(A lot of this chapter is just explains the basic effects and applications of cultivating for readers who might not be too familiar. To my veteran Xuanhuan readers I hope you can understand.)
***
The mine was a winding maze of tunnels and small crevices that could lead anyone astray if they didn't have the necessary information or spatial awareness.
Luke, however, had that and more. He had his sense of smell. It was incredibly faint, much thinner than when he had found the skeleton, but he knew that sweetness contained something special.
Trusting in his intuition, he followed the smell and eventually made his way into one of the mine's deeper parts.
Unlike the previous parts which were well-ventilated, lit, and structured he was standing in front of a tunnel that was dark and stale.
Had he just been relying on just his dim headlamp he would've seen nothing but complete darkness.
But following his sudden evolution his eyes had gained the ability to see much clearer in the dark.
Luke pressed his hand onto the cold rocky surface of the tunnel's wall. It was at this exact point that the sweet smell was the most concentrated.
Without much hesitation, he began swinging his pickaxe. And despite not having the ability to fully swing back his pickaxe he made ample progress.
Close to half an hour passed before his pick struck an object much harder than the surrounding rock.
A sweet vanilla-like smell spread throughout the tunnel as he peeked into the hole. Inside the small hole laid a milky white fluorescent crystal.
Luke looked around, ensuring that no one else was able to notice his sudden discovery.
For the next hour or so he began to softly mine away at the edges of the crystal. He wasn't completely sure but he suspected it was this precious material that he needed in order to escape.
With a final careful swing, he managed to excavate the palm-sized spiritual stone. Holding it in his hand it was much brighter than the stones which lined the mines and his helmet.
Heading a bit deeper into the tunnel he sat on the cold floor. He had finally gotten what he needed, but he had no clue how to use it.
For the time being he decided to take some rest. He leaned against the tunnel's wall, holding the spiritual stone close to himself.
A few minutes into his rest he began to feel reinvigorated, stronger, more alert. Looking down onto the crystal he noticed that its illuminance had dimmed by 1%.
His body was absorbing the crystal's energy! Just based on proximity alone, all he had to do was keep it near him and he could feel himself grow stronger.
Luke began to grin with a sly smile on his face. This was exactly what he needed.
From the moment he noticed the absurdness of the monkey he knew he wasn't anywhere close to earth.
After gaining the celestial's inheritance he had already almost confirmed the existence of supernatural powers beyond his gift.
And now he had found a solid path towards not only his escape but towards his own personal strength.
From now on all he needed to do was lay low, slowly accumulate strength, and patiently wait for the right moment to escape from this hell hole.
***
(6 months later)
Clutching two palm-sized spiritual stones in each hand, Luke began meditating on the tunnel's floor.
The previously bright stones turned dulled in a matter of a few hours, losing all of the luster they once possessed.
Luke had done it, it took an incredibly long time but having absorbed the spiritual energy from the latest two stones he had officially consumed 126 spiritual stones.
The previous 6 months passed by in a complete flash. It was the same routine every single day, wake up, work, come back for dinner at sunset then repeat.
It was mind-numbing, it was boring, and it was demeaning. The only time he felt even a slight bit of happiness was when he was cultivating in the mine.
He enjoyed the process of growing stronger, feeling his entire self grow to lengths beyond what any human should be.
He felt himself become saturated by the energy as it engulfed his entire being. From this point onward he didn't have a single clue on how to progress further.
At the same time he hadn't just been cultivating for the past months, he had discovered some crucial aspects of his newfound power.
The energy which he had decided to call spiritual energy, seemed to permeate not only inside these crystals but also throughout the whole atmosphere.
It was just that the concentration of spiritual energy in the air was abysmally low, maybe even 1000 times lower than in a single palm-sized spiritual crystal.
So while he could've cultivated by drawing in spiritual energy from his surroundings, it was simply so inefficient that it would've been a waste.
One of the most wild things he discovered was that when he spread spiritual energy from inside himself into the world he could almost sense what was around him.
It acted as a sixth sense that not only acted as a second sight but it allowed him to almost inspect others.
He could sense the level of spiritual energy inside their bodies, the condition of their health, and even their emotion.
It was an absolutely mystical feeling, but he refrained from using it too much for fear of being caught.
Another thing he discovered was that even if he depleted all his reserves of spiritual energy he was able to slowly regenerate it.
In the end, it never went beyond his max, only by using spiritual stones could he increase the maximum amount of spiritual energy his body could hold.
There were of course other applications that he had discovered such as being able to actively increase his physical strength, speed, and durability.
It also passively enhances his eyesight, his natural regeneration, and various other bodily operations.
Although he had 6 months he knew he had only scratched the surface of what was possible.
Without the freedom to actually test out his powers, he was extremely limited in his ability to practice.
The only reason he stayed was due to the abundance of spiritual stones which aided his cultivation.
But now that he had reached a bottleneck of sorts, it was high time he left.
Having been careful he knew most of the monkeys didn't hold a single shred of spiritual energy.
He was certain that as long as he didn't encounter another person with spiritual energy he would escape scott-free.
That being said, he signed in hopes nothing too unexpected would happen in his grand escape.