King of the Mountain

My first stop will be the Fort Knox gold depository.  I reserved a hotel suite in a nearby town and started the first heist of my career.  After checking into the hotel and resting until the afternoon, I then rented a car and traveled to the closest deserted area near Fort Knox.  10 minutes after parking and close observation to make sure no one was paying attention I let my Earth magic do the work.  I created a cave underneath the surface of the ground and added several small ventilation holes so I would not suffocate.  After checking the area one more time I quickly opened up an entrance to the underground cave and entered.  I then carefully closed the entrance behind me.

I use my earth magic to tunnel down around 100 meters and then started tunneling towards Fort Knox.  About every 50 meters I make a ten to fifteen centimeter in diameter ventilation shaft to the surface and leave an air enchantment next to it that would circulate air.  When I first started to practice this technique back in North Carolina I almost killed myself.  Nothing dramatic like a collapsed tunnel or anything, but rather I just assumed that the air holes I created would refresh the air.  They do allow fresh air in, but the small size means that without an air enchantment next to them to keep it flowing it takes too long to replace the bad air with good.  I almost suffocated to death before I realized what was happening.  After a lot of experimentation this is the system I came up with.

My earth magic automatically reinforces the walls of my tunnel and my mana sense keeps me moving in the correct direction and helps me avoid any problems like underground pockets of water, well pipes, and anything else that would cause me a problem.  Tunneling under Fort Knox using magic is surprisingly easy.  I reached the main vaults in under two hours.  Now comes the hard part.   I have practiced this technique at home and I sure hope it works as well here as it did there.

I carefully drill upwards creating a spiral ramp, with my mana sense at full power, until I am just underneath the foundation of the vaults in Fort Knox.  I use my magic to bore two 10 centimeter test holes into the bottom of the vault.  This is the tricky part where I may have to retreat.  I do not know all of the alarms and other tricks they might have for the vault rooms.  I know a regular drill would have a 99% or greater chance of setting something off from the vibrations and destruction it would cause to get through the concrete and metal, but magic is different.  With my earth magic manipulation matter just sort of “flows” to where I want it.  It is quite strange to watch, but the good part is that no vibrations or violence whatsoever happens to the material, which in turn means that I should not set off any alarms.

Alright, phase one is complete, and I do not think I set off any alarms.  I will wait for 30 minutes before I start phase two just to be extra careful.  While I am waiting I cannot help but think about how cool it would be if I could brag about this adventure and my powers to people.  I know it would cause more problems and could result in my death, but I am about to rob Fort Knox and no one will ever know.  Well I guess after the changeover I can let people know.  It is not like there will be a functioning government that would be able to arrest me for prior crimes at that point.  But I still have the urge to tell people now just because for once in my life I am doing something so freaking cool, even if it is illegal, and I can’t tell a single person.

Wait time is up, on to phase two.  Phase two is much more difficult.  I have practiced on bricks and lead blocks, but this will be my first real test run in the real world.   What I want to do and have accomplished in practice is hollowing out the bars of gold just leaving a shell of gold while filling them in with stone.  Why fill them in, I am afraid that if the weight changes too much a pressure sensor might go off.  I do not want anyone to know that there has even been a robbery.  People looking for people with new found wealth and spending habits might stumble into my projects and land acquisitions in North Carolina.

I carefully start the process of switching out the gold in the bars above me for stone.  I send the stone up one small access tube I drilled and the gold comes down the other.  After 30 minutes I take a break and check on my gains.  I will also wait another ½ an hour just to make sure the switch has not tripped some alarm. The gold I have liberated is just in a shiny pile next to me.  I start cutting it into chunks and placing it into my inventory.  After I max out my carrying capacity I exchange it into “Great Game” currency.   This is somewhat of a cheat that I discovered.  The “Great Game” help section told me that I could exchange currency until the changeover.   I have also realized that I am limited in what I can carry in my inventory.  However, after several months I realized something.  The “Great Game” does not count game currency weight against your inventory limit.  That means I can carry 200 kilos of gold bars and max out my inventory or exchange them for “Great Game” gold coins with a small transaction fee paid and basically have the same amount of wealth but no penalty on weight limits.

This helped me solidify my plans for this wealth redistribution trip.  I mean what good is it to steal two tons of gold if you cannot move it or sell it?  Sure I lose a little bit in transaction fees from switching it to gold coins, and I lose a little more for switching back into usable currency when I need it, but considering that it wasn’t my money to start with I am making out like a bandit.  The half hour rest period is up and no alarms.  It looks like my little plan is working.

The rest of the day was quite boring.  It was basically just a rinse and repeat operation until I retrieved all of the easily accessible gold on the bottom floor.  I am not going to get greedy and try for all of it.  That is how people make mistakes and get caught.  I finish converting the last of the gold I stole into game currency and start the long walk back to my rental vehicle.   All along the way I seal up the tunnel and air ventilation holes behind me.  No need to leave evidence that will just confuse people.

That was easier than I thought.  I need to be careful about becoming overconfident and screwing up in the future.  Now where will I go for my next heist?  After I make it back to the hotel I use a little google time to research where I need to be going.  It looks like I will be travelling to the Denver and Philadelphia mints, the bullion depository in West Point, N.Y and the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan.  That should do it for the United States.  I then will travel to London and the world’s largest stash of silver.

Those are the easy ones.  After that I need to access mines for gems and other precious metals at the source.  There are several other reserves around the world, but they are not in areas where I could pass off my tourism easily or where there is enough precious metals to make it worthwhile.  After London I think I will head to Africa to hit up some precious metal mines in South Africa and some gemstone mines in some of the relatively safer African countries.  I need to be smart about this.  I have limited time to accomplish my goals and I still want to play tourist a little bit as I travel around the world.  It would be tragic to get to greedy and get shot in some third world hell hole, just because I wanted a little bit more.

Where else?  Madagascar and Sri Lanka for sapphires, Myanmar for rubies, Colombia for emeralds, and Australia for a large variety of metals and precious gemstones.  I think  I will stop in several touristy areas along the way and if I find something or someone I want or need for my new kingdom I will buy it or offer them a job.  Ok, this plan sounds like it should work.