Gem Bug

The Cave Fishmen had given Xiao Yang a lot of miscellaneous junk.

He'd found slippery cave fish that secreted slime, bone short spears, and fishman scales. Among them were a Stab skill scroll and some gems.

Xiao Yang's Stab skill was maxed out, its effect now reading: [Stab (Maxed): Deals piercing damage that bypasses 7 Defense.] It was a simple and crude upgrade logic, but Xiao Yang's only expectation for the white-tier Stab skill was its armor-piercing capability, which was met. After all, not every white-tier skill was as straightforward, violent, and surprisingly effective as Heavy Strike.

What puzzled him was why these Cave Fishmen, which were almost evolving into giant loaches, would drop fishman scales and gems?

Xiao Yang clutched a smooth, pigeon-egg-sized ruby in his hand, lost in thought.

[Ruby

Quality: Fine

Description: This is a ruby with many uses. It can be used for equipment crafting, as a material for mages, for gem inlay in accessories, or for collection. To some extent, these shiny objects are the true universal currency of the heavens.]

However, Xiao Yang's confusion was soon resolved. As he waded through the damp mud, venturing further in, he discovered that the bottom of this underground crevasse was much more expansive than he had imagined.

Leaving the pool and wandering through the dim underground environment, he occasionally encountered lone Skeleton Warriors. But more often, he found entirely new monsters he'd never seen before, guarding a significant amount of treasure.

During his exploration, Xiao Yang stepped on a round stone that dug into his foot. Looking down, he was surprised to find it was actually a gem.

[Raw Emerald

Quality: Excellent]

"A raw gem of blue quality? Ah!" Xiao Yang picked up the Raw Emerald.

"It was just this easy to get?" he exclaimed.

He tossed it into his personal inventory, having casually acquired a valuable blue-quality material. He fell into thought, then looked up. Not far away, a crevasse in the cliff face glowed with a soft, shimmering light.

This Raw Emerald had probably rolled out of that crevasse. Looking into the depths of the fissure, Xiao Yang saw numerous glowing ore crystal pillars.

In silence, Xiao Yang's gaze sharpened with a hint of danger.

This wasn't a coincidence! Xiao Yang was a hardcore "map-licker" player; he loved exploring!

Perhaps being a "flying person" in the air wasn't so bad after all. This underground area was truly rich. No, it truly made one want to explore!

With large strides, Xiao Yang boldly entered the cliff crevasse before him. In any case, he loved mining!

Xiao Yang felt he was about to strike it rich.

But it wasn't long before Xiao Yang, who had been striding forward confidently, began a hasty retreat. From the crevasse behind him, several beams of colorful light suddenly shot out, striking his backside. He let out a yelp, losing over a hundred health points. Terrified, he fled for his life, diving out of the way and only escaping death by hiding behind a massive rock.

Where did that come from?! How could there be so many laser turrets stationed in a mine?

At this moment, the shaken Xiao Yang could only think these thoughts.

Just as Xiao Yang narrowly escaped, seven or eight insects, each about the size of a basketball and with brightly shining, crystalline shells of various colors, crawled out of the mine behind him, making crunching sounds.

It was them. Their coordinated attack had almost sent Xiao Yang to meet his maker.

Something was wrong, very wrong! Logically, with Xiao Yang's current Defense, not only should the common monsters he encountered, typically only Level 11 or 12, not be able to damage him, but even a Level 20 Skeleton Knight would inflict very limited harm.

What was the deal with this group of bugs? Could it be that they were all regional bosses exceeding Level 20?

Peeking out from behind the large rock, Xiao Yang cast a Probe Skill at the group of insects.

[Gem Bug

Special Creature

Traits: Energy Rich, Energy Convergence, Energy Burst, Energy Chain.

Description: This is a very special creature that is active in energy-rich areas. It has no clear rank classification and is also extremely expensive.]

Xiao Yang finally understood why these colorful bugs had such high attack power. With these four energy traits, they were essentially mobile, highly concentrated energy aggregators, capable of chaining their attacks. It would be strange if their attack power wasn't high.

The energy chain burst from the seven or eight Gem Bugs had nearly stripped Xiao Yang's health bar. These small creatures were truly dangerous.

He withdrew his gaze and, crouching behind the large rock, Xiao Yang fell into deep thought. These Gem Bugs were difficult to deal with, but Xiao Yang wasn't about to let them go. After all, they represented an immense fortune.

He had to try something, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to rest easy!

Xiao Yang made this decision. Subsequently, he lingered outside the mine for a long time but couldn't find a suitable opportunity to strike. He cautiously crept into the mine several more times, but the results were the same: Xiao Yang was forced to flee in disarray, dodging the Gem Bugs' laser blasts.

After several such exchanges, he actually discovered a small oversight, a breakthrough. Xiao Yang noticed that the Gem Bugs' attack frequency seemed to be quite low. No, it should be said that their energy accumulation had a limit.

After being blasted a few times, Xiao Yang noticed that several of the Gem Bugs chasing him had dull shells. Consequently, these Gem Bugs no longer participated in the group's chained attacks.

Pondering this, Xiao Yang summoned his minions. Outside the brightly lit Gemstone Mine, Xiao Yang gave instructions to the summoned Normal Skeleton before him.

"You! Charge in there!"

At Xiao Yang's command, the Normal Skeleton swung its creaking bone body and charged into the mine, only to be instantly detonated by the Gem Bugs. Of course, Xiao Yang, their creator, was unmoved by the Normal Skeleton's tragic fate. He only wondered why the Wraith Helm's Skeleton Summon had a restriction, allowing only one summon per day.

Xiao Yang's judgment was correct. The intensity of the Gem Bugs' energy chain burst was noticeably weaker than before. Another Gem Bug's shell dimmed.

But now he had no more cannon fodder. From this point on, Xiao Yang would have to endure the energy bursts himself.

There was no real problem with him doing this; his recovery speed was definitely faster than the Gem Bugs' charging speed, and the Gem Bugs couldn't kill him instantly.

However, it wasn't without a cost. Being bombarded by such powerful energy beams caused Xiao Yang pain, and a lot of it.

Shortly thereafter, another pained howl echoed through the depths of the underground crevasse.

Of course, going through all this wouldn't be without reward.

[Congratulations, Player! Your Elemental Resistance has increased!]