Bai Yiyuan mentioned, "In the fortress, there are also senior alchemists. You can use gold coins to have them replenish energy."
"However, they usually prefer materials over money."
"You can try asking them."
"If that doesn't work, you can return to Xia Jing Academy. The teleportation array we used can bring you back, but it's quite costly."
Lin took this in.
After imparting all necessary advice, Bai Yiyuan bid Lin farewell.
Upon reaching the fortress's exchange, Lin found it connected to the Imperial Exchange, offering unique items not available elsewhere in the empire. These were munitions items, subject to strict level restrictions.
As a mere private with no military merits, Lin's purchasing options were limited.
Among the items he could buy was a teleportation stone for returning to the fortress, priced at 10,000 gold coins each—a significant cost, given their one-time use and potential for failure.
Lin bought 10 of these stones but decided against the anti-curse potion, priced similarly, which offered a 20% resistance to curses for an hour. He deemed it unnecessary.
He also browsed battlefield equipment, superior in attributes to dungeon gear of the same level and designed to inflict more damage on abyss monsters. However, purchasing these required corresponding military merits and substantial funds, with even the lowest-tier equipment costing hundreds of thousands of gold coins.
After familiarizing himself with the fortress, Lin was ready to explore the Yuan battlefield. The fortress's soldiers, recognizing Lin's level 22 status, cautioned him about the dangers of level 30 and above monsters.
"Thank you, I just want to take a look," Lin replied politely yet resolutely, earning a warning from the soldiers to retreat if he encountered danger.
Venturing into the battlefield, Lin soon encountered a Battlefield Ghost at level 30, which was immune to physical attacks. To Lin's surprise, his skeleton warriors' attacks passed through it harmlessly. Summoning skeleton mages, Lin discovered that elemental attacks were effective, quickly dispatching the ghost and earning 300,000 experience points and a soul breath—a material that could enhance weapons and equipment.
This encounter highlighted the need for Lin to remain vigilant, considering the potential for monsters with various immunities on the Yuan battlefield. He pondered the nature of his attacks, classifying the corpse explosion as a life-based attack combining various damage types.
As Lin moved towards a dungeon, he reflected on his sister Lin Mohan's advice to always be cautious. The Yuan battlefield, a site of millennia-long conflict between humans and the abyss, was home to numerous bizarre monsters, including ones immune to elemental attacks, which posed significant challenges even to Lin's skeleton mages.
Encountering other human teams, Lin noted their surprise at seeing someone venture alone into such perilous territory. Approaching the dungeon after more than two hours of travel, Lin's alertness was piqued by a surge of fog from which three panicked individuals—a knight, an archer, and a prophet—emerged, warning him of an abyss demon on their heels.