Steadily Upgrading Everything!
Chapter 54: Then I’ve earned a bit of rest.

Chapter 54: Then I’ve earned a bit of rest.

Over the next three hours, John delved deeper into the tunnels, his Spatial Awareness sweeping through the rocky earth like sonar.

Though the technique consumed some Qi, he managed it well by cycling his Slow Toad Breathing rhythmically.

Clink! Crack! Clink!

His pickaxe sang through the caverns as he discovered three more Xithril veins nestled behind fractured walls and beneath half-collapsed alcoves.

Each time, the silvery-blue metal resisted extraction, but John’s persistence and experience from his days in the prison mines paid off.

By the time the third vein had been stripped, John’s storage pouch weighed heavy at his side.

He took a step back and exhaled deeply, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Five hundred grams..." he whispered, looking at the dull glimmer of Xithril through the bag’s mesh window.

He suddenly remembered Orin’s words from earlier:

"You’ve got ten days to complete the mission. Deliver at least one kilo of Xithril. Return earlier, and your reward might be doubled."

A smirk played across John’s lips.

"Ten days, huh? Looks like I might finish this in one."

He glanced around.

This tunnel had been fruitful, but now it felt barren.

His Spatial Sense detected nothing more than minor ore traces. No Xithril. No richness.

Just dust, dirt, and dead ends.

Without hesitation, John turned and began heading toward the deeper tunnels.

The ones that even seasoned miners seemed to avoid.

His boots echoed lightly as he advanced past unlit spirit lamps, his body growing colder with every step.

As he walked down a narrow, downward-tilting shaft, a voice called out from behind.

"Hey!" a raspy voice echoed off the stone. "You shouldn’t go any deeper."

John turned to see a middle-aged miner, face caked with dirt and a long scar running from jaw to collarbone.

The man held a lantern that flickered weakly, casting long shadows across his hunched frame.

"That area’s not patrolled," the miner warned. "Some of the tunnels... they don’t follow normal layouts. People vanish. Some return raving like lunatics. Others are never found."

John offered a polite nod. "I appreciate the warning."

"Don’t be stubborn, kid. It’s not worth the spirit stones."

But John’s tone was calm and resolute. "I’ve... dealt with ghost spirits before. I have techniques that can handle them, at least enough to escape."

The miner stared at him for a long second. Then grunted. "Suit yourself. Don’t say no one warned you."

With that, John turned back and descended further into the darkness.

The temperature plummeted as John crossed into the deeper mining tunnels.

The air felt stale, unmoving.

Even his footsteps became unnaturally muffled.

Here, light crystal lamps were rare.

Moss grew along the walls in strange patterns, and the silence was so complete, it pressed down on his ears.

He activated his Spatial Awareness again, and this time, it pulsed further, searching harder, deeper.

Ping.

Bingo.

Just thirty meters to his right, another deposit, a thick vein of Xithril, embedded behind a jagged natural pillar.

He approached quickly, his pickaxe ready. Just one more good haul and he’d be nearly done.

Clang!

Crack!

He struck the outer layers, peeled away the dense rock, and with patient chipping, began extracting shimmering chunks of Xithril.

An hour passed.

By the time the last chunk slid into his pouch, his breath came heavier, but his pouch now held over nine hundred grams.

"Almost there," he muttered with satisfaction.

But then...

Chill.

A sudden, unnatural cold trickled down his spine.

Move.

John’s instincts screamed.

Without hesitation, he rolled to the left, and in the very spot he’d been standing a heartbeat ago, the stone floor shimmered like water, warping violently.

Fwump!

The ground collapsed inward, forming a quicksand-like pit of dark sludge.

His right boot was sucked into it, vanishing with a wet slurp.

John pulled back with a grunt, staggering to his feet, now barefoot on one side.

"What in the hell..."

The space where he’d stood just moments ago now gurgled, releasing a faint whisper that sounded like it came from deep within a dream.

Something was watching him.

His body stiffened.

John’s breath frosted in the air.

That chill from the quicksand hadn’t passed, it deepened.

The warped pit twisted and churned like it was alive, and a strange whispering echoed in the walls, clawing at his ears.

It wasn’t in any language John knew, but the malevolence was crystal clear.

Something had awakened.

John’s eyes narrowed, and with a sharp breath, he stood his ground. "Let’s test this..."

He steadied his stance and activated his trump card, Soul Piercing Gaze, Level 4.

A deep thrum resonated in his forehead as energy gathered.

A thin line of light formed between his brows before exploding outward in a narrow beam of spirit power.

WHHHIIIIIIEEEEEKKKKK!

A ghastly, inhuman shriek burst from the ground.

The quicksand-like sludge surged, and from it erupted a terrifying creature, an ant-shaped ghost spirit, but its body was mangled and shredded.

Veins of ghostly blood dripped from its limbs, its black eyes wide with hatred.

Its translucent form shimmered between the physical and the spectral, bones twisting unnaturally as it locked onto John.

"Disgusting," John muttered, eyes cold.

The ant spirit hissed, its body spasming as it reared up, ready to lunge.

SHRIIIK!

Another beam of Soul Piercing Gaze blasted forth.

This time, the ghost didn’t shriek—it exploded.

Its form shattered like glass, vanishing in a swirl of smoke and silence.

John stared at the spot it had appeared from, chest heaving.

"So this is the power of Level Four..." he whispered. "It didn’t even stand a chance."

He looked down at his now one-shoed foot and sighed. "But did it have to take my shoe?"

With no more threats present, John resumed his work.

With his Spatial Awareness at the ready, he searched deeper tunnels and located another Xithril deposit.

In the next hour, he collected his final batch, crossing the one-kilogram threshold easily.

---

Meanwhile, Outside the Mines...

Several miners sat around a glowing crystal lantern near the entrance, passing flasks and whispering.

"You heard? That crazy guy with the black hair just went deeper into the ghost-haunted shafts."

"Again? Is he tired of living?"

"I bet twenty spirit stones he doesn’t make it back."

"I’ll give you thirty if he comes back without his legs."

"Forget the legs. I bet he starts crying and triggers his escape slip before nightfall!"

They all laughed, until the ground lightly trembled.

Thud...

From the end of the tunnel, a silhouette emerged, walking slowly.

A man with a half-torn robe, a missing shoe, and a pickaxe slung over one shoulder strolled out casually.

John yawned and stretched as he walked past them, his expression calm, almost bored.

"Morning," he said to no one in particular.

All the gamblers’ jaws dropped.

One dropped his flask.

"...You’ve gotta be kidding me."

"Did he... smile?"

"He’s actually smiling?!"

"Wasn’t he barefoot a minute ago?!"

He didn’t head to the mission hall like most outer sect disciples.

Instead, he walked straight toward the towering Metal Cauldron Peak.

The teleportation platform carried him up to the pristine white-stone terrace of the peak.

A disciple in dark blue robes was waiting, Orin.

He looked up from his clipboard when he saw John approach.

"You’re back?" Orin raised an eyebrow. "And... early?"

John smiled and pulled out his Spatial Bag. "As promised. One full kilo of Xithril."

Orin blinked, then slowly took the bag and inspected the contents.

As he confirmed the weight and purity of the silvery mineral, his expression shifted from surprise to faint disbelief.

"You really mined all this in one day?"

"Guess I’m just efficient," John said, brushing dust from his sleeve.

Orin let out a short laugh and nodded. "The Peak Master was skeptical about the outer sect pulling it off, but you’ve proven something. You’re getting double the reward. And here..." he passed over a jade token etched with golden runes, "...this is your proof of mission completion."

John accepted the reward with a nod. "Appreciate it."

Orin hesitated a moment, then added, "If you’re interested, I can give you more mining missions, much higher pay. We could use someone like you."

John slipped the token into his robe. "I’ll think about it."

With that, he turned and stepped onto the teleportation platform again.

His destination, the outer sect’s mission hall.

There, he handed in his token to the elder at the desk.

"Mission complete," John said simply.

The elder checked the record and nodded. "One hard mission complete. You now only need one easy task to avoid penalty for the next three months."

John smiled faintly. "Then I’ve earned a bit of rest."

John walked slowly back to his cottage under the dimming sky.

The day had been long and exhausting, but fruitful.

The familiar wooden gate of his cottage creaked as he pushed it open, the scent of herbs and the faint glimmer of the spirit formation welcoming him home.

He stepped inside and let out a long sigh before collapsing onto his bed.

The soft mattress embraced his tired body, and within minutes, he drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning, soft rays of sunlight streamed in through the window lattice.

John stirred beneath his blanket, eyes fluttering open.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. After washing up and drinking some water from the jug left near his bed, he returned to the center of the room, sat cross-legged on the cultivation mat, and with a thought, brought up his system panel.

---

[System Panel]

Name: John Coral

Age: 25

Cultivation: Spirit Seed Realm (1406 / 3200)

Upgrade Slot: Empty

Skills:

• Meditation (Level 6 – Max)

• Breathing (Level 5 – Max)

• Spatial Awareness (Level 5)

• Slow Toad Breathing Skill (Level 10 – Max)

• Double Face Lizard Technique (Level 7 – Max)

• Basic Flame Control (Level 3)

• Alchemy (Level 5)

• Twelve Circle Slashes (Level 4)

• Soul Piercing Gaze (Level 5)

• Lightening Bull Kicks (Level 0)

---

A subtle smirk appeared on his lips as his eyes rested on Soul Piercing Gaze.

"Level five..." he muttered.

He could feel the condensed spiritual energy still lingering faintly around his eyes. It had become sharper, colder.

He scrolled down and noticed Lightening Bull Kicks, still untouched.

"Should I upgrade this next?" he thought aloud, fingers tapping his knee. "The speed boost would be great... but maybe I should focus on something more immediately useful for survival or utility."

Then a thought flashed in his mind.

"Wait... didn’t the system say it can upgrade objects, not just techniques?" When he first got his system, he remembered it telling that it can also upgrade objects, he hasn’t tested that yet.

His brows raised at the realization.

He reached for his Spatial Bag and pulled out a small red pill sealed in a porcelain bottle.

The label read, Grade Three Blood Rush Pill a pill known to stimulate one’s Qi flow rapidly in combat.

John examined the pill in his palm. "What if I can take this to the next level?"

He placed the pill into the system’s upgrade slot.

"Place the Blood Rush Pill on auto-upgrade," he said firmly. "Set the level cap to two."

[Upgrade Slot - Blood Rush Pill (Level 1) (1/100) (upgrading at one point per ten minutes)]

John leaned back, his mind already racing.

"If this works... then I can make better pills without needing to refine them myself."

His eyes gleamed with anticipation.

"And if it works for pills... what about weapons? Talismans? Escape slips?"

The possibilities stretched out before him like a vast sea.

But first, he would test this.

Carefully.

He closed the panel and stood, the Blood Rush Pill now safely upgrading in the system.