"But sir!! Sir!! Please hear us out a little!!" But, no matter how hard the miners and soldiers protested against it, Nick just told them to get ready in ten minutes and walked back into his personal tent ignoring their mournful pleas!
"Sigh, it's no use, the General is not the kind of person to give orders out lightly, but once he does it is the law! Everyone should get ready, miners drop your axes, they will only make things harder for you during the workout, soldiers, you know the drill!" One of the soldiers took charge and began handing out orders.
Nick was now sitting in his tent calmly with his eyes closed. The reason he was like this was all because the clone, who had currently taken the Std infested General Kane into the deepest levels of the forest, had now run into trouble! The clone was facing a wolf pack and fighting while carrying the General was making it inconvenient for him.
'Leave him there!'
Nick really didn't want to kill the freaky General, mainly because the man had not really offended him in any way.
So, Nick simply left the man there to chill the wolves, because, if the countless jungle movies he had seen back on earth were any indication, when a wounded person is left to die in a forest he usually ends up becoming friends with the animals themselves, Kane could be the next Tarzan...
Ten minutes later, Nick sent a clone with General Kane's appearance out of the tent. The clone was to lead the training for tonight. And by the time the Clone appeared outside the miners and soldiers were all standing there ready for instructions.
The soldiers stood orderly, showing off their discipline, while the miners stood around yawning where they felt was most convenient, proving that they didn't care much for nonsense such as discipline.
"Okay then, miners and soldiers line up orderly! You will all be following me in a little jog through the woods!" Nick's clone commanded.
And after five minutes of disorder, they were finally able to maintain a stable lineup and began their jog through the woods! And on their way, Nick's clone kept on singing a song to motivate the joggers a little.
"When you're running through the woods, and somebody's lagging behind, what do you do?! Stab them in the butt! Stab, stab, stab them in the Butt! When some naughty miners, think that your joking, what you gonna do?! Stab them in the butt! Stab, stab, stab them in the butt!" Nick's clone sang merrily along the way.
But to the ears of the soldiers and miners this wasn't a song, but a promise!!! The General was warning them not to lag behind! And this was especially directed at the miners who had thought themselves to be smart as they got closer and closer to the trees beside the trail, planing on hiding out and making their escape, they had thought that no one would really notice if a couple of them went missing but it turned out they were wrong since Nick's words were clearly directed at them!
Twenty minutes after the group's departure, back at the camp, Nick had knocked out the few soldiers left there to guard the fort and had summoned out Silver to do a little labor.
"Master, what can I do for you?" Silver asked with his head slightly bowed, but one could tell from the look in his eyes that he was dissatisfied for being called out of the pet space, it was just too comfortable for cultivation in there!
"You see that mine over there, go and dig out all the ores inside!" Nick commanded as he pointed at the mine entrance.
Silver also didn't understand why his master took a sudden interest in mining, and he didn't plan on asking either as he haughtily walked over to the mine entrance and closed his eyes a little to see if he could sense the location of the ores.
But no matter how hard he tried the isolation effect of the Dark heavenly gold proved to be powerful, completely blocking off Silver's perception!
"Master, what is the ore inside this mine?! I can't even use my perception to look inside!" Silver was shocked.
"I don't know much about it either, it should be some low-grade material, what was its name again, Dark heavenly silver...no gold, it's dark heavenly gold," Nick said nonchalantly, trying his best to show off in front of his subordinate!
"What?! Master, are you kidding me?!! There is Dark heavenly gold inside this mine, and you say that is low grade?!" Silver was filled with excitement and disbelief!
"Hmph, what do you know, this is considered low grade compared to the item I used to use back in my old home! Do you know Diamond?! Do you know mercury?! Now those materials have a right to be called high-grade materials, what does this bullshit Dark heavenly gold count as?!" Nick bragged while taking a closer look at the mine.
"Then master, since you consider this low grade could I please take this one, the dark heavenly gold will really help me in my cultivation!" Silver grew excited since his master didn't value these materials much, which meant he could get them?!
"Oh, sure, I'll give you two kilograms of Dark heavenly gold after you've finished mining it out!" Nick said generously.
"Thank you, master! How much of the ore should I excavate for you?!"
"Only all of it, about three hundred tons. And please finish it by tonight." Nick again said it as if he was requesting something simple.
But to Silver, those words sounded like hammers sticking his heart! How could he accomplish such a thing, and by tonight at that?!!!
"Wait, wait, never mind, Silver, you can go back to the pet space now. It seems I don't need your help after all!" Nick stuffed the crying Silver back into the pet space the next second.
Ding! The host has found a mine filled with Dark heavenly gold! Does the host want to commence extraction?!
Nick hadn't expected the system to be so helpful! He had sent the people away using exercise as an excuse because he didn't want them here when he took out Silver from his pet space and used him as an excavator, but now it all seemed a little redundant since the system could do it so quietly!
'Go ahead system, do your thing! Suck the metal out! Extract it until it's empty! Don't even leave a drop of it!' Nick excitedly began to cheer for the system.
Vroooooooooooooooooo!
Suddenly the mine began to shake and collapse in itself and a weird loud sound that sounded like stomach rumbling began to spread out!
Ding! Encountered obstruction, cause of obstruction, Semi-conscious Dark heavenly gold heart! Ways to deal with the target, forceful extraction of ore, or forceful absorption of the heart itself, please choose host.
The system sent another prompt, confusing Nick, could a mine's heart also grow consciousness?! And what was up with choices there?
'System, what happens if you extract the heart?!' Nick had to ask.
Ding! If the host takes the heart away then the host can mine without facing any obstruction, the host can also plant and nurture the heart inside the storage space! but if the host chooses to only extract the ore alone first, the heart will die and become useless!
Nick could obviously tell with one was the better choice, but he knew that the system wouldn't ask him such a stupid question unless there was a catch to taking away the heart!
'How will you be taking the heart away? Will you just suck it out like the ore?' Nick asked while hoping deep in his heart that he was just being too cautious.
Ding! No, the host will have to manually remove the heart and place it in the system storage space!
'I knew it! Damn geezer is too cunning to let me have it easy!! Ugly bastard, that ugly ghost virgin!!' Nick couldn't help cursing out.
The Old geezer didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he hadn't done anything this time, it was all the system's doing and yet Nick still chose to blame him?!!
'Okay then, down we go!!!' Nick steeled his heart and headed inside the mine. If he was going to rob this mine then he might as well do it right! He was going to take away the heart and the ores!
Nick had initially begun walking inside filled with enthusiasm and fighting spirit, but halfway down he saw something that made him turn back!
It was a spider! No, not a large spider as you are imagining or a creepy spider, but an ordinary tiny little spider! There was not much Nick was afraid of in his last life, he didn't fear fights, knives, not even guns! But he had always carried this unusual phobia of spiders and needles!
One time back on earth one of his friends begged Nick to let him stay over because his house was apparently rat-infested. And Nick being the kind friend that he is, overcharged him for staying over and had the man do all the chores...But the man took all the abuse without saying anything which confused Nick because he knew how temperamental his friend was!
So, curious about his friend's unusual behavior Nick suspected that he must be hiding something, and so he waited until his friend left the house the next day and invaded his friend's room.
Once inside Nick found that the room had been kept nice and tidy, and was perhaps even cleaner than it would be if a professional had done it, which convince him that he should make his friend clean his room as well next time. But one thing stuck out inside, and that was a glass case covered with a blanket.
Nick could tell that his friend wanted to hide whatever was inside the glass case, so he lifted the blanket to see what his friend was hiding!
But Nick would have preferred to have found a human head or hand rather than what he found! It was a large tarantula spider!!! And there were three of them too!
Nick first fainted out of fear, then woke up crying and shaking as he left the room. Then he immediately contacted one of the ex-convicts that he had helped previously, a very nasty and threatening fellow over to his house!
And when the man arrived he was surprised to find his fearless and powerful lawyer who had never once shown weakness shivering and mumbling as he paced back and forth!
"Why do spiders even have eight legs?! Two should be enough for walking, the rest must be hiding something!! Spiders must be man-made right? Some scientists that had a weird fetish for hairy legs mush have created those bastards!! Hehehehe, they think that they can get me?!! Fat chance! I will wipe them out of this earth if it is the last thing I do!!"
"Ummm, Mr.Nick? Are you alright?" The ex-convict was honestly scared to approach as he asked.
"Oh, Donny, your here!! Awesome, you came right on time!!! Listen, since you are a cold-blooded murderer then what I'm about to ask you should be easy for you! Listen, there's a little problem inside, and I need you to 'take care' of it if you know what I mean!" Nick excitedly ran up to Donny and began talking all shifty-eyed!
"But...Mr.Nick, you helped prove my innocence...you helped prove that I didn't kill my black-hearted boss!!" Donny sounded angry and wronged.
"Uhhhh..." Nick simply stared at the man unblinkingly, his expression asking, how long are you going to keep up with theatrics bro, why don't you save all the acting for the court!
Donny blushed a little, it was so embarrassing to be caught in a lie!
"Where is the 'problem' that you need me to 'take care' of?" Donny asked, deciding to get it over with.
"Oh, the 'problem' I mentioned, is inside, make sure you 'take care' of it quietly!" Nick reminded.
"No problem, I'll make the 'problem' 'go away' quietly!" Donny assured.
The two people were using their hands to make air quotes the whole time, confusing the Gardner watching from far away.
"There they are, in the glass case!!! Quickly, before they get away!!" Nick dragged Donny to his friend's room and shoved him inside.
"Mr.Nick, there are only spiders in the glass case?" Donny asked, confused.
"Only spiders? Only spiders?! Only spiders you say?!! That spider is so huge that it can eat a basketball and you say it's only a spider?!! That thing my friend, is a killer, much deadlier than you are, and much scarier too!!" Nick who was standing behind the door outside hopped about in rage!
"Okay, okay Mr.Nick, no need to get worked up! I'll take care of them for you. How do you want me to do it though, any requests!" Donny was trying his best to calm down the agitated Nick.
"Oh, requests, my friend enjoys barbeque, so maybe burn them?" Nick said scratching the side of his face.
"No problem, I'll take them away now!" Donny carried the glass case outside, while Nick followed behind while maintaining a distance of eight meters the Whole-time!
"Bye Mr.Nick!" Donny waved before taking the glass filled with spiders with him.
"Such a daredevil!" Nick admired Donny's bravery from afar as he also waved back.
That night his friend returned to find his pet spiders missing, and confronted Nick about it.
"Nick, where did you take my spiders?! I know that you are afraid of spiders but I made sure you didn't see them and locked them in a case just to be safe!" Nick's friend sounded anxious and angry.
"Hmm, why did you not go to a hotel though?!" Nick had to ask now.
"Because the cheap ones have a no pet policy and the expensive ones are just too expensive! Besides, my pets are completely harmless!" The friend argued.
"Yeah, that was what people said about one of my clients too until the man was found to be a serial killer that enjoyed de scalping people!" Nick was pissed.
"Ahhh...Anyway, where are my pets?!"
"I don't know, we were robbed today, so they must have been stolen!"
"Oh, really, what else was taken?!"
"My pencil sharpener, and your right to stay here! Get the fuck out!!!" Nick barked.
While Nick was reminiscing about the good old memories of his past life he got a sudden inspiration.
And immediately calling on the power of the blue flames he flooded the mines with it!
"Die! Die!! Die!!! Die you eight-legged freaks!!! Fuck you and your treacherous beady eyes!!!" Nick looked absolutely deranged at the moment but he didn't care, for he was cleansing this world of an abomination!