Chapter 57: The Martial Arts Academy's Basement Has Everything You Could Need

"Over five hundred meters underground?"

Lin Qi looked at the dark-skinned man in front of him, completely baffled by what this person was thinking. Was he trying to find out where the absolute underground limit of the game was? Or was he genuinely planning to build a subterranean civilization beneath the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy?

He then glanced at the dark-skinned man's data, which shocked him even more.

*Player "Digging Holes is My Specialty", age 25. Physical stats detected: strength 141.4 kg, speed 10.9 m/s, Gravel Fist (Novice 82%), Leopard Shadow Step (Novice 88%), Awe-Inspiring Breathing Technique (Novice 23%).*

This person named "Digging Holes is My Specialty" was clearly a newcomer who had entered the High-Wushu world just over three days ago.

Among the newcomers, the strongest ones, Zhao Hu and Li Ranxing, had breathing techniques exceeding 30% proficiency, but their Gravel Fist and Leopard Shadow Step were only at around 40%. As for other newcomers, their proficiency generally didn't even reach 20%.

Yet, "Digging Holes is My Specialty" possessed an almost inhuman talent for learning the Gravel Fist and Leopard Shadow Step, with both martial arts techniques exceeding 80% proficiency. Currently, only a majority of the first batch of players could achieve this. It was hard to imagine that "Digging Holes is My Specialty" could surpass those people in martial arts talent.

"Could there be something special five hundred meters underground?" The more Lin Qi thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He immediately said, "The quality of this ore is excellent. The martial arts academy can purchase it at ten contribution points per kilogram. If a single haul exceeds ten kilograms, you will receive an extra 10 contribution points for every ten kilograms. If there are any additional major discoveries, there will be other rewards."

"When you dug down to five hundred meters, was there anything special about that place? Or anything worthy of note?"

The value of ancient copper ore was extremely high, given that it was a material used to forge weapons and equipment for martial artist-grade experts. In the City of Chasing Light, anything related to martial artists was never cheap; one could even say it was ultra-rare, with the vast majority controlled by major factions in the city center.

On the market, A6-grade raw metals like ancient copper ore were priced at 3,000 bits per kilogram. Compared to standard A6-grade alloys, they were much more expensive. The primary reason was that by adding a few other precious metals, they could be transformed into B2-grade alloys. Weapons forged from this could pierce the bodies of living wild monsters—that attribute alone was of extraordinary value.

The physical hardness of wild monsters was completely different when they were alive versus when they were dead. A living wild monster could not be pierced even by an A6-grade spear, but once it died, the energy within its body would dissipate, allowing an A4-grade weapon to pierce it without expending much effort.

Lin Qi was determined to get his hands on such ancient copper ore, which could be crafted into B2-grade alloys.

Previously, when he asked Luo Qi to forge weapons, he had felt a pang of heartache over the cost of using A6-grade alloys. If he could now acquire a large quantity of ancient copper ore, it would save him a massive fortune.

"That much?" "Digging Holes is My Specialty" grew even more excited upon hearing this.

Although the chunk of ore in his hands wasn't large, it already weighed over twenty kilograms. Ores of this size, while not common five hundred meters underground, were certainly not scarce either.

Acquiring a single piece of this ore was equivalent to earning 200 contribution points and 20 reputation points. This amount of points and contribution was greater than what many veteran players earned in a single day, and he had merely picked up one piece.

Nearby, A Leaf of Floating Clouds looked on with undisguised envy.

Having just been promoted to an inner disciple, there were simply too many places where he needed to spend points. Setting aside the formation of his own team, which required at least two smart wristbands and a large cache of weapons, even the higher-volume martial artist-grade palm technique textbook for inner disciples, *Thunder Light Palm*, cost a full ten thousand points.

Ten kilograms of ancient copper ore yielded one hundred points and ten contributions. If a person could dig out five hundred kilograms from underground in a single day, that would be five thousand points and five hundred contributions—far more profitable than doing transport runs in Grizzly Bear Mountain.

"The radiation pollution five hundred meters underground is very high. Even with my physical fitness, I can only stay for thirty minutes," "Digging Holes is My Specialty" pondered and said. "Moreover, I dug through a maze-like giant tunnel where I spotted horned gold-devouring mice several times. It was right inside that maze-like giant tunnel that I picked up this ore."

"A maze-like giant tunnel?"

"Ore?"

"Horned gold-devouring mice?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qi hardly knew what to say. He felt as if these tunneling players were genuinely at war with the horned gold-devouring mice, vying for the underground development rights.

"Brother, you're amazing! To discover a team grand dungeon so quickly—you've struck gold," Fang Zhen said as he walked over, his eyes glowing. "How about you cooperate with our squad, brother? We can jointly develop that team dungeon, and you'll get a twenty percent share of the profits."

"Old Zhen, you're poaching people way too fast!" A Leaf of Floating Clouds reacted, quickly chiming in, "Digging Brother, if you cooperate with our squad, not only will you get a twenty percent share, but I'll also cover your death resurrection costs. By the way, I also have blood-essence rice to eat here—it's miles better than synthetic food."

"Old Ye, do you think I can't match that over here? Digging Brother, as long as you join our team, whatever Old Ye offers, we'll match it piece for piece." Fang Zhen had no intention of giving up on this dungeon either.

Digging was something he had always done anyway, but the contribution rewards for repairing the martial arts academy had been too tempting, which was why these geniuses had temporarily stopped exploring underground. Now that a new large-scale dungeon had been discovered, he naturally couldn't let it go.

"You two, stop arguing." "Digging Holes is My Specialty" scratched his head and gave a bitter smile. "That tunnel maze is just too huge, and the ore is extremely scattered. We even have to mine it ourselves."

"Furthermore, anyone with physical fitness below the apprentice tier will die within half an hour, and even those at the apprentice tier probably won't last long."

"That little bit of time is simply not enough to explore that maze."

"Is this dungeon an environmental test?" Fang Zhen asked, analyzing seriously upon hearing this. "If that's the case, it really will be difficult to explore and clear this dungeon, unless our physical fitness can take another massive leap forward, or else we'll just have to rely on a numbers advantage to explore."

"Digging Brother, are there many horned gold-devouring mice inside this new dungeon maze tunnel?" A Leaf of Floating Clouds was also a veteran gamer with rich experience in clearing dungeons. He analyzed carefully, "If this dungeon is huge and the horned gold-devouring mice aren't numerous, or are very scattered, then this dungeon has a pioneering gameplay style, and we only need to push forward bit by bit."

"If the number of horned gold-devouring mice is massive or concentrated, then the current dungeon difficulty is beyond what players at our level can clear; we'll need to wait until our levels are higher."

"Let me think." After a moment of contemplation, "Digging Holes is My Specialty" said earnestly, "I didn't stay inside for long. Along the way, I spotted horned gold-devouring mice three times in the tunnels. The intervals between those three sightings were all over five minutes, and each time there were only one or two horned gold-devouring mice moving around."

"In that case, the level of this dungeon isn't very high; it should be a pioneering-style dungeon gameplay." A Leaf of Floating Clouds's eyes brightened even further upon hearing this. "According to the Pavilion Master's introduction of the horned gold-devouring mice, a single horned gold-devouring mouse can be handled by a normal quasi-martial artist. Their strength lies in their numbers when living in colonies. If they are moving around individually, we definitely have a chance."

"Indeed. This game developer even specifically set a time limit—you only have about five minutes to deal with a single horned gold-devouring mouse. They've really picked up bad habits from other games."

"In other games, if field boss monsters aren't dealt with within five minutes, they go berserk. Here, it's probably that if you don't deal with them in five minutes, reinforcements arrive." Fang Zhen nodded as well, then looked curiously at "Digging Holes is My Specialty", asking in a low voice, "Digging Brother, did you see any treasure chests in that maze tunnel?"