55: Chain Mining —Terrifying Power!

Ryen remembered that when they previously discovered coal and iron mines, it was Ganyu who had spotted them.

Now, upon entering this tunnel, it was once again Ganyu who had found the coal deposit.

Ryen couldn't help but feel that Ganyu's importance in this world was comparable to a lucky charm mod.

However, hearing Ningguang's words, Ryen could only chuckle bitterly and say:

"It's just some coal, not exactly a treasure. If it were all iron, then we'd really be rich."

Hearing this, Ningguang couldn't help but laugh. Her soft, fair hand lightly nudged Ryen as her tone betrayed an irrepressible joy.

"You… don't set your expectations so high."

"While iron ore is indeed important, having this much coal could fetch a fortune if we took it back to Teyvat and sold it."

Ryen shrugged.

"You know I've never handled Mora. I'm not interested in Mora~!"

"…"

Ningguang and the rest were momentarily speechless at Ryen's unexpected and peculiar remark.

But on second thought, they realized it was true—Ryen really hadn't touched Mora before.

While the original person who once made this statement might have been showing off, Ryen wasn't.

With all his needs taken care of, and living under Ningguang's care, Ryen genuinely didn't care for Mora.

Besides, people often said that Mora was created from the flesh and blood of Morax. The mere thought of this made Ryen uneasy whenever he looked at Zhongli or Mora itself.

It always felt like earning Mora was akin to collecting fragments of Zhongli's skin.

Hmm…

Pretty gross.

"Mr. Ryen, I'll go take a look!"

Xiao, holding a shield in one hand and a torch in the other, quickly moved toward the coal deposit.

Ganyu, standing beside Ryen, had already drawn her bow and nocked an arrow. If anything went wrong, her pinpoint precision would buy Xiao enough time to respond.

Thankfully, this area was quite safe, with no signs of monsters.

After observing carefully for a while, Xiao planted five torches into the ground, lighting up the area. Once he had finished, he turned around and waved to the group.

"It's safe. Come on over!"

Hearing this, the group walked over to the coal deposit.

After closely examining it, Keqing gasped audibly.

"This scale… it's far bigger than the coal mine we found before!"

Keqing wasn't exaggerating. Judging by what was visible, the wall in front of them—approximately two hundred square blocks—was mostly filled with coal deposits.

The ground beneath them and even the ceiling above were also dotted with coal veins.

Even Ryen couldn't help but marvel at the richness of this coal mine.

If he had been here alone, he probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the coal deposits, but…

In Ningguang and the others' eyes, this was all ready-to-go treasure that could be directly converted into Mora—an invaluable bounty.

They had to dig it all out!

Ningguang and the others exchanged glances and immediately pulled out their pickaxes, ready to get to work.

It had been less than two hours since they entered the Minecraft world, and they'd already struck a huge profit.

Ningguang couldn't even begin to imagine how much they'd earn if they mined for two whole days.

Her estimation of the importance of Ryen's world inched even higher.

Ningguang and Keqing started discussing how to divide the mining areas.

Suddenly, Ryen clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

"Hold off on the mining for a moment. Do you remember me mentioning a mod that can boost efficiency by tenfold or more?"

Keqing's eyes lit up as she looked at Ryen with anticipation.

"So, does this mod only work when we're in mines?"

Ryen nodded, then shook his head.

"This mod is called Chain Mining . It's not just for mining; it can be used in other scenarios too. As for its effects…"

Ryen smiled mysteriously, keeping them in suspense under their expectant gazes.

"What do you think—how long would it take me to clear out all the coal here?"

The group glanced at the coal deposits again.

Ganyu hesitantly raised her hand, her tone uncertain.

"Two hours? Um… It's not that I don't believe in you, Ryen. I trust you must have your own special techniques."

"But there's just so much coal here. It's on the ground, on the ceiling, and there might even be more deeper inside. Even if we all worked together, it'd probably take over an hour to finish."

The others didn't say anything, but their expressions clearly showed they agreed with Ganyu.

"What if I said five minutes? Would you believe me?"

Ryen grinned mischievously, but the group simply shook their heads in amusement.

Ryen didn't argue. He just shrugged, took out a stone pickaxe, and gave them a meaningful look.

"Watch closely."

He turned to face the coal deposits and began striking the blocks leisurely with his pickaxe.

Ningguang sighed, stepping forward and saying:

"Ryen, you can demonstrate that mod or mining technique later. We trust you, but there's just too much coal here, and we still need to go deeper. Why don't we all work toge—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the sharp sound of the pickaxe breaking filled the air.

Then, in an instant, coal rained down like a downpour, scattering across the ground and covering it entirely.

From Ryen's perspective, invisible to the others, the green glow of experience orbs surged wildly into his body.

The coal-filled wall in front of them had already been cleared by a quarter…

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the missing section was precisely where the coal blocks had been connected to each other.

The remaining coal deposits were separated by stone blocks, preventing the chain reaction.

But clearly, the group was already stunned by this utterly outrageous mining method.

One by one, they stared at Ryen in shock, completely forgetting to pick up the scattered coal.

"Tsk, Chain Mining sure wears out pickaxes fast."

Ryen shook his head, walked to another section, and pulled out another pickaxe to face the coal deposits.

"Wait! Ryen! Wait!"

Ningguang quickly stepped forward. At this moment, the always-elegant and dignified Tianquan of Liyue appeared to have lost some of her composure.

She repeatedly turned her head, looking at the scattered coal on the ground, then back at Ryen with an incredulous expression.

"Uh… I know it's surprising, but…"

Ryen rested the pickaxe on his shoulder, grinning as he teased:

"With how flustered you look right now, Ningguang, if your three secretaries saw this, they'd be heartbroken."

"…"

Ningguang stared at Ryen with a complicated expression, as if she had just witnessed a ghost.

And it wasn't just Ningguang. Even Zhongli and the others remained dumbfounded.

"Now... the more important thing should be this, right?"

Ningguang took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"This... this is the Chain Mining you were talking about?"

Ryen nodded with a smile.

Having already demonstrated Chain Mining once, there was no need to keep it a mystery any longer. He decided to explain directly.

"Chain Mining means that when using tools to collect resources, you'll simultaneously collect adjacent blocks of the same type of resource."

"Chain Mining greatly enhances the efficiency of resource collection. It's not just for special ores like these—crops, trees, stones, etc., all fall within the scope of what can be chain collected."

As he spoke, Ryen paused, picked up a pickaxe, and walked over to a nearby stone wall.

"Just like this."

After a few swings, with one stone block broken, a large section of surrounding stone blocks also fell to the ground.

Before the group could fully marvel at this, a bone-crunching sound came from behind the pit.

Ryen froze for a moment, then muttered in a strange tone, "Got lucky?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a trident shot through the air, directly pinning a small white creature that had just emerged.

Ganyu quickly followed up with an arrow, turning the little white creature into two pieces of bone.

Xiao remained calm, stepping forward to collect the bones and trident before returning to the group, ever vigilant.

It was just a small creature, so Ryen didn't think much of it.

After all, there were plenty of powerful figures hidden in his team. Just take Zhongli, who silently followed behind, only responsible for holding the shield.

Though his powers had been greatly diminished in the MC world, that didn't mean Zhongli had lost his combat abilities. At the very least, Ryen felt that Zhongli could still easily take down a zombie spawner without getting hurt.

As long as they didn't run into little black creatures or sound-sensitive guardians, they should be fine.

Glancing at the pickaxe in his hand, which was already cracked, Ryen casually tossed it away.

Turning back to the group, he spoke softly.

"You see? Chain Mining isn't something you can just use recklessly. It also comes with dangers."

"One wrong move and you might accidentally summon a monster. Or, if you're digging beneath you, you could fall into an endless abyss or lava."

"So, before we begin mining, I must emphasize!"

Ryen's face became serious as he swept his gaze over everyone.

"Absolutely, absolutely do NOT—under ANY circumstances—dig beneath yourself or anyone else while Chain Mining is active."

"In fact, unless necessary, don't mine downward at all. If you break this rule, I won't bring you on mining trips again. Understand?"

The group didn't find Ryen too harsh. They knew he was looking out for their safety.

After all, who knew what was beneath their feet—stone or lava?

Moreover, even if there was nothing, digging too deep could still cause someone to fall and get hurt.

Everyone nodded in agreement, also showing that they would supervise each other.

Only then did Ryen's expression soften again.

"As for Chain Mining, words can't really do it justice. You'll understand it better once you see it for yourselves and try it out."

"Also, make your own crafting tables and craft stone pickaxes. While Chain Mining is great, it consumes tools quickly, so keep that in mind."

Hearing this, without needing further prompting, Keqing and Ganyu quickly put away the iron pickaxes they had just taken out.

After all, these were the only three iron pickaxes available, and as Ryen had said, the iron pickaxes should be used for mining diamonds!

Keqing, Ningguang, and Ganyu eagerly set up a crafting table, while Cloud Retainer stood watch nearby.

They began discussing and assigning mining areas before finally starting the official work.

Zhongli and Xiao didn't join in the excitement, although...

They were quite curious about this special mining method.

"I have to admit, this mod of yours is truly astonishing..." Zhongli murmured softly. Despite his calm demeanor, there was a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

"From a rational standpoint, with a mod like this, what you previously mentioned—digging through mountains in search of ore—truly becomes a possible future."

Ryen smiled and shook his head slightly.

"It's just an idea, after all. How we proceed still depends on Ningguang and the others' plans."

"Besides, I'm not too keen on granting Chain Mining permissions to all the miners."

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