Chapter 8:

I quickly read through the harvest options available to me. The first option I dismissed almost immediately. It was nice to know that I could rank up my Skills by harvesting the same type of creature again and again. Especially since ranking up seemed to expand upon Skills and add more options from what I could see from the D-Rank Rock Claws.

But 25% towards D-Rank wasn’t worth as much as a whole new Skill. Especially not when one of those Skills was already D-Rank.

That left me with the choice between the other two Skills. And also made me wonder just how the System decided what Skills I could get. Because the mole could clearly eat spirit stones, but Spirit Stone Devouring wasn’t an option for some reason. Why was that? Was it random or did it give me the best Skills the mole had?

I’d have to test that at some point in the future.

For now, I had a choice to make.

I would have loved to pick the Spirit Beast cultivation Skill. To finally start cultivating and getting stronger. But I hadn’t forgotten Shui Jianfeng’s warning about the stronger bandits being able to sense something like that. And the upgraded claws were definitely what we needed to actually get out of here. With how little Qi I had, it wouldn’t be enough to actually leave any time soon, but more Skills from the moles could hopefully fix that.

So in the end I went with the claws.

Besides, as much as I hated being weak and wanted to be strong, at least I wasn’t relying just on my own strength right now. I had two people to fight for me. I didn’t like it but for now, I could bear with it. And it wasn’t like I wouldn’t get the option again in the future, anyway.

The large mole glowed blue again before exploding into motes of light. Then the knowledge of how to activate the Skill entered my mind.

“So what did you get?” Shui Jianfeng asked.

“Let me show you,” I said, putting both my hands on a nearby wall. Then following the instructions in my head, I activated the Skill with a mental trigger. I felt something being pulled from me to my hand. It entered the wall, and then the rock started to move.

It became a bit like liquid, but not quite, and covered both my hands. Then it doubled my hand size and formed claws before becoming solid. There was also earth connecting my fingers, turning my hands into the shovel-like claws the moles had. Despite their material and size though, they didn’t really feel all that heavy. They did restrict the movement of my fingers though.

I tried to flex my fingers to no avail as I stared down at my hand. It was a strange sight. Like I’d put on some kind of odd glove for a costume. A really super realistic costume. But the looks of this weren’t what mattered. It was what they could do.

So I reached out to the wall and gave it a test.

There was the sound of rock scraping against rock. And my new claws dug into the walls of the tunnel far easier than my pick had. It was like pushing my hand through only slightly densely packed dirt, despite being made out of pure rock. The scoop shape also allowed me to easily pull out chunks of rock from the wall.

I grinned at the sight and did it again but with both claws. After only a couple of moments, I had a person-sized hole about an arm's length dug into the wall.

I turned back to my companions with a grin. “Pretty awesome right? And that’s not even the best part. The bigger mole actually made it so that using more Qi I can…”

A wave of exhaustion hit me suddenly and I stumbled. The rock covering my hands lost its structure and slipped off my hands.

“Whoa,” I said, catching myself on the wall as I felt weak.

“Hey, are you okay?” Shui Jianfeng asked.

“Yeah, just really tired for some reason,” I said, shaking my head and trying to get the feeling to go away.

Ming Lin snorted, making me look up and glare at him.

“What?” I asked, not caring about just how much stronger he was than me.

Ming Lin rolled his eyes. “You aren’t a cultivator. I don’t even understand how you could use such an advanced-looking technique, but clearly, you can’t maintain it. So you drained yourself dry and that’s why you're like that.”

“Oh…” I said, feeling dumb. Like really dumb. I had a status that told me how much Qi I had. And the Skill told me how much Qi it would use and what the upkeep was. It must have passed the five-minute mark just now and I guess it over-taxed me before failing.

Dumb. But at least it happened in a non-combat situation. I’d just have to be more careful in the future. And keep better track. Also hopefully the next Skill I get would help increase my Qi pool. Maybe the spirit stone devouring one since getting spirit stones just got even easier.

“So much for getting us out of here,” Ming Lin said with a sigh.

Now it was my turn to scoff. “Hardly. I messed up and don’t have that much Qi. But if we find more moles I can eat spirit stones to fix that issue. Then we can really start working to get out of here.”

“You’ll be able to eat spirit stones?” Ming Lin asked, looking at me incredulously.

“Yep,” I said, grinning before pushing off the wall. Thankfully the dizzy spell didn’t last long. “Now let's keep going. The sooner I get all the Skills I need, the sooner we can start making a way out of this place. We don’t have all day.”

I emphasized that last part by making my way over to the torch on the ground and picking it up. It hadn’t started to dim yet, but when it did we would have to start heading up.

After that, we continued our hunt.

Or at least we tried. Unfortunately, we had to stop soon after as we started to see blue glowing moss. Not a lot. Just a little on the walls and ceiling. But as eager as I was to get more Skills, we weren't going to ignore the bandits’ warnings. Even Ming Lin didn’t want to tangle with any actual Rank 1 spirit beasts at the moment.

So we backtracked until we reached a previous branch in the tunnels and took the other route. We still kept up the silent routine, though it was starting to grate on me just a little. It was a bit odd not speaking for so long while traveling with others, and there was still so much more I wanted to ask about this world.

But getting the Skills I needed to get us out of here was more important so I refrained. Though I made a mental list of everything I would ask eventually.

Not soon after we started down the other path we encountered something else. Oddly enough it wasn’t a mole and I somehow completely missed it. Not even my Earth Sense really noticed it despite it being covered stone.

But Shui Jianfeng noticed it. It was a slightly odd rock formation that protruded on a higher portion of the tunnel wall. He pointed it out and we decided to test and see what it was. So he approached it slowly, and when it didn’t react, he attacked with a mighty swing of his pick. He avoided center mass so as to not kill the thing, and only injure it.

Which was exactly what happened.

After that, the thing let out what sounded like a hiss and tried to flee. It looked a bit like a hermit crab with a rock shell but it moved surprisingly fast.

Thankfully it was small and we managed to catch up with it and I ended things with my pick. I got another three Skills to choose from and I went with one called Earthen Camouflage.

Earthen Camouflage (Rank E) (Active): Incase your body in a thin layer of earth or rock to disguise yourself. Decrease the chances of being detected by 50%.

* You are able to breathe while in this state but cannot move.

* Cost: 5 Qi

* Upkeep: 1 Qi per 10 minute

Not a super powerful ability, especially once we were out of these tunnels. It also wouldn’t really help with escaping the mines either. But I ended up using one of my 20 slots for it for two reasons. One was I was hoping I could consolidate it with something else when I didn’t need it in the future. The other was that well… If things went to hell it would be nice to have a way of hiding from something we couldn’t deal with.

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And trying to save my slots for the future, while making myself more vulnerable right now, wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Still, after taking it I found myself opening my Status for the second time since coming into this world. I didn’t need to consolidate anything right now, as I had many slots left. But I wanted to be sure it would be possible and to see just what it was like.

To my relief, there were already consolidation options. Also, I noticed that I’d made some progress towards ranking up my Earth Sense and Primal Vitality. Not by a lot, only by a couple of percents, but it seemed that harvesting wasn’t the only way for me to Rank up my Skills.

Skill Consolidation (3 options available):

Earthen Claws(Active) (Rank D)+ Earthen Camouflage(Active) (Rank E):

* Earthen Constructs: Create constructs out of Earth in any shape you can hold the image of in your mind(D Rank)

* Cost: 10 Qi

* Upkeep: 2 Qi per 5 Minutes

Earthen Claws(Active) (Rank D) + Earth Sense(Passive) (Rank E) :

* Earthen Claws of Sensing (D Rank): Create claw constructs out of earth that can detect vibrations and Qi through any earth it touches.

* Cost: 5 Qi

* Upkeep: 2 Qi per 5 Minutes.

* Range: 5 Yards

Earthen Camouflage(Active) (Rank E) + Earth Sense(Passive) (Rank E):

* Incase yourself in a thin layer of earth or rock to disguise yourself. Decrease the chances of being detected by 50%. While in this state you can detect vibrations and Qi through any earth touching the camouflage.

* You are able to breathe while in this state but cannot move.

* Cost: 5 Qi

* Upkeep: 1 Qi per 10 minute

Since we didn’t talk while we traveled, I took the time to read everything while we continued to look for new targets. After that, I decided to avoid any consolidations at the moment. They weren’t bad or anything. But most of them seemed a bit like a downgrade from what I already had. It would be worth it to free up the slots, but that wasn’t an issue right now.

Still, it was good to confirm that a lot of things seem compatible for consolidation. It meant that I wasn’t potentially handicapping myself in the future like I thought by focusing on survival now.

One of the options was tempting though. The Earthen Construct one would be pretty cool. But the loss of digging power and hiding power wasn’t great. Especially not now. But that one was the one I was most likely to take in the future.

Eventually, after I finished going over things, we encountered something else. It was another mole. Just a small one, so it took us barely any effort to take it out for me to harvest. But after that, I finally got the Spirit Stone Devouring Skill.

Spirit Stone Devouring (Passive) (E Rank): Gain the ability to eat low-grade spirit stones. Upon consumption, gain a boost to Dexterity, Strength, Vitality, Qi reserves, and Qi regeneration, increasing up to 3x based on the size and quantity of spirit stones ingested. Higher base stats will require greater spirit stone consumption to reach the maximum increase in abilities.

* Duration: 5 Minutes

* Warning: Repeated continuous use will put the body under great stress.

I eagerly took that as I saw it as my main way to get over my lack of Qi issue.

Once the little mole had disappeared into motes of light, I eagerly took out one of the smaller spirit stones I’d brought with me from earlier. It was about the size of my thumbnail. Instinctively, I knew I could eat and chew it despite it being hard as stone, but I hesitated for a moment.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Ming Lin asked—what almost sounded like worry in his voice—as he looked at the stone in my hand with narrowed eyes.

“Pretty sure,” I said, trying not to sound nervous. “And this might be our best bet to get over my Qi issue without attracting attention and getting collared like you guys. So it's not like I have much of a choice.”

Shui Jianfeng frowned at that but I ignored it. Instead, I braced myself and then popped the spirit stone in my mouth like candy. I bit down and there was a loud crunch. Despite a terrified part of me worried that the sound was actually my teeth breaking, there was no pain at all. And as I kept chewing the spirit stone seemed to dissolve and flow down my throat.

It was honestly like eating rock candy, to my immense relief.

Then I felt it.

That warm feeling that went down my throat and into my stomach exploded out and rushed through my body. My muscles swelled a bit and a feeling of power ran through me. I also felt very alert and energized, in a way that I’d never felt before.

So this was what it felt like to be 2.5 times better in most of my stats, huh? I could get used to this.

“You really can just obtain powers like that,” Ming Lin said, an odd note in his voice.

I turned to look at him, idly noting that my skin was also faintly glowing with a blue light. At the same time, I couldn't help but feel just a bit annoyed. Had he seriously still been doubting me? “Yeah. I told you that’s what I could do. Did you really still think I was lying?”

Ming Lin gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher and shook their head. “More like exaggerating. But I guess you weren’t…”

I frowned. “Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?”

Ming Lin frowned and looked away. I looked to Shui Jianfeng for answers but he just looked at his friend in concern.

“It can be a bad thing,” Ming Lin said after a moment. He turned to stare at me with a piercing gaze. “To stand out as unique. In ways that might tempt the greedy and cruel to try and make use of you… You should avoid displaying this ability of yours to others. In fact, you shouldn’t even have shown it to us. We’ve only just met. That was foolish.”

I frowned at that. He had a point in a way. But at the same time, he was being kind of a dick about it… Also, why did he say that like he was speaking from experience?

“It wasn’t like I had much of a choice,” I said annoyed. “What was I gonna do? Try and go off on my own in these mines, when I barely understand this place and hope for the best? And are you saying you're gonna tell others about me? Even if I get us all out of here? Or that you're gonna try and force me to use my power for you?”

Ming Lin scowled at that. “No, we wouldn’t. But you only have our word for that. We could be liars biding our time. That’s why you should avoid speaking of this and using it in front of people in the future. Let them think you just know a variety of techniques instead of what you’re able to do.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Well, thanks for that advice. It's not like I already knew that, but took the risk because I didn’t have a better option.”

Ming Ling scowled at that and started walking down the tunnel again.

I scowled at his back but followed.

Shui Jianfeng walked beside me for a moment before he said, “I know he can be abrasive. But in his mind, he’s helping and doing you a favor by explaining that.”

Ming Lin was way too close for him not to hear that. And his steps picked up after, making us have to speed up to not get left behind. It was easy for a moment until that feeling of power that had been coursing through me disappeared.

Then it took more work to keep up after the effects of my Skill ended. I sighed as we moved at almost jogging speed. “Whatever, it's fine. Let's just get back to work and try and hunt some of these moles. The Skill is a good start but it doesn’t last too long. If we get a few more of the moles, I could improve the ability and maybe then I can start digging our way out of here.“

“Really?” Shui Jianfeng asked, turning to me with wide eyes. Then he frowned. “Lin is right… You really shouldn’t tell anyone else about this ability unless you trust them a lot. Learning new techniques so easily is already impressive. But to be able to improve on them by just hunting spirit beasts… That's even more so. At the very least some unscrupulous people might want to take you out before you get too powerful unless you joined a powerful faction.”

I grimaced at that and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

He nodded and we continued on in silence.

We ended up hunting down several more moles. They seemed to be the most abundant spirit beast down here—at least in this part of the cavern. Though I wasn’t gonna complain because they had a lot of great Skills, and I was eager to try and upgrade what I already got from them.

It did take more dead moles to do that than I thought, however. Unlike the larger mole, which could add 25% to my rank-up progress for a Skill, the smaller moles only offered 5% per harvest. Still, that just meant that it took 20 moles for a single rank-up. Which we’d almost managed before our torch started to dim.

That was unfortunate as I wanted to rank up Spirit Stone Devouring and see what would happen. But it was probably for the best. I’d only had one meal today and hadn’t eaten or drank anything since. It was something I was very not used to. The last time I dealt with something similar back home, I’d felt utterly terrible near the end of the day.

I still didn’t feel great now, despite not having done that much fighting. But I was still better than back then. Either I’d gotten a lot tougher since last year, or it was possible it was Primal Vitality that was helping.

So I didn’t complain too much as we started to head back up, even if it was a bit frustrating. I soothed my annoyance with the knowledge that we’d already made a lot of progress today. The quotas were now a joke for us and there was a very clear way for us to start making a way out. All I really needed now was a way to maintain my Qi while I dug, and maybe something to reinforce a tunnel I made to prevent cave-ins.

Hopefully, there would be another burrowing spirit beast down here I could get something like that from.

But overall, things were looking up.

At least, that’s what I thought until we entered the main chamber of the mine again. But after we gave over our spirit stones to meet the quota, we were roughly re-chained, our torches and picks taken away, and then we were shoved out of the cave to gather up with all the rest of the slaves.

A bad feeling started to build in my gut as even the guys who looked like they’d been here a while appeared nervous and confused.

That tripled when the bandit with the big nose and hammer—the Black Hammer apparently—appeared in a blur in front of the gathering of slaves. And at his feet were a group of three very terrified-looking men. They were chained and one of them was even collared. Slaves. Just like the rest of us.

That couldn’t be good.