Grinding Mobs Above Your Level, and Even Across Floors

The stone monster, with its legs broken and having fallen to the ground, was completely devoid of offensive capability. Dachun followed up with a couple of hoe strikes, directly digging it into a scattered pile of rubble. However, it did not drop any crystal cores.

Given that it was a mere level 10 stone monster, this was normal. He decided to find a taller level 20 one to test out further.

Luring another one over with a stone, they attacked simultaneously once again. Yet Dachun's attack speed was still faster than this clumsy stone monster, and his hoe struck the base of its leg first—Weakness Hit -57! Crushing Blow!

Once more, it collapsed with a clattering crash, successfully dropping a small crystal core.

Holy crap, level 20 stone monsters were the same!!

Dachun was overwhelmed with ecstasy. Was this place even hell? It was clearly a leveling paradise for a Master Miner! So, had this all been arranged for the financial conglomerates?

What about a level 30 one, then?

The moment he saw the terrifying presence of a level 30 monster whose footsteps caused actual tremors, Dachun instantly dismissed the idea of challenging it. It clearly possessed spell specializations; even if he didn't die, emerging without injury would be difficult, and it would just be a waste of time. It was better to stick to farming the level 20 ones steadily for now.

Soon, Dachun became utterly addicted to the smashing impact of every single hoe strike!

Ever since the open beta, Dachun had been strictly following mining quests and had practically never fought monsters. The top-tier experts on the forum had all stated that trying to get rich by fighting monsters either required being an elite player capable of taking down high-value bosses, or being a gold-farming studio. But the gold-farming method in this game was simply mining.

Combat was just traditional entertainment. Now, however, it actually turned out to be quite fun.

As yet another stone monster fell—System Prompt: Congratulations! You have successfully triggered the Crushing Blow effect 10 times consecutively, and have obtained the information for the skill "Crushing Blow."

Holy crap, this was like being rewarded with a secret player-discovered skill! Effects and skills were two different things. Without the skill, you could only trigger a crushing effect on this specific type of special monster; with the skill, you could trigger a crushing effect on any monster!

This meant this place wasn't just for miners to level up; even skills were set up to be acquired here. The key to obtaining it was clearly maintaining a consecutive streak without missing.

Dachun grew fired up, devoting his absolute focus and full effort to respond.

...

An hour passed. He had continuously slain dozens of monsters, obtained dozens of crystal cores, and his experience points had rapidly soared to level 20. Yet, he still hadn't comprehended the Crushing Blow skill.

What was he missing? Did he need to fight level 30 ones?

Under the weight of uncertainty, his motivation inevitably waned, and Dachun began to feel both tired and hungry.

That's right, it was almost 6 PM, time for dinner. Normally, he would have logged off to go out to eat, then wandered around until midnight before coming back. But right now, he simply couldn't walk away; he would have to make do with instant noodles.

Thinking about how he was reported and wanted, and how busy he was right now to even step downstairs, what would those forum experts think? It was obvious he had triggered a major quest. Once word spread, the professional players on the third floor would find out, and then the big conglomerates would know too... Ah...

Forget it. He couldn't out-grind the younger players, so he might as well take a gamble and try a level 30 one!

A level 30 stone monster would definitely have a skill. Dachun had already figured out a tactic, the same one he used earlier when luring the giant lizard: use the Throwing skill to hurl his hoe out for a preliminary strike—if a flying hoe could trigger the crushing effect... holy crap, that might even upgrade Advanced Throwing to Expert!

Since he was already using a flying hoe, he might as well link it with his Expert Modular Combination skills. He could link even further by activating his pet's Treasure Hunting skill. The reason he was able to instantly kill the slime earlier was because Ellen's Treasure Hunting had discovered its core...

Having finalized his tactics, Dachun began selecting a location—specifically, an area where the surrounding stone monsters had been mostly cleared out. He threw a large stone to lure over a massive, level 30 stone monster.

Sure enough, as the stone monster charged, its footsteps were accompanied by shockwaves several meters in diameter. These shockwaves were powerful enough to prevent him from getting close for melee attacks. Of course, a professional expert might be able to time the distance perfectly.

So, activate Treasure Hunting!

Under the Treasure Hunting mode, the stone monster's entire body looked completely ordinary.

Forget it, fly-toss the hoe at the base of its leg!

However, Dachun didn't throw it randomly. Instead, he waited for the exact moment when one of its feet slammed down with a shockwave and the other foot was about to step up and lift—because at this moment, the entire weight of the stone monster's upper body was concentrated on that single leg.

Flying hoe!

The hoe spun and whistled through the air, nailing itself into that supporting leg with a smack—Damage Immunity!

Holy crap, this was the power of level 30! It dealt no damage, didn't trigger a weakness hit or a crushing blow, and the crucial part was that his hoe was now stuck in it!

No matter what, he had another one!

Once this one was gone, he would just have to run back to the volcanic mine to grab another! With his thoughts racing frantically, Dachun aimed at the stone monster's other leg—Flying Hoe!

With a smack, it nailed the leg again, dealing zero damage!

Holy crap, time to run back and get a hoe.

Dachun accelerated to his utmost limit, and the stone monster thundered along in hot pursuit, its single stride covering the distance of several of Dachun's steps. It looked like even his Expert-level running couldn't outrun it!

Holy crap, holy crap, were level 30s really this fierce? Dachun made a decisive split-second decision: he would jump back into the magma lake. He refused to believe an earth elemental would chase him right into the lake.

Just as Dachun swerved violently, the stone monster also swerved violently to follow—and at that exact split second, two crisp snapping sounds echoed out!

Dachun glanced back over his shoulder and was shocked to discover that its colossal body had lost its balance, and one of its legs had completely shattered into pieces!

Holy crap, I get it! I don't even need to crush it myself; its own massive seismic impact will detonate its own wounds!

Boom! Along with the thunderous crash of the giant stone monster collapsing to the ground, the system prompt Dachun had been longing for finally arrived:

——System Prompt: Congratulations! You have successfully comprehended the skill "Crushing Blow."

Crushing Blow: Grants a certain probability to inflict a crushing effect on the target's body part. Can be stacked with the warrior skill "Maiming Strike."

——System Prompt: Your Expert Modular Combination skill has successfully combined the linkage effects of Advanced Throwing and Expert Running. The proficiency of all involved skills has increased.

...

Done!

Dachun let out a massive sigh of relief. Fighting an ordinary monster here had actually turned out as thrilling as a boss battle. But this was legendary cross-level monster slaying; since even the leveling experience had been nicely arranged for him, he gladly accepted it!

The legless stone monster wasn't much different from the previous two. Dachun retrieved his iron hoe and finished it off, gaining a massive amount of experience and a much larger crystal core.

Next was to replicate the tactic and lure another level 30 over.

The only difference was that this time, when the flying hoe nailed its leg base, it directly triggered the crushing effect, though it didn't snap off on the spot—truly, having the skill made a huge difference. After that, he just had to let it run its own legs off during the subsequent chase.

From then on, Dachun was hooked. He hunted them down one after another, his level skyrocketing all the way through 21, 22, 23...

The feeling of farming monsters was so exhilarating! And farming monsters above his level was even more exhilarating—wahahaha~~~

As yet another stone monster collapsed, this time the system prompt changed:

——System Prompt: Your Expert Modular Combination skill has successfully combined the linkage effects of Advanced Throwing and Expert Running. You have obtained the skill information for the combination skill "Mobile Shooting."

Holy crap! Last time, Advanced Swimming, Fancy Swimming, and Underwater Mining combined into "Underwater Construction"!

He simply had to comprehend this!

Dachun felt that time was of the essence. An hour passed, and Dachun had reached level 28, but there wasn't a single level 30 monster left in the entire area!

Holy crap, no more monsters! Checking his haul, he had over a hundred crystal cores, drastically exceeding the task requirements.

However, Dachun had zero mood to turn in the quest right now. He had no choice but to use the remaining level 10 and level 20 monsters to practice his flying hoe. Directly hitting weak points for crushing and leg-breaking effects with flying hoes was just incredible!

Anxious and losing interest, Dachun ran around massacring everything in sight, but it yielded little effect and the experience points were dwindling.

Forget it, he probably needed to fight a boss to trigger the comprehension. Surely a massive area like this had a stone monster boss, right? What if he went back to the volcanic mine, grabbed a few dozen iron hoes, and scattered them across the battlefield so he could pick them up and throw them anywhere? That might actually be somewhat viable!

Dachun had no choice but to return to the bottom of the lake to turn in his quest first.

The volcanic dragon greeted him from afar: "Welcome back, master!"

Hearing someone call him "master" like this was something no player could withstand; in a player's ears, it was probably more captivating than a beauty's sweet giggles.

Dachun entered its exhaust domain and handed over all the crystal cores: "I prepared a few dozen extra for you!"

The dragon swallowed them down in one go, a series of rumbling explosions echoing from inside its belly: "Master is truly so generous. Once I recover, I will definitely repay master."

Talk about repayment—all I want is for you to step up and fight a boss!

Dachun asked, "Do you know where the strongest earth elemental is?"

The dragon answered without a moment's hesitation: "I know, I know! I can take master there right now. Master can ride on my back and hold onto the ridge of my spine."

As it spoke, the dragon slowly turned over and rolled onto its back.

Dachun was stunned: "Didn't you say you haven't recovered yet?"

The dragon replied: "I can move now, though!"

Uh, no... I was just asking, and you're ready to leave just like that?

It was clearly triggering an event. Dachun double-checked first: "I'm just going to take a look, I didn't say we were fighting."

The dragon answered: "In my current state, I don't have the ability to help master fight anyway."

But it definitely had the awareness to help him fight!

Dachun climbed onto the dragon's back and gripped tightly: "I'm ready."

"Let's go!"

The moment the words fell, the dragon's belly vibrated and its tail shook. A massive surge of fiery breath spewed forth, and the dragon, along with its exhaust domain, began moving toward the depths of the magma pit.

Holy crap, it actually came with built-in rocket thrusters?

Then the speed grew faster and faster, plunging deeper and deeper! The domain was compressed smaller and smaller by the magma, resembling a burning, melting piece of glass. It felt just like a spacecraft re-entering the atmosphere!

Dachun felt something was amiss: "Where is this?"

"One of the magma channels erupted from the underground of the volcano. It leads to the world beneath the volcano, but the pressure is immense. You can only dive through it with the protection of a domain."

Holy crap, the Earth's mantle?!

The dragon spoke again: "Master, there is a whirlpool ahead, and the pressure is extreme. You must hold on with all your might!"

Holy crap, holy crap, was this still just the second floor?

Dachun also exerted his full strength to prop up his flame barrier. Everything around him was spinning wildly in a vortex; Dachun felt like excrement being flushed down a toilet...

Finally, the environment stabilized.

——System Prompt: Warning! You have arrived at Trial Ground Floor 7! The difficulty of this area far exceeds your current strength; proceed with extreme caution.

Dachun found it hard to believe: "Floor 7?! How could this happen?"

The dragon replied: "Because master wanted to find the strongest earth elemental, and the strongest one is right here. Master can go up and take a look. My body is too big and easily spotted, so I wouldn't dare float up. I'll just recover at the bottom of the lake; the magma energy here is much better."

Holy crap, are you sure you're not deliberately trying to screw me over?