Chapter One Hundred and One: The Fifth Layer

The group entered the depleted crystal mine, and thanks to the various crystal clusters of different elements, it was not nearly as dark as they had imagined.

“This place is a maze, and because it has long been occupied by crystal creatures skilled at burrowing, there are countless tunnels of every size. I do not know the exact route, so we can only explore our way through little by little.”

No one in the party was foolish enough to ask where Stran had gotten his information. Now that the trail had gone cold, everyone began to rely on their own methods.

Jens smiled with confidence. “Then just watch my performance from here on out.”

The words had barely fallen when several dozen small crystal creatures that looked like cockroaches appeared before him. With a wave of his hand, they scattered in all directions at once, as if they had received a command.

Jens said proudly, “These are native crystal creatures I discovered in this world. Aside from possessing a collective network of consciousness, they also have many abilities for scouting and searching. They can fly, they can dig tunnels, and they’re remarkably hardy. Very useful.”

Rando noticed that, at some point, a larger crystal cockroach had climbed onto Jens’s shoulder. Its abdomen, in particular, was disproportionately swollen; it should have been some kind of queen or brood-mother among crystal cockroaches.

Leia and Alice also noticed the big insect and instinctively moved farther away from Jens. Some of the other women in the party did the same, causing Jens, who had been showing off his pet with great delight, to stiffen in embarrassment.

Several men who had originally been interested in the crystal cockroaches and were about to strike up a conversation with Jens, including his teammates, also quietly moved away from him.

Silently, Jens put away the crystal cockroach queen.

What followed was a long stretch of exploration. As Jens had promised, his crystal cockroaches truly excelled at scouting, which caused the female arcane mages in the party to more or less overlook their ugly appearance. After all, for arcane mages, practicality mattered most.

Along the way, Rando also keenly noticed something strange: Stran kept observing him, or rather, his companion crystal, in a way that seemed deliberate yet casual.

Moreover, whenever they encountered certain special elemental properties, Stran would offer rather detailed explanations of the element’s strengths and weaknesses. Combined with Rando’s earlier discoveries and deductions, a thought gradually began to take shape in his mind.

“Oh? What is this?” After killing a black crystal scorpion, the creature’s special elemental property drew Rando’s attention.

Stran’s eyes flickered, and he said offhandedly, “That’s a variant of dark element. It not only retains all the qualities of dark element, but also has very strong illusion capabilities. It’s a pretty useful special element.”

“Oh!” Rando seemed even more interested.

Leia asked in confusion, “Junior Rando, do you want to change the attribute of your companion crystal?”

Rando nodded and said helplessly, “I do have that idea. A pure attribute can only strengthen the body. If I can’t raise it to the tenth rank, then it feels like there’s no real advantage. It would take too much effort, and most importantly, there’s no guarantee it will even work. I’d rather get a ninth-rank companion crystal weapon with a special elemental attribute.”

“Ah? That’s such a shame. You finally got it this far. Aren’t you going to think about it some more?” Leia said regretfully.

Alice suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Leia’s arm. “Senior Leia, when you have to decide, you have to decide. Since Rando has already made up his mind, let’s not interfere.” Then she gave Rando a faint, fleeting glance.

It seemed that Alice’s words had helped Rando make up his mind. He no longer hesitated and began absorbing the special dark element into his companion crystal.

Slowly, the companion crystal that had once been purely transparent took on a layer of shadowy darkness.

Because of his angle, Stran had not seen the process by which Rando absorbed the element. But when Rando turned around afterward, and he saw the faint, murky tint on the companion crystal, a flash of delight crossed Stran’s eyes.

For the time that followed, Rando no longer sensed Stran observing him. He looked over at the other man. Stran’s own companion crystal was also on his left hand, pure white in color, seemingly fused with some special light element.

After more than a month, they had already explored as far as the third level of the depleted crystal mine. The deeper they went, the more complex the terrain became, but the entrances leading to lower levels grew fewer and fewer.

On the first level, they found dozens of entrances leading to the second. On the second level, there were only a little over ten passages leading to the third. And now, with the third level almost fully explored, they had found only seven entrances to the fourth.

The reason they had gone to such lengths to explore everything in the beginning was partly to grind for monsters, but later they discovered that each level contained completely sealed-off areas. If they wanted to explore other regions, they had to return to the upper levels and enter through different passages. After all, this was a subterranean cavern; if they tried to dig through the tunnels themselves and caused the mine to collapse, they would all be finished. Better to take a little more time than to take such a risk.

By now, including Rando, everyone’s companion crystal had reached the ninth rank and could no longer be improved. So whenever they encountered crystal creatures, the party had grown somewhat impatient. But in this kind of terrain, there was nowhere to escape to, so they could only fight.

During all this, aside from Jens, the so-called “guide faction” member who had been leading the way, the one who contributed most was his teammate James Harty, who possessed barrier abilities. If not for him shielding the mine during the party’s battles, this place might have collapsed long ago.

After killing another batch of seventh-rank crystal creatures, everyone was too tired even to speak and hurried to rest.

No one noticed that a blue soul had been collected by Rando. Nor did anyone notice the faint strands of crystal energy being absorbed by his companion crystal, which should already have been saturated, its intake concealed and condensed by the mindscape space.

Seeing how exhausted everyone was, Stran thought for a moment and said, “Based on the current exploration and the information I have gathered, if nothing unexpected happens, the Abyss of Void is on the fifth level of the depleted crystal mine. There can’t be many entrances from the fourth to the fifth level—there may even be only one. We are very close to success!”

Stran’s words lifted the party’s spirits somewhat. After their rest, they set out once more.

As Stran had guessed, the fourth level was indeed sparsely connected. They had already explored most of the area and still had not found a single entrance leading to the fifth.

Then, while exploring a new region of the fourth level, they came upon something different, and the group’s mood immediately brightened.

Upon arriving, they saw a straight passage slanting downward, and the passage widened as it descended.

Because the route ahead was visible at a glance, there was no need to worry about crystal creatures suddenly bursting out to attack. The party quickened their pace slightly and soon reached a vast underground cavern. The cavern was filled with black crystal stones, and at its far end was the very entrance to the fifth level they had been searching for all along.

The relief after hardship was enough to make even arcane mages, for all their reason, want to cheer.

But the cheer died in their throats.

The black crystal stones covering the ground stirred at the sound, and one after another, they came to life. These were no stones at all, but crystal scorpions huddled together in clusters. The largest stood over ten meters tall, its entire body radiating an almost tangible black aura. Its two enormous pincers gleamed with a cold light, granular crystal protrusions covered its back, and the tail stinger behind it was faintly tinged green, looking poisonous beyond doubt at a glance.

Everyone: …