The Game of Global Mining

Chun was stunned: "You’re impersonating their superior?"

Little Liya said, "Yeah. I can’t just eat, drink, and be bored every day, I’ve got to find something to do. Besides, I’m living in Miss Aileen’s mansion and ended up making you go work on the farm, that’s so inconvenient!"

Chun panicked: "No no no, it’s not inconvenient at all!"

Aileen wiped sweat: "That was, uh, outdoor fun, Lord Liya, don’t overthink it!"

Little Liya snorted: "Got it! But I’ve decided to go big this time, I’m going to train these seven little Enchanting Demons and even take them back to Andariel’s headquarters for a look. In case they run into Oak City’s Nightmares, those two Demon Race ecologies overlap a bit, they can fight. Once they fight, it might trigger a conflict between the Gem City Enchanting Demons and the Oak City Nightmares. Now that would be fun."

Ah! Makes sense! Except—

Chun still felt something was off: "Goddess, you using this image to impersonate Andariel, I just feel like..."

Little Liya snorted: "Too extravagant or too much of a waste?"

Chun laughed: "Way too extravagant!"

Little Liya laughed: "Only when it’s extravagant will these little chicks behave and be convinced!"

Aileen immediately made arrangements, waved her hand, and the Crystal Core from the dance hall lights was teleported over: "Then Lord Liya, please keep this safe!"

Little Liya directly tossed the Crystal Core into her mouth and swallowed: "Watch from outside!"

The moment the Crystal Core entered her body, Little Liya’s whole being radiated a sinister charm—she’d transformed into Dark Loli mode!

Which was fine; this way no one would ever guess her true identity.

Then Little Liya entered the room, and her sinister goddess aura instantly quieted the noisy dance floor. The seven Enchanting Demons also stopped in shock. Even Chun was dumbfounded; at this moment she wasn’t a kid, but had that noble, condescending air she had as the City Beauty Liya!

A majestic voice resounded through the hall: "Your master is here, why aren’t you kneeling to welcome me?"

The seven Enchanting Demons immediately knelt on the stage: "We greet our master!"

Ah!! Just like that it worked?

Little Liya was very satisfied: "You’ve progressed very fast, but you still have to keep working hard."

"As you command, Master!"

Little Liya nodded, then sauntered out the door: "Well?"

Uh, wait a sec...

Chun said in surprise: "You’re just going to say two lines?"

Little Liya laughed: "Yeah, if I talk too much, they won’t remember. Once they grow a bit more, I can start teaching them Magic. Anyway, I’ll just live outside here and observe them. You guys go do your thing, collect more energy, that way they’ll grow faster."

Chun glanced at the Vine’s absorption progress; it was almost done.

"Alright then, Aileen, I’ll head back out and keep busy."

Being able to squeeze in some time to handle two not-too-big-not-too-small matters at home made Chun quite pleased. Then he switched to his alt to take a look.

All he could say was, as expected of Maria, she was still going... She’s a goddess, she has to.

Then Chun crawled over to the Vine; basically, another kilometer-long yam had been born, and at the front part there appeared a familiar "water column"—that was Essence of Life of the Earth!

Although this section was far smaller than that huge one from Granny Earth Mother self-destructing, for his Divine Domain it was absolutely precious tonic! So when dissolving and reclaiming later, he had to be extra careful.

But when the progress bar got stuck at 99.001%, the absorption slowed to a crawl.

Chun froze. Huh? Could it be the Earth Vein was about to be completely drained? No way, I’m already at 99% about to break through, at least let me break through first before it dries up!

Maybe it wasn’t deep enough yet?

Chun tried drilling downward, and it was easy, none of the previous immense resistance at all!

Holy Shit! I’m drilling in with a "yam head" on top, and it’s still this easy?

After descending ten meters, the digits after the decimal point suddenly jumped by two places. Ah, there we go! No need to mess around anymore—if he broke the yam head and leaked energy, that would be a huge loss.

Yet this last 1% made Chun wait a full half hour!

Finally:

— System Notification: Congratulations! Your Vine form’s absorption of Earth Vein energy has reached 100%, and you have obtained 15% Essence of Earth Life. After being dissolved and reborn, your Vine’s toughness has further increased, and you have obtained a new Special Skill "Resilient Rebirth." Your Intermediate Vine Technique has advanced to Advanced Level 1. You have received an achievement reward: Mana +10, Life +10...

— System Notification: The Earth Vein energy in this area is nearly exhausted.

Ohho, another Special Skill! Vine Technique leveled up 10 levels in one go, nice!

Huh? It’s just exhausted like that?!

Chun’s feelings were complicated, both the regret that the treasure wouldn’t last long and the small sense of achievement from squeezing out the very last drop.

Then, begin dissolving and reclaiming...

...

In-game time, 4 a.m.

Michael was urgently woken by the butler: "Sir, the Fourth Prince has returned!"

Michael immediately logged in and arrived at the military port. With a group of Military Department officers welcoming him, the Fourth Prince wobbled out of the cabin, with what looked like a patch of vomit stain on his chest.

Michael had long since run out of patience: "Your Highness, you’re finally back. We’ve achieved a phased victory; Your Highness must immediately go petition His Majesty for a deployment—"

The Fourth Prince waved his hand: "I... I need to rest first!"

They already knew he’d never seen a scene this big and was scared out of his wits!

Good thing Michael was prepared. He immediately greeted the officers: "Let us welcome the Fourth Prince, brave and fearless, who delivered the final Deadly Strike to the Evil God!!"

The officers shouted passionately: "His Highness is brave, the star of the Empire!"

They then escorted the Fourth Prince straight to the palace; once he met the Emperor’s Clone, he had no choice but to go.

"Butler, wake Uriel as well!"

"Yes, sir."

Sela yawned: "The boss is here, huh? Might as well wake Sariel too. Gabriel had two major discoveries last night. I’m currently in Southern Canyon Village and have made equally major discoveries. I’ll start with mine..."

Michael watched the video replay and was dumbfounded: "Such a shabby house is actually a Divine Artifact-level building?"

Sela said, "It’s just that it has Divinity. I’m in the village chapel right now and tested the wood here as well; it has Divinity too."

Michael was puzzled: "That’s not right. Even the Church’s century-old cathedrals use wood, and they’re even more devout. How come they don’t have this phenomenon?"

Metatron also came back to his senses: "Indeed. I’ve been to two component villages in the countryside, their churches are also a hundred years old, and they don’t have this situation either."

Sela thought it over: "But Southern Canyon Village is special. It’s built on a Magic Gold Meteorite. The wood used when building the village must have been sourced locally, so the material composition is different."

Michael said in surprise: "That explanation makes sense, but does that mean this slum also has special mineral deposits like Magic Gold?"

Sela laughed: "Just have Gabriel send people to prospect tomorrow, problem solved, right?"

Sariel was forcibly woken: "What’s this got to do with me?"

Sela laughed: "We triggered an NPC’s worship quest. Are they going to default to worshiping the Oak Guardian God, or your little Mermaid sweetheart?"

Sariel didn’t even think: "Is that even a question? Of course my Mermaid!"

Sela burst out laughing: "Alright, I’ll leave that to you. We’ll wait for Gabriel to log in..."