After getting some leftover paper and a thick pencil from one of the workers, Gon headed to one of the unexplored routes. The one at the deepest layer of the mines. He wanted to dig down a bit further, even if there were no veins of spiritual jade.

  Alongside routing out all the places that needed better support, Gon figured he’d spend some time mining as well.

  “Too bad we only have iron pickaxes. I’ll need to make some stone ones in my spare time if I want to mine softer materials like coal, salt or chalk, or this world’s equivalent for any other soft material. Also, they only have the gad pick designs. Guess it makes sense since it’s mainly used for tight-space ore mining.”

  Gad picks were the standard designs of pickaxes. Double-sided with a broad, flat chisel end for splitting, and pointed end for breaking.

  “I should ask a blacksmith to make a moil point and a quarry pick later on. Even if they didn’t need it much for mining spiritual jades, it’ll be helpful long term.”

  Moil points were a sharp and tapered metal spike, used for chiseling starter holes in massive and hard materials. It allowed a concentration of power in a single point, helpful with incredibly hard surfaces.

  A quarrying pick was basically just a large standard pickaxe with a longer handle, mainly to be used with both hands to break apart boulders and large limestones or marble stones.

  “It’ll be a pain if I actually want to be well-equipped with all the tools I need. Hmm, actually…” Gon held out his pickaxe, and envisioned his inner world.

  The pickaxe disappeared.

  Gon’s black eyes widened, realising the versatility of such an ability. “Initially, I thought I could only store minerals. But with this, I basically have my own portable inventory. Then… The amount of space I have is equivalent to that bleached land in my Inner World? Not bad.”

  Later on, he’d have to stock up on some supplies and chuck them in his inventory. With a thought, the pickaxe returned to his hand.

  “This is… Perfect. I have to admit, you did a good job providing this, my old mate System. Exactly how did you come up with all this?” Gon trembled with excitement. Excitement for the future.

  It is a paradigm based on the framework of your ideals and experiences. We can only form the singularity derived off your unique path. The rest depends on you.

  “Not bad. So that’s why you were irritated like some little brat. The moment I came into contact with qi, my Inner World was formed in tandem with my unique Blue Collar Physique. In every way, this is as perfect as it gets for my build, huh.” Gon headed further in the mining route, to the point the lanterns placed became even more scarce. “Don’t worry so much. Have some faith in your host and see the potential it leads to. If you’re going to provide me with this, that’s the least you can do.”

  Acknowledged.

  Having reached the wall at the end of the route, Gon fidgeted with his pickaxe. “There weren’t enough veins of spiritual jade here, so they stopped continuing. But, I’m just here to test how my body is now. Also, I’ll try to dig deeper. The main thing is finding a mineral deposit unique to this world. I really want to see what they’d be like.”

  Gon brought out the shovel on his left hip, to dig out any debris. “I’ll try as much as I can. Then I might go back to get some buckets, hammers and chisels.”

  With that, Gon began his mining expedition to find new and unknown gems and minerals.

  He mined, and mined, and mined.

  The concept of time had long disappeared for him.

  For over 20 years he had mined.

  Muscle memory was reignited with the remembrance of the soul. Even in his new life and body, his 20 years of experience soon rooted itself once more.

  The angle to strike.

  The power to smash.

  The finesse to use.

  And, the passion and love for the craft was brought out once more.

  The clock was ticking, yet Gon wouldn’t realise.

  Like a fool that happened to chance upon gold, nothing else in the world mattered. The concept of time had ceased to be.

  It was zen.

  Deeper and deeper he dug. Occasionally, he would move one of the lanterns deeper in the route he dug to shine some light.

  By now, he should’ve easily been tired.

  But his body continued to work.

  A person’s body is their holiest temple. It is their most valuable treasure, a priceless asset.

  If you were to offer a man a million dollars, but in return, he couldn’t live the next day, he would instantly refuse.

  If you were to offer a man two million dollars in exchange for an entire arm, he would refuse once more.

  And if you offered even a billion dollars for his vision, he would refuse.

  Life was sacred. And the body was holy.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The one thing Gon wholeheartedly focused on, aside from his work, was his body.

  The true power of the Blue Collar Physique was beginning to show itself now.

  Gon stopped for a moment, using his singlet to wipe away the sweat on his forehead.

  Unlike before in the mines, the route he had dug felt damp. It smelt somewhat like iron, yet strangely humid.

  He noticed a 5cm wide crack, with a gap on the other side.

  “There’s an opening? Is this a potential cave? Right, wasn’t there one worker who raved about cave diving as well?” Gon knelt down, trying to see what was on the other side.

  It was pitch black, but he felt a draft of air coming through.

  “A cave with just a 5cm wide entry way… It’s going to take some time to get through with this. Though I bet that one worker would still brag about squeezing his entire body through such a small gap. Crazy guy.” Gon knelt down, bringing out a hammer and chisel from his inventory. He didn’t need to bother using the tool belt on his hips anymore. And with less weight on him, the faster he could work.

  “It sure is quiet. I mean, I am used to it, but I was expecting to hear more annoying dings from that System.” Gon began widening the gap to enter the cave, gradually seeing more of the new cave.

  “Oi System. How about you tell me a bit about your life? I mean, why the hell do you wanna destroy heaven, and all that jazz?” Gon continued to chisel away at the now 7cm wide hole.

  To direct the nexus tachyonic energy resonance in the multiversal bridge, consolidating harmony and establishing consonance, correspond-

  “Hey, have you tried KISS? Keep it simple, stupid. And why exactly do you wanna do this nonsense, not the procedure,” Gon widened the now 10cm wide hole.

  There wasn’t a response for a good while. Almost as if it was struggling to answer in Gon’s terms.

  “The mark of an intelligent person is to be able to explain complicated things to even children. Don’t tell me you’re struggling that much?” Gon stood up, now taking out his pickaxe to do the rest of the work.

  We shall use an analogy in line with you. Gon, if you saw a man declaring himself as the greatest miner, when all he had done was strike out a single coal ore, and yet the world declared him as the greatest miner… Would you not usurp his title?

  That is our thoughts on Heaven.

  Gon didn’t respond immediately, focusing on clearing away the debris. After opening enough of a hole to enter, he stepped in with a lantern.

  “You have ambition. In the first place, you went to the extent of finding a host to fulfill your dreams, did you not? Scouring through entire worlds for your own goals.”

  “How comically human of you.”

  There was no response, but even Gon could tell the System was pondering. Based on his instinct.

  And thinking back on the knowledge he had on the world of cultivators and the heavens… It was quite limiting. But, he knew that above all else, everyone revered the heavens. It was this world’s version of their god, in a sense. Even though there was no doctrine, each culture had their own interpretation. Actually, it was more so the cultivators that declared the doctrine of the world, using the heavens as the reasoning.

  The System has the knowledge of the nature of this Heaven.

  I have 50 years to myself. To learn about this world, and understand it in every way, before I’m obligated to do this deal with the System. And it seemed quite confident that I would be willing to kill all its rivals that wanted to defy the heavens. Is it using my ideals and thought experience? Are they all crazed mass murderers or the like?

  The smell of iron was far more pungent. But it was mixed with a heavy smell. Gon wasn’t sure how to explain it. Like the air had more gravitas, even if his body was unaffected by it.

  If it was a different type of mineral deposit, even if it was nothing special to the world, to Gon, anything new would be worthy to dig out.

  But even then, I won’t know exactly how much stronger I can get. I’ve gotten into a couple of fistfights in my life, and even dealt with two break-ins with armed robberies, and another incident similar to it, but those were within the parameters of what was expected. If a situation occurs where I have to fight a cultivator… Then is it feasible? Hopefully, I’d prefer if I didn’t find out the hard way.

  But life didn’t work like that.

  Gon then noticed something.

  In the corner of the small cave, there was a crimson fuzzy texture, glistening when the light of the lantern reached it. Gon knelt down to feel it.

  It was almost like moss, mixed with the sensation of touching wet grass on an early morning.

  Wait, I should be more careful. It could be a type of poison.

  Gon observed his fingers, but noticed no change. He even tried smelling it, and it seemed to be the origin of that strange smell in the room… the smell of iron.

  “Well, it must be something unique to this world. But the shadow that formed is weird.”

  Gon noticed that to the left of this crimson moss, the light of his lantern didn’t reach it whatsoever.

  Whenever he moved his lantern lower to the ground, the flames flickered intensely.

  “What’s this reaction? The Jadeflame Crystal’s flame is covered by glass. Nothing should be affecting it like that. Or is the qi being disturbed?”

  The lanterns of this world were slightly different.

  Usually, lanterns, aside from the modern version which was just LED headlamps, required a constant flame through kerosene. There would be ventilation holes that allowed air to come in, and if the flame turned blue or grew larger, it also acted as a warning for methane or any other dangerous gases.

  But the lanterns of this world didn’t use kerosene or oils to make flames.

  They used Jadeflame Crystals, used as a core to form an eternal flame that didn’t require air, rather relying on qi. They were easy to build, and the Jadeflame Crystal would absorb surrounding ambient qi to function.

  There was no need for oil, wick, or even ventilation.

  But if the flame’s power was affected, then that also acted as a warning. That something ahead was tampering with the ambient qi, or also meant there was presence of dangerous gases.

  Gon moved the lantern lower towards that corner, and it almost disappeared.

  He knelt down, feeling for it.

  It felt weirdly sticky, but the colour of it was also similar to vanta-black. In fact, he felt it was far deeper than that.

  Gon began to drool when he realised what the phenomenon was. “Wait, no. It can’t be. This rock is able to affect flames, or light? This is… Truly an otherworldly mineral!” Gon felt shivers down his spine, but tempered it to concentrate.

  He had already found one of this world’s unique types of minerals!

  Gon placed the lantern in the middle of the cave, watching the light reach throughout all corners.

  Except one. Whereas light itself was forbidden to enter it.

  There was a deep grin on his face.

  If someone were to see his face now, they’d assume he had won the lotto.

  No, this was something even better than that.

  A new kind of mineral, unknown to him!

  One capable of affecting the laws of the world itself, ignoring the incandescent light of the lantern as if it were a black hole absorbing everything around it.

  Exactly what kind of object was this?

  What kind of effects did it have?

  Most important of all…

  Was it even possible for Gon to mine this object out? Or would its impervious, exquisite nature prove to be too difficult for him?

  “Nah, I will mine this.”

  I started to write this story with my good friend for fun, something more casual on the side while I write my main story Virtuous Demon. But I am quite surprised it ended up growing much faster than Virtuous Demon did in the beginning. Can't lie, it is quite a strange feeling.

  As for the upload schedule, right now I'm juggling two stories so I can do 3 chapters a week. I will be uploading the same as my other story, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00am PST.

  It is quite a low amount of chapters per week, huh. So let's do this. If Modern Miner keeps climbing and reaches front page, I'll go into mining overdrive and do 5 chapters per week! And who knows, perhaps this can become a daily upload release...

  My patreon will be up with 10 chapters ahead of schedule. I've set up milestones where the backlog can potentially increase to 25 chapters ahead. Right now there's 5 chapters ahead, I'll be uploading an extra chapter a day until I catch up on it. Here's the

  Come check it out, and also join my discord for the mining cult- I mean mining union.

  As always, if you're enjoying the story and want it to grow like Gon's muscles, give it a