Christian glowed, "Okay, sure. Though, how come I've never learned anything about this 'mental ability' you speak of?"
"Why would your masters at the company unchain you?" Ryan thinly smiled, "If you knew what you were capable of, why would you ever willingly spend your life in a pod?"
This sent Christian into deep thought. Those unexplainable visions and feelings that he had shortly before getting thrown onto this wasteland of a planet, were they at all.. real? It went completely beyond science and logic, he had even taken a course at the Growth House teaching him roughly about the universe's sciences, yet this was nowhere close to that.
Ryan interrupted his train of thought, "You're lucky you were only out for two days. A little longer and you would've made an enemy out of the Regional Supervisor." he bragged, showing his unknown years of experience at MP-17, "You see, the Regional Supervisor doesn't care if you miss a few days of quota, as long as you turn in everything by the end of the week. Come on, hero, let's fill your quota."
They followed that rocky path once again, the afternoon sun heating them up all the same, heading to the mines. Most workers were finishing up at this time of day, so to see two people heading in was a bit of a shocker. Christian instinctively headed for the left line, but turned and sighed seeing Ryan head towards the right line. At this rate, he'd die before learning anything related to mental abilities.
The pair didn't go as far in as they did the previous time. Stopping just before the incline got too serious, and close enough to light, Christian started. There were multiple times that Ryan had to correct Christian's form or encourage him, but he was getting the hang of it.
"I want you to feel every muscle contracting!" Ryan called out, "Even if your muscles are sore, what the hell did I fix them for if you don't use them properly!"
The tip of Christian's pickaxe never faltered, despite the constant stress that was piled on, Christian always swung it back and forth. Pulling it towards his hip, then in a perfect arc, launching it towards the ore. His muscles still hurt, even ones he didn't injure, but it hurt less. Instead of making him want to collapse, it only made him want to fall down. Christian's physical ability was improving, though only due to necessity. To survive in such a cruel environment, to free himself from the tyranny of the company, all of this was essential.
As the ores piled up, and sweat trickled, Christian mined enough to earn himself a break. He panted, his arms shaking, mustering the strength to speak, "So, when are we going to get to the mental part?"
Ryan crossed his arms, "This is a crucial step for that. If you're so eager to learn, you need to be able to trust in me. Not to mention, you could get in a lot of trouble because of your quota, so this is killing two birds with one stone."
After a quick break, Christian resolved himself and went back to mining. His heart pumped, filling his body with the blood he needed to finish. When Ryan finally spoke, signalling it was time to go back and rest, he almost lost control and fell due to his excitement. The other times he had mined before Ryan, he had never done it for as long or as intensively.
Ryan laughed, "Don't think you're done yet. I'll carry a few, but you have to carry as many ores as you can."
