"What just happened to you?"
As they left the mine shaft, Xu Qing looked curious.
"I'm tired."
Yang Ling replied casually.
"Fair enough. You've been huffing and puffing as you dug all day. How could you not be tired?"
Feeling the soreness in his arm muscles, Xu Qing thought he should cultivate the Mountain River Heart Method that night to ease the ache.
He said goodbye to Yang Ling, then swaggered out of the ore vein.
Steward Niu seemed not to notice and didn't ask him for the Fire Crystal Rock Ore.
"Yang Ling, thirteen jin of Fire Crystal Rock? You're getting faster and faster."
Steward Niu took out some silver beans and weighed them. After confirming they amounted to one liang and three qian, he handed them to Yang Ling.
"Practice makes perfect."
Yang Ling accepted the silver with a grin.
He had spent five liang on the Collapse Mountain Fist, leaving him with a little over three liang.
Now, with this one liang and three qian, he had enough to buy an identity.
After Yang Ling left, Steward Niu sighed with feeling.
"That important figure has a status even higher than Senior Brother Wang Jing's, yet he's so familiar with Yang Ling. As expected, he's a member of the Yang Family."
In his wooden hut, Yang Ling was still thinking about the Divine Domain rankings.
"The Warrior Monk Hui Wu transferred into must be one of the classes that Ku Jue Temple offers."
"But I'm not a sect disciple. What class could I transfer into?"
"A miner? I doubt that's a class."
"Class transfer must come with benefits. Either your attributes improve, or you gain some special abilities."
"Suppose I'm Level 10 and meet another Level 10 Player who's already completed their class transfer. They'd probably be quite a bit stronger than me."
"So I need to transfer classes. I'm only one level away from Level 10..."
Yang Ling was troubled. He knew nothing about class transfers.
At the same time, he worried that once he reached Level 10, his name would be exposed on the Divine Domain rankings.
"Yang Ling, are you there?"
Zhang Wei's voice came from outside.
Yang Ling got up and opened the door.
Zhang Wei hurried inside, looking rather grave.
"You know about the Divine Domain rankings, right?"
"I do."
Yang Ling nodded.
"That proves there are plenty of Players like us!"
Zhang Wei murmured, "Take Hui Wu, for instance. He leveled up at an astonishing rate. That means joining a sect is our ultimate destination."
As he spoke, he suddenly looked up at Yang Ling.
"Have you got any theories about class transfer?"
"You've probably played quite a few games before, right?"
Yang Ling asked in return.
Zhang Wei nodded thoughtfully.
"I have. Every game with class transfers makes them extremely important.
"Most have more than a dozen classes, and some even have dozens.
"Each one comes with its own advantages."
"We already know that the Divine Domain has a class called Warrior Monk."
Yang Ling nodded. "But no one else has transferred classes yet, so all we can do is speculate.
"I figure there'll be classes like Bandit, Thief, Daoist, Physician, and Apothecary."
"..."
Zhang Wei looked a little puzzled.
"What are you planning?"
"What could I be planning? Don't forget, I'm a miner—and a wanderer."
Yang Ling rolled his eyes.
"Some Players are just born lucky. We can't compete with them, so we have to focus on what we're good at.
"My thing is mining, so all I need to do is mine and level up as much as I can."
"You mine so fast. What level are you, anyway?"
Zhang Wei asked without thinking.
Yang Ling fell silent for a few moments, then replied calmly, "Definitely higher than you. I'm Level 6."
"Level 6? That sounds about right. I'm almost Level 4, so it makes sense that he's two and a half levels ahead of me."
Zhang Wei looked a little more relaxed.
He didn't think Yang Ling would lie to him. If Yang Ling had claimed to be Level 8 or 9, he wouldn't have believed him.
After Zhang Wei left, Yang Ling continued practicing his punches.
There was no chance of a class transfer for now, so he stopped thinking about it.
Raising his base attributes was the right path.
Just before dawn, Yang Ling began cultivating the Vajra Mingwang Technique.
After one session, not only had his fatigue vanished, but he'd also gained 5 Experience Points.
"Forty-five points. I'm not far from 100 anymore."
"But this time, my Mental Power was one point higher than before, yet my Experience Points don't seem to have changed much..."
"No, there must be a change. It's just too small to notice!"
"When I practiced my punches last night, my Proficiency seemed to increase a tiny bit faster, even if it wasn't obvious..."
To test this, he planned to keep leveling up.
He would raise his Mental Power by a few more points.
If Mental Power helped increase Proficiency and Experience Points, that would be ideal.
If it didn't, he wouldn't lose anything.
It was bound to be one of the requirements for cultivating certain advanced Cultivation Methods. Improving it couldn't hurt.
He arrived at Mine Tunnel No. 1.
Just like the day before, Xu Qing followed him all the way.
The two chatted on and off.
Yang Ling noticed that Xu Qing was working especially hard at mining today, too.
After watching him for a while, Yang Ling went back to his own work.
He mined for several hours. Hui Neng and Wang Jing stopped by once in the meantime.
Seeing excavation marks everywhere in Mine Tunnel No. 1, with dozens of miners working away, Hui Neng gave a slight nod.
"We're grateful to the Mountain River Sect for their help this time."
"It's only right, it's only right."
Wang Jing grinned.
After they left, Yang Ling continued mining with full concentration.
When night fell, he returned to his hut to practice his punches and cultivate.
He spent twenty-four hours a day grinding Experience Points and Proficiency, except when he was eating, drinking, or answering nature's call.
A few days later.
Yang Ling slowly finished his training and glanced at his Attribute Panel, mainly checking his Proficiency and Experience Points.
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