Chapter 25: Rushing to the Mine
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In real life, after dinner, Li Yao sat on the rattan chair in front of the window in a daze, staring at the city outside the window as if it were daylight. Li Yao was a bit lost and distracted.
Today in the game, Li Yao led five groups of people, three in a group, and all successfully got the gold medals.
Five thousand credit points per person, fifteen people, that is a huge amount of seventy-five thousand.
Yes, for the rich, like Li Haitao, hundreds of thousands don’t even count as petty cash, he casually bet a hundred thousand credit points.
But for ordinary people like Li Yao, seventy thousand is already a huge amount.
And this is just the first day. He just returned his sister’s pocket money.
More importantly, he transferred all the remaining seventy thousand credit points to his parents’ account.
This is the first time he sent money to his parents. When he was in school, his parents had raised him for many years.
After graduation, he fell out with his parents and came to a city like Pearl. However, he has been plagued by difficulties, struggling for a living, and running around for rent.
In his previous life, he moved away from here and lived in a slum where even his own livelihood was a problem. Let alone taking care of his parents. When the situation got a little better, Li Yao managed to stabilize.
As a result of a live broadcast exposing the shady dealings of Prosperous Era’s black gold and black equipment, he was hit even harder. His precarious situation even affected his parents and sister, causing a huge blow to the entire family.
Having just transferred seventy thousand, Li Yao was feeling a complicated mix of emotions.
The pleasant ring sound rang, Li Yao lifted his wrist to see the word “Mother” on the communicator, a touch of warmth flashed in his eyes.
“Xiao Yao, why did you transfer so much money? Did you make a mistake?” Li’s mother is a kind-faced middle-aged woman. Time has left traces on her face, but it can’t hide the charm of her youth. Seeing Li Jia now, one can imagine that she was once a stunning beauty.
Li Yao composed himself and said, “No mistake, I transferred it.”
“You, child, the family lacks nothing. I will transfer this money back to you, don’t wrong yourself.” Li’s mother said with concern, for she knew her son well and believed that Li Yao sent the money to show off, borrowing it from someone else. From what Li Jia had told her, she knew that his situation was really bad.
“No, mom, this is really money I’ve earned.” Li Yao hurriedly explained, “You
must know that I earned it in ‘The Ancient God World’, both you and dad have worked hard for so many years to raise us siblings, this little amount of money is nothing.”
Upon hearing ‘The Ancient God World’ Li’s mother also felt relieved. With all the current hype and publicity, it would be hard not to know about it.
“Even if you’ve earned money, it’s better for you to keep it, we lack nothing, you don’t need to worry, now the most important thing for you is to save money to get married, your father and I also have some savings, with your efforts, it’s impossible to buy a house in Pearl, but it’s enough for a down payment in our city. You and Xiao Yi have been together for so many years, you should give her an explanation.” Li’s mother talked at length, filled with happiness.
In his previous life, he found his mother’s chatter most annoying, but now it sounded so intimate. What Li’s mother was referring to was Qin Feng Yi, Li Yao didn’t dare to tell his parents about the issues with Qin Feng Yi, his parents still thought that they were together. Li Jia knew about it, but she didn’t dare to tell them either.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry about this. I’m doing really well right now, let me tell you, I can at least earn this amount every day. And I will earn even more in the future.’
“Don’t skimp on yourselves, improve your living conditions as well. I didn’t have the ability before, but now I do. If you still have to worry about me, then what’s the point? So, feel free to spend, didn’t you have your eye on a jade bracelet for a long time but felt hesitant to buy it? I will order it for you tomorrow, and have it delivered to the house.”
Li’s mother looked at Li Yao, her eyes slightly red, and then the screen disappeared. After a while, Li Yao’s mother called him again. Li Yao saw his mother’s red-rimmed eyes. Although she had tried to hide it, Li Yao knew that his mother must have cried.
Li Yao hurriedly tried to cheer his mother up and promised that he would definitely come home before the New Year, which made Li’s mother even happier.
“I assure you, I will definitely represent our China in the Olympics in the future and win the gold medal to make you proud.” Li Yao spoke with full confidence. If he couldn’t represent China in the Olympic Games after being reborn, it would be a real failure.
“You’re just trying to cheer me up, aren’t you? I’ve heard that several hundred million people play this game. It won’t be easy to represent China. My father and I don’t expect much from you. All we are asking is that you marry and have children, and can live peacefully. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Let me tell you, it isn’t money alone that can win a girl’s heart. Take me as an example; when I was young, I had a streetful of suitors but I still ended up with your father. You should learn from him…”
After listening to her mother reminisce about her youth for a while longer, the call ended. An hour had already passed.
After hanging up, Li Yao looked out at the neon lights with a completely different mood than before.
“You guys are my motivation. I will work hard to earn money to let you live a good life.” Li Yao expressed boldly.
Outside it was dark night, but in the game, it was brightly lit.
Li Yao checked his backpack, put irrelevant things into the warehouse, topped up his supplies, and then stepped out of the Beginner’s Village.
With Li Yao’s video becoming popular, the Black Cloak became a favorite among players, with many purchasing or having it made from tailors. As a result, there were players everywhere wearing cloaks.
When Li Yao walked out of the Beginner’s Village, he blended with the crowd as if a drop of water merging with a river. There were people everywhere.
The Skilled Tailor had enough proficiency to make a few bags and mail them to Li Yao. Li Yao attached the bags to the empty hooks on his waistband, feeling satisfied.
Although it was nowhere near his past life, at least the backpack space was sufficient for now.
The Mogul Mountain Range was as silent as ever, no players, only monsters.
There were no players who could indulge in hunting the monsters while sipping Antidote Potion worth a few silver coins per bottle – they would be bleeding money.
Li Yao was no longer interested in Poison Arrow Frogs. The money he could get for the materials was too little for him, and being level five, he had zero interest in any level four monsters, even elites.
Upon encountering ordinary Poison Arrow Frogs, Li Yao directly killed them, not even bothering to collect the materials.
Soon, he arrived at his future mine.
The Mogul Mine, was the official name for this long-abandoned mine.
Unlike the Death Mine of the Light Faction, which was occupied by failed wage miners, the Mogul Mine was occupied by the Corruptionists.
Known also as the Mindless Ones, they may appear as bloodthirsty monsters now, but before the catastrophe, they were also noble High Elves.
In ancient times, the High Elves were known as Upper Elves, the rulers and aristocrats of the Elves, living near the Eternal Well and hence could use the Arcane.
When the Eternal Well exploded and the continent shattered, the ordinary elves ascended, considering the Arcane the source of their misfortunes.
They forbade the Upper Elves from using magic, but the Arcane energy permeated the Upper Elves’ bodies. The elves split, and the Upper Elves crossed the ocean to the East Continent.
They established a new source of magic, the Sunwell, and renamed themselves High Elves.
Many years ago, before he became the Lich King, a human prince led an undead army that swept across the East Continent.
To resurrect a Lich, this prince, carrying the Demon Artifact and colluding with the traitor Dalkhan of the High Elves, caused the collapse of the Elf King’s kingdom.
The Sunwell, on which the High Elves depended for survival, was contaminated. Only then did the High Elves realize that a terrible plague lay hidden within them.
Magic addiction, without the arcane supply from the Sunwell, led to an outbreak of magic thirst. These elves absorbed all arcane energy, overwhelmed by negative emotions, resembling walking corpses.
This was an unprecedented disaster. The kingdom rallied under the leadership of the prince, and they were forced to kill most of the Mindless Ones to prevent them from destroying the race already on the brink of extinction.
But a small number of Mindless Ones still lurked in the corners of the kingdom, the Mogul Mine was one such unremarkable place.
Mindless Miner Rank: Level 5 Elite
Skills: Arcane Absorption, Mad Pursuit.
Li Yao held in his hand a heavy crossbow loaded with a steel arrow, slightly aimed, and pulled the trigger.
With a thunk, the powerful steel arrow pierced the body of the Mindless One, forcing it to stagger backward.
The snap of three arrow towers followed. In an instant, arrow shafts punctured the body of the Mindless One.
Li Yao quickly switched to his homemade bow, firing a flash of blue light.
The Mindless One’s movement was slowed, its reaction incredibly sluggish.
At this point, it saw Li Yao. Holding a rusty mine, it let out an unintelligible shriek and rushed towards Li Yao like a mad man.
Li Yao detonated the Exploding Sheep he had prepared in advance, colliding it with the charging Mindless One.
Seeing this damage number, even Li Yao himself involuntarily raised his eyebrows. Wearing the purple necklace now increased his combat power by more than a third.
Li Yao believed that with his current attributes, just an Exploding Sheep could instantly kill an average player.
The health of the Mindless One dropped dramatically,
Just in the twinkling of an eye, the health of the elite Mindless One had been reduced by more than half.
The Mindless One was knocked down, but neither the arrows from the towers nor Li Yao were idle. The phrase “an arrow a second” was not a joke.
A level three Charged Arrow was launched.
Li Yao gasped, the damage was almost as much as the Exploding Sheep’s explosion.
The unfortunate elite Mindless One, just as it had struggled to its feet from being knocked down, was once again reluctantly knocked to the ground.
“Truly deserving of the title-god of alternate accounts, this is really awesome. I was originally going to try out the new Poisonous Snake Trap, but it looks like there’s no need.”
Li Yao was in a good mood, advanced, and searched the body.
“System: You’ve picked up 80 copper coins.” “System: You’ve picked up 3 Linen cloths.”
“System: You’ve picked up Mindless One Wrists.”
“As expected from a level 5 elite, the first one dropped a Green Equip.” Li Yao didn’t hesitate and put the Green Equip on, his attributes increased a little bit more.
The reward for killing humanoid elites is generous. If nothing else, even the money dropped was enough to make most players green with envy. Killing a few elites could equate to their daily earnings.
While these players were despairing in the face of the elites, Li Yao was able to kill them without even moving.
Li Yao continued to dive deeper into the winding mine, slaying everything in his path. Ordinary monsters didn’t stand a chance to stop Li Yao. Even though not all elites dropped Green Equips, Li Yao was still excited.
Li Yao looked at the bend in the distance. According to him, past the bend and a hundred meters further should be an entrance to the second layer.
As Li Yao got closer, he suddenly heard the players’ shouts and the sound of spell explosions.
“The lure of killing a boss must be considerable, they’ve actually found another entrance over the mountain and even found the boss. Must be from a major guild.”
Li Yao was curious, peering quietly down the level. He wasn’t worried about someone killing the boss and taking the contract.
Li Yao knew very well that this boss was much harder to kill than the Troll Shaman. This boss had troubled generations of rookie players.
It wasn’t until five years after the game was launched that someone discovered how to kill it.
“It’s actually The Free Studio.” Li Yao recognized their guild emblem immediately.
The Free Studio was a large-scale studio ranked fourth among the top ten studios….