Chapitre 72: 72
As if to confirm Cheng Yang's guess, as soon as he killed the second Rotoskr, a third appeared.
Cheng Yang was starting to panic. If this was their nest, then there was an entire horde of Late Grade monster burrowed inside the rocks around him. Although he was powerful compared to the other humans, he'd met, that many high-level monsters would grind his bones to dust.
Cheng Yang attacked the Rotoskr and retreated. When it died, Cheng Yang noticed another Rotoskr, and it noticed him. Moments later, their battle started.
Having picked up on the pattern, Cheng Yang came to a realization. These monster were probably related to the treasure!
Since that was the case, retreating was useless. Kicking off the ground, Cheng Yang shot an Icicle Blast at the monster in front of him and searched for a narrow cave to fight inside.
The terrain here was advantageous for battling large groups alone as long as the cave you selected was strong enough. However, before Cheng Yang could find the right cave, the Rotoskr that had been attacking him stopped. Instead of chasing Cheng Yang, it ran back just in time to meet up with another Rotoskr that crawled out of the cave. Those two gigantic creatures climbed up the rocky spires nearby, guarding the entrance to their nest.
"Sure enough, there's something important in there." Cheng Yang knew a monster wouldn't give up on prey to guard their nest.
Cheng Yang swirled around and without looking at the cave, approached it.
As Cheng Yang closed the distance between himself and the two monsters, they let out a shrill warning cry. Within a few seconds, another pair of Rotoskr crawled out of the cave.
Just like the three Cheng Yang had just killed, all four were High-Grade monsters. It was a fighting force strong enough to overwhelm the entire Cloud City military.
Cheng Yang slowly moved forwards, testing to see how close he could get before they attacked.
80 meters…
60 meters…
50 meters…
With every step, the Rotoskr would screech at him. Their shrill voices making his head ring.
Unafraid, Cheng Yang pressed forwards. Once he entered the ten-meter range, the Rotoskr couldn't hold back their fury. Using their sturdy hind legs, they jumped down from their spires onto him.
Cheng Yang had prepared for this moment. As their bodies hit the ground, the already injured one slammed into an Icicle Blast instead.
With a thud, the mouse hit the ground, impaling itself further on the icy spear. Letting out a final squeak, it died.
Cheng Yang's fire another Icicle Blast behind him as he tried to get far enough away that the Rotoskr would retreat. Luckily his attack froze one of the remaining three monsters.
With speed nearly double that of the Rotoskr, Cheng Yang had a decent lead when he used his skill, but once a monster reached High-Grade, they would gain a skill too. With a shrill cry, one of the Rotoskr used their signature skill, Acceleration Burst.
The monster shot forwards like a bullet instantly overturned Cheng Yang's speed advantage. Unable to dodge, the sharp front claws of the Rotoskr flayed Cheng Yang's back. Cheng Yang was flung forwards like a ragdoll by the mighty thrust as he lost six Health. This was the attack of a High-Grade monster! Not even Cheng Yang would be able to walk away unscathed!
Although the injuries on his back hurt, Cheng Yang powered through the pain.
Using the momentum to gain a lead, Cheng Yang dodged around a pillar while smashing an Icicle Blast into the Rotoskr that hadn't attacked him.
While dashing forwards, Cheng Yang killed another Rotoskr. Once he was two hundred meters away from the nest, the last two monsters turned tail and ran.
"How predictable." Cheng Yang sneered as he sat down to Meditate. Once his Health had recovered, Cheng Yang attacked the monsters again.
This time, no one answered their warning cries.
Despite killing the two Rotoskr with ease, Cheng Yang was upset. If the monsters weren't going to come outside, did that mean he would need to enter the cave to get the treasure?
Cheng Yang gazed into the inky darkness of the cave and when he had gathered enough courage, stepped inside.
For the first ten meters or so, the light from outside was enough to illuminate the path in front of him. However, Cheng Yang needed to use the walls as guidance as he went further in.
As he walked further down the tunnel, Cheng Yang's heart beat faster and faster. If he were in a well-lit environment, Cheng Yang would be able to face seven or eight Rotoskr without fear. In the dark, however, he'd just become a punching bag for the Rotoskr since they were adapted to fighting without light.
Even so, it wasn't in Cheng Yang's nature to back out now. He had a few Health Recovery Potions left so he would be able to survive long enough to escape at least.
After nearly a minute of walking, Cheng Yang saw a faint light in front of him. There was a small cavern in front of him filled with a soft, fluorescent white glow.
"These are…" Cheng Yang was stunned.
Once he was sure there weren't any monster in the cavern, Cheng Yang sprinted forwards. Once he got a clear view of the objects peppering the cavern walls, ecstasy filled his heart.
"How is this possible? Why are there so many?" Cheng Yang rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Sticking out of the wall were tens of hundreds of Experience Gems. As the name implied, Experience Gems were made from compressed Experience Fragments. As for how many were in each gem, it depended on the grade.
Cheng Yang had seen a photo of one once on the Tavern's forum. The images posted and these gems looked precisely the same. Moreover, they were all rated as Low-Grade Slag and only contained ten Experience Fragments.
Up until the point where Cheng Yang died, no one had found a sizeable and high-quality Experience Gem mine.
In comparison, it had only been ten days in this life, and Cheng Yang had already found an unbelievably rich Experienc Gem mine. How could he not be excited? The only problem was, he didn't have any way to get the gems!
Even if he had the Miner Profession, the fact that he didn't have a way to get back to the mine was a damper on his mood.
Moreover, how many gems would a Low-Grade Miner even be able to obtain in five hours? Would they even be able to mine Experience Gems of this grade? If they weren't, they would be useless rocks since gods rules dictated that gems had to be extracted before they can be used.
When faced with the harsh reality, Cheng Yang's excitement died.
Without thinking, Cheng Yang turned away from the brilliantly shining wall. Just as he was about to leave, Cheng Yang spotted a dim light on the ground. Looking closer, he realized it was a Low-Grade Experience Gem.
Looking around, Cheng Yang noticed that there were several of these gems scattered around the floor of the cavern. However, if there weren't that many, it wouldn't be worth the danger of moving around in the Rotoskr nest.
Picking up the pea-sized gem, Cheng Yang shattered it in his hand. A stream of light flowed out and into his body as the gem turned to dust. Once the process was over, Cheng Yang had gained ten Experience Fragments.
Cheng Yang had learned how to use Experience Gems in his past life, but this was his first time doing it. The process was much gentler than killing a monster and made Cheng Yang feel warm when the light entered him.
Glancing around the room, Cheng Yang was able to see about twenty loose Experience Gems. In other words, he saw two hundred free Experience Fragments.
Without hesitation, Cheng Yang rushed around the cavern, picking up the gems and absorbing them one by one.
Unable to resist his greed, Cheng Yang traveled deeper into the cave complex, picking up Experience Gems as he did.
At this point, Cheng Yang was confident that this was the treasure hidden behind the Mystery Gate. The only question was, why were there so many loose gems? Maybe the mine was being used right before it was transported to Earth? Perhaps this was a reward the gods had arranged for the first person to discover the mine?
Although Cheng Yang wasn't sure what the actual reason was, it didn't matter to him. He was looking forward to accumulating a hundred thousand Experience Fragments so he could unlock the next level of training speed, and this was the perfect opportunity.
Not only that but when the time came, he could use the Experience Fragments he would gain today to level up the village.
Cheng Yang found one Experience Gem every meter he walked, so after traveling for a hundred meters, he earned a thousand Experience Fragments!
As he went further in, Cheng Yang noticed the gems on the walls were getting bigger, and instead of glowing with white light, they were blue.
It didn't take long for him to realize that those were Experience Gems of a higher grade!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone