Strategic Materials

"..."

January 16th, 223 of the Landon Duchy calendar.

Yin Ming completed his meditation practice for the day and stepped out of the meditation chamber.

With a casual flick, he tossed a fist-sized, unknown black sphere into the Magic Plant Garden.

Like feral cats catching the scent of blood, the Crimsonblood Vines' countless scarlet roots writhed madly and plunged into the black sphere to draw out its nutrients.

Nine Crimsonblood Vines had survived in the Magic Plant Garden. Each was as thick as an adult's wrist, their vitality far surpassing that of other plants of the same rank. They were not far from condensing Scarlet Blood Crystals.

"Looks like a Zero Ring Magic Plant breaking through to First Ring has nothing to do with how robust the plant is."

Magic Plants were tenacious. Without deliberately experimenting on them, it was quite difficult to raise them to death.

Yin Ming had acquired much knowledge of Magic Plant Cultivation from the Nightmare World. There were many ways to accelerate the growth of Zero Ring Magic Plants, but none could allow a Zero Ring Magic Plant to break through into First Ring.

"Buzz, buzz..."

Suddenly, a Soulstone inside the Devouring Snake Bag began trembling incessantly.

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 squeeze... excavate."

Delight 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 Form, 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 into the magical device to activate it, poured out numerous Soulstones from the sack, and accurately found one the size of a marble, embedded with a tuft of red monkey fur.

"Red fur? I wonder which Red Number-Whatever 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 Abyss Demons. So 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 the Sea of Consciousness.

Otherwise, a summoned Demon might crawl out of one's brain. Just imagining the scene was enough to ruin one's appetite.

It was somewhat troublesome for wizards to draw such runes. They needed to find a Magic Beast of the corresponding rank, kill it while it was fresh, draw the rune with its True Blood, then inject magic power to activate it.

For warlocks, it was much simpler. So long as they were willing, they could use a little of their own blood.

"A Zero Ring Magic Beast—I happen to know where there is one."

The Magic Beasts recognized by knights could actually be divided into two kinds. One consisted of ordinary wild beasts contaminated by life radiation; the other were true Zero Ring Magic Beasts.

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

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

"Golden Lion County, I'm back!"

Without any wounded people dragging him down, Yin Ming needed only half a day to return to the familiar Golden Lion County.

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

The place that had once been the largest flower garden had been leveled into farmland. Several serfs worked under the watchful eyes of an overseer holding a whip.

"Looks like no distant relative inherited the Adams Lineage's fief or title. They were split apart instead!"

The Adams Lineage had too much land and required too many serfs. They would only establish systems for unified management, never have overseers watch the serfs work. This was the standard conduct 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 from the middle of a cliff. The falling water crashed into a pool, then stretched onward into a winding stream.

Beside the stream lay a huge blue-gray boulder, though it was not entirely a boulder. A nearly three-meter-long creature lay sprawled atop it, waiting for beasts that came to drink, then using its mucus-coated long tongue to stick them fast and swallow them whole like insects.

Jungle Giant Lizards possessed exceptional camouflage abilities. They could mimic trees, mimic rocks, and even turn their bodies completely transparent to achieve a relative form of visual invisibility.

However, they were extremely inert. So long as they could still catch food, they would not easily move elsewhere.

"Bang..."

Yin Ming took a revolver from the Scavenger Gourd.

His finger pulled the trigger mechanism, striking the Element Crystal bullet and producing a violent blast.

The bullet shot from the barrel.

A step faster than the sound, it struck the sleeping Jungle Giant Lizard atop the blue-gray boulder.

The outer layer of the bullet exploded the instant it hit the target, tearing open a horrifying crater of flesh and blood. Its Refined Iron core pierced directly through the giant lizard's body and embedded itself in the distant cliff wall.

"The marksmanship I practiced in dreams has at least a ninety percent conversion rate."

Yin Ming's hands trembled faintly, blood seeping from the webs between his thumbs and forefingers. Before the Zero Ring Jungle Giant Lizard had completely 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 fur embedded in a Soulstone and toss it onto the rune,

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

"What auspicious day is it today?"

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

This time, he recognized at a glance which Quasit the Soulstone belonged to.

The other Monkey Quasits had all left a tuft of monkey fur as their token. Only Red Nose had been generous enough to leave several broken teeth as his token.

"I'll summon a familiar Demon first!"

Yin Ming tossed a broken tooth into the center of the rune formation.

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

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

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

Only three short months had passed.

Yet Red Nose had undergone a complete transformation.

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

If not for—if not for the fact that his lower body was practically naked, wearing only tight shorts, he would actually have looked somewhat presentable.

But there was truly no helping it. A Quasit's lower-body structure resembled that of an ostrich born with rebellion in its bones. Wearing the long trousers humans wore would only look neither fish nor fowl.

"I... this..."

Yin Ming's lips moved twice as he barely restrained himself from laughing aloud.

After all, Red Nose could barely be counted as one of his subordinates. The other had risked life and limb for him, even going so far as to become like this. Laughing out loud would be rather indefensible!

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

"Well... I didn't bring them!" Red Nose looked somewhat embarrassed. After a pause, he said, "Abyssal Summoning cannot carry Soul Crystals. I only learned that not long ago."

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

Yin Ming: (￣□￣;)

Strategic materials, restricted from export?