Shang Chuan: “No, leave those for later. For now, focus on finishing the collection of the Thorium ore.”
That was Shang Chuan’s response.
He had his own considerations.
Admittedly, giving up such a large portion of the profits was a significant loss for him.
However, both Lan Qingyou and Li Huai were notoriously difficult to deal with in District 666.
If anyone discovered this mine and wanted to seize it, Lan Qingyou and Li Huai would serve as natural deterrents.
Anyone wanting to steal it would first have to ask the Witch and Li Huai if they agreed.
This factor allowed him to keep the mine firmly under his control.
Therefore, he was in no hurry to kill the Mountain Eaters.
After all, Mountain Eaters reproduced by splitting after eating earth. This was essentially like livestock farming—every additional Mountain Eater meant another potential ore vein.
In this situation, keeping them alive was the correct choice to maximize long-term benefits.
Besides...
Based on the general data provided in the exploration report, the Thorium ore already discovered was enough to keep Li Wufeng’s team busy for a long time. There was no need to provoke more Mountain Eaters at this stage.
“Mmm—”
Elsewhere, Lan Qingyou stretched as her classes for the day came to an end.
After some light activity, she grabbed Steel Wool, who was playing nearby, and gave it a thorough petting.
After a month of growth, the little fellow had fully developed.
Unlike its appearance a month ago, its dusty down had grown into grey-and-white feathers.
Although it couldn’t fly yet, it finally looked like a bird.
“Cheep, cheep!”
Steel Wool didn’t seem to mind the rough affection at all; instead, it seemed quite happy.
With its eyes squinted and its beak slightly open, it looked incredibly silly and cute.
Rather than a raptor, this guy felt more like a ‘cute-raptor’—it was exceptionally skilled at acting adorable.
It ensured that Lan Qingyou, who stayed home alone and rarely went out, never felt lonely.
“Oh, right. Even though the snow hasn’t stopped, the mana turbulence is over. I should go see how that sludge is doing after all these days.”
As she stroked the snow owl, Lan Qingyou suddenly remembered the sludge she had set out a week ago.
It was time to check on it. If it met the standards, she would plant those herbs that had already begun to wilt.
Lan Qingyou set Steel Wool down, picked up her Magic Broom, and flew to the second-floor terrace. After she injected mana, the Magic Broom began clearing the snow from the platform.
Once the white snow was cleared, Lan Qingyou eagerly stepped forward to inspect the results.
Unsurprisingly, the sludge had frozen into solid blocks, making it completely unsuitable for planting.
Even so, Lan Qingyou wanted to test it. She chipped off a piece of sludge and took it inside, placing it directly over the fire on her alchemy station to thaw.
Though it had hardened, the week-long integration with snowmelt—and perhaps the influence of the mana turbulence—had removed the pungent odor it once had.
On the contrary...
Perhaps because of the snowmelt, or perhaps because of the mana turbulence, the sludge actually emitted a faint fragrance.
Was something wrong with her sense of smell?
Lan Qingyou was bewildered. She remembered how foul the sludge had been.
She leaned in closer to sniff; the fragrance was even stronger.
What was going on? Was she the one who was off, or was it the sludge monster?
The monster encyclopedia hadn't mentioned anything like this.
Wait, this scent...
Lan Qingyou sniffed again and pondered for a long while before finally realizing what it was.
Wasn't this the scent of the herbs she had been drying on the terrace? And it was a damn blend of them, too...
It was a bit speechless and a bit ridiculous, yet it felt logical.
After all, the terrace had been used to dry herbs and various insects and creatures ever since it was built. It was only natural for the wooden planks of the terrace to be ‘marinated’ in those scents.
Forget it, she wouldn't overthink it. At least it wasn't stinky.
Since her alchemy workshop was on the first floor, she didn't want to work in a foul-smelling environment. That would be a torment, a literal interrogation.
Once the sludge softened, she threw it into the pre-arranged ‘medicine field.’
She then treated the rest of the sludge the same way.
Afterward, she carefully buried her hand-picked plants one by one into the soil.
But she wasn't done yet.
After setting everything up, Lan Qingyou took out some prepared bamboo pipes and connected them to the water tank in her workshop, diverting water from the Spring of Repose into the field.
She used the drip irrigation method she had planned earlier.
On the other side, she set up a pond to cultivate water-attribute herbs.
After spending half the day tossing in Fire Essence and water essences, Lan Qingyou finally completed the ‘little garden’ of her dreams.
Though it was small now, once her shelter reached level 4, the space would double. By then, this herb-scented ‘little garden’ would truly look the part.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Just as night fell and Lan Qingyou was eating dinner with Steel Wool, her friend list pinged.
Shang Chuan: “Don't go out for the next few days. Everyone is saying that the E-rank monsters are transforming into D-rank monsters.”
Oh? Something that interesting was happening?
Lan Qingyou was stunned by Shang Chuan’s message, then immediately turned her attention to the regional channel.
The reason she chose the regional channel over the world channel was that this was what directly affected her. The world was too big for her to keep track of everything.
“Holy crap, you guys have no idea. Just this afternoon, a dire wolf transformed right in front of me into some kind of zombie wolf. I was so scared I turned and bolted.”
“A zombie wolf? You’re lucky. I was chasing a horned rabbit, and the damn thing started performing a show where it darted in and out of shadows. Forget catching it, I nearly went cross-eyed just trying to follow it.”
“Sigh... E-rank monsters were hard enough to deal with. Now that they’ve changed, I don't even know if I'll be able to eat monster meat anymore.”
“Order takeout. Gu Xiaobei’s Delight Restaurant has plenty of dishes available.”
“That’s not even human food anymore.”
“I don’t know, I think it’s pretty tasty. Especially that fried Jinqiuzi; it’s a great snack, really crunchy.”
Jinqiuzi.
A type of insect that looked like a cross between a cicada and a grasshopper, roughly the size of a palm.
Once the head and wings were removed, they could be deep-fried.
This was a dish invented by Gu Xiaobei. Rumor had it they sold very well, though some people still couldn't stomach them.
“Don’t even start. Even if I were starving to death, I wouldn’t eat those things even if I jumped off the third floor of my shelter.”
Watching the conversation veer off-topic, Lan Qingyou shook her head with a smile.
While she hadn't seen the monster mutations with her own eyes, it wasn't hard to imagine.
After all, with a few exceptions, everyone’s levels had risen. According to Lan Qingyou’s guess, the average level was likely at least six or seven.
In this situation, E-rank monsters had lost their threat.
She had originally thought new monsters would just pop up out of nowhere to scare people, like the Mountain Eaters found by Li Wufeng’s team or other E-rank monsters.
But she hadn't expected the world to simply upgrade the existing monsters on the spot!
The tense and exciting atmosphere had suddenly ramped up!
Rate on N.U.
