A few hours had gone by like flowing water. By now, Simon was fully immersed in a rhythm: Command iron shards, scoop up loot, consume mana crystals, and repeat.

Other than the occasional breaks for tending to his crops, harvesting resources, and eating, Simon could indefinitely mine using iron shards with the help of mana crystals.

Compared to mining with ice, using iron was several times more effective. As a result, he was mining so fast that he could even reach the bottom of the island before the stone in the hole fully regenerated!

Thus, in these past few hours, Simon had gotten a whopping 900 cubic meters of stone, which crowded his island even after he stacked them up into a pile that was meters high.

But his harvests were not only stone, as he had also obtained various metals and resources, such as xp, minerals, essence crystals, etc.

It has to be known that materials like copper, silver, and gold could not be molded into the coins that were used as currency, as the system disallowed it. Any attempt to do so would only make those materials disappear.

Simon had only learned this the hard way…

Nonetheless, with the newly mined 900 cubic meters of stone, he now had well over 1000 cubic meters of it in total... That much stone was enough to completely cover his island!

Yet another benefit that he obtained within the last few hours was that he no longer lacked as much energy, as he finally reaped the rewards for his excellent farming - produce that was both energy filled, and fulfilling to eat.

However, the past few hours were not all good news. During his mining session, he also realized that the more he mined in a specific spot in his island, the longer it would take for resources to respawn in that spot. As a result, it was not like he could infinitely produce this absurd amount of profit.

Still, upon seeing the mountain of stone that he had mined out, the edges of Simon's mouth curved into a satisfied grin.

"Hahaha! I should be called a mining genius instead of a farming genius," he muttered jestingly.

It was truly a wonder that the mountain of stones didn't drag the island down, as the mountain easily weighed as much as a good portion of the island.

As he stared at the mountain of stone, he thought seriously about what he should do with it.

Though it may have seemed like stone was easy to get, he knew that it was a somewhat dwindling resource. If he mindlessly sold all of his stone, it would only take longer to regain that amount of stone, not shorter.

Therefore, he decided to only sell enough to do what he wanted, which was to buy runes and level up his island core.

Simon entered his cabin and noted that Jake was still fast asleep. He was not surprised in the slightest, as he knew that it would take a while for his weak mana core to refine all of the corrupted essence.

In his past life, the process usually took up to a few days, after all.

He then checked his cabin's information with [Appraisal].

-----

[Island Core](Lv. 1)

Age: ???

It has mysterious properties and an infinite potential to grow.

Upgrade Conditions: .024/1 Gold Coin, 94.1/250 Cubic Meters of Wood Planks, 250/250 Cubic Meters of Stone, 25/25 Essence Crystals.

-----

Simon nodded upon seeing the information in his cabin and ran some quick calculations in his head.

As an experienced mage, his mental processing speed was nothing to scoff at - even when he didn't have enchantments applied. After all, he had to calculate at inhuman speeds all the time in the past… His processing speed was inevitably much higher than a regular humans.

'Hmm, this is not ideal, but it works' he eventually thought with a nod.

In the worst case scenario where stone sold for the minimum price, he would barely have enough money to buy everything that he needed.

Though that meant that he would not have enough stone left over for anything else, it was not the end of the world; he simply would need to mine more later when the island expanded.

And so, he headed outside and sold the mountain of stone, all at once!

Ding!

[Received 29,481 coppers]

In an instant, the towering mountain of stone turned into a glowing mountain of copper coins!

'Damn…'

Upon seeing this beautiful scene, Simon swallowed some saliva.

The sight was truly impressive to behold!

The mouth-watering mound of coppers scintillated under the sunlight, appearing like a celestial gift from the heavens. Such wealth was likely something that no other player in Island Ascension Online had seen yet.

After appreciating the sight for a moment, he eventually decided to convert it into the materials that he required.

'Convert these 29,481 coppers into 205.9 cubic meters of oak planks, two hot runes, two cold runes, two nature runes, and the rest into gold coins and silver coins!' he thought with anticipation. The system was intelligent and all-knowing, so executing a command like this was naturally no problem for it.

Ding!

[Received 205.9 cubic meters of oak planks, two hot runes, two cold runes, and two nature runes]

[Converted the remaining 13,439 coppers into 1 gold, 34 silvers, and 39 coppers]

In an instant, a mound of wood, a couple coins, and a few gemstones imbued with mysterious symbols replaced the copper mountain!

Seeing this, Simon couldn't help but to break into a wide smile.

'It's upgrade time!'

After picking up the gold coin, he walked towards his cabin and checked its information without hesitation.

-----

[Island Core](Lv. 1)

Age: ???

It has mysterious properties and an infinite potential to grow.

Upgrade Conditions: 1/1 Gold Coin, 250/250 Cubic Meters of Wood Planks, 250/250 Cubic Meters of Stone, 25/25 Essence Crystals.

-----

After which, a system notification rang in his mind.

[Would you like to upgrade the island core?]

'Upgrade it!' he thought, still smiling widely.

Simon's vision then darkened, and when it returned, he was met with an unbelievable sight.

Cabin? What cabin?! It's a massive house!

Indeed, in the center of the island now sat a fairly large two story house.

This house consisted of smooth walls of stone, thick beams of wood, and a sturdy tiled roof to top it off. Moreover, the building was now at a size of 20 by 20 meters, instead of the previous 10 by 10 meters.

Without a doubt, this was a huge improvement from the wooden cabin.

'Hey, this is not bad!' he thought as he walked in.

Upon entering the house, Simon noticed that the interior was noticeably more lavish than before, with furniture that actually looked usable. On top of that, there were even several rooms in this house.

Naturally, the first room that he found himself in was the living room.

In this room, he could see a table, a few shelves, two chairs and a lit fireplace off to the side. Overall, the warmth of the fireplace and the rustic design of the room gave the building a cozy and welcoming feel.

Turning to the side, he could see part of an empty room, with what was probably meant to be a kitchen. However, it was hard to tell, since there were no tools of any kind in the room.

But it didn't matter; whatever the case, he could repurpose it at any time.

'At least this system isn't fraudulent!' he thought, satisfied with the upgrades that his island core underwent. The system truly made good use of his materials.

Not to mention, there were still more rooms to explore.

After he finished checking out the first floor, he was then faced with a choice.

There was a trapdoor that presumably led to a basement, and a stairway that led to the second floor.

After a moment of hesitation, he then climbed up the stairwell that was on the side opposite to the kitchen.

...

Upon reaching the second floor, Simon could see that there were two rooms as well: A bathroom, and a bedroom.

He first entered the bathroom to check it out.

The bathroom was pretty neat, but of course, there was no running water, nor was there a toilet. The room contained only a bathtub made of stone, a bucket of water, and a sink.

Nonetheless, it was still a significant upgrade from having no bathroom in the first place.

He then went to check out the bedroom.

The bedroom was rather simple, with only a single cabinet, a small bedside table, and a modestly sized bed. However, it was currently occupied by Jake, who was busy snoring away.

'This room is not bad at all!' Simon thought with a nod. This room seemed pretty comfortable.

But suddenly, his face darkened, as he came to a realization.

Wasn't Jake stinking up his brand new bed?

'...'

'F*ck! He's stinking up my bed, damn it! Who knows when he last washed!' Simon thought with a scowl.

But then, as if realizing something, he turned to look at himself.

His rags were barely covering his 'special' parts, and his whole body was covered with grime.

'I shouldn't be talking, huh...' he thought, with a hint of embarrassment.

He hadn't considered hygiene earlier, as he had been truly immersed in progression. But now that he had to interact with people and keep his place tidy, he naturally could not continue looking like a caveman.

And so, he immediately took off to the bathroom, and got to cleaning himself off.

...

A few minutes later, Simon exited the bathroom with sparkling skin and fluffy hair, as a pleasant smell wafted through the hallway.

Over the past few minutes, he had utilized a combination of magic and hard scrubbing to clean himself.

Indeed, the effects were marvelous, and he looked as clean as a baby, But unfortunately, he was stark naked, due to him not wanting to put on the filthy rags.

And so, Simon raced towards the stairs with light steps to quickly solve his predicament.

But suddenly, the bedroom door opened in front of him.