An Aluminating experience

Mission: Smelter's Blues

Anaphiel's stats at the start of the mission:

It would seem that the last mission, helping out the Kumogakure mines source out a tungsten vein and process some of it, went better than he’d originally anticipated. So much so that they’d wanted him to assist them with a different material. This time they were looking to process some aluminum; it was still a valuable metal, but much easier to come by, at least according to the mission request Anaphiel had received. It was the morning after their previous mission, the Hidemori Chuunin had enjoyed the challenge that the previous day had provided. He was not used to that level of manual labour, but it was worth it to learn more about some of the other members of the village. Secretly he hoped that this time would not necessarily be as strenuous as working in the tungsten mine, but had a strong feeling it would be.

Anaphiel got cleaned up, dressed, and grabbed a quick meal, petting the dogs on his way out. “Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone,” he said to them with a chuckle. Cheddar tilted his head at Anaphiel, Charlie barked once. The Hidemori Chuunin laughed and closed the door. He made his way out through the neighbourhood and down towards the main gate, where he would meet the rest of the team for this mission. They would be heading to the same mine that he went to yesterday, as they had multiple active mines there that were being excavated. Strangely, he was looking forward to more hard work.

WC: 255

Silver eyes gazed upon nothing in particular, as if in a complete trance. Meika couldn’t help that her attention was drawn to an unknown object. One that not many others could notice. Her weight rested against a tree, feeling the pull of the wind as it snagged at the locks of her dark hair. There was a disturbance of rustling leaves, and a call of a jay. Breaking the kunoichi’s mysterious trace.

Her eyes wandered down to her hands, where a parchment rested within her grasp. Kumogakure was an interesting place, and apparently had access to a few mines within its district. At the moment, Meika was unsure that she had any need for metal resources, but the experience was just enough to convince her to partake in this mission. In the future she was certain that if she did walk away with some of the resource, that she could find something to do with it.

From the information that she collected, Aluminum could be extracted in a special way to get the most out of the work put in. The smelter was needing a hand to gather some of this material, and Meika was ready to take on the position.

She pocketed the parchment, taking a moment to adjust the belt at her waist. Her attire consisted of a plain dark tank and black leggings. Nothing but ordinary for the job.

The kunoichi began her way towards the destination to start the mine. If anyone else was taking the mission, she was sure that she'd meet them there. At her arrival, the kunoichi was a bit surprised to see a familiar face joining along. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance once again, Anaphiel~”
{TWC: 284}

Apparently he didn’t have to wait long. Maybe five minutes after Anaphiel showed up at the gates someone else showed up walking towards him. She was wearing a different outfit than last time, but he’d recognise the black hair and silver eyes of Meika anywhere. Anaphiel Hidemori couldn’t help but smile; this wasn’t the first time that he’d been on a mission with Meika and he’d enjoyed interacting with her so far. “It’s nice to see you too Meika,” the Hidemori Chuunin would say to her. “Always enjoy working with a beautiful and talented woman.”

They would wait a little while longer, and when no one else showed, Anaphiel would look over to Meika, “alright, lets head out. I don’t believe we have anyone else coming.” He would take the lead as the pair would make their way to the mine. The path to the mine was uneventful and they made good time to get to there. They were greeted by the mine’s foreman, who explains the process. They’re looking for an ore called Bauxite, which is to the best of their ability, the ore that produces the most aluminum of any ore that’s currently known. They would need to find some of that ore, bring it to the processing buildings, and have it smelted into aluminum. “We’ll get to work right away, thank you.” He would say to the foreman before beckoning to Meika to follow him. “Seems simple enough,” he said to the Genin. “Guess it’s time to get started,” and he would lead the way over to the complex of mineshafts that the foreman directed them to as being their best bet.

WC: 275
TWC: 530

“I very much appreciate the kind words from such a gentleman.” Meika responded to his compliment with a warm smile. It wasn’t long after that Anaphiel announced that it was properly just the two of them on this mission, seeing that no one else had joined their company. Meika nodded her head in agreement, giving Anaphiel a look over, before following him into the mine.

The path within the mine was well lit and clear for easy entrance. Making it none too difficult to meet up with the foreman. She too listened to their explanation carefully. They described the ore in particular to their search. Bauxite was a very distinctive ore that looked to be earthy and clay-like. The spots that covered all over the ore is what helped it stand out.

She took the time to thank the foreman for his help. Again following Anaphiel as her eyes gazed upon the rocky walls of the mine. The ore wouldn’t be difficult to spot, and hopefully not too much of a hassle to extract. Ending with taking the ore they gathered to the smelter to begin the actual process of creating the aluminum.

Meika was new to mining. Thus taking the time to gather more details, “Would the ore extraction prove to be difficult?”
{WC: 214, TWC: 498}

Mid-Topic Claim:
Claiming Mission completion (hit minimum WC requirement)

Will claim mission rewards at thread exit

Approved

She’d asked a very valid question. This was Anaphiel’s first time mining bauxite, so he honestly wasn’t quite sure. “I mean, it can’t be harder than mining out ores for tungsten,” he said with a chuckle, referencing their last mission here at the mines. “I imagine it will be a similar process of finding ore veins, and mining it out with tools so that it can be brought back for processing. Not so much difficult at physically strenuous and time consuming”

It turned out that Anaphiel was pretty on the nose with his assessment. The mine shaft they’d entered appeared to be the type of ore that they would need for this mission. “At least we won’t need to spend as much time hunting down the ore,” he’d say with a chuckle. “I guess we should get to work then.” The Hidemori Chuunin would grab a pickaxe and start hammering away around chunks of ore he could see, breaking it out of the walls so that it could be placed in carts to be taken to the processing building to be converted into bars of aluminum.

WC: 186
TWC: 716

And lucky for them, they had the right tools given to them for the job at hand. The kunoichi beamed with delight as Anaphiel announced their success in the ores discovery. Sure enough there was plenty of bauxite within the walls. Her silver eyes looked upon the many different clay-like areas that dotted the mine’s gray walls. “That’s splendid indeed.” Her hands wrapped around the handles of one of the provided pickaxes. Despite her being a woman, Meika wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

She worked the area with her pickaxe, doing her best to get as much of the bauxite ore within the node of her choice. The pickaxe continued to bite into the wall with each strike she performed. Her breath became slightly quicker from the work.

After she felt satisfied about the amount of ore that laid at her feet, Meika took the time to lay her pickaxe against the wall and gather up the ore to be carted away for the smelter. After breaking away the ore, the rest of the job was a breeze. [EXIT]
{WC: 180, TWC: 678}

{Claims} 6 Vigor
Ephemeral (824/1,750) 146 wc coming from here

{Mission Claims} 2,000 ryo + 100 ryo + 10 AP + 1Aluminum

Anaphiel and Meika made short work of the section of the Bauxite vein they had found and piled the ore into a cart to be sent over to the processing facility. With their job completed, Anaphiel would escort Meika back to the village. “It was nice working with you again Meika,” he would say to her as they went their separate ways. He would then make his way home to fill out the mission report. Another successful mission if he did say so himself.

[EXIT]

WC: 84
TWC: 800

8AP
782 WC towards Chakra Nullification (2500/2500) (Proof: here)
18 WC towards Teostra

2000 Ryo + 250 Chuunin bonus
1 Aluminum

Approved