Chapter 46: The Crystal Mine

Fighting monsters, traveling, cooking, sleeping...

Su Liu spent another two peaceful days.

Her venom-coated dagger had reached level three, now carrying a lethal poison alongside its original nerve-numbing effect.

The final day of the novice protection period arrived as scheduled.

[Beast Taming Survival Game: Day 10]

Su Liu was traveling as usual. The little furball bouncing along beside her was cheering her on while picking up small, glowing grass and flowers by the roadside, carefully avoiding the black mist at the edges of the path.

As they walked, Su Liu's gaze was drawn to a massive, abruptly appearing pit beside the grassy path.

The mouth of the pit was not bare; instead, it was covered by a layer of flowing, strange luminous film hovering between liquid and gaseous states. Beneath the film, the entrance to a deep tunnel was faintly visible, exuding a rich earth-element aura and dotted points of energetic light.

Beside the pit stood a rugged, metallic-shining giant billboard, accompanied by an unusually bulky stone statue guard clad in heavy ore armor and wielding a massive pickaxe.

[Special Service Area: Crystal Mine]

[Welcome to the "Mother Earth's Gift" Crystal Mine! Here, wealth and danger coexist! Please read the mining rules carefully:]

[1. To enter the mine shafts for excavation, you must purchase pickaxes from the mine guard. A maximum of three can be purchased.
Pickaxes are divided into four types:
Basic Stone Pickaxe: 5 game coins. Can mine ordinary crystals.
Requirement: Strength ≥ 15
Steel Pickaxe: 20 game coins. Can mine rare crystals, with a small chance to increase mining speed.
Requirement: Strength ≥ 30, Agility ≥ 25
Star Pickaxe: 50 game coins. Can mine precious crystals, with a medium chance to trigger the "Lucky Vein" effect (mining efficiency doubles for a short time, crystal quality slightly improved).
Requirement: Strength ≥ 70, Spirit Power ≥ 25
Obsidian Pickaxe: 100 game coins. Can mine all crystals, extremely fast mining speed, comes with the "Lucky Vein" effect, lower durability.
Requirement: Strength ≥ 200, Spirit Power ≥ 50]

[2. Each pickaxe has a fixed durability. Every successful crystal excavation consumes 1 durability point. Encountering specially hard mine walls or combat parries consumes extra durability. When durability is exhausted, the pickaxe shatters.]

[3. You must use the corresponding grade of pickaxe to effectively mine crystal veins of that grade or higher. Forcibly mining high-grade veins with low-grade pickaxes will result in pickaxe destruction and yield nothing.]

[4. The excavation process requires continuously "swinging" the pickaxe, consuming a small amount of stamina and spirit power.]

[5. Mine Tax: The system will automatically deduct a portion of all excavated crystals as a "mine operation fee" and "Mother Earth's sacrifice"! Deduction percentages are as follows:
Ordinary: 30% deduction
Rare: 40% deduction
Precious: 50% deduction
Nine-colored: 60% deduction
Deducted portions instantly vanish. Players actually receive the remaining portion.]

[6. The deeper you go into the mine, the higher the probability of high-quality crystals in the veins. However, the mine walls become harder, excavation takes longer, the environment grows harsher, and health may continuously and slightly decrease. The probability and intensity of encountering anomalies increase drastically.]

[7. The mine is only open during fixed time periods. You may enter at any time while it is open, but leaving the mine shaft or having your pickaxe shatter counts as the end of an excavation session.]

[8. Player-versus-player attacks are strictly prohibited inside the mine. The mine guard possesses immense power and can instantly annihilate rule-breakers.]

[9. When attacked by anomalies, players can use their own skills and spirit beasts to fight. Winning battles has a small probability of dropping additional ore materials or crystal fragments from the anomalies. This portion is tax-free.]

[IMPORTANT NOTICE!!! Dying in the mine area means true death. Players are advised to act within their capabilities.]

Su Liu stood at the edge of the luminous film-surging pit. The strong wind carried a rich earth-element aura and a faint, lingering energetic hum.

The cold rule text on the billboard exuded a heart-palpitating sense of oppression.

That tall stone guard stood like a sculpture beside the entrance, its eyes only lighting up with two deep red glows when you intended to approach, as if judging whether you were qualified to pick up that heavy pickaxe.

During the previous game, Su Liu had never entered the crystal mine because she had no money when she encountered it...

However, she had seen relevant messages in the chat lobby; the crystal mine was divided into many different veins.

There were beast evolution stones with mixed attributes, weapon crystals for embedding, skill advancement stones, and various other crystals with special uses.

In short, the crystal mine was synonymous with high risk and high reward.

Su Liu pondered. Although the tax deduction seemed a bit harsh, she needed to dig as many crystals as possible for the little furball's upgrades.

Oh right, Time Crystals!

Su Liu thought, in such a massive crystal mine, there might just be Time Crystals present.

She just wondered how rare Time Crystals were and whether she possessed the ability to mine them.

She looked down at herself: Strength 30, exactly reaching the threshold for the Steel Pickaxe!

"A Steel Pickaxe... 20 game coins." Su Liu rubbed her chin, a sharp gleam flashing in her eyes as she made up her mind.

"Purchase three Steel Pickaxes," she said clearly to the stone guard.

The guard's heavy helmet turned slightly, its scarlet gaze resting on Su Liu for a moment, seemingly confirming whether her attributes met the standard.

A few seconds later, its stone-formed palm materialized a Steel Pickaxe shining with a cold, hard metallic luster.

[Detected that the player requires a game coin payment transaction...]
[Title [Iron Rooster] activation conditions met...]
[Transaction modification: This payment is waived!]
[Steel Pickaxe successfully issued to the player's backpack!]
[Title cooldown reset, 160 hours]

It worked! The title effect actually applied to the purchase of the pickaxes!

A wave of joy washed over Su Liu. Although her savings were short of 60 game coins, she must not forget, she was the "Iron Rooster"!

She immediately retrieved the weighty Steel Pickaxe from her backpack, feeling its solid heft and the power contained within.

The steel-crafted pick head was sharp and hard, and the handle was wrapped in wear-resistant, anti-slip material, feeling extremely secure in her grip.

"Little Tuanzi, be careful now, we're going in."

Su Liu whispered a warning to the little fox on her shoulder.

Tuanzi also seemed to sense the unusual atmosphere inside the mine, wrapping its fluffy tail tightly around Su Liu's neck while scanning its surroundings vigilantly with its small head.

Su Liu took a deep breath and stepped into the layer of flowing luminous film.

A slight sensation of passage washed over her, and the scene before her eyes changed abruptly.

The interior of the mine was even larger and deeper than imagined, and it was not entirely dark.

Unknown ores and moss emitting a faint, glowing light were embedded in the cave walls, barely illuminating the winding downward passage.

The air was heavy with the scent of dirt, minerals, and a faint trace of energy escaping from excavated ores, mixed with a vague smell of sweat and metal friction.

Following the main passage downward, Su Liu quickly spotted scattered "miners" dispersed across various locations.

These figures performed mechanical and dull movements in the dim light.