The darkness in this new excavation tunnel was thicker, more personal. The air was dusty and stifling, as if the stone walls themselves were breathing heavily around us. The sound of pickaxes and shovels echoed hollowly, interspersed with occasional groans. No one spoke. The language here was the language of hateful glances directed at me.
Borok assigned me to the far end of the tunnel, the most hazardous area. The ceiling was low, supported by rickety wooden props that creaked under the weight. Small pebbles occasionally showered down from above, like raindrops before a landslide.
"Dig here, 'Genius'," Borok ordered, pointing to a hard rock face. "They say there's a vein of quality 'Spirit Ore' behind it. Get it out."
He and his two henchmen didn't leave. They just stepped back a few paces, leaning against the wall, watching. I knew what they were waiting for. They were waiting for the ceiling to collapse on me.
Take a breath. Focus.
I picked up a pickaxe and started hitting the rock. Each impact vibrated through my already sore arms. But more disturbing was the "Seed" in my stomach. Amidst this dust and chaos, it wasn't quiet. It was like a pet sniffing food. It pulsed weakly, attracted to something... perhaps the remnants of spiritual energy locked within the rock.
Could these rocks also feed it? I thought, while continuing to strike.
Suddenly, one of Borok's guard slaves, a muscular man with a scarred face, approached.
"Heard you got a taste from Overseer Yan," he growled, his voice rough. "What's it like being licked by their dog?"
I ignored him, kept hitting. My action only angered him.
"Quiet, you bastard!" He kicked a bucket of rocks near me, spilling its contents.
At the same moment, the "Seed" in my stomach pulsed faster. No longer a pulse of hunger, but a warning. A dangerous sensation, like static electricity, crept through the air.
Creek... kreeeak...
The sound came from above. One of the main support beams near me began to bend, its crack widening.
"The roof!" someone shouted from behind.
Borok and his men quickly retreated, moving away from the area. But the Muscular Man, still angry with me, didn't fully realize the imminent danger.
CRUMPH!
A large boulder fell from the ceiling, hitting right in front of the Muscular Man, causing him to fall. Dust flew, obscuring vision. Panicked screams and the sound of snapping wood filled the tunnel.
"Help! I'm trapped!" yelled the Muscular Man. His leg was pinned by smaller rubble, and he was trapped in a zone surrounded by support beams about to give way.
Everyone froze, including Borok. No one dared to advance. Entering there was an invitation to die.
I stood at the edge of the danger zone, just a few steps from the Muscular Man. The dust made me choke. In my head, two voices argued.
Leave him! He'd kill you given the chance! This is your way out!
But the other voice, the human voice from Earth that hadn't completely died, shouted louder. He might be scum, but he's still human. You're not a killer.
And there was a third voice, deeper and more savage. The voice from the "Seed." It urged me forward. Not to save, but because... there was something there. Behind the rubble. Something that made it hungry.
Cursing inwardly, I jumped forward.
"Wa Lang, you're crazy!" Borok shouted from a distance, his voice full of disbelief.
I didn't care. I pushed the small rock pinning the Muscular Man's leg. He looked at me with wide eyes, a mixture of pain, fear, and shock.
"Y-You idiot! Get away!" he roared.
"Quiet!" I snapped, mustering all my strength. The rock shifted, and I pulled him hard, dragging him to a safer area just as one of the support beams broke with a thunderous crack.
BOOM!
Part of the roof collapsed, burying the area where he had been trapped. The dust was so thick I couldn't see anything. But I felt it.
Behind that rubble, there was a "Source."
A chunk of pure "Spirit Ore" the size of my head was exposed, emitting a powerful, raw spiritual energy, dark green in color. But its energy was not pure. It was contaminated, toxic, full of geological violence. Just like the poison in the tunnel.
And my "Seed" screamed for it.
Without a second thought, almost as if possessed, I crawled towards the rock. My ungloved hand touched it.
An explosive sensation.
The chaotic, harsh, toxic energy flooded my arm like a river of lava. A burning pain, ten times stronger than the toxic mud, shot through every nerve. I screamed, but no sound came out.
Then, my "Seed" moved.
It was like a funnel opening wide. It didn't just absorb; it swallowed. The burning toxic energy was sucked in, rushing torrentially into the pit of my stomach. The pain was still there, but now accompanied by an intoxicating sensation of power. Like injecting pure adrenaline directly into the heart.
The green glow on the rock quickly faded, turning into a dull gray and cracking. The rock crumbled into dust.
I sat down, panting. My whole body trembled. The hand that had touched the rock was charred, black, but... it no longer hurt. Instead, it felt full of pent-up energy. My "Seed" now felt like a small spinning sun in my stomach, radiating a heat that was almost painful. The first hunger satiated.
"Demon... you are a demon," whispered the Muscular Man, looking at me with a face pale with horror. He had witnessed everything. How the rock glowed, then died. How my hand was charred but I could still move.
Borok and the others approached cautiously, staring at me as if seeing a ghost.
"There's... a devil in him!" one slave shouted, then turned and ran.
Borok did not run. He looked at me, then at the rock that had turned to dust, and back at me. The mockery and hatred in his eyes had been replaced by a primordial fear. Fear of something he didn't understand.
I stood up, my body still trembling, but no longer from weakness. It was from excess energy. I looked at Borok, and for the first time, he was the one who looked down.
I said nothing. I just walked past him, back towards the tunnel exit. The other slaves made way for me, terrified.
Overseer Yan was waiting outside, his face as usual.
"Report?" he asked shortly.
"The Seed... can absorb energy directly from contaminated Spirit Ore," I answered, my voice hoarse. "But it hurts. And it makes me... strong."
He nodded, satisfied. "Good. The ability to consume the impure is the first step towards true power in a dirty place like this." He threw me a small bottle containing a red liquid. "Apply this to your burns. Tomorrow, we will test your capacity."
As I returned to the cell, everyone was whispering one name: "Stone-Eater."
Old Man sat in his corner, looking at me long and hard.
"You have awakened it," he whispered, his voice trembling. "And now, it will tell you its price."
I lay on the floor, feeling the "small sun" in my stomach still spinning. The hunger was satisfied, but now replaced by a deeper thirst. A thirst for more.
I smiled in the darkness. A smile that was not my own.
My Seed had "told me." And its message was clear: Hunger.