"What happened?" I asked, taking in Ming Lin's appearance.
She was a lot dirtier than before, walking slowly and carefully while holding her left shoulder. There was a large gash on her right arm, but it didn't seem to be bleeding for some reason.
"The burrowing serpent corpses attracted more beasts," Ming Lin said gruffly before she tossed something toward me.
I caught it on reflex and the smell hit me. Another spirit beast core. Just one. The desire to devour it was muted this time, however. Either because of my worry or the fact that I was already processing one. I wasn't sure.
"I think," Ming Lin said, slumping against a wall. She looked far more tired than I'd ever seen her. "This should probably be the last time I go out hunting. There's even more corpses over there now, and I wasn't able to get rid of any of them. I only had enough time to harvest one before I was forced to flee. Things will only get worse from here."
"Do… we need to worry about them coming here?" I asked hesitantly. This was not something we needed right now.
"They might," Ming Lin said, nodding before her expression firmed up. "But don't worry about that. I can still fight. Just focus on cultivating and digging."
I nodded slowly at that. All I could do was hope she was right. Otherwise, we were screwed. If the spirit beasts down here were strong enough to cause so much trouble for her, I doubted there was all that much I could do to help. At least, not if they came before I was strong enough. But maybe not even then.
"Okay," I said. "Well, at least I have some good news about digging. I managed to get the ability to make better use of the Qi from the spirit stones I eat. Also, I've made some steady progress with my cultivation."
I took a second to open up my status screen to make sure that was true. And thankfully it was. She'd been gone for perhaps more than half an hour and I was already seeing growth everywhere. My Qi pool had doubled, bringing me up to 10. My Strength and Dexterity both went up by 2 bringing me up to 8 and 7 respectively. And my Vitality, with the help of Primal Vitality, was now at 11.
Considering that I was pretty sure human normal was 5, this was pretty impressive for around half an hour of change. Especially since I still had the active part of Spirit Stone Devouring to use. Which, with enough Qi, could increase everything by 3x. I still had no idea how that might compare to other people or spirit beasts, but seeing the numbers made me feel a bit better.
"I should be able to start digging now," I said, feeling more confident in my words. "And with this core, I will only get stronger faster. So we're almost done with this place."
"Good," Ming Lin said, nodding slowly. She still sounded tired but maybe the frown on her face softened just a little. "Then I'll keep watch and you get us out of this mess."
"Alright," I said before taking a moment to consider where I should start digging.
After a moment, I decided to dig diagonally into one of the walls, mainly in the opposite direction of where we'd come down from the bandit camp. The hope was for us to not pop out anywhere near the camp itself, nor go back over any tunnels where there might be bandits or slaves.
With that decided, I took a second to evaluate my body one last time. To get a feel for the heat of the Qi surging through me. It hadn't abated at all and seemed to be growing, bit by bit. Yet I didn't feel like I was at my limit, and I still felt an instinctive desire to eat the core.
There was probably still a minor risk of this going bad. But… I felt the risk would need to be taken. Given the danger of spirit beasts coming to us, getting stronger faster was a must. And then there was the other reason…
I took another look back at Shui Jianfeng. Ming Lin had pushed off the wall and gone to get him more moss for water. Yet he seemed more sluggish now and his sweating was worse. Yeah… Six hours was likely too long for him.
So, I decided to take what I hoped was a minor risk and popped the spirit beast core into my mouth. I swallowed it whole as well, and it dropped into my stomach next to the other one. Almost immediately, its energy burst forth, joining the other core in bathing my body in Qi. I felt even hotter than before and more energized. Yet there was a pressure now. Like my body was a balloon, and I just added a lot more air.
For a second, I was afraid I'd fucked up and pushed things too far. But after another moment, and the feeling not getting worse, I let out a breath. This was probably my actual limit.
I opened up my status window again to check how much time I bought with that. I was relieved to see that the 5 and a half hours was reduced to just over 2 and a half hours. It had doubled the speed. Excellent.
Part of me couldn't help but wonder if cultivation would keep being so easy in the future. But something told me that was just wishful thinking, and I decided to get to work and start digging instead of dreaming about the future. It was also time to see if my hand had really healed from my cultivation—maybe because of my large increase in vitality.
I pressed both my hands to the tunnel wall and activated Rock Claws. To my relief, I felt no pain and both my hands were soon covered in the tools I'd need to get us out of here. I grinned at that and finally started to dig.
In barely any time at all, I'd dug out a person-sized hole an arm's length into the wall. The only issue I'd noticed so far was that I'd need to manage where all the excess stone and earth was going. But thankfully, the areas of the tunnel near the caverns already started to widen up. So, hopefully, there would be enough room to store all the excess here without having to get too close to the mossy caverns and all the dangers there.
As for actually moving the excess earth I was digging out, I figured out how to deal with that rather easily. With my increased Qi Pool and the extra reserve from Spirit Stone Devouring, I could easily cover the cost of reshaping my Rock Claws. Using that, I could fuse them together, then shape them like a bulldozer blade and push the rocks around with ease.
Once I figured that out, I got to work for real. I quickly got into a rhythm of tearing the rock apart into chunks of stone as I dug with a slight upward trajectory. When the rubble behind me got too backed up, I reshaped my claws and bulldozed them out back into the main tunnel.
With all the heat and power coursing through my body, the whole thing was a lot easier than it sounded. And it only got easier as more time went on and the two cores' amount of energy continued to empower me.
A couple of things broke up this routine, however. One was that every ten yards or so I would have to use Burrow Reinforcement once all the excess earth was out of the way. I had no idea if I needed to or not, but I wasn't going to chance a cave-in. The other thing that broke up my routine was when I sensed Spirit Stones close by with my earth sense. I would divert a bit to get those to make sure I had an ample supply to eat, and also eat one or two to top up my reserves if needed.
But aside from those instances, I just continued to dig and dig for a good long while.
Then something interrupted all this in a much more obstructive way. It happened around a half hour or so into my digging and it took me by surprise. I could use my Earth Sense through my Rock Claws, so I felt the signs beforehand. But my range wasn't all that large, only a single yard. So I had just a moment where I felt that there were two big-ish things nearby burrowing around.
Smaller than the serpents but bigger than the moles.
Then I felt them rushing towards me.
I had just enough time to react and backpedal a bit before two glowing forms broke into my small tunnel. Dust was kicked up, but I managed to see that it was actually more Rock Claw Moles. But the large near-rank-1 kind that Ming Lin and Shui Jianfeng killed the day before.
I panicked as the one in front squealed in anger and tried to rake me with its claws. I continued backpedaling away as it kept lashing out before I finally remembered I could empower myself with the Qi pulsing away in my chest.
But, before I could, the moles stopped their pursuit suddenly. They both rose up on their hind legs and raised their claws threateningly but didn't come any closer. Occasionally, their claws dug into the earth and flung around small chunks of rock, but that was it.
I took in this sight, confused but ready to empower myself and fight for my life. Yet as the seconds ticked by, and the two continued to posture, I realized what was happening. This was a threat display. They were trying to scare me off.
They also didn't seem that strong. The moles were only as big as that one big one that we'd killed yesterday, about the size of a large dog. So it was very likely they weren't even Rank 1 spirit beasts.
That left me a bit conflicted as to what to do. Did I just try to go around them? I wasn't sure if they were just being territorial or if there was something they wanted for themselves. But after another moment's thought, I realized what I should probably do now that I was getting stronger and stronger.
It didn't quite feel right, since I could probably get away from them. But… Well, upgrading Earth Sense would help keep me from getting surprised again. There also might still be more Skills these bigger moles could give me. And, at the end of the day, gaining power from my kills was how the System worked.
I would have to get used to it. Because clearly being weak in this world was far worse than back home.
So I resolved myself and then moved to pop another spirit stone into my mouth to sure up my reserves. I wanted to be able to boost to my maximum amount. Unfortunately, I realized that I couldn't really do that with both my hands covered by Rock Claws.
I cursed, then decided what I had would have to be enough as the moles were getting agitated by my lack of retreat. So instead, I started to reshape my claws for battle. I changed their shovel-like shape to something more compact and increased the length of the claws. Then, when the moles started tensing up, I activated Spirit Stone Devouring's boost.
The power that had been in my chest and used to supplement my Skills exploded out and rushed through my System. I had a second to wonder if that might cause any issues with my Spirit Beast Cultivation still running before I felt all my muscles tense and bulk up. I also glowed blue. The pressure I'd been feeling increased again, but not enough to hurt, though I could tell I was pushing things.
I made a quick mental note to test something like this in the future outside of combat.
Then the moles had enough and attacked.
Thankfully, with how cramped the tunnel was, they couldn't' both come at me at once. Instead, the lead mole charged me while its partner stayed close to its rear.
So, I only really had to deal with one set of rock claws as they tried to rip into me. I backpedal a bit then decided to see how well my claws stood up to theirs. There was the sound of stone scraping on stone as I intercepted its wild swings.
I grinned when my blade held and the lead mole squealed out in alarm. I was able to stop its advance and swat aside its claws with mine. Our strength was about matched, but I had a greater reach.
Seeing my chance, I used one hand to keep the thing at bay, swinging wildly. With my other hand, I lashed out with a stab, aiming for its head.
The other mole behind it reacted a lot faster than I thought it would and leaped upon its companion. It lashed out trying to stop me but I was faster. My stone claws pierced into the head of the bottom mole, and it let out a horrifying squeal of pain.
I ripped my claws out and backed away as the other mole leaped at me in rage. But I met its outstretched claws with my own, and I slashed and clawed wildly to keep it away. With my newfound strength, I managed to halt its momentum and shove it to the ground. But not before I felt its claws nip and dig into the flesh of my arms.
It didn't hurt that much, but I still felt it.
Before the thing could recover, I stabbed at its head again, all the claws on one hand straightened to pierce. My claws met flesh, then bone, then brain.
There was one last squeal of pain before things came to an end.
I stood there over the two corpses for a long moment, my chest heaving as I calmed myself down. In retrospect, the fight hadn't been that hard. I was able to match the strength of the boosted large moles with my own boosted strength. And I had a reach advantage. It was mainly my adrenaline high leaving me that left me feeling tired, and that was soon washed away by the continual energy running through me.
Heck, as my breathing slowed, and I took the time to examine my arms, I realized I wasn't even injured that bad. There were some nicks in my skin, but not what I expected from the claws digging into my flesh. Probably due to my cultivation and Primal Vitality.
At that realization, I couldn't help but grin just a bit. I was still pretty weak… But, for that moment, I felt just a bit stronger.
I didn't let myself dwell too long on this, as I needed to get Shui Jianfeng help. So after that, I quickly harvested the bodies to dispose of them. It only managed to bring my Earth Sense to 80%, but something else caught my attention from the presented Skills.
There was another Skill that I could still add progress to besides Earth Sense. It was Primal Vitality, which I found far more interesting than before. A 50% increase was a lot more valuable now that my stats were higher. And if ranking it up increased that even more, then I would be able to shrug off damage even easier and worry less about taking hits.
At the very least, it would make it a lot more likely I'll survive any future troubles.
Which actually made me eager for another chance to run into these moles. Not that I would actively seek them out, but I now knew what I would do, even if I managed to upgrade Earth Sense to the point I could avoid them.
With that decision made, I turned to start removing the excess rubble that had built up from my digging. Only to come to a halt and nearly jump when I caught sight of Ming Lin. Apparently, she'd come running when she heard the sounds of squeals and fighting echo through the tunnel. But she decided to sit back and watch when it seemed like I had it under control.
When my heart stopped beating so hard, I thanked her for checking on me despite nearly scaring me to death. After that, we decided that I would call out for help if I ran into anything I couldn't handle, to keep her from having to rush to me if I just encountered more moles. This wouldn't work once I got too far away. But the hope was that if I got that far, there wouldn't be any great dangers for me to run into.
Once she left, I got back to work and not long after that, I ran into more moles. They weren't that close to the previous pair, I was just digging a lot faster now with my strength. Having had more time to think about what I could do better, and making sure to keep the Qi in my chest topped off, I had a much easier time with this second pair.
I shaped my left claw into a shield of sorts to keep the moles' claws at bay. It was far from perfect and irregularly shaped, but it was enough. As for my right claw, I fused them all together into a single sharp blade. Not a very long one, like a long dagger attached to my hand, as anything else would be too much to maintain. But it was long enough to let me easily pierce the skulls of the moles and take them out.
Once they were dealt with, I harvested them and got Earth Sense to D-Rank, and added more progress to Primal Vitality.
Earth Sense(Passive) (Rank D): Gain a sixth sense that allows you to detect vibrations and Qi through any earth.
Range: 5 yards.D-Rank Feature: You are now able to sense Qi more clearly through the earth, and able to detect emissions of Qi that come in contact with it.Ranking up Earth Sense was quite the experience, as I felt the increase in range immediately. It was also strong enough now that my shoes didn't mute it much anymore, leaving me a potent awareness of my surroundings underground. Something I was grateful for, in case I encountered something worse than the moles.
The extra feature was also nice. After I continued digging and ran into more large moles, I realized that it not only made it easier to notice living things, but it might be able to let me discern something's cultivation to a degree if they were in my range. I'd have to do more testing to be certain how accurate it was, but it was useful nonetheless.
Soon after that revelation, and after taking out even more moles, I harvested enough of them to Reach D-Rank in Primal Vitality as well.
Primal Vitality (Passive) (Rank D): Increase your Vitality by 100%
Ranking up Primal Vitality wasn't as exciting as my other Skills. There were no extra features, just a doubling of its effect. But the rush of energy I felt when it ranked up was invigorating. And the knowledge that I should be harder to kill now was comforting as well.
After that upgrade, though, I no longer got offered anything from the moles I killed. Rather disappointing, as I was getting good at dealing with them. I got stronger and stronger the more time passed, and each battle let me get better and better at leveraging that.
So much so, that for the first time since coming to this world, I felt at ease to an extent. We weren't safe yet, and I wanted to get Shui Jianfeng to a doctor as quickly as possible. But at the very least, I finally felt like I could protect myself. Maybe even take on a Rank-1 Spirit Beast once my cultivation finished.
And in that feeling of confidence, I couldn't help but imagine going back and making the bandits pay. It was just an idle fantasy of course. I wasn't that strong yet. But it felt like more of a real possibility now.
Sometime after I stopped getting Skill rewards, I also stopped running into any more of the moles. It seemed I'd finally reached high enough underground that I left the habitat of the big ones. And the smaller ones fled when I got to close so they weren't a bother either.
I was fine with this, as without the ability to harvest them, it became rather annoying to deal with their bodies. I ended up having to dig up holes to bury them in my tunnel before sealing it up with Burrow Reinforcement.
So I was glad that I didn't need to do that anymore and instead got to dig uninterrupted. All the while, I kept getting stronger which let me dig faster and faster, even with the longer trips back I had to take to get rid of rubble.
This continued on until one of the times I bulldozed the rubble back down the incredibly long tunnel. The sound of something echoing in the distance made me pause as I tried to make out what it was. After a moment, I realized I was hearing shouting and maybe… crashing in the distance.
I cursed at the interruption and leaped onto the large pile of rubble I was pushing. I crawled over it hurriedly before I finally got past it. Then I popped two small spirit stones into my mouth and rushed back down the tunnel as fast as I could, activating my boost as I went. All the while hoping that it wasn't anything too bad.