Grind Until the End of Time!

A massive open-pit mine stretched out before him, where countless miners swung all kinds of mining tools with all their might.

Ignoring the sweat that had soaked his entire body, Yang Ling swung his pickaxe again and again at the Fire Crystal Rock before him.

Every strike required his full strength. Otherwise, the hard Fire Crystal Rock wouldn't budge at all.

"Little Yang, there are twelve hours in a day, and you spend eight of them here. Aren't you afraid of ruining your body? You won't last much longer at this rate."

An old miner passing by couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Yang Ling didn't stop working and replied politely,

"Don't worry, Uncle Wang. I know what I'm doing."

"Ah."

Uncle Wang shook his head lightly, turned, and walked away to search for valuable Fire Crystal Rock.

Yang Ling continued chipping away at the Fire Crystal Rock.

With every strike, a faint cool sensation traveled through the pickaxe and entered his body.

Not only did that sensation relieve his fatigue, it also increased his endurance.

"Is this place really a game, or is it the real world?"

"I only wanted to play a full-dive simulation game to relax. How did I end up unable to go back?"

Yang Ling muttered to himself inwardly.

He had been in this world for half a month.

Half a month ago, he had still been a professional gold farmer, making a fair amount of money by farming currency in games.

He had even gained a bit of fame in the gold-farming industry.

But his repetitive career had grown dull, so he found a newly launched game called Divine Realm to change things up.

Yet not long after entering the game, he realized something was terribly wrong!

He couldn't go back!

And this world was incredibly real. Whether it was the simulated sense of touch or eating, drinking, pissing, and shitting, everything was no different from the real world.

Even the NPCs were so vivid and lifelike.

At first, he had nearly starved to death in this world.

Until he was captured and made into a miner.

As he thought about it, his pickaxe fell again.

A cool sensation entered his body.

"Ding!"

A pleasant level-up chime rang out.

"Congratulations, you have leveled up and gained 1 free attribute point!"

Yang Ling immediately summoned his status panel:

Character: Yang Ling

Class: Miner

Level: 3

Free Attribute Points: 1

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Spirit: 10

HP: 50

"I finally leveled up. One more free attribute point."

Yang Ling was secretly thrilled.

The reason he had been working so hard lately was to level up.

Every strike gave him experience points.

But they weren't displayed on the status panel. He could only judge by that cool sensation.

That cool sensation was experience. It could not only help him level up, but also relieve fatigue and increase endurance.

"My character only started with 4 Strength, while Agility and Spirit were unusually high."

"Five points should be the level of an ordinary person."

With that in mind, Yang Ling immediately added the free attribute point to Strength.

For now, he had no idea what Spirit was used for.

He only knew that Strength could increase his mining speed, naturally allowing him to gain more experience.

Strength was also connected to HP.

As his Strength increased by one point,

a warm current flowed into Yang Ling's body, instantly dispelling all his fatigue. Even his sore muscles no longer ached.

At the same time, his HP rose from 50 to 60 in one go.

He clenched his fist and could clearly feel that he had become much stronger!

Yang Ling couldn't help feeling delighted.

If he wanted to survive, HP was also extremely important.

A few days ago, he had accidentally fallen and hit his forehead, instantly losing twenty HP.

It had only slowly recovered after he took some healing medicine.

He had considered whether his death might let him leave Divine Realm.

But he didn't dare gamble on it. He was even more afraid that if his HP reached zero, he himself would be erased too...

"Grind! As long as mining lets me level up, I'll grind until the end of time!"

"Nothing else matters!"

Yang Ling picked up his water flask, took a drink, and continued swinging his pickaxe.

Once, twice...

Only after the Fire Crystal ore in front of him had been completely mined out did he carefully gather the broken ore from the ground and place it into the cloth pouch at his waist.

Yang Ling weighed it in his hand.

"Hmm, about one tael. I can exchange it for ten copper coins from Supervisor Wu."

"The bottle of healing medicine Supervisor Wu sold me last time only cost five copper coins. I need to save up more this time in case I need to protect my life."

"But this pickaxe of mine is nearly worn out too. I need to save some money for a better one, which will help me gain experience faster."

As he pondered, several figures quietly approached.

Yang Ling raised his eyes without giving anything away.

"So it's Fifth Brother. Is there something you need?"

Yang Ling cupped his hands and smiled.

Fifth Brother was tall and sturdy. Several grim-faced miners followed beside him, and the way they looked at Yang Ling was far from friendly.

"Normal miners work five hours a day before resting, but you work eight.

You're working this hard to curry favor with Supervisor Wu, aren't you?"

Fifth Brother said blandly.

Yang Ling explained, "You've misunderstood, Fifth Brother. I just want to earn a little more money."

"No. There are rules here."

Fifth Brother said coldly, "If you do this, Supervisor Wu will think we're slacking off. You're making yourself look good while making us look bad.

Let me give you some advice. Stop after five hours, or next time it won't just be your forehead getting hurt."

He cast a half-smiling glance at Yang Ling's forehead.

A faint, imperceptible chill flashed through Yang Ling's eyes.

The next moment, Fifth Brother's attributes unfolded before him.

Character: Fifth Brother

Class: Miner

Strength: 7

Agility: 3

Spirit: 2

The other party had no level or HP listed. This was an NPC's attribute panel.

"His Strength is still one point higher than mine, and he has more connections too. If I confront him head-on, I'll definitely suffer."

Thinking this, Yang Ling fawned,

"Fifth Brother, from now on, I'll only mine for five hours."

Fifth Brother nodded in satisfaction.

"At least you know what's good for you."

Then he glanced at the cloth pouch at Yang Ling's waist.

"I saw you mine quite a bit of Fire Crystal Rock just now. Hand over half as a courtesy."

Yang Ling considered it briefly. "Fifth Brother, how about I give you thirty percent of all the Fire Crystal Rock I mine from now on, and you let me work a few more hours?"

"You little bastard, still refusing to give up? What, are you really willing to work yourself to death just to please Supervisor Wu?"

Fifth Brother's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Hand over half the Fire Crystal Rock, then get the hell out. If you dare mine even half an hour extra in the future, I'll make you regret it!"

"So this bastard really is afraid that someone will stand out before Supervisor Wu and steal his thunder."

Without another word, Yang Ling poured out half of the Fire Crystal Rock for him.

The other man weighed it in his hand before finally placing it into his own pouch with satisfaction.

The pouch bulged heavily. There had to be at least half a jin in it.

"Not bad. Remember what Fifth Brother told you. I'll be watching you."

Fifth Brother chuckled, then left with his men.

"I'll need to avoid him for now."

Yang Ling began searching for Fire Crystal Rock.

He had no intention of mining for only five hours a day.

He needed to level up. He needed attribute points!

As long as he could raise his Strength to 10, he believed a nobody like Fifth Brother would never be able to push him around again.

Soon, Yang Ling found another patch of Fire Crystal Rock. Without another word, he immediately took out his pickaxe and started grinding.