Chapter 284: Dawn
"Ben... hello? Why are you daydreaming like that?"
A man Ben never thought he would see again stood in front of him.
"Jack?"
"Yes. Are you using drugs or something?" Jack frowned.
"Going to the red district is one thing, but drugs? That’s a red flag, dude. Stop it."
"I..."
Ben looked around and saw a familiar room.
A couch with a few torn spots.
A ceiling fan spinning slow.
The smell of smoke hanging in the air like it never left.
"So, are you going home?" Jack asked. "Or are you going there again with Bob?"
Jack shook his head. "Oh well. Have fun, but keep it in moderation. Don’t spend all your earnings."
Then he left the rest area.
Ben slumped onto the couch and stared at the spinning fan.
"This... this is the day I went to the bar with Bob. Then the next day I met her..."
Ben let out a hollow laugh.
Tears welled in his eyes as that familiar face surfaced in his mind again.
He knew it for sure.
This was not a dream.
"Regression... I regressed...but how? Elvira’s gift?
Is this the reward she got from the tower?
But why this moment? Why not the next day?"
Ben shook his head, depression pressing down on him.
After learning everything, he understood what this meant.
From this moment until the time Elvira was born, it would take hundreds of thousands of years, with the rise and fall of four civilizations.
"Can I even live that long?"
Ben closed his eyes and felt his body.
It was weak.
Too weak compared to his old one.
This was a normal mortal body.
Even healing a scratch would take days.
He opened his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"I need to find a way to prolong my life. With my understanding, I should be able to use some magic."
He slumped again.
Even if he understood how magic worked, he never cared about it before.
That meant experiments, and lot of failures.
"It’s still something. My goal is only to prolong my life for now. I’m sure it won’t be that hard."
CRACK!!!
A pressure suddenly filled the room.
The space in front of Ben cracked, and he stood up in panic.
Right now, he was just a normal human.
A fragile body that could die easily.
"Is she coming to me?"
Ben didn’t doubt Eve’s ability.
If she wanted, she could twist time and kill him before he ever became a threat.
The crack widened into a spiderweb, then turned into a dark hole.
SWOOSH!!!
Something shot out toward Ben.
He took a deep breath and braced himself.
But it stopped an inch from his face.
The crack vanished like it was never there.
"This... you followed me here?"
A crude pickaxe floated in front of him.
It looked even worse than the first time he got it.
The body is just normal wood, while the head were filled with crack and look rusty.
***
[Item] Pickaxe
[Type] Tool / Weapon
[Rarity] Growth
[Durability] Infinite
[Damage] 1 (Melee)
[Ability] Blockify lv1
[Power] 1
[Limitations] Cannot be used on magical things, living beings, equipment, or liquids.
[Ability] Dimensional Access lv 1
[Effect] Provides a small, rudimentary pocket dimension accessible only by the user.
[Tooltip] A strange power lies within, turning nearly anything into blocks.
***
"This... the stats are weaker, but now it has dimensional ability."
There was no system screen, but Ben could feel it.
This pickaxe was different from the one he had in the past.
"It probably evolved after consuming Apophis and the Primordial Flame."
Ben grabbed the pickaxe.
It hummed, like it was reacting to his grip.
Then it turned into a freckle of light.
The light sank into the back of his hand, forming a pickaxe mark.
Ben felt the connection immediately.
He knew he could summon it with a thought.
His lips curled into a grin. "With this... I should be able to reach my goal more easily."
He stood up and left the rest area, walking out into the mine’s main corridor.
The break room sat beside the equipment bay, close to the lift shaft.
Past it was the haul tunnel, wide enough for carts and loaders, with lamps bolted to the beams and thick cables running along the wall.
Ben’s boots hit wet stone as he followed the tunnel deeper.
He passed stacked timber supports, rows of empty ore carts, and a side passage where miners usually worked.
A sign hung crooked near the junction.
RESTRICTED. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Ben walked toward it anyway.
Two bodyguards stepped out to block his path.
They wore clean boots and expensive suit that didn’t belong in a mine.
One of them chewed something and looked Ben up and down like Ben was trash.
"Hey." The guard lifted his chin. "You can’t go in."
Ben kept walking.
The guard moved closer and shoved a hand against Ben’s chest.
"Did you not hear me? The boss has a guest inside."
Ben stared at his hand.
Then he looked at the guard’s face.
"Move," Ben said.
The second guard snorted. "Look at this guy. You tunnel rats really think you’re something."
Ben sighed.
His body was mortal now, but his fighting experience didn’t disappear with his old body.
The first guard raised his hand again, like he was about to slap Ben.
Ben stepped in.
BAM!!!
A punch sank into the man’s gut.
The guard’s eyes bulged.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
He folded and dropped to his knees.
The second guard cursed and swung at Ben’s head.
Ben tilted his shoulders and slid inside the swing.
BAM!!!
Another punch to the gut.
The second guard’s face went pale.
He staggered back, then collapsed against the wall and slid down.
Both were out cold.
Ben stepped over them and kept walking.
The restricted corridor narrowed, then opened again into a reinforced section.
Ben heard voices ahead.
A man’s voice.
"Believe me, Miss Raines, It’s a sure thing.
You’ll be getting in early, and early investors always win."
A woman laughed lightly. "How are you so sure."
Ben slowed his steps and leaned against the corner, listening.
His boss’s voice lowered, pretending to be sincere.
"That’s exactly why I want you here. I don’t want just any investor.
I want someone who understands value. Someone like you."
The woman paused. "And what do you want in return?"
Ben could almost hear the grin.
"Dinner. One date. That’s all." The boss chuckled.
"If we get along, you can invest as much as you want."
Ben’s eyes turned cold.
He had heard this before.
His boss will say this steel mine have gold inside it.
The investor would be scammed first.
Then blackmailed when she tried to pull out.
It wasn’t the first time.
In the past, Ben ignored it.
It was never his problem.
Now he needed money, and this was a perfect opportunity.
Ben pushed off the wall and walked forward.
The office area was carved into the rock, with a metal door, a desk, and a small lamp that made everything look yellow.
His boss sat behind the desk, hair slicked back, smiling like a prince.
A well-dressed young woman sat across from him, legs crossed, a folder in her lap.
Both of them turned when Ben entered.
The boss’s smile froze for half a second.
Then irritation flashed in his eyes.
"Ben?" he said. "What are you doing here? Who let you in?"
Ben glanced at the woman, then back at his boss.
"The guards tried to stop me," Ben said calmly. "They failed."
The boss’s face twitched.
The woman’s eyes flickered with interest. "Failed?"
Ben nodded. "They’re sleeping in the corridor."
The boss forced a laugh, trying to save face. "Ignore him. He’s just lying."
Ben stepped closer.
"Lying? Big talk from you." Ben repeated, then looked at the folder in the woman’s lap.
"That contract is a trap. The numbers are fake, and the gold mine’ story is a scam."
The woman’s expression sharpened. "What did you say?"
The boss’s voice dropped, threatening. "Ben. Watch your mouth."
Ben smiled.
"You’re selling her a gold mine," Ben said, voice steady. "But You don’t want investors. You want someone you can squeeze later."
The woman slowly stood up.
Her smile was gone now.
She looked at the boss like she was seeing a cockroach that learned how to talk.
"Is that true?" she asked.
The boss slapped the desk. "This is nonsense. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about."
Ben walked to the side and picked up a random ledger from the shelf.
He flipped it open and tossed it onto the desk.
"You forgot you bragged last month," Ben said. "In the drinking room. You said the same words.
Gold mine, easy bait. more money."
The boss’s face went red.
He stood up fast, trying to loom over Ben. "You want to get fired?"
Ben leaned in and spoke quietly.
"You can fire me," Ben said. "I don’t care."
The boss’s jaw tightened.
He tried to grab Ben’s collar.
Ben’s hand moved first.
BAM!!!
A punch sank into the boss’s stomach.
The boss doubled over, choking on air.
Ben grabbed his hair and forced his face up just enough to look him in the eyes.
"Don’t touch me," Ben said. "You’re not qualified."
He let go.
The boss collapsed to his knees, gagging.
The woman took a step back, stunned.
Ben turned to her.
"You," Ben said, "How about you invest on me instead, I can show you something more precious inside this mine."
The woman stared at Ben for a long moment.
Then she nodded slowly.
"I want to see," she said.
Ben glanced down at his boss, who was still clutching his stomach like his life depended on it.
Ben chuckled and shook his head.
He throw another kick knocking him cold.
He stepped out of the office with the woman behind him.
As he walked back toward the corridor, his hand clenched once, feeling the pickaxe mark on the back of his skin.
Ben’s grin widened.
"Just wait, Elvira, I have more than enough time to prepare now. And you, Eve, prepare to pay."
-The End-
