by Zhuang Bifan
Andoine seldom complimented anyone; even when he saw Gryffindor, he had only said "Not bad".
And yet, it put Gryffindor in high spirits for a long while. He told everyone he saw that he was someone who had received Master Andoine's compliment before.
And look at this black tower-like country boy, who only knew how to giggle inanely. It was as if the one who had complimented him was not a legendary mage, but an old geezer selling bread next door.
By comparing the two guys, Macklin really had to yield to the latter. He cursed in his heart, Damn that freak Felic, none of the people who have something to do with him are normal people…
"By the way, Macklin, I'm going to bring the two of them out, and will probably not be back tonight. Is there any objection from the guild?" Andoine asked democratically before leaving.
"No, no objections…" On hearing this, Macklin shook his head repeatedly, thinking, You old pestilence, you've come in person, so who dares to have any objections? If having any is not getting tired of living, then what is it…?
Andoine nodded in satisfaction, and praised in his old and aged manner, "Not bad, not bad, You're more sensible than Aeron, that useless bum…"
"…"
By the time the three men came out of the Guild of Magic, it was already pitch-dark outside; there was not even a figure in sight out in the cold street. They walked along this cold street all the way out of Alanna, and headed for the Nightmare Mountains. The Nightmare Mountains were a long way away, and it took them a lot of time to get there. It was almost midnight when the three men climbed along the rugged mountain road to the top of the highest mountain, looking at the dense forest afar.
The Nightmare Mountains at night seemed to be a different sight than during the day.
Many of the magical beasts that were common during the day, such as the Three-eyed Blood Wolf, had mostly returned to their nests, and were replaced with all kinds of nocturnal magical beasts. The forest was dark and quiet; the lighting along the way originated entirely from the Illuminating Spell released by Lin Li. Anyway, his mana was almost infinite—it was nothing even if he used the Illuminating Spell all the way.
Besides, with Andoine, he had no chance to make a move. Along the way, magical beasts appeared from time to time among the trees, but most of them didn't even get to reveal their faces; they merely made some noise by accident, and the old fellow would send a fireball directly in their direction, blowing off each magical beast along with the trees.
To Andoine, magical beasts below level-fifteen were nothing. He didn't even have to use his brain, and could just kill them off with an instantaneous outburst of magic. Lin Li had lost count of the number of magical beasts that had died unjustly in the hands of Andoine along the way. It felt just like driving a steamroller out in the streets—no matter what it was, he'd roll over it first; anything else would have to wait.
"Eh?!" As he passed through a bush, Lin Li suddenly stopped in his tracks, for he found that there seemed to be traces of trampling among the thorny bushes. After taking a careful look at it, it seemed that there were quite a few people. The footprints on the ground were numerous and disorderly; at a casual count, there were more than a dozen people.
"Sure enough, someone has come." Looking at the direction of footprints, it was just north of the forest.
This time, Andoine felt dejected. He was the one who had discovered the place. These fellows had sneaked in on the sly—what was the difference from grabbing a bite from his bowl? The old man touched his chin, and looked vaguely hostile. "Who's the one with no eyes…"
"We'll know when we go over." It didn't matter much to Lin Li; he had only come for the Eternal Adamantine, anyway. Even if someone had beaten him to it, he'd just have a little less to pick. He didn't believe that someone could pick all the Eternal Adamantine in just one night.
They followed the footprints, and very soon found the northern part of the forest. Before the three men left the forest, Lin Li saw from a distance that there seemed to be a flicker of fire at the place just ahead.
A Warlock's Eyes was summoned by him. Under the control of Lin Li's powerful mental strength, the Warlock's Eyes seemed to be particularly agile. It soon passed through the dense jungle, mindful of the spot where the fire was noticed by him, gliding towards it quickly.
These people obviously came prepared—even a campsite had been set up. On the plain outside the forest, several tents were connected to each other, and a bunch of bonfires was burning in the middle. There seemed to be something cooking on the bonfire; food's aroma was coming from the camp a distance away.
However…
In such a huge camp, there was not even one person in sight.
Lin Li frowned, and there was some puzzlement in his expression. The scene was too bizarre. There should be one or two people staying behind to watch over such a big campsite. It was impossible not to sense a trace of life like this.
With this hint of doubt, the Warlock's Eyes flitted quickly through the campsite, and then drifted outside to a nearby cave, which was deep and dark, and seemed to give off a ghastly chill from a distance.
"Weird…" After retrieving the Warlock's Eyes, Lin Li was still full of doubts.
He was a little puzzled indeed. At first, he had thought that everyone had gone into the cave to dig ore, but when the Warlock's Eyes had scanned the outside of the cave, he realized that the cave was dead silent too.
"What's the matter?" The old fellow was getting impatient. From his point of view, there was absolutely no need to spy with the Warlock's Eyes; he could just blow them away with a magic spell. He'd tear down the ghost camp first. That fellow with no eyes had gone so far as to snatch a bite from a legendary mage's bowl…
"There is no one in the camp…" Lin Li shook his head, and asked with some doubt, "Did you find anything amiss when you came in the morning?"
"There's nothing wrong. It's just a plain and a cave. Oh, right… It was in this cave that I found the Crystal of Eternity." Andoine thought for a moment, and added with some hesitation, "What seemed wrong was that cave. It was huge like a maze, and it was cold and dark. When I went in during the day, I had to turn around for a few hours before I found the way out."
"Then, let's have a look in the cave?"
"Okay, but be careful. Don't lose sight of each other."
Indeed, as Andoine said, the cave was just like a maze. After entering the cave, the inside was terribly complicated. The road was winding and more rugged than the path up the mountain. Lin Li maintained his Illuminating Spell, and led the way in front. He was followed by Sean, who had to bend down slightly to avoid hitting the top of the cave because he was too tall. Andoine was at the end of the line, for he was the most powerful among them, and so had to stay at the end to deal with all kinds of sudden events.
The road in front was always pitch-black; no matter how Lin Li enhanced his mana output, the Illuminating Spell could only illuminate less than ten meters ahead. A chilly wind would blow from time to time, which added some gloom to the mysterious cave. The surrounding stone walls were wet and humid, and left a greasy feel on one's hands when one touched them—it was just like touching the body of a python.
On the whole, this place was unpleasant…
After walking through a steep slope, the scene ahead suddenly changed. It was narrow and deep previously, but all of a sudden, it become like a spider's web, extending in all directions. As he stood in front of each entrance, Lin Li suddenly felt as if he had walked into a hive.
"How did you walk in the day?"
Andoine's voice was somewhat awkward. "I closed my eyes and walked anyhow…"
"…"
Lin Li shook his head. The old guy was really unreliable. He counted the front entrances. There were as many as seven entrances, both large and small. From the outside, the one in the middle was the most spacious of all the entrances, and from Lin Li's position, he could clearly see that there were faint glimmers inside—it was the unique shine of
the Eternal Adamantine.
Since they had come to mine, it was without doubt the best to choose a road with minerals. Lin Li hesitated a little, and led the two people into the largest entrance.
He did not see it wrong. Shortly after stepping into the entrance, Lin Li suddenly saw that there was a dim glimmer in the open area ahead.
The Eternal Adamantine veins were generally exposed outside the surface, and few were deeply buried in the ground. People who had reached the master level of mineral knowledge like Lin Li could easily find the location of the open vein with its unique shine, just like the one in front of them. Lin Li could see from a distance that it should be a lean ore. After the Eternal Adamantine contained in it was smelted, it could probably be forged into two sets of armor.
Although the old man was unparalleled in magic attainments, he was a rookie in the field of minerals. Watching Lin Li stand before a stone in a daze, he could not help but ask in confusion, "Such a stone is worth your coming to the Nightmare Mountains in the middle of the night?"
"This is not a stone, it is called the Eternal Adamantine. It can be used to forge the gold rod and armor. In terms of elemental resistance, it definitely comes first on the list of all magical metals." Lin Li took out a scroll from his Robe of Wrath as he explained to Andoine patiently.
"…" This explanation sounded like gobbledygook to Andoine. What eternal gold, what forged armor… He couldn't understand it no matter what. How could this kid be so young yet know so much…?
Lin Li pulled out two scrolls for Air Bomb, one of which he held himself, while the other one was handed to Andoine. "When I count to three later, you will detonate the Air Bomb with me."
"Orh…" After a series of shock, Andoine's eyes were glazed. He had completely recognized his fate. This kid was a living monster. You could never understand what was on his mind. Instead of trying to guess, he might as well cooperate and do whatever the kid wanted him to.
The two Air Bomb scrolls were inserted into two of the cracks of the Eternal Adamantine vein. Theoretically, the two magic spells should be enough to blast the vein open. However, theory was only theory. Even Lin Li himself had never used magic to blast a mine before. In the past, they used geo-explosives, but after coming to Anril, he had never seen anything like this, so he could only make do with using the Air Bomb…
With the idea of trying, Lin Li started counting down.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
"Boom!"
Chapter 132 - Dragon's Eye
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 l.u.s.ter 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.
