I was Reincarnated as an Ant! Vol.1

Chapter 0.5 - Thomas Giantbelly (Revising)

I was Reincarnated as an ANT!

Chapter 0.5: Thomas Giantbelly

It was quite a lovely morning as I waited for my crew to meet with me on the edge of the town. Sebastian was always late, and even the distance to his house being relatively equal to my home, he would somehow always be late.

The kind soul he was, always led him to be requested by local folks for small minuscule tasks. Meanwhile, our mage Cassie was always on time, scolding him for being late every single time. These were my teammates, my childhood friends, and best friends.

We headed to the Mount Doom, only up to the first zone. Having got our information from the adventure guild. We knew of its layouts, tunnels to avoid, and the occasional Sun Ant pests.

As E-rank Adventurers, we had decided on our last mission being this. I wanted to present a gift to Cassie's wedding that was profoundly good. With how expensive magic boosting amulets were, a dungeon was the cheapest method to attain expensive goods for free.

I had convinced them to join me on this last quest at a team, given Cassie was planning to settle down, and Sebastian had a baby boy now.

"Come on, Cassie, let him slack off this last one time." (Thomas)

"Hmph, this is how we lose time, and we have to take risky routes to make up for it because he is L.A.T.E, Late!" (Cassie)

"Hey guys, sorry am-" (Sebastian)

"Don't mention it!" (Cassie)

Both me and Sebastian would burst out in laughter as Cassie stormed off.

***

Entering the massive tunnel into the enormous mountain dungeon, we could easily feel the magical presence within, the sheer volume of it was just how potent of a dungeon it was. My colleagues would prompt me to question why the Kingdom hadn't already defeated the dungeon master of the mountain.

"You know this dungeon is considered an S-class type. Meaning all the weakest monsters, in perspective reasoning, should be as strong as a Dungeon master of a G-class type dungeon. That also means the mana crystals attained here should be of amazing quality!" (Thomas)

"Okay-okay, don't get excited. We have yet to go inside, do you have the map?" (Sebastian)

"Yeesh, mana crystals are hard to find. You said it yourself. Even as a dwarf, it's quite difficult to find their growing zones without running into trouble." (Cassie)

"Haha, but I feel lucky!" (Thomas)

I had retrieved the item I had bought months ago, placing it on my head, it was a mana crystal sensing tool. Using the magical beasts magic stone (core) as its generator, the tool detected mana crystals. We needed only one, which was something I planned on.

Into the low levels, we had run into many types of very annoying critters, before seeing the famously known pests, The Sun Ants. These magical beasts were so weak that even a kid wouldn't be defeated if they carefully didn't get surrounded.

The annoying part was if one died. Then endless amounts of them would keep coming, so the best method to deal with the Sun Ants would be using a basic scent repellent. The Ants would simply avoid us as we moved into the tunnels away from their nests.

***

With the safe zone discovered, we took out our camping gear and prepared for a resting period. I want to keep my goal a secret to the two, so I sneaked out while they slept. I had to find this mana crystal quickly. The low-level layer we were on wouldn't have mana crystals. I was informed that they'd usually form on the second layer but were very difficult to find.