Chapter 360: The Quarry
When things had finally settled, the military garbed woman then started barking orders before everyone got distracted again. Basically, these were assignments within the compound. For most of the women, they ended up being assigned rather easy jobs like kitchen work or cleaning.
For the men, they ended up with every bit of hard working job you could imagine. Some were better than others, like a repair and maintenance crew for those who were qualified. Of course, if you said you were but then it was found out you had lied, you would then be sentenced to one year of a hard labor duty.
As for Laz, he wasn’t even given a choice. He ended up on a hard labor duty from day one.
It’s worth noting that most of the most hostile and vilest of the guys who had been captured ended up with this particular assignment. Why Laz was included with them despite not having gotten into any conflicts since he was taken prisoner could only be attributed to the young woman who’s nerves he had gotten on. As Laz was led out to the sight, he was informed of what his duties would be.
"You will dig from dawn to dust in the tunnels, only being given one break in the morning, one in the evening and a lunch. Food will be provided assuming you meet your quota of material. Killing is prohibited as well as harming one another since that would decrease our profits. If you are found having done something, you will be chained up, put on trial and if warranted, executed. I suggest you keep that in mind . If you end up feeling sick, please come to the med tent. If you are sent back to work that day, you will still be responsible for meeting your quota so don’t bother trying to hide in the med tent. Now, before you all ask stupid questions, what we are digging for is this!" The woman held up a stone, something like a crystal yet rounded like a gemstone.
"You don’t need to know what it is or what it does, just get it. And don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about mineshafts as this particular rock is only located between one foot and about thirty feet below ground as far as we have seen. So dig a hole. Or team up with your friends and dig a big hole. This entire area is the digging grounds and you are permitted to travel in the area to search for a spot. There are small flags on the border that show where the limit is that you’re allowed to go. Try to go past there and well... you won’t need to worry about working anymore, that’s for sure. Now get to it. Your quota is two pounds of stone. And if that seems easy, well... these rocks don’t come in a size much more than this so finding ten of these is usually the minimum but i would recommend at least 15. Also bare in mind that these stone are kind of light overall so get done with enough time that you can weigh in and if you fail, you will have enough time to get some more. NOW GET STARTED!"
Laz came forward and grabbed a basket a shovel and a pick and got to work, eager to see what all the fuse was about these stones.
Since there had only been a minimal amount of digging done, it didn’t take long for Laz to find one.
It’s worth noting that there were several people here when they got here, all males, digging holes and moving around dirt. It seemed like Laz and the guys sent with him were new recruits while the ones who were currently moving and digging were the previous batch’s help. The looked ragged and worn out for the most part, all but a few of them who looked to be in good health. With the somewhat clean clothes, well kept hair and lack of injuries, they stood out from the rest.
As Laz was looking at the stone he had just found, he noticed it seemed to shine someone. Even when he blinked, he noticed the light from it. Not glaring like the sun, but sutble, like fireflies in the dark. After closing his eyes again, he realized that the stone could be seen through his spiritual sense, even if it was buried within the ground. Laz’s blood started racing as he realized just what this meant and how valuable it was.
Just as Laz was about to open his eyes and get a closer look at the stone, he noticed an odd movement right before the stone was snatched from his grip.
"What the hell?" Laz said, a little louder than he meant to.
"Well if it isn’t my lucky day, getting a nice sized rock right from the get go. You should hurry up young man or you will never reached the quota for the day," the older man said, laughing as he walked off.
Laz was going to say something when he noticed the looks of the people around him. The newer ones seemed to gloat at his misery while the old timers just shook their heads and turned away. Quickly, Laz noticed that some of the better looking old timers would sneak a stone into their work clothes as they went along, careful to hide any movement. The next stone they found would then be put into the basket like normal.
Laz suddenly understood what was going on.
’Going to fuck with me huh? This should be fun...’ Laz thought to himself. Laz then turned around with a ’defeated’ face and looked as though he was going to look for more stones. Just as he turned though, his foot kicked out, smashing a tiny pebble to almost dust. The only bit that was left of it was the tiny core which flew out and stabbed the laughing man in the back of his knee. The force of it mixed in with the surprise was enough to cause the man to fall forward and yelp out in pain as he grabbed his knee and started rolling around.
His crazy actions along with his yelling caused several of the better looking prisoners to coming running, along with several of the guards who had worried looks in their eyes. Seeing this, Laz got an even better idea of what was going on at this dig site.
’So those bastards have already gotten to the guards huh? Guess this order or whatever isn’t nearly as neat and tidy as they like to think. Hmm... factions, internal struggle... a game of politics? Still, this place is just a resting spot for now. Then again, I don’t really have another target yet and A’ruya hasn’t given me anything yet. I guess I’ll just have to make due here for now and somehow try to get stronger. After I’ve strengthened my void palace to the final level... I wonder what comes next? I think I saw something from my memories of my master... I should try to reflect on those later and see.’ Laz had never lost sight of his long term goals, but sometimes far away things didn’t lead to enough pressure for the here and now. That’s why Laz needed this shit environment surrounded by assholes and fiends. It was the only way to ensure that he didn’t get too relaxed.
He still had to rescue his grandpa and friends.
’If they’re even still alive... No. I can’t think like that. If there is one thing I know about Grandpa, Uncle Bill and Grandpa Chu... it’s that they are tough sons of bitches. They won’t die to something like this...’
Although Laz said it, it was hard to believe his own words. He didn’t expect it would be this many years already and he knew they didn’t have that many years left.
"Sigh..." Laz sighed out loud as he walked towards the next stone to see what was up while everyone else was focused on the crying man flailing around on the ground.
This time though, Laz walked farther away, close to almost being out of sight of the others. The guards on duty were actually pretty weak when you looked at it, most of them just being in the condensation realm. Laz noticed this first thing, thinking it was strange, but then noticed the border around the area and the fact that one of the crystals on his useless collar hummed as he got closer to it. Using his sense, Laz checked out the crystal and the changes as he got closer to the border and then further back from it.
’You’re fucking me, right?’
The energy in the crystal seemed to go crazy as he got closer, spinning within the translucent stone like a raging inferno just trying to escape. As long as he was far enough away, the crystal would calm down. And while Laz didn’t go and test this theory, he had the feeling that if he actually got to close to the weird flags that marked the barrier, the crystal would explode and take his head with it.
The worse part was, even though Laz was free of the collars influence, he couldn’t discard it since that would be a sure indication that he was free.
So for now, without a choice, Laz would have to keep this time bomb strapped to his neck.
"Fuck. Whatever. Let’s just see about these stones," Laz said to himself.
The stone this time was just a few inches underground, just sitting there. While it wasn’t big, it wasn’t small either. Basically about the size of the one that had just been stolen. Laz then used his sense to see the glowing stone up close. As tiny particles of energy swam around within it, Laz got the weird feeling that the outside of the stone was just a casing for the energy within. If one were to smash it with a big enough hammer, the energy would escape and the stone would be dust.
If you failed to hit it hard enough, the outside of the stone would be just as flawless as the inside and one would be unable to make a scratch.
"So it’s like the energy inside of it is a filling? Like a cream filled donut? So can you get it out without smashing it since that seems like it would waste it. I hope you wouldn’t have to eat this thing. Obviously the Order here knows the secret behind these stones otherwise we wouldn’t be digging them up. But honesty, how are they just sitting in the ground like this? Do they grow like potatoes or something? Oh wait, I know."
Laz held the stone up to his face as his eyes turned a dark, gold color.
"Heaven’s Gaze," Laz muttered as he looked deeply at the secrets of the stone.
It didn’t take long before Laz sat back as his eyes returned to their normal blue color.
"I guess let’s give it a shot?"
Laz sat up and circulated the infinity method of absorbing energy. As he did so, when the flow came around his hands, it brought it quite a bit of new energy from the stone, so much so that Laz’s blood sped up and his temperature spiked. What he did was basically the equivalent of swallowing water the wrong way and choking. Not life threatening, but quite a pain until the coughing stops. Taking a few deep breaths, Laz was able to calm down finally and relax, being more careful to only absorb a small amount at a time.
After he was done, the rock crumbled to dust in his hand as his eyes shot open.
"What... what the hell is this?" Laz asked himself focusing on the core inside of himself.
In the void Palace Realm, the first step is to build the palace. That’s the first layer. For Laz, his golden palace mixed with hues of purple was an unprecedented display of power for one with the Asura bloodline. It wasn’t something that had been seen since a far gone and ancient time. He didn’t know that, but the golden drop of blood within him did. It was what caused the palace to be made in the first place as it disappeared into it, being absorbed so that Laz could reclaim his lost power. Now, unknown to him, all of those memories that had been locked into the blood were now locked away in his palace. As for the middle realm and late realm, adding energy into the palace would cause it to first go from being incorporeal to being corporeal. After that, in the Late realm, the size of the palace would grow from being like a large doll house to being like an actual palace.
It was only at this stage that Laz would actually be able to study the inside of his own palace and discover the hidden strengths of his bloodline. But he would figure that out later.
For now, the reason why he was shocked, was that because one stone had allowed his palace to form into being around 10% corporeal. Had he tried doing so from just the energy in the surroundings, it would have taken him months if not longer to do so.
"Now I see. These stones are amazing. To myself at this realm it was a big help, which means it would be a blessing to those weaker than me. Still though, I can tell that this one stone allowed me 10% but it would take more that double to reach the next 10%. Maybe three stones? I wonder just how many stones there are in this area? Enough to allow me to reach the late realm? Or even higher?"
Laz looked around at all the shiny firefly like glows in the ground with a hint of greed that he never felt before.
"I think... this is exactly where I needed to come next. Despite that... why do I have a weird feeling about this place?"
Laz hadn’t noticed before he became greedy, but when he looked again, not just with his sense but with his heaven’s gaze, he was able to see a blackness laying tens of feet under the ground.
The more he looked at it, the more he felt like that darkness... was breathing...
