Mine Cave Map

"Don't deny it. Just looking at how stuffed your cloth bag is, I can tell you're getting more and more skilled at mining. Your control over your strength is far better than those guys.

The open-air veins can no longer satisfy you.

You seem to be a drifter, trying to scrape together enough money to buy an official identity from the mine, right?"

Zhao Hou smiled.

Yang Ling remained calm. "Uncle Zhao, I do want to buy an official identity, but the mine caves are too dangerous. I won't go."

"If you just go in like that, then yes, it's extremely dangerous."

Zhao Hou said with a smile, "But if you buy a mine cave map from me, it won't be nearly so dangerous."

"Besides maps, I also sell antidotes. If you run into an Ore Worm, they could save your life."

"A mine cave map?"

Yang Ling was somewhat stunned.

Could those scattered mine caves actually have maps?

"Well? I'll sell you one mine cave map for two hundred coins. The Fire Crystal Rock at your waist is worth about that much."

Zhao Hou said, "If you encounter a large chunk of Fire Crystal Rock in the mine cave, with your mining speed, you'll earn back the cost in a single day and still make a little profit!"

"How do I know whether the map is real? What if you just drew it randomly? Wouldn't that get me killed?"

Yang Ling considered it.

Seeing that he was genuinely interested, Zhao Hou immediately glanced around.

"If you're interested, meet me in the village tomorrow at noon. Ask Old Wang, and he'll tell you where I live.

As for whether the map is real, don't worry. Steward Niu had to approve this deal before I could make it. If you don't believe me, just ask Steward Niu later."

With that, he turned and left.

Yang Ling stood there in thought for a moment. After glancing at the sky, he also headed toward the exit.

"Oh? Two jin of Fire Crystal Rock?"

Steward Niu opened the cloth bag and looked at the Fire Crystal Rock filling it. He gave Yang Ling a surprised look.

Yang Ling grinned foolishly. "I got lucky today. Everything I found was in large chunks."

"With your mining speed, you'd rank among the best of all the miners."

Steward Niu mused, "It seems your strength has also increased quite a bit since you first arrived?"

Yang Ling's heart tightened slightly. NPCs paid attention to things like this too?

He said quietly, "I couldn't eat my fill before, so I had much less strength. I've only recovered some of it recently."

"I see. It seems you were naturally quite sturdy."

As he spoke, Steward Niu counted out two hundred coins for Yang Ling.

Yang Ling sighed inwardly in relief. He had just spent money on a refined steel pickaxe and only had fifty coins left. With these two hundred coins, his purse was full again.

"Steward Niu, may I ask another question?"

Yang Ling asked quietly.

"Zhao Hou told me. You intend to go to the mine caves, right?"

Steward Niu said casually,

"The map in his hands is eighty percent trustworthy. The remaining twenty percent may have some omissions."

"Thank you, Steward Niu!"

Yang Ling hurriedly clasped his hands and bowed.

Just then, Zhang Wei dragged his exhausted body over and set his cloth bag on the table.

He glanced at Yang Ling, his face cold.

"One liang. Heh, looks like you've found a way to survive here."

Steward Niu gave a faint laugh and handed Zhang Wei ten coins.

Zhang Wei took the money without thanking him, then limped away.

That was what extreme muscle soreness looked like.

Yang Ling's expression shifted as he looked at Zhang Wei's attributes.

Character: Zhang Wei

Class: Miner.

Level: 2

Strength: 3

Agility: 2

Spirit: 1

Health: 30

"He leveled up? It seems he can't see the attribute panel, but he apparently has the ability to level up too. Did he add that point of Strength himself, or did the Divine Realm system add it for him?"

"Yet every time I gain experience points, my fatigue and muscle soreness ease. But he's still suffering, so he clearly can't sense the existence of experience points either."

"He probably doesn't even know his Strength has already reached 3."

With that thought, Yang Ling decided to observe him for a while longer.

To make sure Zhang Wei wasn't deliberately concealing this.

This was very important to him.

He suspected that there must currently be a large number of players in Divine Realm.

They were merely scattered across different locations.

If he alone could actively sense experience points and allocate his own stat points, that would be his advantage!

"That kid was under your care on the day he arrived, yet now you've become enemies?"

Steward Niu asked with an amused smile.

"Steward Niu, he and I were never close to begin with."

Yang Ling grinned.

Steward Niu nodded lightly. "Go on. Working in a place like this, one person is better than two."

On his way back, Yang Ling pondered Steward Niu's words.

"Two people working together... one of them might very well be tempted by wealth. It seems this kind of thing isn't uncommon at the mine. Steward Niu really is quite kind-hearted."

After returning to his room, Yang Ling immediately went to sleep.

The next day, he found Uncle Wang and asked for Zhao Hou's address.

When Zhao Hou saw Yang Ling, he smiled and invited him to sit.

Then he took out a map and slowly spread it across the table.

"Fire Crystal Rock Mine Cave Map 1, 2, 3, 4, 5"

The map's attributes immediately appeared before his eyes.

Yang Ling's heart stirred. This map really was valid, or the Divine Realm system wouldn't have recognized it.

"My map includes five mine caves, all of them somewhat valuable."

Zhao Hou smiled. "You can look at it a few more times. You won't be able to memorize it anyway.

It marks where Ore Worms have appeared and where large chunks of Fire Crystal Rock have been found.

I've even marked the places where cave-ins occurred.

But I haven't entered the mine caves in the last two months. If anything has changed inside, that has nothing to do with me."

At that, he slowly rolled up the map and smiled.

"Two hundred coins."

Yang Ling thought about it, then counted out two hundred coins and handed them over.

Only then did Zhao Hou smilingly give the map to Yang Ling.

"Mine Cave Map loading..."

A system prompt suddenly appeared.

Yang Ling remained impassive.

A few seconds later, a map tab appeared in his attribute panel.

When he opened it, it showed the map before him.

"Uncle Zhao, if I no longer need this map later, can I sell it on?"

Yang Ling suddenly asked.

"Sell it to someone else? Of course not. I risked my life to obtain this map. It's the fruit of my labor."

Zhao Hou smiled. "If you resell it, you'll be breaking the rules. Even if I don't come after you, Steward Niu will."

"Of these two hundred coins, one hundred belong to Steward Niu."

"Can't I sell it back to you either?"

Yang Ling gave a bitter smile. "I'm suddenly regretting it. If I go to such a dangerous place, I'm afraid I'll lose my life."

"Sell it back to me? I don't accept returns."

Zhao Hou stared at Yang Ling warily.

"If you want to back out, you can leave the map here. At most, I'll refund you one hundred coins."

"Can't you give me a little more?"

"No. Those are the rules. If it weren't for the fact that you haven't even left the gate yet, I wouldn't refund you a single coin."

Zhao Hou said flatly.

"Fine, one hundred coins it is."

Yang Ling said.

Zhao Hou's expression was a little strange, but he didn't ask further. He immediately put away the map, tossed Yang Ling another hundred coins, then waved his hand.

"If there's nothing else, leave. I still have to receive the next customer."

After leaving Zhao Hou's residence,

Yang Ling couldn't help feeling secretly delighted.

One hundred coins in exchange for a mine cave map was an unexpected gain.

"I still have one hundred and fifty coins. I need to prepare some antidotes and wound medicine."

With that in mind, Yang Ling headed toward a pharmacy in the distance.

It was a pharmacy run by Supervisor Wu.