Lei Xinfeng laughed. “I’ll make the first attack, then you guys can finish it off!” Maybe his attack power wasn’t strong yet, but it was able to seal the movements of the zeshe, taking away one of the more troublesome abilities of that Ice Beast: its high-speed movements.
If the zeshe couldn’t move, it was already dead.
Lei Xinfeng eyed a zeshe. “Let’s get that one first. I’ll go first, and you can follow!” He could be considered an experienced hunter. He was definitely not inferior to any others when it came to hunting.
The Chaos Wheel began its flurry of attacks, blowing the zeshe clear off the ground in an instant. Jin Daya followed its trajectory leisurely, took out his spear, and then pinned the zeshe against the floor. Right after, Lei Xinfeng began to attack a zeshe not far from the first.
It only took a few attacks to kill one, so it was easy. Even Song Qiao was nodding in approval. Lei Xinfeng had an excellent attribute.
Within half an hour, the zeshe in the ice cave had all been killed. Lei Xinfeng got another Frost Pearl.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough. You only need one Frost Pearl. No need to kill so much,” Song Qiao said.
Lei Xinfeng and Xin Zhaolun agreed. This Frost Pearl wasn’t a material, but a kind of luxury item. It was enough to have just one. There was no need to kill so many living creatures for something so insignificant.
“Since we’re already here and Ice Beasts are useless, let’s go mining instead,” Xin Zhaolun said. He was very satisfied with the yield of this trip so far. Not only did he mine a lot of Biyasi, he’d also obtained a lot of Purple Crystals. Then, at the location Song Qiao introduced, he got a lot of Tiansui stone. With just the Tiansui stone, he could trade for many other materials he lacked. If he had a chance to mine more in the future, he definitely won’t pass it up.
“Of course. I’ve come here many times, and know a few spots. I’ll take you there. With Ah Feng here, we’ll have a great harvest!” Song Qiao said.
By now, everyone knew that if a person went to a mining spot, they may pick up an ore or two. Switch that person with Lei Xinfeng and he’ll get at least five to eight. It was scary.
Song Qiao also realized that if he could not force Lei Xinfeng to work for him, then the next best thing was to be friends with him. When he finds good spots in the future, he could just bring Lei Xinfeng along. No matter what, it was still better than mining by himself. From his experience with the Tiansui stones, he realized just how much time and effort he had wasted.
“Alright, let’s go with Senior!” Xin Zhaolun said.
“What other mines are there?” Lei Xinfeng asked.
“There’s a few. I’ve gathered from all of them, but… I want to see just how much Ah Feng could produce,” Song Qiao said.
Xin Zhaolun understood that if a Monarch had their eye on a mineral vein, then the ores produced there was definitely something a Monarch needed. Excitement welled up in him. “Take us there! Ah Feng will definitely surprise us. I don’t doubt it!”
“How many surprises can one person bring?” Lei Xinfeng said, grimacing. “I’m only…” He didn’t know how to continue, and after thinking on it, he finally came up with a weak continuation. “It’s just that I have good luck.” The only way he could explain how he was so efficient was by pushing it all on that nonexistent good fortune.
“Oh stop pretending. In all my life, it’s the first time I’ve seen such ‘luck.’ Little fellow, how about I take you along if I find some ores in the future? You’ll get your share!” Song Qiao said.
Of course, Lei Xinfeng won’t decline such a great offer. “Yes, I’ll go along with you and help you mine.”
Song Qiao was in an extremely good mood, to be able to net a talent such as Lei Xinfeng’s. No matter what, there are only things to gain in this relationship and nothing to lose. Some ores couldn’t be mined easily, not because it’s hard, but because he didn’t know where to start. With Lei Xinfeng, that restriction was removed. It was like the heavens itself told Lei Xinfeng where to find ores. That in itself was terrifying.
In the ranks of Monarch and above, wars were fought not with martial might, but with attrition and resources.
“Bring me along too!” Xin Zhaolun clamored.
“Of course. You’ve taken care of me for all this time,” Lei Xinfeng said, smiling.
Song Qiao nodded. “Bringing you as well isn’t a problem.”
Xin Zhaolun was really happy. Ever since he first met Lei Xinfeng, he found that he’d been encountering one good thing after another. Now, whenever he looked at Lei Xinfeng, he looked at him in an extremely positive light.
“A Qianye silver (Thousand Leaf Silver) mine, a Laka stone mine, and a heather gravel mine. We’ll visit those three, okay?” Song Qiao said.
It was as if something hit Xin Zhaolun and messed something up inside. “Laka stone mine? Did you really say Laka stone mine?!”
“Is it something worth being excited over? Oh…I understand. You’re gathering Hidden Gate materials, right? Haha!” Song Qiao laughed.
“Yes. It’s better to start preparing earlier; certainly better than waiting until the last second, right?”
Laka stones is a material necessary in the synthesis of a Hidden Gate, and large amounts were needed. Xin Zhaolun had no idea where to go looking for it, and was originally going to trade for it with Purple Crystals or Tiansui stones, but since Song Qiao was willing to take him to such a mine, he couldn’t be happier. It was best if he could obtain it all himself.
“Alright, let’s go then,” Lei Xinfeng said.
“Not yet. The first place we’re going is to the place where we can get Qianye silver. It’s too hard to find, and I want to challenge Ah Feng’s…luck,” Song Qiao said, laughing.
Qianye silver wasn’t really a type of silver. It’s actually the fossil of an ancient insect with the appearance of a silvery metal. It was a material that Monarchs needed but is always in short supply. As a result, the first thing that came to mind for Song Qiao was the Qianye silver after confirming Lei Xinfeng’s ability. With Lei Xinfeng here, he could gather some extra as well, and use it to trade for materials in the future.
Everyone knew that no matter how talented or powerful an individual was, it was impossible to find everything by themselves. At that time, they will need to trade for the materials they lacked with the materials they had. Therefore, when they discovered a vein, every practitioner knew to gather as much as they could.
Heather gravel was also a fairly special material. It formed in small grains, hidden in the mud. It was a material used by Monarchs as well, but exactly for what, no one present except for Song Qiao knew. It was hard to dig for it. After finding the vein, they had search through the mud to find the tiny grains. It was annoying and very labor intensive.
Song Qiao led everyone through the ice layer, destroying walls as they went. Lei Xinfeng found that Song Qiao didn’t know where he was going at all. He only knew the direction and thus took the most direct path, which happened to be through walls. He understood, of course: the countless labyrinthine tunnels were impossible to memorize with any accuracy. The only way to navigate in here was with general directions.
It took over two days. Xin Zhaolun didn’t have that worry about not being to go back since they have a Hidden gate available. For this reason, they could stay here for long periods of time.
Finally, Song Qiao stopped and smiled. “The source of Qianye silver is right ahead. I hope no one bothers us for the next few days.”
A rocky cliff face appeared before them and behind that a mountain range. If it was a mountain buried in the layer, there’d be a peak high above them, on the other side of the ice cover. The ice cover was a long way above them, and the tips of the mountains were hidden inside. It formed a giant space open space, extending beyond the mountain.
Lei Xinfeng pointed at the cliff face. “Is it here?”
“No, we’re almost there. There are paths into the mountain that we can take. The Qianye silver grounds are in there.”
After a sweep of his eyes, he could already detect glows of various colors. He knew that there was indeed a mine in the mountain and several kinds at that. He could only curse his shallow knowledge, unable to identify the types.
After following the mountain path for a short distance, and through a few ice walls that blocked the path, Song Qiao finally smiled. “I found it! This place is so hard to find. First, we have to find this mountain, and only then can we find this tunnel!”
To be precise, this wasn’t a tunnel. It was more of a split in the rock, a crevice. The top was sealed by ice, so light could still reach inside. Although it wasn’t too bright, practitioners had excellent eyesight, and they could clearly see the interior.
Song Qiao immediately charged in. “I’ve come here many times, and I never found much. It’s a good thing I don’t use much either, so I’ve been just barely getting by with what I managed to find. Qianye silver is just too hard to mine.”
Following the crevice, they entered a real tunnel. It was quickly cramped, with the top shaped like the corner of a triangle.
Fengying took out a stick of oil wood and began to burn it, casting the surroundings in bright life.
There was rubble all over the floor, and the walls were ruined, remnants of previous impacts. Seeing that, Lei Xinfeng realized that they were now in the production area of Qianye silver.
Lei Xinfeng focused his vision and looked inside, and sure enough, he saw several silver glows. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. He didn’t know what’s with his eyes. He never knew he had this ability before.
Song Qiao was monitoring Lei Xinfeng closely and saw that he was smiling, and relaxed. “Ah Feng, do you see anything?” The answer was a foregone conclusion, but he couldn’t resist asking.
Lei Xinfeng smiled. “Alright, I’ll point, you guys dig.”
They already have plenty of experience. Lei Xinfeng used another rock to draw circles on the wall. “Follow my circles, be careful to not damage the interior.”
He followed the wall, drawing circle after circle, big and small, all along the path. Then, starting from Song Qiao, everyone picked a circle and began digging. With a clear target, it was easy to destroy the surrounding rocks with measured power and precision. Soon, Hongjie became the first one to have results, and she held the first Qianye silver for this expedition.
Are you kidding me? 大喇鉲? Big La Californium? CALIFORNIUM? I’m going to call it Laka. I have no idea what the author was on when he wrote this, or if I’m missing something, but I’m going to call it Laka. Possible alternatives for this nightmare of a translation is Antine (Actinide), Cifer/Cieff (Cf-252). If you have any ideas, shoot in the comments, please.
The third type of ore is 海瑟砾, or Haise Gravel. Gravel sounds lame. Haise is Chinese for the name Heather. As for finding it… how about sifts?
Today sucked. I’m in a really bad mood so the translation might be worse than usual. It didn’t help that I’m suddenly seeing a bunch of redundancies.
Sorry. My mood might get better later.
Anyways, here’s Chapter 2. l3lackSheep has officially started to work on my chapters. Right now, he’s playing catch-up, but when he does, the chapters might start to be uploaded by him, which means you get to bug him for chapters instead of me!