Lane's excitement… didn't last long. While initially he was in a good mood, as he was happy to finally be able to satisfy his curiosity about the Restricted Zone, it all vanished after only an hour spent in the parking garage.
Mining Mana stones turned out to be hard work. Extremely hard, in fact, and very physically taxing.
"Huff!" Lane exhaled out loud, dropping his pickaxe to the ground to massage his arms. He barely mined anything, and he was already tired, his whole arms and back in pain… He didn't even want to think about how sore he was going to be the next day.
Noah Murray's body was simply too frail. The young man clearly led a sedentary life, and didn't have much exercise… It was even worse than Evan Greene's! While Evan also was not really a sporty type, he at least went jogging three or four times a week, so when Lane took over, it was much easier for him to adapt.
Of course, Lane should have expected it - after all, he had seen Noah's life with his Memory Scan - but he never paid enough attention to that sort of thing. He was just careless like that.
'Tsk, how useless,' he complained inwardly, scooping out a Recovery Pill from his pocket. Truly, how could a grown-up man be so weak? Even as a young teen, before his awakening, Lane was stronger than that!
As he waited for the medicine to take effect, Lane took a look around. All of his teammates were still hard at work. It was no surprise - they were all Espers, after all. Although they had no skill and experience when it came to mining, which was reflected in their mediocre results, at least they had enough strength and stamina to easily handle the task.
Lane's eyes wandered around without much interest, looking at the small piles of mined Mana stones on the ground… Until they fell on Damien.
Damien had removed his jacket and rolled up the sleeves, exposing his muscular arms. He was working so hard that he started to sweat, which resulted in his shirt sticking to his damp skin, beautifully showcasing his perfectly sculpted back. A few strands of his hair fell out of place, and they swayed a bit as Damien moved, rhythmically striking the crystallized Mana on the wall with his pickaxe.
Lane involuntarily licked his lips at the sight. He just couldn't help but stare.
Why was his uptight Team Leader so hot?
His attention, however, was eventually diverted, as Damien tossed a big chunk of crystallized Mana he had just mined to the side. Only then did Lane notice the pile that was next to him, and his eyes instantly widened.
The pile of Mana stones Damien had mined was at least four, no, maybe five or six, times larger than what the rest of them had gathered combined! Perhaps even more, it was hard to tell at a glance.
Damien might have been an S-ranker, so his strength surpassed the others, but even then, such discrepancy was simply unbelievable. It was as if he had a lot of experience, knowing exactly how and where to strike.
Before he knew what he was doing, Lane had already drifted to Damien's side.
"Team Leader, you're really quite awesome," he remarked with a note of genuine praise in his voice. "How do you do it so well? It's as if you have learned it before!"
Damien paused for a moment, throwing Lane a glance, before resuming his work. "Well, I have. I have worked mining Mana stones in dungeons in the past," he said in between strikes.
Lane's eyes widened once again in surprise. "You did? An S-ranker mining Mana stones?"
"Well, that was before my awakening."
"What?" Now Lane was completely flabbergasted. "Team Leader… worked in dungeons before having an awakening?"
A non-Awakened person working in a dungeon wasn't exactly something unheard of. Lane was well aware that such things happened. Employing a few civilians to use as porters or miners when gathering materials in dungeons after they were cleared came at a low risk, and helped lower the costs, which was important for some of the smaller Guilds that were struggling financially.
The problem was that hiring civilians to work in dungeons was very much against the law.
Knowing what Lane was thinking, Damien paused again for a moment, giving him a serious look. "Yes, it was an illegal job," he admitted reluctantly.
Lane gasped, theatrically covering his mouth. "Wow, Team Leader! I would have never expected that of you! Breaking the law like that…"
Damien didn't react to Lane's clear provocation. He just continued to mine Mana stones in silence.
But would Lane give up so easily? Of course not!
"Why did you choose to do that sort of job, Team Leader? Did you want to enter a dungeon in hopes of awakening?" he continued to pester the man.
Damien paused again to get a good look at Lane. If the man was just messing around, he intended to just ignore the question and tell him to get back to work, but… Lane appeared to be simply asking out of genuine curiosity.
So, Damien let out a heavy sigh, and put down his pickaxe for a moment. "No, that's not it. I… needed the money. Although non-Awakened don't get paid nearly as well as Espers, I could still earn more in dungeons than with any other job I could get. I know it doesn't excuse me breaking the law, but… I didn't have any better alternative."
"Hmm." Lane hummed lightly, as he leaned back, his hands folded behind his head, observing Damien. Now that he thought about it, he… really knew next to nothing about the man.
Of course, it was by choice. He spent a lot of time with Damien back when he was 'Evan Greene', but he always avoided any personal topics, keeping their conversations rather superficial. It was as to not form any attachments, both on his side as well as Damien's. Things could get messy if there were any emotions involved…
However, now that he wasn't trying to seduce Damien, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to learn a thing or two about the man? Not that it was in any way important, but… Lane had to admit that he was a bit curious. Especially now that he found out that his pedantic Team Leader was perhaps not as obsessed with following the rules as he thought. The belief he previously held, that he at least had a good grasp on Damien's character, had been turned upside down.
"Well, personally, I think there's nothing wrong with that," he started, casually remarking. "If people want to work in dungeons, they should be allowed to do so, even if they haven't had their awakening."
"It is banned for their own safety. Non-Awakened cannot even use Mana tools. They have no way to defend themselves in case monsters appear."
"Are they really safe outside dungeons, though?" Lane raised his brows. Considering the place where they currently were, there was no need for him to even elaborate on what he meant. "If they choose such work, even if it puts them in danger, they at least know what they are signing up for."
Damien's expression turned darker, his brows deeply furrowed. For a long while, he stood in silence, staring somewhere into the distance.
"Regardless, it is currently illegal. Whether it is reasonable or not, the law should be abided by," he eventually said, ending the discussion, as he picked up his pickaxe. "Although it might be hypocritical of me to say it, considering that I also broke the law… But I still believe it is wrong, and people should suffer consequences for doing so."
Tsk.
Lane clicked his tongue inwardly, and rolled his eyes. It seems that even when he himself experienced how unreasonable the law could be, Damien still wanted to stick to it. Judging by his attitude, he probably even asked the Association to punish him for his past actions somehow…
'Well, we could never see eye-to-eye.'
Lane shrugged his shoulders, and returned to his spot. Although his curiosity wasn't fully satiated, there was no point trying to pester Damien anymore, at least for now. He may have wanted some conflict within the team, but he didn't want to be a part of any of it himself.