I Can Control Resources

Gao Neng fled downward again without any hesitation.

Although the Devourer was constantly absorbing the energy from his magnetic core, his Spiritual Power was connected to the Magnetic Mountain, so his energy replenished just as quickly.

He wouldn’t die just yet.

But if there were three of them...

Then only heaven knew what would happen.

Gao Neng had to run.

Besides, based on his previous assessment, the Dark Creatures were territorial. In other words, if he could escape the Devourer’s territory before it drained all his energy, there was a chance it might leave on its own.

Of course, the hope was slim.

But he really had no other choice right now.

Gao Neng controlled the Flying Earth Dragon, continuously flying downward at top speed.

Fourteen thousand meters.

Fifteen thousand meters.

Two more Dark Creatures appeared up ahead.

"Are you trying to kill me?! You won’t let me live, huh? Then let’s all die together! I’ve got a Devourer on me! Come on, let’s hurt each other!" Gao Neng roared, charging headfirst toward the Dark Creatures blocking his path.

The two Dark Creatures were clearly stunned for a moment.

Then, they saw the Devourer clinging to Gao Neng. Its gray aura made them both sense danger.

SWOOSH!

The two Dark Creatures fled.

"Huh? They ran?!" Gao Neng felt conflicted. He didn’t know if having this Devourer on him was a good thing or a bad thing anymore.

’It’s like having a Misfortune Beast attached to me. Everything else is probably trying to steer clear, right?’

Whatever!

’I’ll just keep charging down for now.’

Gao Neng stopped overthinking it and continued his descent.

Fifteen thousand five hundred meters.

Sixteen thousand meters!

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for completing the second stage of the ’A Real Man Bravely Challenges 20,000 Meters’ quest. Reward: A second opportunity to upgrade a special ability," the mechanical voice sounded again.

’I finally finished the second stage of the quest. That was so damn hard!’ Gao Neng felt a little bitter.

Before completing the first stage, he had run into the Dark Stone Spider and gotten trapped by the Natural Magnetic Zone. It had been one close call after another.

And upon completing the second stage, he’d gotten a Devourer stuck to him, and he still had no idea how to get it off.

The first two stages were already this difficult.

’So the third stage...’

’What kind of terrifying thing will be waiting for me?’

Gao Neng truly couldn’t imagine.

However, he had already come this far. With the Devourer attached to him, turning back was impossible. He could only continue downward. First, to see if the Devourer would leave on its own. Second, because he wanted to see what secrets the Demon Abyss held.

Keep charging down!

Sixteen thousand five hundred meters.

Sixteen thousand eight hundred meters.

Gao Neng flew deeper and deeper into the Demon Abyss.

But the farther down he flew, the colder the surrounding air became.

With almost every few hundred meters he descended, the temperature would drop noticeably.

The surrounding ore had also started to change here.

It was now mostly covered in a thick layer of solid ice.

Just then, he felt the Devourer attached to him tremble, as if it was feeling some discomfort from the change in temperature.

’Looks like this is having a slight effect,’ Gao Neng thought, a little delighted. Although the Devourer had no consciousness, every living thing had an environment it was suited to survive in.

For example, some insects preferred humid environments, some plants liked to live in the tropics, and still others grew in the desert.

Different creatures choose different environments to live in.

This was common sense.

The Devourer was terrifying, but it also seemed to feel some discomfort in this extremely cold environment.

Gao Neng wasn’t sure if the Devourer would actually leave if he went back up, but he could guess that if it weren’t attached to him and Gao Xiaomeng, it probably would have already floated back up by now.

’Then I just have to push a little harder.’

He continued to fly down.

As he flew on...

he noticed something was off.

Because several flowers had actually sprouted on his body.

One on his arm.

One on his chest.

And another was growing on his leg.

"What the hell?" Gao Neng was a little dumbfounded.

"Gao Neng, you’ve got two flowers growing on your head!" Gao Xiaomeng’s voice rang out.

"My head?!" Gao Neng reached up and felt them. Sure enough, there were two flowers. They were cool to the touch and crystal clear, like ice crystals.

Of course, at that moment, he also noticed that flowers had sprouted on Gao Xiaomeng.

Three of them!

They were all white!

Exactly the same as the ones on his body.

"Holy crap, have they grown on my head too?!" Gao Xiaomeng saw Gao Neng’s gaze and quickly reacted, touching the top of her head with her paw.

"..." Looking at Gao Xiaomeng, Gao Neng was truly at a loss for words.

’According to how a normal story should go, he should be aghast and screaming, "Why is there such a bullshit plot point?!"’

Flowers growing on his head.

’Why don’t you grow on my ass instead?’

But by now, he was actually a little numb to it all.

The Demon Abyss really had some very strange things in it. Any kind of setup was to be expected.

’What’s the big deal about flowers on my head? Maybe after the flowers wither...’

’They’ll bear fruit?’

’Right?’

Just as he was thinking that, the flowers withered.

And then, right where the flowers had been, fruits actually began to grow.

They were also white.

They were as clear as jade, and an aura of energy flowed within them.

"Wow, Gao Neng, look! The flowers grew fruit! It looks... it looks edible!" Gao Xiaomeng was also grabbing the fruit on her head, a look of shock on her face.

"Then why don’t you try eating it?" Gao Neng truly felt like he’d been screwed over. ’If I say it’ll bear fruit, it bears fruit. Why don’t you grow some gems instead?’

’Gems growing on flowers.’

’That would be even more over-the-top, right?’

As he thought this, he saw the fruits crack open, revealing several gems shaped like fruit pits. They emitted a faint glow.

"Holy shit, it’s an Illusion Realm!" If Gao Neng still couldn’t figure out what was going on, he’d be a real idiot. Only an Illusion Realm could explain such an illogical occurrence.

The instant that thought flashed through his mind, a force slammed into his back.

The immense power caused him to lose control immediately.

He plunged headfirst toward the surrounding cliff face.

BOOM!

A muffled thud echoed.

From start to finish, Gao Neng didn’t even know what had hit him.

But immediately after, he felt a series of powerful impacts on other parts of his body, like a whip lashing wildly at him.

’There’s something in the Illusion Realm!’ Gao Neng suppressed the churning qi and blood in his chest. He knew this was a moment of absolute crisis. If his body hadn’t fused with five metallic elements, he probably would have been whipped to death by now.

But knowing was one thing.

The key problem now was...

He had no idea what was hitting him.

The Illusion Realm had trapped his sight, hearing, and smell, and something in his surroundings was trying to kill him.

"Gao Xiaomeng, if you keep holding back, we’re both going to die here!" Gao Neng shouted.

"Meow!" Gao Xiaomeng let out a cry. At the same time, her body transformed rapidly, changing from the form of a cat directly into a short-haired girl.

Her short, silver-white hair looked very refreshing.

The key point was, she wasn’t wearing any clothes.

’She transformed?’ Gao Neng stared, not even blinking, because he figured Gao Xiaomeng was about to use her true power.

’What kind of power would it be?’

’Could it be related to the world inside the magnetic pile?’

Gao Neng’s thoughts raced, but he soon noticed something was wrong. He sensed a familiar aura from Gao Xiaomeng.

If he wasn’t certain that the person in front of him was Gao Xiaomeng,

he might even have suspected...

that Fang Tangtang had somehow shown up by accident.

’Wait a minute!’

’This aura seems to be...’

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted at that moment.

The entire world seemed to tremble.

"A n-neutron bomb?!" Gao Neng was utterly stunned. What was he seeing? He actually saw Gao Xiaomeng use Fang Tangtang’s neutron bomb?

’Did the characters get mixed up?!’

’This has to be a mix-up, right?’

Fang Tangtang is the humanoid nuclear weapon! How come Gao Xiaomeng can use it here too?!

Gao Neng didn’t understand.

But he was certain that this was definitely a neutron bomb.

Because, as the explosion rang out, a wave of radiation also spread out, enveloping him in an instant.

"Absorb!" Without a moment’s hesitation, Gao Neng absorbed the radiation. Then, he saw Gao Xiaomeng return to his body.

However, the current Gao Xiaomeng seemed a bit drained.

Of course, the surrounding Illusion Realm also completely vanished at that moment. The flowers, fruits, and gems all disappeared.

What appeared before Gao Neng was a sea of flowers.

It was an ocean of flowers growing on the ice walls. Giant vines grew out of the ice. The vines weren’t green, but snow-white.

Furthermore, Gao Neng saw that a deep crater had been blasted into one area where the vines grew. Clearly, this was Gao Xiaomeng’s doing from just a moment ago.

"The Illusion Realm is broken... The rest is up to you!" Gao Xiaomeng lay on Gao Neng’s body, her limbs slowly shrinking as she reverted to her cat form.

"..." For a moment, Gao Neng was speechless.

That’s right!

The Illusion Realm was indeed broken.

But the problem was, the things around them still hadn’t been dealt with.

Most importantly, after the Illusion Realm shattered, he took a special look at his body—the gray mist was still clinging to him.

The Devourer hadn’t left!

And powerful new enemies had appeared!

On top of that, because Gao Xiaomeng had used the neutron bomb to break the Illusion Realm, her Spiritual Power had been temporarily disconnected from his. He was back to being a mere data terminal for the Magnetic Mountain.

’Did I overplay my hand?’

SWISH!

A vine whipped toward him.

Gao Neng dodged.

But this time, he clearly felt his energy consumption spike.

Energy...

My energy!

’It’s almost gone!’

’What do I do?’

"Wait, speaking of energy, does that mean..." Gao Neng’s gaze sharpened, and he quickly looked at the special abilities in his Attribute Panel.

The Second Magnetic Core!

’Should I... upgrade the Second Magnetic Core to Epic right now?’

*(It’s free to read for the next two days, so please vote with your monthly tickets! Taking advantage of this great opportunity, I want to wish all the students about to take their college entrance exams the best of luck! May you pass with flying colors, get into your dream university, and have a bright and splendid future!)*