Walking stealthily along the dark red path, William Smith did his best to hold his breath. He knew that although it was impossible to see what was happening inside the Dark Blood Canyon from the outside, William Smith was well aware that right at the canyon’s entrance, there was always a monster patrol team made up of three wandering phantoms of level 7–8, constantly on the move. Countless players had once carelessly wandered into the canyon, and after just a few steps, were discovered by this monster team, instantly turned into a flash of white light, and sent back to the respawn point behind the newbie village, lamenting the hard-earned experience and levels they had just lost.

In “Skyrealm,” the alert range for monsters of the same level as players is about 10 yards. Of course, bosses or certain special monsters are exceptions. For every level the player is below the monster, the alert range increases by 5 yards. William Smith was seven levels lower than the monsters in Dark Blood Canyon, so the alert range reached a terrifying 45 yards for him. So, to preserve his own little life, William Smith was extremely careful to control his distance from the canyon entrance. Even though his current experience was just 10% of level 1, every little bit counts!

In his memories from his previous life, William Smith was intimately familiar with every aspect of “Skyrealm,” but only after experiencing it himself did he realize it was a completely different matter. Squeezing the small wooden shield in his hand, which had a defense of barely 20, he cautiously walked to the end of the Dark Blood Path. Not far from the entrance to the Dark Blood Canyon, William Smith looked around and, as expected, found a narrow path winding up the mountain behind a rock. The path was so narrow that only one person could walk at a time.

“Nice! This is it.” William Smith’s heart trembled slightly as he carefully avoided the canyon entrance, crouching as he made his way toward the path.

The higher the mountain path climbed, the rougher and more difficult it became. The mountain wind blew straight into his face, its biting chill making William Smith feel suffocated. He pressed his body even closer to the inner side of the path, as there was nothing to hold onto on the outer edge. He definitely didn’t want to slip and fall, ending up smashed to pieces.

When the first warm rays of the morning sun shone from the east, William Smith finally arrived at a flat rock atop the mountain. The surface of the rock was smooth as a mirror, as if it had been split open by a single, powerful strike. Only in the center, a small cluster of pale yellow, metallic-looking stones jutted out, looking especially peculiar and out of place. The stones were about half the size of William Smith’s body and were clearly different from the surrounding earth-yellow rocks, so William Smith noticed them as soon as he stepped up.

“Didn’t expect it! I actually found it.” Tears welled up in William Smith’s eyes as he stepped forward, trembling as he stroked the yellow stones, his expression as if he were caressing the most perfect body in the world, utterly intoxicated.

“Rich copper ore! It really is rich copper ore! Tsk tsk, this color, this quality.” A strange light flashed in his eyes as William Smith exclaimed, unable to stop himself from fondling the ore.

“Skyrealm” had only just launched half a month ago. There were many life-skill players, and competition for resources was already fierce, but things hadn’t yet escalated to the point of open conflict. Once a large number of players passed the level 10 class advancement trials and the guild system opened, competition for resources—especially minerals and herbs—would become increasingly intense. Wars between guilds over a single mining spot or herb patch would become commonplace.

In terms of mineral distribution, each map had regular mining nodes and a few special rare veins, commonly known as rich veins. These rich veins could be mined ten times more than regular nodes, and even more enticing, there was a chance to obtain associated minerals while mining them. These associated minerals were rare materials desperately needed by all life-skill professions, and demand for them always outstripped supply, no matter the time or profession.

Therefore, in the near future, these rare mineral veins would become just like the wild boss monsters—prime targets for all the major guilds.

But right now, a small cluster of rich copper ore was right in front of him. At this moment, William Smith felt as if he were curled up in a heated room on a freezing winter day, eating steaming hot mutton hotpot, with a beautiful girl feeding him wine with her cherry lips. It was as if every pore in his body was opening up, an indescribable feeling of pleasure and satisfaction.

“Money doesn’t stick around! Money doesn’t stick around, I’m digging….” Striking a triumphant pose, William Smith took a miner’s pick from his backpack and began digging into the rich copper ore.

“Nine pieces! Ten pieces! Eleven pieces! Twelve pieces! This is amazing, so awesome!” William Smith marveled at the output of the rich copper ore as he excitedly tossed each piece into his backpack. When he swung his pick for the last time, a bright green light flashed before his eyes, making William Smith’s eyebrows twitch.

“Huh! This is… an associated mineral?” A multi-faceted, jagged green ore was in William Smith’s hand. He knew this was the associated mineral that so many people coveted.

William Smith hadn’t expected his luck to be this good, getting an associated mineral from his very first rich copper vein. But on second thought, this was probably the first rich vein to be mined in the newbie village, so according to the game’s settings, a big drop was only natural.