Chapter 33: Fusing the Crystal Core

With the crystal core in hand, Dachun braved fire and brimstone until he finally located the impact site of the giant rock.

As expected, he spotted a massive fireball from afar, gnawing away at the boulder. Dachun felt a sense of relief; this feeling of everything going exactly according to plan was indescribably satisfying, much like the moment after finishing an exam in his school days when he could already accurately estimate his score. It had been a long time since he’d felt this sense of achievement—that mastery of a straight-A student.

—System Prompt: Warning! You have been discovered by the hidden boss, Magma Monitor.

Come on then! This time, he could skip the unnecessary steps of solving the problem. However, he still needed to take the opportunity to practice his "Flying Hoe" technique.

After maneuvering for over twenty minutes, his Advanced Throwing and Intermediate Module Combination skills quickly reached Level 6, and the long-awaited giant rock appeared once more!

This time, Dachun was even more proficient. Following a loud crash as the rock landed—there was no suspense!

—System Prompt: Congratulations! You have killed the hidden boss, Magma Monitor. You have leveled up to 15. Attack +5, HP +5, Weight Capacity +5, Stamina +5. You have obtained the loot: "Magma Earthfire Crystal Core."

—System Prompt: Congratulations! Your Marathon skill has successfully upgraded to Intermediate Level 2. Weight Capacity +1, Stamina +1.

—System Prompt: You possess two "Magma Earthfire Crystal Cores." They can be fused into a higher-tier form to significantly boost their effects.

...

Success!

Dachun’s mindset was relatively calm this time. Leveling up beyond level 10 wasn't easy, but jumping five levels at once was still remarkable.

No need for hesitation—fuse the cores!

As the two cores merged into one, their color and luster radiated a premium quality.

—Advanced Magma Earthfire Crystal Core: Advanced artifact-grade material. The Fire Barrier increases fire resistance by 60% and absorbs 60 points of fire damage, storing it as fire energy. It also improves the efficiency of transforming the user into a Flame Demon physique. Current fire energy: 200 points. Each point maintains the barrier for 1 second.

Excellent. The fused attributes simply doubled the effectiveness. Time to find the third boss!

Since it was clear there was more than one boss, there was no need to wait for the sulfur boulders to lead the way. Based on the distribution distance of the first two, he could guess there were likely two more, one for each of the four directions around the volcano.

Dachun dug the sulfur out of the giant rock and continued his trek through the fire and brimstone, happily discovering that with his current crystal core, he could truly swim in magma!

Excellent. Once he had the time to hoard enough mushrooms, he would jump straight into the magma to grind his Swimming skill to Expert level!

Dachun arrived at the general area on the other side of the mountain and dropped the sulfur he had dug out of two boulders, piling it up until it looked like a small, waist-high golden mountain.

He then waited vigilantly for the boss to take the bait.

As expected, a splash erupted from the magma not far away, and another Magma Monitor appeared!

Dachun immediately packed up his stall, and the enraged lizard gave chase!

The problem-solving continued; practice makes perfect.

But this time, the anticipated giant rock arrived so slowly that it took a full forty minutes to appear. Fortunately, he treated it as skill practice, which didn't affect the final result.

—System Prompt: Congratulations! You have killed the hidden boss, Magma Monitor. You have leveled up to 18. Attack +3... You have obtained the loot: "Magma Earthfire Crystal Core."

—System Prompt: Congratulations! Your Intermediate Marathon skill has successfully upgraded to Level 3...

—System Prompt: Congratulations! Your Advanced Throwing skill has upgraded to Level 10...

—System Prompt: Congratulations! Your Intermediate Module Combination has upgraded to Level 10...

...

Finally...

***

Fuse them.

—Advanced Magma Earthfire Crystal Core: ...Fire Barrier increases fire resistance by 90% and absorbs 90 points of fire damage, storing it as fire energy... Current fire energy: 300 points. Each point maintains the barrier for 1 second.

By now, Dachun was drenched in sweat, and he even had a faint premonition that the volcano’s eruptions were losing steam; it might really be stopping!

Should he go look for the fourth one? If the volcano stopped while he was wandering, he would be doomed. After all, his current alt account carried a -100,000 reputation from his main, making him a walking red target. If he died, he might lose the hard-earned three-in-one crystal core!

But both his skills were stuck at level 10; perhaps the breakthrough to Expert level depended on this. Plus, achieving the "Three-Day Newcomer" achievement would grant him 3 points of Intelligence. Not to mention that with three cores fused to 90%, the final one would surely cause a qualitative transformation—it wouldn't just be an artifact-grade material, but a true artifact. This was an opportunity not to be missed...

Regardless, he would go and see.

While struggling with his decision and observing the volcano, Dachun arrived at the final location on the far side of the mountain.

Still hesitant, he stared at the crater, unable to make up his mind.

Just then, the volcano erupted violently once more, and a giant rock flew out of the crater!

The volcano was still going strong? Dachun gritted his teeth. All in!

He set the trap, laying out the sulfur mountain once again.

Then, he waited in anxiety.

Compared to his confidence in the first two encounters, Dachun felt that this uneasy, pre-battle tension was a bad sign. If his mindset was off, would it lead to problems at a critical moment?

What was even more troubling was the thought: what if this trial was a "mood-based" production directed by the Overseer? With her demonic temperament, would she really let him get four crystal cores so easily? NPCs in this game were already treacherous, let alone demons.

Before long, a familiar disturbance rippled in the magma lake nearby—it was coming!

In that instant, all of Dachun’s doubts and anxieties exploded. He only had one chance to regret—once missed, there was no turning back!

Fear and reason instantly overcame his greed. Retreat! He ran as fast as he could, leaving the sulfur mountain behind as a decoy.

Once he started running, there was no turning back. Various thoughts of "quitting while ahead" and "this trip was already a huge profit" flooded his mind to soothe his nerves.

Finally, Dachun reached the slope of the volcano. He found a large rock for cover and looked back. The monitor had finished eating the sulfur, but instead of returning to the lake, it sniffed around and headed toward the other side of the mountain, moving faster and faster.

This was clearly the direction of the previous monitor. What was it doing?

Dachun circled around the mountainside to track it and saw the corpse of the previous monitor, flattened by the giant rock. This monitor was clearly rushing over to eat the carcass!

Damn it! After the fight in the sewers, Dachun knew very well that a boss eating another boss's corpse usually meant it was about to mutate or evolve. Even if it couldn't mutate from this one, there were still two others!

Soon, the monitor dragged the corpse from under the rock and began to tear into it. Its body size visibly expanded by nearly double!

It didn't stop after eating that one; it continued on, clearly intending to eat the other two as well.

Damn, damn, it was going to eat its way into a Super Boss!

Dachun’s feelings were hard to describe—not quite regret, just complex. Watching its clearly slowed pace, he thought of a bat; if it ate too much, it would turn into a ball and couldn't fly. If this monitor ate three in a row, wouldn't it become a ball and be unable to walk?

But the problem was that if it couldn't walk, it wouldn't be able to keep up with his pace, and the Flying Rock tactic wouldn't be effective!

Finally, Dachun watched helplessly as it circled around, ate the third one, and then waddled its massive body slowly into the magma lake, disappearing.

Well, it was a melancholy feeling. He would just treat it like raising a pig; he’d slaughter it when it was fat to get an even better crystal core.

While he was feeling melancholic, the rumbling of the volcano ceased.

Had the volcano really stopped? Dachun looked up. The magma flow at the top had cut off, the smoke had died down significantly, and the receding magma revealed crystal-smooth stairs. The mine was indeed on the mountain!

***

Should he be glad for his foresight, or was the Overseer behind the curtain just bored and done playing?

Time to head up to the mine.

Just then, rumbling and rustling sounds echoed from all over the mountain. Dachun looked around in alarm. A large number of rock-shelled monsters were sprouting from the ground like bamboo shoots after a rain. In particular, the magma river and lake at the foot of the mountain were rapidly sinking due to the volcano stopping, and various larger rock monsters were emerging from the riverbed.

Damn, so there were a lot of monsters in this scenario!

Dachun immediately sprinted along the stone stairs to the mountainside. Sure enough, he saw a cave decorated with stone pillars, and inside was the familiar shimmering teleportation array. Enter!

As the scene shifted, Dachun appeared in a massive, boiling magma pit. Under his feet was the same fixed teleportation array as the first floor. Surrounding him was a group of Level 10 "Flame Angels," all soaking in the magma pool and staring at him in unison.

This was indeed the starting point for a normal run. These "Flame Angels" were truly digging for magma ore while soaking in the magma. Very well, this was exactly what he wanted: to soak in the magma, AFK-mine, and cultivate his Flame Demon physique.

The "Angels" stared at Dachun for a moment, then turned in unison to start mining. The magma splashed everywhere, startling Dachun into immediately activating his crystal core!

Damn, this wasn't a normal starting point after all! How could a newcomer handle this?

But the next moment, the angels stopped mining and turned their heads again, staring at Dachun in unison.

Dachun’s heart skipped a beat. This moment felt exactly like that moment back then—were they going to kill him for his loot?

Sure enough, a flash of red light exploded before his eyes, and the "Flame Angels" swarmed him from all sides with wild shrieks!

Damn!

Dachun frantically scanned the terrain and discovered that this was a closed space. There were no winding paths or corners to exploit for positioning. He, a Level 18, had to solo over a hundred Level 10s!

Was this part of the trial?

Fortunately, Dachun had the precious experience of surviving the sewers and maneuvering through thousands of players. He had Advanced Swimming, Fancy Swimming, Underwater Construction, and Diving Mastery. His Stamina and Weight Capacity far exceeded that of ordinary players at his level. He didn't believe these mobs possessed such skills. As long as they didn't, it would be a dimension-reduction strike; he didn't care how many of them there were.

He jumped into the magma pool, heading for the deepest part!

His Swimming proficiency soared again, and his Stamina consumption skyrocketed as well. If his own stamina was draining this fast, one could only imagine how hard it was for them to dive down.

Dachun took out his mining hoe as a weapon, but the wooden handle quickly carbonized, and the iron head fell off—System Prompt: Mining hoe destroyed by magma...

Then he had no choice but to blow up their hoes; theirs appeared to be all-iron.

Dachun immediately felt a violent disturbance above his head, as if it were a foot. He pulled it down...

With Dachun’s weight capacity of over 300, dragging one down was easy.

The opponent struggled violently at the bottom of the magma pool as if drowning, which immediately triggered the "Primary Mining Hoe Disarm" skill he never had a chance to practice. He grabbed the handle and successfully snatched it away.

It was indeed all-iron!

Dachun had no room for mercy now; he had to hoe them to death with all his might. Having leveled to 18, he had added 17 points to Attack, and with the 10+ points from this hoe, his attack was no longer low.

The dead demon turned into a ball of soul fire and ascended—demons didn't truly die, so there was even less reason to hold back.

The first victory greatly boosted Dachun’s confidence. They were truly pathetic in the water; he was the Boss, he was the water monster!