Life in the Wastelands was inconsistent yet flowed like water. Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Wastelands, living a simple life with enough to eat was an unimaginable luxury. Ju went to the mines every day, worked from morning till night, exchanged enough food and water for himself and his child, slept a bit, and the cycle continued.

Whether the young boy ever grew tired of such a routine was unthinkable. After all, Ju was a simple person with simple thoughts. The fact that he had basic amenities and his child never starved was enough for him.

Even more time passed, and the amount of Ore Ju could mine in one day tripled. He grew taller little by little, and wrinkles appeared around Old Kai's eyes. Although they were very faint, the boy's translucent left eye picked up the tiny details like this fairly quickly and accurately.

Old Kai grew even more fond of Ju as time went on, telling him odd stories and tips about the nature of places; the young boy felt it was a chance for the supervisor of mine to kill the boredom,

The quantity of food and water Ju exchanged for also increased, but thankfully, he could work more, so everything eventually balanced out.

But there was one thing that didn't change in three years: it was Moonflower. The small girl didn't have a single change in appearance, height, weight, or anything. No matter how Ju studied her… nothing changed. Ju even discovered that her eyebrows stayed in the same position as it was years ago when he first saw her, even to the millimeter.

Another person might be curious about these strange events or at least try to ask the girl her actual origins, but like it was said before, Ju was a simple person. He had found her alone in the wastelands and adopted her as his 'child,' even though she never changed. Moonflower still needed to eat and drink, and Ju would continue to provide for her. It was as simple as that.

Due to the many headaches he has had in the past, the boy always tried to distance himself from complex thoughts.

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Every mine had a limited amount of Ore that could be extracted. Small mines lasted five to ten years, medium-sized sites lasted about thirty to fifty years, and large-scale mines could continue running for 100 years. However, no large-scale mines had been discovered in the Wastelands.

The mine that Ju worked in was medium-sized. It had seen three inspectors before Old Kai took over. Old Kai had stayed in the Wastelands for ten years supervising the mine, and its life span was ending.

One day, when Ju finished moving the containers up to the pile, he filled three and a half containers, which was about 360 kilograms, in just one day, significantly surpassing the other miners. Old Kai then summoned him. On the supervisor's desk was a large map. It contained several markers over areas spread across the Wastelands. Some of the markers were colored blue, green, red, and black.

Pointing his fingers towards the map, Old Kai gave a brief explanation.

"These are some important areas in the Wastelands, much more vast than what you think. Some places here are up to a thousand kilometers from our current location. The places marked blue are relatively safe, but there are few resources that would help someone who wants to take that step and become an Essence artist. A young wolf like you can not thrive here. One of the blue areas is the locations of the mines."

The places marked green are much more challenging to stay in. Here, you would start to meet a lot of Essence gatherers who have advanced significantly. Essence artists would also be relatively common, whether they are natives or people from outside the Wastelands like me. You have much better chances here to gather resources for you and your child. One of these places is "Ender Town."

Old Kai paused a bit.

"But don't be fooled by the rumors or advertisements; there is no place that is ever really safe. While you feel Ender Town has a reputation as a haven. I know that there are still a lot of murderous scum bags there. People who can quietly kill you, and nothing is going to happen. Be careful if you decide to go there, little wolf."

"The areas marked red are dangerous even for Essence Artists; it is here where you would find the largest number of mutant animals and plants. Warriors usually form hunting parties to go through these places. On no account should you ever journey here if you have not formed your spirit source. One of those sorts of areas is located directly behind Ender Town. It is a dark forest where spiritual beasts thrive."

"Finally, the single place marked black. "

Old Kai's expression turned solemn.