“Hey, bro. You’re out here mining at this hour too! Sorry, sorry! Can’t help it, gotta make a living these days. It’s not easy, not easy at all.” The player in ragged newbie gear cheerfully patted his backpack, waved at William Smith, and headed deeper into the woods.

“Only 203 pieces of copper ore and 155 pieces of tin ore in half a month.” William Smith opened his backpack, and the sight of the copper and tin ore inside made him groan.

Originally, according to William Smith’s plan, with his thorough knowledge of “Skyrealm” from his previous life, he could practically walk through all the mining spots in the newbie village with his eyes closed. These 1,000 pieces of copper ore and 800 pieces of tin ore should have been collected in at most half a month. But William Smith never expected that after “Skyrealm” launched, the number of players would reach such an outrageous level.

Based on William Smith’s initial estimate, the distribution of 1 billion game helmets for “Skyrealm” was unprecedented, but 100 million was still a drop in the bucket compared to the total population of 15 billion across the three major planets. Even though Huaxia has always been the most populous country on Earth, with 1.2 billion people, at most 60 million of the limited 100 million game helmets would be allocated there. What’s more, in the world of “Skyrealm,” players from different countries are separated by clear national borders, which is also in preparation for the upcoming national wars.

So, according to the data, even if the online rate of Huaxia players in “Skyrealm” reached as high as 90%, each of the 100 newbie villages would have at most 600,000 people. Of these 600,000, at least 95% would focus on leveling up, leaving far fewer players who chose life professions.

But what William Smith didn’t expect was that, given such a huge base, even the remaining 5% amounted to a terrifying 30,000 people. Even if only 1% of these 30,000 learned the mining profession, there would be no more than 30 mining spots below level 5 in the newbie village. That’s 300 people sharing 30 mining spots—a clear case of too many monks and too little gruel!

What’s more, mining is such a profitable life profession in the early stages—how could players who want to make money with life skills possibly give it up?

William Smith stood there, speechless, looking up at the sky. He suddenly felt that even after another two months, he might not be able to complete the task of collecting 1,000 pieces of copper ore and 800 pieces of tin ore. And this was just the basic requirement to trigger the unique quest—he couldn’t help but admire the perseverance of that Ethan Carter from the future.

“Maybe only a man as heartbroken as Ethan Carter could endure something so lonely and tedious.” William Smith thought silently, considering whether he should try his luck in areas with monsters above level 5, and see if he could snatch a few ores from the jaws of those aggressive monsters.

The leveling speed in “Skyrealm” is definitely the slowest in MMO history. The monsters are highly intelligent, and the higher the level, the more obvious it becomes. The experience from monsters is low, and quest rewards aren’t generous either—a single quest can take half a day to complete. So after half a month, most players are still hovering around level 4.

If he went to the level 5 monster area now, there would be no one competing with William Smith for ores, but on the flip side, his own life could become a meal for those aggressive monsters at any moment.

William Smith carefully searched his memory for all the mining spots in the newbie village. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and William Smith thought of a place that made his whole body tremble with excitement…

Chapter 7: Rich Copper Mine! Encounter with the Pink Legion

At dawn, a faint streak of white appeared on the horizon. The cold wind of the night swept fallen leaves along a narrow mountain path, raging through the crisscrossing mountain roads nearby. The soil glimmered with a disturbing dark red, swaying with a strange hue in the dim morning light.

This was the entrance passage to the Darkblood Gorge northwest of the newbie village. It’s said that this eerie and terrifying gorge dates back to the Demon-Suppressing War a thousand years ago. In that protracted battlefield, the terrifying power of the ancient evil gods left many areas of the Forgotten Continent forever changed, and Darkblood Gorge was one of them.

The corpses of former alliance warriors are buried in this gorge. Because their souls were cursed after being slain by demons, the heroic spirits of the warriors turned into wandering ghosts, roaming the Darkblood Gorge day and night. This chilling gorge is shrouded in blood-red mist all year round. Even standing at the entrance, William Smith could still feel the oppressive, gloomy aura drifting in the air.

Of course, William Smith wasn’t crazy enough to try mining inside Darkblood Gorge itself—the monsters in there are all level 7 or 8 and aggressive. If he rushed in recklessly, with a 7-level gap, he’d probably be swarmed and killed by those wandering ghosts the moment he set foot inside.

William Smith’s destination was not far outside the gorge entrance. If his memory of the mining map was correct, that spot should spawn the most unique type of ore in the entire newbie village. Just thinking about the ore he was about to get made William Smith’s heart burn with excitement.