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Labyrinth of Gods
13 - Preparations

13 - Preparations

My skeletons had finished digging the tunnels wider, from the cavern to the pond room. The distance between the two areas was approximately 200 meters.

I had waited a long time for my body to regenerate. While I was waiting, I ate the dividing ground that seperated the cavern's first and second floor. Eating so much stone allowed me to cultivate and breakthrough to the next stage of my densified soul. All the mana that I got from eating the ground equaled to be slightly below the boss slime's entire mana reserve.

After I was done cultivating and completely regenerating my human body, I opened my eyes for the first time. I was almost going to break down and cry, but I held back; after having suffered so much I realised that one life is only a temporary force within the cave. My sight was extremely enhanced after my rebirth and I was able to see clearly through the darkness. Not only did my sight improve, all of my other senses had advanced aswell. It was good that the body is always in synchronization with the soul, allowing me to recreate myself in the perfect form.

Almost my entire body had actually transformed from slime into flesh and bones, which means that the volume of my cells were extremely dense. By now, I already had supernatural strength when compared to an ordinary human or an ogre for that matter.

At the moment, I was sitting on the foundation surrounded by half-walls, cultivating myself till I made a breakthrough again. Each time I integrated mana into my soul, it became harder to advance further without having the need to take a break due to mana running out. Even with the drawback, the breaks didn't take more than a few minutes thanks to my tremendous absorption rate that had advanced many hundred times when compared prior to the boss slime's battle. I made leaps since I've integrated directly with the enemies I face.

I was stacking last of my mana reserves into myself before reaching the cap. As always, cultivating the soul meant that the cap needed to be surpassed by constantly compressing mana into the soul form.

After several hours I was able to breakthrough and ascend to the next level, quickly stabilizing my mana flow afterwards. The essential thing to know about soul cultivation is that the mana will permanently become the same substance as the soul after the breakthrough, otherwise it would just gradually return to its original state. Once a breakthrough is made, the host will feel a disturbance of balance due to the sudden lack of mana.

I finished with my stabilization and stood up, my location still being the dark-green foundation. The reason I worked so much on training myself was because of unseen threats. If I was weak and went up against stronger forces I would surely be annihilated, but if I was strong enough to ensure just a tiny bit of an escape chance, then that would be just fine for me. Fear of death still lingered around my anxious heart.

Touching my hair out of curiosity, I felt a soft sensation. It didn't surprise me, since my body has gone through numerous changes, but it made me happy. 

I stretched out my body and felt a little bit sore from the rear; sitting on the hard flooring for hours wasn't pleasant. My bottom was exposed aswell, so I had to take care of that problem again.

'Damn slimes...' I cursed in my heart. 

My current goal was to obtain a pair of durable pants. Even if I was strong enough, my underwear could be damaged in a fight against some creature. I still had dignity within myself even after the rebirth.

Scouring the cave for any good materials, I found something for a temporary armament. The artificial forest had some pliable branches, so I cut them off from their trunks with my hand coated in sharp mana. Instead of ripping the branches off, the cutting allowed for a more versatile usage of the sticks. For the next part, I tore off patches of leaves from the trees and connected their petioles to the bendable sticks, which were ring shaped and tied around my waist. Once I put everything together, I used mana to reinforce the bondage of my leaf skirt, creating a tightened fortress.

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It felt a lot better after having covered my crotch again, relieving some stress. But, the search for pants wasn't over.

I knew that there wasn't anything else that I could find within the rooms I've explored, so it was time to cross into another room within the cave system. 

Choosing to take the route that was available in the cavern where I cultivated, I proceeded there with caution. If there was a chance of a dormant soul going rampant again then it wouldn't be the best time, since I haven't obtained any real armor or weapon yet to defend myself. Having a strong weapon at hand would certainly be useful against tough enemies.

I walked the stone corridor filled with distant darkness for quite a long time. My sixth sense was sharply observing any anomalities in the environment, eventually finding nothing abnormal, until I was met with something strange. 

Reaching the end of the tunnel, I glanced at a large metal door with light-brown shade covering it. It had a small orb in the centre of the two sides and a sculpture of a humanoid creature carved into the orb's surrounding, towering almost 7 meters tall. The room itself was just as plain as any other cave room, filled with stone spikes on the ceiling height and gravel traversing across the ground.

I observed the door for a few minutes. It had the same feel to it as the large red door I first witnessed, with the most notable difference between the two being the sculptures and the orbs.

Surely, this ominous gate had more to it than the mysterious aura surrounding it. I came closer and placed my hand upon it and tried to push. As I placed my hand, the small orb started glowing in a yellow color.

Soothing sound ripples instantly roamed the air as the door pried open. The light that came through the tight gap blinded me as it got more brighter, due to the unlocking. Air blew like a tornado inside the cave and the freshness of it invaded my nostrils. 

I gave it a minute before my eyes were ready to explore what vastness I had uncovered. My lids slowly untightened and I fell on my knees.

Seeing it with my own eyes, the world was just beautiful. The savanna's grass flowed gracefully while the trees were tilting right and left, all thanks to the wind's temporary appearance. But the most notable feature, that assisted the landscape's elegance, was the sun. It couldn't even be compared to the artifical forest's ball of light. The rays it shot at my skin felt warming and the light was bright enough to illuminate the cave's insides quite far.

I clutched the tall grass growing from the seemingly brown-looking landscape that I kept admiring. After a few minutes, I took my first steps into the wilderness outside and freed myself from the cave's atmosphere.

All the agony I went through felt like it just faded away the farther I walked from the cave, but the good feeling didn't last long as I reminded myself the reason why I came here: pants.

There was a reason I wasn't so thrilled with the discovery of a possible freedom; events, that lead up to this moment, taught me that caution is a weapon to be utilized when faced against the unknown.

To get a more clear vision of the surroundings in terms of the supernatural element, I used my sixth sense to its maximum potential. My mental vision expanded the more I employed my observation skill. At one point, the limit of my power came closer the more I put it to use, causing me to gradually lose the speed of the sight traversing farther. Not only did I lose momentum the more I forced myself, my mind also got weaker.

By the time I reached what I was looking for, I was completely exhausted and fell on my rear. A terrible headache took place once I stopped using the sixth sense.

"AAAGHH!!" I screamed in pain. I was in no condition to start exploring any time soon, so I retreated back into the caverns. The large door closed behind me once I got further from it when I walked back into the tunnel from which I came out of.

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 Half an hour of rest proved to be rejuvenating for the mind. The excruciating pain had dissipated over time while I was trying to keep myself from thinking too much. 

This time, when going into the wilderness, I decided to bring along my minions that were awaiting for commands. I noticed that the mana, that I put into them, had dispersed even if they had no activities. Small details like these, even with their small contribution, helped a lot. My ability to manage mana around improved each time I made a discovery concerning the supernatural force.

I wondered if it would of been possible for me to unlock these experiences back on my home planet. There was no possible way I was still on Earth under these conditions.

Before going out, I had made several spears out of stone and equipped them onto my minions. It was difficult at first to craft them out of huge blocks with sharp mana blades, but after a couple of tries I managed to make them decent enough to be qualified as weapons.

Once I was all prepared, I moved forwards with my skeletons behind me towards the cavern's exit.