While it isn't the city that I was looking for, I am still curious enough to head towards it. After all, there has to be a reason for this single anomaly in the terrain. However, to be safe I land before I reach it and approach cautiously.

  As I get closer, I can see that there is a lot of activity around the mountain. When there are only a few trees left between me and the mountain I can finally see why. There is a mine or cave at the base of the mountain and lots of human souls moving around it.

  From what I can see, they are mining the silver metal that a lot of the angel's equipment is made from. As soon as I see that I want to steal it and see what I can do with that metal. The human souls that come out of the mine carrying metal are taking it somewhere.

  There is a small group of huts off to the side where they are taking the metal. From the looks of things, they stockpile the metal for a while before sending it to the city. Since I don't see any guards near the huts, I sneak around until I am behind them.

  There are no guards behind the huts either, in fact no one is around at all. The huts are simple and made of untreated wood, they look totally out of place. Especially when you consider that this is inside a god's personal domain.

  Unfortunately, there are no windows on the huts, so I will be going in blind. There are a total of four huts and the humans are carrying ore into the third one. I am guessing that that means that the first two are full and they ship the ore out when all four are full.

  So, I approach the back of the first hut and as quietly as I can I rip part of the wall open. It turns out that luck is with me, there are no human souls inside the hut and it is filled with ore. There is enough ore in this one hut for me to do a ton of experiments and it makes me glad that I didn't leave.

  I quickly get a hold of myself and start stuffing ore into my ring as fast as I can. The chances of me being detected are pretty high and I want to grab as much as I can before that happens. I only saw human souls outside, but that doesn't mean that is all that is around.

  As I am shoveling ore into my ring, I can't help but feel sorry for the human souls. After all, who wants an afterlife where you spend all your time mining? Work is only supposed to exist during your life, your afterlife is supposed to be the reward!

  This is more like hell for those poor human souls, it makes me want to free all of them. I mean, in a way it is their own fault for worshiping an idiot like Holos, but I still pity them. I wonder if they would see me killing them as a relief or would they be upset?

  It's not like I can stop and ask them, but I am going to think of it as a relief for them. If nothing else, it will help me feel less guilty for killing them for soul exp. Because even if I get all the ore without getting caught, I still won't pass up all that exp.

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  There might even be enough human souls working here for me to gain another level. Then I could definitely go visit the dragon without having to worry about being in trouble. Although, to be honest I haven't felt any difference from leveling up my soul.

  Not that I am insane enough to say that to the dragon, I don't want to get eaten. He seems to have very little sense of humor about things involving souls. That probably means that I should take those things more seriously, but I have too much on my plate as is.

  I finally finish gathering all of the ore in this hut, so I back out and move to the next one. Unfortunately, my luck seems to have run out, this hut isn't unoccupied. There are three human souls in here and it looks like they are doing inventory or something.

  They are more surprised to see me than I am to see them, which gives me an advantage. I manage to kill the first two before they can react, but the third gets off a scream. I immediately rush to the door and cut down the souls that come in in response to the scream.

  When I step out of the hut, there are dozens of souls running towards me. I rush to meet them and start cutting them down before they can get organized. There are a lot of human souls, but they are not organized and don't react well.

  Some keep coming at me, some freeze in place, and some turn to run away. Even better for me, they all get in each others way and make it easier for me to cut them down. There are far too many for me to kill all of them, some of them are going to get away.

  That and the fact that their deaths can be sensed means that I am on a time limit. I need to cut down as many as I can and then get back to stealing the ore. To help with that I split the sword into two and start dancing my way through the souls.

  *DING*

  Congratulations! Skill Sword Dancer has progressed to level 8!

  Sword Dancer

  Level 8

  Movement Speed +30% Damage +25% when wielding two swords.

  You dance the dance of death when wielding two swords.

  While the skill up is nice and all, I don't really have time to pay attention to it right now. As I slaughter the human souls, more and more of them turn to run away. There is no way I can catch them all, but I do my best to get as many as I can.

  341 Human Souls defeated! 34,100 Soul Exp gained!

  *DING*

  Congratulations! Your Soul Level Has Increased!

  Level 4 -> 5! Soul HP +300, Soul MP +1,500!

  While I am happy about leveling up, I ignore it for now and focus on something more important. I run all around picking up the ore that the souls dropped and putting it into my ring. As soon as that is done, I run back to the second hut and start looting it.

  Leaving right now would be the smart move, but I just can't abandon all this ore. I should have a small window before any angels can arrive and I plan to spend it well. If too many angels show up, I will just gate out instead of trying to run.

  However, if the forces that show up aren't that strong, I will kill them and keep looting. I get the feeling that this metal will be really important to some of my plans. Especially my plan of making a golem army, if I end up going that route.

  I have seen this metal used by the angels for both weapons and armor, so it should be pretty strong. It is also divine metal, so it should react really well with divine enchantments. It would be perfect for making angel golems, that would be a pretty effective army to face the demons.