Iron ore vein?

Fang Bie did not want to run into any strange monsters right now, so instead of digging in a nearby pitch-black mine shaft, he chose to carve out a new tunnel deep within the subterranean rock layers.

He still had plenty of coal on hand; as long as he crafted torches and placed them at regular intervals, he could effectively ensure that no monsters would spawn inside the mine.

Fang Bie was confident that if he encountered ordinary monsters—whether it was a Zombie, Little White, or a Creeper—he could easily eliminate them. His thousands of hours of gaming experience were not for nothing; he was intimately familiar with the combat tactics for these creatures.

As long as they weren't Elite Monsters, Mutant Monsters, Void Monsters, or Titan Monsters, he felt like he could take on the world with a sword in his hand.

However, Tony and Yinsen had never encountered such creatures before, nor did they have any experience dealing with them. Fang Bie could not guarantee that the two of them would be able to escape unscathed if they ran into such threats, which was why he resorted to this conservative approach.

This was actually not a bad idea; having a fixed mine shaft always had its benefits. Fang Bie even planned that if this tunnel were to expand in the future, he could install ladders or even minecart rails to turn it into a large-scale mine capable of rapid vertical transport.

But those plans were likely for the distant future; he didn't have the time to implement them right now, so he could only dream.

The most important thing was to help Tony and Yinsen escape their current predicament. Fang Bie had his own little agenda as well: as long as these two managed to get out of this, he would at least be credited with helping them survive. Once he made a name for himself in the mind of Iron Man, he should be able to secure a foothold in this terrifying Marvel world.

"Fang? Is this the iron ore you were talking about?" Yinsen's voice pulled Fang Bie out of his deep thoughts, causing Tony, who was busy hacking away at the black coal nearby, to turn his head.

Tony's face was now almost indistinguishable from the coal, making him look like a comical, soot-covered cat as he appeared before them.

"Tony, you should take a look too..." Just as Fang Bie looked up to continue speaking, he was struck by the ridiculous sight and couldn't help but grin.

"Ha! Tony, didn't I tell you to watch out for the direction of the coal debris? How did you end up with a face full of dust?" Fang Bie said, unable to hold back his laughter.

"What?" Tony asked, confused. He raised his hand to touch his face. Since the torches hadn't been placed in this part of the tunnel yet, he looked at his hand by the light of the Blue Arc Reactor on his chest.

The layer of pitch-black coal dust reminded him that the state of his face was likely not looking good.

"Uh... it's nothing, a small matter, just an accident." Even with Tony's thick skin, he couldn't help but blush, though in the dark mine shaft, combined with his almost entirely black face, it wasn't clearly visible, allowing him to brush it off easily.

"Ha!" Fang Bie chuckled and let the matter slide. Since Tony didn't say anything, he certainly wouldn't press it. Instead, he took a bucket of water from his inventory and brought it over to him.

"Alright, wash your face. Let's go take a look at the iron ore Yinsen found." Fang Bie casually placed the iron bucket on the ground and walked over.

Tony hurriedly washed his face with the bucket, marveling once again at the magical nature of the water in this world as he looked at the still-clear surface, then quickly followed.

Not far from them, Yinsen was leaning on his Stone Pickaxe, staring at the pile of stones with a yellowish crystal luster, debating whether or not to strike.

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, this should be iron!" Fang Bie said, nodding with satisfaction as he saw the luster radiating from the stone from afar.

"This is iron?" Unlike Yinsen, who had been standing there observing it for a long time, Tony felt like he was losing his ability to distinguish colors after mining a huge pile of coal and stone. Seeing a different kind of rock, he naturally wanted to appreciate it properly.

Fang Bie stood behind the two and introduced, "What we are looking at is the iron ore of this world. It exists in the subterranean ore layers in huge quantities and is very widespread, second only to coal."

"It is the easiest material to find in this world and also the most suitable for general-purpose armor and tools. Through simple smelting in a Furnace, you can craft a large number of tools, armor, and essential daily items. It is the material we need most right now."

"Stop staring, let's mine!" Fang Bie said to them, taking the initiative to swing his Stone Pickaxe.

Stone tools were much faster than wooden ones, and besides, iron ore could only be mined with a Stone Pickaxe. If they continued to use wooden pickaxes, they wouldn't gain anything other than destroying the ore.

Seeing that Fang Bie had already started working, Tony and Yinsen didn't stay idle and joined him, expanding outward to the left and right of the stone deposit.

Fang Bie once again discovered a difference between this world and the original game. In the original game, no matter what kind of ore it was, it appeared very sparsely throughout the underground rock layers; even coal usually only appeared in clusters of a dozen or so.

However, the coal he had mined earlier had actually exceeded 30 units. He had been suspicious at the time, but he was in a rush and didn't give it much thought.

Now it was different; Fang Bie had already mined over 10 iron ores himself, and this iron deposit showed no signs of thinning out—instead, it continued to extend deeper.

This meant that they hadn't just stumbled upon a scattered deposit; they had discovered a massive ore vein!

"An iron ore vein?" Fang Bie said with some confusion, and his words caught the attention of the two men beside him.

"Fang? Are you saying this is actually an ore vein?" Tony was the first to react, his pickaxe pausing for a moment before he continued digging to the side.

"Yeah!" Fang Bie nodded. "This is something I wasn't very familiar with in my daily life; I didn't expect a vein to generate naturally here!"

"So, is this a good thing or a bad thing for us?" Yinsen's concern was a bit strange, but it was closely related to them; he thought Fang Bie had stopped because he had discovered something wrong.

"Of course it's a good thing. If we mine this entire vein, we should be able to gather enough for armor for all three of us, and maybe even have some left over to make other tools." Fang Bie finally let go of his heavy expression and said with a smile.

"Tsk tsk!" Tony glanced at him. "I thought it was something serious, and you're telling me it's a good thing?"

Fang Bie looked at the man who had been with him for a while and was gradually regaining his playboy demeanor, but he didn't feel any resentment.

"I just thought it was a bit unusual; I never told you it was a bad thing!" He laughed, though his movements quickened a little.