Gon's body rapidly inflated like a balloon, expanding to inhuman lengths. It was then followed by an eruption of steam, as his body deflated, his skin sticking back to his bones. This process continued throughout the night, unbeknownst to Gon and the rest of the miners.

  Though it was early morning, Gon woke up out of habit. Yawning as he scratched his stomach, he watched the miners who were packing up the meat for preservation stare at him.

  Though Gon chalked it up to having a proper rest, he noticed the boundless energy within his body. The aching had disappeared, and the perpetual exhaustion was gone. He had the urge to go on a marathon, just to let it all out.

  But he couldn't lie, he also had the urge to eat a hearty breakfast.

  "What. You guys look like you've seen a ghost," Gon said, walking towards the early birds who were up. Well, technically I am.

  "Who the hell are you?!" One of the miners with orange hair said, around a similar age to Gon. His nickname was Persimmon, since he never mentioned his real name. He dropped the salt he was using to dry cure the meat, and realising his mistake, he stumbled around to pick it up.

  Don't tell me I ended up reincarnating in another body again?!

  Gon looked at his hands just to double check, and immediately noticed the difference.

  Compared to the night before where he was literally a bag of skin and bones, he now had a lean body with some form of muscles appearing on it. He actually looked like a normal human being, rather than being a malnourished slave on the verge of death. Or rather, one that already died.

  "It's me, Gon." Gon raised his hands and felt his face. His previously shrivelled cheekbones were now full while the rest of his body radiated strength.

  Lil Hu and Old Qiang had also awoken and noticed Gon's transformation.

  "Boss! You've become a true man amongst men! You've gone from a rising ghost to a rising dragon!" Lil Hu gave a double thumbs up.

  "To think he just needed some meat to get back into shape… We really need to increase our rations from the sect somehow." Old Qiang got up to help the crew preserve the excess meat, so they could make it last for as long as possible.

  Gon brushed them aside and sat down next to Persimmon who had just gotten the fire started. A low rumble echoed from his gut, hungry for the meat that was being cooked.

  "Come on, let's eat. Don't worry about the quantity, I'll figure something out later. We've got a long day ahead of us." Gon instructed, bringing the miners together for breakfast.

  Even though he had eaten a massive feast last night, he still had hunger pangs coming from his stomach. Is it because my body used it all up to form this physique? Is this the true power of the Blue Collar Physique, to increase my metabolism to absurd lengths as well? Damn, it really gave me the effects of steroids, on steroids. I'll have to test it out in a bit.

  Once the group had finished their meal, they collected their pickaxes and made their way back into the mine. Gon took the lead, Lil Hu and Old Qiang followed behind, with the rest trailing slowly.

  The carnage left from last night's battle remained untouched, aside from the entryway being unblocked. The shattered wooden pillars, collapsed rocks and vast amounts of dust littered the area, like a scene straight out of an apocalypse.

  "You really did a number here, Boss," said Lil Hu.

  "Hm, we're going to have to clean this up first. This area is in no condition for us to mine." Gon assumed command like it was natural.

  "First, we need to remove the large rocks and debris. Quma and Guam, you bring the minecarts." He signalled towards the back of the pack.

  Quma and Guam were twins. They resembled small mountains as they towered over the rest of the miners. In contrast to their size and stature, their voices were quiet and meek.

  "Sure thing…. Boss Gon." They also began to refer to Gon as Boss. As if it were natural. Let alone the fact this man had ended up saving their lives.

  And they were going to do as Gon instructed anyway, so there was no point denying it.

  "Second, Bom go bring a shovel and start working on clearing out the rubble and dust." Gon pointed towards a thin man with a sharp curved nose.

  Bom scrunched up his face as if he was kicked by a donkey. "Look, I get you saved our lives, but you aren't the foreman. You can't just go around ordering everyone like you're the top dog now."

  Gon raised an eyebrow, grabbing a shovel as he was going to work with them as well. Ah, old habits don't die hard. I was just a mule working in the mines, so I need to work my way up here. Hopefully it doesn't take too long, that way I can improve the mine properly with my knowledge.

  Old Qiang stared at Gon's sudden change, gazing at his back. This kid…

  "Oi Gon!" Old Qiang called out to the boy he once knew as the scrawniest and meekest.

  Gon looked back, holding a shovel on his shoulder. "What's up Old Qiang?"

  Old Qiang gazed at his eyes once more.

  Before, they were soulless. At one point, literally lifeless. With no conviction, and only resignation at the state of his life, he had once been a miserable slave.

  Someone who had joined the Ethereal Life sect full of vigor, only to fall from grace. All for the sin of speaking out towards the Sect Elder's granddaughter.

  Old Qiang knew what it was like in the sect.

  He knew it very well.

  "Are you an evil ghost that's risen in the corpse of someone else?"

  Gon laughed.

  For quite a while as well. "What makes you say that?"

  Old Qiang likewise flashed a deep smile, with his yellowed out teeth. "Did you think no one would ask? In one night, you've completely changed. Even giving yourself a new name, you're completely unrecognisable to the old you."

  With a wry smile, Gon looked down at his own body. He held out his right arm, once withered and malnourished, now healthy with some semblance of muscle. "Old Qiang. Have you ever met death before?"

  "Death. There was a day where it felt like that." Old Qiang thought back to the past.

  "Once, I had resigned myself to my fate. Pitying myself, I worked myself to the brink of death with the thoughts of helping my family. I forgot to think for myself, and even care for myself. The worst thing was that I forgot to believe in myself." Gon thought back to the memories of Kuang Gong. "That was my biggest mistake."

  "I kept my heart closed off. I never made the effort to even talk or befriend any of you. I believed in a lie that if I pushed myself without a vision, I would eventually escape. I would become better, a superior being, a cultivator who would make his family live a great life."

  The old man of the mine grew enamoured with this man's words. "And what made you change that?"

  "I said it, didn't I? I met death. Then I realised how absurd it all was." Gon looked towards the direction of the Ethereal Life Sect. "So I decided to stop hiding a face. To revel in my true self. Like when we grovel and kowtow at the appearance of cultivators, or we switch to a different tone when we talk with our parents compared to our friends. I was always like this. I just hid it in my own weakness."

  Gon didn't lie.

  He knew from the memories of Kuang Gong. That's right. You too once wished to defy the norms. Isn't that why you ended up here in the mines? But the weight and responsibility of supporting your family while making an enemy out of the sect was too much to bear. You were just a kid. And yet, I recognised that flame of ambition that welled deep in your heart. No matter how much you swung that pickaxe, you held onto it like a flickering candle in the middle of a blizzard.

  Gon heard the sounds of loud slaps. Old Qiang was slamming his soft palms against his thighs, with a rambunctious laughter. "You really are strange! You met death, and in turn it gave you a renewal of your life! How many people can say that?!"

  Then he thought back to that one day, where Old Qiang himself met a day of death.

  On that day, he had resigned himself to his fate, and lost the will to fight anymore.

  Yet this boy went the complete opposite direction. Once a weak and malnourished slave, death allowed him to forget about the weight of everything, and live true to himself.

  Based on the stories I heard of Gon in the sect, it sounds like he was always like this. Otherwise, how else would he defy that man's protege when no one else would dare to. Even though they are under the banner of a righteous sect, the world of cultivators has different rules. They merely have to hold up appearances to the public, and do as they wish.

  Stolen story; please report.

  He walked over to Gon, slapping him on his shoulder. "Fine, fine. I'll appoint you as a new foreman as a trial. All of the newbies have to follow you, so make use of them and show us what you can do. Ghost Axe Gon."

  Gon's head jerked back on his neck. "Don't tell me the others are actually calling me that?"

  "No one's calling you King of Muscles, you silly kid. Now go do some work. You're on trial, so if you end up being useless, you'll lose your title."

  Gon snorted, smirking back with conceit and arrogance. "Shut up old man, I know what I'm doing. Just sit on your arse and watch." With that, he left to enter the mines, leading some of the others to continue work.

  And with the announcement of Old Qiang, the few miners scrutinising Gon's new actions strutting around as if he were in charge, had dissipated like ashes in the wind.

  Gon stretched the shoulder that Old Qiang slapped, readying himself to enter the mines.

  Now then, it's time I test out this Blue Collar Physique.

  Gon spent the next half of the day working with his team, getting rid of the rubble and clearing up the mines. While working with the team, he asked around for some paper to work on.

  "You want paper? Tell Old Qiang's mate to order it and send the request to the Ethereal Life Sect. Also, you suggested we replace all the timber supports in the mines. It's too expensive, the sect will probably reject that request." Bom said while picking his nose with a finger darkened from the rocks.

  "Bloody cheapskates. Is it the Ethereal Life Sect or a motley of beggars? This is just their bullshit jurisdiction getting in the way." Gon spat on the ground.

  "Oi Gon! Can you stop insulting the sect? If that disciple guard hears you and reports it, you'll get punished!" Bom stumbled on the spot, fearing if anyone had heard them talking.

  "Heh, I think that disciple Han would be inclined to agree. Hell, he probably has a lot more worse things to say about them. Ease up, we're in the mines." Gon slapped Bom's back, leaving a deep handprint on his shirt. "Tell the lads I'm going to scout out the routes we have. We still need to work on the timber supports either way. I'll be back."

  Rubbing the back of his neck, Bom sighed. "Okay, Boss Gon. You didn't have to hit me that hard."

  Gon headed to one of the caverns, picking up a pickaxe along the way. If he remembered correctly, there was a small area that had some coal deposits. It was the perfect place to test things out.

  It was a shame they didn't make much use of it. The only purpose of this mine was for the Spiritual Jade mineral deposits, that was all. And since the mine belonged to the sect, there was no point or time mining different resources, since you didn't own it nor could you sell it.

  When Gon found the exposed coal seam, he recognised the pattern of the shiny, smooth and deep black coal. He recognised the type.

  "It looks similar to bituminous coal. It's not as hard as anthracite coal, but definitely not soft like lignite coal. Alright, good enough to test it out."

  Lignite was a brown and crumbly soft coal, the earliest form of coal.

  Anthracite coal was a shiny, metallic black that was considered the hardest type of coal, formed after millions of years.

  And bituminous coal was around a grade below anthracite, still relatively hard to mine.

  Gon raised his pickaxe up high, and went in for his first strike.

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 1%.

  You are still at Level 1 for Mining.

  "Th-there's no way… Right? How is my mining proficiency level 1?!" Gon felt like he was struck by lightning, with how poorly the System graded his skills. It didn't make any sense whatsoever.

  He raised his pickaxe once more, striking at the mineral deposit again.

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 1%.

  You are still at Level 1 for Mining.

  "Or maybe I'm actually improving ridiculously fast, because of my technique and form? Each strike is causing a change."

  Gon struck again, testing his strength and physique. His stamina was also noticeably much bette-

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 1%.

  You are still at Level 1 for Mining.

  "...Can you stop?"

  He didn't see a response, so Gon took a deep breath.

  This time he did a dozen strikes back to back.

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 0.1%.

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 0.1%.

  Ding! Mining Proficiency has increased by 0.1%.

  You are still at Level 1 for Mining.

  Gon even pretended to strike the last time, clearly not hitting the coal deposit.

  Ding! Mining-

  "Turn this shit off! I don't wanna hear it every single time I goddamn move my dickaxe around!"

  You are still Level 1 for Mining.

  Gon had the urge to bang his head against the wall.

  But he feared that if he did that, he'd still hear the stupid notification.

  "Just remove this stupid skill! I'm not a bloody level 1 miner! I've done this for decades!" Gon raised his pickaxe to the sky, as if threatening the words to disappear.

  The System is willing to remove the skill, alongside your physique, since you have given up on being a miner.

  A pop up appeared directly in front of Gon, this time with a yes or no selection.

  Gon punched the no button with anger, but the bastard System actually swapped it to a yes right before he was about to hit it!

  Barely able to dodge it at the last moment, Gon put up his middle finger to the sky instead. "Do you want your host to look like a lunatic to everyone else?! Stop playing with me like some stupid kid, and help me out here! I already agreed to your bullshit plan!"

  This stupid System had almost made Gon turn crazy from anger, making him take deep breaths. He tried to calm himself down using a breathing technique.

  He inhaled, before exhaling with a ha sound, like the ocean wave.

  Ding! The Standing Ocean Breath's proficiency has increased by 1%.

  Gon didn't react with anger this time, trying to zone out the sounds and notification dings.

  This thing is actually mad about me choosing this physique. It still hasn't given up on me doing those other ridiculous ones. Fighting for the rest of my life dealing with all that cultivator bullshit, you can kiss my ass with that one.

  Gon tensed his forearms, gathering his strength. "But, I'm definitely much stronger than before. My body has replenished itself with the protein and calories I ate, but mainly with the help of my physique. Okay, let me test out those Spiritual Jade mineral deposits."

  Gon left the small corner of the mine that was left untouched, wanting to check out the new kind of mineral deposits found in this world.

  The Spiritual Jade mineral deposit.

  Supposedly, everything in this world had the potential to harbour the energy of Qi.

  And Spiritual Jade was the standardised currency throughout the entire world, while also being used as the main energy source for everything.

  Though Gon had seen the life of Kuang Gong, he had to check it out for himself.

  This mythical object, capable of granting one the ability to sunder the earth and split the skies.

  And what the mine was used for, was simply mining the lowest grade Spiritual Jade found in the world of cultivation.

  Gon found a mineral deposit, a dark green colour with a dull sheen. But, when Gon looked at it from a different angle, he could see light flicker deep within.

  Warning! The moment your physique gets into contact with Qi, your path will be set in stone. You will have the unique cultivation method of a miner!

  You won't be able to conquer the skies, or be undefeated as the strongest cultivator in the world! Your pat-

  "Let's take out a chunk of it." Gon raised his pickaxe, bringing it down to feel the hardness of the Spiritual Jade.

  The world turned grey, almost as if time stopped.

  And only the brilliant luminescence of the System interface appeared in front of Gon.

  The Host has finally connected with the Qi of this world, absorbing it into his body through the Blue Collar Physique.

  Gon, you have now taken the first step into becoming a mediocre miner, and the greatest cultivator!

  The Depths have been unlocked.

  Establishing the Inner World of Gon through compiling his entire existence into a singularity.

  Ignoring requirements laid out by the Heavens.

  Before Gon even had time to react, the scenery had completely changed.