Although, if this cave turns out to be nothing, I will be upset for wasting my time. Especially since I could have been out exploring with the others and satisfying my curiosity. Hopefully, the girls will be able to figure out the secrets of the jungle for me.

Otherwise this is going to be another unsatisfied curiosity that will bug me for the rest of my life. There are already a few of those, so I can live with another one if I have to. Luckily, as my willpower goes up they become easier to ignore or they might drive me insane.

It is a fact that my outrageous stats have saved me in multiple situations. However, the increased mental strength might just be the most important of all. Without it, several of the situations that I have ended up in would have broken me.

True, I got myself into most of those situations, but I also knew I could count on my stats. Now, because of how strong my new body is, I don't have to depend on my stats as much. However, they still help me in a lot of situations, like right now with breaking up the rocks.

I could probably dig the tunnel without using my mana, but it would take much longer. Not only do I not have the time for that, but I also don't have the patience. In fact, I don't even really have the patience for this method, I just can't think of a better one.

Although, I do increase my speed when I realize that I don't have to worry about a cave in. After all, the earth elemental doesn't need to breathe, so if there is a cave in I just need to shapeshift. As long as I don't stay in the form for too long I should be able to deal with the side effects.

Then I realize there is a faster way to shatter the rock using some water mana. Once the rock is cracked, I shove water into the cracks and then freeze it. The first time I try it an entire ten foot section of the tunnel shatters into tiny pieces.

Then all I have to do is clean up the rubble and move to the next section. This is much faster, but it uses quite a bit more mana so I am not sure it is better. However, even with the time needed to meditate, this method proves to be a bit faster.

It also doesn't hurt as much, because after a while even my fists get hurt punching rocks. My regeneration takes care of the damage, but I still feel the reduced pain. I don't even want to think how much it would hurt without my pain reduction skill.

When I stop to meditate and recover my mana, I try the method Seronia told me to use. It does work, but moving the connection is even slower than I had feared. By the time I have refilled my mana I have only moved it about a half an inch.

With just that little bit of movement it is already starting to hurt so I stop. Normally I would push things, but since this concerns my soul I am going to do exactly as Seronia said. I will try moving it some more after two days of rest, after all I don't need to rush.

In fact, I am a little worried that if I free Bones too soon he might fall under the maker's control. The fact that he can still hear her even though we are so far away is the reason I am worried. Bones getting controlled would be a really bad thing, I don't want to have to kill him.

Not that killing Bones would be easy, but I am pretty confident I could do it. I really don't want to find out though, especially if all I need to do is be patient. So, for once I am going to do exactly what I was told to do, even though it feels wrong.

Since I can't do anything more right now I turn my focus back to digging the tunnel. Now that I have a bit of practice using the water method I am able to go even faster. At my current rate of speed I should reach the cave before tomorrow night.

Well, it is past midnight now so I should say that by tonight as long as nothing goes wrong. The tunnel is now deep enough that no light comes in from outside so it is a complete surprise when Lin shows up. She is here to tell me it is time for breakfast so I quickly finish the segment I am currently working on.

After I clean up the rubble I follow Lin outside and then dump all the rubble from my ring. There is already a small hill made from all the rubble I have removed from the tunnel. Once that is done I shapeshift to human form and cuddle with Lin on the walk back to camp.

"I should be able to finish the tunnel by tonight, so you guys have one more day of exploring. Then tomorrow morning we will go into the cave and see what's in there. What we do after that will depend on what we find inside."

Lin says "Alright, sounds good. We are returning to the ship the day after tomorrow then?"

"That morning I will check in with Stillwater. If they haven't arrived yet we will stay a little longer."

Lin says "Sounds like a plan. Now, let's eat."

Lin hands out the food and almost immediately everyone is commenting on it. The improvements to the enchantments are working and while the taste hasn't changed, the food is richer. That means it takes less food to fill everyone up and it provides more energy.

It might not be quite as good as the real thing, but it is close enough not to matter. After all, the convenience of pulling it out of the pouch compared to having to cook is obvious. Not to mention, none of us is that good of a cook as far as I know.

Once everyone is finished eating I send them off to explore and head back to the tunnel. My mana wasn't empty when Lin came to get me and I recovered some while I was eating. Thanks to that I am able to do another dozen sections before I need to recover my mana.

I am not doing the sections any faster now, but each section I do is a bit bigger. Originally each section was about eight feet, now I am almost at twelve feet per section. Before this I hadn't played around much with earth or water spells, so this is good practice.

Just because I get bonuses to fire, wind, and lightning spells doesn't mean I should ignore the other elements. In fact, not being practiced with the other elements could hurt me in the future. I will need to keep that in mind from now on and take the time to practice.

When I run out of mana I stop and meditate to recover, then I go straight back to work. By the time Lin shows up to invite me to dinner I am almost done, so I ask her to wait. While she watches I finish this segment and do one more before cleaning up the rubble.