Arknightcraft Modpack

After leading Steven to a mining vein with no other workers, the middle-aged man turned and left, returning to his work.

From start to finish, he behaved like a soulless machine, merely repeating the rules as if reading from a script.

There was no hint of hope or ambition in his voice or eyes—just a lifeless husk going through the motions.

As for the things he warned Steven about, the Minecrafter didn’t listen to a single word of it.

He had expected something important, but all the man said was don’t dig too deep?

Did they think he was like them?

What kind of Minecrafter doesn’t dig deep?

Steven had no idea if this world had bedrock, lava, or the kind of ores he was familiar with—diamonds, emeralds, and the like—but now that he was here in this massive mine, he could dig however he pleased.

After scanning the surroundings and confirming that the other workers were stationed far away, Steven casually tossed aside the rusty iron pickaxe in his hand.

“What kind of garbage tool is this? Even an ocelot would turn its nose up at it.”

Reaching into his Transmutation Table, he pulled out a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency V.

Now this was more like it.

That shimmering blue glow—iconic and familiar.

Sure, Netherite Tools were objectively better, but Steven never liked their color.

Diamond was the true classic.

Testing it out, he carved a two-meter-high square section out of the rock in front of him.

The results were immediate—his pickaxe worked perfectly in this world.

And more importantly, the mined blocks were directly stored in his inventory.

This made his mining far more efficient than the others—no need to haul debris outside.

Switching into grinding mode, Steven held a torch in his left hand while his right swung the pickaxe at high speed.

In mere seconds, his mining area transformed into a deep, pitch-black tunnel.

Then, just as quickly, he poked his head out, checked his surroundings, and—seeing no one nearby—pulled out two dirt blocks to seal off the entrance.

“Almost forgot to close this off. A perfectly square tunnel like this would definitely raise suspicion.”

He didn’t want anyone disturbing his mining, so for safety’s sake, sealing it up was the best option.

With that, silence returned to the mine.

No one knew that deep underground, a relentless mining machine had been unleashed.

<+>

In less than half an hour, Steven’s inventory was already filled to the brim with raw ores.

And that was after he had compressed dirt and stone into EMC inside his Transmutation Table.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have even needed thirty minutes.

A Minecrafter miner never had to worry about cave-ins or oxygen shortages—as long as he had a pickaxe, the whole world was a mine.

But Steven wasn’t done.

As if he wanted to tempt fate, he set up several furnaces right there in his completely sealed-off tunnel and began smelting ores.

If it were anyone else, they’d probably pass out within minutes from lack of oxygen.

But Steven?

He just casually watched as his raw ores were gradually refined into various metal ingots.

One thing puzzled him, though.

Despite the Transmutation Table allowing him to convert stone and dirt into EMC, and metal ingots into exchange points, it refused to accept raw ores directly.

They had to be smelted first.

Annoying, but on the bright side, it added to the mining experience.

After all, smelting ores was an essential part of every Minecrafter’s mining routine.

It had to be done.

If there was one downside to all this, it was that this mining vein didn’t have much Originium ore.

Instead, it was filled with common materials—lead, copper, iron, and coal.

Even the few Originium ores he did find, once refined, only gave him tiny Originium Shard—barely half the size of the ones he got from Closure.

“Half an hour of mining, and I only got a few dozen pieces? The spawn rate is basically the same as vanilla Minecraft diamonds… and it doesn’t even benefit from Fortune.”

Steven sighed.

“If only I had some kind of ore distribution chart, like how diamonds always spawn around Y-level 11-12.”

Steven muttered in disappointment.

Truthfully, this mining speed was still within his acceptable range—if he could gather this much in half an hour, that meant he could easily mine a few hundred by the end of the day.

But humans were greedy creatures. They never settled for what they had—they always wanted more.

Steven decided he would dig even deeper later.

After all, that man had mentioned that the deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets.

But wasn’t greater danger also a sign of greater rewards?

After making sure the furnaces were running smoothly, Steven unsealed the entrance, casually whistling as he placed a chunk of iron ore onto a nearby minecart. Then, he sealed off his private tunnel again.

He couldn’t stay hidden the whole time, that would be too suspicious.

He had to at least pretend to be working.

After all, he planned to mine here for several days, and the last thing he wanted was anyone disturbing him.

Pushing the minecart to the deposit station, Steven finally saw the other miners working in the same mine.

He was puzzled.

Why were they all gathered here at this time?

As he got closer, he realized why.

It was mealtime.

And in their hands—Steven instantly recognized it.

Black, coal-like “bread.”

He let out a sigh.

“Figures. No one even bothered to call me over.”

Newcomers really had zero status in this place.

Not that it mattered.

Steven wasn’t remotely interested in this thing that barely even qualified as food.

So after pushing his cart to the deposit area, he turned to leave.

But a deep voice called out to him.

“Hey, new guy! You’re not eating? If you don’t fill your stomach, you won’t have the strength to work.”

Steven turned around.

Among the group of miners, one man stood up and waved him over.

Unlike the others, his eyes still held a faint glimmer of hope.

Steven hesitated.

Since someone had invited him, it felt rude to ignore the gesture entirely.

So instead of leaving, he walked over and took a closer look at the man.

Just like the others, the man was dressed in tattered rough-spun clothing, his body hunched from years of mining.

But compared to that first man Steven met, this one was different.

His eyes still had life in them.

“Don’t be stubborn, newbie. Everyone’s like this at first. This stuff may taste awful, but at least it keeps you going. If you don’t eat, you might slip up later—and then you risk infection.”

The man tore off a piece of the blackened bread and offered it to Steven.

Steven shook his head.

“I appreciate the thought, really. But I’m not hungry right now. Food’s hard to come by here—you should save it for yourself.”

Not wanting to owe anyone favors, Steven turned around and resumed pushing his minecart back to the tunnels.

As far as he was concerned, he just needed to clock in and show he was working.

Nothing else mattered.

Why eat that garbage when he had steak and potatoes?

He’d have to be insane.

<+>

“Forget it. Newbies are always like this.”

“Yeah. Just let him starve for a meal—he’ll learn.”

Some of the other miners shook their heads, no longer bothering with Steven.

But then, one of them pointed at Steven’s minecart, trying to stir up a little entertainment in this dark, monotonous cave.

“How much do you think the newbie mined?”

“Looking at his cart? Eh, probably not even a few dozen kilos.”

It made sense.

A newcomer couldn’t possibly have dug much in such a short time.

Even veteran miners could only manage half a ton of ore in an entire day.

And after smelting, that barely amounted to anything.

That was why the mine needed so many workers grinding day and night.

But then—

One of the miners walked over to check Steven’s deposit.

And immediately froze in place.

“What’s wrong?”

Another miner shouted over.

“Don’t tell me he didn’t mine anything? Was he just pretending to work?”

“If that’s the case, he’s not getting any food later.”

But the first miner didn’t answer.

Instead, his face was twisted in sheer disbelief.

“What’s wrong?!”

The miner turned back, his voice trembling.

“That bastard mined a full ton in half an hour.”

“What the fuck?! What kind of grinding maniac is this?!”