Efficiency Soars

Supervisor Wu's words shocked the miners present, and when they looked at Yang Ling again, their eyes were filled with jealousy and envy.

"Big Shots from above are inspecting? They want miners from several mines to compete in their skills?"

Yang Ling's heart tightened slightly.

The background of this Fire Crystal Rock Ore mine was indeed far from ordinary.

During this time, he had secretly been gathering map information about the "Divine Domain," trying to figure out where exactly he was.

Unfortunately, let alone a large map, he had not even figured out the background of Qingshan City or this Fire Crystal Rock Ore mine outside the city.

Every miner here was illiterate and unable to explain anything clearly.

This opportunity might very well allow him to come into contact with higher-ranking Big Shots.

Perhaps he might even get a chance to obtain the Black Tiger Fist cultivated by Supervisor Wu?

Within the crowd, Zhang Wei smacked his thigh in regret, his gaze shifty and his heart in turmoil.

"Supervisor Wu, how can you entrust such an important matter to him!? He hasn't even been at our mine for a month..."

Fifth Brother was horrified.

Supervisor Wu swept him with a cold glance.

"Shut up."

Fifth Brother's face turned somewhat pale.

"Work hard."

Supervisor Wu patted Yang Ling on the shoulder before turning and leaving.

Seeing this, Fifth Brother hurriedly followed after him.

With no more excitement to watch, the miners returned to their own work.

"Brother Yang, that Fifth Brother is truly horrible. Good thing Supervisor Wu arrived in time. You weren't hurt just now, were you?"

Zhang Wei shamelessly sidled up to him.

Yang Ling smiled. "Zhang Wei, do you take me for an idiot?"

Zhang Wei forced a smile. "What do you mean, Brother Yang...?"

"For the sake of us both being Players, I won't hold today's matter against you for now.

From now on, don't provoke me, and I won't provoke you. As for the Fire Crystal Rock Ore, you'll have to mine it yourself."

After saying that, Yang Ling turned and headed toward the mine.

Zhang Wei's expression immediately turned ugly. He clenched his fists and stared fixedly at Yang Ling's retreating back.

"What are you so smug about? You just entered the game earlier than me and have a slightly better physique. I refuse to believe I can't survive without you!"

The Fire Crystal Rock Ore mine.

It took Yang Ling only the time it took to drink a cup of tea to find an unmined piece of Fire Crystal Rock Ore.

He gripped the Fine Steel Pickaxe, and his Strength Attribute instantly increased by 3 points.

His total Strength Attribute had now reached a whopping 10.

Even compared to Supervisor Wu, he was only 2 points behind.

In this mine, the only ones with Strength Attributes close to his were those Mine Guards.

"Let me see what you can do."

Yang Ling glanced at the Fine Steel Pickaxe in his hand, then brought it down viciously!

At that instant, all the strength in his body surged forth, pouring out through his arms.

Bang!

A chunk of Fire Crystal Rock Ore fell to the ground.

"Before, I needed to strike it at least three to five times. Now, one hit does the job..."

Yang Ling was very satisfied with his change. He continued mining the Fire Crystal Mine before him.

Once he finished the area in front of him, he went off to search for his next target.

The Cloth Bag at his waist grew increasingly full.

Five Shichen later, the Cloth Bag was nearly filled with one jin of Fire Crystal Rock.

"My efficiency has increased almost tenfold compared to when I first arrived."

"One jin of Fire Crystal Rock can be exchanged for one hundred Copper Coins, and one thousand Copper Coins can be exchanged for One Liang Silver."

"When I was captured before, I heard that as long as I gathered Five Taels of Silver, I could buy an official identity."

Yang Ling recalled the day he had been seized as a Refugee and brought to the mine.

As a Player, he had possessed no form of identification when he first arrived.

In such circumstances, one would be treated as a Refugee and receive no protection under Qingshan City's laws.

The miners living in Miner's Village were, in fact, eighty to ninety percent refugees without legal identities.

Only the remaining ten to twenty percent were natives of Qingshan City.

Uncle Wang from earlier was one of them.

Fifth Brother did not dare casually bully natives like them.

"My efficiency has improved so much. If I keep digging for another ten hours, I can gather another pound. Two pounds of Fire Crystal Rock Ore can be exchanged for two hundred Copper Coins..."

"In less than a month, I'll be able to buy an official identity!"

"Going by the usual logic of those games, obtaining an official identity is probably the first threshold of Divine Domain. Only after that might I qualify to acquire martial arts techniques."

With that thought, Yang Ling continued searching for Fire Crystal Rock Ore.

He now had two goals.

Level up and allocate points!

Obtain an official identity!

Fortunately, both goals could be achieved through mining.

His efficiency was nearly ten times what it had been before, which also meant the Experience Points he gained were nearly ten times greater!

Unfortunately, the Attribute Panel did not show detailed Experience Points, so he had no way of knowing how much more he needed to reach Level 5.

Time passed bit by bit.

There were fewer and fewer miners on the ore vein.

Yang Ling kept moving about the ore vein.

"Fire Crystal Rock Ore is far too scarce. There's barely enough to mine for long. Spending all my time searching around for ore is such a waste. It would be great if there were a large deposit."

With that thought, he suddenly looked toward the pitch-black mine shafts around him.

Fire Crystal Rock Ore was an open-pit ore vein, but after years of excavation, quite a few unfathomably deep mine shafts had appeared.

These mine shafts were different from the open-pit areas. The latter had some Fire Crystal Rock Ore near the surface. The quantity was small, but enough for miners to survive, and even make a little profit.

But large chunks of Fire Crystal Rock Ore would occasionally appear inside the mine shafts.