Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The rumbling explosion echoed in the cave, and the stone walls around seemed to tremble. Small pebbles spattered, and hit their bodies, bringing them great pain. Dirt and gravel mingled in the air, covering their faces in dust. Lin Li rolled up his sleeves and wiped his face, and the thick dust shook off like flour.
This was a typical blast mining method known to Lin Li, but it was the crudest and the most dangerous one. Not to mention it was easy to hurt someone, it was likely to injure the accompanying gemstones as well. Lin Li would not have done so if it hadn’t been for the limited conditions.
The most precious part of the Eternal Adamantine vein was its accompanying gemstones, such as the Infused Crystal, which was something that couldn’t be sought, but only found by chance. If one of them was damaged in the explosion, it’d be too late for Lin Li to cry over it.
However, there was no other way. The conditions here were too primitive—there was no chance for them to mine the more difficult ones.
“So many minerals, how are you going to ship them out…” Andoine looked doubtful. The Eternal Adamantine was terribly heavy. The largest piece probably weighed 100 or 200 kilograms. It would take a day or two to move them all out even for someone with a freaky physical like Sean.
“Too simple.” Lin Li grinned mysteriously as he quietly opened the Ring of Endless Storm.
His right hand, which wore the Ring of Endless Storm, seemed to possess a mysterious power. Where his hand reached, the minerals were swept away in an instant. Half of the mineral piles were swept away by him in just a moment’s time.
Since knowing this kid, Andoine had resigned himself to destiny. He knew that the kid was a monster. His gift in magic was seriously abnormal, but he was also proficient in all kinds of miscellaneous skills. It seemed that there was nothing he couldn’t do except giving birth. Sometimes, Andoine would even think that he wouldn’t be surprised if the kid really gave birth to a child. After all, a monster was a monster—it couldn’t be measured by an ordinary person’s values.
Nevertheless, he was completely mad when he witnessed this scene!
He had seen a lot of spatial equipment, but he had never seen anyone use it the way this kid did.
Look at what he had done…
The extremely precious dimensional space was actually used by him to hold minerals, which were packed in one after another. In the blink of an eye, almost all the minerals on the ground were swept away as if it was not a piece of spatial equipment, but a garbage bag that could be discarded at any time.
Andoine felt guilty just thinking about the abnormality of it. God above… Is there anyone who’s more of a wastrel than this kid?
The most unacceptable thing to Andoine was that this kid was desperately trying to pack the minerals in, but the spatial equipment never seemed to be filled up. No matter how many pieces of minerals there were, as long as this kid stretched his hand out, the minerals would be gone in a flash. Look how long it took for the whole area of minerals to be almost swept clean? There were only a few small, broken bits, looking pitifully alone in the corner.
After finishing all these, Lin Li said in a leisurely manner, “It’s called the Endless Storm.”
On hearing this, Andoine felt that he could not breathe at all. After holding back for a long time, he finally squeezed out two words. “Bloody hell!”
“Want to take a look inside?”
“Of course!” Andoine gnashed his teeth. He had to see for himself today whether the so-called Endless Storm really had endless space inside. An Eternal Adamantine vein couldn’t stuff you, right? Then we’ll blast a few more!
Since Andoine had agreed, Sean naturally had no objection. Under the guidance of the Illuminating Spell, the three men gradually went deeper into the cave. As they advanced deeper and deeper, the space around them became emptier and vaster. The cave was like a vase with a thin and narrow opening, but the inside was empty. When the three men walked for another few hundred meters, the road ahead was already flat.
“Did you hear anything?” Lin Li was somewhat uneasy walking on this flat road. He constantly felt there was a voice talking to him. It sounded far yet near, sometimes calling out loudly, and sometimes whispering, but when he listened carefully, he could never recognize what the voice was saying.
“What voice? Kid, you’ve misheard it…” Andoine glanced at him in surprise. There was dead silence in the cave; even the air seemed to be frozen. Where did any sound come from?
“I didn’t hear it, either.” Sean nodded in agreement. He had not heard anything indeed.
“Strange…” Lin Li’s eyebrows wrinkled slightly. He was sure that he had heard it—there was a voice in the cave. Just as he had uttered the words, the voice rang again. However, the look on both their faces was exactly of the same seriousness. Sean might not have noticed it, but how could Andoine, a legendary mage, not have noticed it?
“Am I imagining it?” Lin Li grumbled in a low voice, but the weird feeling still lingered in his mind. He constantly felt uneasy along the way as if something was going to happen. The feeling made him feel very uncomfortable; several times, he wanted to stop and end this exploration altogether.
When Lin Li bit his teeth and planned to put this idea into action, he was surprised to find another dim light. Obviously, this was another Eternal Adamantine vein. Judging from its bright color, it might as well be a rare and rich mineral…
The Eternal Adamantine vein was not far in front—probably less than 100 meters away from them. Lin Li’s eyes lit up when it was determined to be a rich mine. A rich Eternal Adamantine mine was not always available; it meant high-quality minerals together with all kinds of precious accompanying gemstones.
Lin Li took swallowed his saliva hard, and his previous worries were immediately forgotten.
The ten-meter-long vein was exposed outside the surface of the earth. From a distance, it felt winding and undulating—just like the rolling hills. The unique luster of the Eternal Adamantine gave people a relaxed and refreshed feeling under the light of the Illuminating Spell, which was quite different from the poor mineral vein that was previously mined.
The three men quickened their pace, and hurried over.
Lin Li reached into his pocket, and pulled out a few Air Bomb scrolls.
Blast mining could easily damage the accompanying gemstones, but the present conditions were really poor, so Lin Li couldn’t care less. Besides, with his strength as a master of mineral veins, as long as he was careful, he would not deal too much of a damage.
But this time, Lin Li dared not give Andoine the scroll.
After all, he was a legendary mage, not a legendary miner. Even if his personal strength was powerful enough, he was only a layman in mining. Lin Li could let him waste the poor mineral vein earlier, but he wouldn’t dare let him mess up this rich mineral vein.
In the face of such an almost perfect vein, even Lin Li himself dared not have the slightest carelessness. After the scroll was taken out, he was not in a hurry to insert it into a crack, but walked back and forth around the vein. This time, he would not allow any negligence in the blasting; he had to take all details into consideration.
Lin Li put on his rare serious face as he stood in front of the mineral vein. He rubbed his eyebrows gently with one hand and immersed himself in complicated calculations.
The simple yet crude blast mining was inherently prone to accidents. In addition, Lin Li was presently trying to use the Air Bomb spell instead of geo-explosives, which added to the uncertainties of this mining process. He had to calculate every step carefully so as not to let any accidents happen.
It was frighteningly quiet all around. There was no other sound apart from the rhythmic footsteps. Andoine and Sean held their breath almost concurrently, for they knew that this was the most critical moment. Lin Li, who was immersed in thought, could not be disturbed even by a little.
Time passed by, and it was unknown how long it took for Lin Li to halt his steps at last. He carefully took out a scroll, and gently inserted it into the crevice of the mineral vein. When he bent down, Andoine and Sean saw distinctly the beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead…
The insertion was followed by another one. Lin Li inserted a total of five Air Bomb scrolls into the crevices.
The positions of the five scrolls were not uniform, either. Some were deeply buried in the vein crevices; others were only slightly inserted. Most of the scrolls were still exposed to the air. The depth that they were inserted to would determine the success of this blasting. If there were no mistakes in Lin Li’s calculations, this blasting would open the surface of the vein without injuring the accompanying gemstones in the interior.
For Lin Li, the accompanying gemstones were the most important. Although the Eternal Adamantine was a magical metal, it was not very useful for a mage. Its only use was probably to forge a set of equipment for Sean.
After inserting the five scrolls into the crevices, Lin Li rolled up his sleeves again, and wiped the sweat on his forehead. Then, he slowly retreated beside Andoine, and asked with a look of fatigue, “How many scrolls can you control within a second?”
“Three.” Andoine thought about it, and gave an exact answer. Besides not consuming magic, there was no difference between a scroll spell-casting and ordinary spell-casting—both were controlled by the mental strength, and required elemental sequencing. After all, the Air Bomb spell was a level-five magic spell. Even if Andoine had reached the legendary level, he dared not undertake more tasks.
It was not as simple as one plus one equaling two to release three level-five spells at the same time.
This meant that Andoine’s mental strength had to control three level-five spells at the same time, and complete the sequencing of these three magical elements within the same time frame.
This was for Andoine. If a slightly weaker mage—such as Macklin, who was only infinitely close to the legendary level—were to handed control of three scrolls of Air Bomb at the same time, he would definitely refuse without even thinking about it. Macklin was arrogant, but not crazy enough. What was the difference between controlling three scrolls at a time and seeking death? A little carelessness could lead to a mental breakdown…
“The three left ones are for you.” Lin Li nodded. He knew that the three Air Bomb scrolls were Andoine’s limit. If he were to add another scroll, not to mention Andoine, even if it was Aldwin—who was a level higher than Andoine—he could probably only watch at a side.
“Are you alright?” Andoine glanced at him, and there was some worry on his face.
His question was obscure, but how could Lin Li not know that the old fellow was concerned about himself? After all, he was just a Magic Shooter, and was still a long way away from the Legendary Realm. Even if he was only controlling two scrolls concurrently, the old fellow was still worried something might happen to Lin Li.
Lin Li felt a gush of warmth to his heart, but merely smiled. “Did you forget how I practiced elemental sequencing?”
“Oh, true…” Andoine chortled at the mention of this. It was then that he remembered the kind of monster standing before him—it was someone who had practiced elemental sequencing all day long. Although he was still a Magic Shooter, his mental strength was far beyond this category.
“Ready.” Lin Li tightened his grip on the Winter Staff; his voice was slightly hoarse.
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Boom!”
The three of them only felt the ground tremble in the earth-shaking explosion. The power of five Air Bomb scrolls unleashed at the same time was equivalent to the magic spells of an Archmage. At that moment, Lin Li even felt that the whole cave had collapsed; large tracts of rubble spattered, and there was a sharp whistling sound in the air. Clouds of dust filled the air—the whole area was as dark as if a sandstorm was brewing.
With the previous lesson, the three men crouched down almost at the same time with their hands held over their heads as the rubble smashed down on their backs—the burning pain was as if they had been whipped.
It was unknown how long had passed before the cave gradually quieted down.
Lin Li stood up with some apprehension.
Then, he saw that there seemed to be a few glimmers of light among the minerals that were all over the ground…
“Indeed…”
Lin Li suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, and slowly walked to the spot of light.
It was a Dragon’s Eye about the size of a fist. This was a really good thing. It was said that after the death of the ancient dragon, the pair of eyes would turn into a gemstone with the passage of time.
Granted—legends were just legends, and it was difficult to verify the authenticity of it.
But one thing was for sure.
Legendary dragons were all natural spellcasters. Even newly born dragons could use their dragon roars to unleash a magic spell strong enough to destroy the world. In that distant yet barbaric era, the violent magical elements in the war between the dragons and the titans had torn the whole world apart.
And the Dragon’s Eye had a similar power as well.
A Dragon’s Eye naturally contained a spell, but no one knew what kind of spell it was and how it came into being. Even Lin Li—a man so erudite he was unlike a human being—had not been able to fully understand its mystery.
He only knew that the bigger the Dragon’s Eye was, the higher the level of spell it contained.
Lin Li had seen numerous Dragon’s Eyes back in the Endless World.
However, most of the Dragon’s Eyes were only the size of the thumb, and the spells contained in them were the likes of the wind blade and icicle. Usually, they were inlaid on rings, and used as underhand tricks.
Lin Li felt that the gemstone before them was too much—it was the size of a fist, and probably contained a spell of at least the Magic Shooter level.
This was no joke…
The spell contained in Dragon’s Eye was not like the low-level stuff from the magic scrolls. It was completely instantaneous, and did not require the control of mental strength. There was no need for elemental sequencing, and there was not even a level restriction for it. Only a trace of mana input was needed to directly activate the spell contained in the Dragon’s Eye.
Think about it. A spell of the Magic Shooter level could be released anytime and anywhere—and it was even in an instantaneous outburst. If it was unleashed out of the blue, it could probably even take down an Archmage by surprise.
If there were any shortcomings, it would be the mana.
Dragon’s Eyes were naturally endowed with a magic spell, but they had no source of mana. After this spell was used once, it had to be supplemented, be it from a magical crystal or a mage. In short, it was necessary to input enough mana into it to restore the Dragon’s Eye’s terrifying magic ability.
But when a monster like Lin Li came by it, even its only shortcoming seemed insignificant. How would he worry about the problem of insufficient mana with his almost-infinite mana?
Compared to this, it was the size of the Dragon’s Eye that had him troubled—it was simply too big…
Lin Li had never seen such a large Dragon’s Eye. It was certainly impossible to set it on a ring. Even with such a big ring, Lin Li did not have fingers that were thick enough to wear it…
In addition to this Dragon’s Eye, there were several accompanying gemstones scattered around it.
Lin Li glanced at the heap of minerals, and spotted a Heart of Gaia.
The Heart of Gaia was not small, either—it was the size of an egg.
The Heart of Gaia was a good item. The earth element contained in it was surprisingly massive. If they were embedded on any equipment, even if it was just an ordinary blouse, it could become invulnerable in an instant.
Lin Li was about to bend down to pick up the Heart of Gaia when he discovered something else.
Among the fine pieces of and Eternal Adamantine, a crystal of astonishing size was emitting a faint magical aura…
Lin Li’s eyes almost fell out as he looked at the crystal.
It was not only Lin Li’s eyes that almost fell out, but also Andoine who had just hurried forward.
“Oh my God…” Andoine’s voice sounded like a somniloquy; he was really suspecting that he was dreaming. This Crystal of Eternity was just too big. It was lying quietly among the pile of minerals, reflecting a brilliant halo under the Illuminating Spell.
Andoine estimated the volume of the Crystal of Eternity—it was probably larger than his head!
If this were to be carved into potion bottles, then at least ten of it could be carved out.
At the thought of the ten potion bottles carved from the Crystal of Eternity being arranged in the potion lab, Andoine’s aged face was beaming like a flower in full bloom.
The old man had even thought out a scene in his mind—when the ten bottles were carved, he would show them off in the Pharmacists Guild. He wondered what would the expression on Burnside’s face be like when he saw the bottles.
The old man’s satisfaction grew as he stared at the Crystal of Eternity.
By this time, Lin Li had filtered all the gemstones.
The harvest for this trip was far beyond his expectations. In addition to the Eternal Adamantine, there was a fist-sized Dragon’s Eye, an egg-sized Heart of Gaia, and a terrifying Crystal of Eternity.
It was a pity to him that there was no Infused Crystal—the one he wanted most—in the pile of minerals.
However, he soon cast it aside after thinking it through. The Infused Crystal was something that could be met, but not sought. In a thousand Eternal Adamantine veins, it was not necessarily possible to dig a piece of it out.
After blasting the veins, they’d naturally divide the loots.
First on the list was the huge Crystal of Eternity. Andoine stood up and called dibs on the crystal in exchange for all his wealth. Lin Li pouted, and thought to himself, I know very well about how little your assets are. You’re trying to exchange such a huge crystal with what little you have? It’ll be good enough for you to exchange them for an amethyst potion bottle.
