Chapter 10

"Didn't you say he was a rookie? He works faster than six of us combined."

"He told me this was the first time he picked up a pickaxe."

I let loose a slight smile, but it was dark, so they probably didn't see. Yeah, my hearing is great as well. I decided to find a job so I could pay Tara back, and I needed some exercise and training anyways, so I went to the nearby mine and asked. When they first looked at me and my thinner build, they were a bit reluctant, but they agreed after a bit of persuasion. I told them if I can't work at least as well as the regular miners, they don't have to pay me.

People with regular xin crystal capacities can handle a few minutes of body enhancement at most, and it'd take a huge toll on their body; just as when I almost destroyed my legs while running to Anubis' lair. But with my output greatly reduced, and my capacity remaining, my body was like a moped having a tanker ship's worth of fuel. I could maintain this state for months if I wanted to. It tires me out greatly, and after a day's work I'm so exhausted I usually collapse and sleep. But that's what training is about.

It's been two months, and I could feel my xin veins developing nicely from the constant use. I also noticed some muscle appearing on my body, which was a great addition. I work at a mine not far from the city, where we gather copper ore that has been imbued with xin. The city's foundries use the ore to smelt metals for runesmiths that make various magical items. It's a useful profession, and I get paid by the amount I mine, so working hard is worth it. Usually, I get 2-3 silver a week, so I can pay Tara half the rent and the food we buy. We fell into a comfortable life cycle fairly quickly.

She's usually at the training grounds, or working, patrolling the area. She didn't have any big missions as of late, but she warned me that she'd have to leave once they called her in. We met up with Milo and Patrik a few times as well. They apologized for abandoning me, but I didn't hold any grudges. They told me they'd welcome me gladly as an explorer once I finished the academy, but the start of the semester is still two months away; not to mention pretty expensive. I'll have to gather up at least a gold piece for tuition, and that's only for the first year. Looking at how I only have 10 silver coins and some copper change on my card, I'll have to do something about money. I don't want to ask Tara, but that's always an option for a last resort.

As usual, I was immersed in excavating the blue-green ore from the rock with my pickaxe, thinking about various things. Enhancing my whole body was second nature at this point, and I was generally around ten times stronger than an average man. An echoing shout filled the dark cave, and it got a bit clearer but louder as the source got closer.

"I don't care how much money you offer; my men are dying down there! Two perfectly good people were killed just this month! We cannot go down there, do you understand?" A large man came towards my section of the mine, shouting at the boss. They were both covered in dark dust and sweat ran down their faces, leaving streaks. Being miners, they both had large muscular bodies, and wore a mining helmet just like me. Their eyes glistened angrily in the dim light.

"I understand, but the runesmith's guild delayed a project for the third time because of us, and I get all the pressure from them. We need to gather the diamonds; it is necessary for their research. I don't like it either and I've already requested for skill users multiple times that can deal with the heat. There just isn't anyone that's available for that," my boss replied. I could hear how upset he was. He was a friendly man and he thought highly of me, but right now he was angrier than I've ever seen him. The guild was pushing us for xin diamonds more and more, but it was really hard to mine.

The large crystals were heavy, they needed to be broken down, but so hard that it destroyed most of our tools, and on top of that, they were so deep in the mines that the heat could kill you in minutes. It was almost fifty degrees Celsius (120 F), with 90% humidity from all the water they used to try and cool the place. The miners here call it the "Hell hole", and it has earned its name by killing almost everyone that worked there long enough.

"So why can't the guild just send someone that can use ice or wind skills, so we could get their precious diamonds?" The miner captain spat the words. The tension boiled between the two miners.

"I told you; they don't have anyone like that available! Right now, our only solution is not to overwork our miners, and send only a few of them in for short periods. Gather some men and start again." The explorer's guild, the runesmith's guild and the Academy all worked together overseeing the city. The explorer's controlled the military power, the runesmith's the manufacturing and development, and the academy ran research, while it produced more skill users.

"Excuse me, boss, I think I could help." I spoke out suddenly, and both their heads turned toward me. They didn't even notice I was in there; the conversation was so heated. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I think I might be able to mine the xin diamonds for you." The boss looked me up and down but couldn't dismiss me. I produced a few times as much ore as any other miner here, and he knew of my accomplishments. But I saw disbelief in his eyes. Exactly because he knew how valuable I was, he didn't want to sacrifice me.

"Absolutely not." His words were hard as the stone he mined everyday. "I can't lose my best miner." I was half expecting this result, but I had an ace up my sleeve. Heat was nothing for me except a small snack. When it got hot around me, I always cooled down the temperature, filling up my crystal. It wasn't much of course, but at least I didn't need to worry about baking in the hot tunnels, and I ran out more slowly.

"I have a pretty useless skill, being able to cool me and an area around me down," I lied, as I gradually lowered the temperature, sucking all the heat energy out and into my crystal. "But it came in handy for this job in particular."

"Did you do that?" He looked at me confused. "It really is a lot chillier now... Is this ice magic? We can't use that. The ice will melt, and the humidity..."

"No, it's not ice. It's an air attribute skill," I lied again. I figured that creating the most precious resource in this world from nothing is an incredible skill, and I intended on hiding it. He was still contemplating, but I saw it on his face. He couldn't think of any more downsides to this deal.

"Fine, son. If you're able to do the work down there in the Hell-hole, I'll pay you ten, no... twenty silver a ton. If you bring up more, I'll pay you more. Rohaon, show him the way and the tools," he said to the man he was arguing with. He looked at me with skeptical eyes as well. but I was used to that. Honestly, it was a great enjoyment of mine when these doubtful looks changed to utter surprise, awe and then admiration. I've been getting a few of those, and a few miners asked me what the secret was. Hehe. I kept my lips tight.

"Alright. But don't you dare die on me, boy." Rohaon was the hole's overseer, and he saw countless of his men die down there. He instructed me to leave my tools and pickaxe here, because it wouldn't do anything to the xin diamonds anyway. It took almost an hour to get down to the bottom of the Hell-hole, but I felt the heat even at the entrance of the cave section. All the heat that reached a ten meter circle around me got converted into xin almost immediately, so we were fine.

As we got deeper and deeper, and the heat still didn't reach us, his face lit up more and more.

"This is the best! You solved a huge problem, son!" his face lit up as he was savoring the possibilities of actually mining out the Hell-hole. "With your skill we could create a proper mining operation down here as well… Hey, what's your name?" He finally stopped mumbling and looked at me.

"It's Eli, sir." I smiled at him, both of us knowing full well, that we'll both be making a lot of money together.

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The diamond mine, known as the Hell-hole, despite its name, was astonishingly beautiful. The crystals ranged from fist sized gems to car sized boulders, all of them glowing a dim blue, illuminating the hot cave. After Rohaon showed me what to do with the equipment, and checked that I understood what to do, he left me to mine. The pickaxe was made from the same diamond material (not unlike an ancient blocky video game), with a bronze shaft that housed a small xin crystal. The diamond was reinforced and strengthened with magic, because even if it was made of one of the strongest materials available, to mine the same material, it would quickly degrade.

I broke down the larger, glowing crystals into smaller, more manageable clusters and loaded them into a cart. It was tough work, as the pickaxe was three times heavier than the normal steel one I used up until now, but I made steady progress and filled up the carts one by one. At the end of the first day, I managed to fill up 3 carts, each holding around one ton of xin diamonds. For each ton, my boss paid me twenty silver, so my balance quickly grew and I earned my first gold coin.

I was walking home from my first shift as the dedicated diamond miner when Tara sent me a message.

<Hey! Sorry to bother you. I got called in, there's a massive beast nearby. They called all the more experienced explorers nearby, from every city around Nia.>

<Alright. Do you need help? Should I go as well?> I asked, not knowing if I was even qualified for such a battle. But I wanted to ask anyway.

<Unfortunately you won't be able to... There's a process to this. You'd need an explorer's card, but you won't be able to get one without finishing the academy.>

<Okay. But tell me immediately if you're in trouble and I'll come flying. Please be careful!>

<I'll be fine. See you soon!> I know she's powerful but I was still troubled. It sounded like it was a bigger deal than she made it out to be.

<Neo. You there?> I sent a mental message to my jellyfish friend. He responded immediately, as he was the link between me and Tara.

<I'm always here. What do you need?>

<Could you please look after Tara? I'm worried about her. If you can tell how she's doing from afar, that's fine as well, but you could notify me faster if something happens.>

<Of course. I'm always keeping an eye on you two anyways,> came the quick reply. Is that a bit creepy? I don't know, but it sure is useful. Well, I'm just going to rest for a bit, my shift was long and I need the energy if something happens to her.

Five days went by like this. I was working in the diamond mine, Neo sent me regular updates on how she was doing, and she wasn't in any mortal danger. They fought for two days non-stop to bring it down. Tara told me the monster was slow, but its skin was almost impossible to pierce.

At the end of the second day, they finally brought it down. Tara told me this was one of her most difficult battles. All in all, there were more than 70 people participating, and they suffered only two casualties, which was impressive. They were from a nearby town, so we didn't know them. It still planted the uneasy feeling back into the back of my mind, however, and it became all the more apparent how dangerous these missions were.

TARA

We were all tired from fighting. We were having a really tough time. The monster we had to fight was vaguely humanoid, with disfigured limbs, and skin that looked and felt like stone. It was massive however, around ten meters tall. I used up almost all of my xin while trying to cook the damn thing. My attacks were useless for the most part, which frustrated me, but after a while, we found it's weakness, the parts that weren't covered in stone were defenseless. So I gathered up a large chunk of xin, made a fireball and blasted it in the monster's mouth. It wasn't pretty, its neck exploded and sent bloody stone bits everywhere.

We were resting for a short while, but with so many advanced skill users, the xin we emitted was sure to attract more beasts sooner or later. So with Patrik sleeping on Milo's shoulders, we set off. He used his healing abilities a lot and he needed rest. This was a common setup for us: Milo carrying him while he's passed out, and I act as guard.

We split up from the other explorers from Nia, to lessen our xin output, but this many tired fighters were perfect prey for beasts a bit more cunning. But we were tired and oblivious to the enemies gathering around us.

When we were completely separated from everyone else, and the sun began to set, I heard the first unnatural rustling of a bush. Another followed from behind us, and some more to the side. We were surrounded.

"Get ready for battle," I whispered to Milo. He immediately, but gently put Patrik to the ground. We covered ourselves in xin, and enhanced our muscles.

"I count seventeen," he whispered back. "And they feel strong." I immediately searched for the invisible string in my mind that connected me to Neo and Eli.

<We're in a bit of a pickle. Can you help?> I sent them. We were one and a half day's worth of walking away from Nia. I know how fast Eli is, but it will still take him more than an hour at least to arrive.

<I'm on my way. Neo says it'll take me 40 minutes. Can you hold up until then?>

<I'll try.>

As soon as I sent that message, the first beast came at me. It looked like an overgrown lizard on steroids, at least two meters long. It charged so quickly, even my eyes had a hard time catching up. I summoned fire from my right hand, made a fist, and punched the creature. My fist sizzled as it came in contact with the slimy scales. The fireball I had in my hand exploded, and took the monster's head clean off.

I felt Milo's xin humming behind me, and my heart dipped. His output was nowhere near what it should've been. So he was more tired than he let on, huh? The wave of monsters kept coming, and we did everything we could to fend them off. When I didn't have enough xin for fireballs or explosions, I used simple flames and ignited the ground around us.

That gave us a few seconds to appraise our situation, but it was dire. Maybe 5 minutes went by, and we killed around ten of them. The problem was, Milo's initial count was way off. There weren't seven more, but more than a hundred.

We were pushed back once again, as the circle of fire slowly sizzled it's last, weak breath. I summoned more, and I felt my crystal creaking painfully. I was out of xin 3 minutes ago. Now I was using what little was left around us in the air.

My vision blurred. I was completely empty, most people would've collapsed by now. As I expected, Milo lay lifelessly on the ground next to Patrik. My options were rapidly dwindling. I needed to decide. These were good people, and my teammates. I couldn't let them die. With a last, desperate attempt, I sent Eli a short message.

<I'm sorry.>

I heard no reply, and with no xin in the atmosphere, I didn't know if it even reached him. My vision darkened, and my legs were wobbling. With a final resolve, I ignited my body. A massive amount of energy got released as my cells burned up, dooming all the lizards to the afterlife with me.

My soul was already visible through the holes in my blazing skin. It was a glowing orange, another body inside of me. I kept it and it's power hidden for centuries. Maybe millennia. I can't remember anymore. As I was burning away my life force as fuel, the last of the lizards were finally eaten by the incredible inferno.

I felt light, and free. I could finally breathe after shedding the cage that was my body. It pressed on my soul for the two decades I was alive in this form. But human beings are incredibly persistent. Some skin, bones, and other various stuff remained, as a few patches of shabby clothing on a glowing, translucent girl. I could feel a small thorn in my chest, and I recognized it as my pitiful, sad little xin crystal.

A strange sense of euphoria came over me, finally returning to my true form. But my mood immediately darkened as soon as I saw the two limp bodies on the floor. Another set of memories needed to be erased from my stellar mind. My capacity for memories reached it's limit thousands of years ago. I was afraid my new ones would override the important information I kept hidden.

I felt this body's memories and consciousness smoldering away as I emerged from my cocoon. It was almost complete. Then I saw a man running towards me. He had white hair and a look of awe in his light blue eyes.

"Tara? What the hell happened here? What happened to you?" he held a strange, circular pink object in his arms.

Since the primitive, disgusting organs I used to speak burned away, I couldn't reply. I just pointed at the ground where my friends lay.

Friends... What a strange concept. My own thoughts felt more and more alien to me. Did I sacrifice myself for them? Why in the world would I do that? I need to finish my mission.

"Neo, what the fuck is happening?? Can we save her?" The man, more like a boy, shouted at the weird floating object.

No, not an object... It was... What was the name? Jellyfish. Haha, what a weird name! Neo, was it called, and Eli... They came for me. That's right, I called them. But why? It doesn't make sense. Instead of erasing this old body's memories, I started looking through them.

This boy... Eli. He's the key. I need to...

Neo, the jellyfish stretched out a strand of pink in my direction. It put it on the top of my head, and as it made contact, I heard sizzling as my hot skin burned the wet tentacle. I calmed down the burning process, cooling down my body.

Then suddenly, I felt a presence with me, inside my mind. That's right, like this, we could communicate! I was happy for some reason.

<Tara. You don't need to give up. Let us help please.> His voice came calmly. Neo had a thousand voices all stacked on top of each other. It was very calming. Almost hypnotic. Tara... That boy mentioned that before. What is that?

I was digging around in my fragmented memories for some clues. Right... That's my name. It was sluggish, but it trickled back to me in small drops. Who I was, why I was here, what was I doing. I almost lost myself for a moment.

<Please...> My consciousness was failing. I was slipping away. But then, Neo sang for me. A lullaby in a beautiful language, in thousands of voices simultaneously It was comforting, and reminded me of places far away that I haven't even been to.