It Appears! The Instance Mini-Boss!
On the third day of the instance, Yan Yiqiu was mining.
On the fourth day, Yan Yiqiu was gathering herbs, making medicine, and mining.
On the fifth day, Yan Yiqiu was gathering herbs, making medicine, and mining.
[Congratulations! Player’s Pharmacist level has reached Level 3.Obtained: Jade Secret Pill (White) recipe ×1, Yuantian Pill (White) recipe ×1.]
[Obtained: Level 1 Ore ×7, Level 2 Ore ×3. Experience +3.]
[Congratulations! Player has reached Level 4!]
Level: 4 (3/3000)Stamina: 36/90Energy: 54/90HP: 1500/1500Fullness: 79/100
With the final strike of her pickaxe, Yan Yiqiu leveled up to Level 4.
Looking at the 3,000 pieces of Level 1 iron ore in her backpack, she let out a long sigh.
Territory upgrades required:
The higher the level, the more materials were required.
Wood was easy to get, but ore was extremely hard to obtain in the early game.
Originally she wanted to gather all the materials needed for a Level-5 territory in the first instance, but now that idea felt like a fantasy. The newbie pickaxe from the starter pack was simply too inefficient.
If only she could get a mining machine.
She missed the mid-to-late-game mining machines. One scoop could produce hundreds of ores, and it took far less time.
Just as she was thinking about it, the ground suddenly trembled violently, and a system notification appeared.
[Because player *** has recklessly slaughtered Level-1 mutated beasts, the Steel Bear has been enraged.It will appear in 10 minutes at coordinates 273.874.All players, please take up your weapons and defeat the Level-2 mutated beast together!]
[If the Steel Bear is not killed within two hours, all creatures in the instance will gain a 24-hour Berserk buff, increasing damage by 50%!]
“Oh? Steel Bear… the instance mini-boss?”
Yan Yiqiu scratched her chin.
*That player **… could it be me?
When had she “recklessly slaughtered mutated beasts”?
She had only done a little bait-and-kill while gathering herbs. Those beasts came to her themselves. She never went hunting for them!
Yan Yiqiu refused to take the blame.
Still, she was very interested in the mini-boss, so she immediately put away her pickaxe and ran toward the coordinates.
Meanwhile, the instance chat channel exploded.
“Which bastard did this?! You even triggered the boss! A 50% damage buff for monsters is basically suicide!”
“Steel Bear? That sounds impossible to kill.”
“Whoever triggered it should deal with it themselves!”
“I’m preparing to leave the instance at any moment.”
“Don’t let me find out who did this!”
“Anyone want to team up to fight the boss?”
Most players were furious.
They were still rookies. Even killing wild animals took all their strength—how could they possibly defeat a boss?
Some players still wanted to try, hoping for a high-risk, high-reward gamble.
Yan Yiqiu knew nothing about the chat.
The mine was actually very close to the coordinates. She arrived in only five minutes and waited there.
It was a flat clearing, surrounded by steep cliffs with only one entrance.
She crouched on higher ground, watching below while chewing the starter biscuits.
Each biscuit restored 8 fullness, tasted mediocre, but she needed to eat them to free inventory space.
Her inventory was almost full again.
After finishing the biscuits and drinking half a bottle of water, she finally saw a massive creature appear.
It was a four-meter-tall brown bear.
Its upper body had completely turned into steel, including its internal organs. Its red glowing eyes flickered ominously.
It slapped the rock wall beside it, leaving a deep crater.
“ROAR!!!”
The mechanical jaws opened as it roared.
“Finally.”
Yan Yiqiu’s eyes lit up.
She grabbed her axe and charged forward.
The white ring increasing movement speed by 2 points helped her move a little faster.
The Steel Bear also noticed the tiny human rushing toward it.
She wasn’t even half its height.
The irritated bear casually swung a paw to crush her.
Yan Yiqiu didn’t dodge.
Instead, she raised her axe and struck the steel paw.
A sharp metallic collision rang out.
[Player dealt 837,462,815 damage to Steel Bear.Effective damage: 57,680.]
[Obtained: Boss Chest (Small) ×1, Gold Coins ×100, Experience +500.]
[Inventory space insufficient. Cannot open chest.]
Yan Yiqiu checked her backpack.
She still had four empty slots.
Not enough.
What a sweet problem to have.
She didn’t linger.
Instead, she grabbed the chest and quickly fled the scene.
Moments later, a large group of players arrived.
They found only an empty clearing and a system message.
[The Steel Bear has been killed by a player.]
“What? The ten minutes just ended!”
“Was the boss really that weak?”
“We didn’t even see it! It was already dead!”
“We barely climbed here! The beasts along the way were insane!”
“Who killed it?!”
“I bet it was the player who slaughtered mutated beasts earlier!”
“Probably a team of at least seven or eight players.”
“Whoever did it, speak up!”
The chaos in the chat had nothing to do with Yan Yiqiu.
She returned to the mine and stared at the glowing boss chest in her inventory.
But first, she needed more backpack slots.
Twelve slots were far from enough.
Backpacks required cloth, but she only had one piece.
Her gaze shifted to the animal hides in her bag.
Could hides work instead?
They were large and tough.
She decided to try.
After processing the hide and sewing carefully—
[Obtained: Hide Backpack ×1. Tailoring EXP +8.]
[Using Hide Backpack increases inventory slots by +2.]
“It works!”
Her eyes lit up.
One hide → one backpack → two extra slots.
Far better than cloth.
She immediately crafted backpacks from all 21 hides.
Three failed, but 19 succeeded, giving +38 slots.
Inventory: 52 slots
Now she opened the boss chest.
Rewards:
Mechanical Mining Cart!!
Yan Yiqiu’s eyes shone.
With this machine, her mining speed would increase several times over.
A yellow mining vehicle appeared.
She climbed into the control seat and scooped a chunk of ore.
[Obtained: Level 1 Ore ×32. EXP +12.]
But each scoop consumed 8 stamina.
Other equipment stats:
Cloth Shoes (Green): +50 movement speedGloves (Green): +2% strengthDefense Clothing (Green): +500 HP
She changed clothes immediately.
The shoes felt wonderfully comfortable.
“Instance gear really is good.”
Just as she left the mine to gather herbs again—
She suddenly heard chaotic footsteps.
“There’s a cave! Let’s hide!”
A young man rushed in and froze when he saw her.
“Holy—!”
Above his head floated the label:
Level 2 Combat Player
He grabbed her arm.
“Hurry! Get deeper inside! There’s a huge monster outside! A life-player like you will die instantly!”
Yan Yiqiu thought for a moment and followed him.
Behind him were over ten players, hiding among the rocks.
Heavy footsteps echoed outside.
“Boom. Boom. Boom.”
The ground trembled.
A massive shadow covered the cave entrance.
Then—
A huge green face appeared.
Its eyes were bigger than lanterns, rolling around as it searched the cave.
After several minutes, it left.
Someone tried to move.
“Don’t move,” Yan Yiqiu whispered sharply.
Moments later—
The green face returned.
It had been checking again.
Finally, after seeing nothing, it grumbled and walked away.
The players relaxed in shock.
“What the hell was that?!”
“It swallowed three people in one bite…”
Yan Yiqiu knew exactly what it was.
Later, players called it the Giant Goblin.
Green skin, long pointed ears, curved sickle-like nose.
Cruel and cunning.
It appeared frequently in later instances and became the most hated monster among players.
She hadn’t expected to see it in the first instance.
Yan Yiqiu lowered her eyes thoughtfully.
Something isn’t right.