Mystery
Surprisingly, the screen was astonishingly bright, clear as day, with all the edges, numbers, and letters visible before his eyes. But it was not only the system messages that were visible, actually, but the entirety of the tunnel was also well visible, from the large path ahead to the marks of tools on the walls.
It was almost as if, in the few seconds that Ryu closed his eyes, someone had passed installing lights along the tunnel. Of course, that was not the case, and the reason for this subtle change lies in some other thing; in Ryu himself.
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Enhanced vision second stage unlocked.
Improve eyes capability and brain vision processing.
Scholar Grade Skill
-first stage: enhance the eyes to see further and change the focus faster.
-second stage: improved eyes that allow to see wide light specter and see in minimum light quantity condition.
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A burst of happiness exploded in Ryu's chest with the unexpected yet perfectly timed upgrade he got from this hardship. This newly acquired ability that allowed him to see in the dark would boost his stealth mission at night, and it can also make a great advantage when fighting since it can become a hidden trump card if played on the right condiction.
However, when the emotion subsided, Ryu reflected a little bit on his newly acquired skill and concluded that it made no sense to see the inside of the mine so clearly at all. That's because there was no source of light within the tunnels, and according to the skill description, it only allowed him to 'see in minimum light quantity condition' but not see without any light source.
Being curious as Ryu was, he did not let this intriguing fact pass unnoticed. So, he got up off the ground and walked towards the wall in an attempt to determine where the source of all that light was coming from.
But no matter how hard he looked, the light appeared to come from the walls themselves, as if the rocks were emitting all that light. Then Ryu inspected the wall closely until he found a pattern along the walls, curved lines glowing with more intensity than the rest of the rocks.
Using his hands to examine the lines, Ryu felt a slight difference in the rock's texture. Something that if it weren't for his improved send of touch, he would have never noticed otherwise.
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Enhanced Sense of Touch (passive).
Improves touch sensitivity and speed at which sensations are processed.
Scholar Grade Skill
-first stage: touch becomes more sensitive to textures and temperature.
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But since Ryu knew nothing about rocks and gems, the mysterious glowing rocks remained as they are, mysterious. No entanto, apesar de não saber exatamente o que aquele brilho significava, Ryu sabia ao menos que era importante, e muito provavelmente estava relacionado ao motivo pelo qual o highvale assumiu o controle da cidade e vinha usando escravos para minerar essas rochas.
If the mine's foul smell was also related to the rocks, it was information often beyond Ryu's knowledge. And whatever those stones were inside, it wasn't important for the time being, as solving the mystery had never been a priority for Ryu.
After saving the mine information for later, Ryu grabbed the lantern from the ground and went looking for a way out, but this time, he had no restrictions on venturing into that maze, meaning he could run and map all the forks with ease.
In just a few minutes, Ryu returned to the main gallery, which was, now, bright as if daylight had somehow illuminated the mine. Despite reaching the gallery safely, there was no one to receive Ryu and point out the correct way out, as all the slaves must have gone back outside, as expected since it must have been night.
However, there was no need for someone to point to the right hole to find the exit, as there was a sign hanging at the top of each hole, one of which read: 'Exit'. Previously, Ryu hadn't seen the signs because it was too dark, and he was distracted by the situation, but now it was a different thing as he could see everything.
So Ryu chose this path labeled exit, which was the tunnel right next to the one he had just exited. The further Ryu ran, heading to the outside, the fainter the glowing becomes, until, at some point, only a dim light spread in the cave, barely illuminating the path ahead.
As the light from the rocks grew too dim to light the path ahead, Ryu had to turn the flashlight on in his hand. But at this point, voices from outside were already echoing inside the tunnel, indicating that the exit was near.
As soon as Ryu poked his head out of the mine, hundreds of curious eyes turned in his direction. Some of the eyes came from the slaves, who had their night of sleep denied despite the late hour. Instantly, Ryu understood what was happening; the highvale soldiers had noticed the absence of one of their own and obviously blamed the slaves for the disappearance.
"You! What happened inside there? Why did you remain so long inside?" a muscular middle-aged man with eyes sharp as a hawk walked to Ryu, inquiring him. This man is called Jorn, the second in command at the mining base and currently the one in charge in the absence of byron, a man that hated this position more than anyone else.
Although this man hated his position as a leader at this base at the mines and allowed the soldier to slack off in their duty, his eyes alone gave a huge amount of discomfort to Ryu. The man was always seated in his own lodge, looking outside with a frowning intimidating glare that made Ryu quickly learn to avoid the man's sight.
"Are you deaf or something? I asked: what were you doing inside the mine?" Jorn intimidatingly asked again while positioning two steps in front of Ryu.
Before Ryu could answer, Cory came to Jorn's side and said in his eyes that Ryu had just arrived at the mine, but Jorn continued to stare at Ryu, waiting for an answer.
"Sir. I..." Ryu started to explain and acted shyly to make up for his acting skill, "... I got lost inside. It was my first time going there, and I took the wrong path."
"And why did you go there in the first place?" Jorn asked.
"Sir. I went to see if the slaves were slacking off. It is my first day here, and I wanted to show my value." Ryu tried to explain, but inside he was starting to get anxious with the questioning.
"That didn't turn out well, did it?" Jorn asked, frowning, which made Ryu think the man suspected him.
"No, Sir. I must have picked a broken lantern, which made me get a hard time inside." Ryu said, extending his hand with the lantern to show it turning on and off.
The display of the failure of the lantern proved effective in covering up Ryu's lies, as Jorn and Cory made a confused face looking into the flickering light.