My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 44: An Unexpected Reward

Fang Zhen didn’t respond, nor did he play the part of a hero and offer to help Redstone Town reclaim the mine for free.

In truth, Fang Zhen already had a plan. He was determined to fight his way through the Redstone Town Mine and exterminate every last Kobold.

For one, Fang Zhen was very curious to see the Kobold Magic in this instance. But there was another, more important reason: the last time he had to choose a skill to make permanent, he felt he’d had to make a painful sacrifice. He had wanted to make ’Courage’ permanent but didn’t have enough Merit Points.

Back then, Fang Zhen had secretly resolved to clear instances with the highest possible rating whenever he could, thereby avoiding the awkward situation of having insufficient Merit Points.

Clearly, completely clearing an instance was a key component of earning the highest rating.

Besides, Fang Zhen had a nagging intuition.

Generally speaking, the early stages of a game have a beginner’s protection period, or what you might call a grace period.

This was actually a period of high rewards and low difficulty—a grace period that was, at the very least, the most cost-effective in terms of gains versus difficulty.

Fang Zhen didn’t want to waste this opportunity. Based on the information he had, the game "Dungeon Life" was not easy, and great challenges lay ahead.

Fang Zhen would rather put in the effort early on, do his utmost to achieve high ratings, obtain enough Merit Points, and build a solid foundation.

In Fang Zhen’s experience, slacking off early on might be relaxing, but with a weak foundation, things would only get progressively harder, making it impossible to climb to greater heights.

Fang Zhen was, at heart, an ambitious person. He’d much rather suffer now for a sweet future than the other way around. Proper progression should mean things get easier, not harder.

With this philosophy, Fang Zhen’s goal was crystal clear: he had to extract the maximum possible benefits and advantages from the instance.

He had already resolved to wipe out the Redstone Town Mine’s Dogman Tribe, but there was no need to tell Ande that. Instead, he would use it as a bargaining chip to acquire even more benefits.

Maximizing his profit was the optimal solution when Fang Zhen stepped back from thinking about a single instance and considered the bigger picture on a grander, more far-reaching scale.

It wasn’t that Fang Zhen was cruel; it was that the "Dungeon Life" game was simply too hardcore. Without making rational, clear-headed judgments, one could never make it to the very end.

If Fang Zhen wanted to see it through to the end, to climb to an unprecedented peak and look down upon all others, he had to abandon pointless currying of favor and any thoughts of being a do-gooder.

Silence.

The silence put Ande under considerable pressure. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

After a few seconds, Ande buckled under the pressure.

"Sir, Redstone Town’s tax revenue is already in crisis. We cannot offer you any more money in the short term."

"However, we do have a unique local product, and we have quite a lot of it left."

"If you can truly do as you claim and reclaim the mine, I will make an executive decision and give you all of that product as your payment!"

"The value of these goods absolutely exceeds thirty Gold Ropes!" Ande said, gritting his teeth as if making a great sacrifice.

As he spoke, Ande took an object from a cloth pouch at his waist and placed it on the table.

Fang Zhen’s gaze fell upon the object Ande had placed on the table.

When he got a clear look at it, a flicker of surprise and astonishment crossed Fang Zhen’s face.

He recognized it.

What Ande had placed on the table was a piece of red ore, mottled with flecks of white.

"Sir, this ore is a very rare mineral that was discovered while mining for iron in the Redstone Town Mine."

"In fact, Redstone Town got its name because it produces this very red ore."

"I don’t know what it’s actually called. I just know that when we find a vein of iron, we sometimes come across this red ore during the mining process. It’s just very rare—we have to mine a lot of iron just to find a single piece like this."

"This ore is very valuable. A large merchant caravan comes by every three years to buy it. Just a few bags of this ore can sell for sixty Gold Ropes."

"The caravan isn’t due for another six months, and the town has several bags of this red ore in storage, worth at least fifty Gold Ropes."

"Sir, Redstone Town is truly out of money. But if you can really help us reclaim the mine, then I’ll make the call to give you all of this expensive red ore as your payment!" Ande said earnestly, his face a mask of firm resolve.

Fang Zhen didn’t respond immediately.

He picked up the red-and-white mottled ore from the table. It was irregularly shaped, roughly like a bar of soap but thicker. It felt quite heavy in his hand, weighing over a kilogram.

The red part of the ore was a vibrant, blood-like crimson, while the white parts had a fine texture like mutton fat. It had a soft luster, with full-bodied grains that shimmered with a metallic sheen, imbued with a natural beauty and the essence of the earth.

’Isn’t this... Cinnabar Ore?’ Fang Zhen thought.

Fang Zhen had indeed recognized the mineral. It was Cinnabar Ore, no doubt about it.

Cinnabar, scientifically known as cinnabarite, is primarily composed of mercury sulfide. It’s typically found in geological environments like volcanic rocks, hot spring deposits, low-temperature hydrothermal veins, and fault-breccia dolomite.

And in certain geological conditions, it is theoretically possible for cinnabar veins to overlap with iron ore veins, forming an associated mineral.

Whether they coexist, and the scale and form of that coexistence, depends on various factors, including geological history, rock type, tectonic activity, and fluid composition and conditions.

Fang Zhen was able to recognize the Cinnabar Ore because a childhood friend of his was in the business of making bracelets. His friend had once shown him the various raw materials used, and Cinnabar Ore was among them.

Fang Zhen had learned from his friend that Cinnabar Ore was graded. The expensive kind was priced by the gram; even the lowest grade sold for over 5 yuan per gram, while high-quality ore could fetch several dozen yuan per gram.

’And by comparison,’ Fang Zhen thought, ’my friend’s workshop had very little Cinnabar Ore—less than eight kilograms in total. But Ande just said Redstone Town has several bags of it in storage. Several bags... even if they’re small, that has to be at least twenty to thirty kilograms, right?’

Fang Zhen quickly did the math in his head.

’Let’s be conservative and say it’s 25 kilograms of Cinnabar Ore. 25 kilograms is 25,000 grams. If I can sell it for, say, 15 yuan per gram... the total price would be...’

’Three hundred seventy-five thousand?’ Fang Zhen’s eyes lit up.

’It’s worth at least 375,000 yuan,’ Fang Zhen thought.

He decided this deal was more than worth it.

This was definitely Cinnabar Ore, and Fang Zhen already had a ready-made sales channel. He could just go to his childhood friend to offload the ore.

Fang Zhen was very cautious. Even if he obtained more Gold from the Redstone Town Mine instance, he didn’t plan on selling it to Chen Baokun anytime soon.

Selling Gold too frequently could attract unwanted attention.

But if he switched products and sold Cinnabar Ore to his friend, the risk would plummet.

Fang Zhen had over 600,000 yuan in his account, which wasn’t a small sum. But if he was being realistic, there were a lot of things he would need to purchase down the line.

His 600,000 was enough to buy a sniper crossbow, but the difficulty of future instances was bound to increase. His current gear would all need upgrading, and there was no telling how much money that would cost. It was entirely possible that a single powerful piece of equipment in the real world could wipe out his entire 600,000 yuan.

As everyone knows, the arms trade—especially for higher-end weapons—is an incredibly expensive business.

Otherwise, why would arms dealers instigate wars, and how could they even have the power to do so? Where did their immense influence come from?

Wasn’t it because the arms trade is both incredibly profitable and a massive money sink?

To prepare for a rainy day, Fang Zhen would definitely need more powerful equipment in the future. He couldn’t afford to be short on cash.

In any world, financial power is a crucial component of overall strength.

Besides, Fang Zhen was planning to clear the Redstone Town Mine anyway. This Cinnabar Ore was just a bonus, a pure profit no matter how you looked at it.

Ande seemed honest enough. He had quoted the value of the ore and his protection fee. Someone who didn’t seem great with numbers was unlikely to have invented this on the spot, nor did he seem like the scheming type.

Still, just to be safe, Fang Zhen maintained his cool, pragmatic persona. "How many bags of this ore you mentioned does Redstone Town have in total?"

"Five bags. The mine yields about one bag of the red ore every six months," Ande replied.

"And you haven’t kept a private stash?" Fang Zhen pressed.

Ande’s face flushed, and he said with agitation, "I swear on my deceased mother and my honor, I have no private stash!"

"I can show you Redstone Town’s ledgers for the past ten years! I am not lying!"

Fang Zhen nodded. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

’With Ande taking it this far, he’s unlikely to be lying,’ Fang Zhen thought. ’Besides, in a medieval setting, people aren’t as cunning as they are in the modern world.’

Having thought it through, Fang Zhen made his decision.

"Alright. We’ll do as you said. I’ll take this red ore as my payment for driving out the Kobolds."

"However, in addition to that, you must also provide me with as much support as possible so I can kill those Kobolds at the fastest possible speed."

Fang Zhen pressed his hand on the solid wood tavern table and looked at Ande.