Cave Stand

"And. Ha… I got this." Gin said as he did something magical.

Instantly, A golden 1x1x1 ft3 exited Gin's abdomen. It was where he could access his inventory which had 1 slot as of now. "Starter Pack of some sort. Shall I open it? …Clay? Hmm…?" Gin said with his devilish grin to taunt the dead Clay back to life.

Suddenly Clay's ghastly face recovered some vitality and like the flash, Clay sat straight up like a tree and said. "Quickly open the package P-Patriarch!" For a moment there, everyone was shocked but they somewhat understood the reasoning behind Clay's enthusiasm. So, Gin let this slide. How could he let his own brother die of envy?

"Alright. Alright. As you wish." Just like that, Gin opened it with only his will and it did open. As it opened, a golden light blinded the 4 but they did not avert their gaze from the box as if they were hypnotized by the light. 'How Flashy.' Genesis thought.

After about 5 seconds, the light dissipated and revealed the contents. The box was knowhere to be found and only its contents remained on Gin's hands.

On his hands, there was 1 small appetizing round golden ball, a booklet, and a mechanical eye? For a moment, Gin was lost in thought as he was not sure how to describe this situation.

Suddenly, Clay spoke up. "Quickly tell us what they are! Stop teasing us!"

"Clay's right. What are they?" Alex said.

"Can you appraise them?" Diesel said.

"Hold on." Gin said as he focused on the messages in his mind.

[Odin's 13th lost eye: Boundless knowledge comes with this treasure. Only given to Heavenly Bodies. Gains the ability to appraise materials that Odin and Heimdal saw with this eye.] [USE?(Yes/No)]

Gin smiled slightly and then instantly willed to use the mechanical eye. His plan was to, of course, appraise the other two items. But, as he thought of using the eye, it bolted out of his grasp and gouged his left eye out and took its place.

"Huh?! Aaaarrggghhh!"

"Gin!"

"Patriarch!"

Genesis did not even have the time to react! It was so fast that even lightning would lose in a race. In a fraction of a second his left eye was replaced. Now you see it, now you don't! Even the pain and his reaction was so late that he could not do anything at all. 'Damn! Why not replace Sel's blind eye! I have good eyes!' Genesis had the urge to roll and grimace due to the pain he felt. This was his line of thought as he endured the pain and forced himself to open his left eyelid to see if this new eye is any good.

"Gin! Your eye quickly, plug it back in!" Diesel said as he picked the eye off the ground in a hurry and positioned himself to 'plug' the eye back in as if that would heal it.

"It's useless, Sel. The nerves are already cut off!" Alex said in worry but had his slightly cold face. He assessed the situation and found out that the mechanical eye was missing and he instantly knew that it had somehow replaced Gin's left eye. 'This system is too profound.'

"That hurts and burns!" Gin said as he looked at his brothers. He saw Diesel holding his mushy eye with shaky hands, Alex was mumbling to himself while Clay had sparkly eyes that was saying 'Serves you right!'.

To add to that, he saw numerous blurry data around and it made his head hurt even more than the replacement of the eye's process. Information overload?! Atop his brother's heads, there were blurry icons and data that floats. 'Is this the eye's function?' he thought. As calm as he could ever be, Gin ignored the piercing pain and analyzed the pill and book.

[Awakening Pill: Safest pill to intake to open all meridians (Eat to be an entry cultivator)]

[Entry to truth: A book for 5 year-old children]

"I-It says that this golden ball is an awakening pill that when eaten, m-makes you a cultivator. The book is just a basic b-book. Ha…" Gin said as he somehow felt more and more tired when reading the texts displayed by the eye.

"Cultivator?! Midget!" Clay then swiftly snatched the pill and forcibly shoved it inside Gin's mouth. "What are you waiting for?! Senior system gave it to you so use it in a flash!" Clay had this premonition that the air around them had to be connected to some unknown power to them. Maybe like the mana and Qi that he had always read about back on earth. As soon as Gin had mentioned the system, he fell deeply in thought on what exactly happened while they were asleep in the ice. 'Are we really in the same dimension? Maybe another Dimension where Cultivators are abundant? Otherwise, how can anyone explain the presence of this Senior Seed System?!'

"Guhack!" Genesis choked on the golden pill because he did not have the chance to chew it. It directly entered his digestive system. After a few seconds Gin's consciousness faded. He seemed lifeless.

"What did you do?!" Diesel seemed to have been so shocked.

"I just helped the midget!" Clay rebutted.

"Heeey! Contact from multiple directions! Advancing at our position at a fast rate! Retreat to the cave! Go! Go! G…" Alex' voice faded together with Gin's consciousness. As for what happened after that, he did not know.

---Exactly an Earth day later---

"Ha…Ha…Ha…" Weak breathing sounds echoed inside the cave. A figure can be seen. If there was any light, one could see that he had blonde hair and blue eyes. His suit was dirty and bruises were all over his body. At his hands were the plasma pistol that had its nozzle burnt by its own power. It was like a pistol used for a thousand mighty battles. How many shots does it have left in its life? It had unlimited ammunition but, all things will come to an end. He was weakly kneeling and heaving up and down. At his frontside was the cave's opening and at his back was 3 unconscious figures. Like a mother that protected her young, Clay persisted till he was the last one awake.

"Haa…What rotten luck." Clay had his brows knitted tightly together. 'No ammo, no traps, no means to fight but one plasma pistol at the end of its life.' Clay thought as he looked at the not-so-trusty plasma pistol on his left hand. 'Maybe a thousand years of storage do affect your performance huh?' "Haa…"

After Gin's collapse, his three brother's retreated to the cave to be able to defend themselves. Contact was everywhere and rushed towards their position. In order to eliminate the disadvantage of being surrounded, Alex decided to lead the team inside the cave to be able to protect at least one front while Gin was still out of the game.

During the 24 Earth hours, it was hell in this cave. At first, the beasts of every kind and shape did not pay attention to them as their target was the corpse of the bear. So, the siblings managed to escape to the cave and prepare for defense. Unfortunately for them, the bear was quickly devoured by the plethora of beasts that came. Due to the sheer number of the beasts that Alex, Diesel, and Clay knew nothing about, they were terrified but steeled their balls to fight.

The bear was devoured and the strong beasts engaged in fights to decide who will reign. As for the weak ones, they had their eyes on the easiest looking meal. Just like that a last stand happened in the cave entrance until Clay and the other reached this state.

Diesel had a deep gash on his back that was longer than his forearm. Losing precious blood by the second. Alex was as pale as a ghost and was cold as one can ever get poison circulated in his veins. 2 more hours and he is dead.

Clay was no better. He had mangled his right hand, violet due to internal bleeding — his dominant hand. He had to use his left to aim the plasma pistol, fire more shots and maybe it'll turn out to be like his right hand. Broken 6 ribs piercing through his skin and blown eye sockets.

"Father…Ha…Mother…I tried." Clay then looked up as if there was something to see there. In this dark cold cave. As he looked up he saw a disgusted face. 'Midget?!'

"Quickly eat this and recover. I already fed them too. Go rest for now and I'll wake you later. I'll stand guard for you guys." Genesis quickly rapped his instructions.

"Cursed midget, I'm dying here and you dare tease me? Ha… Whatever, I'm too tired to look at you." Clay ignored everything else as he ate the golden pill that Gin gave him. He was truly tired. Just 10 seconds in and he was asleep like a baby.

"Thank you." Gin murmured as he pried open Clay's tightly clasped left hand to retrieve the plasma pistol. What's left of it that is. "Thank ya'll."