Strategic Resources

"..."

January 16th, 223rd year of the Landon Duchy calendar.

Yin Ming finished his meditation for the day and walked out of the meditation chamber.

With a casual flick of his hand, he threw a fist-sized, unidentified black ball into the magic plant garden.

Like wild cats catching the scent of blood, the Crimsonblood Vines writhed madly with countless blood-colored roots, plunging them into the black ball to absorb its nutrients.

There were nine surviving Crimsonblood Vines in the magic plant garden. Each was as thick as an adult's wrist, with vitality far surpassing other plants of the same rank. They were not far from condensing Crimsonblood Crystals.

"Looks like a Rank 0 magic plant breaking through to Rank 1 has nothing to do with how sturdy the plant is."

Magic plants had tenacious life force. If one did not experiment on them, it was hard to kill them even if one tried.

Yin Ming had gained considerable knowledge of magic plant cultivation from the Nightmare World. There were many ways to accelerate the growth of Rank 0 magic plants, but none could allow a Rank 0 magic plant to break through into Rank 1.

"Buzz, buzz..."

Suddenly, a Soulstone inside the Devouring Snake Bag began trembling without pause.

This meant that one Monkey Quasit had gathered ten thousand Soul Crystals and was ready to redeem its Soulstone.

"So fast? It seems every demon has limitless potential to be squeezed... excavated."

A delighted expression appeared on Yin Ming's face. After sending the 962 Monkey Quasits back to the Abyss, he had paid them no further attention.

However, through the (Pseudo) Quasit Ancestor External Core Dharma Manifestation, he learned that more than a dozen Monkey Quasits had died. The mortality rate was far lower than he had expected.

He injected a thread of magic power to activate the magical artifact, poured out numerous Soulstones from the sack, and accurately found one the size of a marble, embedded with a tuft of red monkey hair.

"Red fur? I wonder which Red Number it is? So outstanding!!"

Yin Ming put away the Soulstone and immediately left the underground city, heading toward Green Forest City.

The explorers of the Flame-Burners Association had accepted the Wizard Black Tower's mission to investigate traces of Abyssal demons. As long as they had not gone mad, they would not summon demons in the underground city.

"..."

Naturally, an Abyssal Summoning Rune could not be drawn within one's sea of consciousness.

Otherwise, the image of a summoned demon crawling out of one's brain was enough to make one lose their appetite just imagining it.

For wizards, drawing this type of rune was rather troublesome. They needed to find a Magic Beast of the corresponding rank, kill it while it was still fresh, draw the rune with its true blood, then inject magic power to activate it.

Warlocks had it much easier. As long as they were willing, they could use a little of their own blood.

"A Rank 0 Magic Beast—I happen to know where there's one."

What knights considered Magic Beasts could actually be divided into two kinds. One was ordinary wild beasts contaminated by life radiation; the other was genuine Rank 0 Magic Beasts.

The difference was that the latter possessed intelligence no weaker than a human's and could continue cultivating to improve their strength after reaching adulthood. The former were merely stronger beasts.

Deep within the Magic Beast Forest of Golden Lion County, there happened to be a Rank 0 Magic Beast: a Jungle Tree Lizard.

"Golden Lion County, I'm back!"

Without wounded people slowing him down, Yin Ming took less than half a day to return to the familiar Golden Lion County.

The castle destroyed by the Alchemical Bomb had been cleared away, its ruins hauled into the Magic Beast Forest. No new castle had been built on the original site.

The former largest flower garden had been leveled into a field. Several serfs worked under the watchful eyes of a steward holding a whip.

"It seems the Adams Lineage's fief and title were not inherited by any distant relatives, but divided up instead!"

The Adams Lineage had too much land and required too many serfs. They would only establish rules for unified management and would never have stewards personally watching over laborers. This was the standard behavior of petty nobles.

Yin Ming saw no familiar faces. Even if he had, they likely would not have recognized him. He did not linger and turned into the Magic Beast Forest.

"..."

Deep within the Magic Beast Forest.

A small waterfall hung halfway down a cliff. The falling water crashed into a pool, then stretched onward into a winding stream.

Beside the stream lay an enormous bluish stone—but it was not entirely stone. Upon it crouched a nearly three-meter-long creature, waiting for beasts to come drink, then using its mucus-covered long tongue to stick to them and swallow them whole as though hunting insects.

The Jungle Giant Lizard had exceptional camouflage abilities. It could imitate trees, imitate rocks, and even turn its body completely transparent, achieving a relative form of visual invisibility.

However, it was extremely lazy. As long as it could still catch food, it would not easily move elsewhere.

"Bang..."

Yin Ming took a revolver from the Scavenger Gourd.

His finger pulled the mechanism, striking the Element Crystal bullet with a thunderous blast.

The bullet shot out of the barrel.

A step faster than the sound, it struck the sleeping Jungle Giant Lizard atop the bluish stone.

The outer layer of the bullet shattered the instant it hit the target, blasting out a terrifying crater of flesh and blood. The Refined Iron core pierced directly through the giant lizard's body and embedded itself in the distant cliff wall.

"My marksmanship from dream practice has at least a ninety percent conversion rate."

Yin Ming's hands trembled faintly, blood seeping from the web between his thumb and forefinger. Before the Rank 0 Jungle Giant Lizard had fully cooled, he began extracting its true blood and drawing an Abyssal Summoning Rune. Just as he was about to take out a tuft of monkey hair embedded in a Soulstone and toss it in—

Suddenly, another Soulstone trembled. Another Quasit had gathered ten thousand Soul Crystals.

"What auspicious day is today?"

Yin Ming was somewhat pleasantly surprised. From the Devouring Snake storage bag, he took out a Soulstone the size of a ping-pong ball.

This time, he recognized at a glance that this Soulstone belonged to that Quasit.

The tokens left behind by the other Monkey Quasits were all tufts of monkey hair. Only Red Nose was the most generous—his token was several broken teeth.

"I should summon a familiar demon first!"

Yin Ming tossed one broken tooth into the center of the rune array.

He injected magic power to activate it. Abyssal aura continuously spilled out, and Red Nose's familiar figure appeared atop the rune array.

"Lord Wizard, I have collected ten thousand Soul Crystals."

Though he wore a mask, Red Nose recognized Yin Ming at once and respectfully bowed as he spoke.

Only three months had passed since they last met.

Yet Red Nose had undergone a complete transformation.

On his upper body, he wore a black jacket over a white base shirt, along with an azure bow tie, like a waiter attending a noble banquet.

If not for—if not for his lower body being basically naked, clad only in tight shorts, he would truly have looked somewhat respectable.

But there was indeed no helping it. A Quasit's lower-body structure resembled an ostrich born with a rebellious bone. Wearing the long trousers normal people wore would only look neither fish nor fowl.

"I... this..."

Yin Ming's lips moved twice as he forced himself not to laugh.

After all, Red Nose could barely be considered his subordinate. The other party had fought tooth and nail for him and had even gone so far as to become like this. Laughing out loud would truly have been hard to justify!

Yin Ming clenched his teeth, patted Red Nose's shoulder, and comforted him. "I can tell that gathering these ten thousand Soul Crystals has not been easy for you in the Abyss. Give me the Soul Crystals! I'll return your Soulstone, and you'll be free from now on!"

"This... I didn't bring them!" Red Nose looked slightly awkward. After a pause, he said, "Abyssal Summoning cannot carry Soul Crystals. I only learned this not long ago."

"Soul Crystals are precious resources of the Abyss, so the Abyssal Will does not permit it."

Yin Ming: (￣□￣;)

Strategic materials—exports restricted?