Gao Wu: Oh no! Young Master Zhen is a cultivator!

The rock-thorned centipede, in pain, lunged at Lin Ran with its mouth.

Lin Ran leaped into the air, made a hand seal in mid-air, and sent a fireball hurtling towards the cracks in the centipede's shell.

Bang!

Flames poured in from the crack, burning the centipede and causing it to writhe wildly, its legs scraping white streaks across the ground.

Squeak, squeak!

The rock-spinning centipede made a grating, screeching sound as it twisted and turned.

Bang!

Another fireball fell, and the rock-spined centipede's struggles gradually weakened.

Lin Ran stepped forward and delivered two more cuts, prying open the skull and taking out a dark brown third-order crystal core.

Having resolved the unexpected minor incident, the two continued on their way.

The deeper you go into the rat's nest, the more rats with sharp claws you'll find.

At first, I encountered three to five every few minutes, but later it became an average of more than ten per minute.

The rock walls on both sides of the mine tunnel were covered with holes dug by rat claws, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of rat droppings and bone fragments.

Later, the clawed rats began to emerge from all directions, their gray figures swarming in the dim light of the fluorescent moss.

Lin Ran wielded his knife like cutting grass, while simultaneously using fire control techniques to keep the rats away.

His backpack was quickly filled, and even Zhang Jiafei's canvas bag, which he brought with him, bulged rapidly.

Watching Lin Ran fight his way in and out of the rat swarm, Zhang Jiafei's eyelids twitched wildly.

This senior's efficiency in killing first-tier mutated beasts is too high!

Others team up to farm crystal cores in the rat nest, but a five-person team can only kill about a hundred rats in an afternoon.

He single-handedly chopped down three or four hundred in just two hours.

After clearing away the clawed rats in front of him, Lin Ran glanced at his backpack, which was now completely full, and said to Zhang Jiafei, "I'm going to explore deeper inside. Don't move around here."

Zhang Jiafei was slightly taken aback, feeling that what he said sounded a bit strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

He finally nodded: "Okay."

Lin Ran activated his spiritual power, transforming into a blur as he charged forward.

The surrounding fanged rats were attracted to him and chased after him.

However, he ignored him and kept moving forward.

One wave of Claw Rats was shaken off, and another wave followed, until they reached the depths of the nest.

The space in front of them suddenly opened up, covering an area of ​​about ten zhang in diameter.

The gravel on the ground had been cleared away and covered with a layer of dry grass and scraps of cloth.

In the very center of the cave, a clawed rat, as large as an adult water buffalo, was lying on the ground gnawing on something.

Its fur is shiny, and the sharp claws on its forelimbs are half a meter long, gleaming coldly in the fluorescent light.

"A Tier 3 Clawed Rat King!" Lin Ran's lips curled up slightly: "As expected, there was an unexpected gain."

Lin Ran had just stood at the edge of the cave entrance when the Rat King immediately noticed the intruder and abruptly raised its head.

Its scarlet eyes shone like two lamps in the darkness, and it held half a leg bone of some unknown mutated beast in its mouth.

Upon seeing Lin Ran's appearance, it threw off the bone and let out a sharp screech.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

In an instant, the entire cave began to shake.

Simultaneously, rustling sounds came from all directions of the mine tunnels, and countless red dots lit up in the darkness.

Hundreds of clawed rats swarmed in from various passages, surrounding Lin Ran.

A few significantly larger second-order clawed rats were interspersed among the rats, distributed in different locations.

"Squeak!"

The Rat King let out another hiss, and dozens of clawed rats in the front row pounced at the same time.

Lin Ran made a hand seal, and three fireballs flew out in a triangular shape, exploding among the rats.

Flames exploded, blasting more than a dozen clawed rats away.

He drew his training longsword, its blade covered in flames, and with a single horizontal slash, cut down all four clawed rats that were charging at him.

With a right-footed horizontal kick, he sent a second-tier clawed rat that was attacking from the left flying, knocking over a group of its kind.

Seeing that things were not going well, the Rat King shrank back slightly, as if he wanted to escape.

Lin Ran caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of his eye and immediately rushed out of the rat swarm's encirclement, heading straight for the rat king.

when!

The Rat King swung its sharp claws, blocking Lin Ran's longsword, and sparks flew everywhere.

"You've got something." Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.

This rat king's strength far exceeded that of an ordinary third-tier rat; with a single claw strike, it actually forced him to take half a step back.

The Rat King immediately turned around after landing, its tail sweeping across like an iron whip.

Lin Ran dodged, his tail whip striking a clawed rat behind him, sending it flying and crashing into a distant stone wall.

Bang!

Stone fragments flew everywhere, and flesh and blood were mangled.

"I take back what I just said. You deserve a fight!"

Lin Ran threw out five fireballs in succession, forcing the surrounding rats back into an open space.

The Rat King was forced to retreat several steps by the fireball, and two scorch marks appeared on its dark red fur.

Taking advantage of its retreat, Lin Ran made a hand seal with his left hand and cast the Golden Light Spell, a pale golden light spreading from his palm to his entire body.

The Rat King pounced again, its sharp claws striking the Golden Light Spell, and was thrown backward.

Bang!

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Ran stabbed it in the lower jaw.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The Rat King screamed and tried to break free, but Lin Ran went a step further and pushed the long sword forward a few more inches.

Pfft!

The knife tip pierced the skull, and the Rat King collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The rats, having lost their leader, did not retreat but instead became even more ferocious.

Several second-tier clawed rats tried to snatch the rat king's corpse, but Lin Ran easily dealt with them.

Then, he pried open the Rat King's skull, took out a dark red third-tier crystal core, and then took out the crystal cores of several second-tier claw rats one by one.

After getting ready, Lin Ran used the Concealing Breath Technique and the Invisibility Technique, and his figure disappeared from the spot.

He silently made his way through the chaotic swarm of rats and retraced his steps.

The backpack is already full, so the remaining first-tier crystal cores can only be abandoned for the time being.

After he left, the rats deep inside the cave began to tear each other apart.

It shouldn't be long before a new Rat King is born.

Returning to the large rock where Zhang Jiafei had been crouching, Lin Ran withdrew his magic.

Zhang Jiafei was holding a backpack and looking around.

Seeing Lin Ran appear out of nowhere in front of him, he jumped back, almost throwing his backpack away.

"S-senpai, what happened to you...?"

Lin Ran shrugged: "I have the ability to become invisible, which makes perfect sense, right?"

Zhang Jiafei's Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed back the question that was about to come out: "It's...it's reasonable, very reasonable."

At first, he thought this senior was a physical enhancement type of awakened being, because Lin Ran had not shown any elemental abilities yesterday.

But he clearly saw Lin Ran use fire ability just now, and now he has added invisibility ability. Just how many abilities does this senior have?

"Let's go, let's get out of here first."

After saying that, Lin Ran strode outside.

The two returned along the same route. After exiting the mine, Lin Ran tallied up their spoils.

This time, a total of over four hundred Tier 1 Claw Rats, seven Tier 2 Claw Rats, and one Tier 3 Claw Rat King were killed.

Including the three Tier 2 Armored Lizards and the Tier 3 Rock Thorn Centipede that I hunted earlier, the total value of all the crystal cores is roughly equivalent to seven Tier 3 crystal cores.

Zhang Jiafei's eyes were glued to the backpack, never leaving it.

Lin Ran took out four second-tier crystal cores from his bag and handed them over: "As agreed, these are yours. I'll take the canvas bag and return it to you next time I come."

"Thank you, senior!" Zhang Jiafei accepted the crystal core. "Next time you come to the mine, just find me at the same old spot. I'm always wandering around the entrance every day."

"OK."

When Lin Ran returned to the Lin family villa carrying two bulging backpacks, it was already getting dark.

Pushing open the living room door, the family was in the dining room preparing for dinner.

Song Yishu noticed that he had a backpack in his hand, but before she could speak, Lin Haozhe spoke first.

"Brother Ran, I remember you only carried one bag when you went out?"

"A gift from the children at the orphanage," Lin Ran said without changing his expression.

Lin Zhiyao glanced at Lin Ran: "Don't bring all sorts of trash home."

Lin Ran didn't seem to care, simply replying calmly, "I'll take it with me when I leave."