NOVEL WEB Chapter 38: 38. Mining with cheats?
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The mine wasn't as dark as imagined; instead, it was filled with lights everywhere. With the addition of numerous participants, the 'clanging' sound of digging was incessant, creating a unique liveliness.
Marcus didn't linger around the periphery but continued to explore deeper inside.
Even though he didn't have much experience, he knew that places with many people often yielded no benefits, so he had to forge his own path.
As he went deeper, the lighting facilities became sparse, and the terrain got lower, as if he was constantly going downhill.
Along the way, Marcus also saw many professional miners excavating the walls, which indirectly indicated that he was approaching an unexploited area.
Turning a corner, the sound of water hitting rocks came from above, creating the illusion of crashing waves, which made Marcus marvel.
"Looks like this is your first time here? This area is close to the seabed. Above the mine is actually shallow sea, so hearing the sound of waves is perfectly normal."
"I see..." Marcus nodded towards the kind miner who reminded him, and at the same time gained a deeper understanding of this massive project.
Without further picking and choosing, Marcus found a relatively bright semi-excavated cave, put down his backpack, and started digging.
To be fair, this so-called competition is largely about hiring free labor to speed up the excavation of the Oreburgh Coal Mine...
So, he didn't have high hopes for striking it rich by digging up fossils. Instead, he wanted to use this opportunity to hone Buneary's Fighting moves and dig up some ore to supplement his travel funds.
He drew a line about five meters from the rock wall. Marcus pointed at the large rock in the center of the wall: "Buneary, use Bounce to jump over, then use continuous Power-Up Punch or Double Kick to attack the rock!"
"Buneary~!" Their long-standing rapport allowed the little rabbit to instantly understand Marcus's intention.
She constantly jumped, raising her fists, striking, and kicking. Each time, she landed precisely behind the line without touching any other ground or wall within five meters, thereby improving her jumping power and strength.
Before long, visible cracks appeared on the rock wall; it seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Marcus immediately started digging from below with his pickaxe.
"Rumble..."
Broken rocks rolled down, revealing the charcoal-black coal inside.
As the main product of the Oreburgh Coal Mine, digging up coal was a normal occurrence, but the piece in front of Marcus was as big as three watermelons, and it looked like there was a lot more behind it.
"Heh... a good start..." Marcus casually threw the coal lump into his System backpack.
After all, the space in the basket was limited, and once full, it would have to be transported out, which was quite troublesome.
This was one of the reasons why many people dug at the entrance; it allowed for quick transport.
However, Marcus, who had a System backpack, obviously didn't need to worry about this problem; he just needed to keep going deeper.
With the boost from Power-Up Punch, the little rabbit's strength with each strike also increased, providing much greater help to Marcus.
And the rock wall continuously receded with the digging of the person and the Pokemon, eventually being more than ten meters away from the line Marcus had drawn.
Buneary even spontaneously added Quick Attack to increase the distance of her jumps, still landing back in her original spot precisely every time, which made Marcus nod repeatedly.
"Buneary!"
A magnificent aura surged around the little rabbit. Amidst the whistling wind, she unleashed a heavy kick on the rock. With a "boom," the stone shattered on the spot.
[Ding, Buneary has learned the move 'High Jump Kick' through practice!]
High Jump Kick: A Fighting-type physical attack move with 130 power. It leaps high and attacks the opponent with its knee. If it misses, it takes significant damage itself.
"Hmm?" Marcus, who was picking up coal and putting it into his bag, was first taken aback, then looked at Buneary in surprise.
He saw the little rabbit sitting on the ground, holding her foot with teary eyes. Clearly, she hadn't mastered the strength of the newly learned move and had injured herself instead.
"Buneary~... (Ouch... it hurts...)"
Marcus laughed speechlessly. Under the little guy's expectant gaze, he took out a fancy Pokeblock and threw it to her.
"Buneary!" The little rabbit immediately shed her wronged expression. With a jump, her front teeth precisely bit into the treat, and she began to enjoy it with squinted eyes...
Marcus twitched his mouth: "I knew it..."
Buneary, who had taken care of her grandmother since she was young, was very resilient... This small injury was not a big deal for her.
So, pretending to be wronged was naturally just wanting him to comfort her...
"Buneary~" After finishing the delicious food in two bites, Buneary didn't slack off and started digging again.
And with the Fighting-type ultimate move High Jump Kick, Marcus's excavation progress also sped up considerably.
However, his luck seemed to have run out. By the afternoon, he hadn't dug up the large area of coal like he did at first, only scattered small pieces of ore.
As for fossils, he didn't even see a single fragment...
Sitting on a rock, Marcus ate bread and fed the little rabbit another Pokeblock.
This kind of high-intensity move release requires timely replenishment of stamina, otherwise it's easy to leave behind sequelae.
"Sigh... I wonder how much money this can be exchanged for." Marcus rubbed his sore thighs and sighed.
His System backpack contained dozens of ores of various sizes, but there was still a significant gap to getting the Champion title.
"If I could dig up a fossil, the Champion title would probably be secured."
Marcus muttered to himself, fantasizing.
"Buzz..." Just then, a strange fluctuation rippled from the Pokemon egg in his backpack. A faint purple halo enveloped the entire small cave Marcus had excavated.
"Dee~" A pleasant call sounded in Marcus's mind. Then, he felt that there seemed to be something of a different material behind the rock in the lower right not far away. (T/N: Now most of you should be able to guess)
"This is... telepathy?" Marcus murmured uncertainly.
In an instant, he became even more curious about the Pokemon egg he was holding.
"A Normal-type Pokemon with Psychic abilities..."
Marcus's eyes moved. He gently rubbed the eggshell, then picked up his pickaxe and went to that rock.
"Buneary, use High Jump Kick on this rock!"
"Buneary!" The little rabbit kicked over with a single jump.
"Boom—"
The rock shattered into pieces, revealing a corner of grayish-brown.
It's important to know that because of the coal in the Oreburgh Coal Mine, the rocks everywhere were inclined towards black, and the grayish-brown color just happened to indicate... it wasn't coal, nor was it rock...
"Could it be..." Marcus's heart stirred. He then picked up a small pickaxe and carefully chipped away at the surrounding rocks, revealing the original appearance of this stone.
As the excavation progressed, Marcus's heartbeat also began to accelerate.
He had confirmed that this was a fossil! And it was preserved very completely!
"Clatter..."
The last small piece of broken rock rolled down, and Marcus finally saw clearly the fossil, which was half a meter in diameter.
A shape resembling a snail shell appeared on it.