The seasons passed and the cat and mouse game between unwilling Gray and miners of Blue Lake Village continued. He was now approaching his thirteenth year. He was growing out of childhood and into adolescence. He was taller and stronger, no longer malnourished but about the same stature as a normal boy his age.
He kept using his abilities to find ore in the worst possible spots. His reputation as a genius miner became known among the community. The fact that he was an orphan kid was also known. Therefore, he kept getting robbed.
The situation was now so ridiculous that mining gangs were fighting amongst themselves to determine who would get the privilege to rob him. A few even offered to take him, not as a slave but as a full-fledged member, but he flatly refused. His blood and sweat were on the ores they robbed. It was irreconcilable. He would never forgive them. He blacklisted all of them in his heart and vowed to remain a solo miner.
He tried to fight back by hiding his tracks in the forest and creating false trails to lead people down the wrong path. He tried to stay low-key. He acted as poor as possible so they wouldn't know he had a new spot. Despite his efforts, they always got him sooner or later. This happened over and over again and he suffered harsh lessons repeatedly. But he was hard-headed and determined not to give up. Every time he suffered a defeat, he got up again to keep mining.
But everyone had a breaking point… and he eventually found his.
His most recent mine had been taken over after only one week, smashing the previous record. The group that did it, the powerful Road Gang, even dared to party and drink like they had made it big, all on the back of his hard work and labor.
"Demon assholes…"
"Goat bastards…"
"Piss your ancestors!!!"
His yells were swallowed by the foggy forest and nothing, not even birds, made a reply. He stamped his bare feet in anger and crushed a few dead tree trunks with his pickaxe. The emotions he had bottled up for the past year poured out.
This was the final straw, his was done!
He didn't want to do this anymore. He didn't want to lose to these asshole miners anymore. He didn't want to be robbed anymore!
"I can't mine anywhere in the valley… what can I do?"
He didn't know what to do but he was determined to do something!
---
A few days later, Gray left Blue Lake Village in the middle of the night. Three heavy sacks filled with hardtack were strapped to his body, two on his back and one at the front. He carried a bundle of brand-new pickaxes in his left hand and another one in his right. Everything weighed almost as much as him and made his feet sink into the muddy forest floor.
His body was laden and so was his mind, with an almost crazy idea. If he couldn't mine in the valley, then he would simply leave it and enter the mountains. He would establish a brand-new mine far beyond the range of the villagers. The distance would allow him to properly cover his tracks and ensure no curious passerby would ever run into it. The place had to be so remote and dangerous that even the most hardened hunters would not dare to enter.
The journey would be perilous but he wasn't swayed. He wasn't a careless person and he had prepared as well as he could. In his mind, this felt firmly like the right decision even though he couldn't quite grasp why.
Gray left the village behind and plodded up the valley. He soon arrived at a familiar fork in the trail. This time, he turned east instead of north and continued onward past his normal stopping point. He did not intend to turn around.
He arrived at what the hunters called Bear Brook. This river cut a path down the valley from the top of the mountains. The deepest parts were usually too dangerous to cross but the trail passed through a section that was wide and slow.
He took a step into the river, ignoring the icy water. Instead of crossing, he turned north and followed the river uphill. With water to his knees, he carefully navigated the large stones and sinkholes. It was slippery and slow going but it would completely hide his tracks. This was one of the tricks he learned from being robbed so many times.
He traveled like this, sleeping during the day and walking through the night. He moved from cover to cover. Every stray noise was hair-raising, every fleeting shadow was a possible beast that could threaten his life. He used his night vision and all the stealthiness he possessed to their limit.
He continued along Bear Brook until it disappeared into the mountainside. From here on out, he had to make his own trail. He used his pickaxe to force a way through the brush. It was slow going and he made a lot of noise. Because of this, the inevitable happened…
The ground shook and a mass of reddish-brown fur emerged from a row of tall grass, directly in his way. It was an earth bear!
"Grrrrrr… Huaa…" It snorted in surprise and paused.
Gray stood frozen in fear. An earth bear was a spiritual beast, equivalent to a human who practiced cultivation. It took at least three of the strongest hunters in the village to take on a fully grown earth bear. He was only a skinny boy so he had no chance!
The bear finally decided on something and gave a throaty growl. Its right paw glowed with brownish-yellow light as it slapped the ground.
The tall blades of grass around it shuddered in waves. The nearby trees shook. The ground beneath Gray quaked wildly as if it was alive. The vibration traveled up his feet, causing his bones to creak and his muscles to ache. It surged through his stomach and he threw up.
When the attack reached his head, he was instantly beset by a painful dizzying spell. His vision blurred. His body swayed without balance. It was as if he had suddenly been punched several times in the head.
He was about to fall. He was about to pass out. If he did, it was all over.
He regretted his crazy idea. Why did he think of something so stupid? There were so many things he wanted to do, like beating up every single miner in Blue Lake Village.
He didn't want to die.
He couldn't die like this.
Something unconscious suddenly activated within him.
"No!" Gray roared and stamped his feet, regaining his balance.
A surge of unknown strength erupted. The remainder of the bear's attack within his body was washed away. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes changed at that moment. They were no longer brown but pure black like the endless void.
The bear stared into his eyes and it was as if it had seen something unfathomably fearsome. It backed away, yelping and snorting. It then turned and dashed away.
It was over, just like that. Gray didn't know what happened but the bear was gone. He was alive.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air like he had sprinted a long distance. His body felt like a wet noodle, without an ounce of strength. He felt himself fall forward but he could not stop it. He didn't see how he hit the ground as he had already blacked out.