Only a few kilometers to the northeast of Verde Village was a small waterfall. It used to just be a gentle stream, but after the sinkhole event, there was a three meter drop along the riverbed. The sound of water crashing from such a short distance wasn’t very loud, but created a very pleasant atmosphere.

A few cute green deer were drinking by the edge of the small pond that formed below the waterfall. Completely ignorant of the gray statue of a woman that was floating a few centimeters above the surface of the water. The morning sunlight shone on the left side of her face and body as she slowly reached out her right hand.

Opening her yellow crystalline eyes, huge oblong stones appeared out of thin air. It happened so suddenly and quietly that the deer didn’t even seem to notice or care. But once the rocks gently submerged into the water and started stacking on top of each other awkwardly, they freaked out and ran away.

Jade giggled as she reached out and easily manipulated those massive boulders like they were weightless. They almost looked like potatoes because of how lumpy and awkward they were, just like scaled-up versions of the real smoothed out rocks and stones on the riverbed. It took only a few minutes before she managed to balance five progressively smaller giant stones from the bottom of the pond to a meter above the waterfall.

“It’s not as fun as it used to be when I was a kid.”

“That’s probably ‘cause you’re cheating.” Oliver snickered as he squatted by the riverbank and stacked up a few regular smooth stones he found. They quickly fell down after only staying in place for a few seconds.

“I’m not cheating. But it’s just too easy for me now. Whether I make the stones myself… Or find them.”

Jade stopped sitting cross-legged mid-air and stretched her legs into the shallow pond water. The giant boulders vanished and the displaced water splashed back, getting her green tank-top wet. Although the color changed a little, the material didn’t soak up the water like normal clothing. Instead, it mostly slipped down or got stuck on the outside, similar to her smooth gray skin.

“The stones speak to me… Tell me what they want, what feels good, what hurts. The perfect balance… It’s just that easy.”

She sucked up dozens of small, round stones up from the riverbed and then started stacking them by hand at a rapid pace. In less than a minute, she created a tower of rocks that reached above the top of her head. Over 2 meters tall. The wind blew past and didn’t seem to have any effect on the stones at all.

“I guess I haven’t reached anywhere near that level yet.” Oliver snickered, “But… I think I’ll get there eventually.”

He placed his hand into the shallow water and little green dots lit up all across the pond. At least in his eyes, they were glowing green dots. In some ways, having more sensitive eyes wasn’t a good thing. For Jade, the whole pond was glowing green, just like the air, the trees, the plants and animals. If she looked up at the sun, it was like a blindingly bright green flashlight. Fortunately, she could still ‘turn it off’ consciously and see the normal colors again.

Oliver gathered all the dust-sized pieces of gray metal, along with various green and yellow crystal fragments. Even some gray-black crystals. And more silvery-yellow metals. It took a few minutes to separate them apart based on color and appearance. Then they merged together into a tiny silver-gray bb and several crystalline marbles. They were green or greenish yellow, but came in multiple shades of each color. Plus a big black pearl.

“Ollie, you should be careful.” Jade frowned as she looked at the different objects radiating bright green light, “The metallic Uranium seems a lot more dangerous than the crystals.”

“Yeah, not only that, but the more you condense and compress it, the brighter it gets. The green, yellow and black crystals don’t really have the same reaction.” He smiled wryly and shook his head, “It just feels kinda weird… Rather than a Miner, am I becoming some kinda Uranium Wizard?”

“Am I a Stone Mage?” She rolled her yellow eyes and scattered those scones in the pond. Then she conjured up an extremely dense gray stone cube. A small hole opened up on one side, only big enough for the tiny piece of metal to fit inside. Oliver placed the Uranium bb into the box and it sealed tightly, preventing any of that scary green light from escaping. The crystal marbles were also placed into their own stone cubes, but the size was smaller and the walls of the container were also much thinner.

“Maybe… No.” Oliver thought about it seriously and guessed, “I keep remembering back to what Grandpa taught us in school… The Earth was originally ‘Flat’, then it was round, finally it was just the Earth. Simpler is probably better. Even your father was still a Sculptor with a ‘Legendary’ adjective.”

“That’s true.” Jade nodded, waved the stone cubes over and sent them towards the waterfall. A triangular stone protruded from up above and split the waterfall apart in the middle. Revealing the simple and smooth grayish-brown stone wall underneath. However, that stone easily warped to the sides and revealed the entrance to a staircase leading down into the darkness. Those cubes were simply placed on some shelves along the walls for the time being. Along with dozens of others.

“I never really had any fancy dreams like wanting to be the best Sculptor in the world. But… I think I found my calling now. Maybe it’ll take hundreds of years, but I’m gonna try to seal up and clear away all the Uranium that’s poisoning Kresvallia.”

“Hahaha~! I still wanna be the greatest Miner in the world! But… I don’t think my Dad will care if I lose his ‘Miner’ Word in the process.” Oliver stood up and stretched his arms towards the bright blue sky, “With the two of us working together, it won’t take hundreds of years! We just need to keep practicing! And we aren’t working alone either! I’m sure Klein will figure out a cure for Uranium poison long before we finish cleaning up Greenstone Mountain!”

*Clap-clap-clap-clap~!* A beautiful blonde-haired, green-eyed young woman walked out of the woods, wearing a black t-shirt, dark-blue jeans and flip-flops. 

“I love your enthusiasm Ollie, but maybe you shouldn’t be yelling in front of our secret base?!”

Oliver retorted, “Aren’t you screaming even louder?” 

“Hi Peri~! Good morning~!” Jade giggled and waved as she waded through the shallow water to the shore.

“Morning…” Peridot yawned and then sniffled a bit, before coughing a few times, “Don’t stand around here. Get inside quickly.”

She jumped up lightly and hopped across several slippery stones that slightly protruded out of the surface of the water. It only took a few seconds for her to land inside of the tunnel entrance.

“What’s the hurry?” Oliver snickered and jumped lightly, landing behind her back and picking up the skinny girl into his arms. Fortunately the hallway inside was actually very wide compared to the entrance.

“Wait for me!” Jade floated over the water swiftly and closed the ‘door’ behind them. Those boxes on the shelves along the walls were also lifted up and carried behind her back. There were wires buried inside the solid stone walls and only small light bulbs were visible on the outside. Illuminating the staircase and subsequent hallway brightly.