Stalactite Vein Milk lay roughly 35 kilometers east of Base No. 12-inside a small mountain, to be precise.
That place was already within a dangerous part of the wilderness.
But that small mountain happened to contain no powerful exotic beasts, which gave Jiang Ziliu room to obtain it safely.
After his first wilderness adventure, Jiang Ziliu made more thorough preparations for his second and planned a more sensible route.
He also judged the probability of encountering danger along that route and chose a relatively safe time.
He did not set out until one in the afternoon on the second day of his break.
The reason he left so late was that Probability Judgment had told him that if he went there at that time, his chance of encountering some inexplicable danger would not exceed 2.3%!
With the danger that low, he naturally had to set out at that time.
Probability Judgment was remarkably reliable. Jiang Ziliu's journey went remarkably smoothly, and with his sufficiently cautious way of advancing, he actually encountered not the slightest trouble and reached the small mountain without a hitch.
Unfortunately, he had already made a judgment with Probability Judgment.
"What is the probability that this mountain contains a passage leading straight to the Stalactite Vein Milk?"
The answer was zero!
That meant he needed to dig a passage downward himself before he could get below and obtain the Stalactite Vein Milk located between ten and twenty meters underground.
But the rock here was extremely thick, and the solid mountain rock was exceptionally hard.
Normally, he would have great difficulty opening a passage underground here.
But Jiang Ziliu had the Azurite Rock Man. As an earth-attribute tamed beast, it could easily break through the rock and create a rocky passage.
Before taking action, however, Jiang Ziliu first transplanted a large patch of fragrant grass and thorn bushes here.
He planted the thorn branches here, then watered their roots with a medicinal solution that stimulated plant vitality.
Seen from outside, this looked like a perfectly natural thicket of thorns.
Passing adventurers would not think there was anyone inside, much less that treasure lay underneath.
For safety's sake, Jiang Ziliu also scattered a special medicinal powder here that could interfere with the sense of smell of nearby exotic beasts and tamed beasts.
Only then did the Azurite Rock Man begin digging downward.
It took the Azurite Rock Man a day and a half to bore a small passage through ten meters of rock.
Below was actually an enclosed underground cavern.
Jiang Ziliu sent the Mutated Lightning Snake down to investigate. There was ample air below, with oxygen present.
He therefore sealed the opening with a large stone before descending with the Azurite Rock Man.
Below was indeed an enormous underground space, four meters wide and over ten meters high.
Jiang Ziliu searched his way forward for a while and, at the end of this enclosed underground cavern, saw a twenty-meter-long stalactite hanging down.
Milky-white liquid was forming at its tip.
That stalactite was a stalactite vein, transformed from an ordinary stalactite in an environment of dark energy, while the milky-white liquid it produced was the Grade A treasure, Stalactite Vein Milk!
After dripping down, the Stalactite Vein Milk had gathered in a small stone hollow below, amounting to roughly a bowlful.
Such a large quantity of Stalactite Vein Milk could not possibly have accumulated without at least nine hundred years.
Nine hundred years to gather roughly one bowlful-this was absolutely an earth-shaking harvest.
Normally, obtaining even a single drop of Stalactite Vein Milk was already an enormous gain.
Jiang Ziliu immediately took out a jade bottle and carefully collected it inside.
Jade could also be considered a different sort of earth-attribute material, making it just right for preserving the medicinal properties of Stalactite Vein Milk.
After putting away the precious Stalactite Vein Milk, Jiang Ziliu considered things and provisionally designated this cavern as his backup wilderness survival base.
If anything happened to Base No. 12 in the future, this place could serve as something like a wilderness safe house.
He planned to improve the Azurite Rock Man here while also working on this underground space to make it more suitable as an underground safe house!
If evolution was not involved, he only needed to have the Azurite Rock Man swallow the Stalactite Vein Milk directly.
Jiang Ziliu took two drops of Stalactite Vein Milk and had the Azurite Rock Man swallow them.
Then he fed the Mutated Lightning Snake a drop as well.
As an earth-attribute creature, the Azurite Rock Man could directly absorb the earth-attribute Stalactite Vein Milk, using it to raise its life level or even evolve.
A single drop of this treasure contained an enormous amount of earth-attribute power, enough for the Azurite Rock Man to advance one minor stage.
To be safe, Jiang Ziliu fed it two drops.
After swallowing this treasure, the Azurite Rock Man began advancing through slumber. Most earth-attribute life-forms advanced by sleeping.
He returned the Azurite Rock Man to the beast-taming space and began observing the Mutated Lightning Snake's condition.
As a lightning-attribute exotic beast, the Mutated Lightning Snake could not absorb the earth-attribute medicinal properties contained in the earth-attribute Stalactite Vein Milk.
But the extraordinary power contained in this treasure could strengthen flesh and blood.
Although creatures had distinct attributes, their living flesh and blood consisted of a mixture of many attributes, including earth, wind, lightning, light, metal, wood, and water.
Thus, it could strengthen the flesh and blood of other life-forms.
The same held true for the Mutated Lightning Snake. After swallowing a drop of Stalactite Vein Milk, its flesh and blood would be strengthened, laying a better foundation for its growth and increased combat strength.
Seeing that the Mutated Lightning Snake was also slowly absorbing and digesting the power of the Stalactite Vein Milk, Jiang Ziliu began examining this underground space as he waited.
The quantity of Stalactite Vein Milk he had obtained this time already exceeded his expectations. He would not lack this resource for a long time to come.
Thus, he no longer planned to explore the other three places where Stalactite Vein Milk might exist.
He carefully examined the entire underground cavern, gaining an understanding of its general structure.
Within this cavern was a narrow subterranean stream that flowed out at its upper end and seeped away through a crack in the rock at the far end.
The floor of the entire cavern was rather damp.
To turn this place into a safe room, he needed to hollow out some new chambers in the rock walls on either side. Only then could he keep their interiors dry and use them to store food, weapons, and other things vulnerable to damp.
But how would he excavate a cavern? Jiang Ziliu came up with his own method.
He would use Electromagnetic Manipulation to simulate an Electromagnetic Cannon and bombard the rock repeatedly, shattering it to carve out a cavern.
At the same time, he could practice his Electromagnetic Cannon's firing speed, accuracy, and power control.
He began trying it out. One iron bead shot over and punched a large hole straight into the rock.
Three iron beads blasted over, successfully shattering a stretch of rock and opening a hole that was neither large nor small.
After using it nine times in total, he had exhausted ninety percent of his dark energy.
The Electromagnetic Cannon skill truly had formidable offensive power, but its consumption of dark energy was also enormous.
Next, Jiang Ziliu began recovering.
Three hours later, he had recovered half his dark energy, and by then, the Mutated Lightning Snake had completed its enhancement.
After the enhancement, its snakeskin looked even whiter, like jade.
At the same time, its strength and constitution had both improved to nearly three times their original levels.
It could be said that the strengthening of the Mutated Lightning Snake's flesh and blood had been extremely effective.
Jiang Ziliu then began training its Electromagnetic Cannon attacks, having it aim at the spot he had attacked before. While practicing Electromagnetic Cannon attacks, it could also speed up the excavation of this cavern.
The Mutated Lightning Snake was impressive. After just ten attacks, it had already honed its mastery of the Electromagnetic Cannon attack skill until the furnace fire burned pure blue!
After that, it hit wherever he pointed. It was just that Jiang Ziliu had to keep supplying iron beads as ammunition throughout the process. As a snake, it had no way to hold an iron bead.
Once Jiang Ziliu figured out how to control and move metal objects through electromagnetic force, this problem could be solved.
Over the next two days, Jiang Ziliu and the Mutated Lightning Snake took turns practicing their Electromagnetic Cannon ability again and again.
Then they would switch so the other could recover.
After two days, they successfully excavated a rock passage ten meters deep and three meters wide.
With a door fitted at its entrance, this passage could serve as a relatively dry food storeroom.
Afterward, they began launching Electromagnetic Cannon attacks at the rock on the other side.
After ninety percent of Jiang Ziliu's iron beads had been rendered unusable, they had successfully excavated another three stone chambers.
Their increased efficiency came from their improved aim. Jiang Ziliu had also worked out where to strike to shatter larger chunks of rock, thereby improving the efficiency of the excavation.
He excavated four chambers in total: one supply storeroom and three resting rooms.
Although crude, this safe house already possessed all its basic functions.
Next, he only needed to conceal the entrance and exit properly, and this safe house would be fully complete.
Jiang Ziliu planned to excavate another concealed exit later to serve as an escape route at a critical moment.
But there was no hurry.
Jiang Ziliu sensed that the Azurite Rock Man had awakened from its slumber.
He immediately summoned the Azurite Rock Man.
The Azurite Rock Man had now grown considerably taller, roughly a quarter taller than before. Its changes in build were even more apparent: it looked more like an ordinary flesh-and-blood life-form than a rock life-form.
The Azurite Rock Man's life level had also fully risen to nine-star Black Iron grade, even reaching the absolute pinnacle of nine-star Black Iron grade.
Its growth also produced life feedback.
Jiang Ziliu likewise rose to the life level of two-star Black Iron grade.
At this point, the Azurite Rock Man could undergo life evolution, having met the basic conditions for it.
Of those two drops of Stalactite Vein Milk, one had been used to raise the Azurite Rock Man's life level, while the other had strengthened its body.
With its life level and bodily constitution both meeting the requirements, the Azurite Rock Man could undergo evolution according to Formula No. 16.
Before setting out, he had already packed his backpack with the various ingredients and equipment needed to prepare the medicine.
Jiang Ziliu had the Azurite Rock Man adapt to its surging strength and familiarize itself with its body and skills, while he began the meticulous process of preparing the medicine.
The evolution medicine this time was relatively complicated to prepare, and its ingredients were expensive as well.
Thus, Jiang Ziliu carefully carried out every step, afraid that a careless mistake would waste so much investment.
It took him a full day to finish preparing the medicine required by Formula No. 16.
Likewise, this formula combined internal consumption with external application.
After performing Probability Judgment once more, he found that the medicine had been successfully prepared. This time, the Azurite Rock Man's probability of evolving reached 99.7%!
He therefore had the Azurite Rock Man swallow five drops of Stalactite Vein Milk, then carefully applied the medicine to its skin, starting its evolution process.
An hour later, the externally applied medicine turned grayish-white, indicating that its medicinal power had been completely absorbed.
Jiang Ziliu then cleaned the medicinal residue off its skin before recalling it into the beast-taming space to evolve there.
Only after finishing this step did Jiang Ziliu have the Mutated Lightning Snake guard him, while he began taking Stalactite Vein Milk to strengthen his own constitution.
Jiang Ziliu was only a life-form newly entering Black Iron grade, and a human with an even weaker constitution at that.
Thus, he could only take half a drop of Stalactite Vein Milk. This was the limit of what he could absorb and digest.
After taking half a drop, Jiang Ziliu felt warmth rise from his stomach. Then his whole body grew comfortably warm, and he lay straight down in the newly excavated rock chamber and fell asleep.
His constitution began strengthening, while the Azurite Rock Man within the beast-taming space also began the extraordinary evolution of its life.
Whether a tamed beast's evolution was beneficial or detrimental was relatively easy to determine.
But whether the degree of evolution would be low or high was highly uncertain, involving numerous factors such as the tamed beast's constitution, will, and potential.
It might be very high, or it might be very low.
But Jiang Ziliu did not particularly care how high or low the degree of evolution was. He only hoped the Azurite Rock Man could evolve successfully.
Steady growth reassured him more than reaching the goal in a single step.
What heights the new Azurite Rock Man would evolve to could only be known after its evolution ended.
The entire underground cavern fell silent all at once, with only the white-jade-like Mutated Lightning Snake faithfully guarding Jiang Ziliu!