Deep Within the Lair

The battle continued.

That Star Level nine Lava Monster was instantly killed by Su Zhe, and the remaining Lava Monsters still mining ore naturally could not escape, all being slain and devoured by Su Zhe, transforming into his Devour Points.

Once all the Lava Monsters on the scene had been devoured, Su Zhe finally turned his gaze toward the pile of Fire Marrow Crystals.

"Master, there are 350 units of Fire Marrow Crystals here. According to the acquisition price of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, this is worth 52.5 billion Black Dragon Coins!" the auxiliary AI Xiao Yu spoke up.

"Good."

Su Zhe nodded slightly, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

Not bad; in this Secret Realm, making money was simply too easy.

In the blink of an eye, he had gained tens of billions of Black Dragon Coins, which really couldn't be compared to the Thunder World.

With Su Zhe's strength, as long as he didn't encounter Universe Level enemies—or rather, as long as he didn't run into Lava Monsters in the middle or late stages of the Universe Level—he was confident he could handle those at the first or second stage of the Universe Level.

In this Lava Secret Realm, as long as Su Zhe was slightly careful, he could plunder Fire Marrow Crystals to his heart's content.

"There seem to be quite a few more Fire Marrow Crystals in this vein."

Su Zhe looked at the half-excavated ore vein.

"Conservatively estimated, there are still over a thousand units of Fire Marrow Crystals left unmined," Xiao Yu judged.

"Let it stay here for now." Su Zhe shook his head slightly; he wasn't going to stay here to mine.

After devouring a large number of Lava Monsters, Su Zhe had simultaneously inherited a unique ability from them.

That was the ability to sense Fire Marrow Crystals!

There was a natural connection between Fire Marrow Crystals and Lava Monsters, which was perhaps related to the fact that Fire Marrow Crystals were formed from dead Lava Monsters.

With this ability, Su Zhe could completely go and search for larger veins, or even go directly to the nests of Lava Monsters, where they would certainly store large quantities of Fire Marrow Crystals.

"Come to think of it, these Fire Marrow Crystals... can I devour them?"

A Fire Marrow Crystal appeared in Su Zhe's left hand.

"Awoo!"

The Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame transformed into a small black cat and appeared on Su Zhe's shoulder, staring greedily at the Fire Marrow Crystal. Seeing this, Su Zhe placed the crystal directly in front of it.

"Awoooo!"

The Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame swallowed the Fire Marrow Crystal in one gulp!

The Fire Marrow Crystal melted rapidly, turning into wisps of crimson-gold liquid, which were then absorbed by the Nihility Devouring Flame and fed back into Su Zhe's body.

"Hmm?"

Su Zhe raised an eyebrow. After devouring this Fire Marrow Crystal, it seemed he could slightly strengthen his Domain of Fire?

Su Zhe was well aware that Fire Marrow Crystals had the ability to help one perceive the Law of Fire.

But that devouring them directly could enhance his Domain of Fire was something Su Zhe hadn't expected.

Beyond that, it seemed even the Nihility Devouring Flame itself had received a slight reinforcement; the intensity of the flames had increased, somewhat similar to an elevation in life gene level. Although his realm remained unchanged, his power had grown stronger.

"It seems... these Fire Marrow Crystals aren't just for selling for money."

Su Zhe murmured to himself.

Although the increase wasn't large, that was only from a single unit of Fire Marrow Crystal.

In this Lava Secret Realm, the one thing he was least short of was Fire Marrow Crystals!

Without hesitation, Su Zhe piled all the Fire Marrow Crystals he had obtained from his Space Ring in front of the Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame. Watching it devour the crystals in large mouthfuls, Su Zhe could also feel his own strength increasing.

It was different from the feeling of a breakthrough in realm.

Although this increase in power was slow, it felt very substantial.

A moment later.

As all those Fire Marrow Crystals were consumed by the Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame, Su Zhe looked at it with a strange expression based on the information it transmitted back.

"Still not full?"

"Fine then."

Su Zhe helplessly put away the Nihility Devouring Flame.

If it wasn't full, then he would just have to go find more Fire Marrow Crystals!

"The map of the Lava Secret Realm..."

Su Zhe took out the map given by the Black Ape warrior. It was more detailed than the one bought in the Virtual Universe, and several large Lava Monster nests that had already been scouted were marked in red.

"Master, the places marked on this map all have Universe Level Lava Monsters present," Xiao Yu warned.

"It's fine."

Su Zhe was not afraid and quickly headed toward one of the dangerous areas.

From the moment he entered the Lava Secret Realm, he had an idea, and now he could go and give it a try.

Sometimes, obtaining Fire Marrow Crystals does not necessarily require the use of violence.

"Roar!"

At this moment, Su Zhe was using the abilities of the Blacklight Virus to disguise himself as a Lava Monster, blending into a pack of Lava Monsters as he prepared to enter their lair.

Although Lava Monsters possess a sense of communal living, they are essentially savage beasts with very little intelligence, driven only by instinct.

They could not distinguish one companion from another; even with an extra Lava Monster in their midst, they noticed nothing at all.

Following these Lava Monsters, Su Zhe traversed a series of wide tunnels and finally arrived at a massive space beneath the magma lake.

This was the lair of the Lava Monsters!

"Fire Marrow Crystals!"

The moment he entered the lair, Su Zhe was stunned by the aura of the Fire Marrow Crystals hitting him head-on.

Before him lay mountains of Fire Marrow Crystals, piled haphazardly in the center of the cavern, with several Universe Level Lava Monsters lounging nearby, and even more piles scattered further away.

Though the quantities elsewhere were not as vast as the central pile, they were still incredibly substantial.

"Master, based on my calculations of the volume, the central pile alone contains at least 800,000 units of Fire Marrow Crystals!" Xiao Yu spoke up.

Eight hundred thousand units?

Su Zhe's eyes flickered.

That was worth 120 trillion Black Dragon Coins!

It already exceeded the startup capital Luo Feng could obtain from Hu Yanbo's account during his Star Level days!

If one included the surrounding piles, the total amount of Fire Marrow Crystals in this single lair likely reached over a million units.

This was a terrifying figure.

Yet, when factoring in the presence of those Universe Level Lava Monsters, it suddenly seemed reasonable.

"Two at Universe Level 3, one at Universe Level 4, and several more Universe Level Lava Monsters further off in the distance."

Su Zhe looked at the Lava Monsters guarding the crystals and felt a sudden headache.

Although he had successfully infiltrated the lair, judging by the movements of those Universe Level beasts, there was no way a Star Level Lava Monster could ever get close to the central pile!

This effectively dashed his hopes of simply blending in, stuffing the crystals into his Space Ring, and turning to run.

"I must find a way..."

Su Zhe looked toward the other Lava Monsters nearby; those smaller piles of Fire Marrow Crystals were at least within reach.