He noticed a vein on the right side of the wall—he didn't scan it to thoroughly but he could see a slight red gleam to it even at first glance. It wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, but it was definitely different from the usual, plain, dark-grey ore veins.
'This is it. This is what I need.'
But one question sprung to mind.
'How did nobody else find this?'
He had only walked for around an hour at most. Sure, most users wouldn't come this far, but he didn't think that went for every single player. It was hard to believe that there wasn't another oddball like Seojin.
If Verdo was right, no one had satisfied Ferguson so far. Seojin could draw three theories from that.
First of all, the iron ore down here was also of poor quality.
Second of all, Seojin was one of a kind.
And third of all, the quality of this ore is better than the rest, but only digging one or two wouldn't be sufficient.
All three arguments were plausible, there could even be a completely different answer.
'It's hard to say what it is, but…'
Seojin sighed and picked up the pickaxe—when in doubt, try it out.
The second Seojin hit the vein, however, he began feeling tremors underneath his feet. And then…
"Aaaahhhhh!"
He fell.
"What… is this place?"
He found himself to be trapped in a small cavity. He assumed that the floor had collapsed when he hit the vein, and he must have fallen into the hole. However, he discovered that the ceiling above him was solid without a crack in sight.
'A hidden cave?'
It sounded plausible, he was in a game after all. He thought that maybe, the vein back up there was some kind of trigger, and that he slipped into this place as a result.
'Makes sense. So should I dig around here?'
Seojin squinted as he examined his surroundings. It was a small cave, filled with veins everywhere, with every single one of them having that subtle red tinge to it from before.
"Isn't this too hidden for a starter quest?" Seojin murmured dumbfoundedly.
The likelihood of ever finding this place was extremely low. It was just a simple starter quest that started with Ferguson throwing a pickaxe at the player. If Midgard was like any other game, bringing back a few rocks would fulfill the quest.
But what if Seojin had just found the right way to complete the quest?
"That means… you have to walk around the mine for hours and find the hidden trigger."
That didn't make any sense to him. It was only the second quest of the entire game.
Seojin shook off his curiosity.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter."
Seojin assumed that it just meant Midgard was a difficult game, but he wouldn't be too shocked if that wasn't the case. There must be some kind of hidden reward if this sort of thing was hidden down here.
"Whatever it may be, there's only one way to find out."
Seojin picked up the pickaxe.
Eventually, around two hours later…
Acquired "Usable Iron Ore"
"Finally!"
A clanking sound rang out through the cave as Seojin threw the pickaxe down. The moment the long-awaited message popped up, he opened up his inventory. He achieved this first tear-jerking accomplishment with his trash stats.
He had already yelled "these damn fake stats," over a dozen times and cursed the developers more than a hundred times.
However, he forgot everything now and was overwhelmed with joy.
'So it was the right choice to mine here!'
It wasn't as top-notch as the leather, but it was several times better than the ore from the shallows of the mine.
But it wasn't enough.
'I have to collect as much as I can.'
He only had one chance to give Ferguson the items he asked for. He was not planning to underperform and take the bare minimum to the grumpy old man, he'd probably fail the entire quest if he did that.
'Six in twelve hours would mean… twenty-four in two days. That should be enough, huh?'
Seojin grinned. He was about to start a 48-hour-long grind, yet he was grinning.
Because to him, it was fun.
He now had the means and conviction to get a handsome reward for his efforts.
That was enough for Seojin.
Soon enough, the pickaxe struck the vein once again.
* * *
Clank, clank, clank…
The steady beat echoed around the cave.
Pull, raise, swing, and clank!
Seojin swung a pickaxe like a machine while murmuring dead whispers.
"Come on out."
Stanceshif: Immature Threat
Effective: 10 Minutes
Cooldown: 60 Minutes
"Come on out, you damn thing!"
Target Invalid
Two hours had passed since he started using skills. Of course, he didn't exactly expect it to work, given that ores were inorganic objects unlike squirrels. It was his version of the placebo effect.
"Give me iron ore before I crack you open!"
The yelling was also purely for show.
There was no way he could scare ore out of a vein—
"…What?"
Success! Target Harrowed!
He felt something as the pickaxe hit the shaft. The tip of the pick didn't just bounce back like before, it lodged deep into the vein.
New messages flashed up before he even understood the situation.
Acquired Usable Iron Ore.
Acquired Usable Iron Ore.
Acquired…
Iron ores poured down from the wall of the cave.
However, Seojin's eyes were still locked on the vein.
"What are you?"
There was something latched onto the ore—something blurry, like a shimmer in the air. It was about the size of two fists at most.
Seojin didn't recognize the shape, but he was sure of one thing. It must have been the thing affected by his threats, and it dropped all of the ores in reaction.
"A ghost, maybe…? And it's gone."
Then, it suddenly disappeared as a new series of system messages popped up.
Achievement Unlocked: First Contact with the Unknown!
* Insufficient Knowledge: Detailed information is unknown.
* STR +9
"What, another achievement? 'First Contact with the Unknown?'"
It was not just any old achievement either. It had raised his STR by 9, which was huge.
Seojin let out a wry laugh. He wondered how Merhen would react when he heard about it.
'It's so random… I still can't grasp what happened.'
There was a considerable amount of iron ore strewn across the floor. While picking it all up, Seojin spotted a dim purple light. He pushed the iron ores aside and found a glowing purple ore around the size of a fist underneath them.
He tilted his head and brought it closer to his face. It was an odd-looking one. It looked neat like some kind of finished jewel and gleamed from the inside.
"What is this?"
As soon as he questioned the mysterious object, the automated messages popped up again.
Achievement Unlocked: Black Swan!
* The result of effort? Or just pure luck? Doesn't make any difference, it's the result that matters!
* Acquired quest item: Orichalcum.
* DEX +10
* LUK +10
"…"
At this point, even Seojin had nothing to comment. After collecting the rest of the iron ore and placing the orichalcum into his inventory, he muttered to himself with a confused expression.
"…Okay, let's go back."
* * *
'I don't know what happened.'
Seojin was confused. He was still Level 5, and the amount of time he poured into the quest was only seven hours at most.
And the result? Two achievements and thirty-six iron ores.
And one more, an ore named orihalcum.
It wasn't just enough. It was excessive.
Seojin thought there must have been something special about the cave, but he didn't expect to get this much.
"I didn't know that orichalcum could spawn here…"
There was more orichalcum than mice in Asgard. However, that was understandable since it was set in the world of the gods. But Midgard focused on the human world, so he thought it'd be extremely scarce if at all.
"Let's return for now. I'll see what's up with this when I go back."
Ferguson was the one who gave him the quest, so he would be the one to give him an answer too.
However, when he arrived back at the smithy, all he got was a cold shoulder.
"Put it down there and get lost."
"What?"
The old blacksmith's eyes were locked on the bellows he was using to raise a fire, he didn't even spare a glance toward Seojin.
"I said, leave it there… ah."
Ferguson threw something at him. It was a small block of ore.
Acquired: Crude Iron Ore
"There's your reward. Now get lost."
'Well, well… what do we have here?'
Seojin tilted his head, wondering if he'd been mistaken this entire time. He didn't expect this reaction. Maybe Ferguson's demands were nothing but a side quest, and the Orichalcum was a real deal.
'It can't be helped then…'
It was an underwhelming result, but at least he gained something out of it.
Seojin opened his inventory, and a great deal of iron ore poured out onto the floor.
Ferguson flinched before looking back at Seojin and checking the pile of iron ore. Seojin did not miss the twitch of the old man's brows.
"What's all that?"
"Um, the iron ore? You asked me for them…"
"You mean you mined all these yourself?"
"Yep, sure did."
"Bullshit. That can't be true."
Ferguson cut Seojin off and walked over to the pile of ore. He squatted down and began to inspect them one by one.
"…You."
"Yes?"
"How long have you been in the mine?"
"I've been there since you asked."
"Why?"
Ferguson made eye contact with him.
Seojin finally understood the situation.
'The quest isn't over yet…'
The old man hadn't seen what Seojin brought him when he first threw that shabby reward at him.
And most importantly, no system messages had popped up yet.
Seojin replied quickly, "Well, I didn't know how much you'd need, sir."
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw your work, I was sure you'd need more than just any old ordinary materials, so…"
"You mined this yourself?"
"Yes."
"Quit brown-nosing. How would a beginner like you know the worth of my work?"
'Now I get it…'
Seojin tried his best to hold back laughter. He headed toward the display stand, he felt Ferguson's gaze following him.
"Of course, as you said, I'm just a beginner and I don't know much. But even to me, this longsword and that battleaxe over there seemed unique."
Numbers three, number eleven… they were the ones that Verdo had told him about.
Ferguson's eyelids quivered.
"…Tell me the difference."
"Well, it's embarrassing as I don't know anything about blacksmithing, but…" Seojin paused for a moment. He waited until Ferguson gulped. "I felt your heart in them. I don't know how you smelted it, or what kind of materials you used, but… yeah."
Seojin dragged his sentences out deliberately.
"I felt your heart. The heart of the blacksmith."
"…"
Ferguson remained silent for a moment.
He stared at the weapons that Seojin pointed out with calm, sunken eyes, and walked back in to the shop.
"…Come inside for a bit."
His voice, to Seojin's surprise, sounded calm and quiet.