Chapter 34: Exploring the Crypt Again, Discovering the Hidden Door?

“So it’s black iron?”

Xu Jingnian pondered, picking up a black iron ore that was a bit larger than a fist and taking a closer look.

There are campfires for lighting.

Indeed, he could tell that the surface material of this black ore was not obsidian, or coal, as he recognized it.

It’s iron plus the texture of stone sand.

“Black Iron, looking at the panel’s description, it can be used to make steel products, so it should be about as effective as iron.”

Xu Jingnian came to a realization.

Turns out it was digging for iron ore.

There is value in mining, after all, if you want to upgrade the “House of Favored Beasts” to an “Iron Kennel”.

The materials needed are five hundred iron.

It would be a loss to trade purely in resources, and obviously not as fast as starting directly from the initial process of mining.

“It’s not bad, it’s not a transcendent resource, but it’s better than practical, and it’s a very in-demand resource!”

Xu Jingnian was more content.

“A~”

Genpou, on the other hand, wasn’t very fond of it, because the dark ore just didn’t look good.

It had just dug and tried to eat a smaller piece of black iron ore, biting down but it took a lot of teeth.

And it doesn’t fill your stomach with energy, it’s no different than eating a rock, or even worse ……

“What, you don’t like it?” Xu Jingnian smiled and asked.

“A!”

Genpou nodded.

It prefers shiny gems to black iron ore.

Especially fire crystals like this.

It was spicy and nourishing to eat, and when it reached the stomach, it absorbed a large amount of satisfying fire attribute energy!

If the master could also eat rocks, Yuan Bao was going to let Xu Jing Nian try it anyways.

Fire Crystal Ore for meta.

Ranked second on the must-eat list!

As for number one, for the time being, it was reserved for the big pie Xu Jingnian had drawn, the food that that pangolin was engraved in his genes, termites.

“Haha, Yuanbao, you’re quite the little glutton ……”

Xu Jingnian laughed, then with a turn of expression, solemnly said, “Eat as much Fire Crystals as you like, but you have to dig hard for Black Iron Ore as well!”

He was still waiting to upgrade his house once he had saved up five hundred iron!

“A.”

Genpou nodded.

It signaled that it was obedient, digging whatever its master said, and would never be lazy even if it dug unloved black iron ore.

“Good dollar.”

Xu Jingnian bent down and stroked its small head, and the occasional petting was considered a good gesture to increase the bond between human pets.

So when in doubt, just pet your favorite beast, it’s sure to be okay.

“Let’s go and explore the crypt a little farther.”

Just found a black iron mine.

It’s still far from a solution to the problem of sitting on the sidelines, and even the bonfire melting pot hasn’t been built yet.

So the best thing would be to discover a transcendental vein again.

When that time came and there were two veins to dig, there would be no need to worry, at least one could safely finish the fire crystal ore first.

So keep exploring ……

“A.”

Genpou nodded and turned away.

“Wait …..”

Xu Jingnian, however, called it back.

He found that Genpou was able to mine without any problems though with his own pair of claws, copper teeth and iron stomach.

However, there is a bit of a bind to carry back the harvested ore.

The pangolin’s little claws were that big, and its body was sort of smooth except for its scales, so it couldn’t take much at all.

He opened up the House of Ore group and sent Cloud, a loyal customer and surrogate, and Terminator to trade for a bag.

Wait for the mist around the campfire to clear.

Only a beige linen colored zipperless duffel bag appeared on the floor.

Xu Jingnian picked it up and examined it.

Great capacity and easy to operate, no zippers, just top it off with a pantyhose-like string to control the pouch.

Foolproof operation.

“Here, Genpou, got you a digging outfit, think it works!”

“A?”

“Look on your back.”

Xu Jingnian gave Yuanbao some maneuvering to secure the two shoulder straps of the backpack, only to find that this backpack was a bit too big, and the bottom dragged to the ground.

Xu Jingnian did some more maneuvering.

Giving the bottom section of the backpack a flip inward and then tying it off is just right for the size of the metacarpal.

“A?”

Genpou was flabbergasted.

Lifting his paws to a standing position, he turned his head to look behind him, and the pack followed suit, and he began to spin in place.

“Hahaha!”

Xu Jingnian laughed.

This duffel bag, carried behind the scaly armor of the metacarpal, lives like a Santa Claus …… but in a mountain armor version!

“Genpou, don’t worry about it, it won’t affect the operation, when you dig up the ore, put it in this backpack and store it.”

Xu Jingnian explains the usage.

“A ……”

Genpou seemed to understand.

“Here, you take this black iron ore and try to fit it into your backpack.” Xu Jingnian commanded.

Yuan Bao then picked up a black iron ore.

Then lifting his paw, eyes puzzled but slightly rusty, he tossed it into the backpack on his body.

“Wow, a successful dunk! It’s still a no-field-of-view back shot, you’re a genius little guy!”

MetaBooks: ……

After a while.

Yuan Bao’s was carrying a beige hemp-colored backpack, and even though Xu Jingnian had bundled it up to fit better, it was still a bit uncomfortable.

Of course not adapting is not adapting.

It still moves well.

Drilling through the tunnel he had dug, he once again came to the fork in the crypt.

Xu Jingnian turned on Perception Synchronization.

“It’s better to go left, not sure of the situation on the right side of the road, the left side has been explored, so at least familiarize yourself with the first part of the road, and then take the right side when you’re stronger later.”

He droned on.

Genpou nodded.

It’s afraid of death, so naturally it won’t go to the right of the unknown.

It’s not like you’re the outrageous protagonist of a horror movie, where the more you’re obviously scared, the more you’re going to go where you’re scared.

Genpou stated.

He’s not stupid. He’s resourceful!

Continuing on to the left cave of the forked path, Genpou was still very cautious, even though he had walked it once.

Going slower.

But this was a good thing, and Xu Jingnian didn’t stop it while he focused on checking out the surrounding rock walls.

That black iron ore was seen in a casual glance without realizing it, so maybe there was something missed in the path traveled in front of it.

“Little one, look to the left.” Xu Jingnian glanced hastily, as if he had spotted a bit of dark shadow.

“A!”

Genpou nodded and looked to his left.

Nothing.

Keep going.

Another distance was traveled.

“Little one, look further to the right.” Xu Jingnian felt as if that place was unusual.

“A?”

Genpou looked to his right.

Still nothing.

After a few wrong looks, Yuan Bao arrived at the place where he had dug the black iron ore before.

Here the rock wall had been dug out into an inward depression, some black iron ore in the upper position, and Genpou had dug little steps through the rock.

As stated above.

Genpou is very resourceful!

“There’s still some black iron ore visible on all the rock walls here, so even if it’s not a vein, we should be able to dig up some more.”

You can come here later to continue mining, but the goal is not black iron ore right now.

Genpou continued to explore forward.

Slowly, there was a more significant change in the terrain of the mine, with a greater difference in height above and below, and a bit more curves.

Good thing it’s still a straight road.

And not get lost.

Keep going.

After walking almost another few hundred meters, Xu Jingnian was on high alert when suddenly his eyes lit up.

“Genpou, look at the rock wall there on the right, it seems to be a different color than the rest of the rocks!”

“A?”

Genpou sniffed and looked away.

Sure enough, the rock walls there were a bit darker and looked like they were sanded like material.

It’s pretty obvious.

Genpou walked over to the bottom of the black rock, an oval shaped piece of rock wall.

“What is it?”

Kind of like a hidden door.

Watching Xu Jingnian, he wanted to strike flat against this black rock wall to see if he could activate the hidden door.

“A?”

Genpou lifted a paw, signaling that it would have to dig a little to see.

“Dig in.” Xu Jingnian agreed.

Then Genpou lifted his claws and plunged them into the black sanded oval rock wall, pulling out large chunks.

Immediately after.

Only to see the entire black rock wall collapsing and falling into a pile of black soil as if it had been activated, rustling.

“What a hidden door?!”

Xu Jingnian was shocked.

Genpou was also confused.

And at the same time, behind the black sandstone under the collapse.

It was gathering a group of xenomorphs about thirty to forty centimeters tall, with armor swinging by their feet, standing and dancing with their naked carapaces!

Blackwall collapsed.

The Oddball Ball was interrupted.

They turned their heads at the same time to look over, and in the middle of the pile of black sand, only Yuanbao’s naive little head emerged ……

“Shoo ka ka ka?!”

The bugs screamed.

“A!”

Yuan Bao also panicked a batch, frozen in place by the sudden rise of the unexpected, not daring to move a muscle.

Xu Jingnian, however, was calmly observing.

It looked as if Genpou had made the mistake of seemingly breaking into an oddball dance party for the bugs.

“Shoo click!!!”

“Shoo click!!!”

After a short period of commotion, the bugs all donned the armor on the ground and became heavily armed.

At this moment, they became less flustered, but each of them became red-eyed, and with their armor up, they killed Yuan Bao.

“A!”

Yuan Bao turned around and tried to run, however, his body turned and his short legs were fixed in place, unable to move.

In a panic.

Yuan Bao looked at his little feet and realized that they were actually stuck to the inexplicable white slime and couldn’t move a bit.

“Is this triggering a trap?!” Seeing that the beetles were about to charge, Xu Jingnian hurriedly commanded:

“Don’t panic Genpou, don’t forget you have skills, gather energy and spit fire to block their attack!”

Luckily, Xu Jingnian’s calm and collected voice resounded through Yuan Bao’s mind like a tranquilizing pill.

“A!”

Yuan Bao immediately gathered the fire attribute energy in its body, panic with stability, it did not make any mistakes.

A vortex of fire energy, poised to explode!