Meeting her was even more dangerous!
“Miss, thanks a lot for earlier. If you hadn’t warned us, we probably would’ve had to quit the dungeon by now.”
With the danger gone, the young man plopped down on the ground. He pulled a bottle of drinking water from his bag and gulped down more than half of it before wiping his mouth.
“My name’s Lin Siyuan. What’s yours? And how did a life-class player like you end up here? I’m telling you, this place is really dangerous.”
The other players collapsed onto the ground as well, panting like exhausted dogs.
“Yan Yiqiu,” she blinked slowly. “That’s my name. The mine is very safe. I’ve never run into any danger there.”
What danger could mutated beasts be?
When they encountered her, the mutated beasts were the ones in danger.
Lin Siyuan didn’t think too much about it. He simply assumed the monsters outside had never entered the mine.
“Then you’re pretty lucky. Unlike us—we’re seriously unlucky!”
“You saw the system notification about the boss earlier, right? Our group finally made it to the coordinates, but the boss was already dead. We didn’t even see a single hair from it!”
“Seriously, you wouldn’t believe what we ran into on the way. Those things were way scarier than the beasts in the forest! We even lost a few players!”
“And I don’t know which bastards killed the boss so fast!”
Yan “Bastard” Yiqiu calmly asked, “Then how did you run into that monster just now?”
Lin Siyuan became even angrier.
“Well, since we missed the boss, we thought we’d hunt some wild beasts on the mountain instead. Then someone found a piece of gold ore and said there must be a gold mine nearby, so we went to look…”
Yan Yiqiu fell silent for two seconds.
Right… goblins were extremely fond of gold and diamonds.
Trying to mine gold ore—no wonder the goblin chased them.
“By the way, you’re a cook, right? Can you make food with stat bonuses?” Lin Siyuan asked.
The other players sitting on the ground also looked over.
Yan Yiqiu nodded. “Yes. But I need ingredients.”
For combat players, the most useful foods right now were braised fish and braised pork. But braised pork required sugar, and she had already run out. Braised fish was more cost-effective.
“Braised fish restores 20 satiety and increases damage by 2% for one minute. The ingredients are fish and water.”
Yan Yiqiu knew exactly what they were thinking.
If they could provide ingredients and payment, she didn’t mind cooking for them.
After all, the higher her level, the better the food she could make.
“If you have ingredients, I can cook for you,” she said directly. “But I need payment. Split your materials into two portions—one for your food, and one as my fee.”
She glanced at her personal stats.
“With my current stamina, I can only make ten portions of braised fish.”
The players who were about to complain that the fee was too high immediately shut up.
Only ten portions…
But there were fifteen players in their group.
“Me! Make mine first!” Lin Siyuan reacted the fastest and immediately handed over two fish.
Yan Yiqiu didn’t hesitate.
She took out an iron pot, spatula, flint, and firewood and walked outside the mine. Lighting a fire inside would be dangerous, so it was better to cook in an open area.
“Me too! I want two portions! I’ve got tons of fish!”
“Hey! She can only make ten servings and you want two by yourself?!”
“Yeah, don’t be so greedy!”
So while Yan Yiqiu was cooking Lin Siyuan’s braised fish, the other players started fighting each other over the remaining nine slots.
Yan Yiqiu skillfully tossed the pan, producing a fragrant plate of braised fish.
[Obtained Braised Fish (White) x1. EXP +15.]
She handed the dish to Lin Siyuan.
“Damn, that smells amazing.” Lin Siyuan swallowed hard. “I haven’t had real food in so long…”
They could roast meat themselves, but without seasoning it always smelled fishy and tasted terrible.
Still, they had to force it down to restore satiety.
The players who lost the fight for a cooking slot stared with shining eyes.
One of them raised a hand nervously.
“Um… does food without stat bonuses cost the same stamina? If it doesn’t… could you maybe—”
“It costs the same,” Yan Yiqiu replied.
The player’s face instantly fell.
“Let’s add each other as friends!” Lin Siyuan said excitedly while storing the braised fish under everyone’s envious gazes.
The others quickly followed.
“Yeah, add friends!”
Players could add each other as friends in the system.
So Yan Yiqiu’s previously empty friend list suddenly gained fifteen new contacts.
After finishing all ten portions of braised fish, she prepared to leave.
“Oh right.”
She paused and turned to Lin Siyuan.
“Where did you run into that… big monster earlier?”
Lin Siyuan scratched his head.
“Go straight that way, then turn left at the valley. Why?”
Yan Yiqiu smiled.
“Just making sure I don’t accidentally walk into it.”
“Yeah, you should definitely be careful,” Lin Siyuan nodded, still unwilling to give up.
“Are you really sure you don’t want to team up with us? You’re a life-class player—going through the dungeon alone is dangerous.”
Yan Yiqiu shook her head.
“No thanks. I don’t want to be a burden.”
She had too many secrets.
Going solo was much safer.
“Oh, and this mine can produce iron ore. You might want to dig some—it could be useful later.”
After refusing Lin Siyuan’s team invitation, Yan Yiqiu turned and left without hesitation.
She couldn’t return to this mine anymore.
So she might as well check the giant goblin’s gold mine.
While heading there, she casually gathered herbs along the way.
The mountain had plenty of medicinal plants.
By the time she reached the place Lin Siyuan mentioned, night had fully fallen.
The night was thick and heavy. The moon was hidden behind clouds, and the landscape looked like twisted monsters lurking in the dark.
Occasional gusts of wind produced eerie, wailing sounds.
And besides that—
There was a thunderous snoring.
Following the sound, Yan Yiqiu saw the giant goblin she had seen earlier that day.
It lay sprawled on the ground, clutching a massive wooden club, snoring loudly.
Lying down, it looked even bigger—nearly two meters tall even while prone, and five to six meters long. Its long pointed ears twitched occasionally.
It looked like it was sleeping deeply.
But the moment it sensed the slightest disturbance, it would wake up and attack intruders in a frenzy.
However…
Watching it sleep, Yan Yiqiu felt an uncontrollable urge to act.
She thought for two seconds.
Then she grabbed her axe and charged forward.
The giant goblin opened its eyes and raised its club to attack—but Yan Yiqiu kicked off the ground, leapt high into the air, and brought the axe down on its head.
[Player dealt 483,645,527 damage to Giant Goblin. Effective damage: 536,217.]
[Player inherited Goblin Treasury.]
Rewards obtained:
Goblin’s Big Club (Blue)Usable by Level 5 players. No class restriction.Damage +35%.The goblin’s favorite weapon… though it might need washing.
Goblin UnderpantsNo attributes.A completely useless item that lowers your dignity.Recommended: throw it away.
Yan Yiqiu: “……”
She immediately threw away the dignity-destroying underwear.
Then her gaze fell on the Beast-Attracting Powder recipe.
Beast-Attracting PowderEmits the scent of a female beast in heat, attracting male beasts.Materials required: Beast feces ×1, Beast blood ×1.
Yan Yiqiu’s first thought:
So mutated beast poop is used for this.
Her second thought:
That idiot who lured the wild boar earlier is going to have a wonderful time.
He’d better already be dead or have left the dungeon.
Otherwise…
She would make sure he understood true despair.
She tossed the rest of the loot into her bag and immediately crafted the powder.
Since it was a non-attribute potion, its strength depended entirely on the materials, making it easy to produce.
[Obtained Beast-Attracting Powder ×2.]
Satisfied, Yan Yiqiu stored the powder and waited for a “lucky” person to test it on.