For the humans, they were only served one meal a day, that being dinner. While individual rations were a meager amount when compiled together it could serve to satiate the hunger of the majority.
As Luke began progressing in his cultivation, he steadily required less and less food and water.
So on most nights, he would be the first to volunteer to go hungry. Even when others offered to take his place he never wavered in his decision.
Despite only eating two times a week, his physique neither diminished nor had his health declined.
It baffled the majority of the laborers but it also brought him a silent respect. This particular evening was quite the same.
"You don't have to do this every time. I can cover for you." Leo offered.
Leo was part of the forty or so miners who worked alongside him for the past six months. Though a bit naive Luke considered him a good guy and an acquaintance.
Even though six months had passed he made sure to not form any long-lasting relationships.
His front and foremost goal was to escape, having friends would cause him to feel guilty about leaving them behind.
He did however swear to eventually return to this place, raze it to the ground, and free the humans who were being treated as cattle.
For now, escape was still his top priority. Watching his lanky friend and roommate feast away on his dual rations he excused himself to the restrooms.
The thing he termed as his spiritual sense was an absolute cheat, the closest thing he could describe it to was a minimap in most games.
Except even then it paled in comparison, it was something akin to having a free rotating camera that he could use to see in a third-person pov for about 100 m.
Waiting till the twin suns began to sink below the horizon he began slowly making his way towards the town's eastern border.
Using the cheat that was spiritual sense he was able to navigate unseen, finally making it into the hidden cover of the forest which surrounded the town.
Though he should've been grinning from ear to ear, he felt a little guilty for leaving behind his people.
He'd come back though he swore it.
Having finally escaped, his first order of operations was to find a human settlement that hopefully not only knew more about cultivation but could serve as a safe haven for him.
It had been a long time since he had heard a whisper. In the whole of the six months he had been training he had heard not a single zilch.
[There currently stands no human settlement on this planet.]
And now the whispers came back, having crushed his entire plan. Not a single human settlement existed on this planet?
If that was the case what did that mean for the whole of humanity? Did that mean all across the planet they were treated as slaves?
He wanted to deny the thought. For all the wonders he had heard from the whispers, knowing that he lived on a planet where humans were at the bottom of the rung was simply unbelievable.
He could believe in those stupid overgrown monkeys existing, he acknowledged and loved the fact magic existed. But knowing that humans were cattle? His mind had a hard time wrapping itself around that.
Human dominance wasn't just a societal belief, it was something that was directly ingrained into his genes.
For millions of years on Earth, homosapiens hunted their prey and they stood near the top of the food chain.
Eventually, they stood so far above the rest of the animals that they began taking care of animals that were once their predators.
From that moment forward the only real enemy of humanity was itself. No other existence could threaten their place as the top dawgs.
But on this planet? Humanity's existence was an insult to the dominance Luke had once known.
He couldn't stand for it. The thought of an entire planet of humans subservient to what were essentially slightly stronger animals made him sick.
He resolved to change it, he would show those Apes what it meant to be human.
For now, though, he knew it was best to consolidate his strength. This anger that he felt, this pride towards being human evoked within him a sense of enlightenment.
The bottleneck which he had just recently felt began to loosen in seconds. The cloudy path ahead which he knew nothing about seemed so clear to him now.
The spiritual energy that filled his body had a state similar to gas, it was loose, it was free, and incredibly light.
Compared to spiritual stones which were a lot more compact, and held greater amounts of energy in a smaller volume it was clear which was a more efficient way of storing spiritual energy.
By spreading spiritual energy outside of his body he had discovered spiritual sense an incredible use of the mysterious energy.
This time around he would have to do the exact opposite, condense the energy inside his body.
If his current spiritual energy was akin to gas then the next step would be to condense it into something similar to a liquid.
Escaping his state of enlightenment he already made a plan in his mind for the following steps.
He needed a safe spot to break through and he had a perfectly good hiding spot for himself.
Due to Issac the og monkey being held in prison, only he knew about the location of his old camp.
Inside the small cavern in which he had first found the inheritance, he planned to undergo his evolution.
Nearby he knew the locations of the small creek and the red berries. Although his requirement for food and water had lowered it still hadn't disappeared completely.
Following his breakthrough he would return to this place. For since there currently stood no settlement for humanity, he would claw one out with his bare hands.