"Hmmmr?" Kioxe's expression changed slightly.

To Kioxe's dismay, he had reached a bottleneck.

He was only at the beginning stages of the fourth stage, but his soul training had become that of almost a standstill.

"What? Why can't I...." Kioxe couldn't comprehend why he would be unable to improve his soul. It had never been at a complete standstill until today.

"Ahhh, whatever...I'll just figure it out tomorrow." Kioxe decided.

Jumping down from his resting area, he went down the rough stone stairs. His sleeping area was actually a hole in the wall. Since Kioxe would always be able to work the longest hours, he was also the last person to be mining. The other kids would leave to get back to the surface to sleep, while Kioxe would walk midway up then fly into his resting area above.

It was four meters up and barely noticeable. Even if someone saw it, they wouldn't see Kioxe or be able to climb up as Kioxe had made sure there would be no footing upon the walls. It could be said that Kioxe had made a den of sorts inside the mine.

Upon walking for several minutes, Kale had finally reached the mining site. It truly was getting deeper and deeper. While at the same time, even harder to meet the daily requirement. The daily requirement was only 1000 hundred pounds of whatever they mined as it was becoming increasingly harder and harder to even chip the stone.

Mining early as usual, Kioxe took his pickaxe and pound it upon the stone slabs. The area that Kioxe was mining was unusual. Everyday, only one person would come down to mine this deep as it was really hot. The rest would dig several tens of meters higher as to be able to avoid the heat and dig for more stones. Even Kioxe hated the days where he was assigned to mine in the deepest corridor as the mortality rate there was rather too high.

*ding* *ding* ding*

The noise was now different as the slabs would barely budge, only chipped.

"Man, that Rudi better lower the daily limit or we'll be unable to meet it every single day." Kioxe complained. Although they barely could mine the deep corridor and were more of mining the more tolerable places, the stone slabs were still really hard to chip away.

On the days where they didn't meet their daily requirement, Rudi would punish every single kid. Although Kioxe had built up a much better tolerance for pain, he still loathed being whipped by Rudi.

*ding* *ding* *ding*

Kioxe started to sweat profusely. The heat could be said to be unbearable. At first, the mining three years ago was very cool and cold, but upon digging deeper, it became hot. The heat would only become hotter and hotter as they were all forced to go deeper.

*ding* *ding* *ding*

"What the?" Kioxe stared at the stone slab he was chipping away.

"Is that water?" Using his eyes, he quickly looked at the supposedly oozing white liquid. Although it was dirty and seemed black, Kioxe's mantis shrimp eyes wouldn't fool him. It really was white and for some unknown reason. It was also very blue in temperature, signaling that it didn't give out much heat. Rather, it was very cold.

"How?" Kioxe was perplexed. The stones were burning hot. There was no way for the water to not also be hot. As Kioxe carefully touched the water, it seemed to rush into his body. The liquid seemed to have a mind of its own as it rushed into his body. His body felt freezing cold. A single drop of it and his body was already frozen stiff.

The white drop of liquid actually travelled through his body and into his brain. Kioxe was about to subconsciously scream, but the coldness he was expecting disappeared. To his amazement, Kioxe felt like his life energy just increased. Closing his eyes and checking his soul, it seemed to have made his bottleneck disappear. Rather, it was actually increasing the rate at which his soul was producing soul energy.

"What the....I've already reached the halfway mark for the fourth stage?" Kioxe questioned.

Looking at the small puddle of white liquid, he seemed to be in awe at its effects. Wasting no time at all, he stored every single drop of the liquid in his interspatial ring. Then continuing on as if nothing happened, he continued digging.

"Hahahaha, whatever this liquid is, it's a real treasure. For there to be such a thing that would strengthen ones soul. Truly amazing!" Kioxe couldn't help but celebrate.

Continuing to slam his pickaxe upon the stone slab, he was determined to find more of it.

*ding* *ding* *ding*

"Ahhhh this is taking too long!" Kioxe became impatient. Wasting no time at all, he took out Nahlia and cut the stone slabs. It was surprisingly easy as the stone slabs now felt like tofu. Slashing and cutting, again and again, Kioxe became that of a madman. It didn't take long though before Kioxe realized the reality of the situation.

There was no more of the liquid. That was for certain. Although there was no more of it, Kioxe didn't seem to mind as he was already able to discover such a treasure.

"Forget about the fifth stage, I can probably reach the final seventh stage in a year with the puddle of white liquid." Kioxe cried joyfully.

"Now as for this corridor...." Kioxe then backed up until he was at the stairs and willed Nahlia with life energy to destroy the ceiling, causing it to collapse. There were frequent times when accidents like the ceiling crashing down only came to be natural, so it wouldn't be a surprise if it happened in the deepest tunnel.

With a smirk, Kioxe dirtied himself a bit and ran up the stairs. "Guys the lowest corridor collapsed!" Kioxe yelled. Kioxe watched as the other kids seemed to be relieved that it wasn't them who was mining there today. Not to mention, that also meant that they would now dig a tunnel in a different direction. Meaning that they would dig a new tunnel where it wouldn't get as hot for a while.

Seeing as no one question Kioxe about the incident, Kioxe could only smile as his tracks were perfectly covered up.

Author's Note:

Seeing as there are people who rate so early, it would really help if you could just tell me what I can improve instead of just rating without me knowing what I have to do.

Now as always, enjoy! :D

(next chap will be longer to make up for this short one?)