A loud ringing bell echoed through the winding shafts of the mine, announcing the end of the first shift and tearing Kilian out of his deep concentration.

  He lowered the pickaxe, threw the last lumps of ore lying on the ground into his basket, and felt the firm grip of a gigantic hand on his shoulder.

  "Perhaps you can do the impossible after all!" Thrym marveled, glancing at his little brother's overflowing basket, "You find the ore deposits as if you could smell them. Are you just lucky, or is there a trick?"

  “When you open your senses and feel the Qi around you, more energy gathers where there is a lot to be gained!” Kilian whispered in his ear as he pulled himself up on the massive shoulder, careful that the others around him didn't understand a word.

  Surprised, the half-giant raised first one eyebrow, then the other, and asked incredulously, “This again? Lady Lorna has been nagging me about it for weeks, but I just don't get it right… If this continues, you might really become old Grumpybeard's student! Hahaha!”

  “Where does this light come from?” Panted a sweat-drenched halforc as his pickaxe made its final blow of the day, punching a small, glowing hole in a wall.

  As he cursed and tried to retrieve the stuck tool from the rock, the tunnel around him began to creak ominously, and after a firm tug that freed the pickaxe and caused him to fall backward, several large boulders crashed down on him from the ceiling.

  “ARGH!” He cried out loudly, and the falling rubble buried his legs up to his hips, “Help! There's a hollow space behind this shaft! I got hit by a rockfall while clearing it, and I can't feel my legs anymore!”

  Kilian, who was just about to wrap things up in another shaft, felt a dark, bloodthirsty wave of Qi flowing out of the newly created cavity, and when he glanced at the buried man, he saw a long, pointed leg of a silvery, shimmering, spider-like creature impaling the injured man's head.

  “M-metalbiters!” Cried another stuttering halforc, attempting to back away, only to be pierced by the rapidly moving leg of another magical beast.

  "We need help! Get the guards!" Barked Thrym, lifting his pickaxe in front of his body to protect the other workers from the attack of the two metalbiters, "Gerok, I need your support! It is time to show that you are more than just a barking dog!"

  But the pubescent halforc had already turned chalk white and was running out of the mine while screaming at the top of his lungs.

  "What a bastard! He wants my position, but immediately tucks his tail between his legs when danger arises!" Cursed the halfgiant, observing every slightest movement of his two opponents, and finally laughed full of fighting spirit, "Then it's two against one! Let's see if I can survive this time around! Hahaha!"

  “You don't abandon your brother!” He heard the gentle voice of a young lad and saw the little boy rushing to him with his pickaxe raised, “You were right, I don't care about the halforc's words anymore! Such cowards!”

  "You're just a child! Back off!" Thrym cursed while the two magical beasts were nibbling cheerfully at the bodies of the two already deceased miners, ignoring him.

  Seconds passed, the air filled with the smell of blood, and Kilian never once thought about backing down.

  “I protect those I care about!” He stated his firm beliefs and stood next to his big brother with his weapon raised.

  The next moment, the two metalbiters, already bored by their last prey, raised their heads and shot towards the two waiting young warriors.

  "Damn it! I hope you can at least fight a bit!" The half-giant finally sighed and, accompanied by a small, inconspicuous boy who almost disappeared in his shadow, also shot toward the two opponents.

  Sparks flew as Thrym's metal pickaxe crashed into the larger spider creature's dagger-like legs, and a deafening clang echoed through the mine.

  Just as another of the eighth legs was about to pierce the belly of the great warrior, a small figure jumped out of the shadows and parried the stab.

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  The force of the collision threw Kilian's body to the side, and he flew with full force against the sharp, stone cliff face.

  The jagged stones tore part of his skin and fresh blood soaked his already sweaty clothes, but he didn't make a sound.

  On the contrary, with wide eyes, he watched as Thrym parried the various attacks of the two beasts or dodged them at the last second, and when he saw his chance, he pushed himself off the wall and slid under the armored body of the smaller metalbiter.

  His pickaxe dug deep into the exposed flesh on the beast's underside, and with a loud cry, a torrent of hot blood poured over the small warrior as if he were showering in it.

  The injured animal turned towards him, trembling, and just as it was about to drive one of its long legs through Kilian's head, a brightly glowing fireball shot towards the beast from the direction of the mine entrance.

  "Finally, they are here!" Thrym groaned weakly, slumping unconsciously to the stone floor as the second metalbiter was impaled by the thin sword of a fairy-like figure.

  Behind Lorna, several figures clad in green robes rushed into the mine and began treating the two exhausted warriors.

  "Guess I chose the right little human as my sworn brother!" The halfgiant sighed exhaustedly, as he regained consciousness a short time later and the worst of the two's injuries began to heal, "The alchemists' abilities are almost like magic! I've already seen our gravestones before my own eyes, but now we still have to go to old Grumpybeard's smithy before he chews our ears off! He doesn't have much understanding of... well... anything, really! Hahaha!"

  Smiling contentedly, Kilian refilled his half-spilled wicker basket with the scattered ore, noticing that the other workers had already disappeared with their harvest, "I wonder if those cowards will still be so mean to me! Luckily, Thrym is fine!"

  "There you are at last!" Said the grumpy dwarf to the group of miners as he saw Thrym and Kilian hurrying up the mountain path.

  After another quick sip, he tucked the black flask into the billows of his robe and sighed, "Lorna already told me what happened...Thrym and Kilian! Good work! The rest of you can learn a thing or two from their actions and think about what it means to become a real Qi-Master! Now, deliver the ores!"

  With a curt nod, he accepted the quality of the metal from Thrym, Kilian, and Gerok without changing his expression, but then his face, at least the part not hidden by the long beard or soot, became increasingly grim with each passing basket.

  "What am I supposed to do with all this dirt stuck to my beautiful raw metal? Do you think you can neglect quality just because you're bringing in more this time? I know for a fact that you were attacked at the end of your shift, when the ore should already have been cleanly mined from the rock! Can you do anything right?" Master Arto scolded the group of halforcs, who repeatedly flinched in alarm at the sound of the increasingly loud voice.

  "Gerok, you can go. Thrym, get three servings of food and come back! Kilian, take the three clean baskets to the forge and tip the ore onto my pile. The rest of you filthy grubs won't get anything to eat until every single lump of metal has been cleaned!" The blacksmith ordered after a brief pause to calm down a bit, and everyone immediately set about their assigned tasks.

  The leader of the halforcs disappeared after giving the human child a venomous look, and the half-giant, astonished, made his way to the miners' building, where lunch was already waiting for the group, murmuring, "Three portions? Does the old man want to eat with someone? Even with Kilian, there are only two of them?"

  The few clean baskets were quickly emptied, and while the remaining workers, a little bit away, were still cleaning their spoils, Master Arto beckoned Kilian over.

  “Sit down and show me your upper body!” Said the grumbling voice, and the boy did as he was told.

  The coarsely woven worker's robe, soaked in blood and sweat, slipped from his childish shoulders, aching from hard work and struggle, and he felt a rough, calloused palm pressed against his back.

  "The wounds have healed well! Now open your senses!" The dwarf growled again, and Kilian felt his Qi-paths fill with the smoky energy.

  But this time the Qi did not shoot quickly through his body; rather, it flowed drop by drop, like an icicle melting in the sun.

  Slowly but steadily, the Qi crept forward and reached the constriction in the channels, and the boy began to tremble briefly with nervousness, but the expected pain did not follow.

  On the contrary.

  He felt wonderful, more aware of the energy in and around his body than ever before, and began to grin with satisfaction.

  The Qi completed several rotations and finally disappeared back into the rough hand on the child's back.

  "The network of your Qi-paths presents many mysteries!" The dwarf murmured absentmindedly, stroking his beard, "It is as if you were extremely well nurtured in the first months before your birth, aided by numerous magical herbs, and in the middle of the process of transforming you into a Class S genius, it was abruptly interrupted. The remaining medicinal power was unable to penetrate the depths of your channels and ultimately strengthened your body far beyond the usual level of a human. Interesting."

  Before the surprised Kilian could close his dropped jaw and ask something, Thrym's loud voice tore the two sitting on the floor from their thoughts, "Leg of mutton! Who wants a fresh, juicy leg of mutton with grilled vegetables and egg fried rice?"

  As the young worker's stomach growled loudly, he quickly pulled up his robe, jumped towards the half-giant, and cheered, “Finally, some meat!”

  “A Qi-Master needs discipline and self-control!” Master Arto taught in a serious voice, took a sip from the black flask, and hit the half-starved boy on the head.

  But the next moment, the blacksmith's stomach rumbled at least twice as loudly as Kilian's, and with a cough, he said, "Let's eat, then you two take a message and some weapons to the Inner Academy's warehouse."

  Confused as to why he was suddenly allowed, or rather had to, carry out jobs for old Grumpybeard again, Thrym followed them into the smithy.