Chapter 63: CHAPTER 63: BACK
The demon succubus had really left a lasting impression on David. He honestly didn't know if this was some trickery of a succubus or something else entirely, but every time he thought of Lili...he would feel a slight ping in his soul. It wasn't anything too intense, but the feeling was there nonetheless.
David had inspected his own soul but didn't notice anything different. Frustrated, he even asked Misery to inspect his soul. Misery had said that she noticed a very small weird connection that was similar to her own connection to his soul....but different somehow. After she mentioned this, David looked closer and noticed the connection as well.
'What the fuck was with that kiss?' David thought as he looked over the little dimple on his soul.
He had even tried to make the connection go away, but his efforts wouldn't work....at all.
And sure enough....every time he thought of Lili.....a slight tingle would occur at that spot in his soul. No impairment....no pain...no harm.....nothing wrong what so ever.....just a slight tingle when he thought of her....
'Now, I feel that the bargain wasn't in my favor at all. I'm going to need to find Lili to ask what this is all about,' David had thought to himself when he realized the woman really did leave a lasting impression on him....and his soul.
However.....after thinking and stressing over the problem for a while...he started to push the issue to the back of his thoughts....there was nothing he could do about it right now....but he would definitely deal with it once his current situation was resolved.
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Today marked a week and a half since David had been in the Manco Town Medical Building. His daily medical treatment had always been the same...nourishment stone treatment.....sponge bath....and general medical checkups. The nurses were starting to say that it would be any minute now.....they were really expecting David to wake up soon.
Because of the mess that had transpired after he started manipulating townsfolk, David had taken it easy since the night Lili had left the town.
To Misery's disappointment over the last couple of days, David used the time to consolidate his cultivation and restore his soul energy. There were no more guard deaths. No more crazy town advisers. No more sneak visits on Demigods during their sleep in the night.
David had just laid low to replenish his energy and observe the town. During his observation of the city advisers, he had heard a growing contention that the demon had left the town ....and a visit from the Nazca City guards was not needed.
This was mainly due to two reasons.
One, the residents and town advisers were not as afraid of a demon invasion since the incidents had ceased. Word of mouth between the residents was that a demon was spotted and fled the town when the guards pursued to capture it.
Two, the merchants and other businessmen didn't want outsiders coming to Manco Town Oasis. Outsiders, especially those from the big city, always brought risks. What if one of the higher level Nazca City guards took a liking to someone's money, property or wife? Would the small town residents of Manco Town be able resist the big city guards if they wanted to?
David thought that it would be beneficial to him if the whole event blew over. Then he could plan his attack more appropriately and not feel rushed. Over the last couple of days, David had developed a rather ambitious plan on dealing with the people in this town....and he needed everything in the town to function smoothly for the plan to work.
The first step in the plan required entering into the mines again.....and David had decided that today was the day that he would go back to work in the mines.
David woke up that morning, sat up in his bed and waited for a nurse to visit his room.
After entering the room, the nurse was both surprised and happy when she saw David awake.
Over the last couple of days, David had let the nourishment stones help him fill out some of his muscles and freshen up hid skin, so he didn't look so much like a corpse anymore. He looked like a very fit slim man.....like someone that would run a lot of marathons back on Earth.
The excited nurse called a few other nurses into the room. The group of nurses checked David's condition and were surprised that he was in such good shape. They did check him very thoroughly every day, so a rapid improvement was easily noticeable.
"Excuse me," David said after letting the nurses fuss about him for a few minutes, "Can I get a new pair of clothes? I really need to get back to work before the Masters get upset with me."
In response to his request, the nurses sighed and left the room to get some slave clothes for David. Despite their care for David as a patient, a slave was a slave after all. There was nothing they could do about the situation.
After getting his change of clothes, David quickly left the medical building and headed over to Mr. Harver's building to report for duty. Even though the nourishment stones had done wonders for his actual body recovery, David still acted like he had an broken unfit body. He limped and shuffled down the street after leaving the hospital building. Most people would have looked at him as an old beat up slave.
With a few minutes of walking, David arrived Mr. Harver's building and headed down to the mine door.
The usual guard at the door was surprised to see David as he hobbled down the stairs.
"I thought you were dead," the guard said as he looked at David questionably.
"No, master. If Master Helio didn't wish for me to live, I would have died. But since Master Helio wished for me to live...I live," David said while holding back is anger about the guards indifference to a worthless slave's life.
"Yes, you are right," the guard said, " then you better get inside to see what punishment head Guard Helio has for you for missing work for so many days."
"Yes Master,' David said as he entered the freshly opened door.
Walking in, the scene was exactly the same as all the previous times David had been to the mines. Guards and slaves were scurrying about completing their tasks...and Head Guard Helio had a whip in his hand beating some poor slave. As he had done several times before, David walked over and stood to the side waiting his turn.
After a minute's wait, Head Guard Helio turned around and looked at David.
"You're back already, slave? I thought you would take another few days with your poor condition. Harver will be happy that you didn't cost him the full amount to heal," Head Guard Helio said with a bit of scorn in his voice.
"By your mercy, I have lived, Master. I am ready to get back to work to pay the two Masters back for saving my life and having those nurses care for me," David said acting very very serious and thankful.
"Good that you know your place. Now go get your supplies and get into a tunnel. Pick anyone you want. I have no preference. Here are 8 markers and the cave locator. You have 10 days again. You better find something good to make up for your previous error," Head Guard Helio said before handing the beacons to David. He then turned around and started to whip the bound slave behind him again.
Seeing the bloodied slave on the ground, David felt a confirmation of the need for his plans to succeed. He departed from Head Guard Helio and went to the guard with the supplies near the door. The guard provided him a new satchel, 4 survival rations and a few bottles of water. The minimal amount to survive for 10 days. Nothing more, Nothing less.
After getting his supplies, David looked around and picked the most abandoned looking tunnel in the mines. He assumed that the least trafficked tunnel would have the best resources available.
David made his way into the tunnel and began his usual search. Because his soul perception range had increased greatly, David had an easy time locating metal ores.
After locating a few heavenly stones and five ore deposits on the first day. David decided that it was time to start searching for the materials he needed for his own plans.
One key item for this plan was a supply of specialty heavenly stones like the Stone of Strength. David also needed to cover as much ground as possible in the underground. He need to get these tunnels properly mapped out in his head and see if any escape was possible. To accomplish this, he removed his collar and affixed it to one of the cave centipedes along with one of the small heavenly stones he found.
David had locked the centipede beast in a dream when it was sleeping.....then woke it up and let it go on its way. He didn't want his movements tracked through the collar but he knew that if he just set it down on the ground....then Head Guard Helio would know something was wrong. All he had to do was focus on his soul perception and look around for a moving heavenly stone.
David used his strength to break out a small hidden storage area in a dead end tunnel branch off the main tunnel. He left a few normal heavenly stones in that location in a particular pattern....so he would be able to recognize the spot with his soul sense.
Once all his initial preparations were made, David began his rapid journey around the tunnels. Over the next four days, David found all sorts of interesting items. The most interesting in this first trip back was very large soul stone. The soul stone was found among the rubble of what appeared to be a long skeleton at the dead end of a tunnel. David guessed that this was one of the ancient sand worms that had been mentioned to him before. David even managed to find a section of far away tunnel that was close to the surface and actually had a small underground spring nearby.
After nine days, David retrieved his collar from the insect beast and returned to the main chamber. Head Guard Helio and Mr. Harver were very happy with the items David had brought back this time. They were even more pleased with David's performance in marking ore locations. They thought that this slave was a cash cow.
The two men gave David a night's break like last time. David actually requested the same woman and it was allowed. Of course, David used some of his time to nurture the woman's mental state. He knew if he succeeded in his plans, then the pitiful woman would have no one to care for her. He wanted her to try to wake up if possible.
David mostly used the night to check in on the status of everything in the town. The request for backup from Nazca City had actually been rescinded. No additional guards were expected to arrive from the main city. David found the news very exciting. He had as much time as he needed now.
On this trip in the mines, David had found none of the specific items he had been searching for. Nothing would change his plan and he wasn't being treated that poorly for the moment. He decided to milk his stay in the mines and build up a stockpile of heavenly stones and other goods.
His decision was made even more firm when he realized that Mr. Harver was not processing the stones he submitted. They were being stored in a special location under his building. It was like he had a vault for the good stuff.
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In the following weeks, David continued the cycle of exploring mines and returning treasures to Head Guard Helio and Mr. Harver. During these trips, David had uncovered several of the items that he needed for his plan to work.
David wasn't only looking for heavenly stones.....he began to stockpile pieces and parts of the insect beasts that Misery killed along the way. David would remove the fangs from the spiders and centipedes and store them next to the heavenly stones and elemental gems that he found.
At this point, he was only missing one item.....and this wasn't a must have....it would just make the plan convenient. He wished he would stumble across a space stone so that he could store all of his goodies before he left the oasis town. A space stone allowed for storage of items in an independent space. Most cultivators that had any sort of significant funds would purchase a small space stone to be used as a ring or bracelet.
Since he didn't find one of the stones in the mines, he had hopes of locating one in two different places. The bad thing about these two places was that they were not observable with his soul sense. One was Mr. Harver's stockpile of pilfered goods in the building's basement. The other locations were the supplies of the Demigods. Once his plans when into effect, he would go to Mr. Harver's stash to rob the supplies. If he couldn't find one in that place then his only other chance was.....by killing one of the Demigods and looting their stuff.
Despite not finding a space stone, the one find that made David the happiest was three small red stones. These red stones were a fairly common medical stone called Blood Stones. Under normal situations, this stone would allow the storage of blood, then the supplementation of blood into a body with an injury.
Sadly, he had only found these three small Blood Stones. These stones were most usually found on ancient bloody battlefields so they were not that common in these mines.
Since he had managed to find a few of these stones, then he would be able to craft something special for Misery when it came time to form her body. The information his mysterious godmother had given him had contained a special method for creating Misery a blood body with a Blood Stone as a foundation.
On his fourth trip into the mines, David had struck gold...well....struck heavenly stones. He actually found three large Stones of Strength that were each an equal size to his previous find. Of course, he hid these stones in his new storage chamber.....this find wasn't planned but it would increase his chances of success greatly.
With the finding of the Stones of Strength, David decided that it was time to move onto the next stage of his plan.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BrokeButton
BrokeButton I don't know if my writing is getting better, but the length of my chapters is gradually increasing. This one is at 2515 words. It is longer than anything in the 1st volume...but is starting to be around the standard length of a chapter in Volume 3.
What do you think? Are the chapters too rushed?
I personally like story progression more than anything else when I read. I assume the details will eventually fall into place after a while....
Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
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