A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 218: The Fifth Floor

Chapter 218: The Fifth Floor

Elaina spends her time destroying the crates one by one with her pickaxe. They are easy to break so it wasn’t a very troublesome thing. One thing she discovered is that all of the crates have a chance to spit out random items and there are also chances they don’t have anything at all.

Still, she managed to get various items so far. She even got a few stuff like logs from freshly cut trees and a few round stones that she saw being used by Jacob for repairing the farmhouse and creating the chicken coop one time. But they are rare occurrences and most of what she has gotten from those crates are the canned foods.

When she destroyed the final crate, the path to reach the 5th floor appeared before her. But compared to the previous floors, this one is giving off a familiar but stinky smell.

"Rotten eggs? No... it’s something similar. Not exactly rotten eggs."

Elaina deduced it wasn’t rotten eggs as her gag reflex didn’t occur compared to when she did smell actual rotten eggs. It has a similar smell but it wasn’t the same thing.

Covering her nose with a towel to ensure she doesn’t breathe too much of what the smell is coming from, Elaina descends to the fifth floor with caution.

...

...

...

"[Well, even I have not expected to see something like this existing under the mine.]" the God of Farming nodded in awe as he sent his message for Elaina to read.

"I see now. The reason I can smell rotten eggs is not because of the actual eggs, but because I have been smelling sulfur coming from it."

Elaina removed the towel covering her nose and glanced at the bubbling hot water in front of her. Yes, it is a hot spring and is a natural hot spring on top of that. Putting her hand on the water, Elaina prepared herself to be scalded but she smiled after dipping it into the hot water.

It is hot indeed, but it is just the right temperature. Not too hot but not too warm. Just enough that soaking in it will relieve any fatigue one could have from a hard day’s work.

As she was about to remove her hands, a few tingling sensations suddenly disturbed her thoughts as she glanced at the hot water and saw some fish nibbling through her skin.

"Wait...a fish? In hot spring water?!"

Elaina withdrew her hand from the water and the fishes that were attracted to her swam away. They are not that big, but they are indeed fishes. However, this isn’t a warm hot spring, it is sitting between the boiling point and warm levels. In short, even if there are fishes who can survive hot water, they are not capable of surviving beyond the warm level.

So what are these fishes?

"[A new species! Amazing! I can’t believe that Elaina would discover a species of fish that even I have not seen before!]" the God of Fishing exclaimed as he stared at the fishes that were displayed on the screen that they are looking to monitor the situation of what Elaina was seeing.

"This is a new species?" Elaina asked.

"[Indeed it is. Its pattern and form don’t look similar to any fish that I have caught before. I know even those fishes that live in warm hot springs as well so that is not just something I am going to ignore. However, I did compare it to those fishes and they are not the same species. However, from its reactions earlier, it seems that these fishes are the same family of the Garra Rufa more commonly known by its nickname "doctor fish." The only difference is that this one lives in a hot spring while the former is not]"

Elaina once again glanced at the fish swimming in the water. There are quite a number of them indeed, but they are not enough to populate the whole pool of water. Glancing over to the corner, she saw a few of them eating on what seemed to look like the reason it was smelling like a rotten egg earlier.

So they do eat stuff in the spring itself. Elaina nodded in response as she put back her hand over to the water once more. And like hungry fishes, they all gathered and started biting through her skin. It doesn’t hurt, but they are quite ticklish to the feel.

Withdrawing her hand, she once again glanced at the hot spring and she realized something...

The hot spring before her is too shallow to be called a hot spring to soak in. She didn’t notice it at first because of the illusion of elevation. Now that she looked at it closely, it is indeed shallow. If she stands in the middle of it, the water will only be on the level of her lower thigh. It is too low.

That is when she glanced over to the other side and realized it. She didn’t see it immediately because a huge rock was covering the other side, but there was still another area behind it. Elaina heads over and sure enough, there is a path that leads to the area hidden behind the rock.

This time around, it is indeed another hot spring. However, this is not a shallow one. It is a hot spring good enough for a person to soak in. Not only that, but those fishes are not present either.

But it seems that is not the end, as adjacent to the hot spring is another pool of water. Compared to the clear but a bit yellowish water of the hot spring, the clear, and blue ripples of water on the opposite pool are different. It also doesn’t have the rotten egg smell that she smelled over from the two pools.

She was hesitant at first because it might be acidic water so she decided to grab an ore and put it in the water. If it is acidic, it will certainly give a reaction to the water and ore colliding...but nothing happens. Aside from the ripples from the water, nothing noteworthy happened.

Seeing that there was no reaction, Elaina put the ore away and put her hand on the water, and just like that, her fears subsided. The pool of water is just ordinary and nothing else. Just like the hot springs, it is also one that allows a person to soak in. Which means, it is an alternative to the hot springs. If one wants to soak in the water but not on a hot one, soaking in here is enough.

She looked at the water and stared at the bottom to check if there were other things currently living there. It would be horrifying if something suddenly latched over to her while she was soaking there. However, it seems that there is nothing else there. No water grass or creatures like leeches and the likes, nothing at all, just pure water.

"I can’t believe all of these are just natural. There are no signs it was done by man at all. They just formed naturally..." Elaina is amazed by how nature was able to make something like this and mimic what humans would be doing.

Despite having the urge to try the hot springs and soak in them, Elaina eventually decided against it. She will mentally take note of it first and prepare adequately for a soaking session. Might as well bring the others if she got the chance. But for now, this will be a secret for her. Revealing this matter to anyone will undoubtedly spread the location of the mine itself and that is what she wanted to avoid. She doesn’t like to monopolize one thing but this one is unavoidable. She will need to keep this one a secret. It’s not out of greed but out of fear that the place will not become a private place for relaxation anymore.

Before she left, Elaina explored the entire floor more. Aside from the three separate pools of water, two more things caught Elaina’s attention. The first is the ladder that leads to the next floor.

Elaina thought that the Fifth floor would be the final floor of the mine. However, it seems that she was mistaken. It was just another floor of the mine and not the end of it. She wanted to explore further but she decided that it was not worth it. She can explore it again next time.

The second one is the elevator. She has seen one before in the city. It is an invention that allows people to be carried from one floor to another. It is like a vehicle but it is transfixed to certain floors and can stop back and forth to carry and unload passengers. It is a rare thing due to how it is still a prototype and how there are only a few buildings that need the help of an elevator. But seeing one on the mine was something she wasn’t expecting but she decided to check it out and test if it functions.

Getting close to the elevator, a loud "DING" sound can be heard around it, the elevator door clicks and opens, revealing that it still works despite showing its age.