Overseer Wu's words left the miners a little stunned, and the looks they now gave Yang Ling were full of envy.
"A great personage from above, inspecting? Miners from several veins comparing skills?"
Yang Ling felt a slight chill inside.
The background of this Fire Crystal Ore vein really was out of the ordinary.
All this time he'd been secretly gathering map information about 「Divine Realm」, trying to figure out where he was.
Unfortunately, forget the world map — he hadn't even worked out the background of Qingshan City, let alone this Fire Crystal Ore vein outside it.
The miners here were all illiterate and couldn't explain a thing.
This opportunity might well let him make contact with a higher-ranked personage.
And perhaps offer a chance to get his hands on the Black Tiger Fist that Overseer Wu practiced?
In the crowd, Zhang Wei slapped his own thigh in regret, his eyes shifty, his heart in turmoil.
"Overseer Wu, how can such a great matter be left to him?! He's been at our vein less than a month..."
Fifth Brother was aghast.
Overseer Wu shot him a cold glance:
"Shut up."
Fifth Brother's face went a little pale.
"Do it well."
Overseer Wu patted Yang Ling on the shoulder, turned, and left.
Seeing this, Fifth Brother hurried after him.
With no more spectacle to watch, the miners went back to their own affairs.
"Brother Yang, that Fifth Brother is truly detestable. Thank goodness Overseer Wu came in time. You weren't hurt just now, were you?"
Zhang Wei forced out a stiff smile.
Yang Ling smiled. "Zhang Wei, do you take me for a fool?"
Zhang Wei smiled bitterly. "Brother Yang, their fists were heavy, it hurt too much, I couldn't hold out..."
"Seeing as we're both players, I'll let today's business slide for now. From here on you don't provoke me, and I won't provoke you. As for the Fire Crystal Ore, you'll have to dig it yourself."
With that, Yang Ling turned and headed for the vein.
Zhang Wei's face darkened at once. He clenched his fists, glaring at Yang Ling's back:
"What's there to be so smug about? You just logged in a little earlier than me — a better constitution, nothing more. I refuse to believe I can't survive without you!"
At the Fire Crystal Ore vein.
It took Yang Ling only as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea to find an unmined block of Fire Crystal Ore.
He gripped the refined steel pick, and his Strength shot up 3 points at once.
His total Strength had now reached a full 10.
Even against Overseer Wu, he was only 2 points behind.
The only others in this vein with Strength close to his were those vein guards.
"Let me see what you can do."
Yang Ling eyed the refined steel pick in his hand, then chiseled down hard!
In that instant, all his strength surged within him and poured out through his arm.
Bang!
A block of Fire Crystal Ore dropped to the ground.
"Before, it took at least three to five strikes. Now, one and it's done..."
Yang Ling was very pleased with the change, and kept pouring damage into the ore before him.
When the block in front was cleared, he went looking for the next.
The cloth pouch at his waist grew fuller and fuller.
Five shichen later, the pouch held close to a catty of Fire Crystal Ore.
"Compared with when I first arrived, my efficiency's gone up nearly tenfold."
"A catty of Fire Crystal Ore trades for a hundred coppers. A thousand coppers trades for one tael of silver."
"When I was first dragged here, I heard that with five taels of silver you can buy a proper identity."
Yang Ling recalled that day, when he'd been seized as a vagrant and hauled to the vein.
As a player, he'd arrived with no proof of identity whatsoever.
In such a case you were treated as a vagrant, unprotected by the laws of Qingshan City.
In fact, eight or nine of every ten miners living in the village were vagrants with no identity.
Only the remaining one or two in ten were natives of Qingshan City.
That Uncle Wang from before was one of them.
Natives like those, Fifth Brother wouldn't dare bully at will.
"With my efficiency this much higher, another five shichen and I'll gather another catty. Two catties of Fire Crystal Ore for two hundred coppers..."
"In under a month, I'll be able to buy a proper identity!"
"Going by how past games usually work, having a proper identity is probably 「Divine Realm」's first threshold. Only after that might I qualify to obtain martial arts."
At that thought, Yang Ling went on searching for Fire Crystal Ore.
He now had two goals.
Level up and allocate points!
Obtain a proper identity!
Fortunately, both could be reached simply by mining.
Nearly tenfold efficiency also meant the experience he gathered was nearly tenfold what it had been!
A pity the attribute panel didn't show experience in detail, so he couldn't judge how much more he needed to reach Level 5.
Time slipped by bit by bit.
Fewer and fewer miners remained on the vein.
Yang Ling kept roaming about, searching.
"This Fire Crystal Ore is far too scarce — you can't work any one spot for long. Hunting all over for it wastes so much time. If only there were one big block."
At that thought, he suddenly looked toward the pitch-black caves all around.
The Fire Crystal Ore was an open-pit vein, but years of digging had also opened many fathomless caves.
These caves were different from the open ground — the latter turned up some Fire Crystal Ore near the surface, not much, but enough to keep a miner alive, even to turn a small profit.
The caves, though, occasionally yielded large blocks of Fire Crystal Ore.
By rights, going into the caves was more lucrative.
But from Uncle Wang's warnings, Yang Ling knew the caves carried three great risks!
First, the caves were a maze — easy to get lost in. Take a fall and break a leg in there, and you'd most likely die inside; there was even the danger of a cave-in!
Second, the vein had no shortage of people who dealt out foul play in the dark. They didn't dare kill in the open, and the caves were the perfect place for it.
Third, the rare but possible venomous mine worms!
"Uncle Wang said that sometimes a bite from a mine worm kills you before you can even be brought to a healer."
"I've never seen one, but I still need to be careful."
At that thought, Yang Ling gave up the idea of entering the caves.
He wanted to level up steadily.
Even if he did go into the caves, it would be best to first get his Strength to around 15.
With 150 HP by then — several times thicker than an ordinary person's — he'd have the standing to risk a fight in the caves.
Beyond that, going into the caves called for thorough preparation in advance. As he was now, he wasn't suited to it.
"Who's there?"
Yang Ling suddenly turned, his refined steel pick ready to chisel over at any moment.
"You're Yang Ling, right? I saw what happened in the village today."
The newcomer was a lean, wiry middle-aged man.
Yang Ling knew of him — a native of Qingshan City, with a proper identity, not a vagrant.
The man's attribute panel slowly surfaced:
Name: Zhao Hou
Class: Miner
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Spirit: 2
The man's Agility was as high as 8 — 3 points more than Yang Ling's, beyond the range of an ordinary person.
"Uncle Zhao, is there something I can do for you?"
Yang Ling said politely.
"You know me?"
Zhao Hou was a little surprised.
Yang Ling smiled. "Uncle Wang mentioned you — said you're a man of ability."
"Ah, so Old Wang told you about me."
Zhao Hou nodded in understanding, then smiled:
"From the look of you just now, it seems you were thinking of trying your luck in the caves?"
"No."
Yang Ling denied it at once.