Chapter 57: I like to y with dirt.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ahhh!!! We. Did. It!" Drake shouted in triumph, cing the chunk of silver gray stones into his inventory. Looking at the new prompt.
<b>[Profession Quest! Mine an assortment of Gems and Minerals.]</b>
<b>[Completed]</b>
<b>[ept Rewards?]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake mentally epted the rewards, sweat drenching his every crevice yet again from the surprisingly hard work out that it was to gather the required ores and gems.
<span style="font-weight:400">A mote of light shed and a grayish pickax that looked much like the one in his hands ttered on the ground, followed with the familiar mechanical female voice he thought he had muted once again.
<b>[Congrattions! You have unlocked the Miner Profession]</b>
<b>[You have learned system skill, Material Identification]</b>
<b>[You have been awarded Profession Experience]</b>
<b>[You have increased to a Proficiency 2 Miner]</b>
<b>[You have increased Material Identification to Proficiency 2]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">"Wow that’s a lot. Natto, I have to ask. Why do notifications like this get past the mute function?" Drake asked, an eyebrow raised, picking up the pickaxe from the ground.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ah. That would be upgrades after F-Rank. There are two ways they get past the mute function. One they are part of skills, or they are providing information that is not givenmonly," she said, waving a roasted nut in the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Why in the world would levels not be included in that?" Drake asked, confused.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Certainly seems a bit off, but I believe the system sees leveling as amon part of your reality, as normally it would be much more frequent than what you experience," she rified.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Well that does make some sense, I am leveling slower and slower.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> He thought, inspecting the pickaxe in his hand a bit more in the light of his fireball that rotated around his shoulders. He spotted faint cobalt blue streaks in the iron that shone in the light ever so often, giving the pickaxe a surprisingly otherworldly feel.
<b>[Mana Infused Iron Pickaxe[F-Grade] [Umon]</b>
<ul>
<li><b>A Mana Infused Iron Tool that is used to mine out various ores, gems, and materials.</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>This tool is specifically used to mine ores and materials. Deals no damage.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Increased proficiency in mining by 15%</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Requirement: Mining Profession</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake whistled, "Ooo, Drake likey. This little baby is sure to help me out," he said smiling.
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking over at the wall, he activated his new Profession Skill, Material Identification, while staring at a blue gem he already knew the information of so he couldpare.
<b>[Unmined Sapphire Gemstone [F-Grade] [Umon]</b>
<ul>
<li><b>A raw magic gemstone.</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A magically infused gemstone that can be used in crafting to create essories that increase Intelligence by a small amount.</li>
</ul>
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Ok that’s less helpful than I would have liked… But at least it tells me what I’m going to be mining definitively instead of waiting till it’s mined. Drake thought slightly deted.</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking around Drake spotted several other gems and ores that he had mined before, all sporting about the same descriptions, just having ‘Unmined’ as a prefix.
<span style="font-weight:400">"So, now that I have this. I’m ganna test the difference but I wanna ask before I get lost in the sauce again. You sure you can’t help me out a bit with the crafting profession?" Drake asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto stuffed another nut into her cheeks forcing them to slightly protrude, turning to Drake she only shook her head.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Has she gotten even more gluttonous after her Rank Up?</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Drake thought, turning away to prepare to strike the wall, wanting topare the difference in the tool grade.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake walked up to the shaft wall, spotting a cluster of violet reflecting crystals. His mind turned to Natto’s exnation from earlier, where she basically said she could tell him about specifics of how the basics of certain professions worked, and what they did, even now going as far to tell him some of the specific items they could make in detail. But as far as teaching the profession, allowing him to pick it up, he was shit out of luck.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake did feel the pressing need to increase his repertoire of jewelry to epass his major stats, but there was sadly nothing he could do about it at the moment.
<span style="font-weight:400">Making a mental note that he would have to ask around Shigure’s camp for when he inevitably ended up visiting it, needing both tools and expertise in jewelry crafting and a proper fighting expert if he could manage it.
<span style="font-weight:400">Taking the new pickaxe Drake pulled it above his head, his eyes trained on the cluster of Amethyst Gems. Bringing the pickaxe down with a crack, Drake fell forward off bnce, the pickaxe sliding through the stone like a hot knife through butter.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What the? Wow, that''s so much better… Let me see," Drake said, pondering outloud.
<span style="font-weight:400">Switching back to the old pickaxe Drake tried again, swinging down with all his might the pickaxe crashed against the sedimentary wall. This time the pickaxe didn’t slide in as easily but made its way inside the shaft wall more deeply than before.
<span style="font-weight:400">Confirming Drake’s suspicions that his gaining of his profession must give him some extra bonuses to his ability to mine by default, even though it was not mentioned in the description of the profession.
<b>[Profession: Mining P2 (1.24%)]</b>
<b>Mining Proficiency 2 (1.24%)</b>
<ul>
<li><b>You have worked hard to break ground with the purpose of gaining wealth from thend, earning you the title of a back breaking profession.</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>You enjoy ying in the dirt.</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight:400">It wasn’t something that was entirely detrimental, just very weird how the system seemed to arbitrarily withhold information.
<span style="font-weight:400">The system had also done the same with some of Drake’s skills. Granted almost all of the information was within the skills but there were some small snippets that were left out, adding nuance to the skills. His ability to use confluence skills being a perfect example.
<span style="font-weight:400">He could make the mental jump that something was missing preventing him from using certain forms ofbination magic but the skill had left out both the why and how.
<span style="font-weight:400">The most surprising was that Natto had no idea either, as if it was just a known misgiving of the system that everyone just epted.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake pulled the pickaxe from the wall, snapping the Amethyst from the wall as well, cing all the items into his inventory. While pulling out another familiar stone he had been procrastinating on. Until he was interrupted with a symphony of loud notifications in his head.
<b>[You have increased Magic Sight to Proficiency 2]</b>
<b>[You have increased Multiplicative to Proficiency 2]</b>
<b>[You have increased Warrior’s Stamina to Proficiency 2]</b>
<b>[You have increased Of the Apex to Proficiency 2]</b>
<b>[You have increased Heretical Mind to Proficiency 2]</b>
<b>[You have increased Hoarder to Proficiency 2]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">The notifications were surprising, in both that they were not nearly as overpowering as the ones from the introduction and that so many had upgraded all at once.
<span style="font-weight:400">It seemed that most of the skills he had been using up until now had increased, and that two of his passive skills had gone up as well. Looking at his skills, the other passive skills were not far behind.
<b>Tempered in mes P1(83%)</b>
<b>Sound Body and Mind P1(87%)</b>
<b>Weapon of Choice P1(76%)</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking at the skills it appeared that even the passive skills increased at different rates. Drake didn’t fail to notice most of his active skills had stalled since he hadn’t fought recently. The worst of it was his ‘Fully Loaded’ skill that he hadn’t been able to utilize, leaving it at an abysmal 0%. Along with his ‘Aura of Command’ skill.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake continued to use his skills ad nauseam, doing his best to make up for lost time where he could. For now there was nothing he could do for some of his skills, but he made sure to remind himself to focus on them when he could, skills were his lifeblood now after all.
<span style="font-weight:400">But digressing, Drake looked down to the smooth stone in his hand, finally ready to take on another rare stone.
<b>[Skills Stone: Oppression] [Rare]</b>
<ul>
<li><b>Unlocks a random skill from the Oppression tree</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Requires open skill slot</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight:400">Taking a deep breath and a slightly nervous nce at Natto. Drake clenched his hand around the stone.
<b>[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Oppression [Rare]</b>
<b>[Confirm?]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Bracing himself for another round against the power that came with consuming the higher grade stones. Drake epted.
<span style="font-weight:400">The nearly scripted feeling of cold shot up his arm, but much more quickly this time, turning to a warmfort like the smoldering embers at a campfire. But soon the feelings changed, the hot and cold oscited back and forth pushing Drake’s inner equilibrium severely out of whack.
<span style="font-weight:400">The feeling suddenly turned into a raging tornado within himself, fighting to break free from his fleshy cage.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake fought fervently against it, trying his best to contain the feeling and energy inside. The power within him was quickly winning out against him though.
<span style="font-weight:400">The feeling soon overpowered Drake as he screamed silently falling to his knees. The power soon changed to consciousness as he felt it ripped from him, his senses expanding outward in a way that waspletely foreign.
<b>[You have learned skill: Tyrannical Aura [F-Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake felt as if he was having an out of body experience. He was inside his body but was also aware of his surroundings such that he could instantly identify Natto running to him.
<span style="font-weight:400">"D-d-d-Drake… I implore you to c-c-c-alm down.. You have gained a powerful aura skill. A-a-and it is affecting your surroundings. Rei-ign in yourself, imagine your body as the focal point and b-b-bring your consciousness inside!" Natto advised, her teeth chattering the words.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake wasn’t sure what was going on, only that he knew what he was doing was affecting her negatively.
<span style="font-weight:400">Trying his best to focus, Drake imagined himself as both an anchor and container. Trying to pull his spreading senses into himself. The feeling was nauseating, but he soon began inching his purview inward. Noticing his senses lock into ce around him, as if a mental mp came down on them.
<span style="font-weight:400">A deep exhale escaped Drake as he found himself curled on the ground, looking up at a shivering Natto, her teeth still ttering as she looked back concerned.
<span style="font-weight:400">"W-w-what was that. I’ve never experienced something like that in my l-life. It felt like I was being spread so thin I could lose myself?!" Drake said, his body shivering now from the experience.
<span style="font-weight:400">Before Natto could answer, he again felt himself pull apart ever so slightly, forcing him to focus again on solidifying himself and his senses within him. Another gasp for air.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Y-you finally got a proper Aura skill. Certainly you r-remember Bear’s? A real passive aura skill needs minute control to keep in check and be used p-properly," Natto exined her chattering slowly subsiding, "I believe you obtained something very strong. Normally Aura will not push out to that extent just from obtaining them, it almost felt like it wanted to consume the surroundings, leaving nothing in its wake."
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake struggled with keeping his focus on keeping himself contained but tried to summon a fireball in his hands for warmth.
<span style="font-weight:400">The spell sputtered out several times before Drake cursed, unable to focus enough to cast the spell chantlessly. Forced to chant the spell he closed his eyes to focus on keeping himself together then spoke the words mechanically.
<span style="font-weight:400">"<i><span style="font-weight:400">The f-fire of my heart, take f-form and sear my enemies. F-fireball.</i><span style="font-weight:400">" Drake chanted, still feeling a deep cold in his core, as if being spread too thin had expunged all of his body heat in the process.
<span style="font-weight:400">The fireball formed in Drake’s hand, but without his concentration to manipte the spell, it went out of control and flew out from his hands into the wall of the mineshaft. mming into a fiery explosion down a side shaft crushing the side wall it impacted.
<span style="font-weight:400">"S-shit…" Drake cursed, fighting with himself to keep his body from seemingly tearing apart.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Y-you dolt! Your essence, soul or spirit, whatever you want to call it is the one being spread. Y-you will continue to feel this until you reign in yourself. You w-will also keep imposing your aura on the world until you control it. Calm yourself and b-breathe!" Natto shouted.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked up at her from his lying position with one eye, his body continuing to shiver as hers did. He could see her face pale and continue to do so.
<span style="font-weight:400">He was hurting her again, he knew it. She was putting on a front but he could see the fear in her eyes, the same as before.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Fucking damn it.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Drake cursed inwardly for doing something he promised to never again. He forced himself to a sitting position. His body fervently objected, faltering each step of the way.
<span style="font-weight:400">Finally getting into a meditative position he closed his eyes, doing his best to contain his senses, trying to contain his will.
<span style="font-weight:400">Slowly but surely he began to feel warmth again fill his body, his anchor that fully focused on the center of his body. His sensesnguidly starting to normalize.
<span style="font-weight:400">A quiet washed over him, as he heard the crackling of the torches, the light droplets of condensation fall to the mine floor. A touch on his hand and the soft steadying breathing of the only person who was with him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake finally opened his eyes, to see Natto again. Her face painted with worry and cold sweat, but color returning to her skin.
<span style="font-weight:400">He had found some small bnce in keeping the Aura at bay, but the container was weak. And he had yet to fully grasp his new skill, but for now that was enough.
<span style="font-weight:400">cing a gentle hand on Natto’s slightly damp hair, Drake smiled, "Thank you."