Chapter 17: Path of Ascension |
The burrow.
Lino pushed himself up, planting his hands on his hips as he panted for breath.
The excavation was proving far more grueling than he'd expected.
He'd assumed that with the system's virtual outline, all he had to do was dig along the dotted lines to unearth the entire root network.
That turned out to be wildly optimistic.
The soil around the mushroom was packed with rotting matter, slime, bacteria, insect eggs, and rocks as hard as steel.
He had never seen or heard of such a nauseatingly complex mixture of filth.
The moment his drill bit hit the dirt, rock chips flew and foul muck sprayed everywhere, as if he'd struck the aorta of some massive beast.
In just this short span of time, Lino was already plastered in sludge.
Should he just slip away?
Wouldn't it be much better to go back and do business with Lai Ya?
It wasn't as if he was desperate enough to mooch two free meals a day off the cigarette factory.
On second thought, Lino pushed the urge to quit out of his mind.
Conditions in the Underhive were just too brutal. The vast majority of the housing consisted of rusted tin shacks, with only a tiny handful of actual apartments or proper homes.
Rumor had it that the Midhive was significantly better, much like the cities of his past life, where everyone could afford to live in an apartment.
The supervisor had mentioned earlier that after five years of work, one would earn the right to move to the Midhive.
Lino was genuinely looking forward to that.
When he thought about it, there seemed to be only two real avenues for an Underhive resident to reach the Midhive: pledging loyalty to a powerful family, or enlisting in the military.
Joining the Planetary Defense Force was a near-guaranteed death sentence. Serving a major family was by far the safer bet.
This was perhaps the starkest difference between his past life and his current one.
In the world of the Hive City, trying to climb the social ladder through academic exams was a pipe dream. The only relatively secure path to promotion lay in catching the eye of a powerful family.
While Lino's thoughts wandered, the supervisor's voice crackled through his earpiece.
"Lino, I forgot to mention—you only need to dig out one-tenth of the root system to complete today's quota."
Lino let out a long breath.
So he didn't have to uproot the entire network after all. That made things a lot easier.
"Understood, Supervisor."
Lino replied and went back to work.
For the next few hours, he alternated between digging and resting.
When lunchtime rolled around, Lino headed back the way he'd come.
The transport pod he rode in came equipped with an auto-cleaner. As it glided along the rails, it sprayed him down with disinfectant, washing away the grime.
Leaving his respirator, helmet, and shoulder plating behind in the pod, Lino stepped back into the locker room wearing only his stretchy undersuit.
Between the locker room and the elevator platform lay the massive hall where everyone had gathered that morning.
It had since undergone a makeshift renovation. Folding chairs and tables now dotted the floor, each marked with a nameplate.
The area had been designated as their breakroom. This was where they'd eat and rest, and every worker had an assigned seat.
Lunch was carted in via the elevator.
Today's meal consisted of a synthetic meat sausage, a bowl of Synthetic Starch, and a perfectly clean, white boiled egg.
Never mind the savory, juicy synthetic sausage—just the sight of the egg was enough to send the exhausted apprentices into a frenzy.
This was the stuff of legends!
None of them had expected to be served a delicacy on their very first day that most Underhive residents wouldn't taste in a lifetime.
Lino nearly shed a tear when he bit into the egg white.
It had been far too long since he'd tasted anything this normal.
Huh?
Why was the yolk purple?
Maybe different breeds of chickens just had different biology.
The texture matched his memory of a hard-boiled egg well enough, so he wolfed it down without complaint.
With the lavish lunch finished, it was time for their break.
Praise the Kram Cigarette Factory.
Every folding chair could recline into a single cot, and the lunch break itself lasted a full hour.
Lino wasn't one for midday naps.
Once he finished eating, he requested permission to head back down to the burrow and resume digging.
"Wait in the locker room for a minute. I'll call your transport pod back up," the supervisor answered through the earpiece.
Lino asked casually, "Supervisor, did anyone finish their training quota this morning?"
"Ten people finished. They'll be doing combat drills in the training room this afternoon. You aren't slow—your raw speed is better than anyone else's. You just lack the physical bulk to match their overall progress."
Just as he thought. Being young was a disadvantage everywhere.
Lino shook his head helplessly.
Back in the burrow, he threw himself into the work.
Following the scanner's outline, Lino carved out a deep trench next to the mushroom, exposing more and more of the root system.
The blue-purple glow grew brighter, but the strange murmurs in his ears remained faint, completely failing to affect his mind.
The scanner's display read: Excavation Progress 9.2%.
Lino shut off the drill and switched to a brush, carefully sweeping the dirt away from the root fibers.
The progress ticked up slowly, inching its way to 9.9%.
As his brush cleared away another layer of soil, a faint glint of white caught his eye.
Lino let out a quiet sound of surprise. He quickly but gently dusted the area, and the white object revealed itself.
It was a pristine, silver-white metal card lashed onto one of the roots. It didn't look like it had been buried in the dirt for long.
A small pixelated screen on the front displayed the number "1".
"Beep, beep."
His scanner chimed.
Lino glanced down at the readout:
"You have unearthed today's Scorecard. Score: 1 point. Excavation progress reached 10%."
A Scorecard?
Had the supervisor planted this down here on purpose?
The earpiece crackled to life.
"Lino, you're faster than I expected. But enough chatter. Take the Scorecard and head back up. The others are already finished and waiting for you in the lounge. I'm calling a meeting once you arrive."
'I really am dead last, huh.'
Lino shook his head in resignation.
There was nothing he could do about it. He only had two hands; there was no way a kid his size could outwork full-grown adults.
He rode the pod in silence, leaving the burrow behind and returning to the locker room.
The apprentices who had finished their quotas earlier had already changed out of their gear.
They were clustered in the lounge, chatting amongst themselves.
When Lino walked in, every pair of eyes turned toward him.
A man in his early thirties called out, "Not bad, kid. You managed to finish today's quota all on your own."
Another man looked Lino up and down with a half-smile. "To be honest, I don't see a scrawny runt like you lasting until the end of training."
Lino shot the two men a puzzled look but didn't bother replying.
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'Did I offend them somehow?'
'Why are they being so snide?'
"Alright, everyone. Since we're all here, let's get this meeting started."
A heavily bearded man clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
Only then did Lino even notice the man was in the room.
Judging by his voice, this was the supervisor of the Collection Department. He looked to be in his fifties, which made his earlier forgetfulness a little more understandable.
Everyone took their seats.
The supervisor clamped a pipe between his teeth, puffing out a cloud of smoke as he spoke.
"My name is Robnos. I used to be a Mycelium Walker for the Pharmacists Association, spending years down in the Underhive gathering pharmaceutical materials. Three months ago, I retired from the Association. Now, I work for the Kram Family as the head of the Collection Department for both the Kram Cigarette Factory and the pharmaceutical factory.
"I'll start with the most important point. Although the vast majority of you already know what I'm about to say, I'm going to repeat it anyway."
The moment the words left his mouth, the entire room turned to look at Lino.
Pinned under dozens of stares, Lino furrowed his brow.
He saw a whole spectrum of emotions on their faces: jealousy, heavy scrutiny, and outright disdain.
He had no idea what Robnos had told these people to suddenly make him the center of attention.
Lino forcefully steadied his mind, refusing to let the sudden hostility rattle him.
