Cheat Awakening

A gruff voice boomed above the cavernous space, "Just empty your bag in that part, be careful not to fall into it. Last time, because of an idiot, I had to clean this entire thing from the inside, which took me an entire week."

The speaker, a red-skinned dwarf with wild hair and beard, his skirt swirling like a warrior's kilt, stood atop the Y-shaped machines that hummed with their silent alchemy. His gaze, like everyone else's in the tensely huddled crowd, was fixed on the mine entrance.

Each time someone reached the entrance, the eager crowd immediately snatched them, inquiring about the situation inside the mine with genuine concern, which of course had nothing to do with the guy whom they saved.

Myne, who knew that if he were found, he might not get out of the 6th floor by simply paying with a mere 5 tons of gold, seized the opportunity while everyone was confused and panicked and successfully saved himself from being interrogation by demons in their unique languages, which he couldn't understand at all."

Having sensed that things were about to get out of hand, Myne hastily made his way to the mineral purification centre. The careless dwarf operating the Y-shaped machine seemed more interested in the events inside the mine and the gossip of others than in his own work. With a careless wave, he instructed Myne to dump his bags.

Myne did as he was told; he emptied the two leather bags filled with minerals mined by the protagonist of the mine incidents, which he had stolen, all the while wearing a happy expression. Then, still tending to the now-empty bags, he hurriedly walked to the other end of the machine, awaiting the results that would reveal the worth of those two bags.

The machine was completely automatic; the dwarf operator's only task was to guide newbies and ensure they didn't bring about their own doom due to carelessness.

Having observed that Myne already understood the general workings of the purification machine, the dwarf nodded his head with a satisfied smile before jumping down from the machine and heading toward the crowd to learn about the latest developments in the matter.

Ten minutes stretched into an eternity for Myne. He never thought that waiting for the simple result of his hard work could be so nerve-wracking. If it weren't for the continuous vibrations of the machine and the dark smoke emanating from its middle, he might have assumed that this little contraption was damaged.

Just as Myne contemplated whether to call the small dwarf back to check the situation, a sound like a DING entered Myne's ears. To his surprise, the black treadmill in front of him started working on its own, and two palm-size bricks and one red orb emerged from the machine, stopping right in front of Myne.
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Myne, with a dumbfounded expression, took the palm-sized gold bar weighing around 10kg in his hand and stared at it with a greedy look on his face. But he soon surpassed his inner desire and, after looking around and making sure that no one saw him, he put both gold bras in his inventory. The fiery orb, however, piqued his curiosity.

He held it up, its mesmerizing facets refracting the light in swirling patterns.

However because he didn't have time, he hurriedly made his way toward the canteen area to fetch his and Velvet's share of food while researching the orb in his hand.

Although Myne had no idea how much a normal miner earned in a day of hard work, he had no mood to be in the limelight during such a dangerous period, where his angry boss could blasted at any moment, just because of a small amount of gold, which, although might be a lot in the eyes of others, was nothing to him, a man who owed a huge fine of 5 tons of gold to his real boss.

[ Arcane Prismalith Orb

Grade: High

Attribute: None ( Temporary. Can be aboard any type of elemental power during forging, )

Description: Arcane Prismalith orbs refract light in mesmerizing patterns. Weapons crafted with these orbs have the power to channel arcane energies, allowing the wielder to cast minor spells with each strike. Extracting Arcane Prismalith requires careful manipulation of magical currents within the hell mines. ]

"Did I hit the jackpot on the right first day of my job?" Myne mused aloud, holding the Arcane Prismalith Orb. "Just with two bags, I've already gained so much. I wonder, if I empty everything I've stolen, will I make a small fortune?"

"F*ck! I know it—only by doing bad things can you make quick money. Should I become a full-time thief and start stealing other minerals? Not only would this save a lot of effort, but it would also quicken my progress of paying my fine..."

"Forget it, let's first see how Gal deals with today's situation," Myne muttered to himself. "By the way, although Gal said she had already informed the head chef about my situation, how the hell am I supposed to talk to a head chef whom I couldn't even speak to? Damn it, you should never let your guard down with a woman and let her do everything."

Myne, who had just arrived in the canteen area, where a row of open tent spaces beckoned denizens from hell with different aromas filled with all kinds of food, stood in line. The area was operated by young female halfling slaves whose figures weren't that bad, at least compared to males. Myne felt that female demons were more pleasant to the eyes.

As Myne's curious eyes took in enough pleasure staring at the various sizes of boobies when they fell on the food at the stall, he literally vomited the breakfast he had eaten today.

The menu was a surreal concoction of infernal delights, blending the most repulsive ingredients from the depths of hell. Plates overflowed with entrails of ethereal creatures, charred bones of mythical beasts, and viscous ichors harvested from tortured souls. All kinds of inner body parts of unknown creatures. Dishes bore names that would send shivers down any normal person's spine.

But for the demons, this can be considered a normal daily menu. Myne saw a few demons while talking and laughing with each other, filling their plates with those disgusting things they called food, wearing happy expressions before sitting in a random place and devouring the ghastly fare.

Myne, whose appetite had disappeared instantly, turned around and started walking toward his small stone chamber. Along the way, he looked at the normal food supplies inside his Inventory and saw that there was enough food for him and Velvet to survive for a few months without any problems. He breathed a sigh of relief.

...

"You came back quite early, didn't you? You said you weren't planning to return before half a day." Velvet, who was lazily reading a book while lying on the bed, asked curiously. Because she could only move her head and arm; she didn't make too much movement.

Myne first cast a cleaning skill on himself before lying down beside Velvet. He replied casually in a tired voice, "Something happened at the mine. Two idiots started fighting in the deepest part of the mine, creating quite a big mess inside. As a result, the mine collapsed, and everyone had to get out early."

"You don't have anything to do with all of this, right?" Velvet, who surprisingly understood Myne very well, suspiciously asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh? What do you mean? How can I have anything to do with two random demons fighting? I'm a very honest guy," Myne quickly defended himself with an innocent face.

But Velvet didn't easily give in. She put aside her book and asked, "Don't you think it's a bit too coincidental that today is the first time you entered the mine, and such a big thing happened? Now, there are only two possibilities I see behind it: either you're too ominous, and wherever you go, bad luck follows, or you're not as honest as you're trying to be."

If this same question were asked by someone else, Myne might have already started sweating buckets. But the one asking was his own woman, whom Myne knew he could trust with blind eyes. So, for the next few minutes, he pretended and made excuses about himself being innocent just to play with Velvet before finally giving in and telling the entire truth, of course, after making some modifications.

"I knew it, but you didn't leave any clue behind, right? Otherwise, our fine might increase again, and this time it won't be low, considering how much mess you created," Velvet said with concern and helplessness on her face.

"Don't worry about it; in this matter, you can rest assured. I have a lot of experience in this field. Unless Gal uses some kind of weird skill beyond our understanding, there is no way she can find me. Also, considering Gal's personality, I think she would just vent her anger on those two idiots before settling down this entire matter, she is a very hard-working boss after all."

My casual remark, of course, didn't ease Velvet's concern. Although she knows what he said makes sense, relying too much on luck and guesswork isn't always a good thing. Unexpected things always happen before we can react.

"By the way, didn't you say that you would bring food for us? Why don't you show it to me? I'm really curious to see this hell-dimension food. Do they also eat food like us, or is it something else?"

Velvet's simple question made Myne mood, which turned good after talking with her, become grim again. The vivid images of the disgusting sights shown at the canteen appeared in my mind again, causing significant damage to his stomach health.

At first, Myne didn't want to tell Velvet about that disgusting scene. However, seeing her curious eyes and remembering that he shouldn't keep his future wife in the dark, Myne decided to share everything with her—which was her right. After adjusting his mood, Myne explained the real situation of the canteen to Velvet in full detail...