Chapter 68: The Interconnected Mine Caves

It wasn’t until Lake climbed up from below that Su You finally noticed the little creature hidden in his arms.

Perhaps it was because it recognized Su You; the white ermine that had just been lively and almost made Lake fall off the ladder was now as motionless as a perfect specimen, playing dead with a skill that had clearly improved since before.

“Hey, you were just causing trouble for me, almost made me fall, and now you know to play dead?” Lake took the ermine out of his arms, his face showing a bit of helplessness.

“Where did you find it?” Su You hadn’t cared much about the white ermine at first—after all, she was the one who had let it out herself.

But now that she’d run into it here, she decided to ask, suspecting that Lake might have come here because of the ermine.

As it turned out, her guess was right.

When Lake explained that he’d seen the ermine running out and thought it had escaped from the territory, so he’d chased after it to bring it back, Su You raised her eyebrows.

“It didn’t escape. I let it out.”

“Huh?” Lake, still stuck in the mindset of “this ermine just doesn’t know how to enjoy a good life,” was stunned.

Su You looked at the ermine. When it heard her words, it turned to her with teary eyes, looking so pitiful that Su You almost seemed like a heartless scoundrel who’d broken its heart.

“Squeak...”

Unfortunately, Su You was unmoved. When the ermine saw she wasn’t softening, it suddenly broke free from Lake’s arms and leaped to the edge of the pit.

Maybe it jumped a bit too hard, because it nearly lost its footing and almost fell back into the hole.

Luckily, it didn’t fall this time. Last time, it had Lake to break its fall, but if such a small creature suddenly dropped down, who knew what might happen?

“Ch-ch-ch!” Once it steadied itself at the edge, the ermine began waving its paws excitedly at the two of them, hopping up and down and chattering in words they couldn’t understand.

Su You frowned. She had a feeling the ermine was trying to tell her something... Suddenly, her gaze shifted to the walls of the mine cave.

She saw that the inner walls of this so-called “mine cave” were covered in nothing but stone—there wasn’t the slightest trace of ore.

Lake, curious about what Su You was looking at, glanced around as well.

“There doesn’t seem to be any ore here?” As soon as he said it, Lake felt like he’d just stated the obvious.

But that wasn’t the point. The real question was—why would a mine cave have no ore at all?

Could it just be a stone cave?

Impossible!

Knowing this was a mine, if there was a naturally formed cave, it had to be a mine cave, not just a cave full of plain stone.

“Squeak!” Seeing that neither Su You nor Lake was paying attention to it, the ermine grew anxious.

It squeaked again, and when it saw both of them look its way, it darted down the wooden ladder Su You had set up and slipped back into the pit.

“Hey!” Lake was startled and hurried over to the edge, peering down to check on the ermine. When he saw it standing safely at the bottom, he finally relaxed.

Before he could say anything, he saw Su You, who had been standing behind him, walk over and follow the ermine down the ladder.

“My Lord!” Lake was truly bewildered now. He had no idea what was going on... It was one thing for the ermine to go down, but why was the lord going too?

Was there some kind of treasure down there?

...And Lake was right! There really was something down there!

Su You knew that a cave in a mine should be a mine cave, so when she saw that the walls of this surface-level cave had no visible traces of ore, she began to suspect... suspect that this might be an interconnected mine cave.

An interconnected mine cave, as the name suggests, is formed by at least two connected caverns. The outermost layer has little or no exposed ore, while the real ore is hidden in the inner cave.

Given the current situation, this pit was likely a passage connecting two mine caves!

...

Watching Su You go down, Lake wasn’t sure if he should stay above in case something happened, or follow her down...

Just as he was about to go down, he heard Su You’s voice from below—

“Lake, bring a burning stick and hold it at the entrance to light things up.” Su You still had materials for a campfire, but the space below was just too cramped.

With the ladder in place and her standing there, there was no room for a fire, so she had to rely on this more troublesome method for lighting.

“Okay!” Lake turned, grabbed a burning stick, and returned to the entrance.

To shine the light further down, he even stretched his arm down as far as he could.

“That’s good, just like that.” With enough light, Su You could finally see what was at the bottom of the pit.

Without light, all she could see was stone walls, as if it were just an ordinary pit—nothing special.

But now, with the light, she could clearly see that one of the stone walls had a color and pattern completely different from the others.

Su You picked up the pickaxe Lake had left behind and tapped on that wall... The sound was crisp and resonant.

After confirming the spot, Su You raised the pickaxe and started digging at that wall.

Above, Lake couldn’t see what was happening below since he was holding the burning stick, but when he heard the familiar sound, he knew what Su You was doing.

In less than three minutes, the fire burned out.

Just as Lake was about to ask if she needed more light, he heard the sound of rocks collapsing from below.

“So it really is an interconnected mine cave...” Su You looked at the “hidden world” behind the stone wall, muttering to herself as her gaze fell on the ermine, who had been staring at her with eager eyes ever since she’d come down.

Lake’s voice drifted down from above. Su You pulled her gaze away from the ermine and called up, “You can head back now. And when you go, remember to take the stones you dug out with you...”

(End of chapter)"

"69. A Good Meal

“There’s a wooden cart over there—you can load the stones onto it.”

When Su You told him to head back, Lake was naturally uneasy. He had no idea what was happening below; all he knew was that when he returned with another torch, he found the bottom of the pit completely empty—not a soul in sight.

Lake: …!?!

Fortunately, Su You responded to his calls, letting him know she was safe.

“This is a series of connected mines. I’m in another tunnel, and it’s safe here.” Su You paused, then continued, “I’ll head back after I finish checking things out here. Once you’ve taken the stones back, if you have time, chop some wood. I’ll need a lot of lumber and stone this afternoon for building.”

“And pass a message to Dolly for me—ask her to gather more red berries. We’ll have a good meal tonight.”

Not only had they opened up a new path to the mine today, but they’d also caught a black-striped tiger… and now, they’d even discovered a network of connected tunnels!

With one piece of good news after another, tonight definitely called for a celebratory meal.

After relaying all these instructions, Lake was still reluctant to leave, but he chose to follow orders.

“All right then…” Lake said helplessly. “I’ll head back now. Please be careful, my lord.”

Once Lake left, Su You prepared to explore the second tunnel. But before going in, she crouched down and reached her hand out to the white ermine.

“Come up.” Maybe it really understood her, because the ermine didn’t hesitate at all—it scampered up her arm and perched on her shoulder.

Its tiny, nervous paws clung to her clothes, while its long tail draped across the back of her neck.

With the ermine in place, Su You steadied herself against the cave wall and slowly moved forward. As she went, she kept her construction interface open, always on the lookout for a spot to place a campfire.

She didn’t know how long she’d been inching along before she finally found a clearing big enough for a campfire. The moment the fire was lit, it felt like her entire world brightened.

Now, Su You could finally see where she was—a vast, open cavern, completely different from the cramped tunnel above.

Even better, she could see traces of various ores in the rock walls. Just at a glance, she spotted three types: coal, copper, and something called “Refined Magic Ore.”

Coal and copper were self-explanatory—the former was fuel, and with coal, Su You could finally craft basic portable lighting.

As for copper, its main use was to make tools and equipment of the corresponding tier. Besides that, copper could be used to mint copper coins—currency in this world could actually be crafted.

Not just copper—silver and gold ore could also be made into silver and gold coins.

But usually, people didn’t do this. Ores were a limited resource—once mined, they were gone, and they were consumed in huge quantities.

Once a trading post was built, currency could be obtained infinitely through trade.

Ores could also be traded for, but merchants rarely had much in stock. The main source was still to find and mine them yourself.

As for Refined Magic Ore, even though it was an ore, it couldn’t be used to craft anything directly. Instead, it was an enhancement material—people liked to call it “enchantment material.”

Its main use was to add it during crafting, which would increase the chances of getting better attributes or higher quality on the finished item.

It sounded impressive, but early on, it wasn’t very useful, since you needed the right crafting skills.

Without the proper skills, Refined Magic Ore was useless—Su You didn’t even have any NPCs who could craft things yet.

Still, as long as there was copper, this mine was decent quality… What Su You feared most was ending up with a silver or gold mine.

Although silver and gold were more valuable than copper in every way, mining silver required a copper pickaxe, and mining gold required a silver pickaxe…

Luckily, that wasn’t the case here—whether that was good or bad luck, she wasn’t sure.

“Did you know there was a mine here?” Instead of immediately digging, Su You turned to look at the little creature on her shoulder after spotting the copper.

In response, she got an innocent look.

‘Chirp?’ What are you talking about?

Su You: “…” She almost forgot—they didn’t speak the same language.

Since they couldn’t communicate, Su You let the matter drop… though in her heart, she already had her answer.

After all, Lake had been led here by the ermine, and she’d only started investigating the surface tunnel after noticing the ermine’s odd behavior—only then did she discover the interconnected mines…

Since they couldn’t chat, Su You stopped trying and picked up her pickaxe, ready to dig up some coal and copper to bring back.

…

While Su You was mining, the white ermine hopped down from her shoulder. It sat obediently by the campfire, watching her dig for a while, then twitched its nose…

Even though Su You was focused on mining, she kept an eye on the ermine out of the corner of her eye. At first, seeing it quietly by the fire, she didn’t think much of it. But just a few minutes later, when she glanced over again, the ermine had vanished.

Noticing this, Su You paused for a moment, but didn’t stop mining to look for it. She chose to keep working.

[Obtained Coal x6]

[Obtained Copper Ore Fragments x48]

[Obtained Copper Ore x5]

[Obtained Copper Ore x8]

…

Copper ore fragments were similar to the sandstone shards she’d found before—both had their own drop rates when mining. The difference was, sandstone shards were useless, but copper ore fragments could be refined in a furnace to extract copper, though at a lower yield.

Normally, one copper ore smelted in a furnace would yield one copper ingot, but it would take 10–20 copper ore fragments to smelt a single ingot.

The efficiency depended on the furnace’s level—the lower the level, the less efficient the filtering, and the more fragments it took. Higher-level furnaces were more efficient and used fewer fragments.

Given her current setup, these 48 copper ore fragments were worth less than two and a half copper ingots—but every little bit helped.

(End of chapter)"

"70. Wealth and Disaster

Of course, the most important thing was that Su You had enough backpack space to carry all this copper slag!

Ores usually stacked in groups of twenty, while copper slag stacked in fifties, so after all that digging, Su You had only used up three backpack slots.

After a while, Su You figured she had enough copper and decided to take a break, leave the mine, and head back to her territory.

Before leaving, Su You glanced around, looking for the white ermine. As her gaze swept across the cave, she finally spotted a snow-white ermine… or rather, its butt, sticking out from a small corner.

Su You: ???

She paused for a moment, then walked over to see what kind of trouble the ermine was getting itself into this time.

“Eek?!”

As soon as she approached, the white ermine seemed to hear her footsteps and started struggling frantically.

It was only when she saw it struggling that Su You realized the ermine must be stuck.

There seemed to be a small hole here. The ermine had squeezed its front half inside, but perhaps because it was too chubby, its back half was stuck at the entrance.

Su You reached out, grabbed the other half of the ermine, gave a gentle tug, and pulled it out of the hole.

Ding—

Just as the ermine was pulled free, Su You saw something arc through the air in a perfect parabola, landing on the ground with a crisp sound.

Before Su You could see what it was, the ermine darted over, picked it up, and scampered back toward her, tail wagging.

When it reached her, it eagerly placed the object in Su You’s hand.

“Eek!”

“What’s this…” The color looked familiar to Su You, and she thought she recognized it, but wasn’t sure.

“Eek eek eek!!!” After dropping the item in Su You’s hand, the ermine ran back to the spot where it had gotten stuck and began frantically scratching at the stone wall.

Having seen something similar before, Su You had a hunch. She took out her pickaxe and tapped on the wall.

Unlike the last time, when the sound was long and clear, this time it was dull and muffled, not at all like a hollow stone wall.

Su You didn’t give up. She methodically tapped her pickaxe along the entire stone wall, and finally, at a spot slightly below the right side, she noticed something unusual.

The sound here wasn’t crisp, but not completely dull either. It was odd, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

She ran her hand over the stone, noticing the texture was different from the surrounding rocks. Su You decided to check the information on this section of the wall.

[Marble]

Category: Material

Quality: White

Description: A type of material used in construction. Requires a copper pickaxe to mine.

…

The rest of the wall was ordinary stone, but this spot was marble, which could only be mined with a copper pickaxe. Anyone could tell there was something special about this place.

But knowing was one thing—there was nothing Su You could do about it right now, since she only had a stone pickaxe.

Still, compared to whatever might be hidden behind the marble wall, Su You was more interested in the little white ermine tugging at her pant leg.

She bent down and picked it up, and at the same time tried to check its information…

This ermine kept finding things—clearly, it wasn’t an ordinary animal. In Sunset Continent, almost everything could be inspected by players, but the rarer or more special something was, the less information would be revealed.

Su You had assumed it was just a normal ermine, so she hadn’t bothered checking before—after all, inspecting uncollected resources or living creatures consumed energy.

Here, “energy” meant hunger and stamina.

That was why Su You didn’t inspect everything she saw—her stamina and hunger bars couldn’t handle it.

But now that the ermine had shown its unusual abilities, Su You didn’t mind spending a bit of stamina and hunger.

[??·White Ermine]

Level: 3 (5/300)

Potential: 90

Skills: Basic Tracking, Treasure Seeking (locked), ?? (locked)

Description: An ermine that looks ordinary but isn’t. Likes berries and meat, not picky, will eat almost anything, but its absolute favorite is the phoenix fruit. Feeding it phoenix fruit will significantly boost its stats.

…

After reading this, Su You’s expression grew complicated.

She never expected this ermine to have such high potential, multiple skills, and even a prefix.

Potential, as the name suggests, refers to how powerful and effective a creature’s skills can be—the higher the potential, the stronger the skills and their effects.

Prefixes don’t just appear on creatures like this ermine; any item, tool, or equipment can have a prefix.

If a tool or item has a prefix, it means it has some special property.

For example, a [Durable·Stone Axe] will last longer than a regular stone axe because of the “Durable” prefix.

When a creature has a prefix, it usually means it has legendary bloodline.

Maybe because this ermine was still low-level and weak, its prefix was sealed, so Su You couldn’t see the details.

But judging from the two visible skills, Su You suspected its ancestor might have been a treasure-hunting beast. In other words, its prefix was probably “Treasure-Seeking,” making it a [Treasure-Seeking·White Ermine].

That would explain why it was so good at finding connected mines, and even a second inner mine.

Even though its treasure-seeking skill wasn’t unlocked yet, with its inherited bloodline, simply finding ores in a mine was no challenge at all.

So now the question was: knowing this was a treasure-hunting beast, should Su You let it go?

“…” Su You glanced at the ermine clinging to her and couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Anyone else would have accepted it without hesitation—after all, with a treasure-hunting beast and proper training, who wouldn’t be able to find mountains of gold and silver in the future?

But things weren’t that simple.

Because everything in this world is balanced.

A treasure-hunting beast may bring endless wealth, but it also brings disaster.

(End of chapter)"

"Certainly! Here’s a fluent, natural English translation of the provided Chinese text:

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