Chapter 7

The iron pickaxe slammed heavily into the rocky soil layer, sending a numbing shock through his hands and into his palms.

Wangchuan felt a chill creep over him.

This was not a game at all.

This was real mining.

The layered texture inside the rock and soil, the sparks bursting outward and striking his face—his entire body could clearly feel the hardness of the rock feeding back through the pickaxe.

Wangchuan was stunned.

A game that real…

Was this not going a bit too far?

What kind of company would develop a world this realistic?

Could it really be some kind of state-level technology, created to give unemployed people like them something to do?

Wangchuan fell silent.

Lin Dahai, Heipi, and the other seasoned veterans continued mining iron ore at their usual rhythm while observing him out of the corner of their eyes.

They understood Wangchuan’s shock and reaction.

The first time they had taken on the mining task, the moment their pickaxes struck the rock, they had been just as stunned as Wangchuan.

They were waiting for him to process and adapt.

Wangchuan did not disappoint them. Very quickly, he raised the pickaxe and swung down a second time.

CLANG!!

This time, the pickaxe struck directly into a dark-colored vein of iron ore. The sound was sharper, and the sparks lit up the mine—and lit up Wangchuan’s eyes.

Lin Dahai noticed that Wangchuan’s eyes were bright.

The rebound was stronger.

His palms hurt more.

“Be careful.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Try clearing the surrounding rock and soil first. Leave the iron layer for last—it’ll be easier to shatter then.”

Lin Dahai began teaching him mining techniques.

Wangchuan nodded.

He had already realized that this game was a one-to-one simulation of a real world.

Master the techniques, use them well, and stamina could be conserved while efficiency increased.

Do it wrong, and you would expend twice the effort for half the result.

This was a game that required thinking.

With that realization, Wangchuan adjusted his breathing.

As a fitness enthusiast who had trained for years, not only did he possess strong core strength, he also had a deep understanding of how to apply force efficiently.

If mining were treated like a weight-training exercise, it was entirely doable.

This was simply repetitive, high-intensity physical labor.

Wangchuan subtly adjusted his footing, stabilizing his lower body.

His gaze sharpened as he judged the height of the rock layer, calculated the swing path of the pickaxe in his mind, twisted his waist, and unleashed his strength.

CLANG!!

His movements differed slightly from those of the veterans.

But in the dimly lit mine, such subtle differences went unnoticed.

With each swing of the pickaxe, Wangchuan made tiny adjustments to his stance and the arc of the swing.

If someone had been watching closely, they would have noticed that although he appeared to be standing in place clearing rock layers, his feet were making slight positional shifts. Every swing was fluid, forceful, and efficient.

The pickaxe sank deep into the rock.

Before long, he had cleared a section of surrounding stone, causing the iron ore layer to stand out clearly.

Wangchuan smashed down hard.

The first piece of iron ore cracked.

CLANG!!!

CLANG!!!

The first chunk of iron ore broke loose, teetering on the edge.

“Yes.”

“That’s it.”

“You’re getting the hang of it fast, Wangchuan.”

“Yeah.”

“Digging out your first piece of iron ore this quickly—your Strength stat must be pretty good. Five points at max, right?”

“Five points?”

Wangchuan froze.

He remembered clearly that when he had summoned his status panel, all four of his attributes had been at eight points.

What did a maximum of five mean?

“Wangchuan used to do fitness training. I’d guess his Strength is probably six or seven,” Lin Dahai spoke up for him.

“Not bad.”

“With one extra point of Strength, mining gets much easier.”

“Over a full day, your output can be more than ten percent higher than a normal adult’s! Tsk, tsk, so envious!”

“Didn’t expect it. Wangchuan’s got great base stats.”

Heipi and the other veterans chimed in, their words full of envy.

Wangchuan understood.

In this game, not everyone started with the same attributes. They were projected from one’s real-world physical condition.

No wonder he found controlling this body so effortless.

Privately, he was shaken again.

《Spirit Realm》 was terrifyingly impressive.

Thinking of the years of disciplined fitness that had granted him three extra points each in Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Spirit compared to an average adult, he decided to keep this to himself.

A slight advantage would inspire admiration.

Too much advantage would invite jealousy and alienation.

He was still new. He needed to integrate with the veterans, learn the game quickly, and survive.

Most importantly, he had to keep this job.

“Brother Lin.”

“How much does a piece of iron ore like this sell for?”

“Iron ore is sold by weight—about five jin for one copper plate. This piece of yours weighs more than five jin, so you’ve already earned one copper plate.”

Lin Dahai’s tone carried a hint of envy.

Wangchuan, however, was dumbfounded.

“What?”

“It’s only worth one copper plate?”

“That cheap?”

He could hardly believe it.

Heipi spoke bluntly.

“Those ordinary rocks are the real trash—smash out a thousand jin and they’re still worthless. And anyway, how could the real profits from iron ore ever fall into our hands? The convoy, the craftsmen, the weapon merchants, the authorities—they’re the ones taking the lion’s share.”

“……”

Wangchuan fell silent, unable to argue.

Old Li chuckled honestly.

“Dig one or two more pieces and it’ll be enough to trade for a flatbread. Clear out a stretch of iron ore like this, and you can at least get two flatbreads. Think of it that way, and you’ll feel motivated.”

Surprisingly, that explanation made him feel much better.

Wangchuan immediately picked up the pace, clang clang clang, smashing down chunk after chunk of iron ore and loading them all into the basket.

There were about thirty jin in total, worth six copper plates.

He checked the time.

Only a little over ten minutes had passed.

At this rate, he could mine iron ore worth twenty to thirty copper plates per hour. Over six to eight hours—one full morning and afternoon—he could exceed 150 copper plates.

But…

This work was truly exhausting.

In just ten-plus minutes, Wangchuan felt like he had already done half an hour of high-intensity training.

Fortunately, he trained more than three hours every day and had enough endurance and foundation.

Keep going.

Get to work.

After roughly half an hour of nonstop labor, he was utterly spent.

The skin at the base of his palms had begun to split.

Heipi, Old Li, and the others all took breaks midway.

Some took out flatbreads to eat.

Wangchuan summoned his status panel and took a look.

His hunger had already dropped to 70/100.

Heavy physical labor really did accelerate hunger.

Lin Dahai said to him,

“Eating one flatbread restores about 60 hunger. It’s best to wait until your hunger drops below 40 before eating.”

“Got it.”

Wangchuan immediately abandoned the thought of eating and continued hammering away.

After another hour, his hunger rapidly dropped below 40.

His stomach let out a low growl.

The basket at his feet was already more than half full of iron ore, easily over two hundred jin.

The mining progress was decent.

Just then, the sound of bells rang out from outside.

Several people perked up their ears.

A voice echoed through the mine.

“The convoy’s here!”

“Get ready to head out!”