Chapter 583: How to Calculate Mining Wages

"You understand the general situation now, right?" Kuai Yan looked at Ye Lin and asked.

"I understand."

Ye Lin nodded.

The Longevity Continent is the world that Fan Xiu spoke of.

The general situation is that, while unconscious, the Chaos Laws he comprehended polluted the Longevity Continent, causing a rift to appear and ushering in the Age of Dharma Decline.

He also slept for a thousand years, reaping what he sowed, and has now been dragged into Lingquan County to work as a miner.

"Alright, if you have no other questions, let's pack up and go mining together. I see your body is in good shape; you must have a special constitution. You can earn much higher wages mining than others."

"A normal ascender can only get 8 to 12 Immortal Source Stones a month for mining. If you work hard, you should be able to get 15!"

Kuai Yan brought over a pickaxe and handed it to Ye Lin.

"By the way, Brother Kuai Yan, if one wants to reshape their body, how many Immortal Source Stones are needed?" Ye Lin asked as he took the pickaxe.

"I knew you would ask that."

A meaningful smile appeared on Kuai Yan's face, and then he held up one finger.

"One hundred."

"One hundred? That shouldn't be hard to save up."

Ye Lin did a quick calculation. At this rate, it would take him about 7 months to save enough Immortal Source Stones to reshape his body. By then, he would be free as a bird.

Kuai Yan grinned.

"It is one hundred, that's true, but it's one hundred *top-grade* Immortal Source Stones. The wages we are paid are in low-grade Immortal Source Stones."

"One hundred top-grade Immortal Source Stones equals ten thousand high-grade Immortal Source Stones, which equals one million mid-grade Immortal Source Stones, which equals... one hundred million low-grade Immortal Source Stones!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Lin fainted on the spot.

Mining for a month, at 15 low-grade Immortal Source Stones, he would have to mine here for six thousand six hundred and sixty-six years—truly 6666.

Is this any way for a human to live?

Seeing this, Kuai Yan hurriedly pressed on Ye Lin's philtrum.

"Brother Ye Lin, pull yourself together!"

"I can't pull myself together at all, just let me die." Just hearing it made Ye Lin feel as if he had lost all his strength and means.

"Don't say that. Besides mining, there are other sources of income. For example, when you are wandering around the mining area, sometimes if you're lucky, you'll find other ascenders. If you pick up an ascender and bring them back, you can get ten low-grade Immortal Source Stones!"

Kuai Yan explained; Ye Lin was the one he had picked up.

"Pick them up to use as beasts of burden, you mean?" Ye Lin's mouth twitched.

"Of course not. This is doing a good deed. If we didn't pick them up, they might just die out there," Kuai Yan explained.

"I think... they might not mind dying," Ye Lin said.

"Oh, cheer up! As long as you're alive, there's hope. Besides picking up ascenders, there are many other ways to get Immortal Source Stones. For example, if an ascender wants to escape and you report them, there's a reward of fifty low-grade Immortal Source Stones!"

Kuai Yan began to comfort Ye Lin.

"As long as you can stay alive, maybe one day you really can save enough Immortal Source Stones and turn your fate around?"

"If I remember correctly, Brother Kuai Yan, you just said that cultivation also requires Immortal Source Stones? Then after saving enough for body reshaping, what about cultivation?"

Ye Lin started counting on his fingers.

"And daily activities, including maintaining life, should also consume Immortal Source Stones, right? This means you can't save everything you earn."

"So the probability of turning things around... is too small. In all likelihood, I'll just mine here for a lifetime and end up with nothing, until my lifespan is exhausted."

Kuai Yan fell silent. Reminded by Ye Lin, he also felt like he didn't want to live anymore.

While they were talking, the two had already arrived at the northern vein of the 81st Mining Area, where many figures could be seen working hard at mining.

"Old Kuai, you're here? Oh! You even brought a newcomer today!" A man covered in sweat turned his head and greeted them with a smile.

"Yeah, just picked him up today. Got lucky."

Kuai Yan grinned. He was clearly quite popular here, as people kept greeting him.

While responding, Kuai Yan introduced these fellow workers to Ye Lin.

"His name is Lin Cai, he has the Innate Savage Bull Body, possesses infinite strength, and is a great hand at mining."

"His name is Wen Jin, he has the Tyrant Heaven Demon Body, and his monthly mining wage is as high as 18 low-grade Immortal Source Stones!"

"Her name is Liu Ruyan. Don't let the fact that she's a woman fool you; she arrived even earlier than I did, having been here for at least 500 years. Moreover, she does some private business on the side. It's said she'll soon have enough Immortal Source Stones to reshape her body."

Ye Lin looked in the direction indicated and found that Kuai Yan was talking about a woman with an extremely proud figure. Although there was some dust on her face, it could not hide her elegant temperament.

"Sigh, originally, a beautiful female ascender like her would have had a chance to be favored and avoid the fate of being a laborer, but it's a pity she offended the team leader." Kuai Yan shook his head with regret.

"The team leader is that young man from just now?" Ye Lin asked.

"Yes, his name is Qiu Weizhi. You'd better keep a low profile from now on; if you offend him, you won't have an easy life! Alright, let's start working! You watch how I do it first, just follow along and learn. There's no real technique to it."

Kuai Yan gave a reminder, then swung his pickaxe and smashed it heavily into the ore in front of him.

The sound of *clang, clang, clang* rang out incessantly. The pickaxe landed on the ore, sparking a series of flames, and stone fragments flew everywhere.

Ye Lin picked up a pickaxe to examine it, and his mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly.

The quality of this pickaxe, in the world he came from, could almost be called a divine artifact.

Their divine artifacts, upon arriving at the Longevity Continent, were just pickaxes used for mining.

Ye Lin suddenly understood how Loki felt when seeing a drawer full of Infinity Stones; the collapse of one's worldview happens in an instant.

The weekly rations of an ant colony might just be the breadcrumbs we casually throw away.

The goddess you hold as a treasure, unreachable and unattainable, might just be a humanoid container to someone else.

"Got a hit!"

Kuai Yan's face showed surprise.

A crack appeared in the ore in front of him, and a warm glow accompanied by rich energy seeped out from the crack.

Ye Lin felt this energy was somewhat familiar. He suddenly remembered that when he first opened the spatial channel to the Longevity Continent, the energy that made him feel extremely comfortable was of the same origin as this one.

Kuai Yan carefully widened the crack and finally dug out a stone the size of a human head.

The stone was crystal clear, emitting a faint fluorescence, with a peculiar energy surging inside.

"Is this an Immortal Source Stone?" Ye Lin asked.

"Yes, and no. This thing is Immortal Source Ore. It has to be processed to refine the impurities and then cut into uniform sizes before it becomes the Immortal Source Stone we are familiar with," Kuai Yan explained.

The other workers saw that Kuai Yan had dug out such a large piece of Immortal Source Ore, and they couldn't help but show expressions of envy.

Kuai Yan was also in a great mood and became much more talkative.

"Our wages as miners are calculated based on the weight of the Immortal Source Ore."

"If you dig enough one thousand kilograms of Immortal Source Ore per month, you get the base wage of 8 low-grade Immortal Source Stones. If you don't dig enough, you can still get the no-responsibility base salary of 3 low-grade Immortal Source Stones."

"And for the portion exceeding one thousand kilograms, it's calculated as performance pay: for every extra one hundred kilograms of Immortal Source Ore dug, you get one extra low-grade Immortal Source Stone, with no upper limit!"