Lin Wu looked up at the place which seemed the thinnest to him and struck it with his tail-turned-pickaxe.
~Deng~
A reverberating sound was heard as his crystalline tail vibrated in response to being hit.
"Whoa, okay, I didn't expect his. This is certainly uncomfortable." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He tried hitting the rock a few more times and was finally able to make a small piece of it fall off from it. But in addition to this he was feeling quite uncomfortable as his tail kept on vibrating from the impacts as if it was a gong being struck.
After multiple hits, the vibrations got strong enough that they actually traveled to his head, making him feel a little dizzy.
"Okay, I can't go on like this. I feel like someone is ringing a bucket that's put on my head. This is elementary school all over again, I don't want to experience that feeling again." Lin Wu uttered with frustration.
Thinking for a solution to this, Lin Wu stopped mining. It was not like he was doing much damage to the rock either. After five minutes of effort, he had barely chipped away a small piece. Thinking over it, he realized that the vibrations were traveling to his head as his body was entirely crystalline.
'Hmm, if I make a small part of my body turn to the organic form, will it stop the vibrations?' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Wanting to try out his theory, he got to it and triggered the innate skill cellular crystallization. He focused on the part just below the end of his tail from where it was made to look like a pickaxe. A few seconds later, under the control of Lin Wu's mind, the crystalline surface started morphing and soon changed to look like a dark grey color.
The segments that were present in his organic form appeared and it looked like an area of about three segments was turned into the organic form. The part where the crystalline changed to organic and vice a versa looked particularly unique.
Instead of directly transitioning to a different form, it instead changed eventually and looked like a completely different thing. Lin Wu now had five distinct sections on his body. The major part that was crystalline and emerald green. Then the tiny ring of greenish brown color which progressed to the organic part which was dark Grey and then back to the greenish brown ring. And finally, it ended in the emerald green crystalline tail, which was in the form of a pickaxe.
"Alright, lets see if there is a difference or not." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
He then braced himself and hit the rock again with his tail.
~Clink~
This time the results were quite obvious. While his tail still vibrated from the impact, the vibrations did not travel to the rest of his body, making it easier for him to keep himself oriented.
"YES! This is it." Lin Wu exclaimed in joy.
He then continued mining the rock, and small pieces of it kept on breaking off every so often. At this point Lin Wu was starting to wonder if he was doing something wrong. He was already in the mid stage of the qi refining realm and felt like he was not doing much damage. At least not as much as he had imagined a cultivator could do.
"System, what can I do to increase the force or damage?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling confused and a bit lost.
~Ding~
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ANSWER: The host can use his spirit qi to amplify his attacks. This is one of the most basic methods of using qi and can be used for both attack and defense. The host does not have any qi skill currently, thus the amplification will be at the very basic level that a cultivator can use.
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Lin Wu carefully read the answer and then felt a bit stupid.
"Of course! I haven't been using the spirit qi at all since now. No wonder I was not doing much." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
He then tried to remember the feeling of qi that he had felt before and tried to see if he could command it. Lin Wu could feel nothing at the start, but a few seconds later he could sense the faint wisps of spirit qi that were hidden within his body.
Lin Wu could feel them present in faint tubes that seemed both material and immaterial.
'Are these my meridians?' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He continued focusing on them and found that they were present all over the body and formed a complex net all over it. He then willed one of the wisps of spirit qi to travel from the meridians to the tail, and it slowly started flowing towards there. Soon it reached the tail part and left the meridian, merging into his tail.
Lin Wu could feel an almost instant difference. Wanting to try this out quickly, he pulled his tail back and then struck the rock with all his strength.
~Clang~
~Crack~
A louder sound was heard as the surface of the rock visibly cracked. Although these cracks were not big and were only a few centimeters long, it was still more than what Lin Wu had accomplished until now.
"Awesome! The amplification is much more than I thought. Now I just have to keep on doing this again and again." Lin Wu spoke to himself with excitement.
~Clang~
~Clang~
~Clang~
~Clang~
~Clang~
Lin Wu kept on hitting the rock until the cracks started increasing in number and more pieces of the rocks kept on falling.
~Clang~
~Clang~
~Clang~
~Crumble~
Finally, the number of cracks had reached an amount where the structural integrity of the rock got weak. The thin part of the Rock where the cracks were present finally started crumbling, and a lot of pieces fell down at once.
Now what was left in front of Lin Wu was a small hole that was about three inches deep and four inches wide. And just as he saw this, a notification sounded in his mind.
~Ding~
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NOTIFICATION: New skill learned
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