Magic Farm 80

Chapter 80: The Mountain of Magic Crystals

Gareth and Mia chewed on their dry bread, the aroma of delicious food wafting to their noses.

Their own food tasted more and more bland by the minute.

It was strange—when they were out adventuring, they’d always eaten this way for convenience, and had long since gotten used to it.

As warriors, they weren’t supposed to crave such worldly pleasures. That’s what they’d always believed.

Oh, so it was only because no one had ever sat across from them, leisurely enjoying a gourmet feast while they gnawed on bread?

Whoever cooked this meal had real skill—the ribs were seared to a slight crisp, their surface glistening with a tempting sauce, the aroma carried by the wind straight to their noses. The cucumbers must have been a very expensive variety, so green and fresh they looked like they’d drip water if squeezed, tossed in a tangy, spicy dressing whose bright, sour fragrance made their mouths water.

Gulp.

Mia quietly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

She sped up her eating, but she still couldn’t keep up with her brother.

Turning to look, she saw her brother stuffing jerky into his mouth as if it were his mortal enemy, his face twisted in a fierce scowl as he chewed.

“We’re done eating!”

Qi Yu, lost in his immersive enjoyment of the meal, was startled by the siblings’ sudden outburst.

Surprised by how quickly they’d finished, he looked up in confusion, swallowed his food, and nodded. “Alright.”

He watched as the two of them shot to their feet and hurried off, apparently to resume mining.

He called after them, “Aren’t you going to rest a bit?”

It was Shen Ben Wuxiang who’d taught him this health tip: after eating, it’s best to rest a while and not jump straight into strenuous activity.

The siblings’ expressions were more determined than ever.

Gareth: “No need! We’ve only got twenty-four hours—we have to make the most of it.”

Mia: “That’s right! The magic crystals are waiting for us!”

So passionate—Qi Yu almost felt inspired himself.

But while magic crystals were certainly important, delicious food was just as vital. If he hadn’t already started eating, it wouldn’t matter, but since he had, he intended to savor every bite.

In his heart, good food always held an irreplaceable place.

“Good luck, you two,” Qi Yu encouraged, then lowered his head and continued eating.

Gareth and Mia deliberately walked farther away, making sure they couldn’t smell that tempting aroma anymore.

“Damn it.” Once they were far enough that they could whisper without being overheard, Gareth muttered, “He says he’s from the countryside, but he’s definitely a noble mage from some ancient, remote region.”

“Just look at his food. I’ve eaten at restaurants where the average meal costs twenty gold coins, and nothing ever smelled this good. He must have a truly amazing family chef—maybe even a private one.”

Mia looked thoughtful. “I suddenly think that using a storage item with preservation functions for good food isn’t such a bad idea after all.”

Gareth: “You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

They had high-grade storage items themselves.

Generally, storage items—low, mid, and high-grade—were mainly distinguished by their internal capacity.

High-grade spatial items might extend the freshness of food a bit, but to keep it steaming hot and seemingly fresh from the pot after several days, like Qi Yu’s, was beyond the capability of most high-grade items.

Qi Yu currently had two high-grade storage items: one was a high-grade storage backpack he’d bought from the wandering merchant Duo Ju in the Forest of Stars; the other was a high-grade spatial ring he’d purchased from the Mage Association shop for five hundred gold coins.

Both had similar capacity and price.

But the latter, the spatial ring, didn’t have such an impressive preservation function—or, as it could also be called, a time-stopping effect.

Qi Yu didn’t yet realize how rare this feature was.

In the outside world, professionals who wanted such a function in a spatial item had to pay extra—lots of extra gold coins.

And such items usually had limited capacity.

Professionals typically used them to store: high-grade exotic beast meat, thousand-year-old rare medicinal herbs, precious high-level potions… all the best things that needed to be kept at peak quality.

Who would be rich enough to use such a precious item just to store their everyday meals?

Even though the mage’s food looked and smelled amazing, from the energy fluctuations, it was definitely not made from high-grade exotic beast ingredients—just ordinary food of excellent quality.

Gareth felt himself growing resentful of the rich. He grumbled darkly, “He’s already so wealthy, and still so lucky! First time in the resource zone, and he stumbles right onto a magic crystal vein.”

He didn’t doubt Qi Yu’s story, though.

Someone who didn’t even know you couldn’t use magic attacks on a magic crystal vein—no one could fake being that much of a rookie.

Mia said, “Forget all that. Just admit it—doesn’t it smell amazing?”

Gareth: “…If we dig up enough magic crystals this time, let’s buy one!”

Qi Yu noticed that the siblings, as if spurred by some great motivation, were mining even faster than before.

He took a slow sip of soup: Sure enough, you have more strength when you’re full.

Strictly following Shen Ben Wuxiang’s health advice, Qi Yu sat and rested for over ten minutes after eating, then strolled over to where Gareth and Mia were working, observing their mining techniques for a while.

He waited until about half an hour had passed before returning to his own big pit, pulling out his staff and resuming his work.

By now, he had almost carved out a tunnel.

After several hours of digging deeper, Qi Yu was now about ten meters from the entrance of the tunnel.

Seeing him still stubbornly working at the same spot, Gareth sighed, “Didn’t I say he’s a bit bullheaded?”

While Qi Yu was locked in this battle with the big mine, the siblings had already had two decent hauls. They did the math—at this rate, they’d make a fortune from this resource zone trip.

Mia, fighting for her future food freedom, was unconcerned. “He clearly doesn’t care about a little gold. That mage’s robe of his looks plain, but there’s no way it’s ordinary.”

Not to mention that killing was forbidden in this resource zone—even if they’d met Qi Yu in the red or black zones, they wouldn’t dare provoke him.

A third-tier mage, capable of at least three schools of magic, wealthy enough to use high-grade storage items for food, wearing a mage’s robe even they couldn’t see through—there was no way such a mage didn’t have a powerful background.

Mages valued inheritance and lineage above all. A protégé so favored by his elders would definitely have life-saving items on him, maybe even a tracking mental imprint—who’d believe otherwise?

Gareth mused, “True enough. As long as the young master’s having fun.”

Qi Yu still didn’t know he’d been promoted to “young master.”

He continued digging deeper. After another half hour, he noticed something had changed.

The rock was different.

Though to the naked eye it was still the same nondescript gray-white stone, it was clear that each strike of his staff now met with greater resistance.

It was harder than before, and breaking through took more effort.

But that strange sixth sense was even stronger.

His intuition told him: there was something good behind this.

Gareth’s assessment of his character wasn’t wrong—Qi Yu did have a certain stubbornness.

Whenever he set his mind to something, he’d quickly become absorbed, losing himself in the task, and if no one reminded him, he could easily forget everything else.

By the time Gareth and Mia noticed that the “thud, thud, thud” sounds were growing slower and weaker, another three hours had passed.

“Something seems off.” Mia exchanged a glance with her brother, and the two of them, a little worried, headed over.

Though they’d only just met as mining partners, they had a good impression of each other. With no conflicts of interest, they didn’t want to see anything happen to Qi Yu.

Qi Yu was drenched in sweat—he hadn’t been this tired since becoming a mage.

But his eyes were shining. He could feel it.

Behind this stone, the elemental energy was so intense it was almost bursting forth.

“Mage? Qi Yu? Are you alright?” came a shout from outside, someone knocking on the wall.

The sound, muffled by echoes, was a bit dull.

Qi Yu heard them, but he was caught up in a kind of euphoria and didn’t answer right away.

So the two of them slowly made their way inside.

“By Aura…” It was much deeper than they’d expected. Gareth muttered, “What does this mage eat to grow like this?”

His stamina was already on par with an average third-tier warrior.

They saw Qi Yu.

And they felt the abnormality in the stone wall, and… even as warriors, they could sense the incredibly dense magical energy.

Shock crept across Mia’s face. “Could this be…”

The two of them stopped in perfect unison, not taking another step forward.

They realized what this meant, and this action was to show their intentions, so as not to alarm Qi Yu.

Qi Yu had kept a thread of mental energy on the situation behind him. Seeing the two not approach, he relaxed a little.

He raised the Heart of the Greatwood staff, his aching arms gathering strength—

The final blow landed hard on the stone wall.

Huge chunks of rock tumbled down, and countless dazzling lights surged forth in a torrent, pouring out like a river.

From Qi Yu’s perspective, a torrent of green light, dense enough to be almost tangible, enveloped him.

His exhausted body, his aching muscles, were all swiftly restored to peak condition by this surging vitality.

He closed his eyes in contentment, letting himself fall back onto the tide of magic crystals, allowing the green light to wash over him.

“…”

The two witnesses behind him were utterly stupefied.

After a long while.

Jealous, monkey-like howls echoed through the cave:

“Knocked out by a mountain of magic crystals—when will I ever have a dream like that?!”