Chương 59: Tunnels

With the greenish blue glow from the crate serving as his light source, Blick wandered the maze of tunnels. The first hour was exciting as he found several crystals half buried in the tunnel walls. Easy to see the slight glow in the dark tunnels he spent several minutes climbing to drain the ones he could find. Most of them seemed to be near the top of the tunnel. The crystals didn't amount to much but every one he drained was that much closer to a drop worth absorbing.

So far he had absorbed three drops total and the tingling sensation hadn't spread further than his center mass where his organs greedily soaked up the strength of the mana. He had no way to know how many drops his body could absorb. He had time to think on the topic as he explored the man made tunnel system. He was curious about the single large tunnel cut assumed the smaller offshoots were worth a bit of time. He hadn't been wrong exactly, but walking from one tunnels end to another netted him nearly a drop.

It was so convenient the other people had gathered so much in the one spot. After a while of carrying the box he figured he had enough distance from the compound that he could safely absorb his loot. Blick sat with his back against the tunnels end on this random offshoot, this one had seemed much longer than the others but he didnt understand how mines worked at all so it was just another tunnel. So Blick sat and focused on his task.

Empty the crate, pull in the mana, condense a drop, then push the drop to the edge of his core to absorb it. Curious, he could control the drop inside his core, would he be able to control it outside of the core? His eyes parted open as he had a realization. He lifted one arm with a crystal and drew in the mana from it. Lifting the other hand he pushed out some mana into an already emptied crystal and it began to glow softly again.

He could control the mana outside his core because he can move the mana running through his arms and legs independently. He scrunched his eyebrows at the realization that he hadn't even thought of what that meant until now. He focused on his clawed fingers and moved the mana from his meridian out. He could feel the mana as a vague extension of his body and he pressed it to wrap around one of his claws. He lost his concentration when it moved to cover the single claw and that left the mana to dissipate into the air.

He could control it outside his body. Not well. But it was possible. Could he also control the mana as it dispersed through his body? He considered what organ he would want to improve first. It didn't take long. The most important organ an animal had was its heart, maybe the brain also, but that wasn't near his core at all and he wanted to start on something easier. He finished the crate leaving a single crystal active as a light source and condensed a drop.

This drop he held in place inside his core as he focused as much of his attention as possible. Failure wouldn't make the drop worthless but he had no more readily available and his curiosity was eating at him to figure this out now. He slowly pushed the drop to the edge of his core. Just as it made contact with the edge it tried to spread out like a blanket in random uneven ways. So he grasped it. The concept was strange because he wasn't using a muscle exactly.

It was more of a thought with enough focus and he could feel the movement within his body. He felt the drop spread out and pushed with all his will. Holding it together he pushed it through just cores exterior and it burned. This hurt almost as much as him forcing his meridians open when he had two drops in his core. He pushed the drop what felt like inches an hour. When it reached his heart he let it deform and wrap around the organ. At that point he passed out.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Butler was anxious as hell. His plans up until now had been a success. The crew had kept the pace up in the mine during his absence every shift while he worked on a tunnel that had been closed up years ago. According to old Bob, the camp had moved a few times over the years always closing one entrance while opening a new one. They moved the camp nearly five miles at a time so there was definitely another network of tunnels that had been capped. He just had to make his way far enough east to find it.

He was close and he knew it. At the start of every work shift they would get their morning meal. Horrible stuff, a mash of oat and gravy but it was definitely filling. The crews would gather from the mess hall and be walked to the mine entrance to collect tools and crates. Then the teams would delve the tunnels and expand the network.

The main branch was left untouched most weeks for reasons unknown to a simple slave like him, but people would group up and be sent down each tunnel to collect what they could or remove whatever stone they could from the end of the tunnel. Coming back with an empty crate was grounds for the whole team to get whipped. And your team had to basically stop working as soon as the first whistle blew because you were expected to haul your crate back to the entrance by the third whistle. Most days that was easy enough.

The issue was guessing how much crystal to remove before adding enough stone to make your crate full but not take all day. After two years of this his team had gotten a knack for the timing and could manage the task without him. So today he was planning to return to his normal schedule. Today was absolutely not going to plan. Today one of the cultivators with a solid core followed them. Not his team specifically but the slaves as a whole. The guards were visibly nervous as they gathered the miners this morning.

Of course none of the miners had any news to share aside from the bird that had attacked the stone crew. That honestly was the worst part of the job. Every week a team had to haul out the stones from the freshly dug tunnels to one of the hundreds of piles out in the meadows. His team of four went down their usual tunnel and began working as usual, but today butler was actually not sure if he should walk down the extended corridor and continue his task with the cultivator in the area.

He battled himself and even asked his crew their opinions. He was convinced it was a day or two more of digging before he broke into another section. They had all assumed the risks of being found out, and didn't see how this was any worse than having the guards stationed at the main corridor. The crew calmed his nerves and he left them to the quota as he tossed a pick over his shoulder and carried his lantern and lunch sack deep into his extra long tunnel.