"Damn developers, you forced my hand!"
Mushroom was seething with rage.
He turned around without a word and started pulling things out of his Spirit Candle.
He spent several minutes rummaging through it.
During that time, he forced himself to calm down, apparently rearranging the items in his inventory.
Once he’d taken out the last item, Mushroom stood up and checked his stats.
[Time to Eat Mushrooms!]
[Tier: Embers]
[Level: 11]
[Warfire: Close Combat Mage]
[Ability Value: ...]
[Talent: Antitoxic]
[Ability: Dodge, Recovery Wax Block]
[Skill: Bone Fork Throwing, Concealment, Ghost Claw, Blood Stone Burst]
Although he got his Wooden Staff late, Mushroom had started grinding levels later than others, so he was able to pivot in time and put some points into Spirit. Naturally, his Warfire skewed toward Close Combat Mage.
After confirming everything, Mushroom looked away and let out a breath.
Rummaging through his things for a few minutes and shifting his focus to organizing his inventory had completely calmed him down.
Still, whether it was to pick up the Wax Ash or to reclaim his pride, Mushroom had to go back up.
He climbed with resolute steps.
His hands didn’t stop moving. With a thought, a crab appeared in his grasp.
[Cooked Sea Crab]
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: After consumption, provides a slight Power boost for a period of time.]
[Explanation: Accept the power of the great crab claw!]
After taking out the processed cooked sea crab, Mushroom took a bite. It required no chewing, instantly transforming into a strange power that flowed into his body.
[You have consumed a Cooked Sea Crab. Power +1. This effect will disappear after a period of time.]
The muscles in Mushroom’s arms seemed to twitch.
But his expression remained unchanged as he calmly took out other processed foods.
[Cooked Large Goby Fish]
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: After consumption, provides a moderate Agility boost for a period of time.]
[Explanation: A rare Goby Fish will grant you lightning speed!]
Different catches had different effects.
The rarity of the catch, in turn, affected the potency of its processed effect.
During this time, Mushroom had done nothing but fight and fish, acquiring a huge number of catches. He’d also filled out much of his encyclopedia and obtained a lot of Wax Oil.
As a result, his stockpile... was a bit large.
...
Mushroom tossed it into his mouth.
[You have consumed a Cooked Large Goby Fish. Agility +3. This effect will disappear after a period of time.]
But that wasn’t all!
He continued stuffing catches into his mouth as he walked, his pace quickening!
[You have consumed a Cooked Sea Star. Faith +1. This effect will disappear after a period of time.]
[You have consumed a Cooked Fish Head. Life Value recovery speed slightly increased...]
[You have consumed...]
[...]
If he had only eaten one, the boost would have been negligible.
But... a change in quantity leads to a Qualitative Change!
...
A few minutes later...
On the large platform at the top of the mine.
A heavy, jet-black pile of ore seemed to sense a disturbance, restructuring itself with a CLATTER.
A moment later, the towering figure of the Black Stone Gatekeeper appeared once more.
At the same time, a guy whose face looked like it had been punched walked slowly up to the edge of the stairs...
THUD, THUD...
The Black Stone Gatekeeper advanced with heavy steps.
"Ordin—"
WHOOSH!
The person in the Black Stone Gatekeeper’s perception suddenly vanished. He was as fast as a bolt of lightning!
Following the trail of the afterimage, the Black Stone Gatekeeper whipped its head around.
"ance..."
But... what filled its vision was a massive, Blood-colored Magic Ball.
BOOM—
The Blood-colored Magic Ball exploded violently. The powerful Magic damage caused some of the ore on the Black Stone Gatekeeper’s body to break free from the Spell’s control and fly off.
"Intru...der..."
In the blink of an eye, the Black Stone Gatekeeper’s massive body was more than half-destroyed. Its deep voice became intermittent, yet it still carried out its directive, slowly raising the Large Shield in its hand.
But what came at it was the tip of a Long Spear, rapidly growing larger!
BOOM—
In an instant, black stone shattered and dust flew. The immense power of the Long Spear caused the Black Stone Gatekeeper’s remaining husk to completely disintegrate!
[You have killed the Black Stone Gatekeeper]
"Ordinance?"
"With all these powerful buffs, I... am the ordinance!"
Mushroom snorted, and the illusory Warfire around him gradually Extinguished.
He could only keep up the act for a moment before he broke character, a grin spreading across his face as he rubbed his hands together.
’Heh heh, you brainless stone brute. You dare fight me, your Grandpa Mushroom?’
’Could you handle the power of my spear with over twenty buffs stacked? What could you possibly use to block that!’
As pride swelled in his heart, Mushroom felt incredibly satisfied.
But soon after he went forward to pick up the drops, his face darkened.
[Acquired: Wax Oil x18]
"What the hell, it didn’t drop anything!"
"With this little Wax Oil, I can’t even cover my costs!"
The corner of Mushroom’s mouth twitched.
He wasn’t exaggerating.
On his way up, he had eaten nearly thirty catches.
Each of these catches with Special Effects had to be processed at the Spirit Candle, and the stronger the effect, the more expensive the processing fee.
So, that "five-second god mode" effect from just now must have cost at least forty Wax Oil to start.
But after killing the Black Stone Gatekeeper, he only got 18 Wax Oil... not even half of his costs back.
At this thought, Mushroom started to feel the sting.
"This really sucks. I’m never doing that again. Impulse is a Demon..."
Mushroom sighed in dismay.
But it wasn’t all bad news.
After he killed the Black Stone Gatekeeper, the Spirit Candle sent him new guidance.
At the same time, he also had a moment to notice the small fortress behind where the Black Stone Gatekeeper had been.
’Hiss... Could this be the boss room?’
Beside the Spirit Candle, Mushroom stroked his chin in thought.
But before he could think any further, he heard his alarm go off.
His face instantly fell. ’Dammit, I have to go to work again...’
Resigned, Mushroom could only shake his head and choose to log off.
...
Compared to Candle Island and the Near-Sea Cave, the territory of Exile Island was quite large.
Coupled with the island’s monsters and terrain, the players had fought all night and only managed to explore most of it, with some areas still untouched.
But it couldn’t be helped. They still had to go to work or eat breakfast.
Only a very small number of players were still fighting on the front lines.
Of course, Li Miao’s advance exploration team was not among them.
They had all chosen to log off for the time being—to eat, to work, or to attend class.
Luo Ge, watching from the shadows, wasn’t opposed to this.
Although his Wax Oil income would decrease when the Xiaojuncai weren’t active, he still had to be fully focused during the players’ exploration, perceiving various items and monsters and providing corresponding information...
Even with the Spirit Candle’s help, it was a considerable amount of work.
’That’s how it is,’ he thought. ’The players just have to fight for their lives on the front lines, while I, the Candlekeeper in the rear, have so much more to consider...’
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