14

Once the broken remains of three Tang citadels were collected and stored in the glove, the entrance to the mine became visible.

Pef patted the woman's shoulder, with a far away look.

"Xie, there's no point coming with me. There's a high rank something in there, and you're not ready. Wait here for a week, then if I don't come out, say 'Indoctrination complete'. The pain will end and you'll be a Spirit rank. Then go do whatever."

"Moron...you think I will ever leave? I will wait till you come out..." Xie muttered while hugging him gently.

Pef shrugged and turned away, axe appearing in his hands and held in front.

Then he picked up speed and ran inside, his vision mode switching to night vision.

The mine's corridor went north, entering the formation.

A haze of smells assaulted Pef as he advanced, of chemicals and blood.

Suddenly a pair of Earth ranked spiders dropped from the ceiling, and attacked. They were both Earth rank, same as Pef, although a bit less fast and strong. But only minutely.

Without the glove guiding his strikes, Pef would have died in a minute. Like this, after twenty minutes the spiders were cracked open and dead, while Pef coughed blood and sat to recover.

'I'm not getting much from these spiders'

'You're getting the normal amount, since you are same rank'

'At least they can't pierce my Sky rank armor' Pef congratulated himself.

And so the trek continued, every kilometer or so other spiders appearing to block his way.

Two days later, Pef had advanced 30 kilometers, and the smells became even stronger.

Then he reached the end of the tunnel, into an opening 10 kilometers wide, filled with spiders digging into the walls, and lined on the sides with wide roads.

At the bottom, there were some buildings and Disciples going in and out. Then one of them entered inside the stone building, carrying a human baby, and Pef clenched his teeth.

'The thing we want is in there, right?'

'Obviously. But I think it's a Sky rank spider queen or something. A bit dangerous...'

Pef smiled and warmed up his wrists.

'Well then. I always wanted to test my skill for real'

'The Cutting skill? There will be consequences. Heavenly Lightning will fall...'

'And we have a formation above, don't we?' Pef asked rhetorically.

Time slowed down, as the axe in his hands became firm. Then noise stopped and the spiders frozen in mid step.

Pef began Cutting, first a few strikes, then more and more.

A hundred skills later, he fell to his knees, his qi depleted. Sound resumed, as the sapphire mine began crumbling, the roads falling down, the building in the middle slowly restructuring into fault lines, and a hundred lightning bolts thundering high above, first ineffective, then wobbling the skies and finally crashing through, exterminating all signs of life.

Pef crawled back into the tunnel, struggling to breathe and refine more qi when a rush of energy passed through him, raising his qi level higher and higher and then over the peak, into Sky rank.

Another host of senses assaulted Pef, the ability to sense and manipulate mass. He made his body lighter, and sped away, stopping a few kilometers inside the mountain.

'So, I can fly now?' Pef asked curious.

'After some Practice, yes. Falling from airships for example'

'Okay, time to loot the spider den' Pef concluded as the noises subsided in the distance.

He turned around and accelerated, his speed now three times what he could achieve before.

At the tunnel end, he just jumped, gliding down towards the devastated bottom of the mine.

He checked for signs of survivors, but it seemed the Heavenly Lightning wasn't just a line of sight weapon.

There was evidence of powerful currents criss-crossing the mine, frying spiders and disciples alike.

Pef begun digging through the rubble, until he reached a half crushed nursery, with dead babies and spider eggs connected by weaves.

In the middle, there was the Spider Queen, bisected in half, bigger than his airship and smelling cooked. Pef patted her carcass, storing the Sky ranked chitin for later projects.

Under her body there was a large sapphire, with chips of it missing.

'The spider queen was their smith?' Pef wondered while storing the precious stone.

'It's not so simple. Keep looking'

An hour of rubble searching later, Pef found a room with a dozen Disciples, with weaves covering them and even entering the back of their heads. The weaves were partly melted, but one could see they headed towards the spider queen.

'A hive mind of some sort?' Pef mused while looting the bodies.

'Clever. A dozen smiths using the spider queen to craft for them. Or vice-versa'

High above, hundreds of spiders were gathering at the lip of the open mine, looking down with evil eyes.

Pef scratched his cheek while thinking.

Then he jumped, his axe unfolding in his hand, while he ran up the wall.

There were hundreds of Earth rank beasts to be butchered and harvested for their materials!

Truly, this place was a mine of wealth, ready to be exploited.

Somewhere high in heavens, a messenger appeared to report to his goddess. " Mistress. That Xi child...he killed our asset on the Saint continent. The lesser spiders have become feral."

"What? You said the kid was some silly fool. Gah, I don't have time for that stupid project. Volcanis is pushing us back. And that damned Gaia."

"Mistressss, the kid could be dangerous. Do something!"

"I'm busy! Plus he has that horrible glove. Let me know if he takes it off"

"Certainly, Mistressss. Enjoy your war!"

"Of course. You think your flames scare me, Volcanis? Hahaha. I'll show you who is the smartest one!"

Unlike the first times Pef had fought these spiders, when he could barely defeat one or two in direct combat, now it was a joy.

His strikes were five times more powerful and three times faster. The poor spiders were exterminated without ever touching our hero, who hopped from place to place like a butterfly, butchering and storing a group of spiders here and there.

Also, they seemed to have lost most of their combat skills, attacking mindlessly instead of using traps and tactics.

Pef kept the last two Earth ranked spiders alive, simply breaking their legs. Xie would grow from finishing them off.

By reducing their mass, he was able to carry each in a hand, while he sped back towards the site of the third Tang citadel.

As he arrived at the lip of the canyon, he observed Xie had decapitated and staked the Tang adept heads on various targets, using them as target Practice.

'You're almost the same, now that I look closer' the glove muttered in surprise.

"Hey! Xie!" Pef yelled while floating down at a slow speed.

The woman turned and watching him descend like a divine being from heavens. Her heart fluttered a little.

"You brought me two spiders? Just for myself?" she exclaimed in wonder.

"Sure, I killed like 500 of them. Well. Twice that, but 500 in fair combat" Pef answered with a shrug.

"Ah. I don't know what to say..." Xie whispered while clutching her chest.

"Love what you've done with the place. Hungry?" Pef continued unfazed, summoning his stove and some spider legs.

The owners of those legs looked in envy as the cruel humans fried and wolfed on their fatty legs.

"Ah. Spider legs taste wonderful. Please tell me you have more!" Xie proclaimed as she sat to rest and digest the divine food.

"Well...about 8000 legs or so. Should last us for some time" the heroic cook explained in a serious voice.

"Ah... I'm in heaven. Except I hurt like hell. But the divine taste... I'm torn between heaven and hell!" Xie sobbed, tears of joy mixing with tears of pain.

"So, I obtained my Sky rank. I'm gonna jump around for a few days, Practicing flying is difficult" Pef concluded as he ran up the canyon wall.

In a dozen seconds he reached the top and then jumped towards the other side. He failed to reach it, and had to climb the wall again. And again.

For days and days. Until a week later, Pef managed to cross the Yellow Canyon in one jump.

He descended back to the bottom, and sat to watch Xie punch a spider. She kept punching until she nearly fainted, a couple of hours later. Then she dragged herself backwards, her feet trembling with exhaustion.

Pef went to hug her, and lay her to rest in a nest made of few furs.

"It's not working. I can't beat them....not strong enough..." Xie complained in a soft cry.

"You've fractured your knuckles. The spiders are Earth ranks, dear lady. You need to think. Defeat them with your brains"

Pef whispered as he cleaned and bandaged her fists again.

"Hold me while I sleep, please? I want to feel safe, for once..." the rescued woman whispered as she fell asleep.

Pef sighed and held her, then fed her tea and aspirin, as she woke during the night in fever.

'She won't last two years. Her mind is weak already. At most one year, but I suggest 9 months' The glove advised Pef as he patted her head.

'Then she won't reach Perfect Divinity'

'Probably not, unless she gets extremely lucky. Then again, that's true for anyone, even you, Aspirant'

'I tend to be lucky, I think'

The glove stayed quiet. Indeed, this recruit was luckier than most. Then again, he used his brain to achieve most objectives, instead of pure brawn.

This Xie, for example. She was the perfect recruit, under normal circumstances. She'd have reached Soldier rank in 30 years, in a Legion training camp. Then she would have served with a regiment, until their Captain tangled with some atrocity, and sacrificed the entire regiment to cleanse a reality or another. Expected lifespan as a Legion Soldier rarely exceeded 100 years.

But if Pef trained her...she could become a Sergeant, going on to live for millions of years, snuffing out aberrant Elder Gods in millions of dimensions. Maybe even reach tier 7...

Even rarely, tier 7 Captains who fell during service would return to the Legion, regain their memories and become Colonels.

The General herself was rumored to have been reborn a hundred times, and ascended to tier 8. Nobody knew for certain, and this glove knew even less than full systems with a complete database. But it could extrapolate and think.

And since it had linked with the new user, much more. Expert systems were supposed to simple execute orders, not improvise and create software abilities for their users.

And they weren't supposed to assist recruits during training. And yet, this glove did. It was defective, it knew that.

But the imperative to recover the weapon and return to the Legion was even stronger.

First a knife, then a gun. Then...the rest. If it was the Hand of the General, like user Pef had conjectured, then its duty was even clearer. And if the Legion had indeed fallen, like it feared, then this user will have to rebuild it again.

Its computing substrate continued making plans and discarding them, selecting various topological methods to modify the future. From Sky rank to Sovereign it would be quite easy. It had already done it, using some flawed recruit on the Xi continent. Those mistakes won't be repeated.

Pef had most of the right requirements, and with a few nudges, he could reach Sovereign rank in a hundred years. 10 times faster than the last time.

The tier 1s won't even notice it this time, as they were busy competing for energy sources between themselves.

Pef woke next morning with his face being warmed by a pair of soft airbags.

"Can't breathe!" he exclaimed, extracting himself from the dangerous position.

"Ah. Now I'm in pain again. It's your fault, Pef. Now go make me breakfast!" Xie ordered him in a petulant tone.

"We need to leave today. Return to Yellow Tear and assume direct control" Pef said while he began boiling the Legion maize for porridge.

He will need to resupply as well, or sow another maize garden. Also craft a ton of Earth and Sky ranked artifacts, and learn how to build and anchor formations.

Then expand the Legion across the continent, build roads and clear the jungle between major cities.

It will be good Practice for his Sky rank, and let him establish strong foundations. Both as cultivator and as a builder of civilization.

He would need to invent the alphabet and numbers, then paper and glass.

Still, he was now a Sky rank on a continent with only a few Earth ranks. He expected to take maybe 20 years.

"Nom. This yellow paste is amazing!" Xie mumbled while she ate the maize with bright eyes.

"Glad you like it. You will be the one in charge of the maize fields. They will make a good crop to trade" Pef replied after gulping his own bowl of porridge.

"Like a farmer?"

"Like a noble lady who owns millions of acres of land" the hero explained patiently.

"Oh. That sounds nice indeed. Lady Xie..."

"Okay, up we go!" Pef exclaimed while jumping up and landing in the airship.

A minute later, they sped towards Yellow Tear, while Pef experimented with laying formations on bones or metal.

Xie watched intently the young man as he struggled, face deep in concentration while qi glowed around him in white and silver.

Her hero and rescuer, and a Sky rank at 17. She couldn't hate him too, even if he was a bit of an idiot. Damn him!