Chapter 7:

I had a hard time deciding on what to pick. All the options seemed really good. Pretty much exactly the kinds of Skills I needed. In the end, though, I chose Earth Sense. Because I was hopeful it would let us find spirit stones that the other slaves would have never found. And maybe help route out more of these moles as well, letting me get the other Skills sooner.

“So… Do you need more time?” Shui Jianfeng asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Or were you lying about what you can do?” Ming Lin said, as annoying as ever.

“I was thinking things through,” I said, with a roll of my eyes. “I can get more than a single ability. And I was thinking which one would be best right now. I’ve decided though, so stand back and see what I can do.”

With that said, I tapped my choice. Then the body glowed and disappeared into motes of light.

“What the?” Shui Jianfeng exclaimed, looking down at where the mole had been in confusion. Ming Lin just let out a surprised sound and stepped back.

But I barely noticed that as I felt it. It was muffled through my shoes, but I could feel something. Another sense telling me what was around me. Kinda. I could tell what direction the two of them were, even if I closed my eyes, by the way their slight movements caused vibrations through the ground beneath us.

I could also feel something else. But it was hard to tell because of how muted the sense felt.

I crouched to the ground and put my bare hand against it. Suddenly that sense bloomed as there was nothing between me and the earth anymore. Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin’s exact location felt a lot more clear. And yes I could feel something. Something like heat. Or energy. Pulsing and flowing in small amounts. All through the rock and earth. And also concentrating just a bit in some places. Qi.

“Nice,” I said with a grin. “It works even better than I thought. Watch this.”

I moved to the wall where I felt a concentration of Qi, pickaxe in hand. I raised it up and started to dig. Or at least… I tried. Despite my expectations, I only chipped away a bit of stone. I tsked at that but did it again and again. Still, I wasn’t making that much progress.

“Wow, so amazing,” Ming Lin said deadpan as he watched me work from the side.

“Want help?” Shui Jianfeng, not being a jerk, asked.

“Yeah,” I said, a little embarrassed. “Dig where I’m hitting. There should be a cluster of spirit stones if we get deep enough.

“Alright,” Shui Jianfeng said. Though I couldn’t help but notice he sounded skeptical. Well, he’d see soon enough, so I didn’t comment.

He hefted his pickaxe and brought it down. There was a much sharper crack of stone and a larger chunk was ripped out in that single blow. All while he was still injured and having his cultivation suppressed…

Another reminder of how weak I was. Annoying but hopefully something the System would help me change.

After he struck out again and proved the first swing wasn’t a fluke, I took a step back to not get in the way. Then a dozen swings later a small speck of blue light was revealed. He sped up after that and soon he’d unearthed a cluster of spirit stones. Unlike the example stone Big-nose showed us, it didn’t look like a perfectly long-cut gem. Instead, it looked like what I’d expect of a naturally growing crystal. Jagged and clumped up. But it was still a spirit stone and a decent-sized one at that.

Enough for a single person. Not amazing by itself, but just by touching the wall I could feel traces of more. One more cluster was in my range but I could actually feel the trails of Qi through the earth around us and would be able to find even more.

Perfect.

“Huh,” Jianfeng said, looking at me. Then he looked back to where we’d killed the mole. “So you gained the ability to sense spirit stones from that thing?”

“Something like that,” I said. “I gained a second sense that is able to detect things through the earth. Mainly vibrations, but also Qi.”

“Impressive.”

“And incredibly useful,” I said with a grin, before turning to Ming Lin with a smug look.

He frowned at me then grudgingly nodded. But of course, he still had to complain about something.. “It’s definitely useful, but it's not gonna get us out of here.”

“Maybe not,” I said with a shrug. “But at least now we don’t have to worry about working the central mine. And that was just from one mole. I know that if we got more of them, I could get an ability to recreate their claws. And that way I can dig through solid rock like them. It might take a while but that could be our way out. And that’s assuming there aren’t more creatures down here with even better abilities for living and moving around down in these tunnels and the earth.”

Begrudgingly, Ming Lin nodded at that and I couldn’t help but smile.

That seemed to annoy the other man as he huffed and looked away. I grinned even more but didn’t push it. Didn’t want him taking out his annoyance on me later when he was better.

“So, now that I’ve proven myself,” I said, reaching for the spirit stone and plucking it from the hole it was in. “How about we dig two more of these up, then go hunting for those moles?”

“Works for me,” Shui Jianfeng said, a big grin on his face. It was quite different than how he’d been recently and more like how he’d been before the attack. Hopefully, that meant that he felt we had a good chance of getting out of here.

“Fine,” Ming Lin said before hefting his own pick in one hand. “Where should we dig?

I grinned and quickly moved around the tunnel with my hand on the wall. It didn’t take too long for me to find more spirit stones. Despite all the different flows of Qi I felt, they weren’t super numerous. At least not those within the 1 yard I could actually sense. However, it was more than enough for our needs.

So before long we each had our daily quotas filled. I also got a few more smaller spirit stones as well. I would likely need them very soon after all.

Once that was done, we started to head down deeper into the tunnels again.

As we walked, I made sure to keep a hand on the wall. In case any moles or other things decided to get closer. I could have probably taken off my shoes for the same effect, without taking up an arm. But the ground was far too hard and sometimes sharp for me to do that. So it was walking with a hand to the wall for me.

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The first time I actually sensed a mole within my range, I had us stop and try to get to it. Just to see how the thing would react. Unfortunately, the moles weren’t idiots and they fled after Shui Jianfeng started to dig. Must have sensed the vibrations from the digging.

So we continued on, hoping to find something in the tunnel and not in the walls while going right for any tunnel branches we encountered. We also mostly kept silent, as sound traveled far in the tunnels, and we didn’t want to scare any spirit beasts away. Along the way, I felt the spirit stone density slowly increase, as well as the signs of more creatures moving through the earth.

Eventually, we finally came across another spirit beast in the tunnel. Unfortunately, things weren’t as simple this time around.

“Um… is that still a Rank 0?” I asked hesitantly as the three of us peered around a bend in a tunnel where another mole was crunching on some spirit stones. After having dug through the walls like they were barely there with their long sharp claws. All the while being as large big as a dog.

“Not yet,” Shui Jianfeng said in a whisper. “But I think it's close. The feeling I get isn’t quite at the level of an actual Rank 1 though. It's still forming its core. Still, that means this thing will probably be pretty strong. Especially since it's eating spirit stones.”

“Then should we just leave?” I asked, more than eager to get away from the thing. It was larger than that stupid cat that I fought, and that thing hadn’t had any abilities. “We could go back to the last branch and take the other tunnel.”

Shui Jianfeng hesitated for a moment and Ming Lin spoke up instead.

“It should be fine,” He said. “Even without our Qi, there’s still two of us. The only question is if what little danger this thing presents is worth any possible reward. Does it make a difference if you take from this thing or just those lesser moles?”

I frowned as I thought about it. “I’m not sure… This power is still new to me. But my instincts say I’d probably get more from something stronger. But I still have to be the one to kill it. Can you guys handle it enough to let me safely dispatch it? If not we can always double back to another tunnel and take the safe route. And you are both still pretty injured.”

I didn’t mention that my instincts were just me guessing based on what a game would be like. Because in a game, most of the time risk came with reward. Hopefully, I was right about that. Though Ming Lin did seem confident.

Shui Jianfeng, though, not as much.

He was looking at his friend worriedly. More precisely his friend’s arm.

Ming Lin noticed and snorted. “I’m fine. Even with one arm and no Qi, I bet I’m still stronger than you. So as long as those love taps you got aren’t too much for you to bear, Jianfeng, we can take that thing?”

“My injuries are fine,” Shui Jianfeng said with a roll of his eyes and a shrug. Yet he didn’t dispute the claim that Ming Lin was stronger.

I found that rather odd as Ming Lin was a lot more on the slender side while Shui Jianfeng was more muscled. Did they mean in terms of skill then? Since Shui Jianfeng said neither were body cultivators. Or maybe it was just a quirk of their cultivation. There was still just so little I knew about that stuff. I’d have to ask later.

“Alright, then let’s do it,” Shui Jianfeng said as he handed the torch back to me again. Then he cracked his knuckles before hefting his pick. A determined look crossed his face as he straightened his posture as if he was uninjured. “It will be interesting fighting something challenging without a cultivator's strength again. And if you can get more from strong things, then maybe doing this will let us get out of here sooner. Then we can bring help and get our revenge on these Black Wind Bastards.”

“Good,” Ming Lin said, grinning for the first time that I could recall. “Let's do this.” He then turned to me with a scowl. “Stay close but out of the battle. Then attack when we tell you.”

I nodded at that and then the two of them were off. I followed right behind them, torch in one hand and pick in the other.

The dog-sized mole, which had been happily munching away at the spirit stones, reacted moments after we came around the bend. It spun to face us with a strange squealing squeak.

Unlike with the small mole, I could make out a lot more details about this thing. Like most moles I’d seen—which was only on the internet and one time at the zoo—it looked kinda like a fluffy rat with a creepy nose. But this one was larger than any mole on Earth, and its big paws used for digging were especially menacing. Both because they were larger than my own hands, and because they were covered in rock that sharpened to deadly-looking tips.

The mole let out a louder squeaking squeal that kinda reminded me of a pig. Then its body lit up with the same light of the spirit stones. It seemed to bulk up and the claws grew extra bright. Rock from the ground flowed around its claws, making them even larger.

I hesitated for a moment at the sight but Ming Lin and Shui Jianfeng didn’t.

Instead, they both rushed forward. Neither was as fast as I’d seen them before but they were still fast. And despite the ferocity of how the mole lashed out with its claws, cleaving up chunks of earth like it was nothing, neither was phased.

They juked in, baiting the mole to attack. Then when it was busy with one of them the other would strike. The first two times the mole reacted fast enough to prevent damage. Their picks just knick chunks off the creature's claws but that was it. But as the two got used to using their picks as weapons, and despite Ming Lin’s single-arm, they started to do better. They took off large chunks of its claws and started pushing it back.

Then came the first decisive blow.

The mole squealed in fury and tried to overwhelm Ming Lin. Maybe it understood that he was the most injured. Either way, he only took a couple of steps back and parried the mole's strikes away from its own body.

Then Shui Jianfeng struck hard. As the mole over-extended, he buried his pick right into the center of one of its claws. Right where its actual hand must be. It pierced right through rock and into the soft flesh below, then into the rock below that.

I quickly put my torch down as I saw it and got ready to act.

The mole squealed and lashed out frantically and tried to pull away. But then it only squealed louder in pain as it was unable to move its pinned limb. At that moment, Ming Lin struck just like his friend. He stabbed his pick right into the center of its other clawing, leaving both paws pinned.

The mole squealed in pain again. It was both loud and pitiful and started to make me feel bad.

But then Ming Lin called out for me to attack and I forced myself to ignore it.

So I rushed forward and buried my pick right in the center of the mole’s head. My pick tore through flesh then bone and probably brain. It squealed one last time, shaking and thrashing before it finally went limp.

My breathing was heavy despite having practically done nothing. And I looked down at the thing with my pick buried in its head. I felt a little sick again. And then I remembered the look on that bandit's face.

The shock, fear, anger.

I tasted bile again but forced myself to swallow and breathe.

“Are you okay?” Shui Jianfeng asked from beside me.

“Y-yeah,” I said, shaking my head. I pushed the memories and my own horror aside and focused on the dead mole. This was sad but we needed this. To save ourselves and all the slaves above us. And to get revenge on those bandit bastards.

So I would just have to deal with it. I could get emotional about it when we were free and safe. If that ever happened.

I forced that thought away too and focused on the blue aura around the mole.

Defeated Enemy: Rank 0 Spirit Beast Rockclaw Mole

Available Skills to Harvest:

* Earth Sense Upgrade(Rank E): Increase progress to rank up Earth Sense by 25%

* Rock Claws (Active) (Rank D): Creates claw constructs out of any earth. Claw constructs can easily part and dig through stone. Required accessible earth to activate.

* * Cost: 5 Qi

* * Upkeep: 1 Qi per 5 minutes

* * D-Rank Feature: Minor Shaping: Expend additional Qi to shape or change the size of the claws.

* Spirit Beast Cultivation (Passive) (Rank E): Gain the ability to cultivate like a spirit beast. Devour spiritually potent flesh, spirit beast cores, or vegetation to improve your body and create your own spirit beast core. Speed of cultivation depends on the quality of what is devoured and the rank of this skill.

* * Compatibility: Early Rank 1 Materials and Below

* * Cooldown: 6 hours