My room is a tiny square, only decorated with a mattress and a hole in the corner, which I assume is to be used as a toilet. Guess I have nothing better to do till morning than cultivate. As I close my eyes, I notice a red flash. I focus on it and an alert appears.

System Quest

You have failed to reach level 5 in daggers and 100 points have been removed from your account.

The new current total is -100. As punishment, the system has been disabled for 1 year.

“That’s harsh. Come on,” I mutter to myself.

Focusing on cultivating once again, I calm my mind and try to replenish the KI that I used the night of the fight with the two sect members.

After a few hours, I calm down and manage to slowly refill the KI in my core.

“Wake up, recruits! It's time to get to work,” a voice wakes me. I hurry to get dressed, then leave my tiny room, entering a stone hallway. I look to the left and see a queue forming in front of a man holding various pickaxes.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and see a kid maybe a year or two older than me. He smiles politely and, in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, asks me, “first day ay?”

I nod back at him and introduce myself as Adam.

“Nice meet you. Just call me Squeaky - everyone else does due to my voice,” he says with a big grin on his face.

“So, what's the deal here? Any tips?” I ask trying to be polite and not let my worry show.

“It's simple, really. First come first served, only fight if you have no choice, and never offend anyone of a higher KI. A lot of people use higher KI users as protectors, which comes at a cost. Also, don’t offend someone unless you're sure they have no backing. Lastly, you need at least 15 stones a day to live comfortably,” he explains.

“Thanks for your help,” I wrap up the convo as I'm given a pickaxe and sent to my area.

The hallway opens up into a wide clearing which is lit by blue crystals on the wall. The area I'm assigned to has 5 other people. They all eye me carefully as I find an empty location and start hitting around a crystal. The impact jars my arms and someone to my left laughs.

A female voice says “put one hand at the bottom and one about halfway on the handle. Bring it over your head and then let weight and gravity do all the work. By the way, this info cost you your first sprit stone. You're welcome,” she says with a cheeky smile.

I try it the way she recommends, and oh-my-god it is so much easier. That was so worth the cost. I finally get my first crystal after 30 minutes of chipping away the surrounding stone.

“Hey, catch,” I say, throwing the crystal to the girl.

I get my first good look at her. She looks around 11 years old, with green eyes, short blue hair, rosy cheeks from all the mining, and a pointy nose. Looking at her again, I realize she's an elf.

“You’re an elf?” I ask excitedly.

“Yeah, what of it?” she answers back with a bit of bite in her tone.

“Nothing. It's just my first time meeting an elf. I didn’t mean to offend you,” I sincerely reply.

“Oh, well, guess that’s okay then. We can talk more later if you want to, but right now we need to hurry or we won't meet the target,” she replies while turning back to her work.

By the end of the day, I have 11 stones. As I’m picking up all my stuff, a voice echoes:

“1 sprit stone per person tax."

Looking at the entrance, I see 3 heavily built men. More closely inspecting them, I notice they're all KI level 1. As each person exits, they give them the stone.

Why are they all paying? If I pay, I won't be able to afford any food. No food means I won’t work as well tomorrow. No, I just can’t afford to pay them. The one in the middle holds out the bag as I walk past them.

I ignore him and keep walking until I feel a force on my shoulders push me down. He's weak, I think I can take him on. I grab his hand, twist it, and push him away from me. He takes a step back and I continue to walk, only to be interrupted by a metal point pushing against my back.

“Let’s not make this messy. The rules say I can’t kill you, but I can do a lot worse while keeping you alive. Now hand over the ston-” before he finishes speaking I activate lightning-step and shoot forward. I twist so I am facing him and the other guys, and while looking at the shock in their faces, I active lightning-step again. While I'm shooting forward, I activate hyper-focus. I aim my fist at his chest. He is sent flying. You can hear the snapping of bones. Worried that I killed him, I check on him and find him groaning. Thank god for that. Not long after, I notice his bag filled with stones is on the floor. I grab them and active lighting-step for the last time, escaping.

The same man that handed out the pickaxes in the morning is now collecting them and the daily tax.

“You're late,” he says in a stern voice.

“My apologies,” I say, grabbing 11 stones from the white bag and placing them in his, with the extra one offered as an apology.

His attitude completely changes.

“No worries younger brother. It was no issue at all to wait,” he says in a cheerful tone before packing everything up and walking away.

I head to my room to count how many stones I have.

A grand total of forty.

“A very profitable day,” I say to myself before heading towards section 6. It seems like I'll need a new dagger.