Kevin headed straight for the section on ancient smelting and mining techniques. Since he was committed to playing the game, he might as well play it right.
Facing rows upon rows of books, his head spun a little. When will I ever finish all these? Understanding the basics should be enough—after all, he wasn't a professional.
He picked a book and started devouring it, page after page, until his world blurred, daylight faded, and his stomach growled loudly.
Holding firm to the principle of not mistreating his own stomach, he dashed home! On the way, he managed a small "side hustle"—after all, as a thief, he was a professional.
Self-reliance meant a well-fed life. Looking at his decently prepared meal, he demolished it in one go and logged back into the game.
He had logged out at the blacksmith's shop. In a flash of light, Kevin was back.
Forger Markus was still hammering away, the rhythmic clang echoing as before.
"Master, I'm off to mine."
"Go ahead. Wait—take this Cosmic Satchel. Saves you running back and forth."
Cosmic Satchel: infinite负重 (carrying capacity), infinite space. Great item! Pity it was only borrowed. Still, being able to use it was good enough. No need to get greedy.
With the pickaxe on his back and humming a little tune, he set off to mine and make some money.
Just outside the village, Kevin stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn't ventured out yesterday, and now… Oh my god. The place was crawling with wild chickens and rabbits. One word: many. Two words: way too many. He began to doubt if he could even reach the mines, or if he'd be swarmed and instantly killed the moment he stepped out.
Game monsters constantly respawned. Even if none died, new ones would still appear to fill the area. It had been who-knows-how-long since the last "newcomer" left Grimwater, resulting in these low-level critters overrunning the hills. The game also had another rule: when monster density became too high, they could fight and kill each other to thin the herd, gaining experience and leveling up in the process. This meant if you were born a chicken, you'd never become a phoenix—but through effort, you could become a chicken that could defeat a phoenix. Understood?
Kevin cautiously stepped past the village boundary. Huh, no attack. He tiptoed closer to a leisurely pecking chicken. Still no attack.
It suddenly hit him: game monsters were roughly divided into two types. Passive monsters only attacked when provoked. Active monsters attacked because they didn't like the look of you—or wanted to be killed.
Clearly, these seemingly gentle chickens were passive-type. Realizing this, Kevin broke into a run, startling a chorus of indignant squawks.
The mine wasn't far from the village. After running for over half an hour, he reached the entrance.
The dark, gaping mouth of the cave resembled a black hole waiting to devour anything that entered. Kevin shivered.
Flickering lights cast fractured shadows on the crumbling tunnel walls. After countless miners had worked here, the upper-level ore was almost exhausted. For higher-grade ore, the chances were much better deeper down. Kevin swung his pickaxe a few times at random and got nothing. Resolute, he headed deeper into the mine. He still had that 100-ore quota to fill. Slacking off meant bankruptcy.
The deeper he went, the dimmer the lights became. Water droplets now condensed on the walls, the steady drip-drip growing clearer. Scattered ore fragments on the tunnel floor grew fewer. Rotting wooden pickaxe handles were also rarely seen now. Good. This suggests the ore here is rarely mined. Time to work!
Kevin found a relatively smooth section of the tunnel and started hacking away at the bottom of the vein.
Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho…
He mined with furious enthusiasm. Pickpocketing was skilled work; mining was manual labor. He wasn't cut out for this.
After just over an hour, Kevin was drenched in sweat. Looking at the pitiful dozen or so low-grade ores in his bag, he did the math: about 15 ores per hour. That meant 6–7 hours for 100 ores. He typically played 12–14 hours a day. Between leveling Mining, leveling Blacksmithing, and his actual character level… would he have any time left to actually enjoy the game?
This was a game. He couldn't exactly run lab tests or analyze vein distribution patterns…
Something was definitely wrong. Kevin stopped mindlessly digging and started仔细观察 (closely observing) the tunnel walls. He picked a spot and swung ten times—no ore. Moved to another spot, swung again—still nothing. He repeated this近百处 (nearly a hundred times) in the nearby tunnels and finally identified five spots with higher yield rates. He marked each with a cross using scattered low-grade ore fragments (so low-grade they probably wouldn't respawn).
Now that he'd found good spots, he still couldn't just mine wildly—this was back-breaking work, after all.
He experimented and found that mining success rate had nothing to do with how hard he swung. As long as the pickaxe made contact with the ground, it counted as one mining attempt. That simplified things.
Over the next three hours, Kevin quickly gathered enough low-grade ore—and then some. He even found a few mid-grade ores mixed in, which was a nice little bonus.
Staring down the winding tunnel that plunged deeper into the earth, Kevin's curiosity got the better of him. They say curiosity killed the cat—for good reason.
Stowing his pickaxe, Kevin carefully made his way deeper.
The lights had completely vanished. The darkness was like thick, unmovable ink; waving a hand seemed to stir the murky blackness. The dripping water grew louder. After walking for over three hours, a nameless dread crept over him. The tunnel walls grew smoother, polished to a slickness that suggested prolonged friction from… something. Fear in his heart, he pressed on.
Finally, after another two hours, Kevin saw a faint glimmer of light ahead. The surroundings were no longer pitch black; the walls shimmered with a subtle glow. He took out his pickaxe and gave the smooth wall a tentative strike.
A surprise. An absolute surprise. He actually got ore! And since it was a "surprise," it couldn't be low-grade. Even mid-grade wouldn't be a big enough surprise—that would merely be "pleasant." This was high-grade ore. And not just any ore—it was crystal. Far more valuable than regular ore, it would impart extra properties to forged gear.
"High-Grade Fire Crystal."
Kevin swung a few more times. Pleasant surprises kept coming!
System: Player Nightshade, your Mining skill has leveled up.
Probably only Kevin could level Mining this fast. You normally had to mine tens of thousands of ores to level, especially at the beginner stage with its abysmal success rate…
Kevin checked the time. Over ten hours had passed. He logged out to take care of biological needs and replenish energy! Meals were not to be rushed—he owed his stomach that much. This "replenishment" took over two hours.
Logging back in, Kevin began a疯狂 (frantic) mining spree. Such rich deposits weren't easily found. Today is a good day, really a good day!
Left swing, right swing, one right in the middle…
Why was he moving so slowly? The system notification told him: "Player Nightshade, your hunger has reached critical levels. If you do not consume food, your speed will decrease by 75%. You will die in one hour."
So,亢奋 (frenzied excitement) wasn't always good. He'd almost starved to death. A maiden death like that would be downright embarrassing.
Luckily, he'd bought a few steamed buns at the village store before leaving. Plain white buns, still steaming hot when he took them out—very appetizing. He took a bite. Mmm, the sweetness, the soft texture… absolutely delicious. If someone offered him a drumstick right now, he'd trade in a heartbeat. Only a fool wouldn't.
Finishing the bun instantly revived him. Kevin decided he'd leave once Mining reached Advanced. Looking at his Intermediate skill progress—56%—hope was on the horizon.
What was the hardest thing to endure? Repetition. Endless repetition. As the initial excitement gave way to麻木 (numbness), Kevin teetered on the edge of崩溃 (breakdown).
He had been mining non-stop for nearly 18 hours. Aside from two food breaks, he hadn't stopped. Now, willpower alone fueled his swings. His arm movements became mechanical, his mind drifting far away…
He thought of his childhood, wandering, bullied, crying helplessly under an eave on a rainy night. He thought of being taken in by his "master," only for the nightmare to begin. Trained to be a thief, his fingers burned countless times in scalding water, his body bruised from countless beatings when caught. His master only cared about the daily收益 (profit) he brought in. Being "adopted" was merely becoming a money-making tool! Kevin loathed this filthy world. That rainy night when he was fifteen, his master came home drunk and started beating him as usual. Something in Kevin snapped. He grabbed chopsticks from the table and stabbed them hard into his master's eye. They went deep. Watching the blood spray, watching the man slump to the floor unconscious, Kevin picked up a kitchen knife… Outside, the relentless rain. Inside, a river of blood.
The death of a thief meant as much to the world as the death of a cockroach. No one would care.
The system alert pulled Kevin's wandering mind back to the game.
"Congratulations, Player Nightshade, you have obtained: Fire Essence Core."
"Congratulations, Player Nightshade, your Mining skill has leveled up."
Fire Essence Core – The mother-source of Fire Crystals, capable of continuously generating them.
The surroundings dimmed. Kevin looked at the space he had excavated, now several times larger. He looked at the blood blisters on his hands, his aching, sore muscles. It was all worth it.
Now, the pressing issue: filling his stomach! Looking at his last two steamed buns, Kevin felt a surge of relief. He'd thought he wouldn't level up before finishing them. Talk about luck. He quickly ate. The journey back was long.
With the Fire Essence Core removed, the mine was plunged into absolute darkness. Kevin took the core from his bag. Its fiery, glowing light illuminated the path around him. Opening his map, he marked the location with a 100-meter radius marker.
Suddenly, Kevin's face darkened. Because what he saw on the map was a dense, crisscrossing, anthill-like network of subterranean tunnels…