697 A growing strength
Gary continued his mining work, and if he wasn’t working hard before, he definitely was working super hard now. He was crushing large pieces, taking chunks out with just a couple of swings and then would place his hands on them for a few moments.
Depending on whether the system screen would pop up or not would depend on whether Gary would break it down into smaller pieces, before secretly pulling out what he needed from it. He continued this, looking for specific types of crystals, and of course, he wouldn't take every crystal.
The actions looked a bit strange, as they couldn't comprehend why he would break some pieces down and not the others. Besides, there was a machine that would crumble the larger pieces into smaller pieces.
It was just their job to get it off this piece of rock, or mountain, whatever it was.
Gary wiped the sweat from his forehead as it was hot inside, but he still didn’t slow down. He had great endurance, one of the best after all.
"If you're so hot, why don’t you take off that mask?" Elijah asked, who was casually working next to him. He was keeping a pace that was the same as the other workers.
"It's dusty in here, you know, really dusty," Gary answered, as he picked up the piece he had just broken off.
[Beast crystal has been found]
[Basic tier beast crystal]
"The intermediate crystals give me one stat point, in fact, sometimes it hasn't even done that. I guess it has something to do with my stats being too high, or my level being too high in the first place. So I doubt the basic tier crystal will do anything. Besides, I can't take every crystal I find."
"Hey kid, you've made this barrel too heavy, I can't move it!" One of the older men shouted. He too, was covered in sweat and mud. His body was relatively thin. All of these guys in here were hard workers, mostly men.
While they allowed the women to work on the assembly line sorting out the crystals.
"It's okay, I'll take it," Gary said, grabbing hold of the two iron bars and rushing off to the sorter machine.
The old man who had shown them the ropes and what to do, couldn't help but smile as he saw Gary.
"Ah, when I was his age I was just as strong," Earny said. "Your friend, if he carries on like that he might get noticed by the higher-ups. They like to bring the stronger ones into their group."
"Oh, really," Elijah said, as he held the handle of the pickaxe more firmly, he lifted it above his head and swung it down. When it hit the rock, it was cutting through it like butter. It wasn't a single crack that went to the bottom, almost the whole pickaxe touched the floor, cutting a large piece of it off.
"I guess I should work a bit harder then," Elijah said.
When Gary returned, he could see Elijah working away, and at a speed that nearly matched his.
"Oh, did something light a fire in your belly?" Gary commented.
"I'm just trying not to fall behind," Elijah said, with a big smile on his face.
The rest of the workers continued to watch the two at work, and due to them being so impressive, they could relax a bit. They weren't directly being supervised in the mine. The owners of the factory would only come in once in a while to make sure everyone was doing what they needed.
However, they did have a quota of weight that the group had to meet each day. Some days it was harder to reach that quota than others, due to lack of energy or just hitting a rough patch in the mine, but with this, they felt like they might get to relax a little.
Most of the crystals that Gary had found were intermediate crystals, but he did find one advanced-tier crystal. If he was honest, he would have liked to have taken this back. Maybe someone, even Tom, could have turned it into Altered solution for the gang, or he was sure it could sell for a high price on the market. But it was too risky, causing trouble this early on, because Gary had another idea, an even better idea.
'These basic-tier crystals, although they might not help me anymore, what about the others? They're werewolves as well, so their bodies should have the same effect. Each one of them can get stronger... but I can't take the crystals out of here. Still, there is something I can do.' Gary was smiling due to how much of a genius he felt he was right now.
Gary
Grade: Rook
Class: Dark Warrior
Level 28
[Health 300]
[Energy 500]
[Strength 67]
[Dexterity 53]
[Endurance 57]
Gary's stats were improving. Consuming the crystals didn't give him exp, so his level stayed the same, but he only wished to increase his level in the first place to improve his stats.
Continuing like this, he wondered how far he could go. How many crystals could he eat until his stats stopped improving? There was also another factor; surely his stats weren't limitless either, so at some point, his strength would have to stop.
His werewolf body already felt strong, but what about those that were beyond Midwak? So far on his journey, he had been just trying to get stronger than Midwak, but there was an even bigger goal beyond him. The other werewolves and the vampires.
'I'm going to continue to get stronger, not just stronger than Midwak, but strong enough to stop anyone from hurting my family again. And then, Mum, when you wake up, you can live the peaceful life you always wanted!'
Picking up another crystal, Gary crunched down, thinking about the future.
*****
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