Percival stroked his beard, smiling warmly as he watched everything unfold in the silver mirror.
"I must say, thed is quite lucky."
Every resource point was actually surrounded by a multitude of monsters; it was just John''s good fortune that he turned these potential foes into friends.
Geoffrey''s aged face broke into a wide grin, his wrinkles tightening.
"Sometimes, luck is indeed a part of strength."
Otherwise, why wouldn''t others have such good luck?
He speaks the monsters''nguage, dodges their initial assaults, and even managed to persuade the Treemonkey King to coborate with him. thanks for reading on m|v|l|e|m|p|y|r
Isn''t that a form of strength?
If others feel it''s unfair, they are more than wee to try and negotiate their own alliances with the bosses.
Lavinia and others hurried to the coordinates John had sent.
When they saw the diligent monkeys using ststone to smash the ground, they were momentarily lost for words.
The two exchanged looks and eventually bowed their heads in silence.
They had thought the ''monkey'' was just a metaphor.
But there it was... not just one monkey, but a whole group!
"So many creatures!"
"My goodness, the stone they''re holding is so destructive. I just saw it blow a huge hole in the ground."
"Are these materials really not getting damaged?"
The gathering team behind watched in shock at everything unfolding before them.
This was beyond anything they had imagined! It was terrifying, truly terrifying; they shivered involuntarily.
They found it hard to imagine what would have happened if they had encountered these creatures themselves.
They wouldn''t even be able to dodge the ststones, let alone anything else!
Their voices caught the attention of the small monkeys ahead.
Almost instantly, all the monkeys turned around, holding up their ststones and staring at them.
Lavinia felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in an instant, and Leopold beside her was extremely tense.
If those stones were actually thrown, they doubted they would escape unscathed.
Lavinia managed to squeeze a faint smile onto her face, then spoke up.
"Um... hello, we''vee to cooperate with you. We''re here to pick up the materials ahead."
Those behind her inhaled sharply at her words.
These creatures looked somewhat human, but they weren''t actually human! How could they possibly understand what was being said?
"Chii..."
One of the slightlyrger monkeys nodded at them, then motioned for the other small monkeys to clear the way.
The path they opened clearly was meant for them to pass through and gather the materials.
The logistics team stood dumbfounded, watching this unfold.
No way, they can actually understand us? They''re really going to cooperate with us?
How is it possible...
Lavinia and Leopold mustered their courage and made their way to the stone slope, picking up the items scattered on the ground.
[You have received borax10.]
[You have received ck iron ore50.]
They actually got them!
Lavinia turned back to the noticeablyrger monkey and smiled, then tentatively said, "We''ll pick up what''s been sted out first, then can you help us continue digging below?"
Otherwise, everything on the surface would be shattered by the sts, affecting the quality.
"Chii!"
The monkey called out and then settled on a tree branch, the other monkeys also stopped and ceased throwing ststones.
"Quick, quick,e over and pick up!"
Lavinia immediately called her logistics team to swiftly start collecting the materials from the ground.
Everyone was astounded as they gathered the materials.
It actually worked! They weren''t dreaming, were they?
It wasn''t a ploy by the creatures to let them pass only to crush them once they were out of sight, right?
Some moved tentatively forward, relieved only when they were sure picking up the materials posed no problem.
Thankfully, there were no other issues, for they really wouldn''t know what to do otherwise!
But this was incredible—they were actually able tomunicate with these creatures!
Lavinia also began to pick up various materials from the ground, somewhat dazedly.
Just an hour ago, they had been fretting over the scarcity of resources back at the fortress.
But now, to their astonishment, these materials were everywhere!
Everywhere!
These four words deeply imprinted themselves in Lavinia''s mind, her movements bing almost mechanical as she collected materials.
Meanwhile, John stood at the cave entrance, clutching his staff and the Bloodthirsty de tightly.
He had just taken a step forward when he felt a cool breeze mixed with a foul stench blowing towards him from inside the cave.
This confirmed that the cave was passable, and there must be some creatures inside—creatures that even the little monkeys found terrifying.
Logically, with the Treemonkey King''s presence, these little fellows should have felt unrestrained in this area.
Yet now, they were terrified of a creature inside a cave, suggesting that this creature was definitely of lord-tier, or even higher!
John nced at the Bloodthirsty de in his hand.
His eyes lowered in contemtion, he began to hesitate, wondering whether he should return to the fortress first to embed the Dragonblood Stone in the de before proceeding.
After all... if the merging waspleted, the Bloodthirsty de would inherently restore health—the more damage it dealt, the more HP it would restore.
But...
John tightened his grip on the Bloodthirsty de, cautiously moving deeper into the cave.
He didn''t have much time.
A round trip back to the fortress would take five hours, and he felt his current supplies were adequate.
With enough potions for mana and health regeneration, he could oust whatevery ahead.
If things got too tough, he could always return after embedding the Dragonblood Stone.
A faint, foul-smelling breeze wafted toward the cave entrance, making John frown.
The odor was repulsive! He rummaged through his backpack for some old cloth and fashioned a mask to cover his nose and mouth.
It was like a biological weapon—utterly nauseating.
Tap, tap, tap...
John''s footsteps echoed throughout the cavern.
Drip, drip...
asionally, the sound of water droplets hitting the ground added to the eerie atmosphere.
The deeper he ventured, the more John realized the cave''s structure was unusual.
There was no light inside anymore.
Pulling out a torch he had prepared earlier, he proceeded with caution.
The length of the cave was uncertain; he had already extinguished a dozen torches and still hadn''t reached the end.
There had been no dangers so far, until he passed through a narrow passage, and then the pathway suddenly opened up.
Hiss...
Even John couldn''t help but gasp at the sight before him.
Stctites hung from the cave walls, refracting a multitude of colors in the light of the torch, dazzling and exceptionally beautiful.
Below was a small pool, its waters twinkling with multicolored lights.
It seemed there were fish in the pool, but they sank to the bottom the moment they touched the light.
Beyond the small pool, several passages branched off, each with a breeze that made the torch flicker.
The area seemed quite expansive.
John frowned slightly.
Did he really need to explore each path? That would be a tremendous waste of time.
However, since there was a guardian creature, he might as well head directly towards where the creature likely resided.
After all, bosses typically guard their treasures closely.
But John was unaware that outside, people werepletely astir!
"Doesn''t this ce look familiar? Isn''t it part of Isabe''s territory?"
"It does look like the bat cave near Isabe''s area. Are these connected?"
"No wonder John walked for so long; he''s nearly reached the second fortress. How could it not take a while?"
"My god, this is too thrilling, right? Will there be a sh of the titans soon?"
"Am I the only one who noticed their resource points are the same? Who does the energy stone belong to?"
As people outside began to buzz with spection, John heard something different within the cave!
p, p...
Could that be... the sound of wings pping?