"A demon mine?"
Shi Feng gazed silently at the massive pit beyond the town walls. It resembled a bottomless abyss, radiating a heart-chilling aura that left him struck with indescribable awe.
He'd never expected the Bone-Gnawing Land to contain a mine — and one this massive at that.
By his rough estimate, it was at least mid-tier in scale.
This was something he'd never heard of in his previous life. If the Bone-Gnawing Land had possessed a mine back then, forget first-rate guilds — even super guilds wouldn't have let it go. They would have fought tooth and nail for it.
The Divine Realm contained all sorts of mines, generally classified by the grade of the ore vein.
Small mines were like the Red Iron Town that the Sky Burial Guild had acquired — possessing a modest ore vein. Even with a hundred people mining around the clock, it could be fully exhausted in about a day. Even so, that was a rare boon; at the very least, a guild would never lack that type of ore.
Mid-tier mines had substantially larger veins, requiring a full three hundred people working nonstop to fully harvest.
Large mines boasted rich ore deposits. You'd need a thousand people mining like mad to drain them completely. Any guild that secured a large mine might as well have unearthed a gold mountain — getting rich was practically guaranteed.
In the Divine Realm, small mines were relatively common, mid-tier mines were quite rare, and large mines were exceedingly scarce. Every single mid-tier and large mine — no matter whether it only produced ordinary iron ore — was something no major superpower would let slip away.
And the demon mine before him was clearly no low-end vein.
Just from the ore those demons had been carrying, he could tell this was an ancient bronze ore vein.
Ancient bronze ore wasn't common in the Divine Realm — it qualified as a rare mineral. But few players actually had any use for it, because there were simply too few applications. Despite its relative rarity, its price stayed low.
However, the companion ore found within ancient bronze deposits was something many crafting players desperately wanted.
That was Eternal Gold Ore. The Eternal Gold Ingots refined from it were among the best auxiliary crafting materials available — not only could they boost success rates, but they could also marginally improve the stats of weapons and equipment. Of course, the best equipment level they could enhance was limited to Gold-grade.
But even so, they were items that countless blacksmiths craved.
After all, Gold-grade equipment past level fifty was extremely hard to obtain in the Divine Realm. Elite players typically wore only Mythril Rank gear, and possessing even a single piece of Gold-grade equipment was cause for wild celebration.
Eternal Gold Ingots commanded a solid market. A single ingot sold for two gold coins on the open market, and even at that price, buyers fought over them.
If one could secure a mid-tier ancient bronze ore vein, the companion Eternal Gold Ore alone would generate a massive fortune.
The thought made Shi Feng itch to claim this mine for himself.
He didn't know why the Bone-Gnawing Land had suddenly produced such a mine, but this was undeniably a tremendous opportunity.
Setting aside the Eternal Gold Ore — even the steady supply of mana ore obtained as a byproduct would represent considerable income. The only problem was how to conquer this place.
A glance through the gate revealed over a thousand monsters outside the small town, with even more lurking in the surrounding area. Inside the town, things were no less imposing. Those demon overseers were all Great Lord-tier entities. Beyond their visible strength, the town's true power was likely far greater than what met the eye.
"Guild Leader, a group of patrolling monsters is heading our way. We should leave quickly." The Ranger eyed the red dots on the system map, his tone tinged with worry.
The others couldn't help but nod in agreement.
The patrolling monsters were concerning enough, but the real issue was the Infernal Great Serpent sleeping just outside the town walls. It was the most colossal monster they'd seen since entering the Divine Realm. Its overwhelming pressure alone was enough to leave them gasping for breath.
If the Infernal Great Serpent were to detect them, the consequences were too terrifying to contemplate.