CHAPTER 8: ADVANCEMENT MISSION.

            It was another bright day in the mining base as the sun shone glaringly at the mineworkers like an angry girl confronting her cheating boyfriend. They all worked without distraction under the strict supervision of the mine base guards.

           Their afternoon shift was surface mining, that was why they had to endure the unrelenting punishment of the sun.

           Sweat dripped down like falling waterfalls from Morales’s face as he lifted another big metal bucket packed full of steel and some other metal ores, before slowly climbing up the steep slopes of the mining base.

           The slaves all had fatigued expressions on their faces as some kept on digging deeper while others carried their harvest up the way Morales was doing.

           Slaves like Lionel were excluded from the grunt mining work. As a mechanic, the mining base utilized him well by assigning him to the logistics department to help in servicing and repairing guns and their weapons.

           Lionel and Morales already grew quite close after staying together for so long.

           After over 2 months of staying in the mining base, Morales already developed the buff muscles befitting a Pugilist. After farming experience for so long, he already leveled up to the limits of his main class.

           The mining base guards did not know this though as he had never shown his real strength to them. With at least 3 beast attacks every week, he had a stable supply of experience.

After another 20 minutes of relentless mining, their second shift finally ended. They went back quickly to rest for their precious one hour that was designated for resting and eating.

…

After settling down in the underground shelter, Morales willed out his interface to check his current attributes.

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           Name: Morales Clifford

           Race: Human/?

           Model: Mutated NPC.

           Level: 25 [Can proceed with advancement]

           Main Class: Pugilist [Novice]- Lvl. 10/10 [Can proceed with advancement]

           Sub-Classes:

           Young Lord- Lvl. 10

           Agent- Lvl. 10

           Health: 450/450

           Stamina: 520/520

           Attributes: STR 32, DEX 10, END 12, INT 6, CHA 12, LUCK 2

           Free attribute points: 19

           Energy: 160 [Lvl. 3]

           Lvl. 1 [10]- [STR +2, DEX +1, END +1, MAX STAMINA +15]

           Lvl. 2 [50]- [STR +3, DEX +2, END +3, MAX STAMINA +50]

           Lvl. 3 [100] …

           Grade: F [Normal Human]

           [You only need a little more growth to reach the Grade E superhuman realm. You now have some strength to your name, but overall, still a spoiled brat.]

           Passive abilities:

- Low-level overwhelming charisma: +10% to charisma and all charisma-related abilities.

- The Descendant of Clifford: +2% to all Pugilist abilities. This ability can be increased by accomplishing specific tasks.

Skills:

[Pugilist]

Pugilist [Novice]- Lvl. 5

Basic Energy Control- Lvl .10

Basic Body Control- Lvl. 10

[Agent]

Basic Combat: Lvl 7 [0/32000]- +7% melee damage

Basic Shooting: Lvl 3 [0/2000]- +3% accuracy

[NEW!] Melee Specialist: Lvl. 3 [0/4000]- +3% melee damage, +2% attack speed, +2% critical hit rate.

Other Abilities:

[NEW!] Flicker Lv. 1:

Cost: 5 Energy, 15 Stamina.

Cooldown: 20s

For 5 seconds, enables instantaneous movement within a 5-meter radius. Grants 15% attack speed and reaction speed for the duration of the skill.

10% chance to activate flicker- it enables user’s movements to become like the wind, with a 5% chance to confuse opponents.

…

Class Talents:

-Body: [18 talents not learnt]

-Energy: [10 talents not learnt]

-Cells: [15 talents not learnt]

Renown: 0

Legend: 0

Equipment: Storm Sword.

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Seeing this, Morales entered a euphoric mood. He finally increased one of his attributes past 30, which was the grade E territory.

He only needed to increase another of his attributes past 30 to officially become a grade E superhuman. Despite this small shortcoming, he was still happy, he now really had strength that he could be proud of.

What made him happier was that he also now had his second active skill. After farming experience for over 2 months, he was able to harvest and accumulate 640,000 experience.

He spent 99,200 experience to level his main class to the limit. What hindered him from leveling up further was the class advancement mission. He was already ready for it, so he was not too dejected.

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Class Advancement Mission:

Raise your main attribute, strength, to above 100 points.

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Though this mission was somewhat harsh, there was nothing that he could do so he put it to the back of his mind. He could do it easily when he escaped from this mining base.

During the many battles that he fought against the beast hordes, he successfully completed the progress rate of his basic combat skill. He also finished the progress rate of his basic shooting skill, thereby unlocking the agent sub-class.

This was his first combat sub-class. After spending 76650 experience, he also leveled this new sub-class to the limit of level 10, thereby gaining a batch of other attributes.

After leveling his basic combat skill past level 6, he also unlocked the advanced skill, melee specialist, which was a god-sent skill to compliment his Pugilist class.

After all these level-ups and strengthening, besides Chakra, he was confident that no one in the mining base was his match.

He finally stood up after being urged by Lionel. He came to what seemed like a secret gathering of witches and wizards. All the slaves, instead of resting, converged together in a circle.

For the past few weeks, under Morales’s clever use of words, the slaves finally got fed up with the treatment that they were receiving.

Instead of dying for the base during the beast attacks, they all decided to rebel and fight their way to escape.

Morales, Lionel, and 3 other equally strong slaves were the leaders and orchestrators of the plan. The other slaves were just blindly following their lead.

Despite there being 5 leaders, Morales was the overall leader. After revealing his real strength few days prior, all the slaves respected him and actively advocated to make him the leader.

He was the main reason why all these slaves were able to come together with a single mind for the sole purpose of escaping their fate.

Lionel was the spokesperson for most parts of the gathering as he emphasized again the escape plans that they agreed on.

The next day was the D-day that they agreed on to initiate their escape.

As they discussed, the person placed at the entrance to watch suddenly indicated that the guards were coming. This prompted everyone to go to their various resting spots, they needed to act the part.

“Ok, boys, it's time to get your lazy asses up and work”. The familiar guard who was stationed to watch the dungeon announced with a wide grin on his face.

None of them grumbled nor complained today, they all obediently stood up and went back to the mining field to work.

After getting to the mining field, they started rigorous work under the urging and threatening of the 15 guards stationed there to supervise them to get more yield for the day.

Unknowingly to the guards, the slaves worked slightly differently today. As they worked, they frequently communicated with themselves through eye contact and various facial expressions.

…

           After a whole day of working, most of the slaves were already exhausted and weak. Only the main and sub-class holders still had some strength to spare.

           It was remaining only 30 minutes before their work hours came to an end, but a change finally happened at this moment.

           Clang!! As they worked, one of the slaves suddenly dropped his mining tool and fell down weakly from exhaustion.

Seeing this, the few guards that were close by picked their whips and rushed to teach him a lesson with a ruthless expression on their faces.

           On reaching the position of the young slave, they raised their whips and lashed down viciously.

           Before the whip could lash down, the young slave’s expression suddenly turned cold as his eyes flashed with a bright red light before turning dark brown.

           Stone suddenly materialized from nowhere and wrapped his body up, arming him to the teeth like a Stoneman. This was his ability, he was an Esper.

           He suddenly grabbed the nearest guard’s head, applied strength, and ripped it bloodily from its body. With sounds like raw eggs hitting stone, the whips of the other guards finally landed harmlessly on his stone armored body.

           Before they could react, other slaves already surrounded them. With swift and efficient moves, the few guards were dispatched off immediately.

           Seeing this, the other guards staying at other parts of the underground mining field grew alarmed. They wanted to sound the alarm, but they could not as other slaves finished them off in less than 2 seconds.

           The combination of superior strength and numbers was a tyrannical merge that they could not resist.

           After this was done, all the slaves finally turned to face their leader, Morales, who had a cold look on his face. He didn’t make a move; the other slaves were enough to make short work of the guards.

           He nodded to indicate that they should continue the operation. The slaves quickly followed his orders as a large stone at the side was pushed aside to expose a dark narrow tunnel.

           The few slaves with the thief class among them came out before they all went through the narrow tunnel. Their mission was to secretly get into Chakra’s room and steal his master key.

           Under Morales’s lead, this tunnel was dug secretly by them about a month ago. Through here, they were able to get resources and supplies which the mechanics used in making standard equipment for them.

           They were also able to get the overall layout of the mining base. Most of all the works were done by the thieves, they were the main contributors.

           After so much invasion and perfect steal successes on their part, the other slaves trusted them.

           15 minutes later, the thieves proved that the trust directed at them was not without basis as they came back completely unscathed with the base leader’s master key.

           Their success was also mainly attributed to the class difference. As a beast-man clansman, perception was not Chakra’s turf.

           After they got this important key that would make their escape easier, they waited the remaining 15 minutes before collectively coming out of the underground mining field.

           No guards asked them questions nor confronted them. They were already used to their cowardice, so they suspected nothing, they instead mocked them on seeing them.

           They successfully went back to their underground shelter to rest for their tomorrow mission. They needed it to be at their absolute best.

           Tomorrow shall tell if their decision to escape was foolishness or wisdom. Only the risk-takers can experience true freedom, and they were determined to take this risk.