The Voidshadow sports car humd, a low, predatory hum that was the only sound accompanying Daniel on his journey toward the Western Mine.
He guided the vehicle with effortless thought, the neural interface a seamless extension of his will.
The crushing weakness of his sealed state was gone, replaced by a thrumming, overwhelming power that made the very air in the cockpit seem to vibrate.
His mind, however, was not on the road ahead. It was replaying the previous night’s disastrously awkward encounter with Ayra and how Olenna saw the whole thing.
He made a ntal note to get her a truly spectacular peace offering after he completed this next stage of his cultivation.
Perhaps a new beast-thed axe or a lifeti supply of protein bars.
The thought of his own progression brought a surge of satisfaction.
The month of exhausting, radish-pulling labor, as humiliating as it had been, had yielded incredible results.
The Principal’s thods were strange, almost sadistic, but undeniably effective.
He had been Level 12 when he started his cultivation. He wondered what his stats looked like now after a full month of foundation tempering and the subsequent release of his seals.
He pulled the Voidshadow over to a scenic overlook, the car coming to a silent, smooth stop.
The platform’s artificial sky swirled with soft nebulae. "Alright," he muttered, "let’s assess the damage."
He accessed his Nexus Interface, pulling up his personal attribute panel.
The screen flickered to life, the numbers glowing with a brilliant, almost blinding golden light.
The power surge was so intense that a sharp, contained shock reverberated through the car as the display recalibrated, the air within the sealed cockpit montarily howling with displaced energy.
[Daniel Vance]
Level: 20
Class: Night Ranger
Allocatable Attribute Points: 25
Class Skill Points: 5
Strength: 7,250
Vitality: 8,100
Agility: 7,880
Spirit: 6,550
Adaptability: 4,120
Daniel stared at the numbers, his breath catching in his throat. Level 20!
He had jumped eight full levels just from completing the Perfect Skin Refining.
His Strength and Vitality had each soared by nearly a thousand points, pushing them into a realm that was simply absurd for a student.
His other stats had seen similarly massive increases.
He was no longer rely a powerful recruit, he had beco a walking force of nature, a statistical anomaly that rendered the Academy’s power trics laughably simplistic.
He let out a low whistle. "So that’s what a perfect foundation feels like."
He knew, however, that the true gains weren’t even reflected on the panel. The flawless, nigh-indestructible quality of his new skin, the refined control he now had over his imnse power, the sheer, unyielding resilience of his will forged in the radish fields, those were the real treasures.
This was a new beginning, a solid bedrock upon which he could build a true tower of unimaginable power.
He reactivated the car, his mind now focused on the next task.
His second objective: the Western Suburbs Mine and the acquisition of the Luminark Stone.
He spent a few minutes trying to access information on the Nexus, but just as with the dicinal Garden, the data was frustratingly sparse.
The Western Mine was listed as a core resource extraction zone for the Academy, but all geological surveys, operational reports, and personnel files were locked behind high-level clearance he didn’t possess.
The only publicly available information consisted of a series of escalating warnings about unstable geological conditions and a recent string of unexplained accidents.
"Looks like I’m going in blind again," he sighed.
The drive to the Western Mine took nearly an hour, carrying him from Rivernorth’s sleek high-tech core to the gritty industrial edge of the resting platform.
The landscape shifted from glowing crystal towers to rust-stained ore processors and steaming slag heaps rising into the cool air.
The Western Mine was a massive complex carved into a vast artificial mountain, its entrance wide enough to swallow a dozen transport shuttles.
Realizing that blindly wandering into a mine complex of this size was a fool’s errand, Daniel decided his first priority was information.
He parked the Voidshadow in a discreet public lot, its sleek, futuristic fra starkly contrasting the dented, utilitarian trucks used by the miners.
He parked the Voidshadow in a public lot, its sleek design standing out among the dented, practical trucks of the miners.
He entered the largest building, a noisy, crowded restaurant that slled of cheap ale, roasted beast at, and the sharp scent of unwashed miners.
The air was thick with loud chatter, rough laughter, and the clatter of plates.
Daniel’s clean, unassuming appearance drew a few curious glances, but he was largely ignored, just another face in the crowd.
He needed information, and a direct approach seed unlikely to yield results.
He found a small table in a corner, ordered a mug of water from a harried-looking waitress who barely gave him a second glance, and then settled in to listen.
He activated his A-grade skill, [Omniscient Insight]. The world around him seed to shift.
The cantina’s chaotic noise unraveled into distinct conversations, each whisper threading into his mind like a steady stream of information.
"...the price of refined cryo-steel is down again... can you believe it? My whole haul from last week is barely worth the fuel it took to get it."
"Heard another team went missing in Sector Gamma-7. Just... vanished. No distress call, nothing."
"You try the new nutrient paste? Tastes slightly less like despair this ti. More like... mild disappointnt."
It was all useless chatter. Daniel filtered through the noise, his senses sweeping the room, looking for a more credible source.
His gaze finally settled on a large, circular table in the center of the room.
Seated there were six individuals who radiated an aura of quiet competence and weary experience.
They were older, their faces and hands scarred from years of hard labor in the dark, their patched armor a testant to countless close calls.
These were not amateur prospectors, they were seasoned, professional miners, the true veterans of this mountain.
Their voices were low and serious, laced with quiet worry. This was the conversation he’d been looking for.
He focused his [Omniscient Insight] entirely on their table, becoming a silent, unseen guest at their tense discussion.
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