Chapter 60
◎ Giant Island ◎
Her dad was wary of the people from Yanhuang.
Why?
Yu Chi sat cross-legged in the living room and took out the huge furnace she had bought from the dwarves. The furnace could be continuously enlarged. She threw the 100 jin of Xuan Iron Ore she had collected in the [Two-Sided Mirror] into it, then transformed into her Cinnabar Finch form.
Cinnabar Finch flames emerged from her palm. Yu Chi applied the flames to the bottom of the furnace.
The inside of the furnace instantly burst into a blazing light. The Xuan Iron Ore gradually melted in the high temperature, and a dark red liquid metal appeared on the surface.
This 100 jin of Xuan Iron Ore would take at least a few days to melt with ordinary flames, but under the Cinnabar Finch flames, the speed was more than ten times faster.
So exaggerated. Yu Chi’s mouth was slightly agape. This was much more terrifying than using fire element magic in her elf state.
The beginner’s forging manual of the dwarf master had many complex rune patterns written on it. Yu Chi opened the first page of the manual.
The pronunciation of Elvish and Dwarvish was different, but the written symbols were seventy percent similar. Yu Chi quickly recognized that this was the most basic metal purification formation.
It was also the first step of forging.
“I see…” she muttered softly and placed her palm on the groove on the side of the furnace. Magic power was injected along the patterns. The liquid metal in the furnace suddenly churned violently, and a layer of grayish-black impurities floated to the surface.
The dwarves’ unique “Furnace Purification Technique” could raise the purity of the materials to a near-perfect level.
Yu Chi watched as the impurities were automatically separated by the magic circle. She couldn’t help but think of the elven smelting workshop on Sunset Island, which the Elf King had once taken her to see—the elves relied more on the power of nature. The process was complicated but elegant, completely different from the dwarves’ brutal and efficient method.
“Bang!”
The furnace suddenly vibrated. Yu Chi’s heart skipped two beats, and she almost thought she had blown up the furnace.
This is a common occurrence, right? After all, whether in novels or in reality, scientists are always prone to causing explosions. Since I’m forging my own weapons, I’m also half a scientist.
Xuan Iron Ore would react violently with the fire element. Yu Chi frantically adjusted the magic circle’s output, and the churning metal liquid in the furnace gradually calmed down.
“Scared to death.” Yu Chi wiped the non-existent cold sweat from her forehead. She suddenly realized something and turned to look out the window.
The Yanhuang Alliance’s building was right next door. The surface of the pitch-black building was flowing with faint golden runes.
Her dad hadn’t told her anything, but Yu Chi had every reason to guess so.
After all… when she and her old dad met for the first time, she had given him a special gift, an iceberg snow lotus that could regenerate severed limbs.
Her dad’s leg injury was not from this world, which meant that it would not be difficult to treat if there were magical materials. But when she had just met her old dad, the other party was still in a wheelchair.
—”How do you like the meeting gift I gave you?”
—”It’s very useful to me. Thank you, Little Fish.”
See, this kind of answer meant that he had already used the petals of the iceberg snow lotus.
Yu Chi stirred the metal liquid with an iron tong, but her thoughts drifted far away. Her old dad’s talent could transform any item into a weapon. This kind of strategic-level ability would be valued in any organization.
But with her understanding of her old dad…
Tsk, as expected, I still have to snatch my old dad back to my own territorial sea in the future.
A face-to-face conversation was not safe, and she hadn’t even mentioned this in her private messages… Yu Chi was stunned. It’s so complicated. Could there be a skill that can intercept conversations between people?
This is too scary, help!
Yu Chi: (π_π)
The furnace suddenly emitted a faint vibration, interrupting her thoughts. The first purification process was completed. The original 100 jin of ore was now only a fist-sized ball of silver-blue metal, slowly rotating in the furnace.
…85% loss.
Yu Chi blinked. She remembered that the manual had said that the dwarves’ conventional loss was about 60%. Ahem, could it be that she was too bad?
She didn’t know that beginners were not suitable for using flames of too high purity. The precise control of flames was already difficult, and the higher the purity, the greater the difficulty.
The Cinnabar Finch flame was a flame that could at least rank in the top 20 of the world rankings.
Yu Chi was very sad about her poor forging talent, but fortunately, she had prepared enough materials. Although there was an 85% loss, the remaining materials were enough to forge a scimitar.
The next step was shaping.
She opened the second page of the dwarf manual. The similarity between Elvish and Dwarvish allowed her to barely recognize the key steps—using Spirit to guide the liquid metal into shape, and at the same time, carving the basic enchanting patterns.
Simply put, it was somewhat similar to mental meditation, just with the addition of carving basic enchanting patterns.
“Let’s try it.”
Yu Chi closed her eyes and extended her Spirit into the furnace. The metal liquid trembled slightly at the touch of her consciousness, like an untamable wild beast. She tried to use her Spirit to form the outline of a scimitar, but the metal liquid suddenly exploded a few drops, splashing on the furnace wall with a “hissing” sound.
“So irritable?”
She suddenly realized the problem—the Cold Iron Ore itself had a frost attribute, and she had just used the Cinnabar Finch flame. The collision of the two extreme energies had made the metal liquid unstable.
Yu Chi frowned and stared at the furnace. This is not good.
Is my first forging going to fail just like this?
Yu Chi ground her teeth and thought for a while, then switched to her elf form and cast 10 elven blessings on the furnace in one go.
Well, let’s treat a dead horse as a living one.
A faint green light gently enveloped the metal liquid. Yu Chi was pleasantly surprised to find that the reaction was much calmer than before.
Dwarven forging was irritable, while elven forging was gentle and complex. She had combined the two, which was the most suitable state.
Yu Chi took the opportunity to use her Spirit to outline the prototype of a scimitar: the blade was slender, the curve was sharper than the original Silver Moon Scimitar, and a rune groove was reserved on the back of the blade.
The metal liquid gradually solidified into a solid, and a silver-blue scimitar floated in the center of the furnace.
“Success!”
Just as Yu Chi smiled, a fine crack suddenly appeared on the blade with a “crack.”
“…”
Wait—
She frantically injected more magic power to repair the crack, belatedly remembering the warning in the manual: [The shaping stage requires the simultaneous carving of stabilizing runes, otherwise the blade is easy to break].
“Damn it!”
Yu Chi gritted her teeth and separated a wisp of Spirit, carving the first dwarf rune on the back of the blade—[Sturdy]. The moment the rune was formed, the crack actually healed automatically, and a layer of ice mist appeared on the blade.
She pressed on and carved the second rune [Sharp], and the third rune [Frost Affinity]. With each additional rune, the cold air emitted by the scimitar became more and more biting. In the end, the entire inner wall of the furnace was covered with a layer of white frost.
“The last step—sharpening the blade!”
Yu Chi suddenly opened the furnace. The scorching metal blade embryo came into contact with the cold air outside, emitting a clear “clang.” She picked up the forging hammer, recalled the techniques in the dwarf manual, and the hammer head accurately landed on the edge of the blade.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
After three crisp sounds, feather-like ice crystal patterns appeared on the surface of the scimitar, and the room temperature dropped sharply. As soon as Yu Chi’s fingers touched the hilt, a bone-chilling cold shot up from her fingertips, but it was quickly neutralized by the natural energy that came with her elf constitution.
【Item: Frost Blade
Grade: Rare
Description: Has a frost attribute and armor-piercing ability, with an additional Ice Blade—releases a blade qi that freezes the path, with a 2-hour cooldown.】
It’s really a success this time!
Yu Chi’s face was full of surprise. Compared to the attributes of the Silver Moon Scimitar, this scimitar was more powerful and even had an additional skill.
To have forged a rare-grade weapon on her first try, could she be a legendary forging genius?
Uh, although she had used rare iron ore, high-purity Cinnabar Finch flames, and a dwarf master’s forging manual… but those were not important. If she had no talent, she should have blown up the furnace, right!
Mmm, it must be so.
Yu Chi brandished the dual blades in the room a couple of times, her face full of joy, having long since thrown the matter of her dad to the back of her mind.
Whatever. Her dad has his own adventures.
Yo ho! Watch out for the saber—
At 8 in the evening, the other three people returned to the alliance territory on time.
Yu Chi had already transformed into a black-haired human girl form. In just one day, the hot sales of bandages and adhesive bandages had pushed her level to 17.
Plus the dual blades in her hand, her current strength was not at all inferior to her elf state.
“Yo, you’ve changed back?”
Yu Chi expressionlessly slapped Li Feng’s mischievous hand from her head and looked at the others seriously. “Let’s get ready and set off.”
An Jin gave an “OK” sign with a grin.
Zuo He sat on the sofa. “I’ve found out some very bad news that might concern our life and death. Do you want to hear it?”
Yu Chi: “?”
Isn’t that obvious? How can we not listen if it concerns our life and death!
Li Feng: “Speak.”
Zuo He crossed his arms, his tone cold, as if he were talking about something irrelevant. “The upper limit of island exploration is not level 3. This is only the highest level a single person can go to. If the team’s strength is sufficient, they may be teleported to a level four or five island.”
“Oh?” Li Feng raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t that make it more interesting?”
Yu Chi also sat down on the sofa. “Did you find this out from a large alliance?”
“Mmm,” Zuo He glanced at her. “You’re really nothing like your dad. You don’t ask anything.”
Yu Chi waved her hand with a smile. “I just feel that there’s nothing to ask when we’re sitting together.”
And her strength was not weak now. She always felt that she could handle many things on her own. Now she also had her own partners, right?
“I’m tired of level three anyway,” Li Feng bounced on the sofa.
Yu Chi rubbed her chin, a bad premonition in her heart.
She remembered that when she was on Sunset Island, all her human skills had been sealed. Even those players who had been caught by the dark elves were because their skills had been disabled.
Their physical fitness was still there, but being unable to use their abilities was also a very terrifying thing. Among the four of them, the impact on Li Feng was probably the smallest… uh, does this guy have any skills?
“An Jin, do you have an angel’s bloodline?” Yu Chi asked.
An Jin shook his head: “This is my skill, and I’m not an angel. I’m actually from the Feathered Race.”
“That’s very bad,” Yu Chi looked at the others. “I’ve been to a level four island before. The biggest difference between it and a level three island is that you will lose all your player skills.”
Zuo He: “Do we completely become ordinary humans?”
“Our physical fitness is still there,” Yu Chi sighed. “I’m not sure if all level four islands have the same restriction on abilities. It’s also possible that we won’t even be able to use our backpacks, chat channels, and so on.”
Sunset Island did not have any restrictions in these two aspects, so the player who had been caught by the dark elves had been trying to persuade other players to enter Sunset Island.
But other islands might not be the same. They might face an even more terrifying situation.
“How do we bring things out like this?” Li Feng frowned.
Yu Chi glanced at him. This guy probably went to various islands for the demonic beast meat.
Li Feng’s demand for these meats had reached a terrifying level. This might be due to his physical ability, not entirely because of gluttony.
“Don’t worry about that. I have a storage ring,” Yu Chi raised her left hand and showed her tail ring to the others.
The storage spaces on the market basically couldn’t hold living things, let alone let plants grow.
Although the [Two-Sided Mirror] space was almost exposed, as long as she didn’t admit it, it wasn’t exposed.
And after showing her identity as an elf, some people had begun to attribute the appearance of spirit plants and crops to the special abilities of elves.
Aren’t elves related to plants in legends?
“Ah, I seem to have one too,” Li Feng took out a black hiking backpack, which was the space item he had bought at the auction before.
But what was strange was that Li Feng had one, but Zuo He and An Jin had not prepared one.
Zuo He: “A backpack is more convenient.”
An Jin: “I didn’t find a suitable one, so I just didn’t buy one.”
The space flowing out on the market was too little. Basically, you had to go to an auction, and it wasn’t always available. Even if you went to the world channel to acquire one, very few players would take it out to sell.
Li Feng: “Idiot.”
Zuo He: “…”
So this guy is proud.
An Jin looked at Yu Chi with a grin: “It’s fine. It’s good that sister has one.”
Yu Chi ignored him and seriously asked the others, “So, even so, are we still going?”
The elf was not her personal skill. She might be able to use it on other islands. She felt that she wanted to give it a try.
Li Feng: “It’s a matter of time.”
Zuo He: “The risk is greater with others.”
An Jin: “I’ll just follow my sister.”
“Alright then,” Yu Chi had no objection. “Let’s pack up and set off.”
…
At 10 in the evening, it was a lively time on the central island.
Four people in black cloaks appeared on time at the entrance of [Island Exploration], looking sneaky and not like good people.
“Hey! So why do we have to wear this stuff?” one of the cloaked people said.
“Shut up. You want to lose face, but I don’t,” another cloaked person said.
“Damn it, Zuo He, you bastard—!”
“Stop, stop,” the third cloaked person said tiredly. “Let’s just treat it as our team uniform. Isn’t it nice and neat?”
The fourth cloaked person: “Sister, isn’t this team uniform a little perfunctory?”
Yu Chi gave each of them an apple. “No more arguing after you’ve had your fruit.”
Noticing the curious gazes of the others around them, Yu Chi quickly chose the random teleportation for the team exploration.
“Swish!”
A dazzling white light flashed, and the four of them instantly disappeared from the spot.
The next second, Yu Chi only felt her feet go empty, and her whole person suddenly fell!
“Holy crap?!”
She subconsciously switched to her elf form to fly, but found—
Her other three teammates were all falling!
Yu Chi’s whole body tensed up. This had never happened before during teleportation.
“Vine Manipulation!”
Countless vines appeared from all directions, binding the three falling people and stopping their fall. Yu Chi breathed a sigh of relief and at the same time controlled her body to fly to the ground.
“Tsk, that was really dangerous,” Li Feng shook his hand and stood up.
Zuo He pulled down the brim of his cloak, his expression serious. “Skills, backpacks, and the system interface are all unusable.”
An Jin, however, turned to look at Yu Chi. “So sister shouts when she uses her skills.”
Li Feng: “I heard it too. It scared me.”
Zuo He: “Mmm.”
Yu Chi: “?”
Is it reasonable to be talking about this in such an emergency?!
However, the tense atmosphere was indeed relieved a lot. Yu Chi looked around and found that they were standing at the edge of a dense forest.
And what was shocking was that the surrounding trees were incomparably tall and thick, almost reaching into the clouds, and even the green traces of the leaves could not be seen.
Yu Chi looked up at the towering giant trees, her neck almost breaking.
“This tree… isn’t it a little too big?”
Li Feng narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we’ve gotten smaller.”
He bent down and picked up a “leaf.” The leaf was as tall as a person, and its edge was as sharp as a knife.
“No difference.”
Zuo He squatted down and measured a ditch on the ground with his fingers—it was not a ditch at all, but a footprint left by some huge creature.
“There should be huge creatures living here,” he said calmly. “Our current size is probably only one-twentieth of theirs.”
Yu Chi: (@[]@!!)
An Jin touched his earlobe with a grin: “Doesn’t that mean that any ant can crush us?”
As if to prove his words, the ground suddenly began to shake.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The ground trembled more and more violently. Yu Chi looked up and saw a giant ant, a full ten meters tall, drill out of the bushes. Its black carapace shone with a metallic luster in the sunlight, and its compound eyes were like two scarlet lanterns, staring at them.
Its antennae trembled slightly, as if it were sensing the smell in the air. The sharp mouthparts opened and closed with a teeth-grinding “kaka” sound.
Yu Chi’s eyes widened: “An Jin! Are you a jinx?”
An Jin: “Ahahahahahaha.”
“Run!” Zuo He shouted in a low voice, grabbing the nearest Yu Chi and rushing into the depths of the forest.
Li Feng and An Jin reacted extremely quickly and followed closely behind.
The giant ant instantly locked onto its target. Its six thick legs drew deep grooves on the ground, and its speed was even faster than they had expected!
“Split up!” Zuo He said sharply.
The four of them instantly dodged in different directions. The giant ant’s head slammed into the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. Yu Chi, with the agility of an elf, lightly jumped onto the root of a giant tree and looked back—
Li Feng had already climbed onto a huge vine on the other side, An Jin was standing on top of a huge plant, and Zuo He… Zuo He was actually standing still.
“Zuo He?!” Yu Chi’s pupils shrank.
Zuo He looked up at the giant ant, his eyes terrifyingly calm. Just as the giant ant’s mouthparts were about to crush him, he rolled to the side and at the same time drew a short knife from his waist, stabbing fiercely into the joint of the giant ant!
“Hiss—!” The giant ant cried out in pain and shook its head violently. Zuo He used the force to flip over and land on the ground, unharmed.
Yu Chi: “!”
As expected of the number one on the ranking in our district.
“Don’t just stand there!” Li Feng roared from a distance. “Retreat into the forest!”
Taking advantage of the time Zuo He had bought, the four of them quickly gathered and, under the cover of the dense vegetation, ran wildly into the depths of the forest.
The giant ant was in hot pursuit, but its huge size became an obstacle. Although its movements were swift, it seemed clumsy in the dense forest.
…
It was not until they confirmed that they were safe that the four of them stopped to catch their breath.
“It’s a pity that ants can’t be eaten,” Li Feng wiped his sweat. “Such a big one should be able to last for a long time.”
Yu Chi panted and looked around.
Everything in the forest was ridiculously huge—the blades of grass were taller than their heads, the mushrooms were like small houses, and even an ordinary beetle crawling past was enough to make them vigilant.
These plants were much bigger than the giant crops she had planted in her space. Compared to these, hers were just a small version.
“We didn’t get smaller,” Zuo He said calmly. “It’s just that the creatures on this island are like this.”
An Jin looked very excited: “Sister, this place feels so fun.”
Yu Chi ignored him and frowned in thought: “If I collect some seeds, can I grow such big crops?”
Business opportunities, business opportunities, business opportunities everywhere!
“Not necessarily,” Zuo He said faintly. “It might be related to the climate and terrain here.”
Yu Chi sighed in disappointment.
“Let’s recover our stamina first,” Yu Chi took out a large handful of candy from her tail ring and gave a few to each of them. “This can relieve fatigue.”
These candies were called star candies. They were small snacks made by the elven race, all for the cubs. Yu Chi’s stock was not much—because the King was afraid that she would get cavities.
Yu Chi: I’ve been deceived. Can elves get cavities!
She looked up at the depths of the forest. The giant creatures were indeed terrifying, but she also felt a little excited.
Just like the Elf Island, there should be many magical crops here. It was a pity that the system was disabled, which made it impossible for them to identify these plants.
Just as everyone was huddled in a small patch of grass to recover their stamina, the sound of the ground shaking came again, and it was getting closer and closer. Yu Chi couldn’t stand firm and was sent flying high by the tremor.
Li Feng grabbed her foot and pulled her down. “Don’t run around.”
Yu Chi: “?”
Yu Chi: “It’s not me who wants to fly!”
“It’s here,” Zuo He said in a low voice.
Everyone pushed aside the grass and looked. They saw a giant, a full dozen meters tall, standing a few dozen meters away. His skin was bronze, and he was wearing an animal skin around his waist. He was also carrying a huge wooden club on his shoulder. Every step he took made the ground tremble.
“Is this a giant?” An Jin said in a small voice.
Yu Chi: “We should have come to Giant Island.”
She had once read about Giant Island in the history books of the elves. This was a group of brutal and savage guys… these two adjectives seemed familiar?
The elves seemed to have described the dwarves in the same way. Yu Chi felt that she had discovered something.
“Let’s retreat quietly,” Zuo He said softly.
The giant ants could be said to be brainless animals. It didn’t matter if they fought them. But before they understood, it was best not to provoke the master of this island.
However, the giant’s ears seemed to be very sharp. Although the few of them had tried their best to lower their voices, the two moon-sized eyeballs instantly turned over. He let out a low growl from his throat and bent down to grab at the ground.
The giant’s palm was as big as a house, and a shadow instantly enveloped the four of them. Yu Chi’s eyes widened, and a strong sense of oppression came over her. She gripped the thing next to her tightly, her heart pounding violently.
The grass that was covering them was grabbed away by the giant, and the four of them appeared directly in front of the giant.
“Hmm?” The giant’s voice was like thunder, heavily smashing into the ears of the few of them. “So it’s the little people.”