Magic Farm 78

Chapter 78: We Magicians Are Strong

The magic crystal ore vein was truly hard.

By now, Qi Yu’s attack points were already several times what they had been when he first entered the survival game.

Yet striking the mountain wall of the magic crystal ore vein was far more difficult than chopping down trees with a wooden axe back then.

But then Qi Yu thought to himself: chopping down a tree only yielded ten units of wood, but if he could break this open, what awaited inside were magic crystals.

It was only natural that beautiful things should be harder to obtain.

Having figured this out, he buried his head and kept working with renewed vigor.

Not far away, the brother and sister warrior duo had been quietly watching him all along.

The two of them had assumed that the delicate mage would surely not last long before needing to sit down and rest.

“I bet he won’t last half an hour.”

“That’s too long—twenty minutes, tops.”

“…Keep your voice down!”

The brother obediently lowered his voice, muttering, “I wonder which heartless person tricked him into coming here. Isn’t his five thousand gold coins as good as gone?”

The sister nodded gravely. “Five thousand gold coins… that takes a long time to save up.”

Half an hour passed.

Qi Yu’s breathing had grown a bit heavier, but his eyes shone brightly as he stared at the stone wall before him—already covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

He was almost there!

His movements became even more energetic.

The warrior siblings: ???

“Wait, this can’t be right, can it?” the male warrior said, a little shocked. “He doesn’t look tired at all. If anything, he’s getting faster?”

His tone grew serious. “Mia, tell me, is it possible that he’s actually a warrior pretending to be a mage?”

The female warrior, Mia, let out a cold laugh. “You mean to say he’s a warrior who can cast spells with a staff and has a certified badge from the Mage Association? Gareth, your wisdom never ceases to amaze me.”

The male warrior, Gareth: “…”

A few more minutes passed.

With a crisp cracking sound, Qi Yu’s eyes widened in anticipation—

Dark gray fragments of stone tumbled down, and a shimmering light spilled out from within.

It was sparkling! Beautiful! Magic crystals!

Qi Yu hurriedly picked up the pace, forcefully widening the cracks in the wall.

Thud!

A large chunk of the stone wall broke off.

A small pile of magic crystals came tumbling out, falling right into Qi Yu’s arms.

“How is he so fast!” One of the warriors finally lost his composure.

This couldn’t be right, could it?

The male warrior couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. He couldn’t help but walk over.

Qi Yu had just finished counting—this batch of magic crystals totaled thirty-nine, all first-tier magic crystals.

He had just stowed them in his backpack when he heard footsteps behind him.

The staff floating at his side instantly leapt into his hand as Qi Yu turned to face the newcomer.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Gareth hurried to explain. “I mean no harm! In the green resource zone, killing each other is forbidden. No one would dare break that rule.”

Qi Yu said nothing, nor did he lower his staff.

“Really, I’m just curious how you managed to mine magic crystals so quickly,” Gareth said. “You didn’t even know you couldn’t use magic attacks on magic crystal ore veins, so you clearly haven’t done this before. My sister Mia and I, we’ve been studying this for years, and we’re warriors—there’s no way you should be faster than us.”

“Can I take a look at the hole you dug?”

Qi Yu considered, then bargained, “You’ll have to answer a few questions for me later.”

As for letting the other party look, he’d already taken out the magic crystals inside—what did it matter?

Gareth agreed at once. “No problem!”

A mage willing to talk to him of his own accord—he couldn’t ask for more!

Gareth approached the section of stone wall Qi Yu had just excavated. With just one glance, he cried out in shock, “How is this possible?”

He called his sister over, and soon, Qi Yu heard a second cry of surprise.

Qi Yu asked, puzzled, “Is there something wrong?”

Gareth’s expression was complicated. “You should go take a look at the stone walls we’ve been working on.”

Qi Yu followed the two of them over, and upon seeing, he too fell silent.

Both of them had opened up massive holes, nearly large enough for a person to walk through, but everywhere within sight was still dark gray mountain rock.

Qi Yu could sense the presence of magical elements within. If he wasn’t mistaken, there really were magic crystals hidden inside.

It was just… they were buried so deep.

“Yours is the strange one. I’ve never seen crystals hidden so close to the surface,” Gareth said, astonished. “At that depth, it’s practically giving them away for free!”

Qi Yu was more concerned with another matter. “How are you two working so fast?”

The areas they had excavated were much larger than his, and several times deeper.

“It’s just practice,” Gareth said, waving a hand. “Mia and I do this all the time, so we’ve picked up a few tricks.”

Mia added, “And we’re warriors. We’re naturally stronger.”

Qi Yu wasn’t entirely convinced—he thought he was pretty strong himself.

In the end, the siblings could only chalk up Qi Yu’s quick success to “a lucky mage.”

With only twenty-four hours in total, the two of them hurried back to their own digging after a quick look.

After all, as they put it, “We spent ten thousand gold coins to get in here—we have to at least make our money back and then some.”

Qi Yu thought the same.

Relying on the fluctuations of magical elements and his own intuition as a mage, he quickly picked another spot.

Thud!

He struck the wall several times with the impact hammer, then paused.

Having grown used to the weight of the Heart of the Greatwood staff, this hammer felt light and awkward in his hands, as if he couldn’t exert his full strength.

From his earlier observations, though the mountain wall was hard, it wasn’t indestructible—certainly not harder than an alchemical golem.

The Heart of the Greatwood staff could smash an alchemical golem—so why not this?

“Mia, what’s that strange mage doing now?”

The two of them turned to see Qi Yu stop his movements and put away the impact hammer.

Was he finally going to rest?

In fact, the two of them had already been quite amazed at how long Qi Yu had kept going.

However, in the next moment, they saw that odd country mage grip his staff in hand and raise it high.

Hadn’t they told him that magic attacks were useless?

Before they could even wonder, they saw that the staff did not glow with magical light—instead, it—

—came crashing down heavily onto the mountain wall.

With a thunderous boom, shards of stone flew everywhere.

The two similar faces were left utterly dumbfounded.

Qi Yu’s first instinct was to check his staff.

Good—its surface was still smooth, and even the vine decoration at the tip was unchanged.

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

He looked at the spot where he’d just struck with the staff—so much stone had broken off at once, it was worth many swings of the impact hammer.

Qi Yu was instantly delighted: his efficiency had soared. Now, he had a real chance to dig up even more magic crystals.

He paid no mind to the two’s shocked and bewildered stares in the distance, and, full of energy, swung his staff again and again at the rock.

…

Thousands of miles away, in a certain red resource zone.

A man clad in dark armor was hiding atop a tall tree.

His face, inscribed with “My fate is mine, not Heaven’s,” was filled with terror and madness. Ever since entering the resource zone, he had not calmed down for a moment.

In his previous life, he had never obtained a resource zone card, nor had he ever left the shelter.

So he had no idea that outside the Forest of Stars, there was such a vast world.

Why were there so many “natives” besides the Blue Star players?

And those people all seemed to possess formidable strength and professions.

How could this be!

If it was called a survival game, shouldn’t the players be supreme?

And that giant beast that blotted out the sky…

Why did such creatures even exist in this world?

He had thought that, even if he lost his spot at the top of the power rankings, he would only be a hair behind “ILoveSurvivalGame.”

He was still proud, still the leading player at the top of the pyramid, still revered by the remaining players of the Pantheon.

No matter what, he was still one of the select few standing at the very summit of the survival game world.

But everything he saw today shattered his illusions: he realized, so what if you’re a top-ranked player? Even if you’re number one, what can you do against those bands of well-trained warriors?

And that beast so massive it seemed capable of swallowing the sun—one breath from it could end his life.

He felt all his pride, his understanding of the world, everything he possessed, had been utterly overturned.

In short, he’d lost his composure.

Lying dazed atop the tree for who knew how long, his thoughts drifted back to “ILoveSurvivalGame.”

He thought maliciously: Right now, ILoveSurvivalGame’s mood can’t be much better than mine, can it?

So what if you’re number one? So what if you’re in the server-wide announcements?

Outside the Forest of Stars, in the wider world, you’re still just an ordinary ant.

Ha! You struggled so hard to surpass me, and this is all you amount to!

Clinging to the thought of “ILoveSurvivalGame losing his composure,” his mood gradually recovered a little.

He thought with malice, There are so many outside warriors—who knows how many are ruthless enough to kill and rob.

Hopefully, ILoveSurvivalGame drew a black card and dies inside the resource zone.

Qi Yu felt an itch on his nose.

He reached up to rub it, and the Heart of the Greatwood staff stirred, casting a blessing spell on him.

Before, he had always used the growth blessing spell on plants. Just now, on a whim, he cast a strength blessing on himself.

Sure enough, swinging his staff now felt even more effortless.

Gareth and Mia watched, both shocked and envious.

This country mage really was bizarre!

Not only did he possess strength to rival a warrior, but just between the two of them, they had already seen him use water magic, wind magic, and now, the extremely rare blessing magic.

What kind of countryside could possibly be home to a shrine of the goddess of nature?

The two of them silently complained in their hearts.

But none of the three stopped working.

After his first haul, Qi Yu dug up two more piles of magic crystals.

The second pile was sizable—eighty first-tier magic crystals in all.

The third time, there weren’t many, and Qi Yu felt a bit disappointed at first, but as soon as he picked them up, he realized—they were second-tier crystals.

This time, he collected twenty-three second-tier magic crystals.

After stowing away this batch, he finally felt a bit tired and decided to sit down and rest for a while.

Gareth and Mia, who had been watching him all along, both let out a huge sigh of relief.

They were exhausted!

But this mage had been hammering away the whole time—could it be that, as warriors, their stamina was inferior to a mage’s?

If word got out, they’d be laughed at for the rest of their lives.

To defend the dignity of warriors, the two had gritted their teeth and kept going.

Now that Qi Yu had finally stopped to rest, they immediately stopped as well.

Having mined together for a while, the three now had a bit of camaraderie and simply sat down nearby to rest together.

Qi Yu drank some water and sat quietly, recovering his energy.

He watched as the two of them sat down and each took out a small bottle, pouring the contents into their mouths. Their faces visibly grew more ruddy.

He asked curiously, “What’s that?”

“Qi and blood potion,” Mia replied, remembering that this mage was from the countryside and might not know what it was, so she explained, “For us warriors, it’s similar to your mana potions.”

“Is it for sale?”

Gareth was taken aback, then laughed. “It’s a very basic potion. The professional shops outside should all carry it.”

Qi Yu silently made a note of it.

He observed the two of them closely.

Gareth was a tall man with curly brown hair and gray eyes. Mia looked much like him, also with brown hair and gray eyes.

Their outfits were similar too—both wore light armor.

Qi Yu watched them intently, his gaze hard to ignore. Gareth couldn’t help but ask, “What are you looking at?”

Qi Yu replied out of nowhere, “I have a warrior friend too.”

Gareth: “…What?”

“I’ve never met him,” Qi Yu said. “I’m just imagining what he might be like.”