Chapter 11: Dim Cave

Di Zhao Village.

A scarlet red light flashed, and Qi Sheng appeared before the underground crystal wall containment barrier.

Gazing at the Bone Fire Painful Painful Minghun imprisoned in the fourth containment cell, relevant information automatically surfaced in his mind:

【Ink Flame】:

Meng Yuan Chu ability effect: Consume mental energy to release death flames controllable by consciousness, inflicting continuous burning damage on the target (specific damage is affected by one's own mental energy strength).

Ji Pin production: 10/hour.

Raising his right hand, a mass of black flames generated in Qi Sheng's palm.

After containing the Bone Fire, the lost Beneath Di Zhao power retracted the fourth puzzle piece; his strength increased, and he gained the ability to control the Ink Flame.

Another piece of good news is that the players have discovered a lost domain node.

If this domain can be reclaimed, the area of Di Zhao Village will expand, and he will also acquire a new domain ability.

Just then, the latest guidance feedback information surfaced in Qi Sheng's mind:

【Notice: Obtained Sacrificial Item "Empty Valley Grass", obtained 155.7 Ji Pin, drew 30% of Ji Pin revenue, paid the challenger 109 points of Ji Pin.】

"Not bad."

As the words fell, scarlet red flames spread from his brow across his entire body.

After switching to the Beneath Di Zhao form, his vision pierced the spatial barrier, looking at the group of players currently exploring the cave.

Dim Cave.

Entering through the narrow cave mouth, a world of its own lay within.

The further down they went, the larger the space became, with multiple forked paths ahead.

The Toddler Group players accidentally discovered a rock wall during their exploration, embedded with numerous crystals flashing with faint purple light.

After focusing their gaze, analytical information from the guidance feedback surfaced in their minds:

【Name: Energy-Rich Stone】:

Spirit Mine Grade: 1

Description: A low-grade spirit ore containing rich, refined energy, usable for sacrifices, weapon and vehicle crafting, and other consumptive uses.

Black Ball: Hahaha, this place is great, found spiritual resources again.

Cute Baby: Let's get to work, it's time to mine resources.

Drunk Milk: The problem is, how do we mine?

Just as they prepared to attack the crystal-embedded rock wall, they encountered a problem.

The rock wall was hard; extracting the Energy-Rich Stones was not easy, and they had no tools in hand to use.

【The Shangcheng section of the functional panel has mining equipment, which can be purchased by consuming Ji Pin.】

Hearing the guidance's prompt, the Toddler Group players summoned their functional panels, entered "mining equipment" into the search bar of the Shangcheng page, and immediately three items appeared on the page.

【Pickaxe (Durability 100)】, 【Crystal-Breaking Pickaxe (Durability: 2000)】, 【Gravity Pickaxe (Infinite)】.

The prices for these three items were 1 point of Ji Pin, 100 points of Ji Pin, and 1000 points of Ji Pin respectively.

Along the way, they had slain many Curse Soldiers, but each Curse Soldier provided only 3-6 points of Ji Pin revenue; they could not afford the second-tier pickaxe, so they could only choose the most ordinary 1-point Ji Pin pickaxe.

After the purchase succeeded, a pitch-black pickaxe automatically appeared in their spatial inventory slots.

Just as the players prepared to get to work, they saw Tie Chui, who was walking at the very front, take out a distinct pickaxe from his spatial inventory.

This pickaxe was crystal blue throughout; once removed, it seemed as if stars had fallen to the mortal world, with faint blue light appearing dazzling under the weak light within the mine, and every trace of pattern on its surface showed glistening points flowing.

The head of the pickaxe was carved into the shape of a sharp eagle beak; after gripping it tightly, Tie Chui tried a swing, dragging out a trail of flowing light.

Realizing that Tie Chui had used the 109 points of Ji Pin obtained from the recent sacrifice to buy the second-tier pickaxe, everyone raised their middle fingers at him.

Tie Chui: Old rules, although I bought the second-tier pickaxe, the mined crystals will be counted and split among everyone; I will not keep the revenue to myself.

Hearing these words, the other players nodded in satisfaction.

Subsequently, the group began to attack the crystal wall; amidst the clanging and banging, everyone quickly realized something was wrong.

Black Ball: Damn, this pickaxe shaking the crystal wall hurts my Hukou; the feedback is too realistic.

Marble: It's good enough to have resources to get, don't complain, hurry up and work; at this stage, it's the early exploration phase of the game just launched, and striving to acquire resources to improve strength will significantly help our future development.

Drunk Milk: You guys are really stupid; the base form has no attribute buffs, switching to monster form to mine is much easier.

Saying this, Drunk Milk immediately switched to the Black Armored Snake form, grabbed the pickaxe in his mouth, and vigorously shook his head against the rock wall.

After a bout of vigorous "clang-clang" smashing, Drunk Milk suddenly stopped, slowly turned his head to look at the brothers beside him who were dumbfounded, spat out the pickaxe from his mouth, and said with a aggrieved expression:

"Dizzy, want to vomit."

Hearing these words, everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter, all speaking out to mock Drunk Milk's foolish behavior.

But when everyone's gaze turned to Tie Chui, they suddenly couldn't laugh anymore.

They saw the "Crystal-Breaking Pickaxe" in Tie Chui's hand penetrate the rock wall as easily as cutting tofu; with a few swings, he could hook out a piece of ore, and now two Energy-Rich Stones lay at his feet.

Seeing everyone stop, Tie Chui halted his movements, turned his head to look at the group, and revealed a shy smile on his face:

"Does your hand shake? I think it's fine."

What greeted him was a unified middle finger response from everyone.

After the interlude, they resumed work; during this time, the Toddler Group members tested the revenue brought by sacrificing Energy-Rich Stones and found that each Energy-Rich Stone could produce 5-15 points of Ji Pin revenue.

Compared to slaying Curse Soldiers, mining Energy-Rich Stones, aside from not being able to obtain Evolution Points (experience), obviously yielded higher Ji Pin revenue.

Just as they were putting in all their strength to smash the crystal wall, a dull sound suddenly came from the darkness.

Everyone immediately stopped their actions and all looked into the darkness.

"Marble, activate Perception."

"Got it!"

Immediately, Marble, who had chosen the Eagle-Headed Demon form within the team, activated the Eagle-Headed Demon's ability of Wailing Resentment.

This ability was like an instinct branded into the mind; it required no proficiency, and using it was as simple as breathing.

Opening his mouth, Marble emitted a melodious call that radiated outwards in waves of sound.

Images within a radius of dozens of meters appeared in his mind as rippling visuals, allowing him to clearly see the figure in the darkness at that moment.

It was a lifeform resembling a snail, its body covered by a layer of white carapace, with the tips of tentacles extending from the carapace flickering with a dim blue light, like phosphorescent flames drifting in the deep sea.

【Iron-Shell Beetle】

Hunting Rank: 8

Target Introduction: A low-level monster living underground, possessing a hard shell and highly flexible tentacles, feeding on subterranean spiritual ores.

After sharing the information in his mind to the team channel, everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing sudden movement in the dim environment had truly startled them, but upon discovering it was merely a Hunting Rank 8 monster, they instantly stopped panicking and turned around one by one, preparing to switch to monster forms to kill this creature first before continuing to mine.

"Something's wrong; there are more Iron-Shell Beetles behind!"

In Marble's perception view, the figures of more and more Iron-Shell Beetles entered the frame.

Just then, the Iron-Shell Beetles scattered to both sides, and a pitch-black figure two meters tall walked out from the darkness, exposed to the torchlight.

This figure had a humanoid form, with muscle lines as distinct as a carving; its skin was gray-blue, its arms covered in fine scales, and sharp claws grew between its fingers.

【Underground Clan】:

Hunting Rank: 19

Target Introduction: A racial faction surviving in subterranean spaces, skilled in controlling subterranean creatures for combat, possessing Level 2 intelligence, controlled by some force, and having lost autonomous consciousness.

The Underground Clan lifeform raised its head to look at them; after its gaze met the players', its pupils suddenly contracted into vertical slits.

Immediately, all the Iron-Shell Beetles raised their bodies, their tentacles on their bodies writhing as they shot towards the players.

"Let's fight!"

The members of the Toddler Group also switched to monster forms at this moment, rushing towards the Underground Clan lifeform without hesitation.

As players, the word "coward" did not exist in their dictionary.

(End of this chapter)