Jinyang had chosen Hillsdale because it had a small loophole that he had read in an obscure post about the town. Normally newbies were not allowed to leave the walls of the town or the city they were spawned in for 4 in game weeks and the same applied to him.

However, Hillsdale did not have walls. What it did have was a mountain range and the system treated the mountains as the equivalent of the city walls. Because of that, he would not be considered to have left the city if he did some mining in the mountains, just as a newbie could stand next to or on the city walls. This allowed him to start mining while other players would have had to wait out the 4 weeks then find a nearby mine outside the city.

Working on the assumption that the nearest caves would be mined out by previous players, he headed deeper into the mountain range. Travel was bumpy but easy with the cart and mule and it was less strenuous than walking. Of course it would be even better if the cart was cushioned rather than bare hard wood. And beyond that, having a cushioned back rest would be great, preferably if it could be adjusted to a lying position like a car seat. A soft bed would be even better so he could lie down while the cart was moving.

Time passed pretty quickly as Jinyang daydreamed about how the cart could be better and more comfortable when the cart suddenly stopped. They had reached the northernmost portion of the mountain range and there was nothing but sheer mountain cliffs. Looking around, there didn't seem to be any obvious caves. It was probably possible to mine the mountains directly but a cave would be much cooler than doing it out in the hot sun, not to mention being sheltered from rain so he was not about to give up on finding a cave that quickly.

Moving west along the foot of the mountain range, he stumbled upon an almost invisible cave. He would have completely missed it if the mule had not stopped to gnaw at some of the web of plants hanging in front of the cave entrance. The vines and leaves were so dense that it was almost impossible for someone to discover that the area behind it was hollow. The heavy mat of plants covering the entrance would be useful to prevent anyone else from finding the cave so he left it there, only cutting off some portions to lighten the mass to allow him to lift it up and let the cart to enter the cave, as well as to allow some light to filter in. Those cut off portions, he gathered into a heap for the mule to eat since it was free and it was there.

Next was exploration of the cave to check for any dangers. Normally monsters avoided the system specified boundaries and newbies were safe within it but the protection was far from absolute. Player initiated wars, monster invasions and even the lone monster wandering in from the wilds were all dangers that was still possible to encounter.

Monsters targeting player adventurers (or aggroed on them as it was called) would also ignore the boundaries while they were still in attack mode so shooting monsters from within the boundaries or treating the bounded area as some sort of absolute safe zone was a very bad idea. The Royalroad forums abounded with stories of this or that newbie group who had thought they had come up with a fool proof idea of attacking monsters while just inside the boundaries. That had led to incidents where innocent bystanders were munched on, along with the foolish newbies, by angry monsters that had scaled the walls.

In the most horrific (and funniest to Jinyang’s mind) incident, a group of newbies somehow managed to enrage a dragon and survive long enough to drag it to the walls. Standing on the walls, they were apparently very proud of themselves as they thought themselves safe from attack while they could plonk arrows at the monster. That was probably the last thing they thought as they were incinerated along with a dozen city guard NPCs. The resulting rampage by the dragon wrecked nearly a fifth of the city before the strongest of the local guilds rallied their best warriors, mages and priests and defeated the beast though nine in ten of the guild members laid dead after the fight ended. The newbie characters’ names were placed into a “kill on sight” list by all the local guilds. None of those named were ever seen again with a high probability that the characters were erased and replaced with new ones.

The “cave” turned out to actually be a network of caves, with tunnels linking each cave proper. Since he had no torch or lantern, he could not see very far with only the light streaming in from the entrance. Still there were no sounds from any of the tunnels so it seemed that he was alone (and safe).

“Time to start work”

Holding out the mining pick, he commanded

“Mine”

As nothing happened, he tried other commands

“Use”

“Use item”

“Activate”

“Activate item”

“…”

“Help menu?”

Please state the nature of your inquiry.

“How do I mine for ore?”

To mine for ore, you must first procure a mining pick, shovel or other instrument that can be used for mining. You must then find an area where ore exists and use the tool on the selected area.

“How do I use the pick? What’s the command?”

To use the mining tool, swing the tool towards the chosen area. Every twenty strikes or 3 minutes (whichever is less) will net you a chance of gaining ore or other material. If no ore is gained for that chance, the system will inform you. This can be due to insufficient skill or the lack of ore in the selected area. You cannot move more than 1 meter from the spot you first struck the area or the chance is forfeited.

“…”

It seemed that unlike the Identification skill, you had to actually do physical (and hard) work. That was not expected. It was a direct result of skipping all the initial chapters in the game guides.

“Such a basic mistake… This is horrible. If this was a meme, i would be double facepalming. Maybe I could train fishing instead. It should be much less strenuous then mining. Damn it, I don’t have a fishing rod.”

Sighing, Jinyang hefted the pick and hit the wall of the cave once. Then he sat down. After 3 minutes, a message popped up

You have successfully mined a small amount of iron ore. It has been placed into your pack.

He did not even bother to stand up and swung the pick again before waiting for the next system message. The process was repeated over 6 hours with periodic munching of rye bread and sips from his canteen in his pockets to stave off death from hunger and thirst. During the third hour, another message popped up

Skill: You learned the skill – Mining.

Stat: The Stamina stat has been created

He continued until the sun began to sink back down into the horizon. By that time, thanks to the effects of the superior mining pick, he had accumulated 20 piles of iron ore, each sufficient to create a single ingot as well as 12 piles of copper ore and 8 piles of zinc.

“Thin takings and there was no stat increases given out. This is terrible.”

He had expected to get some free points in Strength and maybe Vitality but there was none. He guessed that he needed to actually move his body more to qualify for stat increases. It was a real downer moment.

Dumping the ore into the wagons, he headed back to the village. Heading for Jessup’s smithy, as he approached, he saw a merry Jessup singing to himself while sharpening a butcher’s knife. It looked and sounded like a scene from a horror movie if you had not known he was a smith.

“Hi Jessup, want to buy some ore?”

Pouring the ore out from the wagon, he began talking about how it was mined from the deep mountains as if it made the ore purer or special.

“It’s just normal ore, but tell you what, I’ll buy all of it for 2 silver.”

“…”

It was a lousy price, almost a 70% discount from the market price for raw unsmelted ore but given the lack of merchants in the area, it was probably going to be the best he could get. That was another point that he had failed to account for. The NPCs apparently did not follow a global price set by the system and local economics as well as the NPC's personality played a part in the pricing of any item. Jessup probably regretted giving him the mule and cart since he acted in the spur of the moment and was now clawing back the costs.

“Deal if you throw in a lantern, fuel and a tinderbox.”

“Those are expensive items but alright, I throw those in as a parting gift for your previous help.”

It was apparent that Jessup wasn’t some three-year-old that could be manipulated. Jinyang had expected the NPCs to be scripted idiots who could be easily tricked or taken advantage of but Jessup’s words hinted that it was the end of his gratitude and he could not expect to squeeze free stuff from him anymore.

After that, he purchased rye bread and a barrel of water using the 2 silvers he had received and headed back to the cave.

His plan was falling apart because he had underestimated the complexity of Royalroad and that made him angry. Lighting the lantern, Jinyang used the pick with great relish, slamming it into the wall of the cave while muttering to himself.

“The old creep. To think I helped him so much and now he’s sucking blood like some vampire. And those fools at Unicorn. What possessed them to think people would actually like to use a pick to mine things? Why couldn’t they just do some sort of command like how other online RPGs do.”

Jinyang froze in mid strike upon hearing the sentence. The sudden words were scary given that it was late at night in the wilderness and he had expected to be alone. The mule was unconcerned though and continued lying down on the ground sleeping.

Carefully, he lifted the lantern from its resting place and with one hand on the pick (not that it would do any good with his pitiful attack rating), he moved deeper into the left tunnel where the voice had seemingly emitted from.

The light of the lantern illuminated the next cave and on the floor was a skeleton wearing a suit of black and deep crimison armour with spikes jutting from various places and that had a large hole in the chest area. A broken and rusted mining pick was next to it.

“Are you the one who spoke? You’re an undead?”

“Hmm, the mule did not seem to hear you which means you did not physically speak, you need me to come closer which means you cannot move. So you’re the armour then?”

“Oh please, is that how you tricked the dead fella here? There’s a mining pick but no other weapon. You’re coloured the same as blood and darkness and you come with spikes too. You’re as much a goddess created holy armour as I’m a flying pig.”

“Firstly I’m no force of good and you would have known if you were really some sort of holy armour. Second, you have a big hole. Third, the pick's broken meaning that the durability was completely used up. My guess is that you take over the body of those that wear you, to gather metal to repair yourself.”

“Yeah, well it’s better to be a worthless commoner than a hunk of junk lying on the ground. Bye Mr. 'force for good'!”

As Jinyang returned to the first cave to continue this lackadaisical mining, the voice continued from promising great rewards to intimidation to finally pleading.

“Oh shut up will you? I’m already irritated I have to use this dumb pick. If only the mule could use the pick… Wait…”

Walking back to the second cave, he squatted down next to the armour.

“What metal do you need to repair yourself?”

“You will help me? Freya will bless you.”

“Stop with that nonsense. I didn't believe you just now and I’m sure as hell not going to suddenly change my mind. But we may be able to come to an accommodation.”

“First I need to know what you need to repair yourself. Secondly, can you take over my body to mine that metal.”

“If you’re going to keep it up, there’s no deal.”

“Good. Here’s the deal. I’ll wear you and you can mine whatever you need. I even have a pick that gives a bonus to mining rarer ores. In return, I get to keep any other ore you mine. Also you have to make me mine while standing on my left foot for ten strikes, then on my right for 10 strikes. I will also need to carry a barrel of water on my back and you have to make sure it doesn't spill.”

“Hey, do it my way and we both get what we want. If you’re not interested, let’s forget ever having seen each other.”

“If you do that, I will logout and you can lie down on the floor. Then I will bury you so no one will ever, ever, EVER come help you.”

“Okay, I will call you Thorny”

“No. I’m calling you Thorny.”

“No, Thorny.”

And so the 2 began their search for ore (and stats). The first 3 days were fraught with problems as Jinyang fell asleep and automatically logged out. Thorny was scathing in its rebuke until Jinyang reminded him he could simply log out again. Their routine was changed to include cheek slaps every half hour to make sure he didn't fall asleep. Unfortunately the first cheek slap actually killed him. After he returned from respawning in the village, Jinyang began raging about how Thorny was being cheeky. The armor reminded him that he was the one who told it to slap him. After amending the instruction to a light pinch of the nose, the mining continued.

Then Jinyang starved to death as the tough mining postures used up his satiety meter almost 3 times faster than normal and in his semi-asleep state, he did not notice. After much arguing by both sides, it was agreed that Thorny would pour shredded pieces of utterly soggy rye bread down his throat every 4 hours.

That changed his cause of death from hunger to suffocation as he choked on the entire bowl being dumped down his throat. After returning from the village where he revived, another argument on whose fault it was started until finally they agreed on the speed the soggy bread soup would be poured.

Fortunately things began to look up after his third death.

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