Lu Yuan bade goodbye to Zhuo Ming’s party and then continued to head deep into the underground palace.
On the way, Lu Yuan became even more careful, fearing that the three catfolk hunters would pop out of nowhere.
As he explored deeper inside, he encountered more ferocious beasts and he also gained more spirit crystals and materials.
Other than keeping a portion of spirit crystals to replenish his spirit energy, he used all the rest on the evolution cube, wanting to evolve the Blackiron Body.
Lu Yuan thought of wanting to get stronger quickly.
Refining genetic chain was one way of doing it, and the other way was of course to evolve extraordinary genes.
After he managed to evolve the Blackiron Body to the boss-grade, maybe only a few amongst the probational fighters could be his match.
Those who could engrave and record boss-grade genes were probably the very top-notch geniuses, right?
At the thought of this, Lu Yuan was filled with anticipation.
…
In a secluded corner of the underground palace.
Xiye and the elementalist came to a stop with the seriously injured Moli.
Moli had sunk into a coma, and Xiye placed him down gently.
......
After that, the elementalist took a look at Moli’s stomach.
The horrible sword wound had stopped bleeding, leaving behind a curved scar.
“How is it?”
Xiye asked.
“She has taken the recovery potion. At least, her life is no longer in danger.”
Xiye took a look at the unconscious Moli and frowned slightly.
“However, her injuries are too serious. It’ll probably take a few days for a common-grade recovery potion to fully cure her.”
“Hmph! I didn’t expect us to encounter a tough nut. It’s really unlucky!”
The elementalist’s countenance was grim.
“It’s true. That human is strong. His strength isn’t weak and his defense can go against Moli’s arrow. He’s probably stronger than any of us. However, his speed seems mediocre. He has probably engraved and recorded a guard-type extraordinary gene.”
“If it was in a spacious area, we’d be able to toy with him however we wanted. Underground palaces give guard-type fighters like him too much of an advantage.”
Xiye paid no heed to the elementalist’s complaints. He then sat down on the floor, took out a piece of dried anchovies, and started eating it.
“A loss is a loss. When one is a hunter for long, there’ll come a day that they’ll become the hunted. After Moli’s injuries have recovered, we’ll just find a new prey.”
The elementalist sat down by Xiye’s side, looked at the dried anchovies in his hand, and then gulped.
“Auntie made it? Give me one.”
Xiye rolled his eyes and took out a piece of anchovies to pass it to the elementalist.
The elementalist took a bite happily and said with a cold expression.
“That human fighter probably won’t leave the underground palace any time soon. We might have a chance to encounter him again. We can take revenge then!”
Xiye also narrowed his eyes, having a hint of killing intent in them.
“En.”
…
Somewhere in the underground palace, Lu Yuan passed by a corner carefully.
All of a sudden, a thin, long black shadow came piercing over from the side.
The black shadow was extremely fast. Lu Yuan wasn’t even able to react in time and could only raise his hand to block it.
Keng!!
The black shadow pierced Lu Yuan’s arm, making a clanking sound.
At this moment, Lu Yuan felt a power that was neither strong nor weak, and he took a step back.
A sharp and piercing screech rang out. Now, Lu Yuan saw a black scorpion pouncing over from the shadows.
The scorpion was entirely black, about the same color as the underground palace walls. In a dark area without candlelight illumination, it was almost impossible to see it.
Its two pincers were about half a meter, and its scorpion tail gleamed with a cold light.
The long and slender black shadow was clearly this scorpion tail.
Seeing this creature, Lu Yuan took a step back and dodged the pincer, which the scorpion used to clamp toward his head.
The black scorpion didn’t pause. When the first hit missed, it charged toward Lu Yuan again after it landed. Its two pincers were very big and its tail was very tall.
After getting close to Lu Yuan, its pincer came clamping toward Lu Yuan’s leg. At the same time, its tail also came piercing over.
Lu Yuan used his footwork and dodged its pincer. At the same time, it slashed out with its longsword, its sharp sword edge brushing past the scorpion’s tail, chopping it off.
Pitch-black blood spurted out from its wound, and the scorpion let out an agonizing cry. It then used its pincer to attack Lu Yuan again.
Lu Yuan moved agilely and dodged the attacks easily. In the end, he thrust the sword into the scorpion’s head, killing it.
The dead scorpion dropped three spirit crystals. After that, Lu Yuan collected the scorpion’s tails and pincers.
Sandstone black scorpion’s venomous metasoma: Common-grade material, strong venom, can be refined into genetic potions.
Sandstone black scorpion’s huge pincers: Common-grade material, can be refined into genetic armaments.
When Lu Yuan saw this information, cold sweat immediately broke out.
This was a black scorpion?
When he was outside the underground palace, Lu Yuan heard someone calling out to sell detoxification potions for black scorpion’s venom.
This caused him to take note of black scorpions.
He didn’t expect that the black scorpion was so crafty too.
The color of its pitch-black outer shell was very close to that of the underground palace’s walls. If it were to squat in a dark shadowy corner that was far from a torch, who’d be able to see it?
It’d be hard for ordinary gene fighters to fend off such sneak attacks.
Thankfully, his defense was strong enough. This black scorpion’s venomous stinger hadn’t managed to pierce through his skin.
Otherwise, he felt that it might be over for him if he were to get poisoned.
Lu Yuan discovered that the ferocious beasts in the underground palace were all extremely crafty.
It was the same for the small stonemen and this black scorpion.
It seemed that when he came next time, he’d had to check up on the concrete habits of the ferocious beasts in the Sandstone Underground Palace.
Otherwise, who knew what other crafty ferocious beasts he might encounter next time?
After this sneak-attack incident with the black scorpion, Lu Yuan felt happy for his brilliance once again.
Thankfully, he had chosen a guard-type extraordinary gene.
If he had chosen an attack-type extraordinary gene, then things would be over for him.
Although guard-type genes weren’t comparable to attack-type genes in terms of attack, in terms of survival capabilities, it was really good.
It was very suitable for him, who went alone solo.
Lu Yuan felt more confident and started exploring again.
As he entered deeper into the underground palace, there were more and more black scorpions. He would often encounter them as he would the small stonemen.
Moreover, the more ferocious beasts Lu Yuan killed, the more spirit crystals he gathered.
All the time, he hunted in the underground palace, eating or drinking when he was hungry or thirsty. If he was tired, he’d find a concealed corner to set up his tent and sleep.
One’s concept of time in the underground palace wasn’t as clear as it was outside. After all, there were almost no changes to the environment.
At this moment, Lu Yuan managed to gather 600 to 700 spirit crystals.
Out of which, over 500 of them were used by Lu Yuan to replenish the evolution cube. After that, he also slowly refined his genetic chain with close to 100 of them.
After refining his genetic chain to around 10%, his power rose a little again.
For the remaining spirit crystals, he kept them, planning to use them as backup spirit energy.
It was unknown how long had passed when Lu Yuan noticed a serious problem.
His supplies were almost running out, and the cube that was about three meters in radius was also filled with all sorts of materials.
Even if he continued hunting ferocious beasts, he probably wouldn’t be able to store the materials.
Hence, Lu Yuan thought of making a trip out to the small marketplace at the entrance to sell the materials.
There were people collecting materials at the marketplace, and the trade would be paid for with spirit crystals.
Just then, white mist seethed once again in Lu Yuan’s genetic chain area. The light door appeared.
Lu Yuan was stunned.
(It’s time to go out?)
But that was good too.
Lu Yuan didn’t hesitate and connected to the door of light with his mind directly.
At the next instant, his vision turned black. When Lu Yuan opened his eyes once again, he was already in his simple and rundown room.
Sensing the surging powers in his body, Lu Yuan let out an exhale and revealed a hint of an agitated smile.
If this continued, it wouldn’t be long before his rate of refinement would reach 100%. By then, he’d be able to consider breaking the genetic lock and start to level up, right?
According to this speed, it’d take at most another 11 to 12 times, and it probably wouldn’t need a month.
He might be able to raise his level to a tier-1 fighter before the college entrance examinations.
By then, he should be able to get into a good Gene Fighter Academy.
He didn’t understand why many people had spent several decades but were unable to advance to tier-1.
It seemed pretty easy to achieve?
Lu Yuan was a little puzzled.
However, he didn’t think too much into things. He just took out his phone and checked the time.
It was 4 a.m. now.
It was 10 p.m. when he entered the Land of Origins, so six hours had passed.
Two hours in the real world should be one day in the Land of Origins.
This meant that he had been inside for three days?
It was shorter than he thought.
He had thought that he’d be able to stay for around a week.
However, the amount of time one stayed inside was decided by the Land of Origins.
He couldn’t do anything about it either.
While there was still some time, should he cultivate a little more?
Just as Lu Yuan was thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening from outside.
Lu Yuan was stunned and a little puzzled.
Amongst the people who co-rented the apartment with him, Elder Sister Qinghe had come back with him yesterday. She was probably sleeping now.
As for the other two groups, they worked during the day and should be sleeping now.
Why would there be someone opening the door to enter?