1 Chapter 1 Life as a slave

"Get up you dogs!"

A guard shouted as he dumped a bucket of cold water into the cell. The occupants of the cell hacked as they scrambled to stand. The slaves were all children, the oldest barely twelve years old. Kole staggered as he stood up. The scraps of cloth that he wore hung loosely on his body. The body underneath looked frail and malnourished.

The guard grinned with a look of sadistic pleasure. He took the whip that hung from his waist and whipped the slaves in the cell. The slaves fell to the ground from the pain but did not cry out. They lacked the energy to shout, instead they quietly whimpered as they struggled to stand up again.

"Look at you trash, so filthy. Well it's just your luck, you trash are going back to the mines. Rejoice that the great kingdom of Lunica has graciously bestowed a role upon filth like you."

The guard bellowed gleefully as he opened the cell. The slaves dragged their feet as they shuffled out of the cell and down the hallway. The rough floor grated away at their feet, blistered and calloused to the point where they resembled a gravel coloured tumor rather than feet.

The guard led the slaves to a large door with guards on either side. The guard waved a token to the other guards as he approached. The guard on the right retrieved a key from his waist and unlocked the door. As the door swung open the slave's senses were assaulted by a symphony of suffering. The cries and wailing of children rang throughout the giant cavern, the ear-piercing noise ever going as one slave after the other picked up the chorus. A pit filled with corpses sat a stone's throw away from the door, the punishment for those who refused to comply. The pit shifted and squirmed. Those unfortunate enough to survive the fall were crushed beneath the rot and filth of the other corpses.

"Go get some results you filth, and if any more of you get the bright idea of hiding any ores, than punishment will be in order."

The guard gleefully declared as he walked back to the outpost. The slaves lifelessly dispersed around their area, dragging the crude pickaxes they were given along the ground. Kole shuffled off to a more remote region of the mine. He swung his pickaxe like a broken machine, slow, lifeless, and on the brink of falling apart. As he continued to chip away at the rock, a glow began to emanate from the crack he was mining.

Kole stood fascinated by the glow, he had never seen anything like it before. The cells were lit by dim lamps and torches. The glow before his eyes was something he had never seen before. Although he didn't know it at the time the glow was from a stone called luminore. It is a rather common stone that has a faint green glow and contains a larger than average amount of potential energy. To any one with power, it was like a pebble beside the road, but to Kole it was a precious treasure.

"So, beautiful."

Kole's throat burned as he forced the hoarse words out of his throat. He scrambled to get rid of the stone around the crack. His body moved like it had found some power he never knew he had. As the stone chipped away the stone became larger until it fell off from the wall. Kole scurried to pick it up. The stone fit nicely in the palm of his hand. Kole's lips cracked in pain as a small smile painted itself on his face.

Suddenly his face contorted into a frown.

'This is what the bad people want us to find.'

'They will take it.'

'They can't have it'

'I won't let them;

Kole's brain scrambled to find a solution to his problem. His clothes were too shabby, there was nowhere to put it. He couldn't leave it here, someone else would find it. As his brain struggled and whirred his stomach growled loudly. A light bulb went off in Kole's head. He opened his mouth as wide as it would go and stuffed the stone into it. The guards wouldn't find it if it was in him.

Kole smiled to himself as he picked his pickaxe back up. As he continued to swing away at the rock, he dreamed of finding more rocks, enough to fill the entire chasm. However, his stomach began to scream in pain. Kole cried out and fell to the ground. The pain was to much for his weak body to handle. Unfortunately for Kole, a passing guard heard his screaming. The guard gave an irritated huff as he trudged over.

"Oi, you little maggot, get back to work."

The guard shouted at Kole. Kole struggled to get back up, but the pain was to great. The fatigue from years of overwork, malnourishment, and constant abuse had finally tipped his body over the edge. He could barely open his mouth, much less get back to work.

"*sigh* guess we got another broken one."

The guard grabbed Kole and hauled him back up through the mine. Soon the guard arrived back at the pit.

"Hey, we got another broken one."

"Great, we lost another one. Feels like we'll need to get some more soon. Toss him in."

The guard dragged Kole over to the pit and threw him in. Kole hit the bodies with a thud. He hadn't died from the fall, but his battered and bruised body wouldn't last for long.

The accumulated fatigue began to drag Kole's conscious into his mind as an overwhelming urge to pass out washed over him. However, something began to crack within Kole. The bleak landscape of Kole's mind began to crack. The hopelessness and resignation was drowned out by a new, intense feeling.

[Minimum energy threshold has been passed]

[Evolution system for individual "Kole" has been engaged]

A series of sounds began to ring in Kole's head. The notices were loud but Kole failed to fully recognize them in his state. The pain in his stomach was gone, the rest of his body was to worn out to feel the rest of the pain. Kole's stomach growled like a feral beast. He was hungry.

Kole forced his body to move. His hands spasmed as he dragged himself over the corpses. The older corpses were toxic mush after so long in the pit, but the fresher corpses still resembled meat.

Gripping the leg of a dead slave Kole bit into the flesh. Kole's body convulsed in rejection of the meat, his stomach lurched as it tried to force the flesh out. Kole didn't care, he devoured the flesh as his body convulsed, driven by an overwhelming hunger. Soon Kole's body listened to him as it stopped rejecting the meat. As Kole stripped the body of its flesh, his stomach growled again. His hunger not ceasing he dragged himself towards another corpse.

[Requirements have been met, species alteration beginning.]

As Kole continued to devour the rotting flesh, a message sounded in his head, but it didn't register. Soon the sound of screaming ceased above. It was the time for all the slaves to be brought back and all their spoils seized. Conveniently, Kole's hunger was also sated. Curling up on top of the corpses Kole finally let himself drift off into slumber. As he drifted off, a series of notices began to ring, but none of them were able to reach Kole in his slumber.

[Evolution into "Bipedal Scavenger" successful]

[Natural abilities "Poison resistance," "Acid Resistance," and "Acidic stomach," have been acquired.]