Severance

After the lightning ball was completely erased, Jiu Ming suddenly felt a little regretful...

It seemed like a waste to use this Sealed Card here, as the ability within it was unexpectedly powerful!?

As for estimating its power based on the description on the card?

Don't be ridiculous, this isn't a game where power can be explained by a string of numbers. Reality fluctuates based on various situations!

You want to quantify it? Fine, can you provide an absolute value that applies in all environments?

The best way to judge is to see the power displayed by the original user. Such a large lightning ball was eliminated so cleanly. This thing is simply Defy Heaven. What is the identity of that Hedgehog Head unlucky youth!?

The Thunder Snake King froze in place for a long time without moving. Even the surrounding Thunder Snake swarm fell silent for a moment. If he didn't run now, he'd be a fool!

Instantly, Jiu Ming unleashed his full speed, stepping on numerous Thunder Snakes and escaping the snake pit. Fortunately, those Thunder Snakes had released a lot of lightning earlier and were somewhat weakened. Jiu Ming didn't encounter any electrocution traps when he stepped on them.

"Hiss!!"

Following that, the Thunder Snake King's enraged roar echoed from the snake pit. Jiu Ming, who had already escaped, wouldn't be foolish enough to go back. After the previous attack, the overall combat power of these Thunder Snakes had dropped significantly, making it even more impossible for them to catch up to him. Now, they needed to consider what to do next...

How could humans let go of such a large High-Energy Crystal mine?

Even if it was left unused due to its geographical location, it had to be sealed off. Otherwise, after clearing out the Thunder Snakes here, who knew if another nest of other Thunder Beasts would appear after some time due to the minerals here...

Thunder Tigers, Thunder Leopards, Thunder Cats, and so on!

Exotic Beasts absorbing High-Energy Crystal mines is different from humans. They can just eat them. What makes humans even more envious and hateful is that once a human's ability is awakened, it's basically fixed. It can be improved, but it cannot be changed.

But Exotic Beasts, besides having non-ability mutations, can also undergo mutated transformations through large amounts of High-Energy Crystal mines. Without ability mutations, they already have very strong physical bodies. If they gain some ability mutations... tsk!

Moreover, besides devouring minerals, some Exotic Beasts are born with special abilities after mutation.

In other words, all Exotic Beasts can possess special abilities, and they can even choose them, provided they can consume enough of that type of High-Energy Crystal mine.

Therefore, upon discovering a High-Energy Crystal mine, even ordinary humans without special abilities cannot let it go. Even if they cannot mine it, they cannot leave it for Exotic Beasts to use as resources.

If the value of this High-Energy Crystal mine was very, very high, humans wouldn't hesitate to mobilize their forces to carve out a piece of the Death Forest and establish a massive base here!

War, resources are extremely important, even if the opponent is not human.

"Temporarily defend and retreat. I have already requested military support." Seeing that the commotion at the snake pit had inexplicably disappeared, the Camp Commander immediately issued an order. All the students had been found, and escorting them out was the priority.

Although there were many people in the camp outside, compared to the entire Death Forest, it was not many at all. Even if they went up to clear out the Thunder Snakes now, a large-scale battle would surely stir up the Death Forest. Their numbers were not enough to make the entire forest's Exotic Beasts wary. If they were surrounded by all the Exotic Beasts in the forest, annihilation would be certain.

It is common knowledge not to leave any mineral resources for Exotic Beasts. A group of Exotic Beasts occupying a mineral deposit has a vastly different combat power compared to a group without one.

The entire retreat process was exceptionally smooth. The pursuing Thunder Snake swarm seemed to have weakened considerably and was easily repelled by the troops, leaving behind many Thunder Snake corpses. This was even with them holding back; fighting too fiercely would have severe consequences.

"These Thunder Snakes seem to be deliberately driving us away," Li Rui Ming said to Wang Hai beside him, describing his observations. "And they all seem a bit weak."

"It's probably related to the attack just now... I'm telling you, can't you civilian staff just not follow?"

"What's wrong with civilian staff?" Li Rui Ming shot Wang Hai an annoyed glance for his 'looking down' on him, "Mages are also 'civilian staff'."

"Go! You read too many novels." Wang Hai looked back, "You're saying, with so many of us taking advantage of the Thunder Snake pack's weakness..."

"Many? You dare to compare with all the Exotic Beasts in the Death Forest?" Li Rui Ming rolled his eyes, "I did a rough calculation, to deter all the Exotic Beasts in the Death Forest, you'd need at least five thousand people, and that's assuming the Death Forest isn't a particularly large forest."

Exotic Beasts aren't brainless either. If the strength difference between the two sides is too large, they won't act rashly.

"So, even if there's a good opportunity, you have to see the situation clearly before seizing it." Li Rui Ming shook his head, saying with a bit of regret, regretting missing the good opportunity when the Thunder Snake pack was collectively weak, and even more so missing the chance to know which god or immortal was so incredibly powerful to withstand such a strong attack.

Withstanding it is easy, but to dissolve it without letting the attack erupt and disappear into nothing... that requires a high level of skill.

"When did you get here!?" As soon as Wang Hai returned to his tent, he saw Jiu Ming, who had become quite transparent, sitting there yawning, which immediately startled him.

"Just about five minutes before you guys." Rubbing his eyes, Jiu Ming replied weakly. High risk, high reward. This time, the weakness wasn't much different from the last time.

Wang Hai examined Jiu Ming carefully. He looked considerably more tired than usual. He reached out and pulled the tent flap shut, "Why have you become so... transparent?"

Jiu Ming used to be a Ghost, but his transparency, which was as high as eighty percent, didn't make him look like a ghost. Now, looking at the transparency of his body, at first glance, one might think it was some special stealth ability.

"I was beaten to a pulp, so I faded, naturally." Jiu Ming waved his hand, "Is the internship interrupted?"

"En." Wang Hai nodded and began to explain, "Giving students an original, unaltered internship site is a new rule this year. But we didn't expect such a rare situation to occur at the internship site."

"Then what happens now?"

"Hmm, in any case, changing the location is certain." Wang Hai shrugged. Encountering this kind of thing could only be said to be good luck for these students!

"By the way, how did you get beaten to a pulp? There aren't many beings in the Death Forest that can threaten you, right?" Wang Hai was a bit confused. The Death Forest isn't a particularly large forest, so there wouldn't be many powerful Exotic Beasts.

"I lured away a large group of Thunder Snakes and got mobbed." Jiu Ming said helplessly. No matter how high his combat power, under the siege of a group of Thunder Snakes with comparable combat power, he still had to take hits. Even if he could instantly kill any single Thunder Snake in a one-on-one fight, he couldn't instantly kill a group in a one-on-many situation.

"Really?"

"...What are you suspecting?" Jiu Ming curled his lips, naturally knowing what Wang Hai was suspecting, "I wouldn't do something like fleeing from battle."

"I believe that. But you coming to me looking so sickly...?" Wang Hai raised an eyebrow. Wasn't it him who fought the Thunder Snake King earlier?

"Cough, cough, considering how hard I worked and almost got myself killed, can we increase the reward?"

Wang Hai's eyebrows immediately knitted together. Damn it! So he came for worker's compensation!

"En... our previous contract didn't have this clause, and the number of students lost this time also..." With a tone of official business, completely unfitting for the stern expression of this burly man, it was clear that Wang Hai intended to sidestep this issue.

"Don't joke with me! There aren't few students from Changhe Academy kneeling there."

"How do you know?"

"Let's go through the list." Jiu Ming pointed to a list discarded in Wang Hai's tent. "Although it's hard to remember hundreds of people, I've followed them for so long that I can still recall some impressions. I'll cross-reference them with the photos on the list... It's about right."

Wang Hai's mouth twitched fiercely. "Do you think the academy's funds are picked up from the street? In any case, the calculation method where the final reward is linked to the number of students cannot be changed... But you're short on money... Oh, you like High-Energy Crystals."

Wang Hai pondered for a moment. "If you need that stuff, someone will be taking over things here before long. I have some connections, and I can let you participate in this operation as a mercenary. And the reward will definitely not be low, but your identity..."

"No! Forget it, I'll just go protect the students." Realizing what Wang Hai was about to say, Jiu Ming's mouth twitched slightly, and he quickly interrupted him. While he wanted to get more High-Energy Crystals to convert into Origin Power, he absolutely did not want to experience the feeling of being a 'blow-up doll'.

If it wasn't for the end of the month being so close... he wouldn't be bothering with all this!

Speaking of which, could he be considered the most unqualified Shopkeeper?

The vast Mysterious Shop had only him, a single Shopkeeper, without even a single employee. Hmm, perhaps it was time to find a shrewd female manager?

After glancing at his own status, Jiu Ming shook his head. Forget it, it was better not to do such misleading things. A female manager was out of the question, but maybe an employee if the opportunity arose?

"Suit yourself. It's just a fake skin, why care so much?" Wang Hai shook his head, a little puzzled.

"Is that so?" Jiu Ming's expression darkened slightly. "Why don't you try it yourself?"

"How cheap would one have to be to do something like that?" As soon as Wang Hai finished speaking, he froze slightly. Yes, why had he been suggesting this to Jiu Ming from time to time? Even if it was out of good intentions, thinking about it carefully... how cheap was that?

Actually, Jiu Ming not participating in the affairs at the snake pit had other reasons. He dared to say that if he dared to go there again, the Thunder Snake King, whose treasure he had stolen, would dare to go berserk and fight him to the death!

And he couldn't possibly monopolize that mining area by himself. He wouldn't do a thankless, strenuous task.

Troublesome.