Chapter 87: Fire Essence Crystal Mine
Liam was the first to pick up his drop, and the moment he saw what it was, his eyes instantly lit up with excitement.
"A skill book!" He exclaimed loudly, his face filled with joy.
He quickly checked the details of the skill book and upon reading its details, his breathing couldn’t help but hitch.
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---) Point Break (Rank One): Upon activation, condense Aether Energy at the tip of one of your fingers or the tip of a weapon, giving it an extremely sharp effect capable of piercing through almost anything.
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The Point Break skill was very similar to the Sand Scorpion’s tail attack. The only difference was that instead of using a scorpion’s sharp tail, it condensed Aether Energy onto either a fingertip or the tip of a weapon.
Liam looked at the skill book in his hands with burning eyes because this skill was practically made for him.
Since his main weapon was the Silver Wing Spear, a skill that further enhanced the penetrating power of his spear was simply perfect.
However, the excitement in his eyes soon faded, and he slowly shook his head.
’We came here as a team, and it was William who led us here. Without him, it would have been difficult for us to even locate monsters in this sandstorm, much less kill them.’
Taking a deep breath, he walked toward Alicia to see what she had obtained.
On Alicia’s side, the Sand Scorpion had dropped a Sand-attribute Monster Core.
Monsters rarely dropped Monster Cores, but compared to the value of a skill book like Point Break, it was nothing particularly remarkable.
Alicia couldn’t help but feel disappointed when she saw her drop. She could only store it away because it was of no use to any of them at the moment and could only be exchanged for Academic Credits after leaving the Astral Rift.
"What did you get?" Alicia asked when she saw Liam walking over.
"A skill book," Liam replied with a slight smile.
"Lucky you. I only got a Monster Core," Alicia grumbled enviously, feeling that her luck was truly terrible.
"I found the thing we were looking for."
Just as the two of them were about to walk over to William, they suddenly heard his voice.
"Found what?" Alicia asked, momentarily stunned.
William didn’t answer. Instead, he simply gestured for them to follow him.
Alicia and Liam exchanged glances before quickly following after him.
As they approached, they saw William staring intently into the distance.
Following his gaze, they looked ahead as well, but because of the raging sandstorm, their vision was greatly obstructed.
All they could make out was the faint silhouette of a monster that looked somewhat similar to a Sand Scorpion.
"We were looking for a Sand Scorpion all this time?" Alicia couldn’t help but ask in confusion.
William had never told them why he wanted to come to this Astral Rift and had only said that there was something valuable hidden here.
In truth, the reason William hadn’t revealed their actual objective was because he was worried that one of them might accidentally mention it to someone else.
Especially Alicia, who frequently interacted with the children of noble families.
"We are not looking for a monster..." William said in a low voice. "We are looking for the place where this monster lives."
"The place where this monster lives?" Liam frowned in confusion. "Don’t Sand Scorpions normally burrow underground wherever they want and live there without any fixed habitat?"
Hearing Liam’s words, a faint smile curved William’s lips.
"Who said that thing is a Sand Scorpion?"
As he spoke, he carefully led them forward while remaining hidden.
Soon, they were about a hundred meters away from the monster and using a large sand dune as cover, they finally got a clear look at its appearance.
"It’s a Fire Scorpion," William said.
Alicia’s and Liam’s eyes widened as they stared at the scorpion.
Unlike the ordinary Sand Scorpions they had encountered earlier, this one’s entire body was covered in deep crimson armor instead of the usual dark brown.
Faint heat and wisps of smoke continuously rose from its body, and although its cultivation was also at the early stage of the Star Warrior Realm, its aura was far more violent and oppressive than the Sand Scorpions they had killed before.
"What kind of monster is this?" Liam asked with a frown. "I don’t remember reading about any monster like this in the information regarding the Howling Desert Rift."
"It’s a Fire Scorpion..." William replied before pausing and shaking his head.
"Actually, it’s still a Sand Scorpion. It simply mutated because of a certain kind of resonance."
"Mutated?" Alicia raised an eyebrow. Then something suddenly clicked in her mind, and her eyes widened.
"Earlier, you said we were searching for the place where this monster lives. Are you saying there’s something in its habitat that caused it to mutate?"
"That’s right," William nodded. "To be more precise, that senior told me there is actually a Fire Essence Crystal Mine hidden somewhere in this desert. After living inside the mine for a long time and feeding on Fire Essence Crystals, this Sand Scorpion gradually mutated."
The moment they heard the word mine, both Liam’s and Alicia’s eyes shone brightly.
Especially Liam’s as just like William, he was currently nothing more than a pauper.
"Are you sure it’s really a Fire Essence Crystal Mine?" Alicia asked after calming herself down.
"I mean, if the senior you are talking about really knew about this mine, why didn’t she claim it for herself?"
Naturally, William couldn’t tell them that the information about the mine actually came from his memories of the original timeline rather than Vivian.
So he simply shook his head.
"I am not completely certain," He replied calmly. "But I am sure she wasn’t lying to me."
"Hmm..." Alicia thought for a moment before asking.
"So what do we do now? Should we simply follow it back to its habitat and take over the mine?"
"It’s not that simple," William replied with a shake of his head as memories of the mine resurfaced in his mind.
If he remembered correctly, this mine wouldn’t be discovered until about three months later.
The people who discovered it had been fortunate enough to encounter a mutated Sand Scorpion searching for food in the desert.
Out of curiosity, they followed it back to its nest, where they eventually discovered the Fire Essence Crystal Mine.
However, upon reaching the mine, they realized that there wasn’t just a single mutated monster living there.
There was an entire den filled with them with more than fifty mutated Sand Scorpions occupying the mine.
Because the team that discovered it was too small, they had no way of clearing the monster den by themselves.
In the end, they had no choice but to seek help from the faction backing them.
Only after receiving reinforcements did they successfully wipe out the entire den and occupy the mine.
William had neither been part of the team that discovered the mine nor the force that later cleared it.
However, because the discovery of the mine had caused quite a stir within the academy, he had heard countless people talking about it.
He even knew that the mine was located somewhere to the northeast of the outpost, roughly fifteen to twenty kilometers away.
Before entering the Astral Rift, he had hoped they would encounter one of the mutated monsters from that den.
That way, they wouldn’t have to waste time searching for the mine themselves.
And now, as he looked at the mutated Fire Scorpion before them, his eyes gleamed faintly.
"That senior told me this mine is occupied by a monster den," William said. "So later on, be extremely careful."
"A monster den..." The expressions of both Liam and Alicia immediately became serious.
"Do you have any idea how many monsters are inside?" Liam asked.
"It should be somewhere between fifty and sixty," William replied with a slight smile.
"Fifty to sixty..." A deep frown appeared on Alicia’s face.
"It will be difficult for just the three of us to clear that many monsters."
"Let’s first take a look at the den," William replied without denying her words.
However, his eyes couldn’t help but gleam slightly.
’I wonder if my current strength is enough to deal with that monster den...’
"That monster is moving." Liam’s voice snapped William out of his thoughts.
Looking ahead, he saw the mutated Fire Scorpion turn around and begin walking away after finishing its meal.
"Let’s go."
William immediately followed after it, and Liam and Alicia quickly did the same.
They maintained a distance of roughly one hundred and fifty meters from the mutated scorpion.
However, thanks to William’s Eyes of Insight, they never lost track of it despite the raging sandstorm.
"This guy really came quite far away just to hunt for food," Liam commented after they had been following the monster for nearly an hour.
Just as his words fell, the mutated scorpion suddenly came to a stop.
It had finally returned to its habitat.