Not long after they were done at the consortium they parted ways , with Ogras heading to the camp to start converting more raw crystals he had - found’ in the town . Meanwhile , Zac headed toward the mines to start mining himself while staying in the energy-rich atmosphere of the tunnels . Ogras estimated the daily turnover from the mine to be roughly 5 000 crystals now that most of the demons were gone and they were short on man-power .
That meant that together with whatever Zac managed to excavate the daily Nexus Coin gain would be roughly 250 000 . It didn’t seem like too much compared to the prices of some of the structures in the Town Shop , but it was a steady source of wealth that could be increased as soon as more citizens arrived . And judging from the tunnels he had walked through before , the crystals would last for years .
That meant that before the horde arrived he would be able to afford the E-Grade Medium Scale Town Defense Array] array he had spotted earlier for 5 000 000 Nexus Coins , and even add in some more fortifications .
After walking for half a day and killing a barghest every now and then , Zac finally reached the mines once again . Less than two days had actually passed since he last was here , but it felt like much longer for some reason .
After walking some distance into the tunnels he felt the air had filled up to the density of cosmic energy that suffused the depths and going any further wouldn’t make the environment any better . Unless he went to that cave he woke up in , but it was too far into the mountain for convenience .
Thus began Zac’s monotone days down in the mines . On the first day he only focused on recuperation and seeing whether staying here actually helped with his situation . He expended some cosmic energy by using the guidance system , and was ecstatic to notice that he actually recovered quicker here compared to at his camp . It looked like the demon had told the truth . The difference was small though , but it gave Zac some hope .
The following day he retrieved Alyn , enlisting her as a private teacher to go through various subjects about the System , Cultivation and the Multi-Verse . Every time he paused after having furiously whacked at the mines for a few hours they would go over some subject . Alyn also helped him recruit a few ranger demons that would lead a barghest to a patch of grass next to the mine entrance . It was the closest spot that System considered a forest , and killing a beast there did advance his quest .
After two days of trials he learned that he only needed to kill a monster every hour , and then that whole hour would be considered as - fighting in the forest - . After that his daily life took on a very structured schedule .
He’d mine for roughly 45 minutes , then run out of the caves to kill a barghest . After running back to his mine-shaft he’d have a mini-lecture of 5 minutes with Alyn while he had a small break , before starting mining again . He felt a bit bad for the demoness having to just fiddle around for 55 minutes an hour , but she seemed perfectly content taking out a book and read in a comfortable couch . And Zac guessed it beat toiling to erect a wall .
On the fourth day Zac got ten identical axes to the two he had from a scared-looking demon . It looked like it would take some time until they warmed up to him . He didn’t want to use other weapons even while mining , and instead used his weapon of choice . His mining wasn’t only for gaining wealth , but also to improve his proficiency with his axes .
Every time he hit into the wall , no matter if it was with the edge , the spike , or the butt , he tried to remember the trajectories and methods that he learned from the guidance system . He had realized that while blindly following the paths had made him stronger , there was a limit . If he wanted to truly improve he needed to internalize the teachings and understand why he swung like he did .
He realized that just some small differences in how he applied force , or a slight change in angle on impact , could have a huge difference in how much rock he managed to cut . As Zac progressed through the days more and more rock started to gather at his feet . His furious assault on the mountain walls kept damaging the axes , and he was forced to keep circulating them and let the old ones rest .
As time passed he felt that his pathways were truly slowly healing , as every day he could sense his recovery speed had increased a bit . Still , the improvement was very limited , and he wasn’t sure if he’d make it in time for the beast horde .
If he had to point out one negative about his current lifestyle was the complete and utter lack of progression in levels . He unequipped his amulet long ago , and the few barghest he killed per day could barely move his level forward .
