In the latter half of the 21st Century, with rapid technological advancement and continuous improvement in material conditions, the fundamental prerequisites for global unification were basically met, and human society began to seek peace and eliminate war.
Under the advocacy of governments in the East Asian region, most countries worldwide joined the Earth Federation, an organization based on the concept of a shared human destiny, aiming to eliminate differences among countries in terms of politics, economy, culture, and race, and actively promote global integration.
This wave of reform quickly swept the globe, eventually evolving into the Earth Federation government centered around the East Asian Federation, with each continent administered separately.
Thanks to the efforts of the Federation government, global cultural integration had already begun, but distinct local customs still remained within regions, with the East Asian Spring Festival being one of them.
Coincidentally, the release of the new game version coincided with the Spring Festival, and Eternal World Gaming Company seized this opportunity to heavily promote the game in the East Asian region, pairing it with a discount on gaming helmets, attracting a large influx of fresh players.
Lu Qiuchen activated invisibility and flew over a city, noticing the obvious increase in low-level players there.
Last night, halfway through her flight, she discovered that Zhang Cheng had logged off. Although anxious about the important information Zhang Cheng mentioned, she was at a loss and could only linger near the location where he last appeared, waiting for him to log back in.
As for why Lu Qiuchen now left and stopped waiting for Zhang Cheng, it was because she saw a hidden quest help post on the forum by a player.
This was a hidden quest in the second stage of the main storyline, accessible only to players who chose the assassin profession allied with the Leta Chino Empire faction and accumulated enough faction points in the battlefield dungeon. The quest was called “Buried Relic.”
After accepting the task from an imperial official, players would take on the role of a spy infiltrating the Kingdom of Knights to investigate the source of the Royal Knight Order’s equipment.
The war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Knights lasted only one version cycle. When the Empire saw the unfavorable war situation, it retreated into the Scorching Sun Fortress, no longer responding to the Kingdom of Knights’ provocations.
The Kingdom of Knights knew that despite winning the war, they were not yet strong enough for full-scale confrontation with the Empire. After venting their frustration, they triumphantly returned home.
During the conflict, imperial officers pondered deeply and found that the main reason for their battlefield defeat was the significant improvement in the Royal Knight Order’s defense.
Previously, the Mage Order could still achieve some results against the Royal Knight Order, but in the last great battle, none of the Royal Knights died—only injuries—causing the imperial Mage Order to lose face completely.
Such an unusual outcome naturally attracted the Empire’s high attention. After extensive investigation and verification, it was confirmed that the cause wasn’t the decline in the Mage Order’s combat power but that the entire Royal Knight Order was equipped with enchanted armor alloyed with Mythril!
Mythril is a metal more valuable than gold, with a silver-white appearance. It possesses the ductility of copper but, after processing, is stronger than steel and extremely lightweight.
Besides that, Mythril has a remarkably high affinity for magic, making enchantments on Mythril-based equipment more effective than those on ordinary materials, ranking alongside Adamantine as the best metals.
Whenever weapons and equipment involve magic, Mythril is generally the first choice material. Though Adamantine is stronger, its heavier weight places it second.
Most mages’ ultimate weapon pursuit is a staff made entirely of Mythril.
But that is only a dream—mages know that in the current world, only a handful of elite exist who possess a pure Mythril staff. The most famous is the “Archmage” of the Elven race, who wields the “Blessing of the Empress.”
Even in the Theocracy, which owns a small Mythril vein, the armor equipped by the Paladin Order contains only a small amount of Mythril, but even this greatly boosts the efficiency of their blessing magic.
The reason for this scarcity is that known Mythril veins on the southern continent are extremely rare, having been mined out by goblins in ancient times, with most of the remaining Mythril plundered by dragons.
Now, the sudden appearance of so many Mythril armors in the Kingdom of Knights naturally aroused suspicion.
The Empire suspected the Kingdom of Knights had discovered new Mythril veins and sent spies multiple times to gather intelligence but all failed. Eventually, this task was opened to adventurer players.
After receiving the hidden quest, the player learned that several suspicious locations were indicated by the Empire’s intelligence. After scouting several potential sites, the player chose the one with the highest possibility—a mine.
At this suspicious location, every entrance was tightly guarded by knights, sealing the area meticulously.
During the day, no personnel ventured outside, and transportation and shift changes were done at night, protected by a large contingent of knights in the secret nighttime convoys.
This player lurked for a long time but couldn’t find an opening and sought help on the forum.
After failing to get assistance, he attempted to sneak into the mine, but his invisibility skill wasn’t maxed out. Deep within the mine, he was spotted by hidden sentinels and ultimately met his end at the knights’ swords.
With his exposure, the Kingdom of Knights issued a bounty on him, and the hidden quest was naturally marked as failed. This player vented his frustrations on the forum, uploading several screenshots taken during the mission.
The system judged the quest failed, and the photos showed nothing noteworthy, but Lu Qiuchen noticed the rock formations inside the mine and immediately recognized that there must be a Mythril vein below.
This was the intuition of a Silver Dragon.
Silver Dragons love diamonds and Mythril, but unlike diamonds, which are just an appetizer, Mythril is a special metal with extremely high magical affinity. When ingested, it can enhance mental power, a fact well-known to any intelligent being familiar with the Silver Dragon race.
However, because Dragon Island has no Mythril veins, and the Elders’ Council’s Mythril stores have long since been depleted, Lu Qiuchen, as a Silver Dragon, had never seen real Mythril—only a few armors alloyed with Mythril, never having savored the delicacy known to her race.
Yet this did not affect Lu Qiuchen’s judgment, as the Silver Dragon’s inherited memories showed her similar Mythril veins and the bliss her predecessors experienced when tasting Mythril.
After confirming the mine contained Mythril, Lu Qiuchen immediately gave up waiting for Zhang Cheng.
She was going to investigate the Kingdom of Knights.
Though the Mythril in the game was fake and couldn’t enhance her mental power, she had long wanted to taste Mythril.
Now, Lu Qiuchen only hoped the game’s Mythril could perfectly replicate the real flavor.
Moreover, the game environment was very likely synchronized with reality.
She wanted to scout the path in the game first, then launch a grand expedition once back in the real world. Even if it was just for this, she had to visit the Kingdom of Knights.
As for the soon-to-open new dungeon, Lu Qiuchen wasn’t planning to bother. She was only making a cameo appearance, and players weren’t even level 80 yet, making it impossible to defeat the boss or trigger the final stage of the version anytime soon.
Lu Qiuchen had already entered the Kingdom of Knights’ airspace. She adjusted her direction and flew east.
Although the player hadn’t revealed the exact location on the forum, Lu Qiuchen had determined the general area by matching the mountain terrain and rivers shown in the forum photos.
Arriving at the designated location, she circled around but found nothing. She lowered her flight altitude for a closer look and finally detected traces of magical concealment on the ground.
Transforming into human form, she landed.
Using her aura concealment and invisibility, she ignored the surrounding sentinels and detection magic, effortlessly stepping into the vertical mine shaft.
Lu Qiuchen leapt deep down, her body falling rapidly, then slowing to a gentle descent just before landing silently in a shallow abandoned mine pit that had already been mined out.
She looked around—the ore here had all been transported away. Ahead was a fork in the tunnel.
Based on the markings in the photos, Lu Qiuchen chose one of the tunnels and proceeded.
Compared to goblins and dwarves, humans were poor miners, and Lu Qiuchen silently criticized the narrow tunnels as she reached deeper into the mine.
As she advanced, more sentinels appeared. Knowing she was close to her destination, her heart raced, and she quickened her pace.
The sound of stones clinking came from ahead as knights chipped open chunks of Mythril ore blasted loose by mages.
Lu Qiuchen focused, noting these knights were all Holy Rank or above, their pickaxes gleaming with magical light—each enchanted weapon! She reckoned they must be wearing purple-grade gear at least.
Seeing the large blocks of Mythril ore, she swallowed hard but, mindful of the many people present, forced herself to suppress her appetite and headed toward the area where mages mined the raw Mythril deeper inside.
Along the way, she encountered two knights pulling a cart brimming with Mythril ore.
Noticing the two chatting and distracted, Lu Qiuchen quickly reached out and broke off a palm-sized chunk.
This unprocessed ore contained many associated minerals, which were useful but not part of Lu Qiuchen’s diet—just “impurities.”
She easily split the chunk of raw Mythril into several pieces, eagerly popped one into her mouth, and was instantly flooded with a sweet, fragrant taste.
Lu Qiuchen chewed the Mythril ore carefully, using her tongue to knead the highly ductile metal, pushing the other mineral residues to the sides of her cheeks, then quickly retrieved the nearly melting Mythril from her mouth, spitting out the residual impurities.
She had acted on instinct just now, but seeing the rice-grain-sized piece of Mythril in her hand, she realized she had unlocked a new skill.
Pure Mythril free of any impurities was born!
Looking at the tiny piece of Mythril, she seemed to relive the sweet taste from moments ago. She tossed it into her mouth again, feeling the Mythril slowly melt, unable to resist swallowing it down.
An unprecedented wave of satisfaction enveloped her.
Lu Qiuchen grabbed another small piece of raw Mythril and repeated the process.
“I’m going to get addicted!” she thought.
Having finished the few pieces she took, she licked her lips and ran deeper into the mine.
Her heart was already captured by the sweetness in her mouth.
After tasting Mythril, she could no longer eat anything else…