To him, completing the system task is the only way to return back to his home. To complete the system task, he tried to exchange random items for system points, but almost everything he tried, were of zero value. Like the copper coins he is holding in his hands, they have zero value for system. Even an old ginseng, which he somehow was able to obtain has only provided 0.012 points.
Ron found that 100 kg of stone can be exchanged for 0.1 points, he was excited about it, as stone is something that can be found virtually anywhere! Only after tiring himself for 5 months, did he understand the difficulty of this task. Since then, he tried many ways to get system points.
One day the old man fell sick and no longer was able to work, to repay his kindness, Ron decided to look for work and take care of the old man. He took up a mining job with the help of old man's friend.
To his surprise, the stone in the mines, which are closer to the spirit stones have a larger value of points per kg of stone. In just the last 6 months, he was able to accumulate more the 700 points!
Ron took a few turns and arrived at the fish shop.
"Hey uncle, pack a fish for me, one that's great for soups"
"Ron, Sure, how's the old man doing?"
"He is still feeling sick, so I wanted to cook something that'll make him feel better"
The seller cleaned the fish and handed it over to Ron. On his way back, he also bought a few herbs for the soup and some medicine.
When Ron arrived home, the old man noticed his footsteps and called out.
"Boy, you're back?"
"Yes old man, give me a few minutes and I'll make something delicious for you"
Ron went around to chop up the fish, vegetables and cook the soup.
"Here old man, I've made you a special herbal fish soup. Trust me, once you drink this, you'll feel like you're in heaven!"
"Boy, how many times do I have to tell you! Stop wasting all your money like this! You have to save it for when you get married and have kids. Anyways, I think my time is up and I'll be gone anytime soon"
"Sigh….How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not going to let you die so easily. Stop spouting nonsense and drink the soup"
"Hehe…"
Ron cleaned up the dishes, and helped the old man to bed. He climbed onto the roof and slept while looking at the stars. It was something which gave him joy and hope.
The next day, Ron continued his usual daily activities, served breakfast to the old man and went ahead to the mines.
"Hey Overseer Lie, Good Morning!"
"Good Morning Ron!"
He greeted the overseer in the mine and started mining. The mine belongs to Cheng clan, and they own many of the mines in Xia county.
Ron was hoping to mine multiple spirit stones today, in order to get more points from the spiritual energy infused rocks. So he chose an isolated area than usual, which is a little bit dangerous, but there are more chance of finding a spirit stone.
As he continued mining, he saw a hint of red tinted rock. The spirit stones are generally black in color, it was his first time seeing a red one. Without wasting any time he started to mine it. In a short while, there lied a red and black merged spirit stone in his hands.
He wondered why this spirit stone was of a different color. The overseer saw it from afar and immediately rushed towards Ron and snatched it from his hands. He was lost in examining the spirit stone.
"Ahem, Lie? Is there a problem with that spirit stone?"
Overseer Lie jerked and looked at the confused Ron, an evil glint appeared in his eyes and then he smiled.
"Not at all, this is just an ordinary spirit stone. I'll record it, you can go back and continue mining"
The overseer left after that, Ron didn't notice that Lie had not put the spirit stone in the collection box, instead he kept it in his own pocket!
Ron then continued to mine the stone around the spirit stone and after making sure that no one was watching, he absorbed it.
Ding!
[6 KG of spiritual energy infused ordinary rock has been collected. Would you like to convert it to points? ]
"Yes"
[Converting to system points…..Ding! You have gained 2.2 points! ]
Ron was shocked looking at the number, because never has he ever seen anything of such high value! There was nothing even coming close to 0.5 points, let alone 2 points at once!
One thing is sure for Ron, that the spirit stone he mined is definitely not a normal one.
Ron continued his mining and mined a few more spirit stones by the end of the day, but there wasn't any sight of the red and black ones.
"Status"
[ Ron Rogers (SilverSurfer) ]
[ Cultivation: Mortal ]
[ Vitality: 1 ]
[ Focus: LOCKED ]
[ Skills: - ]
[ Storage: LOCKED ]
[ Marketplace: LOCKED ]
[ Points: 990.90 ]
[ Task Progress: 990.90/1000 points ]
"Phew….it's a lot of progress in these last few days. If this keeps on, I should be able to complete the task in another 2 months. Who knows, I might end up finding a few of those red n' black ones and finish it even faster"
While Ron was rejoicing and heading back home, Lie was staring at him from his back.
"Hahaha… Kid, the moment you found this spirit stone, you've ran out of your luck"
Instead of heading towards the town, Lie instead headed towards the mountains, with an evil smile on his face.