About a month passed, and counting towards three whole months—I was summoned to this wretched place.
In the last month, I have grown more robust than I had ever assumed, with heavy muscles in the right places. I didn't have mirrors, and nothing except the shiny gems to see my hazy reflection, but I was sure that I looked more than a couple of years older since I was summoned into this world.
Barely three months passed, and my life on earth seemed like a distant dream. I missed everyone, my mother, my sister, and my step-siblings, although most of them were silly and grown to the teaching my father implemented. I wish I was there with them and impacted them somehow.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't thinking all this in misery. Although my misery hadn't passed, I was a lot better. A lot better since my guardian angel came into my life.
She taught me spirit arts, the most sacred and mysterious stuff of this land. And I absorbed all her teaching like a freaking sponge. Of course, I wasn't nearly that talented, nor I had access to the resources she talked about. However, I was better than how I arrived in this world.
Anyway, Spirit arts aren't easy at all, almost as tiring as mining in the hot temperature. Saarya said it was because of the contrasting environment and natural disorder in energy flow, whatever she meant. She left me stranded on many explanations and always seemed to be in haste to complete her teaching most nights.
Well, she had nobody else to talk to, as far as I was aware. I feared she was worried about someone else finding out about our secret practice. I didn't know why she really feared to show herself, but I chose to respect her stand on this and never tell a soul about her presence in my life.
Even when the quota of mining those fire crystals rose every fortnight, I didn't always complete the quota even though I could with my rising strength. I hadn't got to the Qi part of it. It made mining so much easier, although it exhausted me quicker.
So with that, my lashing count had reached two hundred sixties. Well, I wasn't alone. Cameron's number reached a hundred as well. I felt bad for not telling him about my cultivation, but I promised Saarya to keep her secret.
I guess I'm not so different. I chose hoes before bros. Well, Saarya wasn't a hoe, and even if she were, I would always put someone like her before everyone else.
Anyway, back to the trouble of cycling. Apparently, the contracting environment and something else made cycling really difficult. I didn't know if I understood all that well, as Saarya didn't give a straightforward answer.
Moreover, the important thing was that even those who had a good base of cultivation felt this discomfort and their strength dwindled slowly. That's why most of the guards and other people emitted such furious vibes. They were constantly weakening. I wondered if anybody was aware of it other than us.
This really wasn't a place for blossoming kindness.
Only Saarya wasn't like that. Of course, when I told her that, she became emotional and left without saying a word.
The next night, Saarya appeared in my room, somehow mysteriously opening the door on her own without breaking or disabling anything.
"Tonight, you'll attempt to break into Copper," she announced as anticipation rose in my heart.
"Hmm, are you sure about that?" I couldn't calm my excitement from running wild, even though the first thing I asked for was assurance from her.
"No," Saarya said easily as my lips twitched. "You should get into your head that spirit arts are unpredictable. You can prepare for thousands of probabilities, and still fail if heaven is against you."
"I mean, are you sure I'm ready?"
Saarya contemplated an extended movement to answer. "You're as ready as you can ever be in this environment."
I guess that was enough to make me confident, though, in the back of my mind, I was frightened as fuck. I feared losing everything I managed to cultivate painstakingly so far. Fear of losing my life, as I'm not on an orthodox path of spirit arts.
"Don't think too much. It will only make you nervous. And as you're now delaying, it will only dwindle your chances of advancing successfully."
I nodded, calming myself with the breathing exercise she taught me.
"So, how are we going to do about this?" I asked. "You never told me what is after this."
"You can probably guess that already," Saarya said. Her tone was ever serious tonight. "You have to open yourself to a lot of energy and work through them fast."
"Fast?"
"Yes fast," Saarya said, as if it was a rule of thumb. "A sound advancement is a short advancement. So you have to make it as quick as possible. Of course, I'll help you as much as I could, but most of it depends on you."
I nodded heavily, drawing in a deep breath. "Should we start now?"
"We will, but not here," Saarya said. "You need to get out there deeper into the mine in case someone detects the change in the air that your advancement causes."
"That can happen?"
"It is a common occurrence during advancements. Although the shift was little in low ranks, it is better to be safe than sorry."
So Saarya led him out of the quarter in the cover of darkness, also providing some camouflage with her diminished illusion abilities.
____________
This flashback will be a short sequence. I'll end it by tomorrow and move to the end of volume one, which should be somewhere in the third week of next month.
So only about 50k words remaining. You will get to experience what I've been scheming for so many chapters.
And please, if you have figured it out in a few more chapters, refrain from spoiling it for the others.
I hate it when people ruin the ending. And if you can't really stop yourself from talking when you reach the point, join my discord server and discuss it with directly me.
Also, I might have good news, but need some clarifications before I announce it. Don't want to look like a fool if I got false news.
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦