What does this mean!?
Is the BOSS guarding the novice village or something!
Judging by the speed, power, and unavoidable attack pattern of that purple bat just now, if it weren't for Arkz, the transmigrator, having far superior mental resistance and being on guard, he might actually have been ambushed.
Arkz's current strength already places him in the top tier in Mondstadt, on the same level as Diluc, Jean, and Lisa.
Someone slightly weaker coming here would most likely be tricked and left to die in despair.
Perhaps that bat wandered in by mistake, or perhaps someone intentionally placed it here; Arkz didn't care. At least within the mine, bearing the proof of Rex Lapis's contract, he wasn't worried about his safety.
On the contrary, he was somewhat eager, hoping to witness Zhongli's heroic figure as he came to save him.
Business first, business first!
Arkz forcefully shook his head, throwing the distracting thoughts out of his mind, and hefted the pickaxe in his hand, vigorously starting to mine the ore.
The ore distribution inside the mine was random. Experienced miners could judge the location of ore veins based on the mine's environment and the rock patterns, greatly improving mining efficiency.
However, Arkz, who had never engaged in mining before and whose mining level was still one, naturally lacked this experience. He could only choose a direction randomly and rely on his powerful strength to excavate the entire first underground level of the mining area clean. His approach was characterized by brute force!
Copper ore, iron ore, gold ore, and gem ore were all hidden within the rocks. For ordinary miners, these rocks held little value, but for Arkz, these stones were just basic materials, similar to wood, which could be used to construct Springvale Farm. Thus, his effort was not wasted.
Clang, clang, clang...
The long-silent mine became lively. The pickaxe, like a musical instrument, collided with the ore under Arkz's control, playing a beautiful and moving symphony.
Stone, stone, stone...
Copper Ore, Copper Ore, Copper Ore...
Gem, Gem, Gem...
After clearing the first underground level of the mining area, Arkz checked the inventory in his backpack space—a bumper harvest.
Stone * 256
Copper Ore * 42
Clay * 5
Emerald * 1
Arkz was very satisfied with this harvest, especially being pleasantly surprised to dig up an Emerald. Although it had some flaws in quality, it was enough to prove his good luck today.
Receiving news via paper notes passed through his backpack space and his clones, Arkz learned that it was still early—one o'clock in the morning, precisely when the Mondstadters took their midday naps.
Arkz couldn't help but sigh, "At your age, how can you possibly be sleeping!"
Arkz immediately decided to take advantage of his good luck today and keep digging; there would definitely be greater rewards.
Bang, bang, bang...
The symphony within the mine sounded again. Every visible gain filled Arkz with motivation.
However, as Arkz delved deeper, monsters began to appear in the Underground Mine.
Geo Slimes, the most common type of monster in the mine.
As the most common monsters on the Teyvat continent, Slimes of various elements are mostly born from the condensation of Elemental Power. These creatures generally possess almost no intelligence and can survive simply by absorbing Elemental Power, unlike normal creatures that need to eat to sustain life.
Since the Geo Element was the most concentrated in the Underground Mine where Arkz was, the appearance of Geo Slimes there was not surprising.
It seemed that because the Geo Element in the Underground Mine was overly rich and the area had been undisturbed for a long time, these Geo Slimes were a whole tier higher in level than the Slimes outside, and naturally, they were much fiercer.
After all, these Geo Slimes had to compete with other underground monsters; the easily bullied soft persimmons would have long been eaten.
The trump card of the Geo Slime was its hard skin. Geo Slimes created a tough suit of armor for themselves by swallowing various ores, digesting them, and leaving the hardest parts to condense on their outer shell.
When a Geo Slime stopped moving, without the aid of Elemental Sight, it was impossible to distinguish which was a real piece of ore and which was the Geo Slime's shell.
Relying on this special shell, the Geo Slime did not fear the elemental attacks of other monsters. Attacks like the bat's ultrasonic waves had no effect on brainless creatures like Slimes.
The power of a single element was difficult to use to break the Geo Slime's shell; even the explosive DMG from elemental reactions was ineffective. However, the Geo Slime was not without a weakness: physical attacks were its vulnerability.
Arkz held the sturdy pickaxe and relied on his immense strength to break the surface with a single point, successfully digging into the shell of a Geo Slime disguised as ore. This caused the Geo Slime hidden inside the shell to immediately abandon its shell and flee.
At the time, Arkz thought he had dug into an exceptionally hard rock and assumed he had found a special ore like a gem. After digging for a long time, he only unearthed a Geo Slime. Fortunately, the Geo Slime's shell contained various precious metals, which could yield many scarce and high-quality metals with just a little refining.
After all, the low-quality parts had already been digested by the Geo Slime; only the tough bits among the ores would be left for the Geo Slime to use for its shell.
Besides the miraculous creature that was the Geo Slime, another peculiar type of Slime also inhabited the mine: the Water Slime.
Some parts of the mine were adjacent to underground water, where the Hydro Element was very abundant. This environment naturally nurtured many Water Slimes, but this was not a good thing for them.
There was also territorial division among Slimes. The increasing number of Water Slimes and the limited territory forced Water Slimes to constantly move to various parts of the mine to search for areas rich in Hydro Element.
It should be known that pure water was extremely rare inside the mine.
As the mine was developed for its underground resources, residual powder from various ores scattered throughout the caverns, polluting the water sources near mining points with heavy metals. At this time, the Water Slimes, carrying large amounts of pure water within their bodies, delivered themselves right to the monsters' doorsteps.
It was truly too thoughtful!
The poor Water Slimes were reduced to mobile water sources for the cave monsters. To protect themselves, Water Slimes also evolved a set of methods for dealing with enemies.
A single Water Slime had limited power, but as long as they united, no monster dared to provoke them.
Water Slimes would clump together, their liquid bodies merging to form one larger and more powerful Giant Water Slime.
When the Giant Water Slime was defeated by a strong enemy, the Water Slimes would disperse and flee. This clever tactic greatly increased their survival rate.
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