Ashen God
Chapter 575 - 574 Cat’s Eye Gem

Chapter 575: Chapter 574 Cat’s Eye Gem

October 24th, Frost Descent, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang entered Ashen World. At 11:50 PM, in an inner area of the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, a dim and cramped but corpse-strewn unnamed fork in the road.

Zhang Yanhang grabbed the head of a Crimson Iron Worker Ant in front of him and crushed it, whether it was the hard exoskeleton, the fragile fleshly tissue, or the simple ganglia that functioned as the driving brain, Zhang Yanhang instantly turned it all into a mash of meat.

A large amount of dark red thick fluid splattered high onto the surrounding walls during the crushing process, with a small part flowing out from between Zhang Yanhang’s fingers, eventually dripping slowly onto the ground, merging with other dark red fluids, and forming into a narrow, dark red blood river flowing into the distance due to gravitational potential energy.

Feeling a bit disgusted, Zhang Yanhang looked at the mixture of exoskeleton fragments, mouthpiece shrapnel, and antennae in his hand and casually flung it out, hitting the last few Crimson Iron Worker Ants in the Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu.

In Zhang Yanhang’s hands, the soft mud-like fleshly mixture, after being accelerated, caused a shotgun-like effect with various sharp and hard exoskeleton fragments and mouthpiece debris inside, punching large holes into the remaining few Crimson Iron Worker Ants, quickly reaping their lives.

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Worker Ant (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +3.]

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Worker Ant (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +3.]

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Worker Ant (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +3.]

...

"After spending over seven hours, I finally hunted down all three thousand Crimson Iron Worker Ants in the Ant Nest," said Zhang Yanhang after killing all the Crimson Iron Worker Ants, checking the time on his watch, "I didn’t expect it to be already 11:50 PM, just ten minutes left before the Transmission Channel closes."

"But luckily, I am no longer the person I used to be. Before, I had to worry about the time it took to run back to the Transmission Channel, but now, all I need to do is use the Teleportation Technique to save a huge amount of time on the return trip."

Zhang Yanhang remembered the last time it took him almost fifty minutes to run back from here. Although his Movement Speed had increased, it would still take at least half an hour to run back.

So, in this respect, the Teleportation Technique was indeed very useful for him. It was one of the most important Spells among the thirty-five he had learned, ranking alongside High-level Giant Transformation Technique and High-level Frenzy Technique.

Zhang Yanhang stood still for a few seconds, picked up two treasure boxes dropped by the Crimson Iron Worker Ants and placed them in his Waist Bag, then immediately activated the Teleportation Technique to teleport back to the C-shaped passage.

"Since I only have ten minutes left, I can’t be bothered to move anymore. I’ll just stay here until the Transmission Channel closes. But before that, I need to clear out the Third Prize pool of the Lucky Slot Machine again."

The Third Prize pool of the Lucky Slot Machine had just refreshed, and Zhang Yanhang immediately began pulling the metal lever on the side of the Lucky Slot Machine.

As the metal lever was pulled, the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu instantly fell into a state of Time Pause again, with hundreds of densely packed text options appearing before his eyes.

[Please choose the specific content of the Lucky Slot Machine’s draw this time]

[Option One: ❂❂❂ (Third Prize, Crimson Iron Worker Ant, First Tier One Star, Ordinary Monster.)]

[Option Two: ❂❂❂ (Third Prize, Crimson Iron Flying Ant, First Tier One Star, Elite Monster.)]

[Option Three: ❂❂❂ (Third Prize, Crimson Iron Soldier Ant, First Tier Two Stars, Ordinary Monster.)]

...

[Option Thirty-Seven: ❂❂❂ (Third Prize, Crimson Iron Ant King, Second Tier Second Star, Elite Monster.)]

...

[Option Sixty-Five: ❂❂❂ (Third Prize, Crimson Iron Breeding Ant, First Tier Three Stars, Ordinary Monster.)]

...

[Option One Hundred Twenty-One: ★☆★ (Fourth Prize, thank you for your patronage, no physical prize.)]

...

After successfully triggering an option, Zhang Yanhang checked the specifics, but found that the slot machine’s prize pool hadn’t changed this time either, "As expected, I shouldn’t have too many expectations for the slot machine prize pool."

"So, I choose Option One, a First Tier One Star Ordinary Monster Crimson Iron Worker Ant." Having quickly reviewed the options, Zhang Yanhang made his choice promptly.

...

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Flying Ant (Elite)’ ×1, Soul points +7.]

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Flying Ant (Elite)’ ×1, Soul points +7.]

[Successfully killed a First Tier One Star Monster ’Crimson Iron Flying Ant (Elite)’ ×1, Soul points +7.]

...

After successfully wiping out all the Crimson Iron Ants with a Death Wave, Zhang Yanhang stood still and quietly waited for the Drop treasure boxes to refresh. In a matter of seconds, eight Drop treasure boxes, spanning green, blue, and purple qualities, sporadically appeared on the ground of the C-shaped passage.

"Holy shit! Has my luck finally burst? I only killed a hundred Crimson Iron Ants and got eight Drop treasure boxes."

Moreover, what surprised Zhang Yanhang the most was that the Crimson Iron Ant King from this prize pool also dropped a treasure box, which was rather outrageous. He had just killed the second Crimson Iron Ant King and inexplicably received a Drop treasure box.

Zhang Yanhang picked up the eight Drop treasure boxes one by one and carefully inspected them. He found that the Crimson Iron Worker Ant, Crimson Iron Flying Ant, and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants had all dropped two boxes each, while the Crimson Iron Breeding Ant and the Crimson Iron Ant King each dropped one.

"The Crimson Iron Breeding Ant dropping a treasure box is quite normal, given that there were eighteen in total over two prize pools. But it’s odd for the Crimson Iron Flying Ant and the Crimson Iron Soldier Ants; there were only fifty in total across two prize pools... So, it seems that I really did have better luck this time."

Apart from good luck, Zhang Yanhang couldn’t think of any other reason, as he hadn’t interfered with the prize pool at all throughout the process.

"I thought I would have to wait until the next time I came to clear out the Monster Nest before it would drop, but it has dropped now, which is also a good thing. This way I can directly start the fusion of the Markarov Set."

Zhang Yanhang was really looking forward to the transformation of the Markarov Set from Dark Purple Quality to Light Golden Quality; in fact, he had been looking forward to it for more than a week.

"As much as I am looking forward to it, now is definitely not the time to Open treasure box. I’ll wait until I return to the Main World to open this Drop treasure box."

Zhang Yanhang glanced at the time on his watch; it was now eleven fifty-five, and the remaining five minutes clearly weren’t enough to open the hundreds of Drop treasure boxes he had. It would be better to wait until after returning to the Main World to open them together, since it was only a matter of waiting another five minutes.

With nothing else to attend to in these five minutes, Zhang Yanhang simply lay down on the ground. This helped him recover a bit of Physical Strength, although hunting the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, which had just refreshed Crimson Iron Worker Ants, still wore him out a great deal.

After all, during this hunt, Zhang Yanhang not only had to maintain the Seek Fortune and Avoid Evil scanning ability, but also frequently used the Death Wave Skill to kill through walls. It was basically no different from an official hunt.

Thus, having cleared nearly three thousand Crimson Iron Worker Ants in almost seven and a half hours, it would indeed be strange if Zhang Yanhang had not exhausted a significant amount of Physical Strength.

Besides, Zhang Yanhang also roughly estimated the Physical Strength consumption of Seek Fortune and Avoid Evil after its Promotion to Original Level 6. Although it still fell into the ’minor consumption’ category, the Physical Strength consumed had doubled compared to before.

While a twofold increase in Physical Strength consumption might seem sizable, it was essentially a very good result. After all, Zhang Yanhang’s earlier estimations considered at least a doubling of consumption, and at worst, a fivefold increase or even more.

Therefore, in this regard, a twofold increase in Physical Strength consumption was indeed very good, belonging to the former category, and still within a range that Zhang Yanhang could accept without greatly diminishing his endurance.

The outcome after leveling up the Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil skill to LV.MAX was, conversely, akin to the latter scenario. The skill consumption of Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil suddenly increased manifold, which significantly reduced Zhang Yanhang’s endurance, thus making his monster hunting process much more arduous.

However, this time, besides the not-so-significant increase in the Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil skill consumption, which could be considered quite lucky, Zhang Yanhang was even more fortunate because he had increased his Stamina limit by almost 40% by consuming large amounts of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Main World.

Therefore, even though the skill consumption of Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil had doubled compared to before, it was offset by the higher Stamina limit, which correspondingly led to an actual increase in his endurance, rather than a decrease, by a considerable margin.

According to Zhang Yanhang’s estimates from his long-term monster hunting, he could initially work continuously for about nine hours, but now he could work for more than ten hours, and even eleven hours was not out of the question.

In other words, although he had already been working for seven and a half hours, he was far from his limit; working another two or three hours should definitely be no problem. As for afterwards, a break would surely be needed.

After all, monster hunting required a huge expenditure of physical strength, and it was simply not possible to work for four days and nights in a row without any rest as one might do when digging tunnels. If Zhang Yanhang dared to do the same while hunting monsters, he reckoned the only result would be his death from exhaustion.

Five minutes flew by in the blink of an eye. Zhang Yanhang felt as though he had barely laid down when a set of familiar text options flashed before his eyes.

[Would you like to return to the Main World?]

[Option One: Yes (On your last visit to the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu, after thorough exploration, you improved and re-established a new ant nest cleanup plan. Although you encountered some changes along the way, you ultimately executed your plan thoroughly, clearing the whole small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu.

This is your third time entering the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu. You originally intended to continue digging underground tunnels to find new monster nests, but you were tempted by the higher-than-expected number of Crimson Iron Worker Ants that respawned, and you ended up spending your tunneling time clearing them instead.

What you didn’t anticipate was that clearing the respawned Crimson Iron Worker Ants from the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu took a bit longer than expected. It wasn’t until the Transmission Channel was about to close that you managed to clear them all. Feeling somewhat fatigued after clearing the ants, you think it might be best to head home for a rest and recover your strength.）]

[Option Two: Go Home (Originally, you thought that the main task of entering the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu this time should be to excavate the final three kilometers of the Crimson Iron Ore Layer, but plans do not always keep up with changes. Before you even started the excavation, you inexplicably found that digging tunnels had suddenly lost all purpose for you.

After deciding not to continue with the excavation work, and having cleared all of the respawned Crimson Iron Worker Ants in the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu, you chose to return directly to the Main World. Once back, you found that the cat-faced old lady who used to hang around the stray cat’s nest near the neighborhood had mysteriously disappeared, replaced by a Cat’s Eye Gemstone that could increase your Stamina limit.）]

[Option Three: No (After spending seven and a half hours again clearing all the Crimson Iron Ants from the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu, and still feeling quite vigorous, you decided to ignore the news of the closing Transmission Channel. You think you might head directly to the monster nest at the bottom of the underground tunnels to engage in a new hunting activity.

Though you still indeed have plenty of physical strength, you decided to sleep for eight hours on the ground first, out of cautious consideration. Once your strength was fully recovered, you went to the tunnel and used an Arbitrary Gate to enter the new monster nest. Facing a new nest, you refrained from rushing in and instead decided to explore it first before making any decisions.）]

"Option One, well, is quite the vanilla choice, but even though it’s commonplace, it’s very useful indeed, as I really do want to return to the Main World as soon as possible."

And if you ask Zhang Yanhang why he is in such a rush to get back to the Main World, it is naturally because he’s eager to Open treasure boxes. Holding a bunch of Treasure boxes in his hands without the opportunity to open them because of time constraints is indeed quite vexing.