Farming Games are All About Grinding

At the entrance of the mine, Han Qiwu hugged Xiao Lai and grinned. "Perfect timing to test your new skill later. Let's see how effective it is. If it's not great, maybe I should toss you into some lava for a bit of heat training."

Xiao Lai turned back toward Han Qiwu with a terrified expression, his small face full of disbelief.

All I did was eat a few more pine nuts!

It can't be, right, Master?!

"Just joking." Han Qiwu chuckled and led his two pets down to the 90th floor of the mine.

Scanning the area around him, he noticed a small patch of ground worth digging.

Time to try digging.

Soon, he harvested [Ground Fire Chili]×9.

Nice, time to make some chili flakes.

Moving on.

[You've arrived at the 91st floor of the mine]

"Is it this hot?"

As soon as Han Qiwu regained his vision, he couldn't resist pulling out water infused with white reed roots and gulping down a mouthful.

The temperature here was ridiculously high.

If the previous levels hovered around eighty degrees, this place must have reached ninety.

Even with Han Qiwu's fire resistance, it was tough to endure.

Quickly, he turned to check on the condition of his two pets.

Xiao Dian was already panting with its tongue sticking out—looking just like a small flying dog. Noticing Han Qiwu's gaze, it hurriedly flew over asking for the reed water.

Seeing this, Han Qiwu first let it drink a large mouthful, then pulled out an ice mushroom pie and stuffed it into Xiao Dian's mouth to help it cool down.

"Whew!"

Only then did Xiao Dian feel revived, breathing a long, relieved sigh.

Meanwhile, Xiao Lai was perfectly fine.

Even more outrageous, it was taking huge gulps of the scorching air around them, its small eyes squinting in pleasure.

"After eating the Heart of the Lava, you're completely immune to these high temperatures now?" Han Qiwu said with a playful smile, lifting Xiao Lai into the air. "Your little brother Xiao Dian looks like he can't go on anymore. This time, it's all up to you!"

"Plop plop!"

Xiao Lai eagerly nodded, signaling it had no problem taking the lead.

Just as the words left Han Qiwu's mouth, a series of repetitive collision sounds echoed from a distant tunnel.

Han Qiwu was currently at a junction of several tunnels. Beside him was an iron ore mining spot, and further in were other mining points with gemstone glows, likely belonging to some gemstone veins.

This is a prime spot; can't let it go.

"Xiao Lai, get ready for battle!"

A few seconds later, three fireballs the size of basins shot out from the passage, flying at an angled trajectory—and fairly quickly.

But their aim was off.

Han Qiwu calculated briefly. If they kept flying on their current trajectory, they'd soon smash into the ground.

"Xiao Dian, go scout out the situation. Find out which mine creature is firing those." Han Qiwu commanded, grabbing his pickaxe to start digging for resources.

Still running low on supplies!

Just as the three fireballs smashed against the ground—

The situation shifted.

The fireballs bounced off the ground at the same trajectory angle, shooting back up.

They looked just like balls on a billiard table, bouncing back unchanged in shape or speed.

"Squeak squeak!"

Seeing this, Xiao Dian immediately called out to Han Qiwu in panic.

Hearing the commotion, Han Qiwu turned to look. He happened to catch the sight of the three fireballs rebounding, his face darkening instantly.

Is this serious?

They can play like this?

Recalculating angles, he realized that if he ignored them, the fireballs would definitely hit his location.

Sure, he could dodge—but who knew if these fireballs might suddenly explode while passing overhead or near his pants?

Better not take that risk.

"Xiao Lai, it's up to you!"

"Plop plop."

Xiao Lai took a deep breath and puffed out its cheeks, aiming at the three fireballs as they approached.

A few seconds later, a thin but lightning-fast stream of lava spewed from Xiao Lai's mouth, instantly shooting down and detonating the fireballs.

"Boom!"

Watching the explosion sounds in the distance, Han Qiwu was impressed, patting Xiao Lai's head.

"Good job, Xiao Lai. You're the Hou Yi of the Slime Realm—your fireball accuracy is spot-on!"

Proud of the praise, Xiao Lai arrogantly put its short arms on its hips, striking a pose.

"Before more fireballs come, let's head over to see what's causing this and deal with it first." Han Qiwu waved his hand and charged ahead.

After reaching the mouth of the tunnel, Han Qiwu saw another set of three fireballs flying toward him.

Without waiting for further instruction, Xiao Lai promptly detonated them.

Once the fireballs exploded, Han Qiwu finally caught sight of the creatures launching them.

They looked somewhat like animated cannons. Standing about 80 centimeters tall, their mouths occupied half their faces, and their bodies were dark red. Right now, they were preparing to fire the next wave of fireballs.

Their prep movements were quite funny—constantly twisting their bodies. As they twisted, a red glow traveled from their bellies to their mouths, forming fireballs.

"Xiao Lai, take them out right as the fireballs are about to exit their mouths!"

A few seconds later, Xiao Lai accurately pinpointed the timing and spat out another stream of lava.

"Ptu!"

"Boom boom boom!"

In an instant, the three fireballs detonated inside the cannon creatures' mouths.

The result was undoubtedly devastating.

But to Han Qiwu's surprise, the three cannon monsters immediately turned into white light and vanished.

"That's it?"

Han Qiwu remarked, disappointed he didn't even get a chance to examine their stats before they disappeared.

[Fireball Apprentice]

[Level: 91]

[Attack Method: Ricocheting Fireballs]

[Note: Fireball Apprentices are incredibly strong in large groups]

After reviewing their attributes, Han Qiwu reflected for a moment and agreed with the note's assessment. These Fireball Apprentices had a very short cooldown for firing multiple fireballs—if they appeared in large numbers, dozens of fireballs raining down simultaneously would be overwhelming.

Seeing how fragile they were made sense though.

Mages are always squishy.

What mage can go toe-to-toe in melee combat?

Approaching closer, Han Qiwu found out something else—the Fireball Apprentices weren't just squishy; they had no loot. After taking three of them down, he got nothing.

Oh well, forget it. Back to mining!

Ten minutes later, Han Qiwu mined out all the iron ore veins and headed to dig the gemstone vein nearby.

"Clang!"

With one swing of his pickaxe, golden light burst out from the deposit.

He was instantly excited.

The pace of his swings sped up considerably.

After two more strikes, the vein shattered.

[Gold Ore]

[Usage: Smelting]

[Sales Price: 400 gold]

[Note: A rare ore that can be smelted into gold bars in a furnace]

Actual gold ore!

Gold deposits start appearing after the 90th floor?!

Even unsmelted, its price was already 100 gold higher than the gold ore you could fish up.

So satisfying.

Looking ahead at more glowing golden deposits, Han Qiwu quickly shoved ice mushroom pies and pine nuts into the mouths of his two pets.

"Protect me well! Rewards will be plentiful!"

Xiao Dian's eyes lit up and it obediently snatched up the pine nuts to munch on.

Half an hour later, Han Qiwu's inventory was now packed with [Iron Ore]×59, [Stone]×105, and [Gold Ore]×21.

[You've discovered a staircase]

Loads of loot! Onwards to the next floor.