After scouting the area and confirming the absence of monsters within a two-kilometer radius, LuXie wasted no time and got to work. With determination coursing through her veins, she began digging into the ground with her bare hands.
Despite her small stature and lacked her formal physical strength in her new form, LuXie persisted tirelessly. Day and night blurred together as she relentlessly dug. And she occasionally took breaks only to climb nearby trees to survey for any approaching monsters. Her plan was to periodically remove the displaced soil.
However, LuXie wasn't done yet, she dug a much underground cave inside and made sure not to increase the size of the hole so only she could fit through, that way it would be easier for her to hide the hole if she were being followed by any monster or is leaving to hunt.
Twenty days passed, yet LuXie persisted, occasionally hunting for smaller monsters and gathering fruits to eat to her fill, before heading to the river to fetch some water and drink to take back to her cave. After forty days of relentless digging, her cave stretched five meters in height and thirty meters in length, with illuminated areas created by luminous bugs nestled in leaves to serve as her main source of light in this dark cave.
"Now I need some red soil," LuXie murmured to herself as she covered the cave entrance with a bush and ventured out.
LuXie dashed through the forest sneakily making sure not to alert any of the monsters since she clearly knows she's not strong enough to beat them, LuXie finally found a small mountain of red soil, known for its waterproof properties. However, her joy was short-lived as she spotted three massive ants, each towering up to four meters tall and six meters long, emerging from a nearby nest hole.
"They're about to go hunting, huh," LuXie speculated as she observed them.
"This is a good chance for me." Unbeknownst to her, a surge of bloodlust coursed through her veins. One ant detected her presence, emitting an uncomfortable aura, so it screeched loudly alerting the others of a potential enemy.
"Crap, I forgot some ants can detect prey through ground vibrations," LuXie grunted, realizing she had no choice but to fight them for the red soil. "I hope there's not not more of them," she nervously mumbled as she stared at the ants.
LuXie revealed herself to the ants, and she reinforced her hand with dark mana which formed a handspike glove as she stood in a fighting stance.
"CREEEE!!" The ant emitted a piercing screech as it charged towards LuXie, its massive mandibles poised to snap her into two.
Reacting swiftly, LuXie leaped above the incoming ant, deftly evading its deadly jaws, and landed atop its carapace. With a glint burning in her eyes, she unleashed a barrage of powerful punches upon the ant's exoskeleton, each blow eliciting anguished screeches from the creature.
However, her attack only served to enrage the ant further, prompting its kin to join the fray, their menacing claw extensions from their back poised for attack. Sensing that she would be at a disadvantage from fighting four enemies at once, LuXie jumped off from her current prey, landing gracefully on the forest floor as she sprinted towards the red soil she came for.
Yet the ants proved to be strong, not making things easy for LuXie, and swiftly closing the distance with surprising speed. "Shit," LuXie cursed under her breath as she narrowly dodged one ant's vicious claw strike, only to be caught off guard by another, its razor-sharp claw impaling her abdomen and sending her hurtling through the air, crashing violently into a nearby tree, her spine fracturing upon impact. LuXie coughed up blood and gasped for breath through her bloodied nose and teeth as she started bleeding from her belly as well.
Despite the excruciating pain and the blood gushing from her wounds, LuXie was smiling. Clutching her injured belly, she steeled herself for another round.
"Dark slicer," she uttered through gritted teeth, channeling her mana into her right hand, which shimmered with an eerie black-green aura, morphing into a blade.
"Arghhhh!!" LuXie launched herself towards the approaching ants. She immediately slid on the ground and used her dark slicing through the abdomen of one of the creatures, felling it in a flurry, causing it to rampage with agony-filled screeches, before it fell down dead, green blood dyeing the ground.
Enraged by the loss of their kin, the remaining ants surged forward in a berserk frenzy, intent on avenging their fallen comrade.
As the ants closed in, LuXie's mind raced, desperately trying to think of a way to quickly kill the ants. But before she could think of a plan, an ant's lightning-fast movement caught her off guard, its claws sinking into the flesh of her leg and sending her spinning through the air.
LuXie managed to slash at the thick carapace encasing the ant, freeing herself, but not before her leg was left broken.
"Have they gotten faster?" LuXie pondered, shock coursing through her mind as she observed the ants' enhanced agility circling around her. "This is bad, if I don't do something I will die," she grimaced.
'I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!! But this is fun…..' Her thoughts spiraled, a manic smile creeping into her face. "This is fun, really fun..."
Following her instincts, LuXie summoned six water spikes from thin air, plunging them down onto the ants before they could react, the liquid vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
The ants screeched in agony due to the unbearable pain and were determined to kill LuXie before they were to die.
"Ahahhh!!!" LuXue screamed as her hands healed, and the dark green mana around her hand began to glow with a strange green crystal light.
She dashed towards the ants once more, landing on one of their backs and slashing at it like a maniac. Seeing more ants approaching, LuXie jumped off the now-dead ant and slid under the ground, before slashing through the belly of the second ant killing it, now only leaving one remaining.
LuXie nonchalantly stared at her twisted arms before she twisted one back into place and locked eyes with the lone ant. "Come on! Show me that fear!! All your other ant friends are dead, and you're the only one left!" she yelled with a maniacal smile.
Angry by her taunts, the ant charged at her, aiming to crush her with its massive claws, but LuXie reacted faster, stabbing the ant through its mouth before cleaving it open.
"Hah, hah, hah," LuXie gasped for breath as she slumped on the ground, clenching her broken leg. However, this didn't stop her. She crawled to the ant's body and started devouring it piece by piece in a frenzy, using her Dark Slicer to cut through the exoskeleton before continuing.
Once she had finished eating all the ants' bodies, LuXie burped in satisfaction before patting her tummy. She then looked at her leg, which was fully healed after her feast.
"So, eating monsters increases my regeneration ability, huh," LuXie thought as she got up and started to gather sand with her homemade pot, running back and forth until she had enough red soil for her cave.
With the red soil finally collected, she formed water out of thin air again and mixed it with the soil, making it soft and squishy. She then applied the mixture to every corner of her cave.
"This would make it waterproof," LuXie said in satisfaction as she continued to coat the walls with the red soil.
Finally, her underground home was complete. She had an indoor bathroom, carved out and reinforced, dried with clay to make it sturdy. Now with her water manipulation skill, she could use water for bathing and dispose of it afterward. She had also carved out her dining room and living room to feel more comfortable and even molded a stone TV, despite there being no use for it.
"Hah, all my survival lessons have paid off," LuXie chuckled as she wiped the sweat off her face, finally finishing her kitchen, equipped with a make shift sink and kitchen cabinet for storing foodstuff.
LuXie placed the seeds she had been collecting in the provided spaces so she could occasionally eat them.