Rise of The Holy-Realm Rebel

This trend continued for days, and in no time two weeks passed with the same routine activities each day. Even I grew bored.

We would be woken up not too long before daybreak, led out into the forest, and back to work on the field we were!

A couple hours later we'd be given food before working non-stop till noon, after which light refreshments would be served, and we'd be forced back to work till sundown.

For two weeks we dug and dug, and strangely nothing showed up. Nothing! Nothing apart from the occasional chunks of rocks.

The underground area of that field looked so normal It was startling even for me!

Needless to say, those men gradually started getting harsher in their interactions with us.

Occasionally someone would get beaten to a pulp for mishandling something. It had only taken two weeks before the cruel nature deep within them unfolded.

Thankfully I managed to remain under the radar... Somehow.

Something new happened at the end of the two-week mark, though. Surprisingly a batch of five new slaves were transported to the camp. All females.

None looked past the age of twenty, and only one of them had stepped on the path to ascension. But she was only at the Plain-Stage.

'A pity,' I thought to myself when her prowess became known to me. Once again, somehow I could still perceive the presence of Solarin, even In others. The camp's location was also low in its concentration.

Nevertheless, thanks to her nature as a 'Rebel' the lady had been treated with a bit more respect than the rest. She also stood out thanks to her bright orange hair.

The days continued to pass and no breakthrough was reached on the field.

As such, little by little our rations started growing smaller, and we were accused of not working hard enough, making those soldiers work us even harder.

It wasn't until a month and three days passed that something new occurred on the field.

Like every other day, I had been engrossed in the utilization of my pickaxe.

At this point the field had turned into one large pit and several rope ladders had to be thrown into it to allow us access to its deepening insides.

Gradually we were working our way into carving genuine underground tunnels, and some of us had started to focus on specific areas just to achieve tunnels that would hide them from the eyes of those soldiers.

I on the other hand simply went with the flow—picking random spots that no one else manned. I didn't care about finding anything.

And In truth, I had started to believe I would never leave that place.

However… It happened. A break!

It was some hours past noon, possibly close to sundown. All I cared about was getting out of that pit.

As usual, I struck the reddish rocky soil with my pickaxe and it gave way for me to strike again—Which I did. I would use any of the tools I had brought, after.

The colors of the soil had transitioned from dark brown or black to sometimes yellow or light gray, and now to dark reddish brown.

We were even beginning to stumble upon deeper gray rocks. A testament of how much we had dug. Our tools had needed to be upgraded thrice even.

However, my axe head clashed with something rather solid.

Assuming it to be a denser chunk of rock as always, I decided to create a full outline of the supposed rock and avoid it altogether.

There was still a considerable layer of reddish soil on it when I was done.

However, something reached my senses.

I blinked in shock as the hair on my skin rose...energized.

"Solarite?!" I gasped softly, wide-eyed. But it was true. I could feel and sense it!

The density of Solarin had spiked enough for it to be noticeable. My heart skipped a beat and soon it started to pound.

"This was what they had asked us to find," I muttered as the dots connected. 'How did it skip my mind?!'

A bit wary now, I swept my gaze on my surroundings.

No one had taken notice of me and the clanging cacophony of pickaxes against the soil drowned all other sounds.

Over 60 individuals were working after all. It was bound to be noisy. The ground even vibrated as a result of our collective work.

I crouched using my fingers to dig, and to my anticipation-filled astonishment, a pale-amber glow broke through the reddish soil to reach my eyes, followed by the refreshing scent of a crystal that remained rare albeit useful to society in general.

"It's really... Solarite," I mumbled, stunned. And from the looks of it, it was huge!

I remained crouched, quickly covering the exposed portion whilst thoughts raged in my head.

This was my chance to test if indeed I had lost all my powers. But I couldn't take even the tiniest chunk with me since were each searched before returning to the camp.

I'd be caught and executed without mercy.

Still, I also couldn't just hand it over.

Due to my hesitation, I failed to notice my partner's presence inching closer to me.

Looking over my shoulder, he spoke. "You've found something, haven't you?"

My world spun as I tried to locate the voice and when I saw him I calmed. At least only a bit.

Over the weeks he had shown himself to be a rather good person, so much that I wondered what he had even been doing as part of the military. And like me, he had remained mostly mysterious.

I partially attributed his mysterious demeanor to my reluctance to open up. After all, I still hadn't told him my name. Or anyone for that matter.

Unable to deny his words, I nodded.

"It smells like Solarite," he revealed, and my eyes widened. Another surprising matter.

From the knowledge I had gained so far, most didn't even know how to perceive the ever-present presence of the world's energy, talk less of knowing what its solid form smelt like!

"It is Solarite," I stated, and he did not seem taken aback by my acknowledgment.

"What do you want to do?" He asked, truly unfazed. Did he really know what Solarite was? Or was it an act?

"There's a reward for bringing that in, but it seems you're more interested in keeping it a secret," his words struck home before I could even form a response.

"Am I that obvious?" I asked as a bad taste appeared in my mouth. No one liked overly intelligent people.

He limited himself to nodding. And I sighed, shook my head, then stood.

"Since you don't seem keen on stealing this from me—" I narrowed my eyes to vividly communicate my suspicion. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Allow me to keep this for a few days," I declared.

"Do you indeed expect no other person to find it?"

I swept my gaze on the pit's insides—at least the little I could see. Our position stood on the far edge of its expanse. Barely any other person was close to us.

"There's a chance, thankfully that's why I'll have to depend on your help to keep this place as scanty as usual," I explained.

Seemingly taken aback by my words, he raised an eyebrow in a questioning expression.

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes. "Don't act like you haven't noticed it."

"I don't know what you did, but for some reason they all avoid you… like a plague."