Jiang Lin felt a spiritual connection, and opened the system to investigate.
【Crystal Ore Vein: The source of crystals, capable of continuously producing crystals, requires a pickaxe to mine. Note: You're in luck, crystal ore veins are extremely rare. Treat yourself to a good meal.】
There were many scattered light blue glowing stones on the ore vein, which must have been dug out by the Earth Dragon Scorpion.
【Crystal: An ore containing peculiar energy. Due to its diverse uses, it is the most hard-currency in the Mist World.】
“I found a treasure!”
Jiang Lin was certain he had found a money printer.
Since the system stated that crystals were the most hard-currency, their purpose was self-evident.
Upgrading to a Tier 2 Wooden House alone required 20 crystals, and Jiang Lin didn't believe everyone could find them.
Most people today were still worrying about upgrading their Tier 1 Shelters and didn't know what crystals were.
Once most people reached Tier 1, they would discover that further upgrades required crystals, forcing them to explore the Mist.
Unless they were truly blessed by Lady Luck, having crystals around their Wooden House, but such a probability was pitifully small.
The Mist was truly dangerous. If he didn't have his Small Axe and Small Pick, he really wasn't sure if he could enter the Mist alive.
So Jiang Lin speculated that most Shelters would be stuck at Tier 1 for a long time.
The Trading Post should also open, allowing survivors to trade independently.
Suppressing his excitement, Jiang Lin observed that there was nothing on the ore vein except for the Earth Dragon Scorpion's riddled corpse.
【Earth Dragon Scorpion Corpse: Tier 1 fierce beast corpse, a heavily ravaged corpse with many holes. Perhaps you can strike while the iron is hot? The scorpion tail is highly poisonous and can be used as a forging material, or directly as a weapon.
Note: Whether it's luck or skill, it's not something you can handle right now. But congratulations, you won't become excrement.】
He reached out and touched the scorpion tail, as thick as a bucket, and put it into his system backpack.
“Small Pick, start digging!”
Jiang Lin greeted it, and casually collected the scattered crystals in the cave.
Crystals + 8
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Small Pick had already started working. It didn't need supervision; it was a model worker just like the Small Axe.
Jiang Lin, meanwhile, picked up stones around him.
With the Thornwood Club, even deeply buried stones could be pried out.
While picking, he opened the regional chat to lurk.
This was an important channel for him to obtain information.
【10068 Chat Channel (9468 / 10000)】
The casualty rate was quite high; dozens more people had died since 2 AM yesterday.
As he casually scrolled through messages, one comment caught his attention.
Zhang Xu: My friends, guess what I found? I actually picked up a treasure chest and got a crafting scroll from it, and there were also 20 crystals inside. I just don't know what they're for.
Below, survivors who had upgraded their Shelters explained the use of crystals.
Some also asked Zhang Xu what scroll he had obtained, but he didn't say, acting very mysterious.
Jiang Lin remembered this guy named Zhang Xu; he was quite active, and his talent was Swiftness.
Swiftness wasn't a very powerful talent, but it should be enough for self-preservation in the novice stage.
Especially for picking up treasure chests, Swiftness was quite handy.
And the things this Zhang Xu obtained were also very good. Not to mention the crystals, that crafting scroll looked very rare at a glance.
It should be a production-type item.
Jiang Lin, familiar with survival games, knew that such items were among the most valuable in this world.
He continued to watch for a while and gained a lot of valuable information.
There was a survivor who obtained Invisibility and ran rampant in the Mist, making Jiang Lin quite envious.
Similar to this survivor was a little girl who obtained Detection, able to detect everything within thirty meters.
Jiang Lin coveted this skill.
There was also a survivor who obtained Synthesis, synthesizing a stone pickaxe from wood and stone.
Some survivors with offensive talents even killed fierce beasts in the Mist.
“It seems I'm not the only one with opportunities; there are also many people with strong talents thriving in the Mist World.”
Jiang Lin dismissed his small sense of self-satisfaction.
Be cautious, be low-key!
Only then could he go further.
Of course, he was already ahead of most people; those who obtained these powerful talents were only a tiny minority, and he didn't need to belittle himself.
He roughly calculated that about one or two out of a hundred people would have relatively strong talents.
Truly coveted talents would appear in one out of a thousand people.
Like that Detection and Synthesis.
At least, that's how it seemed from the comments in channel 10068.
Of course, it didn't rule out the existence of people like him who developed in a low-key manner.
Time flew by.
Time always passes quickly when one is focused on doing things.
Jiang Lin opened his backpack and had already collected 180 stones and 45 crystals.
Most of this was thanks to the Small Pick.
When the Small Pick dug for crystals, it would also dig up stones next to the crystal ore, and Jiang Lin collected them casually, resulting in so many.
A full harvest!
Adding the wood collected by the Small Axe today, he could now reinforce his Wooden House.
Today's task was considered complete.
He checked the time: 3:28 PM.
There was still an hour and a half until dark.
Just as Jiang Lin was thinking about whether to continue digging or go home.
In a daze, the Mist thickened.
Jiang Lin keenly noticed this.
The gray Mist visibly contracted, and visibility decreased further.
The Mist also began to turn black.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Small Pick was still chipping away at the hard crystal ore.
Jiang Lin felt an inexplicable fear.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
Goosebumps appeared on his arms.
“Small Pick, let's go!”
Making a decisive decision, Jiang Lin let out a low shout and retreated in the direction he had come from.
The Small Pick stopped its actions at the right time.
After a momentary pause, it followed Jiang Lin's footsteps.
Jiang Lin tried to be as fast as possible, and his footsteps as light as possible.
10 steps.
20 steps... What Jiang Lin didn't know was.
In the unseen depths of the Mist, a pair of malicious eyes stared intently at him.
Crimson, ferocious!
But the owner of these eyes seemed to be bound by something and couldn't make a move.
This made the crimson in its eyes even more frantic, even faintly starting to turn purple.
A black hand reached out and picked up a black strand of hair from the ground... Finally.
Jiang Lin saw his Wooden House.
Before this, he had never felt that dark red was so beautiful and reassuring.
The dark red threads of the wriggling Wooden House slowly pulsated, giving Jiang Lin an unparalleled sense of security.
Whoosh~
Sitting down against the Wooden House.
Jiang Lin wiped the sweat that already covered his entire face.
His long-sleeved T-shirt was soaked, and his underwear was also a bit damp.
Don't misunderstand, it was sweat!
It took him a while to calm down. The scene of the Mist turning black just now reminded him that it was the same at night.
The Mist turning black meant danger.
This could now be confirmed.
Gray might still have room for maneuver, but black might be truly fatal.
Without knowing the exact combat power of the Tier 2 Small Pick.
Jiang Lin would not let himself be in that situation again, even if there was still an hour and a half until dark.
The journey back didn't take much time.
It proved that a person walking quickly can indeed walk very fast.
The Small Axe was nowhere to be seen, only tall logs neatly piled in front of the Wooden House.
As expected of a model worker axe!
Praising it silently, Jiang Lin touched the wood.
Wood + 236
He opened the Shelter panel.
【Wriggling Wooden House (Tier 2, upgradable): 351 / 300 Wood, 180 / 150 Stone, 45 / 20 Crystals. This upgrade will make the Wooden House sturdier, but it will not advance to the next tier.】
Click upgrade.