When Brian Carter was illuminated by Black Charcoal, it also stopped moving. In the pitch-black mine, a faint light was shining from Brian Carter's head...

Drip, drip, drip...

That was the sound of water. Brian Carter was in excruciating pain all over, but pain meant he was still alive.

Alive...

Brian Carter gritted his teeth to force himself awake. He opened his eyes and found Black Charcoal sitting right beside him, the faint light coming from its indicator.

“Master, you’re awake.”

“Black Charcoal, am I still alive?”

“Master, according to human standards of death, you are currently alive.” Black Charcoal's sense of humor was clearly lacking, but Brian Carter had enough for both of them. He grinned, “Cough, cough, so what’s the situation now?”

“Due to excessive pressure, you lost consciousness, but your adaptability is extremely strong. Within two Earth days, you’ve already adapted... a miracle.”

Miracle was the most human-like explanation within Black Charcoal's understanding.

Actually, Brian Carter himself found it amazing. Although his body felt unbearably uncomfortable, he could breathe easily, and the pressure that had made him cough up blood seemed to have lessened. Suddenly, Brian Carter froze.

...His eighth brain region had actually opened up.

Could this be the proverbial blessing after surviving a great disaster?

In a completely unconscious state, the Blade Technique had started operating on its own, driven by his body's survival instinct. Maybe Brian Carter really was close to a breakthrough, and just like that, he broke through.

Opening a brain region wasn’t considered a big deal—at least half of every ten thousand people could do it. But opening it didn’t guarantee a surge in combat power; that required cultivation, personal talent, and so on. The act of opening itself wasn’t much, but the problem was... natural awakening!

That was rarely heard of anymore. It seemed only the five great families cared about things like natural awakening. It was said that only spontaneous awakening could maximize the power of the gene core, though there was no scientific basis for it.

In such a desperate situation, having his own eighth brain region was at least a consolation prize—at least he didn’t have to worry about dying from internal bleeding under Norton Star’s gravity.

Brian Carter closed his eyes to savor this feeling of joy. One must be optimistic; though he was in dire straits, at least he was still alive... Wait... why was his spiritual sea operating on its own?

Maybe everyone’s spiritual sea was like this. The awakened Brian Carter joined his own consciousness in, and sure enough, the operation of the spiritual sea immediately sped up. What used to take five hours for one cycle now took only half an hour. That was a qualitative leap. If the old man knew, he’d probably be shocked too. And having a spiritual sea really was different from before—after one cycle, the spiritual sea would strengthen a little. Even so, it gave Brian Carter hope.

After one cycle, he actually felt much better and could even stand up. The first thing to do with newfound strength was to eat. Fortunately, when Black Charcoal escaped, it remembered to prepare food. That was part of a robot’s programming: whenever there was a journey, it had to prepare supplies for its master.

A spatial crystal could be set with various passwords. The highest level, like a gene password, was mostly used for weapons. For something like Brian Carter's, which didn’t contain much, a simple voice command was enough.

He took out water and bread. Brian Carter ate four times his usual amount—he was truly starving. After eating his fill, he rested for a bit, then ran another cycle of his spiritual sea. Only then did he feel at ease enough to observe his surroundings. According to Black Charcoal, two days was enough time for the Zago tribe to tear the entire base to pieces. It seemed they hadn’t discovered this place.

The mine was safe, but he couldn’t stay here forever. He still had to find a way out. Together with Black Charcoal, they cautiously walked to the entrance. Unfortunately, Black Charcoal wasn’t a combat robot, so Brian Carter could only use some makeshift tricks he’d read about in novels—pressing his ear to the ground, then to the door. It was quiet outside; the main Zago force had probably left.

Don’t think these bugs are brainless. Attacks like the one two days ago were organized. Normally, they didn’t hunt in swarms.

It seemed the situation on all of Norton Star was dire. The main base probably wasn’t much better. But there was no need to despair—the Federation would never abandon such an important planet, nor would it let the Zago tribe keep a revived base. They would definitely come back. All he had to do was hold out until that day. Since he could adapt to the gravity here, the warehouse just five hundred meters outside the door had enough food to last a year. Now, the only thing to do was ensure safety.

“Black Charcoal, you control the door here and follow all my instructions.”

“Yes, Master.” Robots like Black Charcoal, with C-level intelligence, rarely offered their own opinions, but with Black Charcoal around, Brian Carter finally had an extra helper.

The mine’s main door slowly opened a crack, and a beam of light shone in. Light in the darkness always brings hope and longing. After a while, there was no movement. Brian Carter signaled to open it a bit more. When the door was open to fifty centimeters, it stopped. Brian Carter quietly slipped out, took a deep breath of fresh air, and looked around warily. There was no movement. Although Brian Carter had never actually fought the Zago tribe, he’d seen plenty of similar movies—who knew when a bug might jump out? Better grab some supplies first.