Terry watched Eliza race out of the little dining room slash kitchen area that was a short tunnel away from the larger cavern. He stood up and walked after her at a more leisurely pace. It wasn't like he could do anything at this point. If there was unexpected damage, he couldn't fix it. He hesitated briefly when he heard Eliza shout a single word.

"Stop!"

Terry walked the last few feet and stepped out into the cavern that housed the bone throne. He came up short as he tried to just take it all in. There was orichalcum ore everywhere. Some of it was in piles. Some of it was scattered across the floor. After a moment of suspicion, he picked his way over to the throne. Yep. There was ore piled on that, too. The walls of the cavern looked like someone had gone to war with them. There were jagged holes that pockmarked what had once been relatively smooth stone. Some of the holes looked to be several feet deep. He hazarded a glance over at Eliza. Her mouth was hanging open as she beheld the disorganized chaos her minions had created.

"Well, that's... It's… That's bollocks!" she shouted while stamping a foot.

At least, Terry thought she stamped a foot. The heavy shroud-like robe she wore obscured things sufficiently that he could only be sure that her leg had moved. He supposed she might have just kicked the air. Nonetheless, he mostly agreed with her. The sheer volume of ore that the unmonitored minions had ripped from the unyielding grasp of the surrounding stone was ridiculous. Eliza lifted a hand and pressed it to her forehead.

"What a mess. This will take forever to clean up," she moaned.

"Oh," said Terry. "I mean, I can take all of the loose ore away. If you get them to gather it into piles, it won't take me long."

Eliza looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean you can take it all away? If you can, you're welcome to it. But how? There has to be hundreds and hundreds of kilograms of loose stone. It's not like you have carts or wagons here."

"Kilograms?" asked Terry, immediately getting sidetracked. "Does England use the metric system?"

Eliza's face scrunched up in a way that suggested the very question caused her emotional pain. She waved her hand in a shooing gesture.

"Officially, yes," she conceded. "In practice, it varies. Listen, if you really do have some method for transporting all of this ore away, I'll get them to put it into piles."

"I really do," said Terry in a reassuring voice. Terry noticed Kelima come into the cavern. Her expression bore a striking similarity to the one of disbelief that Eliza had initially worn. He walked over to where Kelima was standing and gave her a triumphant look.

"I'm getting that hat."

She directed an exasperated look at him and said, "Your priorities are a mess. You know that, right?"

Terry lifted his chin, assumed a haughty demeanor, and said, "Yes. Yes, I do know that."

"That's not a good thing."

"According to you."

"According to reason," she snapped back.

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Terry just smiled contentedly as he watched the zombies and skeletons drag the scattered ore into discrete piles. Eliza joined them and gave her minions an irritated look as they worked.

"That's the problem with these low-level undead," she said. "You have to watch them all the time for any remotely complicated task. I just… Forgot. I was too excited."

"I get it," said Terry. "You can't talk to anyone here about anything from home. Just try discussing pizza with someone. They look at you like you've lost your mind."

"I could devour some pizza," said Eliza. "You know, I think this world has most of what they need to make one. It might not be exactly like what we'd expect, and there definitely won't be any pepperoni, but close enough."

"I think the sauce might be a challenge without a blender," said Terry thoughtfully. "But, yeah, they could probably get close. Assuming they have ovens that get hot enough. Scratch that. Assuming they have ovens at all. I haven't seen one since I got here."

"Of course, we have ovens," said Kelima. "They're just not common. They're expensive to make, so most people can't afford one. Even if they can, most people don't know what to do with one or how to use it."

"Okay. New life goal. Bring the glory of pizza to Chinese Period Drama Hell!"

"Chinese Period Drama Hell?" asked a baffled Eliza, while Kelima closed her eyes and shook her head.

It took Terry longer than he would have liked to explain it. Once he had, though, Eliza giggled a little.

"The stupidly pretty people?" she asked.

"I thought that cultivation beauty enhancement stuff was all just an excuse for authors to make everyone gorgeous," admitted Terry. "Turns out that it's all true. Annoyingly true. I've never seen so many cover models in my life."

"Sounds like I need to plan a trip north someday," said Eliza with a bright gleam in her eye.

"You can if you want. They're nice to look at, for sure, but they are cultivators. I have to assume that there are lots of asshole young masters and face-slapping happening."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I was almost more of a LitRPG and anime girl. Not as many cultivators there."

Some of the enthusiasm faded from her eyes. Terry decided to partially change the subject.

"Speaking of trips, can you leave? You said you had a quest to secure something in here."

"That's a great question," she said. "These quests don't come with a timer or a convenient set of rules. I might be able to leave, but it might also mean automatically failing the quest."

"Have you failed one before? Is there some terrible penalty?"

"I haven't failed one, which means I don't actually know what happens if I do. It's not the kind of thing I want to play around with."

"Can't blame you for that. I might cost you a stat point, or it might hurl you into some hell dimension."

"Exactly," said Eliza. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, objectively, I don't live that far from here, and those minions don't strike me as great conversationalists. I thought that if you ever wanted to get out and stretch your legs, you could come visit."

"Are you asking me to dinner, Mr. Williams?" she asked, giving him a little smile.

Terry grinned at her and said, "If you like."

"In that case—" started Eliza, only to get cut off by Kelima.

"I think they're done piling up the ore."

Terry looked around and saw that the minions had, indeed, gathered the ore into loose piles.

"Stop," ordered Eliza.

Snapping her finger, a hole opened in the wall. The zombies and skeletons marched through it.

"I guess it's my turn," said Terry.

"But what do you mean to do?" asked Eliza.

"Just watch," he said.

Walking over the nearest pile, he put his hand on it and willed the ore into the ring. The pile of stone disappeared. He focused on the ring and tried to get a feel for how much space was left in it. He couldn't translate the impression he got into square feet, but he did get the distinct impression that there was a lot of room left. There was a gasp before Eliza rushed over to him.

"You have a bag of holding?" she asked.

"Better," he said, holding up his hand. "Storage ring."

"Where did you get it?"

"Dungeon," he said, his expression souring. "Some people don't know not to touch strange symbols in old ruins."

He gave Kelima a look. She had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"How far is it from here?" asked a very eager Eliza.

"Not far. But don't you have an inventory as part of your system?"

"No," said the Brit with a roll of her eyes. "It's quite inconvenient."

"I feel you. That pack I carry wasn't just for show. I had to keep everything I needed in it. Now, though, I only carry it so my cat has somewhere to sleep."

Eliza lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You have a cat?!"

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