Chapter 10: The Labor Contract

Chapter 10: The Labor Contract

In the morning, as Jack opened his eyes and blinked away the fog of sleep, he immediately felt a strange emptiness on his chest. Aria was gone.

Instantly alert, Jack pushed himself up and stepped out of the wooden house into the blistering morning glare. He didn't have to look far. Standing near the base of the glowing blue spire, a tiny blue figure was desperately hovering, channeling streams of condensed water out of thin air directly into the shrine’s core reservoir.

“Aria, what on earth are you doing?” Jack called out, rushing over.

“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing’?!” Aria snapped, her voice trembling slightly with exhaustion as she didn't even turn her head. “I’m saving your ungrateful life! The shrine’s free fuel timer was literally down to its last ten minutes! Lucky for you, I woke up early, or we would’ve both been roasted like wild beasts before breakfast!”

The moment the last drop of water trickled into the spire, the blue crystal pulsed softly, resetting its cooling timer. But the effort was too much. Aria’s tiny wings sputtered out of control, and she wobbled violently in mid-air before collapsing straight down toward the hot ground.

“Hey! Hold on!” Jack lunged forward, cupping his hands just in time to catch her small body before she hit the dirt.

“I... I just feel a little bit dizzy...” Aria muttered weakly, her face pale as she slumped against his palm.

Jack quickly focused his eyes on her, and a small blue status window flickered into view:

[ MP: 22 / 350 ]

“Yeah, no wonder—you completely drained your mana pool,” Jack said, letting out a breath of relief that she was okay. “Just sit tight and rest for a minute. Let’s head inside and grab breakfast first.”

He carefully held her with one hand and turned toward the cabin. But before he could take a single step, the heavy wooden door of the newly constructed Dwarf Worker Cabin swung open with a loud creak.

A stout, broad-shouldered figure stepped out into the open air. Standing just over four feet tall with a thick, braided brown beard, muscular arms, and heavy leather armor, the newcomer carried a sturdy iron pickaxe slung over his broad shoulder.

“Umm... hey there. How are you doing?” Jack said, taking a step toward him while keeping a cautious eye on his stats.

The dwarf paused, squinted through the hazy ash at Jack, and then gave a sharp, respectful nod, thumping his fist against his chest plate.

“How do you do, good sir!” the dwarf greeted in a deep, booming voice. “My name is Brul. Am I correct in assuming you are the master of this land?”

“Yeah, I am,” Jack replied, his gamer instincts kicking in. He studied the dwarf’s expressive eyes and asked, “Tell me, Brul... do you have any memories before coming here?”

“Memories? Of course I do!” Brul snorted, leaning heavily on his pickaxe. “I came here to work! My standard hiring fees are six full meals a day and fifteen beast stones a month. That was the exact agreement promised to me before I stepped through the magic summoning circle. Oh, and my official working shift is strictly from six in the morning until two in the afternoon.”

‘Aghhh, seriously?!’ Jack groaned internally, rubbing his temples. ‘Six meals a day?! And on top of that since when do summoned units have strict working hours and union contracts?! That’s completely different from how it worked in the game!’

Jack took a second to recalibrate his approach, putting on his best calm, authoritative leader expression.

“Of course, that’s fair,” Jack said smoothly. “You can start your shift right now. I need you to begin clearing out the volcanic boulders and mining the stone deposits within the safe zone. We need a massive stockpile of raw stone, and your full payment will be settled at the end of the month.”

Brul’s bushy eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Wait just a minute, boss! The terms clearly stated payment in advance upon arrival!”

Jack crossed his arms, looking down at the stout worker with a calm, indifferent gaze. “Look, Brul... if you don’t like the payment schedule, you’re more than welcome to step back through that door and go right back to where you came from.”

Brul opened his mouth to argue, glanced back at his cabin, then looked out at the terrifying, magma-filled wasteland surrounding their small blue sanctuary. He let out a long, dramatic sigh and threw his heavy hands up in defeat.

“Alright, alright! Jeez, talk about getting stuck with a greedy boss...” Brul muttered under his breath, adjusting his pickaxe. “Whatever... we’re just honest workers trying to earn a living for our children anyway.”

Without another complaint, the dwarf trudged off toward the nearest cluster of volcanic rocks, raised his pickaxe, and began methodically swinging at the stone with incredible precision.

‘Perfect,’ Jack thought, watching the dwarf work with a satisfied smirk. ‘Having him clear the rocks serves a double purpose: it flattens the terrain inside the safe zone so I have room to construct more base facilities, and it generates raw stone—one of the core primary building resources.’

He looked out over the burning landscape around them.

‘In this scorched hellscape, there’s plenty of rock, but not a single piece of usable wood. Wood is another primary resource needed for almost every intermediate structure. Once Brul mines a solid stockpile of volcanic stone, I can use the World Chat and the system trading hub to exchange our surplus stone with survivors trapped in ocean or forest servers who are desperate for mineral materials.’

Nodding to himself, Jack gently carried the tired Aria back toward the cabin to eat something.

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