Chapter 4: Demonic Beasts, One Upgrade After Another

Finally, iron ore appeared.

Liu Hen’s heart leapt with joy. Staying alert to his surroundings, he pulled out a piece of iron ore to examine it. The ore was about the same size as the debris stones—square-shaped and roughly the size of a fist at first glance. In reality, each was a perfect cube with edges about ten centimeters long and weighed far more than ordinary debris.

“Very solid, not bad.”

He stowed the iron ore away, rubbed his numbed hands to warm them, and continued mining.

With a swing of his pick—

[Space backpack is full.]

Since the only slot was filled with iron ore, the debris stones couldn’t be collected. Liu Hen remained unfazed and kept mining, focusing solely on iron ore.

[Iron Ore +1]

…

[Iron Ore +1]

There was still a plentiful amount of iron ore here, and there might even be a vein beneath. Although his pick was very low-level and it took over ten swings to mine a single piece, this speed was still much faster than digging with a hardwood pick. In fact, it was even faster than normal mining with an iron pick.

“Crack!”

“Crack…”

The sound of striking stone rang out repeatedly. With each blow, chunks of rock crumbled from the massive boulder before him. These were debris stones, which, unable to be collected due to the full backpack slot, simply fell as fragments.

Before long, he had hollowed out a small cave here.

Only a little more than half an hour had passed, and he had collected over sixty pieces of iron ore.

Suddenly, a twisted humanoid figure dashed toward him. It was a four-armed monster, its face grotesque and distorted, with warped features that sent a wave of unease through him.

“A demon? And a four-armed one at that?!”

Liu Hen’s expression darkened. Such a monster was beyond the ability of a lone wasteland survivor to handle.

As the creature charged, he swiftly grabbed a piece of iron ore and hurled it with all his might.

“Bang!”

Perhaps inheriting the original owner's muscle memory, his throwing skill was nearly maxed out, and the iron ore struck the four-armed demon over ten meters away, snapping its head to the side.

Without hesitation, Liu Hen retracted his pick and, using both hands, frantically pulled out iron ore to throw continuously.

“Bang! Bang! Bang…”

His hands moved like a machine gun, launching iron ore relentlessly. The mindless monster didn’t dodge and was struck down before reaching him.

“Bang!”

Finally, another iron ore smashed into the creature, shattering its body.

In the next moment, the monster’s form condensed into a glowing orb emitting a faint blue light, then exploded violently, scattering several small crystals faintly glowing blue onto the ground.

“Uh… it’s dead just like that?!”

Liu Hen was stunned. “From memory, these demons are terrifying. Even three or five wasteland survivors working together struggle to kill one. How is it so fragile?”

But after a moment, he realized, “Others don’t have my nonstop stone-throwing ability, and picking up stones takes time.” Especially since he was throwing hard, perfectly weighted iron ore.

He wasted no time and hurried over to collect the scattered demon crystals.

To his surprise, there were eight crystals on the ground.

“Does that mean it’s eight times stronger than a two-armed demon?”

He was both shocked and delighted.

Eight demon crystals—plus the one he already had—made nine in total, enough to upgrade his All-Things Pick multiple times.

“Let’s upgrade the pick first.”

This upgrade required two iron ores and two demon crystals, all of which he had.

Without hesitation, he gathered the eight crystals and immediately chose to upgrade the pick.

The All-Things Pick, along with its data, blurred in his mind, and two iron ores vanished from the single slot in his space backpack.

Just like the first upgrade—

Liu Hen felt a faint warmth rise from deep within his body, chasing away the chill.

In only five seconds, the upgrade was complete.

He quickly sensed his body and found no improvement in physique or strength. However, the warmth spreading through him made his body, stiff from the cold wind, feel much more comfortable.

Especially since his muscles had been strained from the frantic mining during the life-or-death encounter, but now the soreness had disappeared.

Apparently, the upgrade healed his injuries.

This was tremendous news; he no longer had to fear injury or worry about dying from wounds without medicine like other wasteland survivors.

[All-Things Pick (Black Iron) Lv.2 (Upgrade requirements: 3 iron ores, 3 demon crystals)]

[Demon Crystals: 7]

[Space Backpack: 2]

[Recipe: Creation Workbench]

These were the new stats after upgrading.

“An extra slot in the space backpack?”

Liu Hen’s heart lifted. Seeing he still had seven demon crystals left, he immediately upgraded again.

As before, the data in his mind blurred, and three iron ores and three demon crystals disappeared.

Once more, a warm current surged from deep inside, making his body even warmer.

This upgrade took about ten seconds to complete.

The All-Things Pick was now level three, still Black Iron grade.

The space backpack slots had increased to three.

The next upgrade required four iron ores and four demon crystals.

“Four demon crystals left—just enough for one more upgrade… but this kind of upgrade doesn’t seem to boost my combat power directly. Three slots are enough for now; better to save the crystals for crafting a workbench.”

Although crafting the workbench required only one demon crystal.

But if other creations also needed demon crystals after the workbench was made…

Thinking this through, Liu Hen suppressed the urge to upgrade further, quickly picked up the remaining iron ores on the ground, placed them into the space backpack, and briskly left.

The bright light emitted by the dying four-armed demon would likely attract more monsters or wasteland survivors.

To be safe, he decided to mine in a different location.

The rocky mountain area was eerily silent, scattered with jagged stones and twisted, gnarled trees, resembling demons lurking in darkness, weighing heavily on the heart.

Liu Hen stayed alert while cautiously making his way.

After walking three or four hundred meters, he stopped again and resumed mining with the All-Things Pick.

[Ice Block +3]

His pick struck, unexpectedly yielding three ice blocks.

Liu Hen was slightly surprised but didn’t discard them; as long as he had enough backpack slots, he would keep them.

[Ice Block +3]

Another three ice blocks were collected.

[Debris Stone +3]

The third swing yielded three debris stones in one strike.

“Much faster than before. What about iron ore?”

He continued swinging.

[Iron Ore +1]

Finally, on the fourth swing, he mined a piece of iron ore.

“Still just one piece. Maybe because the iron content is too low?”

He wasn’t sure, but the mining speed was definitely faster.

This pattern continued. Originally, he needed over ten swings to mine one iron ore; now, even when certain it was iron ore, it took nine swings.

As he kept mining, perhaps due to the heavy energy consumption, he again felt his vision darkening.

He was starving, his body barely holding on, as if about to collapse from exhaustion.

“Almost there, just a bit more!”

He gritted his teeth and pressed on despite the dizziness.

At last, nearly half an hour later, he had hollowed out a small cave here as well, collecting a total of one hundred iron ores.

Without hesitation, he chose to craft the Creation Workbench in his mind.

Upon selection, one hundred iron ores vanished from the space backpack, along with a demon crystal.

Immediately, a one-minute countdown appeared after the Creation Workbench recipe.

“One minute? That’s pretty fast.”

Suddenly, Liu Hen noticed the outside light dimming visibly, the visibility dropping quickly, and the wind growing stronger.

He felt the temperature plummeting sharply.

“Is the twilight ending?”

A chill ran through him.

“Hope the workbench won’t disappoint!”