agreement, waved his hand, and turned to leave.
——————————————————————————
"Come on, lads! While the big boss Svarog is dealing with an intruder and has no time to manage the mines, dig faster! The Furnace Core has already stopped! If we don't get Geomarrow for heat, we'll all freeze to death!"
Inside a mine in the Underworld, a group of vagrants were furtively using their pickaxes to frantically mine the Geomarrow before them, while one person behind kept cheering them on.
"But boss, if big boss Svarog finds out we're secretly digging in the mine he controls, won't we be finished?"
"So what do you suggest? Stop digging? Then we just freeze to death!"
"Well... okay then."
While this group of vagrants was secretly mining, Fu Zhu also arrived at the location.
"Whoa, this ore vein is quite spectacular!"
Fu Zhu looked at the massive stone pillar in front of him, its surface revealing numerous Geomarrow deposits, feeling slightly surprised.
He had assumed the ore vein would be buried deep underground, but he hadn't expected it to be such a large pillar. Furthermore, because so much Geomarrow was exposed, the surrounding area was exceptionally bright.
But thinking about it, he was currently deep beneath Belobog, so it made sense for the ore veins to be distributed in the form of pillars.
After admiring it for a moment, Fu Zhu also took out his pickaxe, ready to get to work. One could never have too much Redstone. Even if he couldn't carry it all, he planned to store it in wooden chests first and then bring it back to the Astral Express in batches later.
Just as Fu Zhu was about to start, a group of robots assembled from various scraps of metal suddenly appeared from somewhere and surrounded him.
"Identifying incoming individual's information. Confirmed identity as Svarog's guest, Fu Zhu. Possesses highest mining priority. Mining permitted."
Fu Zhu had initially seen these robots approaching menacingly and was about to make a move, but unexpectedly, they just ran over, glanced at him, and then dispersed again.
"How strange..."
Fu Zhu muttered to himself, no longer paying attention to anything else. He swung his pickaxe and struck the ore vein.
However, on the other side of the ore pillar, another group of miners arrived in this mining area.
Before they could make a move, the robots that had just left Fu Zhu's side immediately surrounded them.
"Unauthorized personnel detected. Commencing expulsion procedure!!"