Chapter 35: Earth Cave World, Luo River

After Ye Tian settled down in the East Sea Fortress, he often chatted with Qin Susu to learn about this Earth Cave World.

The Earth Cave manual also had relevant records, but they were all simple entries, and much information was not recorded in it.

For example, the terrain and appearance of the Earth Cave World, which places were dangerous, the distribution of Scale Clan tribes, and so on—these were not recorded above.

Moreover, Ye Tian also learned that the East Sea Fortress was on the defensive and never dared to actively invade the Scale Clan.

The overall strength of the Scale Clan was naturally inferior to the Xia Country, but this was merely one fortress of the Xia Country; only Talented Ability Users from Donghai City and the surrounding few cities were stationed here, so the defensive force was naturally insufficient.

The Xia Country and the Scale Clan did not have large-scale wars, but there were many local wars, and the fighting was very frequent.

In the Earth Cave World, there was one thing that was very important, and that was Battle Merit.

Many Talented Ability Users were willing to enter the Earth Cave World mainly for Battle Merit, as Battle Merit could be exchanged for mission rewards.

For example, A-Grade Materials and A-Grade Strange Arts restricted by the Xia Country officials could all be exchanged using Battle Merit.

But Battle Merit was hard to obtain; one had to kill the Scale Clan to obtain it.

"So this is a Battle Ring!"

Ye Tian looked at the ring-shaped item he had just applied for and received, and began to study it.

The Battle Ring was an item that could be used for communication; there was no outside network here, and outside mobile phones could not be used here, but the Battle Ring connected to the East Sea Fortress, could be used within a certain range, and could also be used to call for help.

Moreover, the Battle Ring was similar to a mobile phone; it recorded a great deal of information on Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure. If one encountered a treasure they did not recognize, they could query the Battle Ring's data to identify it.

Additionally, in the Earth Cave World, using Battle Merit to exchange for rewards also required the use of the Battle Ring, similar to mobile payments in the outside world.

Therefore, when venturing in the Earth Cave World, the Battle Ring was very important.

The Battle Ring was free, but once lost or damaged, replacing it was quite troublesome; it required going through many audits and also cost a significant amount of money.

He registered and checked his Battle Merit balance.

【Battle Merit: 0】

He had not killed a single member of the Scale Clan, so naturally, he had no Battle Merit.

For the next few days, Ye Tian did not leave the East Sea Fortress and kept practicing here.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy here was relatively dense, so the effect of practicing here was better.

Moreover, he had been using the Enlightenment Technique to comprehend Artistic Conception, which also had some effect, but the effect was not great.

In other words, using this method to comprehend and improve Metal Intent was not very cost-effective.

"I must gather enough Battle Merit, exchange for an S-rank Treasure comprehension quota, and then use the Enlightenment Technique to comprehend Artistic Conception; only then can I make rapid progress!" Ye Tian thought to himself.

Furthermore.

He was also thinking about whether he could find S-rank Treasure in the Earth Cave World; he had to obtain S-rank Treasure materials to raise his Innate Ability Potential to S-rank!

A few days later.

Ye Tian's Metal Intent had only improved from the one-part realm to the three-part realm; in the eyes of others, such progress was undoubtedly fast, but in Ye Tian's eyes, such progress was very slow.

"Ye Tian, I'm here!"

Qin Susu arrived.

Ye Tian opened the door and let Qin Susu in.

"Ye Tian, you have some understanding of the Earth Cave now; are you prepared to go venture into the Earth Cave World?" Qin Susu asked.

"I have that thought." Ye Tian nodded.

At this time, Qin Susu suggested: "I suggest you go to the Luo River. This area is almost entirely rivers, and you are a Water Element major; although you also possess other Innate Ability, you must be very proficient in Water-type Strange Technique. Most importantly, there are relatively few Scale Clan in the Luo River, so it is slightly safer there."

"Additionally, there is a type of C-Grade Water System Material in the Luo River called Luo River Purple Sand; one jin can be exchanged for 10 points of Battle Merit!"

Luo River Purple Sand could be exchanged for Battle Merit?

Ye Tian asked in confusion: "Senior Sister Qin, isn't the only way to obtain Battle Merit by killing the alien races of the Earth Cave World?"

He remembered that the Earth Cave manual said so!

Qin Susu smiled: "It is true that one can only obtain Battle Merit by killing alien races, but Battle Merit can be traded; it just requires paying a one-tenth tax."

"Although the tax is high, many factions will use Battle Merit to acquire some rare resources. For example, Luo River Purple Sand—although it is only a C-Grade Material, some corporate factions can extract a special substance from it, and some Awakening Potion contain that special substance."

"Therefore, many groups purchase materials like Luo River Purple Sand in large quantities."

"So that's how it is!" Ye Tian understood.

"Ye Tian, many corporate factions have stations in the East Sea Fortress; you can go see what materials they are purchasing, record them with your Battle Ring, and if you encounter them, you can collect them and return to exchange them for Battle Merit," Qin Susu suggested.

"Mm!"

Ye Tian noted it down.

Afterward, Qin Susu made an appointment to leave the East Sea Fortress with Ye Tian tomorrow.

Qin Susu's destination was not the Luo River, but a portion of the road was the same, so they could travel together on the way.

The next day.

Ye Tian met with Qin Susu and left the East Sea Fortress together.

Walking out of the East Sea Fortress, Ye Tian looked back and finally caught a glimpse of the majesty of the entire East Sea Fortress; there were streams of light flickering on it, which was the light of the Array being half-activated.

Within a radius of several miles around the East Sea Fortress, not a blade of grass grew; the ground here was pitch black and covered in cracks, all caused by fighting.

Although the Scale Clan rarely engaged in large-scale wars with the East Sea Fortress, it still happened once every few years, often fighting directly to the East Sea Fortress, forcing them to activate the Array to resist the Scale Clan's invasion.

Therefore, this area outside had been beaten into such a state.

"Ye Tian, when entering the Earth Cave World, you must be careful and restrain your aura; the Scale Clan is very sensitive to aura, and it is very easy to be discovered by them..." Qin Susu reminded him along the way.

There was no end to the common knowledge, all of which was experience gained step by step.

After walking about ten miles, Qin Susu and Ye Tian parted ways.

After Qin Susu left, Ye Tian no longer needed to hide; he directly used the Earth Escape Technique to travel.

An hour later, he arrived near the Luo River.

"There must be Scale Clan members here in the Luo River; I will use a Water Clone to search for traces of the Scale Clan first!"

Splash!

The Water Clone at the Consummation Realm was unleashed.

The Water Clone merged into the water, making it nearly impossible to sense that a Water Clone was present.

Subsequently, the Water Clone moved slowly, trying its best not to cause ripples in the flowing water.

Rumble—!!!!

In the distance, there were fluctuations from a Water-type Strange Technique battle.

"Could it be a Talented Ability User fighting to the death with the Scale Clan?"

Ye Tian had the Water Clone go over immediately to take a look.

Very quickly.

He arrived at the waters where the battle was taking place.

He saw that above a stretch of the Luo River, an Intermediate Ability Master was surrounded by two Scale Clan members.

Of these two Scale Clan members, one was at the Intermediate Ability Master realm and the other was a Primary Strange Art Master, and they were currently in a suppressed state.

"There shouldn't be any hidden Scale Clan members nearby, right?"

Ye Tian carefully scouted the area and confirmed there were no other Scale Clan members.

Thus, he came over himself, preparing to finish off these two Scale Clan members.

In this way, he could obtain his first Battle Merit since arriving in the Earth Cave World.