Digging Deeper

The next morning, Ethan awoke to the sound of clanging boots and the low murmur of miners preparing for their shift. He lay in his bunk for a moment, blinking at the uneven stone ceiling above him. His muscles ached slightly from the previous day's work, but the discomfort only reinforced his growing determination.

The barracks were even worse than he'd imagined the night before. The stale smell of sweat clung to the air, mixing with the ever-present scent of damp stone and dirt. Men and women, miners all, moved about the dimly lit room, their faces weary but resigned to the grind. For many of them, this life was all they knew, and they carried the weight of it in their tired eyes and slumped shoulders.

Ethan, though, had other plans. He needed to escape this place—not just the barracks, but the whole system that kept him tied to this life of barely scraping by. The realization hit him like a hammer: he wasn't meant for this. Not forever.

His mind flashed back to the cave he'd found the day before. It was quiet, secluded, and far away from the noise and filth of the barracks. If he could carve out a space for himself there, he could train in secret and build his strength, away from prying eyes. The plan felt solid, but there was still much he didn't know about this world—or his system.

Ethan sat up, running a hand through his hair. He needed to gather more information.

The mines would provide an opportunity, of course. His Identify and Earth Sense abilities had already proven useful, and with time, he could use them to find valuable resources, ones that could fetch a good price on the open market—or better yet, through the system's Store. But that wasn't all. He had to keep tabs on his classmates. Each of them had been granted their own unique powers, and some of them were likely gaining strength far faster than he was.

After dressing and grabbing a quick bite of the tasteless rations offered in the barracks, Ethan made his way to the entrance of the mines. The cold, crisp air hit him as he stepped out of the cave-like barracks and into the early morning light. The mountains surrounding Gralheim loomed in the distance, their jagged peaks standing like sentinels over the town. Despite the beauty of the landscape, there was a sense of harshness to the place—everything was built around labor, around extracting value from the earth.

Ethan took a deep breath and headed toward the mining entrance, where Drogan and the other foremen were already gathering the day's workers. The gruff dwarf eyed Ethan as he approached, nodding curtly.

"Yer back for more, eh?" Drogan grunted. "Good. We could use someone with yer skills. Today, you'll be down in the lower tunnels. That's where we've been striking veins of enchanted ore—good stuff, but unstable."

Ethan nodded, feeling the familiar weight of the pickaxe over his shoulder. He had no intention of spending his life toiling in the mines, but for now, it was the perfect cover. As long as he kept a low profile, he could build his strength in secret, all while learning more about the resources buried beneath Gralheim.

Drogan led the group of miners down a winding path into the depths of the mountain, the air growing cooler and more stagnant the deeper they went. The light from the enchanted crystals embedded in the walls provided a soft, steady glow, illuminating the uneven path ahead. As they descended, Ethan focused inward, activating Earth Sense to get a better feel for his surroundings.

[Earth Sense Activated]

The ground beneath him seemed to hum with life. He could feel the vibrations of the rock, the subtle shifts in the stone as the weight of the mountain pressed down. There were veins of ore running through the rock—some mundane, some enchanted—but the deeper they went, the more he sensed something else. Something powerful, buried far beneath the surface.

He wasn't the only one who felt it.

One of the other miners, a woman named Valen, glanced nervously at the walls as they passed. Her skin had taken on a rough, stone-like texture since their transformation, marking her as one of the Earthbound—a race similar to the dwarves but even more deeply connected to the rock and stone. "Can you feel it?" she whispered to Ethan as they walked. "Something... big is down there. I don't like it."

Ethan nodded, but said nothing. He had felt it too—the pulse of power, the same one he had detected before. But now wasn't the time to reveal what he knew. Not yet.

As the group reached the lower tunnels, Drogan barked orders, splitting them into pairs. Ethan was assigned to a section of the wall where veins of enchanted ore glittered faintly beneath the surface. He hefted his pickaxe, but before striking the wall, he activated Identify.

[Identify: Enchanted Ore – Grade: Moderate. Stability: High. Potential Use: Crafting Focus Crystals.]

The familiar pulse of information filled his mind, confirming what he had already suspected. The ore was valuable, but it was stable enough to extract without much risk. Ethan chipped away carefully, his pickaxe striking the stone with precision. Each time he hit the rock, the system provided updates, guiding him on where to dig and how to avoid damaging the most valuable pieces.

He worked in silence for hours, the rhythmic sound of pickaxes and the occasional grunt of exertion filling the tunnel. The work was tiring, but Ethan found himself slipping into a meditative state, his mind focused on the task at hand.

During a brief break, Ethan took a moment to survey the other miners. Most of them worked with the same grim determination they had shown the day before, their bodies moving mechanically as they chipped away at the rock. But a few stood out.

Valen, the Earthbound woman, was moving with an almost supernatural grace, her hands shaping the stone with a finesse that belied her strength. Further down the tunnel, a Beastkin with clawed hands tore at the rock with brute force, his muscles rippling with every strike.

Everyone's starting to come into their own, Ethan thought. Their powers are manifesting, growing stronger. I need to keep pace.

As the shift came to an end, Drogan approached, inspecting the work. The dwarf nodded approvingly as he examined Ethan's pile of extracted ore. "Good haul," he grunted. "Keep this up, and you'll be earning more soon enough."

Ethan resisted the urge to scoff. More coppers weren't going to change his life. He needed system currency, and for that, he needed something rare—something others couldn't see.

As the miners began to pack up, Ethan activated Earth Sense one more time, letting the vibrations guide him. There it was again—that faint pulse, deep beneath the mountain. It was stronger here, almost beckoning him to explore further.

But that would have to wait. He had to be smart about this.

I'll come back later, he promised himself. When no one's watching.

Back at the barracks, Ethan sat on his bunk, staring at the few copper coins he had earned that day. It was a meager sum, and it only reinforced his determination to break free from the mining guild's grasp. He needed more than this—more than what the dwarves could offer.

Opening his system interface, he reviewed his progress for the day.

Status Sheet: Ethan Cole

Race: Sylven

Level: 2

Stats:

Strength (STR): 10Intelligence (INT): 14Wisdom (WIS): 11Agility (AGI): 9Endurance (END): 12Luck (LCK): 10

Abilities:

Identify (Level 3): Able to identify materials, ores, enchantments, and magical properties with increasing accuracy.Earth Sense (Level 2): Can detect vibrations and sense the structure of the earth, allowing detection of hidden resources, caverns, and magical anomalies.

Currency:

Copper Coins: 12System Currency: 0

Free Stat Points Available: 0

Store:

Basic Magic Rune Training (Cost: 500 system currency)Basic Combat Proficiency (Cost: 300 system currency)Beginner Mining Techniques (Cost: 200 system currency)

Map:

Gralheim Town: ExploredMines of Gralheim: Partial (deeper levels yet unexplored)Abandoned Cave: Discovered

Quests:

Current Quests:None

Ethan closed the system with a sigh. He was making progress, but it was slow. Too slow. If he wanted to break free from this life, he needed to take risks—calculated risks. And that meant exploring the deeper tunnels, finding the source of the power buried beneath the mountain.

But for now, he needed rest. Tomorrow, he would dig deeper—both into the earth and into the system's secrets.