Crimson Flame Beast

Along the way, many Saint Realm experts who recognized Aier worked while stealing glances at him, their eyes filled with longing.

A hundred years ago, Aier was just a bottom-tier miner like them.

But now, they didn't even have the courage to look him in the eye.

There was no helping it; Hell was just that cruel.

Even though Aier was only a Low-God who had achieved his status by refining a Godhead, his identity, status, and strength were far beyond what these Saint Realm experts could compare to.

If they were to annoy Aier, he could kill them outright without facing any punishment.

The news of Aier exchanging for a Godhead a century ago was no secret within the Crimson Blood Tribe.

In fact, every Saint Realm expert who exchanged for a Godhead was heavily publicized by Olga to boost the work morale of the Saint Realm slave laborers.

It was precisely because of this hope that the Crimson Blood Tribe had become the largest tribe within a hundred-mile radius.

"Lord Aier!"

A peak Saint Realm expert approached Aier and bowed to him.

This man was named Kero, the leader responsible for distributing, supervising, and tallying the miners' work.

Back when Aier was still a miner, he had been one of the people under Kero's management.

Of course, it wasn't as if he had suffered under Kero.

As a leader recognized by the gods, Kero was naturally no fool.

Since the Crimson Blood Tribe offered an upward path like exchanging for a Godhead, who knew if someone being oppressed today might exchange for a Godhead tomorrow and climb right over his head?

"Do you have any new instructions?"

In a spot hidden from others' view, a Space Ring appeared in Aier's hand.

"Oh?"

Aier raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a pleasant surprise.

Although he had become a god and could forge Space Rings, he lacked Void Nether Stone, so he couldn't do it even if he had the ability.

Moreover, Aier didn't think the Space Ring would be empty.

For Saint Realm experts like Aier, the only way to change their fate was to buy and refine a Godhead.

But for geniuses like Kero, what they pursued was becoming a god through their own power!

As the leader of the miners, it was quite possible that Kero's hidden income was even higher than that of a god-level powerhouse like Aier!

After all, even now, Aier's pay had only increased from one Inkstone every ten thousand years to one Inkstone every thousand years.

"Everything as usual."

Aier clenched his fist and nodded at Kero. "Also, keep an eye on the patrols in the mining area. If there is any sign of trouble, notify me immediately."

"Yes, Lord Aier!"

Kero said with a serious expression.

He dared not slack off on the defense of the mining area.

The Crimson Blood Tribe had occupied this mining area for millions of years and had encountered marauders coming to pillage it several times.

The marauders who came to pillage were at least god-level powerhouses.

The power of a god-level expert was far beyond what the Saint Realm could compare to.

Although Kero was only a hair's breadth away from the god-level, that hair's breadth was a chasm of difference.

In front of a god-level powerhouse, even if the opponent was just the weakest Low-God who had achieved it by refining a Godhead, they could easily kill Kero in seconds.

Fortunately, in Hell, the range of a Low-God's divine sense was not as far as the eyes of the Saint Realm experts could see.

Furthermore, the flight speed of a Low-God was under two thousand meters per second; if they were careful enough to discover the enemy first, the Saint Realm patrol members in the mines could still wait for their own god-level powerhouses to arrive for rescue.

After leading Aier to the room reserved for the mining area guards, Kero took his leave.

With a thought, the Space Ring in Aier's palm instantly appeared in his equipment slot.

In an instant, Aier felt that he had gained a portable space, and inside this space were ten Inkstones.

"It seems this guy Kero is even wealthier than I imagined..."

Ten Inkstones—even with Aier's current salary, it would take ten thousand years to earn that much.

For Kero to hand over a Space Ring plus ten Inkstones just like that, his total net worth was likely around one hundred Inkstones.

"If I pulled off this job, I might just be able to buy a second Earth-style Godhead!"

In the end, Aier shook his head and abandoned the thought.

Even if he robbed Kero right now, he wouldn't be able to buy a Godhead without going to a city.

Looking at the Space Ring in his mind, Aier focused his thoughts.

"One thousand three hundred and twenty-eight years!"

"Hiss--"

Upon sensing the time required to refine this Space Ring, Aier drew a sharp breath.

In Hell, the price of a Space Ring was around two or three Inkstones.

Such a price was only due to the value of the Void Nether Stone.

After all, as long as one was a deity, they could use divine power to craft Void Nether Stones into Space Rings, so for powerhouses at the god level and above, Space Rings held little value.

However, a Divine Spark was a "treasure" that could forcibly allow those in the Saint Realm to break through their own limits.

Yet for Aier, the time to refine the Space Ring was over twenty times longer than refining a Divine Spark.

Clearly, the essence of the Space Ring was significantly higher than that of a Divine Spark.

Aier quickly understood this point.

When all was said and done, after refining a Divine Spark, one could extract the mysteries of the laws and the essence of the Divine Spark.

By refining the Space Ring, however, what Aier obtained was "spatial power"!

Of course, the spatial power refined from the Space Ring might manifest in Aier as the "portable space" he currently possessed, which allowed him to store items.

But there was no denying that this might become an opportunity for Aier to master spatial power in the future.

A flicker of burning desire flashed through Aier's heart.

However, after thinking it over carefully, Aier ultimately gave up on refining the Space Ring.

Aier only had one equipment slot.

Even after advancing to a Demigod, the number of equipment slots had not increased; at most, the speed of refining items had improved.

If he were still in the Saint Realm, Aier would not have considered a thousand-plus years to be long.

As things stood now, the most important thing for Aier was to refine a second earth-style Demigod Divine Spark to improve his strength, allowing him to truly possess the ability to travel alone in Hell.

Occupying an equipment slot for a portable space that currently offered no significant boost to his strength, thereby affecting the efficiency of his "snowballing" growth, would be like picking up sesame seeds while losing a watermelon.

Thinking of this, Aier closed his eyes and began his cultivation.

"Boom--"

On this day, Aier was startled out of his seclusion by a thunderous roar.

Spreading his divine sense, Aier quickly sensed the aura of Kero.

"Kero, what happened?"

"Lord Aier?"

Kero, who was rushing toward Aier, was overjoyed to hear Aier's divine sense transmission.

"Lord Aier, Crimson Flame Beasts have appeared in the mine, and more than ten people have already been killed!"

"Crimson Flame Beasts?"

Hearing this news, Aier felt a jolt of shock.

Crimson Flame Beasts were special lifeforms birthed from the Crimson Blood Mine.

However, under normal circumstances, god-level powerhouses would inspect the mining area every hundred thousand years to ensure that no Crimson Flame Beasts would be birthed before allowing mining to continue.