Farming Games are All About Grinding

"Hey, Little Electric, take a look at Little Ice over there. Taking down several at once and all instant kills." Han Qiwu teased Little Electric deliberately.

"Chirp chirp!"

Unconvinced, Little Electric let out a sound and dashed after Little Ice, swiftly finishing off the few Cave Worms that had crawled out from the nearby rock wall.

From the side, Xiao Lai, lying prone, shook his head slightly.

Little Electric is still too young. Even with such an obvious bait in his master's words, he still fell for it.

Before Xiao Lai could finish his thought, the eager Little Electric flew back, picking him up and carrying him along. While flying, it exclaimed, "You've got to start pulling your weight! We can't let a newcomer outshine us!"

Xiao Lai: "...No, I'm fine. You guys go ahead and compete however you want."

After clearing out the Cave Worms in the area, Han Qiwu glanced at the map.

This was level 86 of the mine, already beyond the mapped area of the Flame Iron Ore zone. From here on out, he'd have to rely on himself.

Taking out his semi-defective compass, he marked the nearby Flame Iron Ore and quietly observed.

The refresh time for the semi-defective compass was almost here.

Finally, the compass began to spin erratically for several rounds, marking the location of the Flame Iron Ore on Han Qiwu's map.

Based on the ore distribution, Han Qiwu quickly pinpointed a potential mining zone.

Let's go!

Standing on his Wind Fire Wheels, Han Qiwu dashed toward the mining zone.

On the way, he could finally enjoy the feeling of being a boss.

There was no need to lift a finger in battle.

Whether it was Cave Worms or Molten Lava Fireflies, Little Ice effortlessly dealt with them.

Speed and attack power were more than enough.

However, the high-intensity combat was starting to test Little Ice's durability. They hadn't even reached the mining zone yet, and its durability had already dropped by 30 points.

Thankfully, under Little Ice's influence, Little Electric performed just as impressively, mowing down enemies with ease.

Twenty minutes later, Han Qiwu arrived at the entrance of the mining zone.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Even before approaching, he heard a series of sharp slicing sounds coming from inside.

Standing cautiously at the doorway, Han Qiwu peeked in with a puzzled expression.

What were those things doing in the lava mining layer?

Inside the mine, the source of the slicing sounds revealed themselves—creatures resembling mantises.

These were much larger than regular mantises, with bodies entirely in a dark red hue. Their blade-like forelimbs shimmered with razor-sharp edges; even a casual swipe produced a slicing wind sound.

Their blade arms sheared through rock like slicing through tofu—formidable combat prowess.

"Will Little Ice be able to handle this?" Han Qiwu touched the hardened shell of Little Ice.

From earlier encounters, the ordinary mine creatures' attacks couldn't even leave a mark on its shell.

Not even a scuff.

"Little Ice, go give it a shot. Even if you get maimed, we can always rebuild you." Giving an order, Han Qiwu pointed at the nearest Fire Mantis while holding back the eager Little Electric.

His reasoning was clear—at worst, Little Ice would get torn apart and require reconstruction.

But if Little Electric went in, the consequences could be more severe.

It's not like he wanted fried bird for dinner tonight.

Fearless, Little Ice crawled along the rock wall toward the mining zone.

Unexpectedly, the outermost Fire Mantis Han Qiwu had pointed at suddenly seemed distracted and wandered toward the center of the mining zone.

Little Ice, clinging to the ceiling, followed suit and crawled toward the center as well.

Chasing after the Fire Mantis, Little Ice leaped down from above, its body emitting a flash of blue light and black light—black for Death Piercer and blue for Frost Dash, an ability that increased speed while releasing a frost aura, slowing down nearby enemies.

"Swish!"

"Whoosh!"

The Fire Mantis reacted quickly, swinging its blade arm toward Little Ice in mid-air.

But Little Ice's stabbing attack was even faster!

Its spider leg, cloaked in black energy, pierced straight through the Fire Mantis's head.

Instant kill!

At that moment, Han Qiwu also saw the attributes of the Fire Mantis.

[Fire Mantis]

[Level: 88]

[Attack Methods: Blade Arm Slash, Devouring Enhancement]

[Note: The Fire Mantis is exceptionally powerful.]

The name was straightforward enough.

Fire Mantis.

"So it's level 88? That means Little Ice's current strength can sweep through level-80 dungeons." Han Qiwu felt even less concerned now.

What would level-90 mining zones look like?

Inside the mining zone, the battle continued. The other Fire Mantises sensed the presence of a threat and charged one after another, swinging their blade arms wildly.

But Little Ice had eight legs.

"Zoom zoom zoom!"

Its legs moved swiftly, stabbing and retracting, wiping out eight Fire Mantises instantly, leaving behind white flashes of light.

However, the number of Fire Mantises was overwhelming.

Even after exterminating these eight, the relentless attacks of the other mantises managed to land on Little Ice.

Just as Han Qiwu prepared to offer ranged support, he was stunned to realize that Little Ice seemed completely indifferent to the hits.

Aside from a faint white scuff on its hardened shell, there wasn't any visible damage.

The attacks couldn't pierce through!

"So this is the power of Composite Wood Armor?" Han Qiwu finally began to grasp its capabilities.

It was akin to the principle of an alloy—combining spider remains and wooden components had created a synergy greater than the sum of its parts.

Seeing that Little Ice had drawn enough attention, Han Qiwu released Little Electric, letting it join the fray for cleanup duty.

The Fire Mantises, meanwhile, also seemed to notice that their attacks were ineffective.

"Swish swish!"

A few dozen Fire Mantises gestured with their blade arms at one another.

Soon, more than ten smaller Fire Mantises viciously bit into the heads of the larger ones next to them, lowering their heads to rapidly devour them.

"Little Electric! Xiao Lai! Crowd control!" Han Qiwu shouted, quickly pulling out his Frost Slingshot and loading it with a spiked quill, taking aim at one of the smaller Fire Mantises.

He had a guess—this was the Fire Mantis's Devouring Enhancement in action.

At first glance, he'd thought it was devouring corpses. But no, it was eerily similar to natural mantis behavior—female mantises devouring the males.

The smaller Fire Mantises swelled rapidly after feeding, their bodies growing like inflated balloons. Even their blade arms extended in length, their slicing sounds louder than before.

"Little Ice, dodge!"

Before Han Qiwu could finish yelling, the first Fire Mantis to complete its enhancement struck Little Ice with two swift slashes.

"Crack!"

Two distinct gashes appeared on Little Ice's body, revealing the wooden interior beneath.

Luckily, the strikes hadn't landed on the same spot, or the damage would have been worse.

By this time, the Poison Liquid Radio duo had arrived, one discharging electric shocks and the other spraying poison. Within seconds, the remaining enhanced Fire Mantises were immobilized.

Seizing the opportunity, Little Ice moved all eight legs in unison, instantly taking out most of the enhanced Fire Mantises.

The last two surviving enhanced Fire Mantises, sensing the danger, used their blade arms to vault themselves behind some rocks at a distance.

Seeing this, Han Qiwu shouted urgently, "Go interrupt them!"

No way—could they possibly enhance themselves even further?