Chapter 179: Mine Robbing
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Sean, lend a hand.” Lin Li sought out two shovels from the Ring of Endless Storm.
“Orh…” Sean nodded, and took one of the shovels, but did not know what to do. He looked at Lin Li with a blank face.
“Dig from here, until you reach this point.” Lin Li drew a line on the ground, and signalled him to dig along that line. He still felt not quite at ease after thinking about it, so he reminded Sean, “Use little strength. Don’t you damage the mine…”
Lin Li took out only two ordinary shovels. If it were others, he would not need to deliberately remind them. Perhaps only a humanoid magical beast like Sean needed to be told to use little strength…
“Yes, Mr Felic.” Sean’s comprehension ability wasn’t that good, but his execution was meticulous. Just as Lin Li finished speaking, he swung his shovel and began digging. As soon as this humanoid magical beast started to work, there were only clumps of soil spattering all around. The shovel was like a bulldozer, digging up a large area with loud clangs.
This fellow was a born miner; the shovel in his hands swung rapidly and furiously. While Lin Li was still stunned, Sean dug a deep and long trench along the edge of the vein. And in the middle of the trench, the dark red Abyss Fiendish Iron vein was revealed…
Lin Li was flabbergasted as he held the shovel.
There was indeed a distance between human and magical beast…
Lin Li did not even have the time to move his hands, and Sean had finished the job for him. He stood there with the shovel in his hand, not knowing whether he should dig or not. At last, he saw that there was no need to, so he threw the shovel on the ground, and took out two Air Bomb scrolls from his pocket.
It couldn’t be helped…
Blast mining was primitive and backward, but the Fire Plume Ridge was a remote place—there was no manpower nor tools. Lin Li had countless mining methods at his disposal, but could only settle for blast mining first. Moreover, he could only use two scrolls. Andoine wasn’t around, and two scrolls were his limit.
Fortunately, this was a poor mine, unlike the one found in the Nightmare Mountains, which needed five Air Bomb scrolls at the same time. That was a great work—without a figure like Andoine around, he could not even think about it.
Two Air Bomb scrolls were inserted at both ends of the vein. There was nothing to study about it—unlike the Eternal Adamantine, the Abyss Fiendish Iron wouldn’t produce accompanying precious gemstones. Thus, when blasting Eternal Adamantine mines, one had to be cautious so as not to damage the accompanying gemstones within, but there was no such concern for the Abyss Fiendish Iron. So, he could just blast the mineral vein directly.
After inserting the scrolls, Lin Li slowly took a few steps back.
But just as Lin Li was trying to detonate the scrolls with his mental strength, there was a sudden rush of footsteps in the woods behind him. “You two, get out of that place at once!”
Lin Li frowned, and looked back into the woods. He saw several people hurrying from afar; two archers were the fastest. As soon as Lin Li turned his head, they had rushed over with their bows drawn and arrows set just less than 30 meters before where Lin Li stood. The hostility in them was obvious even to the blind.
“Let us warn you again, leave that place immediately; otherwise, don’t blame us for being rude!” A warrior caught up and stood with the two archers. There came a “clang” as a sword was pulled out. The shimmering cold light on the sword blade made evident to everyone that he was not kidding. If Lin Li and Sean continued standing there, a battle would be imminent.
“What do you mean?” Lin Li’s eyes skimmed over the two archers, but he had no intention of moving his feet. He merely looked at the warrior from afar, and smiled. “What’s wrong with where we are standing?”
“That vein was first discovered by us!” Before the warrior answered, an archer stood up. While he spoke, his arm was lifted slightly upward. The sharp arrow was pointed directly at Lin Li’s chest. In the midday sunshine, a faint blue shimmer was shining on the iron arrow. It was obvious that the arrow had been smeared with poison.
A hint of fishy sweetness wafted in the air, and it made Lin Li frown. It was not a pleasant thing to be aimed at with a poisonous arrow.
“You’ve discovered it first?” However, the archer’s words wavered Lin Li. After all, robbing mine was a dishonorable thing, and he couldn’t do it. It hardly seemed justifiable if they had really discovered the mineral vein first and he had come up from behind to mine.
“Yes, I found this vein in the morning, but I didn’t have enough manpower, so I went back and called two friends with me.”
“Morning?” Lin Li came to understand as soon as he heard these two words. The reason why it was named the Abyss Fiendish Iron was that it shared some similarities with the Abyssal Demon in some aspects. For example, the strength of the Abyssal Demon varied with time—it was the weakest in the morning, and the strongest at night. The same was true for the magical wave emanating from the Abyss Fiendish Iron. It was the weakest in the morning, and the strongest in the evening; especially when the first ray of sunshine appeared at dawn, the Abyss Fiendish Iron magical wave was almost the same as a piece of ordinary iron.
And it was a poor mine before him; the whole mineral body was almost buried underground. Without a mastery knowledge of mineral veins, it was impossible to find it.
Granted—nothing was absolute in this world.
Even without a mastery knowledge of mineral veins, there was still a chance of discovering the Abyss Fiendish Iron mineral vein in the morning with a perverse mental strength like Lin Li. After all, as long as it was not in the first ray of sunshine, the Abyss Fiendish Iron mineral vein would emit subtle magical wave at other times.
The problem was that these guys didn’t look to have perverse mental strength.
Of course, they couldn’t be masters of mineral veins, either. Otherwise, why did he need to go back and call upon more people? He could have finished mining by himself instead of having to share the benefits with others.
“Right… then may I ask, what mineral vein is this exactly?” Lin Li still had a smile on his face, but a wind blade quietly gathered in his hand. Since this was a vein without ownership, Lin Li needed not be polite with them.
“This…” The look on the warrior’s face froze when he was questioned by Lin Li out of the blue…
“Why do you ask so many questions?” The archer at a side saw that something was wrong, and tautened the bowstring further. The sharp arrow that was smeared with virulent poison was aimed at Lin Li’s chest. His eyes faintly revealed an intention to kill. “Get out means get out, stop f*cking spouting nonsense here. Do you really think I don’t dare to kill you?”
“…” Lin Li was taken aback. He had seen a lot of arrogance, but it was the first time he saw someone this arrogant. “Get out means get out”—what a heroic declaration this was!
Lin Li felt that if he didn’t cower, he’d be letting the archer’s bravery down.
“Sean, the warrior is yours.” The wind blade in his hand was just about to be released when suddenly something occurred to Lin Li.
Recently, Sean’s progress speed was so sick that even Lin Li could barely judge that his present strength was at least above level-10. Lin Li had been wondering how far the boy had improved. But ever since leaving Alanna, Sean hadn’t had a chance to show his skills. He’d killed some Fire Crows when they crossed the plain earlier on, but that was it. How could a low-level magical beast reflect the strength of a warrior above level-ten?
This warrior was quite suitable. If Lin Li was not mistaken, he should be the strongest of the three; he had most likely broke through to level-10.
As for the weakest of the three, it turned out to be the most arrogant archer. This fellow was at most level-eight in strength. Lin Li couldn’t understand why he could be so arrogant. Did he really think they were persimmons that could be pinched randomly?
“Oh.” Sean nodded heavily; there was a faint gleam of excitement in his eyes as he looked toward the warrior.
He was equally curious about his current strength. When he was in Alanna, there was indeed a master who had guided him. However, the master’s strength was so strong that no matter how rapidly Sean had progressed, the result did not change at all. The other party could easily defeat himself with a simple blow. The feeling was as easy as picking up a knife and fork while eating.
“You’re going to fight us with just the two of you? How reckless…” The bold archer pursed his lips and sneered. He had no regard for these two guys from the start. That big guy had a decent strength, but so what? Sandro was a level-10 warrior. Even if the big guy was impressive, he couldn’t be more impressive than Sandro, right?
As for the bullsh*t-ridden fellow, there was nothing to say about him. The crossbow he was carrying looked the part, but one could see clearly that the fellow was at most level-five or six in strength. Even he could easily shoot that fellow to death.
The bold archer was so confident that he hardly gave it a second thought, and fired his arrow directly. In his mind, the low-level warrior would at least be crippled even if he did not die by his arrow.
However, the arrow was just fired when he suddenly heard a gust of wind by his ear.
Although this fellow was arrogant, he was a real archer after all. He probably knew a lot better than others what this gust of wind meant. However, it was too late for him to dodge in haste. In an instant, there was only a crisp sound…
“Shoo!”
The bold archer felt a chill in his ear at first, followed by an excruciating pain. He touched it with his hand, and there was nothing else but blood…
… Where was the ear?
“Ah—” A scream rang out among the trees—so forlorn that even the withered leaves seemed to be shivering.
Almost at the same time, Sean raised his huge sword with both hands, and with a powerful chop, he greeted Sandro, who was also a level-10 warrior. The confrontation between level-10 warriors was much better to watch than that on the other side. In a moment, the two weapons fired brilliant sparks upon contact.