Chapter 28: Handmade Bomb (3rd Update)

Chapter 28: Handmade Bombs (3rd Update)

Seeing that it was three against three with little chance of winning, the adventurers hurriedly left the bar.

Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

The bartender also breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Those three are notorious troublemakers in town. They always claim to be adventurers, but they have a terrible reputation. Mr. Mushroom, you should be careful if you ever run into them again."

"Got it, I understand." Mushroom nodded.

Delin's sudden appearance was a pleasant surprise for Jiang Ye, who said, "Delin, I'm glad you showed up. Thanks for your help—let me buy you a drink."

Delin shook his head and said, "Sorry, I can't."

"Huh?" Mushroom was puzzled.

Delin glanced toward the door and said, "I still have some matters to attend to."

Mycelium scratched its mushroom cap, and Jiang Ye thought Delin seemed quite busy.

Delin had arrived in a hurry and was leaving less than a minute after entering the bar. Mushroom wondered curiously what he had even come to the bar for.

"By the way," Delin asked before leaving, "are you going down to the mine tomorrow?"

"Yes!" Jiang Ye answered immediately.

Tomorrow, Jiang Ye planned to upgrade the cabin and wouldn't be able to stay there for a week, so he'd just stay in town. The town was closer to the mine, making it more convenient for mining trips.

The sooner he gathered enough iron ore, the sooner he could build his bicycle.

Delin nodded and said, "Alright then, let's go mining together tomorrow."

Mushroom hesitated and said, "But I have something else to do tomorrow morning. I probably won't make it to the mine until noon."

"No problem," Delin said.

Jiang Ye had a plan. Tomorrow, before the jewelry shop and carpenter's shop opened, he'd head back to the farm first, harvest the crops, and pack up his things. Then he'd rush back to Sun Town to see the carpenter. He should be able to reach the nearby mine by noon.

"See you tomorrow." With that, Delin strode out of the bar.

Mushroom waved at him. After Delin left, he ordered a serving of honey-glazed roast meat in a takeout box and left the bar, heading back to the small inn.

The honey-glazed roast meat was, of course, for His Majesty the Crow.

It only took Jiang Ye two minutes to return to the inn, go upstairs, and open the door.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty? Are you there?"

There was no sound from inside.

Jiang Ye looked around: "Looks like His Majesty hasn't come back."

Just as he said that, the window suddenly swung open, and a gust of wind blew in through it, along with a crumpled piece of paper.

"What's this?"

Mycelium stretched out and grabbed the paper.

Jiang Ye looked closely: "Bomb blueprint?"

"Congratulations! You've obtained the Bomb Blueprint!"

"Blueprint: Bomb"

"Required materials: Spore (1), Small Stones (50)"

Mushroom was dumbfounded. It wasn't time for dreaming yet, and besides, the tent cat bed had been left in the cabin—the inn didn't have one at all.

"Caw!"

The crow flew in through the window, flapped its wings twice, and looked a bit smug and proud.

Jiang Ye suddenly realized and said, "Your Majesty, did you steal this?"

Last time, the crow had snatched the mayor's wig and the bookstore owner's book. This time...

"Could this be the bomb blueprint from those guys earlier?" Mushroom recalled the troublemakers and quietly tucked the blueprint into his backpack.

The night deepened. It was 01:30.

Mushroom lay on the spacious inn bed while the crow perched on the windowsill, gently preening its jet-black feathers with its beak.

Jiang Ye hadn't fallen asleep yet and said, "Your Majesty, do you think I should buy a bigger backpack from the general store tomorrow? The one with 36 slots?"

Mushroom opened his inventory and took a look. The 24-slot backpack was a bit cramped. He hadn't brought the cat bed or the TV with him, but luckily he had Grandpa's Biscuit Tin, or else he wouldn't be able to draw a blind box tomorrow.

The crow tilted its head.

Jiang Ye said, "10,000 rupees for a backpack is a bit pricey."

Mushroom was now fairly well-off, so he could afford 10,000 rupees. The real issue was that the 36-slot backpack was only sold at the largest general store in Sun Town—Boss Bi's shop—and Jiang Ye really didn't want to give that profiteer any money.

"Should I buy it or not..."

It was 02:00.

The time came, and Mushroom fell into a deep sleep.

Then...

Morning came.

"Spring, Day 10, Monday"

It was 6:00.

After a dreamless night, Mushroom rubbed his eyes and woke up on the spacious inn bed.

"Open Grandpa's Biscuit Tin?"

"Congratulations! You've obtained Grandpa's Mailbag x1"

Jiang Ye wasn't fully awake yet, but something had already appeared in his arms.

"This is..."

Mushroom's eyes widened as Mycelium held up the brown mailbag.

"Grandpa's Mailbag"

"It's a bit beat-up and not much to look at, but at least it's sturdy.

+24 inventory slots"

Last night, as he was drifting off to sleep, Jiang Ye had been fretting over whether to buy a backpack, and now the second he opened his eyes, he had a new bag.

The mailbag and the inventory system clearly worked together—meaning, with the mailbag strapped on, Mushroom could have 24 slots plus an extra 24, giving him 12 more slots than the 36-slot backpack sold at the general store.

"Man, I'm so lucky." Mushroom beamed and exclaimed, "The Lord Chief Deity must be in a great mood today."

He pulled out the portrait of the Chief Deity from his inventory and sat on the bed, admiring it for a while.

"The Lord Chief Deity isn't just handsome, he's also super generous. The Lord Chief Deity is truly a wonderful person." Mushroom laid on the praise and flattery thick.

Mushroom hopped off the bed and slung the mailbag over one shoulder.

"Whoa, it's huge..."

Mushroom wore the big brown bag crossbody, feeling like it was about to drag on the ground. Luckily, it was light as a feather and didn't weigh him down.

"Hey, Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"

Slinging the mailbag over his shoulder, Mushroom left the room, calling out as he went.

The crow was nowhere in sight.

"No time to waste—I gotta get back to the farm!"

Mushroom bolted out of the inn, running at full tilt, dragging his huge bag as he raced back to the farm.

"8:00"

Gasping for air!

Mushroom was panting hard, practically tumbling through the farm gate.

Finally, he was back.

No time to rest—Jiang Ye rushed into the fields.

"Crops ready to harvest: 0"

"What the heck?!" Mushroom was totally stunned.

Yesterday and the day before, the crops had been ready to harvest, but today they were just tiny green shoots, not a single one ripe.

Jiang Ye was a bit confused. Though... it was normal for them not to be ripe yet. But... if he'd known, he wouldn't have sprinted all the way back.

"Forget it, let's go pack up inside the house." Mushroom hopped inside and stuffed the cat bed and TV into Grandpa's mailbag.

"Man, this thing's really sturdy." Jiang Ye gave the mailbag a pat.

The wooden house had no door, and after a windy night, dirt was everywhere—it looked pretty pitiful.

Mushroom also shoved everything from the storage box into the mailbag, taking it all. There was plenty of room—it wasn't even full.

"8:20 AM"

The mycelium worked fast, and then Mushroom took off sprinting back to town.

"10:10 AM"

Ten minutes faster than the trip out, Mushroom charged up to the jewelry store's door.

This time, the door swung open easily.

A little mushroom, huffing and puffing, leaned against the jewelry store's door and said, "Th-this... *huff*... do you buy diamonds here?"

A young man in a tailcoat appeared in front of Jiang Ye, with long, wavy golden hair, perfectly styled, and said, "Yes, sir, are you looking to sell diamonds? Can I take a look first?"

Mushroom nodded, silently noting that this owner's hair color matched The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King's, but his look was totally different—way too elegant.

The young man was the jewelry store owner, a Gem Appraiser.

He slipped on white gloves and examined Jiang Ye's gem, then said, "Sir, I'm willing to offer sixty thousand rupees. Would that be acceptable to you?"

Sure enough, sixty thousand rupees.

Mushroom nodded readily and said, "Sold!"

The next second, Jiang Ye's pocket was filled with a full sixty thousand rupees, already credited.

Mushroom thought to himself, this is going too smoothly. When I see Dorin at noon, I'll give him his thirty thousand rupees.

"Thank you, I'll be on my way then." Mushroom still needed to go to the carpenter's shop.

"Sir, please wait a moment." The gem appraiser called him back and said, "To be honest, sir, I've seen diamonds of this quality many times—they're nothing new to me. What I'm more interested in is that blue gem in your bag."

That was the one Dorin had given Jiang Ye.

The gem appraiser said, "If you're willing, have you considered selling it?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and said, "I'm not planning to sell it for now. If I ever decide to in the future, I'll come find you."

"What a shame. Well, alright then," the other party said.

Mushroom left the jewelry store, thinking that the blue gem must be a rare item, quite valuable, and who knows what other great uses it might have. He still had plenty of rupees left in his bag, so there was no rush to sell the blue gem.

Time to head to the carpenter's shop!

Mushroom was spinning like a top, dashing across town in one breath and bursting into the carpenter's shop.

Upgrading the wooden house cost thirty thousand rupees—that was the price for the first upgrade. Subsequent upgrades would cost one hundred thousand rupees.

With the first upgrade, the small wooden house would get more space, the windows and doors would become sturdier, and a kitchen would be added along with a set of cookware.

The construction period was one week, and Mushroom paid up without hesitation.

The carpenter boss had never seen such a quick-paying customer and said, "Sir, I'll head to your farm with my workers today. Don't worry."

"11:00"

Mushroom ran out of Sun Town at exactly eleven o'clock, leaving a blur of motion behind as he sprinted, shouting, "No time, no time!"

Fortunately, the mine wasn't too far from Sun Town. By 11:50, Mushroom had arrived.

Standing at the mine entrance was a tall, well-built man. Mushroom didn't even need a second look—with a physique like that, it had to be Dorin.

Mushroom waved his mycelium at him, saying, "Dorin, I'm here!"

As he approached, he realized there were actually three other people standing beside Dorin.

Three adventurers!

Jiang Ye thought to himself, talk about enemies crossing paths.

It was the same three people who had tried to steal Jiang Ye's diamond at the bar yesterday.

It looked like the three of them were also here to mine. They sneered at them and said, "Consider yourselves unlucky running into us today. Just you wait — we'll make sure you don't get a single piece of ore today!"

After issuing their threats, the three of them rushed into the mine shaft first.

Mushroom frowned, saying, "Why do we have to run into them again?"

Dorin said very calmly, "Let's go."

The three entered the mine first; Mushroom and Jiang Ye wouldn't encounter them inside. Each time you enter the mine, the space is randomly generated, so adventurers from different parties can never run into each other.

However, the amount of ore produced in the mine each day is limited. If some people mine more, the remaining people will mine less.

Mushroom clenched his fist, saying, "Dorin, let's go! We can't let those annoying guys steal the ore!"

Dorin nodded.

The two of them rode the small mine cart directly to level 50.

"I almost forgot," Jiang Ye said, reaching into his mailbag. "I sold the diamond. Here's your thirty thousand rupees."

"No need to give it to me." Dorin shook his head.

Jiang Ye said, "How could I not? This money belongs to you."

Seeing his firm attitude, Dorin had no choice but to accept the rupees, saying, "I don't lack money. If you need any, you can ask me anytime."

Mushroom thought to himself, how nice — when will I ever be able to say something so loaded and cocky?

After saying that, Dorin had already picked up his pickaxe and started mining.

"Dorin, look!" Mushroom called out to him with a mysterious smile, then proudly spread his hand open, saying, "I came prepared! Do you know what this is?"

Jiang Ye was clutching a handful of small bombs.

Dorin raised an eyebrow, asking, "What is it?"

Mushroom said excitedly, "Bombs!"

On the way here, Mushroom hadn't been idle either — he'd been hand-crafting bombs as he ran.

Jiang Ye had plenty of the spores needed for the bombs, and as for small stones, his bag was full of them too. Last time mining, the thing he'd collected the most was rocks.

Jiang Ye had crafted ten bombs, saying, "I heard they're incredibly powerful — one can open a passage downward. Let me try!"

"Wait—" Dorin spoke a little too slowly.

The mycelium had already eagerly thrown the bomb onto the ground.

Boom—

The bomb exploded very fast, with astonishing power.

The mine shaft shook violently, dirt and rocks filling the air. Mushroom lay on the ground, seeing system notifications before his eyes.

"Stone x32"

"Copper Ore x1"

"Are you okay?" Dorin asked uncertainly.

The little mushroom lay on the ground, his once-white body now charred black from the blast. He got up, coughing several times, and said, "I'm fine, I'm fine..."

The bomb didn't just deal damage to ores and small monsters — it also damaged players.

Jiang Ye opened his info and saw he'd lost 20 HP from the blast!

"I'm fine." Mushroom patted his dusty mushroom cap, saying, "Just lost a bit of health. I can recover by eating something. Dorin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Dorin shook his head.

Mushroom dusted off his cap, looked up, and saw that Dorin was spotless from head to toe — as if he hadn't been hit by the bomb at all.

Jiang Ye said, "How come you don't have a scratch on you?"

Dorin didn't speak, just pointed ahead. The bomb had worked well — a passage downward had already appeared.

Mushroom followed Dorin and jumped down from the opening.

"Eastern Mine: 051"

Mushroom looked around in the darkness, feeling a little disappointed, and complained, "We're already past level 50, and there's still no decent ore? Just how deep is this mine?"

Dorin said, "500 levels."

"What? 500 levels?" Jiang Ye was stunned, his face clearly saying, Are you lying to me?

Dorin said flatly, "I've only heard about it. I've never been that deep."

Mushroom complained, "That's practically down to the earth's core! Who's ever been that deep?"

Jiang Ye thought, looks like level 51 still isn't deep enough — we need to keep working at it.

Mushroom held a small bomb in one strand of mycelium and waved another, saying, "Dorin, step back. I'm going to throw the bomb — I don't want to blast you."

Dorin hesitated, then said, "How about this — you hand me the bomb, I'll throw it, and you go hide in the back."

"No way." Mushroom shook his head seriously, saying, "Your clothes are so clean — it'd be a shame to get them all dusty. I'll do it instead."

Getting hit by a bomb didn't feel great, but it didn't hurt much either. It just made Mushroom's cap wobble and shake all over the place, bouncing around crazily.

Mushroom patted his mailbag: "Don't worry, I'm not afraid of losing HP. I've got plenty of food in my bag."

Dorin couldn't persuade him, so he nodded and took two symbolic steps back.

"Further back." The mycelium waved.

Dorin nodded, and then...

BOOM!!!

A huge boom shook the whole mine.

The little mushroom widened his eyes, and his cap immediately caught a bunch of dust and gravel. He said, surprised, "I haven't even thrown a bomb yet."

Dorin said, totally unfazed, "It's those adventurers using bombs to mine."

They weren't on the same floor. Based on the sound, those adventurers were deeper down, but not too far—they could feel the vibrations clearly through the floors.

The little mushroom frowned and said, dead serious, "We need to speed up our descent!"

BOOM!

This time, the little mushroom threw a bomb, and the mine shaft shook even harder. Jiang Ye felt like his whole body reeked of something burnt. On top of that, he got blasted flying by accident.

A little gray, dusty mushroom shot up into the air. If it weren't for Dorin's quick reflexes, the mushroom would've been flung into the cave ceiling—might've even smashed into a Shiitake Blade.

"That was close..."

The little mushroom murmured.

Dorin grabbed the mushroom before he could fly off, gently patted his cap, and asked, "You okay?"

"Never better." Jiang Ye cheered himself on. "Look, there's a path again!"

"Eastern Mine: 052"

Smooth sailing from there...

Every bomb they threw led them to a path going down.

Soon they'd gone down another ten floors, but rare ores were still pitifully scarce.

Jiang Ye opened his mailbag and did the math. He had enough copper ore to make a bicycle now, but he still didn't have enough iron ore.

As for the slime gel...

They hadn't run into a single monster today. The little mushroom still had no clue what slimes even looked like in this game.

But that wasn't a problem—Leyi Li had plenty of slime gel. Making a bicycle needed 10 slime gels, and Jiang Ye planned to trade rupees with Leyi Li for them. 100 rupees each—pretty fair.

When the bombs ran out, the little mushroom started making bombs by hand. But after going down a few more floors, his hand-making materials ran out too. He was running low on stones in his backpack, so they could only use pickaxes to mine by hand.

"This is bad." The little mushroom put his hands on his hips.

They'd just gotten a little ahead of those adventurers, and it'd be easy for them to catch up.

CLANG!

Dorin struck the rock in front of him with his pickaxe and said, "It's getting late. Time to head back."

The little mushroom checked the time and said, "We can go a bit deeper. I'm staying in town tonight, so the way back isn't far."

"Alright." Dorin nodded and kept mining.

CLANG!

Dorin said, totally calm, "There's a path!"

"Great!"

Jiang Ye jumped down first, and Dorin followed right after.

The little mushroom froze the second he hit the lower floor, pointing ahead and saying, "Dorin! Dorin! Look, what's that?"

Dorin walked over and said in his usual deadpan voice, "A treasure chest."

"It really is a treasure chest!" Jiang Ye got excited.

This floor of the mine was spotless—no rocks, no ores—but right in the middle sat a gleaming golden treasure chest. Next to it was a natural path leading further down.

"We found a treasure chest!" The little mushroom ran over, his mycelium reaching out to open it, but then his mycelium froze up.

Dorin walked over and asked, "What's up?"

Jiang Ye said, unsure, "This treasure chest isn't another one of Lord Chief Deity's treasures, is it?"

The little mushroom really didn't want to pull out something weird like dentures again...

Dorin: "..."

Dorin said, "Just open it and see."

Jiang Ye prayed silently as his mycelium flipped the lid open.

"Universal Duplicator x1"

"What is this?" The little mushroom was puzzled, taking the small box out of the chest and holding it up for Dorin to see.

There was a box inside the chest—a big box with a smaller box inside...

Dorin said, "I've heard of this. It's a duplicator. You put something in, wait a bit, and you get two of the same thing."

The little mushroom jumped up excitedly and said, "Can we put diamonds in it?"

Dorin asked, "You still have diamonds?"

The little mushroom went quiet.

"But I have sapphires!" Jiang Ye suddenly remembered, his eyes lighting up.

Dorin shook his head. "Gems probably won't work."

The little mushroom: "..."

His mycelium held the duplicator and looked it over, finding a system label.

"Universal Duplicator"

"A magical machine that can duplicate most items!"

The little mushroom thought to himself, just as he expected—there were limits. "Most items."

Diamonds couldn't be duplicated, and Jiang Ye was pretty disappointed. He'd lost a shortcut to getting rich.

Wait...

Jiang Ye's eyes lit up again, even brighter than before. If diamonds wouldn't work, what about purple briefs?

The little mushroom started daydreaming. One pair of purple shorts becomes two, two becomes three, and then more and more! With this universal duplicator, he just had to wait, and he could get 99 pairs of purple shorts—enough to switch from mushroom form to human form!

“Mushroom, time to go.” Dorin called out to him.

“Okay! I'm coming!” Mushroom grinned goofily and followed along.

Once it got dark, Jiang Ye and Dorin left the mine.

Dorin stepped out of the mine and turned back to ask him, “You coming back to mine tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Mushroom said. “I still haven't saved up all the rare ores I want.”

“Alright,” Dorin said. “I'll come back down tomorrow too.”

They set a time—8 a.m. this time, way more time to spare.

Mushroom waved his mycelium, said goodbye to Dorin, and couldn't wait to get back to town to work on the universal duplicator.

Dorin was going the other way. After Mushroom left, he turned around and went back into the mine.

Night, 11:50 PM

“Chat”

“Le Yi Li”: The mine's been going boom-boom-boom and shaking all day.

“The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King”: What's up? Earthquake?

“Smoked Fish King”: Someone's blowing up the mine.

“Mushroom Soup”: Probably those three adventurers—they've been blasting away since they went in at noon.

“Mushroom Soup”: Lao Li, you still in the mine?

“You Got Nothing Better to Do?”: Is Lao Li gonna crash in the mine again today?

Night, 1:30 AM

Boom...

Clank! Clank!

Continuous sounds echoed from deep within the mine.

On top of all that noise, there was chattering and squeaking.

A group of Bokoblins and a group of lizard monsters were diligently mining on floor 350 of the mine.

The Bokoblins chattered: “Hurry up, hurry up! The Chief God said if we don't mine 100 rare ores today, he'll turn us into slimes!”

The lizard monsters squeaked: “Ugh, slimes are so ugly. I don't want to become a slime. Everyone, let's put in more effort—we've already got 89!”