The weather was getting colder. It had been almost half a month since Yu Li left.
Lin Feng would receive letters from Yu Li every few days. It seemed like she still had not adapted to the traveling life in Kandis.
"What does the letter say?" Yuna did not recognize many words, so she could only hand the letter to Lin Feng and have him summarize it.
"She's complaining to me that although this traveling life is interesting, she has to walk for a long time every day and it's very tiring," Lin Feng glanced at the back of the letter and saw there was no other content, so he handed the letter back to Yuna to keep.
"That's it?" She took the letter, asking blankly.
Lin Feng nodded.
In an instant, a hint of loss flashed through Yuna's eyes.
Although this guy always had an expressionless face, he was actually very sensitive inside.
The melancholic beast-eared girl was so cute.
"Alright, Yu Li has gone out adventuring and leveling up, you can't slack off either, you hear me?" Lin Feng gently patted her butt, and took the chance to glance back at Emily.
Their eyes just happened to meet, then her gaze shifted downwards and landed on Lin Feng’s lecherous hand.
"What's up? Sneakily touching then looking back at me?" Emily hugged herself with a helpless expression.
"I was just afraid you'd get angry!"
"As long as Yuna doesn't mind, I won't get angry."
Yuna's face was red but she didn't say anything, which meant she didn't mind.
Lin Feng stretched and walked into the storage room to take out two pickaxes, handing one to each girl.
"What are these for?" Emily swung the pickaxe a few times to test out how it felt, "Aren't you taking us to the labyrinth? What do we need pickaxes for?"
Yuna examined the weapons of both.
Her greatsword was already battered and broken. Although she had taken it to the blacksmith for sharpening a few days ago, it probably wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.
As for Emily's longbow, while it was decently maintained, she kept complaining that it didn’t have enough power and couldn’t penetrate the thick hides of magical beasts, saying she wanted a heavier bow.
【Quest Update: Forge exclusive weapons for Yuna and Emily.
Quest Rewards: Standard Ruby x 2, slightly increases strength】
Just happened to be lacking some accessories.
Gemstones were expensive no matter where one went. Several pieces were set into Yu Li's farewell gift.
Even a standard ruby could sell for around a gold coin externally.
After forging good weapons, these two pieces could be set into their weapons.
Yuna would be able to swing her greatsword faster and more powerfully, while Emily could draw heavier bows.
"I'm taking you mining," Lin Feng leaned against the shoe cabinet and continued, "There's a labyrinth near here with abundant Magic Crystal Ore, it's mid-high grade material for making equipment. I want to mine some then find a Dwarf blacksmith."
"If you think mining is tiring, we can just straight-up buy from the Dwarfs too." Lin Feng helped Emily tidy up her scarf, "But as you know, to them we're another race. They may scam us a bit on prices."
Emily suddenly understood, "I see, then I have no objections."
"Every bit saved helps. Earning money isn't easy," Yuna twitched her ears. She deeply understood the difficulty in earning money.
Sometimes even after killing magical beasts all day, she would only earn a few silver coins.
While that amount was already several days or even over ten days worth of income for ordinary people, for someone like her who had to cover Yu Li's magic studies, it was still too little.
The three of them entered the interior of the labyrinth.
The first few floors had been completely mined clean. Not even a single magical beast could be seen. Occasionally there would be other people who came to mine.
"Only the topmost floors have Magic Crystal Ore left. But stronger magical beasts are up there too so not many people dare to go," Lin Feng casually asked an explorer.
That person kept sneaking peeks at the two beast-eared girls, but Lin Feng kept swaying back and forth, blocking his line of sight the whole time until he finally gave up.
"My first time seeing other people inside a labyrinth,"
"This place produces a lot of Magic Crystal Ore, so many people want a piece. Naturally the chances of running into others is higher too," Lin Feng held up a torch and surveyed their surroundings, "Be careful of some unsavory characters at the same time."
Emily scratched her face, "What's up?"
"Since there's high traffic here, quite a few bandits choose this place to ambush others. They rob you then kill you before the magical beasts help dispose of the corpse. Extremely convenient,"
"We'll kill anyone who comes at us! Right, Yuna?" Emily had a ferocious look.
Yuna nodded.
The two races were antagonistic to begin with. Plus beast-eared girls had fierce temperaments, so they definitely had some lives under their belts from having survived this long.
Especially Emily. She had swallowed up dozens of Lin Feng's future generations – a downright femme fatale.
"What are you grinning about like an idiot?" Emily said helplessly.
"Let's continue our battle tonight,"
Emily hefted the pickaxe over her shoulder and replied seriously, "I'm good to go."
Lin Feng led them to the upper floors of the labyrinth.
The visible Magic Crystal Ore grew more abundant, as did the number of magical beasts.
It looked like Yuna was pretty handy with a pickaxe too, able to take down beasts with one strike.
"This is the ore," Lin Feng picked up a piece of Magic Crystal Ore from the ground.
The surface had many protruding purple metallic substances. At first glance it looked quite beautiful.
"Wasn't this stuff everywhere along the way? Why haven't we started mining yet?"
"Let's talk when we get to the top. It's inconvenient to keep finding and mining here," Lin Feng continued leading the way. With their current strength, even strong magical beasts were nothing to panic over. Rather, it was extra income.
Upon reaching the topmost level, one entire rock face was covered in tidy Magic Crystal Ore.
Emitting a faint purple glow, the ores thoroughly lit up the labyrinth passageway.
"Come on, hand me the torch and you can dig," Lin Feng curled a finger at Emily beckoning her over.
"Then what do I dig with?"
"Let me handle it. Your strength isn't the same as us two girls, you'll dig slower." Although Lin Feng had some feminine features, he didn't completely rely on brute strength.
Unexpectedly, Emily was unhappy with this arrangement.
She stared expressionlessly at Lin Feng.
"What's wrong?" Lin Feng daringly asked.
Emily brewed for a few seconds before shoving Lin Feng aside to start digging herself. She felt looked down upon.
But the instant the pickaxe made contact with the Magic Crystal Ore, pain shot through Emily's hand.
Glancing to the side, she saw Yuna hack off large chunks of ore with each strike.
There really was no comparison in strength.
She chipped away a few more times but it was futile.
Sneaking a peek at Lin Feng again, he was even secretly laughing!
She blew her fuse right there.
"What are you hitting me for?" Lin Feng grabbed Emily's flailing little fist.
Emily pouted and shoved the pickaxe into Lin Feng's hands, "Go ahead and laugh if you want, damn annoying!"
"As expected of my wife, really cute,"
Her incredulous expression was too amusing.
Just as the two of them were horsing around, Yuna suddenly halted her motions and pricked up her ears to sniff the air.
There was the smell of blood.
"Master, there is the scent of human blood nearby," Yuna followed the smell and behind some rocks, found a pool of fresh red blood.