Sleep was important, that was an undeniable fact. Not even higher Stage existences could escape from the need to sleep. The higher the Stage one was, the longer than can go without sleep. They would have to sleep eventually, but needed to do so less frequently.
Andrew and Cage however, were only Stage One and Two respectively so they still needed to sleep every night. As such, they needed a place to sleep. They could just sleep on the ground, but that could cause them to have stiff muscles or get taken advantage of while they were asleep. After all, there was only a few rules in place.
After thinking for a moment, Andrew had an idea. "Let's just dig out a hole in the wall like the others."
Cage nodded in realization, "True, we should just do that. We don't need to be earth attributed to cause destruction."
Cage and Andrew both approached a rock face that didn't have any openings. Normally, the other slaves would dig into the dirt either because of it being easier to manipulate or because it was easier to dig through. Cage and Andrew chose to dig into the rock face for two reasons. Reason one was because it was closer to the main camp. Reason two was because it would be sturdier and more stable when they were digging it out.
They didn't have anything for fine control. They could only brute force it as opposed to slowly digging it out over time or simply parting the earth using mana. Naturally, doing so would cause a flimsy thing made of dirt to collapse. Rock was much sturdier.
Cage and Andrew glanced at each other before starting their onslaught of attacks.
[Burst!]
[Wind Blade!]
As if there was an earthquake, the area in the vicinity began to shake. Some of the people nearby were initially scared of a cave in, but realized it wasn't strong enough to. Growing curious, some tried to investigate the source.
There, they found two beast-men, one young and one old, attacking a rock face. The older one would launch invisible slashes in a grid like pattern. The younger one would reduce the stone inside the grid pattern to shrapnel and dust with an explosion of some sort.
The onlookers couldn't help but be in a bit of awe, their teamwork was as natural as flowing water. Under the combined assault, the rock face was steadily dug into deeper and deeper.
Before long, a room big enough to accommodate three people comfortably was dug out. Cage and Andrew wanted to dig it out to be bigger, but they were both either out of or running low on mana.
"Pretty good if I do say so myself" said Andrew.
The new room was surprisingly smooth without any rocks protruding or any uneven parts. This was due to Andrew using [Wind Blade] to make everything neat and tidy.
Cage nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we did a good job. Tomorrow we should make it bigger so there is more room to stretch out."
Andrew stepped into the room and wiped his finger along the floor. His finger was coated in a layer of fine dust. "Kiddo, step out for a second and get along the wall."
Seeing the layer of dust on Andrew's finger, Cage could already guess what Andrew was going to do. Stepping out of the room, he got along the wall as Andrew said to do.
[Zephyr's Breath!]
A plume of dust came barreling out of the small entryway, It was like someone set off several smoke bombs all at once.
'I see why he wanted me to get along the wall now...'
Almost the entire cavern leading to the camp was filled with dust. It had spread out in a cone shape with only the area next to the wall being safe from it.
Eventually, all the dust was cleared out. Andrew stepped out waving his hand in front of him while coughing. "Cough! cough!... I'm officially out of mana now, but we are all set to enter."
They were both quite tired. They didn't have anything soft to sleep on, so they just sat down and leaned against the wall. Cage was tired, but not enough to fall asleep yet so he made himself busy with making his new skill.
'Hmm, no wonder they say you need to be Stage One to make a skill. After advancing a Stage, I'm able to write the rune formation almost five times faster!'
Cage had realized that upon advancing, his brain's performance had taken a monumental leap forward. His bodily strength had also gotten better, but he had already known that.
After about an hour, Cage had gotten his new skill to an incomplete form. He decided to work on it tomorrow in his free time.
Cage walked over to where Andrew was and sat next to him. Before he knew it, his eyes had closed and he had fallen asleep on Andrew's shoulder.
Seeing this, Andrew smiled softly before he too fell asleep.
...
Cage woke up groggily and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around for a little to get a bearing on his surroundings. His eyes fell on Andrew who was still asleep, and who's shoulder he was using a pillow.
Cage decided to be a decent person and let Andrew sleep, at least for a little. Cage just spent the little bit of time cultivating. He still needed to reach mid-level so he could sense the different elements.
'On the topic of elements, I wonder what that skill I got back then is. I haven't been able use it because I can't use attributed mana.'
Shortly after, he felt an announcement in his head. It was surprising at first, who would expect to hear a voice in their head. That would mean they were going crazy, but this case was an exception.
'...- All members of group four are to report to the Eastern Gate in thirty minutes -...'
Seeing as it was time to go and Andrew was still sleeping, Cage poked Andrew a couple times until he got up.
Due to their hole in the wall of a house being close to the camp, they only took around five minutes to get to the main camp.They passed by a few others who were making their way down as well. After showing their number and registering, Cage and Andrew went to the meal area which still had the big pot filled with soup.
'Now that I think about it, does the soup ever stop being made? I suppose not, everyone works at different times...'
After getting their meal, they sat down with a few people who were apparently familiar with Andrew. They talked about the state of things in the mine for a little.
"Did you hear? Apparently, Group One had a conflict with the people from the camp on the other side of the mine! Moreover, the team leader of Group One was injured! It feels like they have been getting more aggressive lately..."
Andrew had an exclamation of shock on his face, but it was soon replaced with worry. "If what you say is true, I have a bad feeling that something is brewing and this is just the calm before the storm. There shouldn't have been any conflict unless they were stepping into our side of the mine..."
Cage, upon hearing there was another camp, was immediately intrigued. His knowledge of world affairs, let alone of the affairs of the nearby area, were sorely lacking. Cage asked, "Wait, there's another camp on the other side of the mine?"
Another person who was also listening in answered and said, "Because this is a mine on the border, we share it with the Agrius Kingdom. The other mine is the mine of the Agrius Kingdom. The conflict probably came because our side and theirs have never really gotten along that well..."
Cage didn't ask anymore questions and turned back to Andrew and the other man.
Soon, it was time for them to leave for the Eastern Gate.
Lining up at the Eastern Gate with the others, Cage and Andrew waited for the group leader. Soon, Zaria arrived and instructed them to get their tools. This time, Cage actually could. Thankfully, Zaria didn't carry Cage this time.
Unbeknownst to Cage, Zaria was secretly pouting.
'I can't believe Axel chewed me out for carrying him! It's not like he resisted... that much...'
Once everyone had their tools and dagger, they set out for Quadrant Seven again.
Things progressed as normal, the quota was, like last time, 30 soul-stones. Cage quickly gathered the 30 soul-stones with vigor and once he was done, moved on to help Andrew's quota be completed. Cage noticed that he had finished earlier this time; That is, if he excluded the failed attempts from yesterday.
Cage figured that he was growing more proficient in mining and shaving away the stone. He had only gotten a little bit faster, but Cage guessed he would be able to be done in as little is five hours if he grew fast enough.
Once he was done, things progressed as normal. Andrew worked on who knows what, while Cage, with his goal of making the vibration skill, worked on his own personal project. Soon after, the second day of work was done. Making their way back after getting some food, Cage and Andrew expanded the room a little bit.
Once again exhausted after all he had done today, Cage sat down and worked on his skill for about an hour. Once he was too tired to go on, he rested his head on Andrew's shoulder and drifted off to sleep.