Chapter 238: Target: Farm 5 Talents

Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Target: Farm 5 Talents

’So I really can forcibly seize a Chaos Artifact that belongs to the Underground City.’

’It seems to have attracted the Underground City’s attention, though. I wonder what kind of trouble that will cause.’

Despite his worries, Lance seized the remaining three Alchemy Explosives and hung them from his belt.

He glanced at his panel. It seemed the Underground City’s will had no reaction.

"Tsk."

’Useless Underground City.’

After the quip, he checked to see if the Demons had dropped anything.

Demons in the Underground City were different from those in the outside world. You couldn’t directly harvest materials from their corpses, as the bodies would be dissolved by the Underground City. However, they would drop other valuable items.

Next, he pulled the hand-drawn map Rein had given him from a hidden compartment in his waist pouch. He began to confirm his position, preparing to head to the Public Safety Zone in the First Area.

In truth, the entire structure of the so-called Underground City wasn’t some cave that actually existed beneath the surface of the Material Realm.

Rather, it was a kind of independent Phase Space that was anchored to the Material Realm.

The area inside was far vaster than it appeared from the outside; sometimes, an entire forest or mountain range could be contained within it.

Furthermore, each Underground City was divided into numerous sectors of varying danger levels based on the Pioneers’ progress in clearing it.

Whenever Adventurers successfully cleared a zone and completely eliminated its Lord, a node in that area would generate an absolute safety zone.

These were the places where all Adventurers who entered the Underground City could truly rest, trade, and gather.

Many powerful, large-scale Guilds and merchant groups would even spend a fortune on large-scale construction projects there, building their own outposts.

The most incredible part was that every time an Underground City was completely cleared, although all the Demons and mineral resources would refresh and reset, the safe zones that had been established would be fully preserved.

No Demon could approach these safe points, which were protected by the rules of the space.

They had functional temporary inns, Black Market trading, and a relatively stable environment, making them the only places in the Underground City that felt truly alive and civilized.

This was Lance’s first objective for this expedition. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Because the First Area was close to the entrance, the Demons that spawned there were generally of a very low energy level.

For the elite squads aiming to climb the team leaderboards, grinding monsters here was not only inefficient, but the Crown Value they earned was pitifully low.

Therefore, this was not the main battlefield for the current Summer Crown event.

They had surely passed through here long ago, charging directly into the deeper areas.

Lance’s current plan was very clear.

First, he would go to the safe public camp to set up a base for resupplying and resting.

Then, he would return to the latter half of the First Area.

The density of Professional Level Demons was slightly higher there.

He planned to find a relatively dense group of monsters there to test the "stacking Crown Buffs via consecutive kills" mechanic.

He needed to evaluate his monster-clearing efficiency with fully stacked buffs, and whether the number of monsters he would attract in a high-buff state was something he could handle.

Once he had a firm grasp on all that, he would consider crossing into the second area to challenge greater difficulties.

He had come to the Summer Crown with clear KPIs, after all.

First objective: Farm at least five useful Talents from Demons during this period.

Second objective: Steadily raise his [Pale Guard] Profession to Level 5.

Third objective: Complete a great feat along the way.

Regarding the great feat.

He had already done the calculations on his way here.

Based on his current progress, the great feat related to his Breathing Technique could definitely be completed before the Summer Crown ended.

Lance wasn’t too worried about whether he could get the title. Placing in the top fifty shouldn’t be a problem for him now.

After confirming his route, Lance set off, advancing steadily along the wide main tunnel of the mine.

As he moved, he habitually dedicated a sliver of his attention to monitoring the "Environmental Stability" and "Map Tags" on his panel.

The three special rule entries representing the Summer Crown were emitting a faint glow, firmly fixed in a conspicuous spot on his panel.

The "Environmental Stability" reading, which he’d previously found useful, was now completely useless in this Phase Space; its value was constantly displayed in red.

This was because the way the Underground City spawned Demons followed no ecological logic whatsoever.

One second they might not exist, and the next they could leap directly out of an Ordinary rock wall.

Just like now.

"WHOOSH!"

A sharp sound cut through the air from behind him without any warning.

A Sound Wing Beast hanging upside down in a dark recess of the ceiling suddenly spread its metallic, membranous wings.

Its sharp claws lunged straight for the back of Lance’s head.

[Professional Specialization: Death Line Defense: Intuition check triggered!]

Without even turning, Lance tilted his head slightly to the left as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

The Sound Wing Beast’s claws viciously swiped past the edge of his ear.

In the same instant he dodged, Lance spun around, his right hand shooting out like lightning to clamp down on the Demon’s right claw before it could retract it.

Then, twisting at the waist, he viciously dragged the massive creature out of the air and slammed it to the ground.

"BANG!"

The Sound Wing Beast smashed heavily against the hard rock.

Just as it was about to open its tusk-filled maw to unleash a sonic attack, Lance’s left hand was already raised high.

The "Suicide Bombing" Hand Armor covering the back of his hand instantly erupted in a blinding, dark-red light. A high concentration of Ether Energy flooded into it, igniting flames of interwoven silver and red that burned between the metal seams.

"BOOM!"

The heavy, scorching-hot punch landed solidly on the Sound Wing Beast’s soft abdomen.

[Equipment Trait Synergy Triggered: Molten Armor Splash!]

The physical explosion Effect from the Specialty triggered instantly.

The rampaging Ether Energy, like shattered volcanic magma, caused a small-scale explosive splash across the Demon’s body.

Sparks carrying high-temperature burning and corrosive properties instantly clung to the Sound Wing Beast’s tough hide, burning countless sizzling, smoking black holes into it.

"SKREEE!"

The Sound Wing Beast let out a shrill cry of pain, desperately flapping its Wings to try and break free.

But Lance gave it no chance to recover.

His right leg muscles tensed, and he drove his knee forward with Armor Piercing force. A ferocious "Top Dragon Horn" strike shattered its skull.

With the sound of shattering bone, the Sound Wing Beast fell silent.

[Crown Value +10]

[Professional Experience +10]

[Research Progress +1]

Three notifications popped up at once.

Lance pulled back his slightly numb left fist.

’This Sound Wing Beast’s Talent was most likely invested in its Defense Attribute.’

’Too bad for it, it ran into a steel wall today. It met me, with my Trait specializing in breaking Armor, and didn’t even last a few rounds before becoming a corpse.’

’It was completely countered by my build. It definitely deserved to die.’

Following the route on his map, Lance advanced steadily.

The dozens of Demons of all sizes that suddenly popped out from walls or shadows along the way were all converted into experience points and Crown Points with clean, efficient techniques.

And this was while Lance was moving at top speed to reach the Public Safety Zone as quickly as possible, without actively searching for monsters at all.

If he had slowed down to perform a thorough sweep, the number of Demons he killed would have multiplied several times over.

But even without stopping for a moment, it had still taken him nearly six hours to get this far.

This indirectly proved just how immense the First Area of this Underground City truly was.

Moreover, during his journey, Lance had verified something through a few small-scale battles.

The trigger condition for the [Crown Buff] entry, which increased point earnings, was actually quite strict.

It explicitly required "uninterrupted consecutive kills."

To stack this buff to a significant level, one had to actively seek out places where Demons gathered in large numbers, such as large lairs or spawn points.

While traveling, Lance had used his Perception Attribute to hear the commotion of small monster colonies gathering in the distance several times.

However, to save time and avoid getting bogged down, he had chosen to go around them each time.

After passing through a long crystal corridor, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

He had arrived at his destination: the Public Safety Zone.