The forest, shrouded in thick mist, enveloped Lin Fan in a veil of mystery. He didn't know how far he had run, only that Black Wind was no longer in pursuit. A sense of exhaustion slowly set in as the effects of the Spirit Recovery Pill faded. The poisonous fog continued to drain his HP, little by little. HP: 20/110. He knew he couldn't stay here long.
He stopped beside a decaying tree stump, panting. The grey jade pendant in his hand felt cold. The Spirit Vein was depleted. He couldn't continue cultivating right now. But it had saved his life. The pendant hadn't just accelerated his cultivation; it was also a strange lucky charm, repelling the mutated Rat Wolf and helping him survive Black Wind's fatal blow.
"I need to find an absolutely safe place," Lin Fan muttered. "Somewhere no one can find me, at least for now."
This poisonous fog zone, though dangerous, was a perfect cover. No one would dare venture deep into it unless they had detoxification pills or a high cultivation level. This was his advantage.
Lin Fan began to grope his way forward. He didn't move too fast, his eyes and ears on high alert. He listened to the rustling leaves, the whispers of the wind, even the chirping of insects. His survival experience from the real world taught him that even the smallest details could signal danger or opportunity.
The dense mist severely limited his visibility, to only a few meters. He had to rely on his senses and instincts to navigate. After walking for a while, he suddenly felt an unusual cold draft on his face. He stopped, concentrating. It was the draft from a cave, a potential hiding spot.
He carefully followed the cold current. The deeper he went, the thinner the mist became, and before him appeared a small cave entrance, hidden behind a small underground waterfall and dense vines. The entrance was just wide enough for a person to crouch through.
"Perfect!" Lin Fan silently cheered. An ideal hiding place.
He cautiously squeezed into the cave. Inside, it was dark and damp, but the air was much fresher than outside. His HP stopped decreasing. It seemed the poisonous fog couldn't penetrate here.
He lit a small torch from his novice supplies. The flickering flame illuminated a narrow space, unremarkable save for damp rock walls and a few jagged stones. He found a secluded corner and sat down. Finally, he could rest.
Lin Fan took out the pendant. He placed it in his palm, examining it more closely. The grey jade pendant seemed to have changed slightly. Its surface had become a bit brighter, and he could faintly see a few obscure patterns emerging, like tiny veins beneath the grey stone.
"Perhaps it needs a different kind of energy besides spiritual energy," he mused. Or maybe it was "evolving" after absorbing the Spirit Vein.
He checked his own condition. Level 3, abundant spiritual energy, but his HP was still low. He needed a Spirit Recovery Pill. He only had one left. Now was the time to use it. He swallowed the pill, feeling spiritual energy surge back, his HP rapidly recovering.
Now was the time to think about long-term development. A "hidden development" strategy didn't mean sitting still. It meant optimizing every single step.
He knew the pendant could refine and boost spirit herbs. If he could find a low-grade spirit herb, he could duplicate them, sell them for money. But even low-grade spirit herbs weren't easy to find, and if exposed, he'd be hunted again.
Lin Fan closed his eyes, recalling information he had read. There was a special type of resource in Nine Realms, not a spirit herb, but crucial for crafting: Spirit-Grade Ore. These ore chunks contained a certain amount of spiritual energy, usually mined from small veins or caves. They weren't as rare as spirit herbs, but they were in high demand.
"What if the pendant can refine ore?" This thought excited Lin Fan. Ore was much easier to find than spirit herbs. He could find a small ore vein, then use the pendant to refine them into higher-grade ore, and then sell them.
This was a safer path to wealth, one less likely to attract attention.
The next morning in-game, Lin Fan began to act. He left the cave, but didn't venture deep into the forest or return to the village. He walked along the cliff face, searching for signs of ore veins. The search took quite a while. He had to squeeze through thorny bushes, checking every crack in the rock.
Finally, after several hours, he found it. A small ore vein, hidden in a narrow gorge, almost unnoticed by anyone. Grey, unremarkable ore chunks protruded from the rock face, devoid of any light.
Spirit-Grade Ore (Basic): Common ore, contains faint spiritual energy.
Lin Fan was overjoyed. He pulled out his novice pickaxe and began mining. The work was quite strenuous; each swing only managed to chip off a small ore chunk. He had mined almost twenty chunks before he felt exhausted.
He sat down, taking out the jade pendant and a basic Spirit-Grade Ore. He placed the ore on the pendant, then tried dripping a drop of his own blood onto the pendant. He remembered reading somewhere that ancient artifacts sometimes required a blood sacrifice to activate.
Nothing happened. The pendant remained inert.
Lin Fan frowned. So, no blood sacrifice. What about Spirit Dew? He didn't have any left.
He looked closely at the ore. It contained spiritual energy, however faint. Perhaps the pendant didn't need Spirit Dew, but pure spiritual energy to work on other items? Or perhaps it needed a certain amount of spiritual energy from the item itself?
He recalled how it refined spiritual energy in the cave. The pendant had directly absorbed spiritual energy from the Spirit Vein, then refined it. So, what if he placed the pendant on the ore, and concentrated his own spiritual energy into the pendant?
Lin Fan followed that thought. He placed the pendant on the ore chunk, then circulated the spiritual energy in his Dantian, attempting to guide it into the pendant.
Instantly!
A faint azure light once again flared from the pendant. The spiritual energy from his Dantian was drawn into the pendant, rapidly vanishing. And then, the basic Spirit-Grade Ore on the pendant began to change.
From its dull grey color, it slowly shifted to a pale green, then a deeper green. A flow of spiritual energy, far purer than before, began to emanate from the ore.
In just a few seconds, the ore chunk had completely transformed.
Spirit-Grade Ore (Mid-grade): Rarer ore, contains abundant spiritual energy.
Lin Fan's heart pounded. Another success! The pendant could refine ore! And this consumed his spiritual energy, not Spirit Dew. He checked his status panel. His MP had decreased slightly.
He continued experimenting with the other ore chunks. Each time he refined a basic ore into a mid-grade one, his MP decreased a bit. He could refine about ten ore chunks before his MP ran out and he had to sit in meditation to recover.
After refining all the mined ore into Mid-grade Spirit-Grade Ore, Lin Fan felt satisfied. Now it was time to sell them. He knew Mid-grade Spirit-Grade Ore was worth much more than the basic kind.
He returned to the market, still cautiously anonymous. He set the price for each Mid-grade Spirit-Grade Ore at 15 gold coins. The basic ones were only 2 gold coins. More than seven times the price!
"Item sold!" notifications continuously popped up. In less than half an hour, all his ore had been bought. He had earned nearly 300 gold coins! This was a colossal sum for a Level 3 novice like him.
He checked his account. In total, he now had over 300 gold coins. This was an astonishing leap. He had enough money to buy more cultivation techniques, more elixirs.
However, Lin Fan didn't let the sudden wealth blind him. He knew that suddenly acquiring such a large sum, even with his anonymity, could still attract attention. Especially from those who specialized in gathering information for major factions.
He looked out the virtual window, a sense of unease creeping in. Black Wind was just a small-time predator. Out there, in the vast Nine Realms world, there were countless stronger, more ruthless individuals. And behind it all, was the secret of the connection between the game world and reality, something he still couldn't fully comprehend.
"I must be even more careful," Lin Fan whispered to himself. "The path of hidden development is the right one."
He decided not to buy advanced cultivation techniques or elixirs immediately. He would use this money to buy more basic ore, continue refining it, and sell it gradually, in small batches, to avoid drawing attention. He would also invest in essential survival items for more dangerous areas, where he could find richer resources.