A crowd of miners had gathered around the mine entrance, creating quite a lively scene.
"Everyone, calm down a bit. I know you can't eat if you don't mine, but who told you not to save up some copper coins?"
Supervisor Niu had his hands tucked into his sleeves as he spoke in a leisurely tone:
"There's a bit of a problem with the mine right now, so it needs to be sealed off for a while until the important figures from the Mountain and River Sect come to make a decision.
If you try to enter the Fire Crystal Rock mine now, wouldn't that be like walking right into the line of fire?"
Important figures from the Mountain and River Sect?
The miners, who had been making a commotion moments before, immediately fell silent.
"Go on, disperse."
Supervisor Niu waved his hand.
The miners looked at each other, but could only leave with their heads hung low, dejected."What do we do!? We already went hungry all day yesterday. If we can't mine again today, won't we have to go hungry for another day?"
Lin Guoliang looked at Chen Xu, his face deathly pale:
"I can handle being hungry, but Mengmeng can't."
Wu Meng did look rather weak.
Chen Xu's expression was somewhat grave; he knew there must be a problem inside the mine.
He didn't know when the seal would be lifted.
"There's no other way, we'll just have to..."
He spotted Yang Ling.
Chen Xu gritted his teeth and quickly walked over:
"Brother Yang, could you lend us a bit more money? We can't go down into the mine these days, we're completely broke..."
Lin Guoliang and Wu Meng's eyes lit up, and they immediately crowded around.
"How many days have you been hungry?"
Yang Ling asked with a smile.
Chen Xu gave a bitter smile: "We didn't eat at all yesterday."
"I do have some dry rations here. Take them to tide you over. I estimate it should only be another two or three days at most."
Yang Ling divided six of his flatbreads and gave them to Chen Xu.
Chen Xu was instantly overjoyed.
Wu Meng, however, instinctively said, "This flatbread is tough and hard. I tried it once, it's not tasty at all."
"You're starving, and you still care if it tastes good or not?"
Yang Ling chuckled: "It keeps you fuller longer than steamed buns."
With that, Yang Ling turned and walked away.
Since he couldn't go down into the mine, he could only continue grinding the proficiency of his Boulder Crushing Fist.
Chen Xu now divided the flatbreads between Lin Guoliang and Wu Meng, saying as he took a bite:
"Brother Yang is a good person. Out of all these miners, he's the only one who has helped us twice."
Lin Guoliang ate the flatbread in big mouthfuls:
"No matter how good he is, he's just an NPC. Here, we still have to rely on ourselves."
Chen Xu glanced at him, then suddenly asked casually:
"Have you two noticed anything unusual about your bodies these past couple of days?"
"Unusual? My stomach hurts a bit from not having food."
Lin Guoliang said instinctively.
Wu Meng: "The bed boards here are too hard. I miss my Simmons mattress."
"..."
Chen Xu instinctively clenched his fist.
He had discovered that the day before the mine was sealed, his strength had inexplicably increased quite a bit.
"A warm current surged within my body at the time. The increase in strength should be related to that."
"Is this considered leveling up from mining? Lin Guoliang and Wu Meng have been slacking off a bit lately, secretly taking it easy, so maybe they haven't leveled up yet?"
"Should I tell them about this or not..."
Chen Xu felt somewhat hesitant.
"Chen Xu, we don't know how long the mine will be sealed. You should catch up and borrow some more copper coins from that NPC.
Wu Meng and I haven't had a proper meal in a long time. I want to treat her to a nice dinner tonight."
Lin Guoliang said.
Forget it, I won't tell them.
Chen Xu turned and walked away:
"If you want to borrow, go do it yourself."
"Tch, putting on airs."
Lin Guoliang frowned slightly.
……
Outside the Miner's Village, there was a very conspicuous courtyard.
That was Supervisor Wu's residence.
When Yang Ling saw Zhang Wei walk out of there looking ecstatic, he knew this guy had managed to buy a formal identity.
He was no longer a vagrant.
"Zhang Wei's Zhang Family Leg Technique is also only at the beginner level. I wonder what his proficiency is, and how many points away he is from Beginner's Insight?"
Yang Ling's thoughts stirred slightly.
Zhang Wei now also noticed Yang Ling staring motionlessly at him, and immediately felt a bit guilty inside.
But as soon as he remembered his status as a lawful citizen, he immediately puffed out his chest, walked up to Yang Ling, and said with a smile:
"Yang Ling, I'm no longer a vagrant. I've registered as a resident of Green Mountain City.
I'm leaving tomorrow, going to Green Mountain City to look for work."
"Oh, congratulations then. But shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
Yang Ling said calmly.
"What explanation?"
Zhang Wei pretended not to know.
"The cultivation prerequisite for the Boulder Crushing Fist requires 8 points of Strength and 3 points of Spirit."
"Back then, you only mentioned the Strength prerequisite and didn't say a single word about Spirit."
Yang Ling said.
"Is that so? I probably just forgot."
Zhang Wei smiled: "Don't worry, once your Spirit increases in the future, you'll be able to cultivate the Boulder Crushing Fist."
"My Spirit happens to be exactly 3 points, so I've already learned the Boulder Crushing Fist."
Yang Ling said.
Zhang Wei was stunned for a moment, then looked at Yang Ling with disbelief:
"Why is your Spirit 3 points? How come I only..."
He immediately shut his mouth, not continuing.
"It seems you have at most 2 points, so you couldn't learn the Boulder Crushing Fist, which is why you sold this thing to me."
Yang Ling smiled: "I should thank you, because of you I became a Martial Artist."
"Damn it, why is this guy's Spirit so high? What gives him 2 more points than me?"
Zhang Wei cursed inwardly, then said indifferently:
"In that case, why are you looking for me?"
"It's about the proficiency issue."
Yang Ling cautiously scanned the surroundings:
"For now, there are only the two of us players in the mine. You said before you had information to share, doesn't that count anymore?"
"Proficiency? That just increases slowly as you cultivate."
Zhang Wei's expression shifted slightly:
"When you cultivate the Boulder Crushing Fist, how long does it take to gain 1 point of proficiency?"
"About... ten hours."
"Ten hours? Same as me?"
Zhang Wei pondered thoughtfully:
"Beginner's Insight requires 100 points of proficiency, right?"
"Right."
Yang Ling nodded, but he was very concerned about what Zhang Wei had just said.
It took him ten hours to gain just 1 point of proficiency?
"I'm ten times faster than him, wait... is it because of Spirit?"
Yang Ling suddenly realized.
He didn't know what Spirit was for at first.
Later, he discovered it was related to the prerequisites for cultivating martial arts.
Now it seems... perhaps the proficiency of martial techniques and the speed of gaining experience points for cultivation methods might all be related to Spirit?
"That is to say... as long as I increase my Spirit, in the future, whether it's the proficiency of martial techniques or the experience points of cultivation methods, they can all be greatly accelerated..."
Thinking of this, Yang Ling felt a sense of urgency.
Once the mine opens, he needs to test whether his conjecture is right or wrong!
"That's right. If I only sleep two or three hours a day, I can barely gain 2 points of proficiency. It would take about 50 days to reach the Beginner's Insight level, at which point martial techniques can amplify our strength."
Zhang Wei said: "However, it's impossible for a person to only sleep two or three hours, so practicing martial arts for 10 hours a day is more reasonable.
That means it takes about a hundred days to cultivate a martial technique to the Beginner's Insight level."
At this point, he glanced at Yang Ling and smiled:
"Considering you saved me back then, I'll share one more piece of information I just obtained not long ago."
"Oh? What information?"
Yang Ling was somewhat curious.
Zhang Wei smiled: "I just gave a Mine Guard a little benefit and inquired about martial techniques."
"With ordinary aptitude, it takes at least a year to cultivate a low-level martial technique to the Beginner's Insight level."
"So we are actually geniuses."
"Geniuses..."
Yang Ling pondered.
So, the existence of proficiency does indeed allow players to master martial techniques faster.
Even if Zhang Wei only has 1 point of Spirit, he's still much more capable than ordinary people.
He managed to cultivate the Boulder Crushing Fist to Beginner's Insight in just four or five days.
If we're talking about a real genius, he might be the actual genius.