Nylon's shirtless figure erupted with a dark golden glow, representing his breakthrough into the Late Copper Body stage—just a single level away from the Peak Copper Body stage!
"As I am, I can rival an ordinary Venation Plane expert with my body alone." Nylon clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling an incredible level of power circulating within them. He was confident that this, along with his retained combat experience as a Sword Saint, would be sufficient enough to hold off a single Warden.
Even so, he wouldn't attempt an escape right now.
He had to put his hopes on the Infinite Multiplier System, leaning on the possibility of acquiring more and more good stuff in the future.
Opening his gold-glazed eyes, Nylon looked down at the four identical manuals laid out before him. He wasn't sure what he'd do with so many of them, as they really only had a one-time use.
*Ding!*
[It would seem that it's time for me to inform you of the next System Feature—Fusion—the ability to combine 10 of any identical item into a superior item.]
[For now, store any excess items or objects inside your Inventory, and when you obtain more of those objects in the future, you can try to fuse them. Of course, there's also the obvious option of just selling or trading excess items in the outside world.]
Neither selling nor trading was currently an option for the Slave Nylon, thus he adhered to the first suggestion. The four |Basic Body Refinement Manuals| were kept inside his Inventory, where they then appeared in a box space, with a counter of '4' at the top right of the box.
[Stored 4 'Basic Body Refinement Manuals']
Nylon also took the chance to hide away the empty Body Tempering Liquid vials.
[Stored 12 'Empty Vials']
After all was said and done, Nylon rose from his cross-legged position. He adjusted to his far more agile and muscular body in record time before leaving the tunneling Mines.
The world aboveground was no paradise, as highly dense clouds of burned chemicals had produced an air of dismay, but it was still better than being in the hot mines.
If it was the him from before, Nylon would surely be coughing up a fit right about now. However, because of his successive breakthroughs into the Late Copper Body, his immune, circulatory, and respiratory systems had been tremendously improved. The burnt chemicals were no longer an issue.
There were multiple entrances to the North Sea Mines, where Slaves mined special Spiritual Energy-infused ores called Spirit Stones. These Mines had thousands of Slaves slaving away in them and were located on the coastline of the North Sea.
For housing of these Mine Slaves, shabby-looking wooden cabins were placed around the entrances to the Mine. Each cabin had between 10 and 20 Slaves living within them, and as the individual cabin space wasn't the least bit large, living quarters were very cramped.
Several Wardens could be seen patrolling the area, but with his newfound Body Cultivation, Nylon didn't worry about being spotted. He snuck around them, moving like a phantom.
The spears and swords they were carrying enticed him—especially the multipliers above them—however, he held himself back. There was a time for everything, and that time was not now.
After some seconds of covert travel, Nylon arrived at his designated cabin. His mood fluctuated. It was the same place he had been sleeping in for the last year, but for some reason, he felt as if this would be one of the last times he'd ever observe its austere infrastructure.
What Nylon was feeling was… freeing.
Something that he hadn't personally experienced since his time in the World of New Dawn.
Entering the cabin, Nylon was immediately greeted with a blanket of darkness. The other Slaves were all asleep. This made sense, considering that it was already past midnight.
Unless you wanted to get whipped to death by the Wardens the following day because of your lack of energy, it was best to get as much sleep in as humanly possible. Only that way could you survive to see the new dawn.
With a series of movements just as covert as before, Nylon slipped into the bottom bunk of his bed unnoticed.
There was no way to avoid punishment for overstaying his shift in the Mines, but at least by being sneaky, he could avoid that punishment during the period when he was supposed to be sleeping.
He liked to sleep, for it helped him remember the stunning silhouette of that goddess—his only solace in this cruel world. Nothing was allowed to interrupt this peaceful time of his.
— A Few Hours Later —
"Wake up, you lazy maggots!!" A Warden's thundering voice startled all the Slaves of Nylon's cabin awake. It was still dark outside—roughly 5 a.m.
Stomping in, the Warden walked to the bed where Nylon was now sitting up like an owl in. The Warden's lips curled in disdain as he made a threatening gesture with his whip.
"You never clocked out of the Mines yesterday, worm," the Warden stated aggressively. "For that, you'll be receiving an additional two hours of Mine work as well as twenty whippings at noon."
Twenty whippings at noon!?
Surprise and pity filtered through the expressions of many. Enduring something like that at the most grueling time of day would put any normal adult man on the verge of death—not to mention that Nylon had to work a 20-hour shift today before that.
He was dead for sure…
Yet, in response to this harrowing news, Nylon simply nodded.
Before his transformation through Body Cultivation, his back had been covered in scars. His scars' scars even had scars, all obtained from beatings and whippings.
Being whipped was nothing new to him.
But the Warden didn't care. He hated Nylon's indifference.