10: Chapter 10 Are all Earthlings this shameless?

When he opened his eyes again, Tang Long felt as if his vision had suddenly cleared.

His vision was no longer a hazy, reddish blur, but a bright, vivid red.

As his gaze swept across the area, everything appeared in minute detail, as if he could see every single grain of sand clearly.

Following these rays of light, his vision seemed to penetrate the rock and soil, allowing him to directly see some of the shallower light sources—which were spirit residue.

To verify his hypothesis, he first took out a few pieces to compare, and then successfully dug out two more; his heart stirred with excitement.

At this moment, a strong impulse suddenly welled up in his heart.

"It's so useful at level two, what would happen if I leveled it up to level four?"

According to game principles, every three levels was a threshold for a skill; at levels four, seven, and max, there would be a significant improvement.

For example, for Sprint, the speed increase for the first three levels was 10% each, adding 0.5 seconds to duration and reducing the cooldown by 10 seconds.

At levels four, five, and six, the bonus would reach 20%, adding 1 second to duration and reducing the cooldown by 20 seconds.

Levels seven, eight, and nine each provided a 30% speed increase, added 2 seconds to duration, and reduced the cooldown by 30 seconds.

At max level, there was an additional one-time bonus of 60%, adding 6 seconds to duration and reducing the cooldown by 60 seconds.

By max level, the speed increase reached a staggering 240%, with a duration of 15 seconds and a cooldown of only 60 seconds.

However, he didn't have such an urgent need for movement speed right now, and the first few levels of Sprint were not hard to train.

He carefully checked the stat requirements for Fire Eye; it only needed 12 points to upgrade to level three. He gritted his teeth and immediately chose to upgrade.

The requirement for level four was 15 points, and he didn't hesitate to click it as well.

[Your skill: Fire Eye, upgraded to LV4! Vision improved.]

When he opened his eyes again, Tang Long was completely stunned.

The world in his eyes had completely changed.

The once-solid earth and rock had become like phantoms in his eyes, while the veins of spiritual light were dazzling and swirling, with the spirit residue shimmering like tiny stars.

He could even see, over two meters deep beneath the rock, a spirit stone like a small sun, glowing with fiery light.

It was simply beautiful!

Just as he was lost in admiration, his vision suddenly dimmed, and a prompt popped up again.

[Insufficient spiritual energy, skill interrupted.]

Tang Long only then realized that his spiritual energy had been completely exhausted, and he couldn't help but be secretly shocked by how much mana the level four Fire Eye consumed.

His spiritual energy just now had been a full two hundred points; it seemed it had been exhausted in just about a minute?

At level one, the consumption was 1 point per second; now at level four, it should be 4 points per second, so a full mana bar could only last 50 seconds.

This skill was indeed powerful, but it certainly didn't hesitate when it came to mana consumption.

Having poured 7 attribute points into it consecutively, it wasn't exactly cheap.

However, Tang Long still felt—it was worth it!

It was just that he didn't have any more skill points on hand; otherwise, he would have continued to push it until the skill was maxed out.

He added his remaining 3 attribute points directly to strength, bringing his strength to 10 points.

He immediately took out the roasted Leopard-Tailed Dragon heart and began to satisfy his hunger.

As he ate, he reflected that reality had its own advantages.

Because for game players, the gathering process was just a rigid progress bar.

The beast heart was clearly on the exotic beast, but whether one could successfully gather it depended entirely on luck.

Therefore, for players, such items were considered rare ingredients.

If processed by a high-level chef, there was also a chance to create special food that could increase attributes.

Just as he was thinking about this, a prompt suddenly popped up.

[You consumed a Leopard-Tailed Dragon heart, Satiety +15, Vitality +5!]

As expected.

It was a pity there was only one.

Man Hai and his group could eat this kind of thing every day; no wonder their vitality was far stronger than the average person.

After eating his fill, Tang Long simply slept for another two hours or so, and after waking up, did another round of Breathing Technique; by this time, he felt completely different.

His physical strength had fully recovered, and he felt as if he were brand new, full of energy!

The effects of the attributes must have started to show; he could mine for two or three hours at a stretch without feeling too tired, and his efficiency had greatly improved, netting him over a dozen pieces of spirit residue in two hours.

While Mining, he practiced his Breathing Method, and from time to time, he would practice a few sets of punches; he was happily busy and felt that his time was well spent.

By the next morning, he had actually dug up nearly fifty pieces of spirit residue, gaining one hundred and fifty experience points from Mining alone.

After a brief rest, he took a nap, then mined over a hundred more experience points in the afternoon, and by dusk, a large exotic beast was hunted in the Mining area; he participated in the butchering and picked up another two hundred plus experience points.

Another day passed, and Tang Long's probationary period ended, officially becoming a Senior Mining Slave; he had just reached level five, and the spirit residue in his hands had already accumulated to over ninety pieces.

He continued to turn in more than his quota every day as usual.

Not much, just one or two pieces.

The benefits he gave to Vulture every day were also just one or two pieces.

But just based on these two points, it was enough for Vulture to treat him as a model worker.

Meanwhile, his cave-mates were failing to meet their quotas one after another, receiving reprimands and having their water rations reduced.

Inside the mine cave, Brother Hei and the others gathered to discuss again, all looking listless.

"Brother Hei, the brothers can't hold on much longer."

"We have to dig tunnels at night and mine during the day; it's too tiring."

"Yeah, our luck has been bad these past two days; we can't make the quota, and without water, we can't work at all."

"Brother Hei, I'm afraid I won't be able to turn in enough tomorrow either; could you lend me some~"

Brother Hei glanced at the person, "I can only barely make the quota myself."

Lao Ba, who monitored Tang Long every day, suddenly said: "Brother Hei, why don't we borrow some from that newbie?"

"Borrow from him? Does he have that much spirit residue?"

"I don't know if it's a lot, but he definitely has some. Look at the amount he turns in every day; it's always slightly higher than the quota. If he didn't have a surplus, would he turn in that much?"

"That's right. This idiot always turns in extra, making us look incompetent. It's pissing me off; Brother Hei, you should go talk to him."

"That idiot just has good luck. His cave produces more spirit residue; Brother Hei, you should get some for us brothers."

"If you ask me, let's just kill him and take all his stock!"

Mining slaves sometimes had extremely good luck and could dig up more spirit residue than the quota.

Sometimes their luck was terrible, and they might not be able to meet the quota for several days in a row.

Saving what was dug in excess on ordinary days to prepare for future shortages was a common trick, and also a form of helplessness.

Brother Hei waved his hand, and everyone quieted down.

"Don't be impatient. I'll go have a chat with him. If I can borrow some, great; if not... we'll see!"

Everyone nodded one after another.

Brother Hei soon arrived at Tang Long's mine cave and saw him sitting in meditation practicing his Breathing Technique, so he couldn't help but smile and flatter him.

"Little brother, you're working so diligently; no wonder you can turn in the full quota every day."

"Oh, it's the Cave Master; what are your instructions?"

"What Cave Master or not? Didn't I say, the brothers all call me Brother Hei; you can just call me that from now on."

Tang Long smiled faintly, "I'm still a prisoner under surveillance; do I have that qualification?"

Brother Hei was slightly embarrassed and quickly changed the subject, "Little brother, don't be angry. I told you the reason for this earlier; it'll pass in a few days. We are all Mining slaves, living in the same cave; we need to help each other to gain each other's trust."

"Help each other?"

Brother Hei nodded quickly: "Exactly. For example, there are two brothers in our cave who haven't been able to meet their quotas these past few days. Everyone will pool together to help them make it up, and they can pay it back in the future."

"In our line of work, sooner or later everyone encounters this kind of thing. As time goes by, who won't need to ask for help?"

"I see that you are a reasonable person, little brother, and a ready-made opportunity is right in front of you. If you take the initiative to bring out some spirit residue to help them, wouldn't that bring us closer?"

Tang Long almost laughed out loud upon hearing this.

Are you people from Blue Star all this thick-skinned? You can make begging sound so fresh and refined, as if it's for my own good.