After the arena gradually faded into nothingness, the fallen bodies stopped emitting their red glow. Chen Luo had acted with exceptional care when making his move, destroying the Cloud-Piercing Jade Pendants before they could activate. As a result, no new targets would come looking for him for the time being—unless something unexpected happened.
Seeing Chen Luo slowly descend, Hina hurried over, intending to catch him. He merely signaled for her to wait, then quickly bought a grappling cable from the system. He had only one throw, so he needed to choose his target carefully. After aiming at a nearby building, Chen Luo calmly hurled the hook. It caught firmly on the wall, and using the momentum, he shot forward, smashed through a window, and entered one of the building's upper floors.
"Honestly, don't scare me like that. If you had something like that, you should've used it earlier," Hina snapped, finally unable to hold back. She had thought he was summoning her to catch him, only for him to handle the situation himself in such a fashion. Annoyed by his behavior, she decided to leave him to it.
Only then did Chen Luo realize he had been a little too heartless. After reaching the first floor, he took several pieces of cooked orc meat from his inventory and tossed them to Hina. That finally placated her, and she let him climb onto her back.
As Hina moved, she asked him,
-"Hey, is there somewhere you need to go? Why are we leaving so early?"
-"Can you take me here? There's something I still need to collect." Chen Luo pointed to a spot on the map. Hina did not even bother checking where it was; she immediately sped off.
-"I thought you had something that could make you run really fast?"
-"Haha, you're overthinking it. Who doesn't like this kind of ride?" Chen Luo replied casually. It wasn't worth wasting potions just to save a little travel time. He was only a little short of being able to craft an alchemy table.
Fifteen minutes later, when they arrived, Hina was extremely surprised. The place Chen Luo wanted to visit was the shopping mall they had passed through earlier.
Chen Luo left Hina in one spot, put on his gas mask, checked the leather armor that had only a little durability left, and followed the route he had previously spotted on his Mind Map.
He went deeper and deeper. The surroundings grew darker, but the torches placed along the path gave off enough light that he did not need to worry too much about visibility. He continued until he saw a narrow strip of light ahead. Without hesitation, he smashed through the wall blocking his way.
Light from the other side poured in unexpectedly, forcing Chen Luo to close his eyes.
When he opened them again, another branch of the cavern lay before him. Judging by the ambient light, he knew he was close to his destination. He gave it little thought and continued toward the location marked on his Mind Map, ignoring the monsters still pursuing him from behind.
Chen Luo was not too worried about his armor breaking. Part of that confidence came from his movement speed, and part from his faith in his own heat resistance. However, it seemed he had misjudged the situation. The closer he got to his destination, the hotter it became.
He began to regret not wearing protective gear from the start. Still, there was enough time to correct the mistake. He quickly removed his leather armor, stored it away, and put on the heat-resistant armor he had obtained from the chest last time.
A cool breeze radiated from the armor, immediately saving him from feeling as though he were trapped in a steamer.
-"Seriously, this place is nothing like an open-air cave. I really shouldn't have underestimated it."
Muttering to himself, Chen Luo continued onward. Before long, he reached the place he had been looking for. Before him flowed a blazing river of lava, with only the beginning of its course visible.
Chen Luo immediately took out the tools designed for scooping lava. He collected some and quickly stored it in his inventory, then continued without pause. He needed an enormous amount. After a long stretch of work, the surface level had dropped noticeably, almost revealing the actual lava river beneath.
-"Finally done—or at least, that's enough for now. And next..."
Chen Luo's eyes lit up at the abundant resources in the cavern, especially sulfur and copper. He gripped his pickaxe and began mining relentlessly, seemingly oblivious to everything else.
As time passed, the winding cavern, long and twisting like a snake's body, gradually became a maze he had hollowed out until almost nothing remained.
Meanwhile, Hina waited above. The meat Chen Luo had left her would last a long time, and no monsters dared approach the area, so she did not worry about anything.
-"Congratulations, host, you have acquired the skill 'Mining.' Resource yield and mining speed increased by 0.01%."
Chen Luo barely paid attention to the new skill. Instead, he opened the Skill Tree. He had ignored it for a long time, and now it was time to check on it. If he kept neglecting it, the number of skills he owned would remain pitifully small.
When he opened the Skill Tree, he saw many different skill branches. Most belonged to basic professions, with only a few associated with advanced professions.
Looking at the many skills that remained grayed out, Chen Luo understood that the road to becoming an all-powerful profession was still long. The system had once said it would support him, but from what he had seen, he could not count on it to proactively provide rewards or quests. He had put that thought aside long ago.
Next, Chen Luo checked the Essence he had accumulated. To his surprise, it had reached nearly fifteen thousand points. Adding the ten bottles from his login reward, he could obtain several hundred more points.
After all, the Essence required to upgrade skills and equipment increased with level. With his current stock, he could either upgrade several skills at once or invest everything into a single priority skill.
Chen Luo would certainly choose the first option. Pouring all his resources into one skill might sound appealing, but he knew it would severely restrict his playstyle.
Besides, he could gradually improve skills by using them. What he lacked was a way to unlock them, and his current Essence was just enough to solve that problem.
He did not bother calculating how much Essence each skill required. He simply proceeded in order, unlocking all the beginner skills, then upgrading them until he had no points left to spend.
What were skill points for? They were meant to upgrade equipment skills or skills learned from books. That was their real purpose. For ordinary skills tied to professions, Essence was the standard currency.
As for his fifty skill points, that was not a particularly large amount. But Chen Luo knew it was not the right time to use them. He needed to repair the Myriad Extremes Divine Sword first and only then consider upgrading it. Otherwise, if the sword truly shattered, it would be too late for regrets.
-"Congratulations, host, you have unlocked 1/10 of the common skills for ordinary professions. You have received x1 'Versatile Blueprint' and x1 'Legendary Lucky Bag.'"
Chen Luo's gacha fever immediately flared up. He rubbed his hands together, sincerely prayed to Lord GN, and opened the gift bag.