Thinking it over repeatedly, Fang Mo ultimately made the wrong decision.
He agreed to Manyullyn Cleaver's request and provide it with a few companions.
However, agreeing was one thing, but carrying it out was another, as Fang Mo's arsenal still needed improvement.
Take the example of Laevatein.
Fang Mo transferred the fire giant into the Tinker' Construct Ring.
His purpose was to replace some materials and see if it could be further enhanced.
Regarding the Tinker' Construct mod, Fang Mo had previously discussed it with his partner while idling in the MC world.
Despite its small size, her brain was packed with almost an entire MC encyclopedia's worth of information. Though not very familiar with the original mechanics and not skilled in combat, she knew a lot about various mods.
According to her, Fang Mo had nearly unlocked all the accessories for the Tinker' Construct mod.
He had unlocked almost all commonly seen Tinker' Construct materials in the game, barring some extremely rare or obscure ones.
This meant that for a long time, there would be no new Tinker' Construct materials in Fang Mo's MC world unless they acquired Infinity ingots or unlocked the Draconic Evolution mod. Otherwise, Fang Mo had already reached the peak of Tinker' Construct materials.
For these reasons, Fang Mo planned to seriously reforge his equipment.
After unlocking more Tinker' Construct material mods, his weapons and equipment indeed needed updating. Setting aside some joke weapons, even Fang Mo's frequently used Clausolas, Laevatein, and his armor were outdated.
He hadn't encountered an enemy that required his serious attention for a long time.
Thus, Fang Mo had become somewhat complacent.
If things got really tough, he could just use dimension permissions to hold the opponent down and have Steve swallow them whole.
That was Fang Mo's previous thought.
However, after the One Punch Man mission, he realized he actually craved combat.
So, he decided to use his dimensional power as a last resort and focused on genuinely enhancing his own strength. Improving himself turned out to be more interesting.
Fortunately, Fang Mo had already organized his arsenal once when he returned from the One Punch Man mission, making the reforging process easier. It was just a matter of replacing Laevatein with solar steel.
Besides that, he planned to explore the integration of tech mods.
When Fang Mo unlocked GregTech, it unexpectedly merged with the Tech Reborn mod, triggering a mod synergy and adding many strange enhancements to Tinker' Construct.
These enhancements included but were not limited to vacuum deep cold treatment, lapis lazuli electric arrays, radiant emissions, solid/liquid quantization, magical modification and power generation, S2 perpetual motion machines, ultimate cheat codes, and Dogecoin.
Fang Mo had already tested Dogecoin, which accidentally created a small, useless sidekick in the X-Men.
These features seemed quite interesting.
Since his partner had set up a full set of GregTech 4 equipment, Fang Mo planned to test these features when he had the chance.
In conclusion, even though Fang Mo agreed to enchant other weapons with life magic, he couldn't do it immediately.
However, Manyullyn Cleaver was very urgent, and Fang Mo was getting annoyed by her constant pestering. So, he handed the reforging task to Xiao Yao.
Fang Mo could multitask, often summoning Steve to consult the Tinker' Construct Manual. He had some ideas about equipment reforging, but the materials weren't ready. Xiao Yao was working in the MC world anyway, so it was more convenient for her to handle it.
While Fang Mo was arguing with his partner, they soon reached their destination.
"Adventurer."
Grubeck Goblinde, leading the way, suddenly stopped and turned to Fang Mo: "We have reached the Thunderland. Please be on high alert."
"Oh... alright."
Fang Mo casually nodded and looked around.
The environment of the Thunderland was indeed different from Hendon Myre. It looked like a ruin, just as its name suggested.
On the ground, faint moss-covered pillars could be seen, with some human-made carvings. However, due to the passage of time, most had turned into ruins, making it impossible to discern their original appearance. The sky was perpetually gloomy, giving an oppressive feeling.
"It seems there was a battle here."
As Fang Mo observed, Pungjin suddenly discovered something and quickly walked forward, crouching to examine the ground.
Fang Mo glanced over.
He noticed the grass seemed slightly scorched.
"This is..."
Grubeck Goblinde reacted quickly: "These look like lightning strikes. It must be Kinoll!"
"We need to speed up our search."
Pungjin frowned, seemingly worried about the adventurer's safety.
"That may be, but," Grubeck Goblinde sighed helplessly, "the Thunderland cover a large area, and the goblin tribes often migrate..."
"Alright, enough talking."
Before Grubeck Goblinde could finish, Fang Mo interrupted, pointing to his left: "Over there."
"What?"
Both of them were taken aback.
Fang Mo wasn't good at tracking, but he had a minimap. With his creature radar on, he quickly noticed a pixelated avatar of a mage not far away. The avatar surprisingly matched a snowman suit.
"Let's rescue them first!"
Pungjin did not have time to think much and ran directly towards that direction.
Fang Mo followed suit.
After weaving through the forest for a few more minutes, the space ahead suddenly opened up, and soon everyone saw a place resembling a camp.
However, calling it a camp was an exaggeration.
It was clearly not a human settlement.
On the ground were some shacks made of bones and scraps of cloth, very low, barely more than a meter high. Scattered around the shacks were bits of fur and remains, and the area seemed to be filled with a strange stench.
At this moment, a large number of goblins had gathered here, worshiping a pure white goblin holding a curved knife, with faint arcs of electricity flickering on it.
As for the unfortunate mage.
She was tied to a tree in the distance, her face full of fear.
"Humans!?"
One had to admit that these goblins were quite alert. As soon as Pungjin rushed out, they noticed him immediately.
Of course.
Pungjin had no intention of hiding.
"Hey! Hah!!!"
Pungjin delivered a low kick to the goblin, the immense force sending it flying like a ball, smashing through several shacks before crashing heavily into a big tree, then slumping to the ground.
"Hmm?"
The pure white goblin frowned at this scene, then waved its hand and commanded, "Kill them."
"Roar!"
The other goblins immediately swarmed towards Pungjin.
At this moment, the white goblin—or rather, Lightning Kinoll—suddenly noticed Grubeck Goblinde, who was leaning on a cane.
"Grubeck Goblinde?"
Lightning Kinoll's expression darkened: "Traitor, did you lead these humans here?"
"Lightning Kinoll, I'll give you one piece of advice," Grubeck Goblinde stepped forward without fear and said firmly, "Release the captives immediately. Considering our past, I might plead for your life."
"Hah, a traitor daring to say such things?"
Hearing this, Lightning Kinoll sneered disdainfully: "My lightning will scorch you all, even if you beg on your knees..."
Before he could finish his sentence.
Fang Mo's voice rang out from a distance.
"Universal Pull."
Lightning Kinoll felt an overwhelming force pulling him uncontrollably, his alarm bells ringing wildly.
"Damn..."
But it was too late.
Fang Mo grabbed the nearby Manyullyn Cleaver, and with one swift motion, pierced Lightning Kinoll's heart, pinning him to the ground.
"Ugh…"
Lightning Kinoll coughed up blood, his face full of despair and disbelief, but before he could react, Fang Mo's foot stomped down on his face.
"Why waste words on this trash?"
Fang Mo glanced at Grubeck Goblinde, then pressed down slightly with his foot.
Lightning Kinoll's face caved in, his skull cracking under the pressure. With a squelch, his head exploded like a watermelon, blood spraying everywhere, some even splattering on Grubeck Goblinde.
The sudden act startled Grubeck Goblinde.
His legs almost gave out, nearly collapsing to the ground.
This goblin, mutated with lightning powers, a formidable being who unified nearly half the goblin tribes in the Grand Flores… was crushed like a mere insect in the adventurer's hands.
Grubeck Goblinde felt a bit dazed.
But the warm blood on his body reminded him it was a terrible reality.
Fang Mo, however, paid no attention to Grubeck Goblinde. After dealing with Lightning Kinoll, he raised his hand towards the nearby young mage.
"Universal Pull."
With a tremendous tearing sound, a giant tree was uprooted, crushing countless goblins as it flew towards Fang Mo.
"Hey kid, the Jade Emperor is here to save your life."
Seeing the frightened mage, Fang Mo cheerfully patted her head, then with a wave of his hand, tore the ropes binding her.
"Now do you admit you're weak?"
Patting the dust off the mage's shoulder, Fang Mo teased: "Why so quiet? Scared stiff?"
"Could you be pregnant already?" The nearby Manyullyn Cleaver joined in the jest: "Dear patient, how about I, Director Manyu, perform a C-section for you..."
"I…"
Upon hearing this, the little mage from the underworld couldn't hold back anymore and muttered under her breath, "It's because my equipment wasn't good enough..."
"If I had to choose between fighting Captain America and splitting open a mage's mouth, I'd choose to fight Captain America," Manyullyn Cleaver retorted again with her own opinion. "Because a mage's mouth is tougher than a vibranium shield."
"You…"
The other party couldn't hold it in anymore either, but at that moment, she noticed a figure in the jungle not far away, gathering strength to ambush Fang Mo from behind. Her expression immediately changed: "Watch out!"
Just as she spoke, the purple-black figure rapidly lunged forward.
But what greeted it was Fang Mo's large hand.
"Never expose your back to anyone, especially your brothers."
Fang Mo, smiling, grabbed the opponent's head, making a sarcastic comment as he turned to look. However, upon seeing the creature, he was astonished: "What the... What is this thing? It's so ugly!"
Indeed, Fang Mo was holding a bizarre purple creature.
The creature looked very frail, almost like a goblin, but its claws were exceptionally sharp. Most notably, its head was entirely covered with a bunch of purple fur, leaving only two cat-like ears visible.
"Be careful! That's a Penrill!"
Not far away, Pungjin immediately shouted a warning: "Watch out for its poison!"
As he spoke, the Penrill opened its mouth and sprayed a mist of poison, followed by two piercing laughs.
"..."
However, Fang Mo looked at it with disdain, completely unaffected.
"?"
This baffled Penrill. Its poison was supposed to be terrifying, so why wasn't the opponent reacting at all?
"No, why are the cat demons in Arad so ugly?"
At this moment, Fang Mo couldn't help but complain while holding the creature: "I remember Koreans are good at making roasted chicken. Why not make a cat girl with such a good element instead of this disgusting cat demon..."
As he spoke, Fang Mo gradually tightened his grip.
The Penrill immediately felt a terrible sense of doom and started struggling desperately, but unfortunately, it was still a beast. In the face of death, it even started defecating out of fear.
"Ugh, that's even more disgusting!"
Fang Mo, seeing this, couldn't help but lose his composure: "Shouldn't this thing be doing that in a litter box!?"
"Maybe because it's a cat demon?"
Manyullyn Cleaver interjected again: "Speaking of which, Master... you often travel across different worlds. Have you ever encountered a real cat girl? Next time, could you strip one and let me see? I want to know if they use litter boxes or toilet paper."
"Cat girls use sandpaper, alright?"
Fang Mo retorted irritably, then disgustedly flung Penrill away. Activating his Arcane Ring, he shouted: "Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
In an instant, flames surged like a tsunami, indiscriminately covering everything in front of him.
From a high vantage point, one could see a vast forest being engulfed by the rolling flames, turning the sky red and transforming the entire area into a sea of fire.
"???"
Pungjin, kicking away a goblin, looked bewilderedly at the sea of flames in front of him.
"Oh no, we're doomed…"
The little mage nearby couldn't help but facepalm.