Chapter 441: Bloodstone
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“What a huge mine!”
At a few hundred meters away from the bloodstone mines, Grimm, who was in hiding, mumbled to himself.
There was a sharp drill that was tens of thousands of meters in diameter spiraling downwards into the ground. There were threads around the drill.
Though the mine was abandoned due to the Sorcerer’s Shadows, it appeared that a mine of such scale was only made possible by at least tens of thousands of miners and centuries of excavation.
“Grimm, you’ve never been to the real large energy crystal mine of the Sorcerers World, have you?”
Claudia asked.
Grimm thought about it for a while and asked puzzlingly, “Do the mines around the stigmata craters count during the academy’s territorial battles?”
“Of course not!”
Claudia dismissed his notions without hesitation. “Although those mines are similar to a rare bloodstone mine like this in the sense that they require manual labor to selectively harvest them, the scale of this mine could not even be compared to a real huge mining site.”
As she saw Grimm in contemplation, Claudia knew her explanation had piqued his interest.
“Indeed, a crystal mine like this which needs meticulous manual labor could never have a huge crystal growing within and thus the crystals are rare. So, if you’re thinking of cultivating the Abyss Moss by massively exploiting the Infernal Spirit World’s bloodstones, you should just give up.”
“Okay.”
Grimm nodded and went to the edge of the mine. He suddenly said,” We’re here anyway, let’s take a look down there and gather some minerals as samples.”
Though the option of cultivating Abyss Moss on a huge scale such as those on the vassal state had been cut off, Grimm still thought that the bloodstone was worthy of further research.
Since the crystal contained dense blood energy, there must have been a catastrophic change in the world’s natural law, or another possibility would be that a huge war must have broken out in ancient times to warrant the phenomena of condensed blood.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Grimm and Claudia flew deeper into the mining pits. They landed halfway into the mine.
Many miners had combed through this place, so naturally, there were not any bloodstones on the surface. But as sorcerers, Grimm and Claudia did not merely rely upon light and their eyes to detect the energy crystals. They were also using the natural powers to do so.
A brief moment later, Grimm and Claudia had both found something.
Beneath the sunlight, these bloodstones of the Infernal Spirit World were bright red. The color was thick and in line with the aesthetics of this world.
This was probably why the Acraepoids had poured in such a huge amount of effort and energy to excavate this mine on such a large scale.
Grimm melted the bloodstone crystal in his palm to draw out the power of its blood. He could sense the energy building up within.
A while later, Grimm seemed to have discovered something.
“There is about twenty-five to thirty-five percent of Acraepoid blood within this bloodstone. I can make out two other lifeforms in the blood content as well as a mix of other stuff that are hard to decipher.”
He was not in a lab after all. It was already a feat for Grimm to be able to draw out such data.
Suddenly, Little Myna appeared on top of Grimm’s shoulder in a flash.
“Master! You’ve finally summoned me. How long were you going to keep me in there? Huhuhu…”
Little Myna pretended to feel dejected. Grimm threw two of the bloodstones he had gathered at Little Myna and consoled him,” Alright, alright, just stay inside for a few more days, here’s a couple of bloodstones for you to play with.”
“Huhuhu, you are the one who said it, a few days!”
As it picked up the bloodstones with its beak, Little Myna was teary-eyed. It glared angrily at Grimm before returning to the Dimensional Gap.
“Heehee, Master Grimm, you sure have an interesting soul partner.”
Claudia covered her mouth as she smiled.
Grimm shook his head and continued down into the mines. It seemed like he was going to collect some samples at a few different places to maintain the objectivity of the data.
“Hmm?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Grimm and Claudia quickly flew in a certain direction after exclaiming in surprise. Both of them could clearly sense the ripple of a magical array!
“Looks like it’s the highest achiever in spreading the Abyss Moss in this vassal kingdom.”
Claudia said as she smiled. This was completely out of her expectations.
Spreading the Abyss Moss was a Rank-3 Honor Badge mission in each vassal kingdom. Normally ten to thirty over Demon-Hunter Sorcerers would share the same mission, but only the highest achiever would be bestowed with the Rank-3 Honor Badge.
The Abyss Moss in the other vassal kingdoms was still in the incubation stage, but the moss in this kingdom had already developed into an outbreak. The biggest reason was that a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer had switched the energy crystal of the magical cultivation array with a bloodstone.
They both came forward to the magical array. A while later, they were able to open up the array easily, triggering some warning mechanisms along the way. But they could not care less.
It was a hidden cave filled with magical lights.
“Growl!”
A soul slave with a monstrous body was guarding the entrance. It took the form of a dog. After growling at Grimm and Claudia, both of them emitted some natural forces. The soul slave could sense their sorcerer identities and become tame as a kitten, purring at their presence.
“Heehee.”
Claudia smiled and threw an energy stone at the soul slave for it to chew on. Grimm walked slowly into the cave and saw an Acraepoid coming towards him excitedly.
“We’re saved, we’re saved! An Acraepoid Warrior has found us!”
“Huhuhu, we can finally leave this place…”
Hundreds of Acraepoids came crying. Some of their clothes were tattered, but most of them were naked. They came crying at Grimm who came disguised as an Acraepoid.
Grimm could not hear clearly through the commotion, but he knew that the Acraepoids were begging him to rescue them from the cave.
“Ahem.”
Grimm cleared his throat and signaled for them to quiet down. He asked in a deep voice, “Who imprisoned you here?”
An Acraepoid in front of Grimm raised his head.
“A sorceress! A powerful, violent, cruel, evil, sorceress! We’ve been here for the longest time, she would come by after some time. If we didn’t give her enough red rubies, she would kill some of the Acraepoids at random.”
A male Acraepoid that seemed to have the highest authority among them lamented pitifully. His eyes were looking at Grimm with hope.
“Hmm? The evil sorceress!?”
Grimm appeared to be furious. He asked, “How many rubies did she make you pay?”
“Five hundred, not one less. She would kill one of us if we paid her ten rubies less!”
The Acraepoid’s voice was filled with contempt.
“So, how many rubies have you got now?” Grimm pretended to show concern and asked.
After a commotion, the Acraepoids took out four hundred over pieces of rubies. The leader of the Acraepoids lamented,” We’re still short by more than ten pieces. We’re trying our best to look for them, but the evil sorceress always comes around this time. Sir, please, rescue us from this place! We’re willing to give the rubies to you!”
As he said so, the Acraepoids kneeled in front of him.
Grimm did not touch the rubies. In an awkward voice, he asked, “Haven’t you thought about saving yourselves and running away?”
“Of course we did, but we have no idea how long it would take for us to dig through that secret tunnel, and then there’s that monster over there…”
Suddenly, the leader of the Acraepoid who was talking to Grimm turned pale. He pointed behind Grimm and trembled. “Sor… sorceress, sir, behind you, the sorceress!”
The leader of the Acraepoid was stuttering in his speech. It appeared that fear had seeped into his bones.
Yet, to the shock of the Acraepoids, the sorceress who had returned bowed respectfully at Grimm and greeted him with surprise. “Master.”
Also, from the middle-aged sorceress’s eyes, the Acraepoids could see that it was a proud moment for her.
As if the sorceress felt lucky for being able to speak in Grimm’s presence.
Grimm nodded at the sorceress and appeared satisfied. “Not bad, your Abyss Moss mission is going well. I’ll send in a mission report to the Battle Command and ask them to give you more rewards.”
In the disbelief of the Acraepoids, Grimm said those words in the form of an Acraepoid Warrior.
“Thank you, Master!”
The sorceress was delighted.
“Okay.”
Grimm nodded slightly and left the cave with Claudia. He did not even take another look at the imprisoned Acraepoids.
“Sorcerers… you, you’re a sorcerer too!”
The leader of the Acraepoids wailed at Grimm. He was howling. But what awaited him was the smile of the middle-aged sorceress, who said calmly to him,” Since you’re short by more than ten rubies, you’ll die!”
Boom! The sorceress screamed with a hoarse voice. “Speak! The secret tunnel that you people planned to escape from, where is it!?”