Clang!
"1874... Even though I just leveled up only by one, my physical strength truly jumped." thought Nash as he stared at the number on the pickaxe after mining for 8 hours straight.
Ever since his Legacy broke through Level 3 and reached Level 4, he was able to mine almost twice as many crystals as before!
"But..." however, his mood quickly got destroyed as almost 10 days have passed since his first 'official' breakthrough, yet he was still on Level 4!
Nash mined crystals day by day and even did a crazy amount of physical training, doing 750 pieces from each drill, let it be push-ups, jumpings, or squatting!
If it were before, he couldn't even do 100 much less 750! Yet, he was still unable to break into the next Level...
"I must be doing something wrong..." Nash began to ponder what he was doing wrong, yet no matter how hard he tried to think he couldn't come up with a solution.
He was strengthening his muscles on all parts of his body; his legs, arms, stomach, back, shoulder, ass, and even tried to bolster the muscles in his neck, no matter how ridiculous it sounded!
Still, none of these help him at all. Hell, he felt that his muscles growth in power stopped accumulating about a day or so ago which made his guess feel more and more right.
"I must discover what I should do to become stronger!" Nash's eyes turned firm, but just as he was about to continue mining, suddenly a loud shout came from the cave's entrance.
"HEY, TRASH IN THERE! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE! NOW!"
'...' halting his swinging motion just above a blue crystal, Nash glanced toward the entrance before shifting his gaze at Erys who sat motionlessly in the dark corner.
"Stay here and lower your presence as much as you can. Do not dare to speak nor move until I say so."
As Erys body stiffened rock-solid thanks to Nash's order, Nash put his pickaxe onto his shoulder and walked toward the exit, his eyes holding confidence as ever before.
"What are you doing all the time inside there?" asked the Sky Beast coldly once it noticed Nash's approach.
It was the creature that was in charge to oversee their work in Section D ever since day 1, therefore came to check on Nash out of curiosity as it saw him going into the cave day after day.
Except for handing his amount in day after day, it didn't see him coming out to mine elsewhere, not even once.
"I'm just mining crystals as I have to," answered Nash, even showing the amount he mined.
"1874? You are really a hardworking one, huh?" asked the Sky Beast, causing Nash to smile slightly upon hearing that.
However, it seemed that was a mistake. The very moment he smiled, Nash noticed that the Sky Beast's Anger skyrocketed, going from 84% all the way to 93%!
"Oh, fu-" but even before he could have finished talking, Nash watched as the creature moved, following a sharp piercing pain into his waist the next second.
BOOM!
Debris flew and dark blood-splattered as Nash's body exploded into a huge boulder in the distance like a cannonball, sending dust and pieces of crystals into the air right as if a bomb had been just detonated.
"Bleargh!" vomiting out a mouthful of blood, Nash felt as his chest side turned numb whilst the world in his eyes began to spin like crazy.
"F... uck... this..." Nash put his palm on the spot where the creature just kicked him but found it surprising that except for a sharp pain, he was doing perfectly fine.
Maybe a broken rib or two, but except that he was as good as a newborn, even though he should have been dead by long ago thanks to that assault!
"What the hell? I'm still alive?" wondered Nash, but soon a voice appeared inside his mind, shocking him even more.
[Successful Breakthrough!]
[Mortal Rank Legacy has reached Level 5!]
"What?" now Nash felt even more confused but discovered with pleasant surprise that the spot he was hit began to be gradually filled with warmth, and soon all the pain vanished from his body.
The numb feeling disappeared, no more blood came up from his mouth and even his vision turned clear once again, maybe even clearer than it was before!
"Falling into the abyss just to reach the peak?" thought Nash, but his thoughts were cut as he noticed the Sky Beast's figure before him.
His anger was exactly on 98%, only 2% from reaching the Critical Level!
When Nash saw this he turned happy but soon erased that feeling as he knew it was still not the time. He could make this creature angry and trap in his power as easily as lifting a finger, but he wants to do that later.
Everything had its own timing and when that will come, he will make sure to savor it, as he wants to surprise this bastard before him real well.
And the things he will do with him once he enslaved it will be 100 times more savage it did with him and other humans for sure!
"Oh? You are still alive?" asked the Sky Beast with a hint of surprise, but soon his eyes flashed with disgust and spit on Nash.
"You are worse than a cockroach." snorted the creature coldly and threw the tool that was dropped by Nash when it kicked him, "Now go and proceed on with your task, or I won't be as gentle with you as I was just now."
'...'
Picking up the tool but seeing as the number on it was 0 instead of 1874, Nash glanced at the creature, only to see it grinning back at him mockingly; it was way too obvious it was the one stealing his crystals.
'...' swallowing down the words he wanted to say out loud, Nash stood up and walked back into the cave, completely ignoring all the stares on him from other humans as he knew they didn't matter at all.
However, what he didn't notice was the Sky Beast's strange gaze as it wondered how he was still alive even doe it kicked him quite powerfully.
As for the answer, it couldn't come up with one not even after thinking for a long time.
Walking back into the cave, Nash noticed that Erys was still stiff as a rock thus sighed and waved his hand, "Relax, everything is fine."
"W-what happened just now? I felt a great tremor about a few minutes ago." Erys seemed hesitant to talk as she guessed something must have happened, but her curiosity won over her.
Nash glanced at her than subconsciously reaching his side he pondered for a while and put his pickaxe down.
"I can easily mine 1000 under 4 hours so I'm still in time, but before that, I want to test out something." thought Nash and glanced at Erys.
"What?" asked Erys as she noticed Nash's sudden change of behavior.
"Stand."
"!?"
Swish!
Jumping onto her feet with record speed that was faster than blink Erys seemed confused and stared at Nash with widened eyes while her body didn't listen to her command at all.
Nash saw this nodded in approval and stepped before Erys, whose eyes seemed confused but at the same time trembled as she feared he wanted to do something with her.
'Is he mad? Did he get beaten up out there and now he wants to vent his anger on me? Or...' Erys' thoughts became chaotic and couldn't help but close her eyes. But when she felt nothing, not even a hit or touch on her body, she gradually opened her eyes and glanced at Nash.
Nash stood exactly a meter away from her, and once he saw her opening her eyes, he extended his arms to both sides and talked.
"Hit me! Punch me hard, but make sure not to kill me!"