While Corrin, Lynx, and Zom swept the excavation chambers for threats such as Cave Bugs, Lio busied himself with preparing survival gear and consumables so the party could rest and recover before continuing their journey. The first item he drew from his oversized backpack was a plasma lantern, flooding the cavern with a steady glow that outshone the faint shimmer of bioluminescent plants and fungi. Next came a small tarp for the group to sit on, followed by five bottles of mineral water.
Finally, he produced a vital necessity: five tubes of NutriCorp's Ration Paste. Designed to provide all the essential nutrients, proteins, and fibers the body required, the paste was efficient but far from appetizing—closer to flavorless gruel than a meal. Still, its rapid absorption spared eaters the inconvenience of digestion as well as no worries about going to the bathroom. With minimal effort, Lio managed to create a spot where the party could relax beneath the warm, cozy light of the lantern, its glow reminiscent of a campfire.
The sound of grunting, rusty wheels grinding, and dirt shifting drew Lio's attention. He turned to see Arlin straining as he tried to push a massive, decommissioned excavator tractor into place, using it to block the tunnel for cover. Despite his Drexxan physiology making him the strongest member of the party, Arlin still struggled; the machine's wheels were long jammed and immovable. After a moment's hesitation, Lio walked over to him, deciding to offer his help.
"Hey, Arlin. Need a hand?" Lio asked with genuine concern.
Arlin chuckled, shaking his head as though Lio's offer was almost comical. "Ha! Sure, Pujak... unless you're a Level Three metahuman," he replied, half-joking, half-exasperated.
Grunting, the Drexxan warrior returned his focus to the task at hand. His muscles strained as he forced the rusted excavator forward, trying to wedge it across the tunnel entrance. The wheels had long seized, and every shove made the ancient machine groan like it might fall apart on the spot. Slowly, painfully, it began to shift.
But then... it became easier. Much easier.
Arlin blinked in confusion. Had his effort finally paid off? He stole a glance to his side—only to see Lio, the so-called Rank-F rookie, shoulder-to-shoulder with him, pushing the massive tractor with steady determination.
Together, the two of them forced the excavator into position, sealing off the tunnel with a thunderous crash of metal and stone. Dust settled in the cavern. For a moment, only silence remained.
Arlin turned to Lio, his expression twisted between shock and disbelief. "...Oi, Pujak. What level are you really?"
Lio wiped the sweat from his brow and dust himself off while gave him an awarded smile. "Level Three. Same as you. Says so right on my Marauder Registration Card."
Arlin could only stare at him, dumbfounded.
<<<[ @ @ @ ]>>>
With the tunnel sealed and the chamber swept for any signs of danger, the Marauders finally allowed themselves a moment of rest. A plasma lantern flickered to life in the center of their makeshift camp, its bluish glow casting long shadows against the cavern walls.
The group sat around it in a loose circle, ration packs in hand. NutriCorp's Ration Paste might have been infamous for tasting like salted chalk, but it filled the belly, and hunger didn't leave much room for complaints. Lio forced down a mouthful, grimacing, while Lynx made a show of wrinkling her nose at hers.
Conversation came and went in waves—small stories, idle jokes, the kind of banter that helped take the edge off after a long mission. Then, with an almost boyish excitement, Arlin broke in.
"Oi, listen to this," he said, leaning forward, his eyes flicking toward Lio. "Turns out this rookie—our little Rank-F Pujak here—is a Level Three on the Strength Scale. Just like me!"He said it as though he'd stumbled on a cosmic revelation. His grin stretched wide, practically glowing in the dim lantern light.
Lio rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, as Corrin, Lynx, and Zom all exchanged glances. Then, almost in unison, the three of them chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Arlin demanded, brow furrowing.
Corrin, the calm veteran, smirked as he tore open another paste pack. "We already knew, Arlin. It's on his registration card. Didn't you even read the mission file?"
Lynx giggled, her robotic fingers tapping against her tin cup. "Seriously, big guy, you act like you just uncovered a hidden relic."
Even Zom, usually the picture of composure, gave a quiet, amused click of his mandibles. "Obvious information... is still a revelation to some."
Arlin's face turned from triumph to flustered indignation. "H-Hey, you could've told me sooner!"Lio, trying not to laugh, just shrugged with a small smile. "...You didn't ask."
The lantern's glow flickered over the party as their laughter echoed off the cavern walls, carrying a warmth that even ration paste couldn't sour.
As the laughter died down and the cavern settled into a comfortable silence, Lio found himself staring into the pale glow of the plasma lantern. The shadows of his new companions stretched across the rocky walls—veterans, each of them, bound by two years of shared survival. Compared to them, he was just the newcomer, the tag-along rookie.
He hesitated, chewing over his words before finally blurting out, "Um... if it's not too personal... how did you all end up together? I mean, your party."
For a moment, no one answered. Then Corrin let out a dry chuckle and leaned back against the stone. "Not much of a grand tale, rookie. Two years ago, I signed up 'cause I needed credits. Old debts don't pay themselves, and my past life of cards and dice caught up to me. Marauding was just... convenient."
Lynx shifted, her robotic arm reflecting a faint gleam from the lantern. "Same here, but mine's less about bad luck and more about responsibility. Family doesn't eat on hope, y'know? The pay's steady enough if you survive." She said it with a shrug, though her smile carried a bittersweet edge.
Zom adjusted one of the small hovering drones resting on his shoulder, his voice as calm as always. "My reasons are technical. My maps of the frontier zones lack accuracy. Better drones mean better cartography. Better cartography... requires money." His mandibles clicked softly, like punctuation at the end of his thought.
Then Arlin puffed out his chest, grinning as if his answer was obvious. "Me? I just like smashing things! Beasts, machines, whatever. Strength only means something if you use it, right? Fighting strong enemies is glory enough for me."
The group chuckled, their explanations short, matter-of-fact. Lio nodded slowly, his eyes downcast. "I see... Thanks for sharing. I get it if you don't want to elaborate. I'm still just a stranger who stumbled into your group..."
Before he could finish, Lynx leaned over and gave him a playful nudge with her metal elbow. "Hey, don't make it sound so gloomy. You're one of us now, rookie."
Arlin grinned, slapping him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over. "Yeah! Don't sweat it, Pujak. We're a bunch of misfits anyway—one more won't hurt."
The words eased the tightness in Lio's chest. He smiled faintly, the warmth of their casual acceptance feeling brighter than the lantern itself.
---
For a time, the only sounds were the faint humming sound of the plasma lantern, the clinks of tin spoons against ration packs and the low hum of Zom's drones as they hovered lazily overhead.
Then Lynx broke the quiet. She leaned back, resting her metal arm against the stone floor, and gestured toward the scattered silhouettes of broken machinery looming in the dark. "Hey, has anyone else noticed how all this junk's piled up? The tractors, the busted lights, even the drills—they're all pointing that way." She jabbed a thumb toward the far corner of the chamber, where the shadows seemed a little thicker.
The party turned their eyes toward it. Rusted machines sat half-buried in dust and rock, tilted and corroded by time. Yet, as Lynx had said, the way they were arranged looked... deliberate. Like they'd all been driven or dragged toward a single spot before being abandoned.
Corrin scratched at his stubbled chin, his gaze narrowing. "Huh. You might be onto something. If this was a proper excavation site back in its day, they weren't digging here for sport. Means there's either a vein, a relic, or something worth bleeding credits over."
Zom's antennae twitched as his drones drifted closer to the shadowed corner. His calm, buzzing voice followed. "Valuable, perhaps. Or dangerous. Abandoned tools rarely lie without reason."
Arlin perked up immediately, his grin flashing in the lantern light. "Valuable, dangerous, whatever—I like where this is going. Maybe we'll hit the jackpot."
Lio's eyes lingered on the darkness beyond the dead machinery. He swallowed the last bite of his ration paste, unease knotting faintly in his chest. "...Or maybe there's a reason it was left untouched."
The cavern seemed to grow just a little quieter after his words, the shadows in that far corner feeling a little heavier, a little closer.
<<<[ @ @ @ ]>>>
Despite the unease gnawing at the back of their minds, the party pressed deeper into the chamber. The plasma lantern's glow spilled across the rusted skeletons of machinery and the decayed frames of long-decommissioned vehicles. Shattered floodlights, their glass long since dulled, lay scattered across the rock floor. And amidst the heaps of corroded tools were bones—dry, brittle remains that looked human once, perhaps miners or corporate staff who had worked here untold years ago.
Zom crouched low, antennae twitching as he deployed one of his drones. It emitted a soft hum, projecting a pale light onto a nearby skeleton. From his satchel, he produced a compact scanner, its interface clicking faintly as it ran its test. "Radiocarbon analysis... complete," the Xaian murmured. "Approximate time of death: two hundred years prior."
"Two centuries..." Corrin muttered, arms folded. His eyes scanned the chamber, sharp and calculating even in the gloom. "Plenty of ways a mine like this could've gone under. Cave Bugs are the obvious culprit—we know they infest this sector. Or maybe some freak cosmic event cut the lights and sealed the deal. Or..." He smirked grimly, "...maybe some megacorpo decided it was cheaper to bury the truth than face it."
No one argued. In these frontier zones, any of those explanations could've been true.But when they finally reached the center point, unease gave way to awe. Embedded in the cavern wall was a glittering seam of crystal—jagged formations that shimmered faintly under the lantern's light. They gleamed gold at one angle, then purple at another, like frozen lightning trapped in stone.
Corrin's lips curled into a rare smile. "Auralite," he breathed. "Well I'll be damned. An untouched motherlode."
Even the ever-calm Zom let out a low, clicking hum of approval. Auralite wasn't just beautiful; it was priceless, prized both as a gemstone and as raw computation cores for the most advanced systems. To find it here, buried in a dead excavation site, was nothing short of miraculous.
"Guess Lady Luck's on our side," Lynx grinned, standing and reaching into Lio's pack. She pulled out her modular upgrade—a spiked, drill-shaped prosthetic hand. With a quick twist and click, she detached her left arm's standard prosthesis and locked in the drill. The moment it whirred to life like a mining drill, she spun it once, sparks flashing off the steel. "Alright, let's dig ourselves a fortune."
Arlin cracked his knuckles, retrieving his massive, mace-like club from his back. He gave it a lazy twirl, the air whooshing as the weapon cut through it. "Heh. Then I'll smash open the rocks for you. Don't wanna leave all the fun to a piece of scrap metal."
Lynx shot him a glare, though there was no real malice in it. "Try not to break the crystals, musclehead. We're here to mine, not play whack-a-mole."
Arlin only grinned wider, slamming the mace into the stone with a thunderous crack. The cavern shook faintly, and fragments of glittering Auralite rained down like stardust.
Lio rummaged through his oversized pack and pulled out three worn pickaxes. Handing one to Corrin and another to Zom, he kept the last for himself. Corrin hefted the tool once before shaking his head.
"I'll keep watch," the veteran said, his voice steady, eyes scanning the cavern's shadows. "Zom, rookie—you two handle the mining. Shout if you hit anything worth noting."
Zom gave a curt nod, already setting his drones into a slow orbit above them, while Lio adjusted his grip on the pickaxe. Soon the chamber filled with the sharp, rhythmic sound of iron biting into stone. Each strike echoed off the walls, mingling with the whir of Lynx's drill and the thunder of Arlin's club.
---
As they worked, crystals shattered free, their glow catching the lantern light before vanishing into storage packs. Lio's oversized backpack grew steadily heavier, a portable vault for their fortune. Yet, even as he swung his pickaxe, a strange sound slipped past the ringing of metal and stone.
Lio was smiling while mining out the Auralites, for the fact that for his early job as a Marauder, he was able to mine out valuable crystals and possibly made a lot of G-Creds for a personal reasons. The attractive essences of being a Marauder that he and most of others across the New Frontier gravitate to, a sense of adventure and bounty hunting in the age of wild space.
But sudden...he hard something.
A whisper.
Faint, soft, unclear, as if carried by a draft no one else could feel.
Lio froze, his pickaxe still raised. He glanced over his shoulder. Corrin was at his post while armed himself with his blaster rifle, eyes sharp on the dark. Zom struck the walls with mechanical precision, his drones humming like cicadas. Lynx laughed faintly as Arlin nearly shattered another vein of Aurulite with too much force. None of them could have whispered to him—not over this noise.
And yet, he heard it again. Close. Beckoning.
Drawn by instinct more than reason, Lio lowered his pickaxe and followed the sound. His lantern beam swept across the wall he had been working on... and caught something odd. Amidst the rough stone and jagged veins of Aurulite was a patch of smooth, pale rock. White, marble-like, utterly alien against the rest of the chamber.
His heart thumped as he crouched down. With trembling hands, he brushed aside loose stones and dust. Something gleamed beneath.
A shape.
It emerged slowly, like treasure from a dream: a coin-like object, roughly the size of his palm, embedded in the marble. Gold, silver, and shimmering hues of blue twined across its surface. Its relief was etched in staggering detail—the image of a knightly figure raising a sword beneath a starlit sky, frozen forever in precious metals and sapphire tones.
The whisper grew louder. Not words—just a pressure, a pull, like an unseen tide urging him closer.
The clang of mining tools faded behind him, as though the world itself were holding its breath. His own did too. His fingers hovered above the relic, trembling from the weight of a nameless curiosity, slowly reaching towards this unknown relic.
Then, unable to resist, he touched it.
And the world went black.
<<<[ Arc 01, Ch03 - END ]>>>