More and more, the rock wall in front of Eisen started to crumble down into fine dust and pebbles, which were all swiftly taken care of by Sigurd.
With each swing of the pickaxe, a little more of the surface disappeared, and Eisen's Mining skill was slowly gaining proficiency, soon reaching Rank 1. And a few hours later, he even managed to bring it pretty close to Rank 2 as well, but at that point, Eisen was already too exhausted to continue working. After all, he had spent all of last night trying to gain proficiency in three other skills, something that exhausted him quite a lot, now that he properly thought about it.
And so, Eisen simple slept for a little while and then woke back up in the exactly same place that he went to sleep in, still grasping his pickaxe. Figuring this was the best choice for now, Eisen just continued and continued, simply cracking through the rock walls around him to dig it down, finally reaching even Rank 2, but at that point, Eisen was practically unable to gain any more proficiency beyond five levels, even after working for a few more hours. The amount of proficiency he gained for this had shrunken down so much that it was nearly nonexistent, so this would be the stopping point for Eisen right now. But then, Eisen got a bit of an idea, and immediately turned around.
"Sigurd, make an exit." The old man said and started to step forward at a quick pace, and he stepped into the gate that appeared in front of him without a moment of hesitation, before looking over the edge of the ship.
They left the area of the Island-Group, and were now back in the regular ocean. Eisen had hoped that they maybe were still there, but apparently the speed of this Turtle they were attached to wasn't to be underestimated.
And then, Eisen just took a quick look at the ocean with his Mana-Sight, trying to find a good place for his plan, and then nodded his head in satisfaction when he found it in the distance, before placing his fingers into the corner of his mouth to release a loud whistling to get the Ocean Turtle's attention.
"Stop here for a moment." The old man exclaimed, while the others that were on the Deck came up to the old man.
"What are you doing?" Jyuuk asked confused, and Eisen cracked his knuckles as he just smiled at the Beastperson. "Delaying our arrival by a few hours, if that's alright. This is the perfect chance for me to level my Mining skill up, it's the only thing I have left that needs to rank up for me to reach level 200." Eisen explained swiftly, and Jyuuk sighed in response. "What do you mean exactly?" He asked once more, so Eisen quickly started to explain.
"Down there is a pretty high density of earth elemenetal mana, and that's usually a sign for ore-veins. Me trying to mine something like that underwater should help me level my skill up a little quicker, shouldn't it?" Eisen pointed out, before Jyuuk nodded his head in response.
"Fine, but hurry up. How long do you think you'll need?" Jyuuk asked, and Eisen shook his head with a shrug.
"Not sure, exactly, maybe six, seven hours?" He suggested, before slowly turning toward Sigurd to ask it to bring him some metal, which the Core Guardian quickly did, and then Jyuuk scratched the back of his neck.
"Alright, that's do-able. If it helps you rank up your skill more quickly, it makes sense to, I guess." Jyuuk replied, so Eisen nodded his head and quickly started to compress the metal in his hand as much as he possibly could, before transmuting it around his ankles. It didn't need to be anything special right now, he just needed something heavy to weigh him down.
And so, with his Apron taken off so that he wouldn't accidentally lose anything, Eisen swiftly stepped over toward the edge and activated his Demonic Transformation while putting on the air-mask that Stahl made last night, before jumping into the water head-first.
Now, Eisen for the first time actually managed to see the difference between his swimming from before to what it was now. When he wanted to move, his body was practically shooting through the water, as if he was falling through air.
It was pretty insane, but especially with his metal-anklets, Eisen was able to push his body down to the ocean floor like he intended to, and then for double-reassurance, started to transmutate the stone his feet were touching to grasp onto him, so that he wouldn't lose his balance underwater like this.
And so, for now, Eisen immediately started to swing the pickaxe against the rock. Just through the water itself this was insanely hard to do, and the rock was barely cracking apart when comparing it to what it was like in the Dungeon, but this really was perfect.
That was exactly what Eisen needed to level his skill up as much as possible over the next few hours. The rocks that Eisen managed to crack like this were all quickly flung upward in the next swing, and then fell back down onto the old man like slow rain.
But a little while later, Eisen finally managed to find the exact reason why he wanted to come down here. And that wasn't just the metal ore, but it was the hot surface of seemingly magically hot lava. Eisen didn't know why it was here, but soon enough, the old man managed to crack through the surface above it, causing what was practically an explosion of heat and bubbles, which had to be visible on the outside. Of course, this place was a fair bit away from the ship, because Eisen didn't want to hurt the Ocean Turtle.
Now, on top of the water-pressure and slow movements resulting from them, Eisen now also had to deal with the immense heat and restricted sight caused by this lava, which was pushing his speed a little further.
And so, for the next few hours, Eisen spent as much time mining there as he possibly could, trying to get as much of the metal as possible because that would also bring the amount of proficiency he could earn a fair bit higher.
The reason why Eisen didn't just create something like this lava on his own using his own element was that he wouldn't experience any major discomfort from that. He somewhat felt the heat, but he wasn't able to be damaged by it, so it wouldn't help him increase the speed of his proficiency-gain.
Then, when it seemed like the sun above the water was starting to set, Eisen finally got the notifications he was hoping for.
[Mining reached Level 100 in Rank 2, Upgrading to Rank 3]
[You can now mimic the effects of a Pickaxe using your mana]
[Due to Ranking-up your Mining Skill, you gained +1 STR and +1 END]
With a grin on his face underneath his mask, Eisen spread his wings out above the bubbles caused by the magical lava, which already pulled him upward a fair bit. And then when Eisen properly flapped his wings a few times, he just shot out of the water, a fair bit higher actually, and then just dropped down toward the wooden surface, stopping his fall with his wings once more.
"Alright then, everyone." The old man said while cracking his knuckles, looking forward at the others who had gathered here on the deck just to speak for a while this evening.
Once Eisen had deactivated his Demonic Transformation, he quickly opened his status and clicked his tongue, before looking at literally any one of the others.
"Who here will let me stab them?" Eisen asked in a quite clear, and serious, tone. His 'Medicinal Knowledge' skill was the only Rank 0 skill he still had left right now, and since things like 'Surgery' were part of that, Eisen figured the best way to level it up would be to give someone a wound and stitch it up afterward.
But of course, in this situation, that was a bit of a freaky scene.
"Gramps, we're literally streaming right now, what the fuck." Stahl complained, and Eisen looked around at him, Alnico, Samurai, Kyla and Zyra, confirming that they really all had red pupils at the moment.
"Huh, alright. Well still, any volunteers?" Eisen asked, and with a sigh, Stahl raised his hand.
"Fine, go ahead..." He replied, before Samurai, Kyla and Zyra looked at him in shock.
"Dude, he just asked to kill you, what the hell?" Samurai pointed out, but Stahl just shook his head immediately.
"Who said anything about killing me? I'm sure he has a good enough reason for wanting to stab me." Stahl pointed out, and Eisen immediately nodded.
"Of course I do, I'm going to stitch it back up after that to level one of my skills up." The old man pointed out, and Jyuuk laughed in response, having returned from telling the Ocean Turtle to get moving again.
"Medicinal Knowledge, huh?" He asked, and Eisen just smiled, "Yup."
"Well, how'd it go underwater? Did you manage to get your Mining to 3?" Brody asked curiously, before Eisen nodded in response.
"I did, yes. Now I just need a few more points in my Soul Strength and I'll get to Level 200." Eisen pointed out, quickly taking out one of his knives as well as the mana-thread spinneret, before slowly cutting into Stahl's skin. He wouldn't be feeling any pain through this, so Eisen figured it was fine. There wouldn't be things like scars either, considering that it was a pretty shallow wound.
Either way, for now, Eisen swiftly started to stitch Stahl's arm up again just to cut him another time, then stitched him up there, until his whole arm was practically completely covered in cuts.
"Alright, alright, I think we should stop here, my HP is getting scarily low..." Stahl pointed out, but Eisen slowly shook his head. "Just let me finish this one here..." The old man said, so Stahl slowly sighed, looking at the others in the round with a wry smile, before Samurai just crossed his arms and shook his head with a smirk.
"Hey, you're the one that volunteered." Samurai said mockingly, and Stahl just raised his left, unoccupied, hand and flipped him off. And while this was happening, Eisen had a notification pop up in front of him.
[Soul Strength reached 300. New Soul Storage slot unlocked]
[Level Up Quest Complete – Road to 200]
[Description] You have reached level 199 and as such, have gained the right to work toward reaching level 200. These are your requirements as calculated by your actions so far:
-Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Enchanting and Alchemy Skills at Rank 4(True)
-Racial Skills at Rank 4 (True)
-Occupation Skill Crafting Space at Rank 4, Crafter's Mind at Rank 3 (True)
-Mana Manipulation, Flame of the Earth Magic at Rank 4, Mana Double, Mana Copy at Rank 3 (True)
-Woodworking, Cooking, Drawing, Tool Connection, Soul Engineering, Truth Seeing Eye, Farming, Mining, Masonry Skills at Rank 3 (True)
-Reach a Soul Strength of at Least 300(True)
-Spend A Total of 24 Hours practicing within your Soul Realm(True)
[Reward] Level increased to 200
[Failure] Not Possible
[Tasks Completed]
[You are now Level 200]
[Congratulations! You reached level 100 and have now gained a new occupation skill!]
[Ego-Item Creation Skill Learned]