The magic crystal vein was truly rock-hard. 

Qiyu’s current attack points were already several times what they had been when he first entered the survival game.

But chipping away at the mountain wall containing the magic crystal vein was far more difficult than chopping down trees with a wooden axe back then.

But then Qiyu had a thought: Chopping down a tree yields 10 units of wood, but if he chisels this open, there are magic crystals inside.

It’s perfectly understandable that good things come with a bit more effort. Once he’d come to terms with this, he buried his head and continued working hard.

Not far away, the martial artist brother and sister had been quietly watching him the whole time.

The two had originally assumed that the frail mage wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long and would have to sit down to rest.

“I bet it won’t take more than half an hour.” 

“That’s too long—maybe twenty minutes.” 

“…Keep your voice down!”

The older brother obediently lowered his voice and muttered under his breath, “I wonder what kind of scoundrel tricked him into coming in here. Those five thousand gold coins are just going down the drain.”

Her sister nodded solemnly: “Five thousand gold coins—it’ll take a long time to save up that much.”

Half an hour passed.

Qiyu’s breathing grew slightly heavier as he stared intently at the stone wall before him—it was now covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

He was almost there!

His movements grew even more vigorous. 

The martial artist siblings: ???

“Wait, this doesn’t make sense,” the male martial artist said, somewhat shocked. “How come he doesn’t look tired at all—he’s even getting faster?” 

His tone turned serious. “Mia, do you think there’s a possibility… that he’s actually a martial artist pretending to be a mage?”

The female martial artist, Mia, snorted derisively: “So you’re saying he’s a martial artist who casts spells with a staff and even has a certification badge from the Mages Association. Gareth, your wisdom really never ceases to amaze me.” 

Gareth: “……” A few more minutes passed.

As a crisp cracking sound rang out, Qiyu’s eyes widened with anticipation—dark gray fragments rained down, and a flickering glow poured out from within.

It’s sparkling! It’s beautiful! A magic crystal!

Qiyu hurriedly picked up the pace, hammering away to widen the crack in the wall.

Thud!

Large chunks of rock fell.

A small pile of magic crystals cascaded down, spilling into Qiyu’s arms.

“How could he be that fast!” The two martial artists realized they’d been outmaneuvered. 

That doesn’t seem right, does it?

The male martial artist couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, so he couldn’t help but walk over.

Qiyu had just finished counting—there were a total of 39 magic crystals in that batch, all Level 1. He had barely stowed them in his backpack when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Instantly grabbing the staff that had been hovering beside him, Qiyu turned to face the approaching figure.

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Gareth hurriedly explained. “I mean no harm! Killing each other is prohibited in the Green Resource Zone—no one dares to break that rule.”

Qiyu said nothing and didn’t lower his wand.

“Really, I’m just curious—why are you mining magic crystals like this?” Gareth said. “You don’t even know how to attack a magic crystal vein without using magic; you’ve clearly never mined before. Mia—that’s my sister—and I have been studying this for many years. We’re martial artists too, and our efficiency is no slower than yours.”

“Can I take a look at the tunnel you’ve dug?”

Qiyu thought for a moment, then offered a condition: “In return, you’ll have to answer a few questions for me later.”

As for the other party wanting to look—he’d already taken the magic crystals inside anyway, so he could look all he wanted. Gareth immediately replied, “No problem!”

He’d be more than happy if the mage was willing to talk to him on his own initiative! 

Gareth approached the stone wall Qiyu had just carved into, and after just one glance, he cried out in shock, “How is this possible?” He called his sister over, and soon, Qiyu heard a second cry of surprise.

Qiyu asked in confusion, “Is there a problem?”

Gareth’s expression was mixed: “You should take a look at the rock wall we both chiseled.”

Upon hearing this, Qiyu followed the two of them over. As soon as he looked, he fell silent as well.

Both had chiseled out massive holes—almost large enough for a person to crawl through—but as far as the eye could see, the rock remained a dark gray.

Qiyu could sense fluctuations of magical energy within. If his senses were correct, there were indeed magical crystals hidden inside.

But… they were hidden awfully deep, weren’t they?

“That’s not normal. I’ve never seen a crystal hidden that shallow,” Gareth exclaimed in shock. “At that surface level, it might as well be giving it away for free!” 

What concerned Qiyu even more was: “How did you manage to act so fast?”

The spot where the two of them had struck was much wider than his own and several times deeper.

“It’s just a matter of practice,” Gareth said, waving his hand. “Mia and I do this all the time, so naturally we’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeves than you.”

Mia chimed in, “Besides, we’re martial artists—we’re naturally stronger.” Qiyu wasn’t entirely convinced; he thought he was pretty strong himself. 

In the end, the siblings simply labeled Qiyu as a “lucky mage.” 

With only 24 hours total, the two of them finished watching and hurried back to continue mining on their own.

After all, as they put it, “We spent 10,000 gold coins to get in here; we’ve at least got to finish the game and make some profit.”

Qiyu was thinking the same thing.

Guided by the fluctuations of magical elements and his intuition, he quickly picked out another spot.

Thud! 

His movements came to a halt.

He gauged its weight—the hammer felt light and flimsy, and he couldn’t seem to muster any real force with it.

Based on his earlier observations, although the mountain wall was hard, it wasn’t indestructible—it shouldn’t be any harder than an alchemy puppet. 1. If the Heart of the Great Tree Staff could forge an alchemy puppet, then why not use it on this?

“Mia, what is that strange mage doing?”

The two turned their heads and saw that Qiyu had stopped moving and put away his Shattering Hammer.

Was he finally taking a break?

In fact, the two were already quite surprised that Qiyu had held out this long.

However, the next moment, they saw that strange country mage grab his staff and raise it high above his head. Hadn’t they already told him that magical attacks were ineffective?

Before the two had time to wonder, they saw that the wand didn’t emit any magical light—it simply slammed heavily against the mountain wall. 

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, debris flew everywhere.

The two strikingly similar faces stood frozen in shock. 

Qiyu immediately checked his staff.

Hmm, very good. The staff is still smooth, and even the vine decoration at the top hasn’t changed a bit. 

Once he was sure the staff was fine, he felt completely at ease.

Looking back at the spot where the staff had just struck, he saw a large pile of debris—enough to rival the damage caused by multiple blows from a sledgehammer. 

Qiyu immediately cheered up: his efficiency had greatly improved, and now he had a chance to dig up more magic crystals. Ignoring the stunned and bewildered stares from the two people nearby, he swung the staff with renewed vigor, striking again and again. 

In a certain red resource zone ten thousand li away. 

A man clad in dark armor was hiding in a large tree.

“My fate is determined by me, not by the heavens,” he thought heavily, his expression a mix of terror and madness. Ever since the resource zone opened, his mind had never found peace. 

In his previous life, he had never obtained a resource zone card, nor had he ever left the Shelter. Therefore, he had absolutely no idea that outside the Star Forest, there was actually such a vast world. 

Besides the Earth players, there were so many “natives”?

Moreover, those people all possessed powers and professions that seemed incredibly formidable.

How could this be!

If it’s called a survival game, shouldn’t it be all about playing to the fullest? 

And that colossal beast that blocked out the sky… How could such a thing even exist in this world? 

He had originally thought that even if he fell from the top spot on the combat power rankings, he would still be just a hair behind “I Love Survival Game.” 

He remained arrogant, still a top-tier player far ahead of the rest, still idolized by the remaining players in the Temple of Gods. No matter what, he was still one of the select few standing at the very pinnacle of the Survival Game world.

Everything he witnessed today shattered his illusions: he realized, so what if he was among the top players? Even as the number one player, what could he possibly do against those hordes of well-trained martial artists? 

And then there was that colossal beast, so massive it seemed capable of swallowing the sun whole—a single breath from it could take his life. He felt as though all his pride, his understanding of the world, and everything he possessed had been completely overturned.

In short, he had lost his composure.

After lying on the tree and zoning out for who knows how long, his thoughts drifted back to “I Love Survival Game.”

He thought maliciously: Right now, “I Love Survival Game” probably isn’t feeling much better than I am. 

So what if he was number one on the leaderboard? So what about the server-wide announcement?

Once you leave the Forest of Stars, you’re still just an ordinary ant in the outside world. 

Haha, even after fighting tooth and nail to surpass myself, this is all it amounts to! 

By speculating on “I Love Survival Game’s” emotional breakdown, his mood gradually improved a little.

He thought maliciously that among all those martial artists out there, there might well be some ruthless murderers out to kill and steal treasure. He hoped that in “I Love Survival Game,” he’d draw a black card—it would be best to die in the resource zone.

Qiyu felt a slight itch in his nose.

He reached up to rub it, and the Heart of the Great Tree Staff twitched slightly, casting a layer of Bless magic on him.

Previously, he had always cast the Growth Blessing spell on the others. Just now, on a whim, he cast a Strength Blessing on himself. Sure enough, swinging the staff felt much more natural.

The siblings watched with a mix of shock and envy.

This country-bumpkin mage is truly bizarre!

Not only did he possess brute strength rivaling that of a martial artist, but—just from what the siblings had witnessed firsthand—he’d already cast water magic and wind magic—and now, he’s even displayed the extremely rare blessing magic.

What kind of countryside did he come from? Surely not the kind where there’s a temple dedicated to the Goddess of Nature? 

The two of them ranted wildly in their minds.

None of the three stopped what they were doing.

Following his first haul, Qiyu dug up two more piles of magic crystals. The second pile was quite large, containing a full 80 Level 1 magic crystals.

The third batch of magic crystals that fell wasn’t very large, and Qiyu was initially a bit disappointed, but as soon as he got his hands on them, he discovered—they were actually Level 2 crystals.

This time, he harvested 23 Level 2 magic crystals. 

After collecting these magic crystals, he finally felt a bit tired and prepared to sit down and rest for a while.

Gareth and his sister, who had been watching him the whole time, breathed a huge sigh of relief at the sight. They were already exhausted! 

Is it that this mage has been attacking nonstop? Could it be that, as martial artists, their stamina actually can’t match that of a single mage? If word of this gets out, they’ll be ridiculed for the rest of their lives.

To defend the dignity of martial artists, the two gritted their teeth and kept going. 

When Qiyu finally stopped to rest, the two immediately stopped as well.

The three of them had now developed a bit of a bond from mining together, so they simply sat down nearby to rest together.

Qiyu drank some water and sat quietly in meditation to restore his energy.

He watched as the other two sat down; one of them took out a small bottle, poured its contents into his mouth, and swallowed it, his complexion visibly becoming rosier.

Curious, he asked, “What’s that?”

“A qi and blood potion,” Mia replied. Realizing this mage was from the countryside and might not be familiar with it, she explained, “For us martial artists, it’s similar to the mana potions you mages use.”

“Are these sold anywhere?”

Gareth paused for a moment, then laughed, “It’s a very basic potion; any professional shop out there should carry it.”

Qiyu silently took note.

He observed the two of them.

Gareth was a tall man with brown curly hair and gray eyes; Mia looked a lot like him, with the same brown hair and gray eyes. They were dressed similarly, both wearing light armor.

He was staring intently, and it was hard to ignore his gaze. Gareth couldn’t help but ask, “What are you looking at?” 

Qiyu replied out of the blue, “I have a martial artist friend, too.” 

Gareth: “……?”

“I’ve never met him,” Qiyu said. “I’m just imagining what he might look like.”