In the massive open-pit mine vein, countless miners were holding various mining tools and swinging them vigorously.
Disregarding how sweat had soaked his entire body, Yang Ling struck the 'Fire Crystal Ore' before him with his pickaxe again and again.
Every strike required his full effort, otherwise the hard Fire Crystal Ore wouldn't change at all.
"Little Yang, out of the twelve hours in a day, you spend eight hours right here. Aren't you afraid of ruining your body? You won't be able to last long going on like this."
An old miner passing by couldn't help but offer a word of warning.
Yang Ling didn't stop the movement in his hands, replying politely:
"Rest assured, Uncle Wang, I know what I'm doing."
"Sigh."
Uncle Wang gently shook his head, turned, and walked away to search for valuable Fire Crystal Ore.
Yang Ling continued to diligently chisel the Fire Crystal Ore.
With every strike, a faint, chilling aura flowed along the pickaxe and seeped into his body.
This aura not only helped him relieve fatigue, but also increased his stamina.
"Is this place a game, or the real world?"
"I clearly only planned to play a holographic simulation game to relax, so why can't I go back?"
Yang Ling muttered softly in his heart.
He had already been in this world for half a month.
Half a month ago, he was still a professional gold farmer, earning a lot of money by gold farming in games.
In the gold farming industry, he was considered somewhat famous.
It was just that the day-to-day career made him somewhat bored, which was why he found a newly launched game 【Divine Realm】 to spice things up.
As a result, not long after entering the game, he discovered that the problem was huge!
He couldn't go back!
Moreover, this world was incomparably real; whether it was tactile simulation or eating, drinking, and excreting, it was no different from the real world.
Even the NPCs were so flesh-and-blood.
At the very beginning, he almost starved to death in this world.
Until he was caught and made a Miner.
Thinking like this, the pickaxe fell once again.
A chilling aura entered his body.
"Ding!"
A pleasant leveling-up sound rang out.
【Congratulations, you have leveled up and gained 1 Free Attribute Point!】
Yang Ling immediately summoned his Attribute Panel:
Character: Yang Ling
Class: Miner
Rank: 3
Free Attribute Point: 1
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Spirit: 10
HP: 50
"I finally leveled up and got one more Free Attribute Point."
Yang Ling was secretly excited.
The reason he worked so hard during this period of time was precisely to level up.
Every strike of excavation would grant Experience Points.
But it wasn't reflected on the Attribute Panel; he could only judge it through that chilling aura.
The chilling aura was Experience Points, which not only allowed him to level up, but also helped him relieve fatigue and increase stamina.
"My character's initial Strength attribute point was only 4, whereas Agility and Spirit are very high."
"5 points should be the standard of a normal person."
Thinking of this, Yang Ling immediately added the Free Attribute Point to Strength.
He temporarily didn't know what use Spirit had.
He only knew that Strength could make his mining speed faster, and naturally more Experience Points would be added.
At the same time, Strength was also connected to HP.
As one point was added to Strength.
A warm current surged into Yang Ling's body, instantly dissolving all his fatigue, and his aching muscles no longer ached.
At the same time, his HP also surged from 50 to 60 in an instant.
He clenched his fists and clearly felt that his strength had grown significantly!
Yang Ling couldn't help but be secretly happy.
He wanted to live on, and HP was also extremely crucial.
A few days ago, he accidentally fell and hit his forehead, directly losing twenty points of HP.
It was only after eating healing medicine that it slowly recovered.
He had thought about whether he could escape 'Divine Realm' if his HP was cleared to zero.
But he didn't dare to gamble; he was even more afraid that if his HP was cleared to zero, he would also be cleared to zero...
"Grind away! As long as I mine I can level up, then I will grind it until the end of time!"
"As for the rest, none of it matters!"
Yang Ling picked up his water canteen, took a sip, and continued to swing his pickaxe.
One strike, two strikes...
Until the fire crystal ore in front of him was completely mined out, he carefully collected the crushed ore on the ground and put them into the cloth pocket at his waist.
Yang Ling weighed it.
"Hmm, it's about one tael, which can be exchanged for ten copper coins from Supervisor Wu."
"The bottle of healing medicine Supervisor Wu sold me last time only cost five copper coins; this time I need to save up more to protect my life."
"However, this pickaxe of mine is also almost ruined. I still need to save some money to purchase a better pickaxe, which will help speed up the acquisition of Experience Points."
Amidst his thoughts, several figures quietly approached.
Yang Ling quietly raised his eyes to look.
"So it's Fifth Brother, is there something you need?"
Yang Ling cupped his fists and said with a smile.
Fifth Brother grew up tall and sturdy, followed by several gloomy-looking miners. The gazes they directed at Yang Ling were very unkind.
"Normal miners have to go rest after working five hours a day, yet you want to work eight hours. You're working this hard just to curry favor with Supervisor Wu, right?"
Fifth Brother said calmly.
Yang Ling explained: "Fifth Brother has misunderstood, I just want to earn a bit more money."
"No way, this place has its rules."
Fifth Brother said coldly: "By doing this, Supervisor Wu will end up saying we're slacking off. You're elevating yourself while demeaning us. I advise you to pack up after finishing five hours, otherwise it won't just be your forehead getting bruised."
He glanced at Yang Ling's forehead with a half-smile.
A trace of imperceptible cold light flashed in Yang Ling's eyes.
The next second, Fifth Brother's attributes unfolded before him.
Character: Fifth Brother
Class: Miner
Strength: 7
Agility: 3
Spirit: 2
The opponent didn't have a Rank column, nor did they have HP. This was the Attribute Panel of an NPC.
"His Strength is still a bit higher than mine, and his connections are stronger than mine. If I really go head-to-head with him, I will definitely suffer."
Thinking of this, Yang Ling ingratiatingly said:
"Fifth Brother, from now on I will only mine for five hours."
Fifth Brother nodded in satisfaction:
"Consider you brat sensible."
Afterwards, he glanced at the cloth pocket at Yang Ling's waist:
"I saw you mined quite a bit of Fire Crystal Ore just now, split half of it with me."
Yang Ling thought for a moment: "Fifth Brother, how about in the future I give you thirty percent of the Fire Crystal Ore I mine, and you let me mine for a few more hours."
"You brat still harbor unyielding ambitions? What's the deal? Do you really want to risk your life to curry favor with Supervisor Wu?"
Fifth Brother smiled without warmth: "Bring half of the Fire Crystal Ore over and get lost. If you dare to mine for even half a quarter of an hour more in the future, I'll make you pay!"
"It seems this fellow is truly afraid of someone showing off in front of Supervisor Wu and stealing his thunder."
Without a second word, Yang Ling poured out half of the Fire Crystal Ore for the other party.
The other party weighed it, and only then put it into his own cloth pocket with satisfaction.
It was bulging, at least weighing a little under a catty.
"You're still sensible. Remember Fifth Brother's words, I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Fifth Brother chuckled softly, then led his people away.
"I need to avoid him a bit from now on."
Yang Ling began to search for Fire Crystal Ore.
He didn't plan to only mine for five hours a day.
He wanted to level up, he wanted to allocate points!
As long as Strength could be added to 10 points, he believed that a Little scoundrel like Fifth Brother would no longer be able to control him.
Soon, Yang Ling found another spot of Fire Crystal Ore. Without another word, he immediately took out his pickaxe and started grinding.