While Rukhar slept on his pressing issue, Marie was sleeping on another issue. Namely, agent 4. His new sword was very impressive and buff, but no one else had any special equipment. In fact, they wore their Hero suits as armor, which was highly unsubstantial. Furthermore, only agent 3 had a job, and weaponry was very expensive, lest you made it yourself. None of the agents were in a smithing course, so they didn't even know where to start. So, overnight she came to a conclusion. Maybe that LFR would help the situation. If only they knew what it implied. Or that upon trying, no one was willing to invite anyone but agent 4. So 4 went off to spend the day raiding, some place called Crown Jewel Castle. Meanwhile, Marie and Callie were trying to find an alternate way.

"So what do you suppose we do?" Asked Marie.

"Ask nicely." Said Callie.

"That's not gonna work Cal." Marie replied.

"Well we gotta find a method." Said Callie.

"We could try and ask Axel." Said Marie.

Axel's head appeared behind them. "As much as I want to get you home, most gear I carry is way to high level." He said, promptly vanishing.

Jay walked in. "You could just try a FFA tournament." He said.

"How long have you been listening?" Marie asked, perturbed.

"The last 20 minutes." Said Jay. "I want to help."

Marie was pretty sure he was looking for a different conversation topic.

"Thank you!" Callie bubbled.

"But we don't have the gear..." Said Marie. "We need power to get more power."

"Well, then I only have one other option, but it's dangerous." Said Jay. "Gathering trip."

"What?" Asked Marie

"You go mining, or logging. There's about a million free pickaxes in the void unit, and I'm sure Axel will give you a pair. Besides, Rukhar is going out today to find some Adamanti-Iridius ore for his arrows." Jay said.

"Knew it." Thought Marie. "Kid wants fodder to tease Rukhar with."

"Sounds fun!" Said Callie.

"What it is is boring, without friends." Said Jay. "And hard work. But anything you find is yours, and you can ask the night shift Smith's to melt it down and cast it for you. It's the day shift that sucks."

"So fun!" Callie stubbornly insisted.

"...sure." said Jay. "Ngl I see why Rukhar likes her." He thought.

"Well, let's go ask Axel for a pair of pickaxes, whatever those are." Marie said.

"Doesn't the archeology team use them?" Asked Callie.

"Yes." Said Jay and Axel at the same time.

Jay jumped. "The hell'd is out come from?" He shouted.

"Eh. Well, here's 2 Cross Layered Steel picks. Have fun, I guess." Axel said, dropping the picks into Marie and Callie's hands. And he vanished again.

"I know that's a dark move and I want to learn it so bad." Jay said.

From nowhere, Axel stated "no this is space magic."

"Well that sucks." Jay said. "Anyways, I'll see you around!" He left.

Marie and Callie left outside. Rukhar was hanging around the door, checking that he had everything he might need.

"Hi Rukhar!" Callie said happily.

As per standard, Rukhar got that classic feeling, and saw Callie also had a pickaxe.

"Jay said you were gonna go dig for stuff. I wanna come!" Callie said. Marie just nodded. "What she said, I guess."

"Come on, Marie. This'll be fun!" Callie said, sticking out her lower lip.

"O-ok!" Rukhar said. "Then we gotta go down this tunnel here. Not a lot of miners use it." He pointed to a cave marked on a map he had made of the area.

"Why not this one?" Marie asked, pointing to a hole in the ground 10 feet away.

"That mine is barren, and I only have a few explosives on me." Rukhar said.

"Yay, adventure!" Callie said.

The trip headed off. Jay was hiding in a bush, smiling at you accomplishment. Now Rukhar was alone with his crush, mostly... But why would Marie stop anything?

A short time later, the group got to the cave. Callie looked in awe at the jungle in the distance. Suddenly, a huge roar echoed from it.

"Whawha! What's that!" She asked, hiding in her squid form in Rukhar's bag.

"It's uh... Just a jungle dragon. They are harmless, unless you go logging in there without their permission." Rukhar said.

"Dragons huh? Fun." Marie said.

"Still scary..." Callie said.

"Why don't we go into the cave then?" Asked Rukhar. "Also, beware of bats. But one good thing is I haven't found many monsters in this cave." Rukhar said. "Do you guys know what metal or metals you are after?" He asked, as if as an afterthought.

"No." Said Marie.

"All of em!" Said Callie.

"Well, you can ask later what the metals do, I guess." Rukhar said. "Actually, I have a booklet about em."

He gave the thin book to Callie.

"Read it. There's over 30 kinds of metal, and each one has it's own unique characteristics." Rukhar said.

"That's... Entirely too many." Marie said.

"There's over 100 kinds of crystal and 77 kinds of stone that also work. And many of those can be combined into Moe combinations." Rukhar whispered to Marie. "Everything's in the book."

"I guess that's good..." Said Marie.

"And what kind of fun are you looking for?" Asked Rukhar, while Callie read the book, awestruck.

"Some kind of sniper." Marie said.

"Ok, then I would recommend not Tundra Diamonds, Iridium, Chikanite, or Electrum." Rukhar said.

"Sure............" Marie trailed off. Callie was gone.

Then there was a thunk, and a happy squid noise.

"I think she is mining already." Marie said.

"This rock is so soft!" Callie said.

"That's Chikanite." Said Rukhar. "It's not good for weapons."

"Oh, ok." Said Callie. "But it's so soft! I'm keeping it."

"Sure Callie." Marie said.

The group went a bit deeper in the mine. Rukhar was actively looking for the one specific ore he wanted, Marie was asking him which ones had better heat tolerance, kick reduction, net endurance, penetration power, et cetera.

Callie stopped and asked after a while "Rukhar, Jay said you wanted Adamanti-Iridius ore, but that's not in the book."

"That's because I have to alloy it." Rukhar said. "I need ghost iron, adamantite, and iridium."

"Do any of these match?" Callie dumped a pile of rocks on the ground.

"You have iron, black iron, tyngdral, pyrite, copper, quartz crystals, Chikanite, ionic silver, golden coals, and titanium." He said. "Not what I need, that's deeper down."

"Then let's go down!" Callie said. "But what can I do with these?"

"All of those are decoration metals, expect titanium." Rukhar said. "Maybe make a bracelet or something."

"Oooh..." Callie imagined what kinds or jewelry she could make.

"Well, let's get what you want." Said Marie. "I'm sure all the good stuff is down there anyhow."

"Put that bag in your vault, Callie." Rukhar said. "It's heavy and you need more space for the stronger metals."

"Ok!" Callie said, happily.

"Dear lord she's to pure." Rukhar thought. "I gotta ask her, but I just don't know how..."

Marie looked at him, with a knowing stare.

"You know..." She whispered while Callie put her rocks into her storage area. "As her cousin, I know she is entirely oblivious. You gotta be straight forward."

"It's not that easy..." Rukhar said.

"What's not that easy?" Callie asked.

"Ah! Getting Ghost Iron. It's very hard to see." Rukhar hastily covered.

"Oh, ok! I'll help you look!" Callie said, running down the cave further.

"Callie, wait! Slow down!" Rukhar said, chasing her.

Marie laughed, and followed.