Anandriel groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. His body ached as if he'd been crushed by a boulder, and his head throbbed with a dull, persistent pain. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the cold, rocky ground of a tunnel. The air was dry and dusty.
"Grrrrrr dabubgrrrrr" a voice hissed in words that sounded like grinded stones.
Anandriel blinked, disoriented, and turned toward the voice. A boy, no older than twelve, was crouched beside him, shaking his shoulder. No, this wasn't a boy, it was safer to say that it looks like a boy. The thing before him looked completely human, just the skin was totally grey and its eyes were grey too. If he didn't think of the skin color then he would say that what was standing before him was a handsome young boy of around 13 years old.
"What is this thing?" Anandriel muttered. The grey boy looked at him in confusion and then pity while also shaking his head.
"Thing? How xenophobic!" the voice of the system suddenly sounded in his head. "I almost forgot. I'll give you a tier 3 language skill implant. Normally, tier 3 implant can only be gotten on the fourth floor of the Bazaar, but just take this as a shop keeper's benefit."
"What…"
"No questions pardner, we will talk once you have accomplished the mission"
Anandriel suddenly felt a sharp in his head.
"Poor thing. Your family must have sold you to the mine because of your mental issues. I wonder how long you can survive here" Anandriel heard the grey boy mutter to himself.
"Mental issues your head!!! Brat! Who are you insulting?" Anandriel said in outrage as he looked at the grey boy. He pushed himself up, wincing as the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through his body.
The grey boy stumbled backward, eyes wide with fear. Anandriel was amazed at the power of the system. It suddenly gave him the ability to understand and speak a language. He searched his mind and knew that if he saw this people alphabet he would be able to identify and read it.
How powerful this system must be! Still, he needed to discover if he really was in a different world; the strange language of this place and the inhabitants who seemed to share similarities with humans, except for their grey skin and stone gray iris. At least the people here didn't seem to look like any of the terrible and murderous creatures that he usually saw in his dream.
"Where... where am I?" Anandriel muttered, looking around. The last thing the system had told him before it went silent: You're gonna grab the Manual of Forging Karma from the Torrhen Archive, the manual was created by the Forgers themselves. But what library? Who are the forgers? Where is this place?
"You seriously don't know?" the boy asked, eyeing him with confusion, the fear already fading away. "We're in the mines. You're one of the miners, right?"
Anandriel's head was spinning. The system had told him the name of this world-Vel'kora-but nothing else. He looked around only to notice that there were other people around. The place was a mine and there were other grey men who seemed to be digging with pickaxes into the walls of the mine searching for something. They were dirty and hunched most of them barely glancing at him as they continued their work, their eyes were lifeless. The only emotion in their eyes and movements was fear.
The boy gave him a strange look, it was as if he was examining a new animal "You're an outcast, aren't you? They don't usually let your kind in the mines"
Anandriel frowned. Outcast? What did that even mean? Is it because of his normal skin color? He had noticed that he hadn't even gotten any big reactions for bring different. The system hadn't explained anything. He tried to reach out, mentally calling for the system, but there was no response. Just silence.
Suddenly, the boy hissed, "Get back to work! The guards are coming"
The boy picked his axe and started digging into the wall of a part of the mine. Anandriel also picked a nearby axe as he frantically started to dig into the wall while looking sideways at the group of people that came to their side of the mine.
A plump and short grey man with a sharp eye and neatly trimmed beard wearing colorful yellow robe with tiny bells hanging on it's edges came around the bend, following him were four muscled Velkorans in leather armor and coiled whips hanging by their waists. Three of the guards trailed behind the man while the fourth one walked beside the plump man in a servile manner and an ingratiating smile.
"What is a supervisor doing here?" the boy whispered in confusion mixed with the dread.
As the group of five entered, all the miners shivered in fear. The guards three guards at a nod from their leaders started to go around whipping miners or collecting some shiny stones that seemed to have been mined from a miners.
The supervisor walked around the mine while ignoring the chief of the mine guard who was following him. The man seemed to have interest in just the shiny stones. Anandriel wondered how he never even thought of what was lighting the mine; the shining stone seemed to emit a pale pure light that filled the whole cave. When he focused fully on the stone he felt a faint warmth, as he tried to explore the feeling, he suddenly felt a searing pain across his back. He screamed and fell to the ground in pain.
"Get to work, outcast!" a scar faced guard with a whip dangling from his hand spat at him in disdain. Anandriel felt anger rise within him, he didn't think he had felt this type of anger since he woke up beside Windrest.
He clamped his teeth and swallowed his anger as he picked his axe and began to carefully dig at the wall, imitating the other miners. Every movement was painful, he could feel the pain in his back as his clothe brushed across the wound from the whip.
"We haven't been able to accumulate much godstone recently. but if my lord wants to take a godstone to personally examine it there is no problem of course" the chief guard said while wiggling his brow.
The supervisor nodded in satisfaction and smiled for the first time as two shiny stones slipped into his clothe. He then looked around the mine. "I'll tell the upper ones of the good work that you are doing here. Within six fullstones you might even find yourself out of this mine and in the barracks"
Hearing this, the chief guard started thanking the supervisor in excitement while the other guards watched jealously. The supervisor looked towards the boy who was picking at the wall with his axe while trying to stay unnoticed and his face suddenly turned thoughtful.
The chief guard noticing his look, gestured for the guards to bring the boy over. As the boy was brought to the supervisor, he trembled under the scrutiny. The supervisor used his hand to raise the boy's chin as he examined his delicate feature while nodding thoughtfully.
"Is he a political prisoner?" he asked the chief guard who shook his head negatively.
"No, we've not had those kinds for a while now. Everyone here would not be missed" at the word of the chief guard Anandriel who had been watching tensed and hoped that the boy would be alright. He seems like a good lad.
"He has fine features; he would sell much to the caravans from the east"
"Of course, you are right my lord. You don't need to worry, we will take care of this for you"
The supervisor nodded in satisfaction as he stroked his protruding stomach whiloe thinking of the gold that could be exchanged for a young slave that can be trained and who also looks pleasing. The chief guard nodded towards his minions to take the boy away.
Anandriel nodded thoughtfully as he listened to the ongoing conversation while working with his axe. Maybe if the supervisor could take him also, he would find a way to get out of this mine. He just had to find a way to convince them that he would be useful. Suddenly, the fearful boy who was about to be dragged ran to Anandriel to protect him.
"What…"
"Please help me, please..." the trembling boy cried as he hid behind Anandriel.
The same scarface guard who had whipped Anandriel advanced angrily towards the duo, this time with a short sword in his hands.
Anandriel moved on reflex, grabbing his pickaxe from the floor and swinging it wildly. The sharp edge connected with the man's arm, and he let out a howl of pain, stumbling back. Blood splattered onto the ground, and Anandriel stared at his hands, his heart racing. He hadn't meant to do that, but the moment had passed, and there was no time to think.
The other miners in the cave stared aghast; an outcast had hurt a guard. The supervisor and other guards were shocked.
"Run!" Anandriel shouted, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him forward.
The chief guard looked at the supervisor in fear, only to be surprised by the his lack of fury that his prize was being taken away. The confused chief guard shouted at the remaining two guards to chase after them while casting a look of disdain at the injured scar face.
The supervisor was in fact rejoicing on the inside. An outcast slave that dare to injure someone from a caste higher than him; he must be part of the rebels. If this was true it would be a great opportunity to curry favor with warrior the captain of the warrior caste stationed here. Even if it wasn't true, the warrior caste always needed scapegoats to make example of to show their dominance while simultaneously suppressing other caste.
"Bring those two to me; I want them alive" the grinning supervisor said to the chief guard, his grey face beaming with excitement.
The escaping duo were running through the dark, narrow tunnels of the mine. The walls were damp, slick with moisture, and the air was thick with dust. Every step felt heavier, the weight of the world pressing down on Anandriel. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to make sense of what was happening. The grey boy seemed to be able to see perfectly in the darkness, he was surefooted and seemed to know his way around. On the other hand, Anandriel was just stumbling along.
"How do we get out of here?" Anandriel asked his voice low.
"There's an opening further down this tunnel," the boy explained, his voice shaky. "there are nbo guards because it's a full stone night, all the guards must be supervising deeper in the mines were the godstone is concentrated"
Anandriel just nodded, though he could barely understand anything that the boy was saying. Once again he cursed the system inh is heart for not giving him any information.
As they moved higher from the tunnel, the faint sound of voices grew louder. The guards seemed to catching up with them. Anandriel's mind raced. He had no idea how to get back to wherever he had come from, and now he was being dragged through some dark mine with no idea how things worked here. The system was silent, he felt completely lost.
They sprinted upward the tunnel, their footsteps echoing through the cave. The ground shook slightly beneath them as the voices of the other miners grew more distant. Anandriel's lungs burned from the effort, but he couldn't stop. Not now.
After what felt like hours-though it was just minutes, they finally burst out into the open air, gasping for breath. Anandriel had expected to find a barren wasteland beyond the mine, a desolate landscape reflecting the grim conditions below. But what he saw took his breath away.
They had emerged from a cave, part of a small outcropping that stood in the midst of a big city. The little mountain from which they come out of was surrounded by a wall spanning hundreds of meter and it was right in the middle of a big city! What kind of backward mentality is this? Isn't a mine supposed to be in a neglected place? Who would fence a mine round about and build a city around it? Isn't a mine supposed to become useless once it is mined out? Anandriel wondered.
It was night here, and was dark. The moon seemed to be temporarily hidden behind dark clouds, the world was bathed in dim light, casting long shadows across the ground.
"What is this place?" Anandriel asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"It's the city," the boy replied, still catching his breath. "We're surrounded by walls. The guards... they'll be after us soon."
Anandriel's eyes swept over the landscape. The outcropping on which they were standing was surrounded by towering stone walls, and beyond them, he could see a city buildings packed tightly together, their roofs sloping downward in the same gray, muted tones as the sky above. But there didn't seem to anyone in sight.
"We have to keep moving," the boy urged, tugging at his sleeve. "There's another tunnel hidden near the wall, one that leads out of the city. We can take it, but we have to go now!"
Anandriel nodded, still trying to process everything. As they hurried towards the tunnel, his thoughts drifted back to what the system had told him Torrhen Archive, the seventh floor. He needed to find it. He didn't know what the manual would bring, but it would hopefully bring an end to this powerlessness and hopelessness he had always felt since he woke up two years ago. He was always powerless in his dream, in Windrest and here again; he wanted a change.
The boy led him to a well at the foot of the little mountain near the wall that enclosed the mine from the city.. Anandriel approached it, leaning over to draw some water. His face was covered in dust and grime from the mine, and the cold water felt refreshing against his skin.
"I need to find the Torrhen Archive" Anandriel said, his voice quiet as he washed his face. "Do you know where it is?"
There was no response.
Anandriel frowned, turning toward the boy. "Torrhen Archive?" he repeated.
But the boy wasn't looking at him. Instead, his eyes were wide with fear, fixed on Anandriel's face. His mouth moved slightly, but no sound came out.
"What's wrong?" Anandriel asked, feeling a knot form in his stomach.
The boy took a step back, shaking his head. "You... Stoneless"
"What do you mean?" Anandriel asked his voice low. "I'm just..."
He stopped as he noticed that the boy was staring at his face. He must have finally seen his skin color.
The boy backed away, his eyes filled with terror. "You are Stoneless."