"Could you go take a look at The Mеchаnus?"
"You mean March 7th and the others are over there too?"
"Yes!"
Hearing that, Liuge lowered his head.
Natasha looked at him like that and sighed, thinking he was unwilling to go.
But the next moment, Liuge spoke again.
"Even if you want me to check things out over there, I don't know the way!"
"Ah... my fault. I forgot you just came down here."
Meanwhile, March 7th and the others had already arrived at the entrance to Medulla Mining.
Two groups were facing off there.
No, rather than two groups, it was one group of people and a group of robots.
"Hey, Uncle Oleg, we're here!"
Seeing the situation over there, March 7th and the others immediately rushed over.
"Hm?"
Oleg was somewhat surprised to see them arrive.
"Why are you here?"
"Huh? Didn't you send someone to call us over?"
"Nonsense. We can handle these little robots ourselves!"
Oleg turned to look at the robots before him and spoke dismissively.
"Then why hadn't you dealt with them by the time we got here?"
Stelle spoke up at that moment, exposing him.
In an instant, Oleg's expression stiffened.
They could handle these robots, but several people on their side would inevitably get injured.
Seeing Oleg at a loss for words, Seele, who had been silent beside him, nearly burst out laughing.
"Alright, leave this to us."
As she spoke, March 7th summoned her Six-Phase Ice bow. Seele raised her great scythe, while Bronya, who had silently been dragged down to the Underworld with them, lifted her long-barreled rifle.
In less than a minute, March 7th and the others had dealt with those fodder-like little robots.
"Uncle Oleg, what happened here? Why did you clash with these robots?"
"We're confused about that ourselves. We barely ever interacted with them before, but today they suddenly drove us out of the mines."
Even Oleg himself was baffled.
They had been mining perfectly well, only to suddenly be driven out by a bunch of non-living things. How was he supposed to explain that?
"Did a machine descend from the heavens?"
Stelle abruptly blurted that out, only to receive a glare from March 7th the next moment.
"What machine descending from the heavens? How did even you get led astray by that gaming nerd Liuge?"
March 7th helplessly rubbed her forehead, then looked at the little robots as her clever little brain began spinning at high speed.
Then, under Stelle's astonished and bewildered gaze, wisps of white smoke began rising from March 7th's head.
Not long after, March 7th's eyes suddenly lit up. She slammed her left fist into her right palm with an enlightened expression.
"I know! They've developed Self-Awareness!"
In an instant, March Holmes, convinced she had found the key point, planted her hands on her hips with a smug look.
Her expression practically screamed, Praise me! Hurry up and praise me!
Summoning
At that moment, Liuge was heading toward the mines, picking things up nonstop along the way and fully displaying the habits of a Trash Can scavenger.
Every Stat-Stick Light Orb in sight was swept into his possession.
Not counting basic stat-sticks like Strength, Speed, and endurance.
Without blue-quality versions, those three stat-sticks could no longer improve Liuge very much.
What interested Liuge was that he had found several good stat-sticks this time.
Phantom Quality: Purple Effect: When this stat-stick is equipped, you gain special effects while running. Character Stat-Stick · Brat Quality: Purple Effect: A high-quality combination stat-stick. You should understand, right? Silver Tongue Quality: Blue Effect: What you say can easily sway people's hearts. Trash Can Quality: Blue Effect: Trash Can. Muscle Power Quality: Blue Effect: Who wouldn't like the visual effect of a huge dick?
Yes, these were the new stat-sticks Liuge had found along the way.
Of course, Liuge was most satisfied with Phantom and the Character Stat-Stick.
As he traveled, he considered the combination recipes in the Stat-Stick Library.
The moment Liuge saw Phantom, a flash of inspiration sprang into his mind, and he happened to catch it.
Although Phantom looked like nothing more than an effect stat-stick, with a little combination...
Thinking this, Liuge dismantled the Battle-Ready Bodyguard stat-stick.
He once again obtained the five stat-sticks: Puppet, Physics Holy Sword, Guard, Strength, and Speed.
Then Liuge began combining them again.
First, he used synthesis upgrades to combine the many Speed stat-sticks he had just picked up into a blue-quality one.
Then Liuge combined that blue-quality Speed with Phantom and Puppet.
He obtained a brand-new stat-stick: Clone.
Seeing this, Liuge revealed a faint smile.
Just as he had thought.
Clone (Incomplete) Quality: Pseudo-Gold Effect: When you equip this stat-stick, a clone will materialize at your side.
However, after examining the stat-stick closely, Liuge still frowned slightly.
Liuge knew exactly what that "Incomplete" meant.
It meant this stat-stick still lacked an important component. Though it had now been combined, it was only a simplified version, just like Haxxor Bunny.
"What exactly is missing?"
Liuge frowned and thought for a while before giving up. What he was thinking now was whether he could use the Clone stat-stick to strengthen his side.
For example, could his clone equip Haxxor Bunny's Stat-Stick Character Card?
Liuge acted as soon as the idea came to him, directly equipping the Clone stat-stick.
The next moment, he saw a three-dimensional model of the clone appear on the Aether Edit screen.
Seeing that, he knew his method... was feasible!
Excited, Liuge forcibly steadied himself, because he had already reached the mine entrance.
At a glance, he saw March 7th over there, standing with her hands on her hips and waiting to be praised.
Liuge quietly walked over.
Stelle and Dan Heng beside her also noticed Liuge's arrival. Just as they were about to speak, Liuge raised his index finger to his lips, stopping them from opening their mouths.
They looked toward Liuge, then at March 7th, who was still smugly pleased with herself, and immediately understood what he intended to do.
Both of them found it amusing.
Seele and Bronya, however, saw an unfamiliar person approaching March 7th and tightened their grips on their weapons, their faces full of vigilance.
But then they saw the mischievous smiles on Stelle's and Dan Heng's faces and immediately understood that he was an acquaintance.
Liuge quietly leaned close to March 7th's ear, blew a breath into it, then crouched down.
"Eek!"
The warm breath entering March 7th's ear made her jolt. She raised a hand to cover her ear and sharply turned around.
But there was no one behind her.
Before March 7th could react, Liuge quietly poked her waist from behind again.
The ticklish sensation made her turn around once more, but she still did not look down.
With no one behind her, March 7th began to panic. She looked toward Stelle.
But Stelle wore an expression of complete surprise.
"What's wrong, March?"
Though she really wanted to laugh, Stelle held it in.
"Um... um, I think there's a ghost here."
"A ghost?"
Stelle looked utterly baffled.
Just then, March 7th felt someone grab her thigh.
"Eek!"
March 7th leaped up and abruptly looked down, tears nearly spurting from her eyes.
But when she saw Liuge crouching on the ground, raising a hand at her and smiling as he spoke—
"Yo, March!"
Her frightened little expression immediately froze, then rapidly transformed into fury.
"Liuge, you jerk! Bad Liuge! You bullied me!"
As she spoke, she raised her fists and began raining blows down on Liuge's head and face.
With the show finally over, Stelle could no longer hold it in and laughed so hard she bent forward and backward.
Even Dan Heng could not help but smile. Seele and Bronya turned their heads away, but their trembling shoulders thoroughly gave away the fact that they were secretly laughing.
As the instigator, Liuge naturally did not dare fight back. He simply crouched there with his head covered, taking March 7th's flurry of tiny fists.
Before you continue