Chapter 1048
Down in the mines, Durff was very seriously working with his pick. He wasn’t thinking of swapping weapons or combat styles or anything- this was merely a form of labor. And despite what people might think about pulling apart rocks, it was a sort of skilled labor. Though people in the Scarlet Alliance were pretty good about that kind of stuff, Mundi had implied that working in these mines wasn’t a particularly sought after position. It came with decent enough rewards, but as it meant most of the day without access to upper energy cultivators weren’t terribly fond of it.
Which was why they should have been more serious about their bodies. Oh, they were strong and had gained more strength working in the mines… but even the Body Tempering stage wasn’t just exercise. It involved using energy to promote growth- and while that wasn’t possible in the void ore mines, that didn’t mean it was the only method.
Durff thought a lot about his muscles as he swung. It wasn’t just because he liked his muscles- though he was growing rather fond of them- but because the mental focus on them actually helped a cultivator promote their growth. That was much of Nthanda’s path, and some of the insights were from after she surpassed Life Transformation, almost entirely giving up on energy.
It would be nice to meet in her in person, she seemed like someone that would be fun to train with. Unfortunately they were in different realms, and the Scarlet Alliance didn’t have any ships that could go between the realms whenever they wanted. Though the way they said that made Durff think it was more of a ‘not yet’ thing. Or maybe it was a secret and they already had some? They had a lot of things he thought were impossible.
His pick stuck into the wall, and he twisted and pulled. Huge chunks of rock tumbled to the ground, and Durff realized he was getting pretty good at this whole mining thing. Mundi was next to him. When they’d gotten out of the mines Durff realized the guy was a peak Spirit Building cultivator. He’d been a bit surprised that Durff was in Integration, but it hadn’t changed Durff’s offer, and made Mundi even more ready to accept watching the videos. Complete with energy replication, though that was not good for the battery life so they could only watch a certain amount each day.
Durff and Mundi together were tunneling the width of an offshoot vein, leaving huge piles of stone and ore beneath their feet. A half dozen others were responsible for picking up whatever they stepped beyond, so that they didn’t have to stop to carry things away.
Mundi’s body wasn’t as strong yet, but he was definitely better with his pick. Durff could drive his all the way up to the handle and wrench things apart, and he could do it several times faster, but he still barely managed to pull down more material than the experienced miner. Mundi’s body should grow faster than Durff’s, but of course Durff had a lot of improvements to make in technique so they weren’t too unbalanced.
It was technically against protocol for them to be standing on the piles of rubble they made, but unless either of them collapsed the ceiling or got in the way of each other’s picks they were safe. Even if a pick rebounded off a particularly dense rock, Durff could prevent his pick from hitting Mundi with his muscle control and Mundi simply couldn’t damage Durff’s body. They still remained far enough apart that it shouldn’t really be an issue anyway.
The rubble beneath their feet made positioning more awkward, but that was just an incentive to improve their stance and technique. A few other people had begun training with them, but not everyone was willing or able to put in the effort required to develop bodies beyond normal limits. It was exhausting. That was one of Durff’s favorite parts, going up at the end of the day barely able to stand.