Cheat Awakening

10 days had bled into the dusty air since the day Myne had cursed all the mess in the mine.

Myne, who ran away after causing so much drama, clearly didn't know what had happened after he left. The next day when he cautiously returned what greeted him was eerie silence.

The usual throng of demons bustling with ores and gossip was gone, replaced by a deserted emptiness. Only the familiar red-skinned dwarf remained at his post, a beacon of stability in the uncertain aftermath.

Myne hurriedly went to him to find out about the situation, however, he soon realized that there was a big problem with his plan—his rudimentary understanding of demonic languages wasn't enough to decipher the dwarf's frantic explanation.

So, Myne could only shake his head helplessly and, while guessing that maybe everyone didn't come to work because of the mine collapse, he went toward the mine entrance alone. For others, a collapsed mine meant disaster. For Myne, with his bottomless Inventory, it was a treasure trove just waiting to be scooped up.

The fallen sections promised veins of glittering minerals and rare orbs, ripe for the grabbing.

Myne's idea was good, but Lady Luck had some other plans. His eager stride towards the mine entrance was intercepted by two hulking halflings, their guttural curses left Myne dumbfounded. Obviously, Myne had no idea what they were saying, but after observing their reactions, he understood that they didn't want to let him in.

Realizing that he was the only one who wanted to enter, Myne understood that someone might be cleaning up his mess.

So, after wandering aimlessly around for two hours, Myne unwillingly returned to his stone chamber. The next day didn't change anything other than there being even fewer people in front of the mine; even the red-skinned dwarf was no longer on duty.

Myne, who understood that the mine was probably out of service today as well, didn't become sad. Instead, a mischievous glint ignited in Myne's eyes. After looking left and right and seeing that there was no one around him, he hurriedly went to the Y-shaped purification machine.

With a swift glance over his shoulder, Myne swooped into action, he quickly took out both miner trollies and the remaining three big bags filled with orbs. Without wasting time, he emptied everything into the machine and went to the other side after putting the miner trolleys and three remaining big bags into his storage box skill.

On that particular day, Myne realized how slowly time passes when eagerly anticipating the results of something, especially when dishonesty adds the fear of being caught at any moment. It felt like a hammer hitting his heart—too much fear and nervousness to handle.

However, what Myne feared did not happen. Soon, the DING sound he had been waiting for, akin to a desperate single mother awaiting her husband's return after years away from home, finally reached his ears. Eleven palm-sized golden bars, three red orbs, and one pitch-black sphere-shaped orb with a slight glow in the centre emerged from the machine on the black treadmill.

Naturally, Myne's eyes, after glancing at the quantity of gold, were instantly drawn to the new orbs. After all, these orbs were clearly more valuable than the gold in this strange place.

[ Spectral Voidshade Orb

Grade: Low-Tier 1

Attribute: Dark

Description: Spectral Voidshade Orbs appear as dark spheres with an otherworldly glow. Weapons forged with these orbs have the ability to briefly plunge the target into a realm of shadows, impairing their vision and leaving them vulnerable to subsequent attacks. Miners must contend with the eerie and disorienting atmosphere of the hell mines to procure these orbs. ]

Obtaining another new type of orb with an unknown quality, which clearly looked very high, was undoubtedly a good thing for Myne. Although he had no idea what a Tier-1 reagent was, he knew it was a positive development. With a grin, he tucked the four orbs and his newly minted fortune into his trusty Inventory, returning to his chamber with a heart lighter than air.

Next, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Myne, like everyone else, finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the mine open the next day. He quickly went in to do his job. Due to the last incident, Gal, this time, didn't leave everything in the hope that nothing bad would happen again, so she appointed many guards inside the mine.

They were ready to respond instantly if they heard any movement and stop any dispute. This was undoubtedly bad news for Myne, who wanted to use shortcuts to acquire quick wealth. However, after serious observation, he soon realized that these guards were not anything special. The only thing they were good at was gossiping and having fun.

They didn't care about their work at all and, after finding a good location, sat down to play a weird game that Myne had no idea about.

By the way, Myne also tried to gather information about the two poor demons who had become popular overnight because of his adding fuel to their small fight. However, as always, due to the language barrier, he had to postpone his plan until he met Gal.

The next eight days went by with Myne deeply immersed in his new job. Most of his time was spent searching for good and easy-to-handle targets in the deepest part of the mine. Since he himself can hardly mine in that area without making too much noise or wasting a lot of Mana, finding his target required careful consideration.

Once he identified his target, he would first change his appearance, then either use his various skills to confuse them or do something to make them move away from their belongings. Afterwards, he would create fake items for the next few minutes and take away the original ones.

With hard work like this, it only took Myne five days to complete his mission of gathering five tons of gold. However, due to his super-fast, clueless grandmaster-level stealing, no one doubts him. But thanks to his excellent work, literally half of the miners became enemies of each other, as they all thought the demon next to them had done something to their minerals.

Smelling the dense gunpowder in the air, Myne finally became honest and shifted his stealing to powerful demons in the deepest part of the mine, away from the weaker ones near the entrance. Although he didn't earn one-fifth of what he earned from his previous generous donors, at least they were not so difficult to deal with, and he could easily show them who was the boss.

...

[ Golden Bar (737), Arcane Prismalith Orb (13), Spectral Voidshade Orb (2), Frostfire Frostcore (1), Aetherium Stargleam (1) ]

"So you really collected five tons of gold? And that too within only ten days?" Velvet, still weakly laying on the bed, asked with a surprised expression to Myne who had spent only an hour at the mine today before coming back and sharing this good news.

Myne moved his eyes away from the Inventory window in front of him. With an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face, he spoke, "Of course! Otherwise, do I look like I am joking with you? I am much more hardworking and dedicated to my work than you think. If not for that accident in the mine, I might have completed this task three days ago."

Hope sparkled in Velvet's eyes. "Amazing! This means we can finally get out of this floor and try to find a way to escape from this ahmm... dimension, right?" She asked with excitement. Velvet was tired of living in this small stone chamber. If not for Myne's interesting storybooks, she might have gone insane from boredom long ago.

"Well, about this matter, I have something to discuss..." The grin on Myne's face faltered at her question. He sat down on the edge of the bed with a serious expression before continuing without waiting for Velvet's reply, but his voice, hesitant now, dropped to a grave tone. "I think I have a way to recover you completely and make you stand on your feet..."

"What! Really? Tell me you are not joking" Excitement danced in Velvet's eyes, her voice trembling with disbelief. "But weren't you in the mine the entire time? How did you find the way to recover me? Also, don't try to fool me by saying that there is someone among the miners who can heal me." After saying that she stared at Myne with fire in her eyes.

If it were not for the fact that she couldn't move her body, she might have already jumped on him.

Myne chuckled, a touch of weariness in his laughter. "Calm down, my little kitty. Let me explain before you burst with anticipation." He sighed, the weight of his revelation evident on his shoulders. "There's a way to restore your vitality, but there is a small problem related to you..."

Velvet stilled, the word snagged in her throat. His serious tone sent shivers down her spine, replacing the giddiness with a knot of unease. "But?" she whispered, her gaze pleading.

"But first, make a pinky promise that you won't get angry after hearing my explanation." Myne, who can already foresee the future according to Velvet's nature, decides to take a guarantee for their relationship before telling his plan. Although it is very unlikely that a simple children's promise can stop Velvet's wrath if she doesn't like his plan, at least it is still better than nothing.

Reluctantly, Velvet hooked her small finger around his, a sigh escaping her lips "Sigh... I am going to regret it... Fine, pinky promise. Now, tell me quickly."

"The problem is not a big deal. I found a magic scroll in the mine during my exploration, and according to it, you can absorb someone else's vitality to restore yours after using it. Simple, right?" Myne, while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a strained smile stretched across his face.

"WHAT!?"

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Woohoo! We hit 300 chapters! Huge thanks to you, amazing readers, for sharing this wild ride. We've walked through fire and brimstone, scaled mountains of laughter and dived into oceans of tears, all hand-in-hand (or perhaps hand-in-text-cursor?).

So, today, I reach out, not as a storyteller, but as a fellow adventurer, a kindred spirit who found solace and joy in the shared experience of storytelling. Thank you. Thank you for being my companion on this epic odyssey. Thank you for believing in me, in the characters, in the power of words to transport us to other worlds.

...Although I have many more things to express, it would be unwise to waste all of your precious brain cells. So, let me end my deepest gratitude here.
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