The mining team had finished their duties for the day and were circled around a campfire. The smell of slightly salted and perfectly roasted meat wafted out.

  “Wow Boss, how’d you manage to hunt two Forestpin Bison? They’re supposed to be difficult for even early Qi Condensation cultivators to kill.” Lil Hu couldn’t help but ask.

  Gon raised the giant drumstick within his hands and took a rge bite. He chewed the meat within a few moves and swallowed it in one go.

  Hmm. Early Qi Condensation… If the Ore Refining Layer is my version, then I should be equivalent to a Mid Qi Condensation cultivator? Can’t tell honestly.

  “It’s all in the muscles.” He flexed his right arm, showing off his bicep peak that jutted towards the sky.

  “Keep up the good work and someday you can also acquire a body like mine.” Gon continued proudly.

  “You’re a freak. No one else here has grown as fast as you have,” retorted Bom. “There’s no way you could’ve lived like this in the city, with how expensive meat is over there.”

  “You might even surpass Quma and Guam given enough time,” chuckled Persimmon.

  “I’d welcome it. How did Quma and Guam become so rge anyway? They’ve been living the same as you with the usual rations yet they’re completely different.” Gon had been curious about this for a while. The twins, while they looked simir, were completely different.

  Quma was a bit slow and only used his rge body for manual bour. Guam on the other hand was completely different. He always kept his cool and would silently complete any task without fail.

  “We eat lots of rations, but we also can get more work done. If it wasn’t for Old Qiang, both of us would be… like skeletons. Our father was even bigger than us, like a towering giant.” Guam began.

  “My father ran a bcksmithing shop.” Guam interlocked his fingers, thinking back to his past. “Few years ago he died, and me and Quma weren’t skilled enough to continue running it, so I closed it.”

  Quma unexpectedly interrupted his brother. “You’re wrong! You’re skilled enough to be a bcksmith… It’s me who isn’t good with it.” Quma slouched as he stared at the ground, ashamed to even lift his head.

  With a chuckle, Guam patted Quma’s back. “I have a long way to go. We just need to save up money, then I can pay the sect to be an apprentice for a skilled bcksmith.”

  “Why do you have to pay the sect? Apprentices still contribute to the workload, so they should pay you while you learn. That’s the whole point of being an apprentice. Paying to be one sounds so dumb.” Gon scrutinised the sect as he held up his chin with his hand. “Why the hell is the sect so stingy?”

  Bom covered his ears as if he didn’t want to hear Gon’s bsphemous words. “Oi, Gon! You need to stop insulting the sect! If anyone hears you say that in public, they’ll punish you severely!”

  Gon only looked at the short Bom with a dumbfounded gaze, as if what he was saying was obvious. “But it’s true.”

  Guam sighed when he thought back to when he tried to become a disciple. “We don’t have the talent to become cultivators, so normally we aren’t allowed in the sect. But if I can save enough spiritual jades, I can pay to work for the sect as an apprentice. It’s worth whatever experience I can get, since most smithies in cities are family run. They don’t want to teach anyone else who'll become their competitors.”

  Gon was about to rant, but only stopped himself.

  Paying to be an apprentice? What a load of bullshit.

  Being an apprentice for someone is a mutual retionship. In return for a master teaching an apprentice, they get to have a worker they can pay cheaper than an actual trained bcksmith, while teaching them all of their skills to make them an even better worker. That way, they have a worker to rely on that has their knowledge, and become even more valuable than just hiring a skilled bcksmith.

  He thought back to his old life, where in some countries, the trade industries were constantly going through skill shortages in their industries.

  Trades. They were the roles that built the world. Plumbers, brickyers, shipwrights, butchers, and many more. From the construction of buildings and the mechanical trades, to the transportation industry and specialists in technology.

  These things couldn’t be taught in colleges or uni. These industries required a different process, where most of your experiences were in the field.

  All of these required apprentices. You could say they were the backbone of these industries, a necessary cycle, just like that of nature with the hydrologic cycle or the decomposition cycle.

  Without the flow of fresh apprentices learning from experienced masters of the trade, knowledge would diminish and be lost. Eventually, this would cause a shortage of skilled workers in the trade industries.

  And if the Ethereal Life Sect, and the city it controlled kept gatekeeping their trades, eventually skilled bcksmiths would diminish, until whatever was left wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demands of civilisation. Because civilisation would always continue to expand.

  Paying just to be an apprentice for someone? This was even worse than being forced to be a free intern in the white colr jobs. He had heard enough of the woes of his old friends suffering through that process, working for free for months just for an opportunity to get a paying job.

  As I thought, I might need to find a way to form a union here. The sect doesn’t respect any of us miners, let alone all of their other trades, if they pull off garbage logic like that. But how exactly can I do that?

  This was quite a big conundrum for Gon. He would need to spend a lot more time thinking about this matter.

  “I hope some day I’m able to return and reopen the store,” Guam continued with a light smile, as he revealed his dream.

  “That’s a good dream,” replied Gon. “In fact…” Gon crossed his arms as he came to a realisation. “Why don’t we make a bcksmithing forge here?”

  Not only did Guam and Quma look at Gon in disbelief, even the rest of the workers craned their heads at him, as if he was saying something absurd.

  Gon ignored their gazes, only to ask the twin brothers a question. “Guam, Quma, I want you two to make me some basic iron tools. Can you do it?”

  “We can’t just make a forge here. Even if I go back to our closed shop to gather what we could, we still need to build a proper forgery here, which’ll cost a lot. There’s no time while we work as miners.” Guam rejected Gon’s offer immediately, shaking his head. “It’s impossible.”

  “Impossible, huh.” Gon gazed towards the north where the sect was. “We work for cultivators that can control the weather and fly across the skies. And you’re already giving up like that?”

  “Don’t worry about all that. I’ll try to organise that to be done. But afterwards, can you two do it? Make me some tools?”

  The silent twin brother, Quma, was the one to speak up. Though he was nervous, and was often the quietest member of the group, he initiated the answer. “We… We can try.”

  “Really. You’re just going to try. I’m a customer paying you for these services, and you can’t guarantee the results, Quma?” Gon crossed his arms with a disappointed look, expecting a better answer.

  He’s a good d, he just cks confidence. When you have a quiet and nervous worker, the best way to open them up is to let them build up confidence through pride in their work. He just hasn’t had the right environment to facilitate it.

  Quma’s head was down as he heard Gon’s question. His more social brother, Guam, almost spoke up for him. But he saw Gon shake his head towards him. He knew what Gon meant instantly.

  Gon was telling Guam to let his quiet brother answer his question.

  Still slumped, Quma finally answered. “If you can find a way to help us build a forge here…” He closed his rge calloused hands into fists, finally looking Gon in the eye. “Then I can do it. Of course I can. Boss Gon!”

  “You don’t have to call me Boss Gon. This time I’m a customer. But that sounds good. I’ll let you two know of my pns to sort this out soon. I just need to… get my funds in order.” With a wide grin, Gon stood up to stretch his arms. “Ahhh, I’m hungry. I’m going to take another pte of food.”

  Everyone watched Gon’s back as he left.

  Even though it was unbelievable that he cimed to organise a forge to be built, it was Gon saying those words.

  And seeing his actions in the past month, especially when he raised the morale of everyone else, made them all believe in his absurd cim.

  Old Qiang quietly ate his meal, watching the whole conversation.

  He saw as Gon helped Quma gain more confidence, a worker who was always a mute, letting his brother talk for him.

  For a young boy who has only ever lived in a vilge, only to wither away as a miner… I wonder… Where exactly did you gain the experience to understand people like that, Gon?

  When Gon made it back to the dorms for all the young miners, he fell asleep.

  And entered his Inner World.

  In that cold bleached nd, there were now a few clouds hovering in the sky. The altar now glistened with a single slotted gem, and The Depths remain undiscovered.

  But this time, there was another object in the altar. Gon stood opposite the left face of the altar. Inscribed on its bck surface was a red and bck roulette wheel with a swirling green centre.

  This is the Mining Altar Nine-Coloured Divine Bowl.

  Pce any materials you have stored within your Inner World into the centre and try your luck!

  Rewards are randomised, according to the rarity of materials sacrificed.

  The monotone voice of the System expined the new ability he had just gained.

  “...What Divine Bowl! This is just a shitty roulette!” Gon chided the system. Gazing at the wheel, Gon was reminded of the few times he had visited the small-time casino rooms with his mates. He wasn’t a fan of gambling, but the rest of his friends were. Living as a bourer, every blue colr worker dreamed of winning big and living a vish life.

  “Oi Tim, Change the name, I can’t be bothered calling it that. Keep it simple… How about Mining Altar Lotto?”

  It will now be referred to as the Mining Altar Lotto.

  The System didn’t argue and complied easily.

  Gon couldn’t lie, he was admittedly surprised with how easy the System was to deal with now.

  “So I need to feed it materials to get something?” Gon looked around before his eyes nded on the pile of coal he had mined awhile ago. For a month, it had been sitting there but now he had found a use for it.

  He focused his thoughts and envisioned the coal entering the roulette. The rge pile of coal glowed white before being sucked into the green, swirling centre. Once all the coal had entered, the red and bck wheel began to spin.

  The colours mixed amongst one another, red and bck revolved rapidly.

  “Stop.” Gon called out and the wheel slowly stopped before nding on a red slot.

  The green centre stopped swirling and shone brightly.

  The light momentarily blinded Gon and once it dispersed, an object fell into his hands.

  Examining what he received, Gon could only stare in shock.

  “This is…”