So, Field finished smoking a cigarette and then charged straight ahead with Qi-Qi. He raised his heavy hammer high and smashed it down on a soil elemental.
"Boom!" A loud noise echoed as a large hole was smashed into the back of the soil elemental, causing it to stagger forward. Then, with a roar full of anger, it turned around to face Field.
Its fist, made of giant rocks, came crashing towards Field.
Field didn't dodge, instead meeting the attack head-on with his hammer. With one strike, he shattered the rocky fist, causing the soil elemental to step back, with stones quickly reassembling at the point of breakage to form another fist.
As long as the core soil crystal wasn't destroyed, they could continuously regenerate using surrounding soil elements and magic.
"Qi-Qi, go lead the giant lizards away, I'll handle this guy," Field instructed, eyeing several rock giant lizards drawn by the commotion.
While the rock giant lizards were strong in strength and defense, they lacked speed. Qi-Qi, being a Silver-ranked, could easily outmaneuver them.
"Got it, meow!" Qi-Qi drew her cat daggers and dashed towards the rock giant lizards.
Five Silver-ranked and one Gold-ranked lizard.
Direct confrontation wasn't an option for Qi-Qi against them, but her goal was to lead them away from Field, not engage them.
"Come catch me, you big dumb lizards, meow!" Qi-Qi leaped onto one of the lizard's heads, stabbed it, then swiftly jumped away, leaving the lizard biting at thin air.
Qi-Qi fully utilized her agility advantage, successfully drawing away several of the rock giant lizards.
Field immediately raised his hammer, clashing with the soil elemental. It could manipulate earth magic, summoning spikes, boulders, and stone cones directed at Field.
But they posed no threat to Field; within five minutes, he smashed it, retrieving a human-sized soil crystal and a pile of ores from its body.
The ores absorbed by the soil elemental were essentially refined, devoid of impurities, making them Field's primary target.
"Over twenty kilograms of fire copper, a whole soil crystal weighing fifteen pounds, no magic-weave silver, and some other minerals..." Field noted, storing them in his spatial ring before turning to Qi-Qi.
He found Chi-Chi still having a blast, leading the slower rock giant lizards in circles.
"Qi-Qi, let's go," Field called out.
"Coming, meow!" Qi-Qi immediately ran towards Field and hopped onto his back.
As a few rock giant lizards charged at Field, one Gold-ranked lizard, Field swiftly knocked out with a hammer strike, causing the others to scatter upon realizing Field was not to be trifled with.
With Qi-Qi, Field headed towards another part of the mining area, where they encountered the second soil elemental.
With Qi-Qi once again distracting the surrounding rock giant lizards, Field dealt with the soil elemental.
This one seemed to have absorbed more metals, making it tougher. It took Field ten minutes to defeat it.
Field collected over thirty kilograms of fire copper, a whole soil crystal weighing eighteen pounds, half a pound of magic-weave silver, and various other minerals.
The fire copper requirement was a hundred kilograms, and the two soil elementals contributed over fifty kilograms, refined, totaling over a hundred and ten kilograms, which was sufficient.
Only one soil crystal was still needed.
And two and a half pounds of magic-weave silver.
After half an hour of searching, Field couldn't find a third soil elemental outside, so he decided to venture into the mines.
The mines here were a mix of abandoned tunnels from past minor excavations and caverns carved by earth-element monsters, intricate and complex.
"It looks terrifying, meow..." Qi-Qi, peering at the pitch-black mine entrance, clung to Field's shoulder, shrinking her neck.
Field gently rubbed her head. "Kissing me can boost your courage."
Hearing this, Qi-Qi puckered her lips and gave Field's cheek a smooch.
Field looked delighted, then strode confidently into the mine.
Just a few hundred meters in, Field encountered a large earth-element monster resembling a pangolin.
Around four-star Gold rank.
As it saw Field, it swiped its claws towards him, but Field gave it a punch.
It recoiled in pain, curling into a ball, then Field kicked it deeper into the cave, using it as a pathfinder.
There were indeed many monsters in the mine, but they posed little threat to Field.
As long as no Mithril-ranked monsters appeared, Field could handle them.
Before long, Field found the soil crystal, albeit in fragmented form, with the largest piece weighing less than three pounds.
Orin required a single piece, intact, weighing no less than ten pounds, so Field had to continue deeper.
After about a kilometer of progress, Field estimated he was three to four hundred meters underground.
It wasn't dark here, as many minerals emitted light due to magic.
Not because of ignorance but due to the glow of magic.
Some minerals and crystals absorbed magic, emitting various hues of light, which was quite beautiful.
Field was looking for the earthy yellow and blue-purple glows.
Half an hour later, Qi-Qi found it.
Due to her ability to sense wind flow and even the earth elemental magic carried within it, and the labyrinthine ventilation of the mine, she quickly located it.
Field was ecstatic.
"You see, you're so useful~" Field said, cupping Qi-Qi's face in his hands. Qi-Qi was delighted, rubbing against Field's palm, purring contentedly.
As she rubbed, her throat emitted a purr, then she leaped up, turning into a face-hugging cat and latching onto Field's head.
Field felt Qi-Qi was enjoying herself, so he got a bit carried away. Qi-Qi tended to get especially excited at times like these.
Continuously rubbing his head, she even stuck out her little tongue to lick Field's hair, as if grooming him.
After a while, Field's slightly longer hair was licked into a rooster's comb.
"Feeld~ Feeld~" Qi-Qi sat on Feeld's shoulder, hugging his neck and humming his nickname. Feeld, on the other hand, used his angelic heavy hammer to knock down the entire earthen crystal from the vein.
Just found three pounds of Magerun Silver Ore.
With this piece of earthen crystal, the task is complete.
After collecting the earthen crystal, Feeld stretched lazily. "All done, let's get back to the city. We'll go out to sea this afternoon, and tomorrow we'll go find Dopey Mushroom."
"Okay meow!" Qi-Qi nodded, then climbed down from Feeld's shoulder, turned into a cat lying on his back, and brought her little face close to his ear, whispering softly.
"Big guy, do you want some little kitty right now?"
The warm breeze blowing on Feeld's neck made him shiver, and Qi-Qi even stuck out her tongue and gently licked his earlobe.
Feeld couldn't help but gasp.
So tantalizing~
Is this the nature of the cat people?
Feeld couldn't resist, reaching out to pull Qi-Qi into his arms.
He held her slender waist with one hand, while the other supported her legs. Her flat abdomen pressed tightly against his chest, and both could feel each other's heartbeat.
Qi-Qi's small hands cupped Feeld's cheeks, her little face slightly raised, and the cat ears on her head trembled slightly.
Feeld looked into her eyes, those emerald green cat eyes shining like bright gems in the dim mine.
Feeld gently rubbed his face against hers, giving her a light kiss on the corner of her mouth, and Qi -Qi immediately hugged his neck, responding to him.
After a moment, their lips parted.
"Not bad, getting more skilled," Feeld smiled.
Qi-Qi giggled and buried her head beside Feeld's neck, while Feeld activated the teleportation array disk.
During the ten-second activation process, Qi-Qi was still a bit naughty, sticking out her little tongue to lick Feeld's neck.
Feeld could feel the tiny barbs on her tongue, softer than those of a real cat's tongue.
The barbs on a real cat's tongue are used for licking meat and grooming fur, while the cat people only need to groom their fur, so their barbs are softer.
Back in Seatown, Feeld first went to the Steel Brew Tavern to complete the task, then to the Orn Blacksmith Shop, and finally back to the Seaflower Tavern to complete the task.
Now Feeld only had two tasks left.
One was to hunt sea monsters, the platinum-level Crimson Sea Eel.
The other was the task from the mysterious client.
The mysterious client asked him to meet in the Little Red Fruit Forest twenty kilometers away from Seatown tonight.
It was just past noon, so after lunch, Feeld went to the territory of the Wild Wolf Gang in the inner city.
The territory of the Wild Wolf Gang was by the sea. In addition to shipbuilding, they also developed the seafood industry, such as fishing and crabbing, so it was a good idea to ask them where the Crimson Sea Eel was.
"The Crimson Sea Eel, huh? It's in the nearby Red Coral Reef area. They like to hide in the red coral reefs, usually in the depth range of one hundred to three hundred meters," Rogen said.
"So I suggest you follow our fishing boat out to sea. If you're lucky, you'll be back before midnight and save some rental money."
Otherwise, how could they claim to be professionals? This idea was naturally better, saving Feeld from having to split his attention while driving the boat.
Rogen didn't ask Feeld for money. After all, it was just a ride, and Feeld would handle the hunting of the Crimson Sea Eel himself.
There were twelve sailors on the fishing boat, all of them golden-level sailors, with a platinum-level captain. When they heard that Feeld was joining them, they all warmly welcomed him.
Sailors were similar to mercenaries. A bunch of guys who drank and boasted, they could quickly get along.
After an hour and a half of sailing, they arrived at the so-called Red Coral Reef area.
You could see colorful coral reefs under the deep blue sea, with red ones dominating, accounting for more than sixty percent. The Red Coral Reef got its name from this.
The almost pollution-free seawater shimmered blue under the sunlight, and the sparkling waves reflected on the coral reefs, adding layers of color to them.
It was truly beautiful.
"Are you going to dive straight down?" the captain asked, somewhat surprised to see Feeld standing on the railing.
"Yeah, why not?" Feeld said.
"You're being reckless. The Crimson Sea Eel is covered in mucus and very agile in the water. It's very dangerous for you to fight it bare-handed in the water," the captain shook his head.
"Do you have any better suggestions?" Feeld asked.
"My suggestion is for you to take a harpoon down. As long as you can hit the Crimson Sea Eel, our magic ship will use full power to pull it out. After struggling for a while, it will be exhausted," the captain suggested.
"But in that case, you'll need to pay a helper fee. After all, the magic core of the magic ship is not cheap, and the Crimson Sea Eel is very strong. One magic core may not be enough."
"Alright... That's settled then!" Feeld nodded.
The so-called helper fee was only eight thousand gold coins. When he completed the task, he could earn more than twenty thousand.
Sometimes, to complete a task, you had to make some trade-offs, which was normal.
And honestly, although Feeld was good at swimming, he wasn't sure he could successfully hunt the Crimson Sea Eel alone.
With a trump card in hand, he could ensure he didn't die, but whether he could take down the Crimson Sea Eel was another matter.
Now the captain had a better plan, so naturally, it had to be adopted, which was a simple matter of adapting to the situation.
After stripping down to his boxers, Feeld took a giant two-meter-long harpoon, with a thick rope tied to the end.
"This rope is three hundred meters long. Take it easy, when the rope is stretched straight, we'll use full power. You'll have to hold onto the rope and climb up along it. Otherwise, we won't be able to stop to pick you up before the Crimson Sea Eel loses its strength," the captain reminded.
"No problem," Feeld nodded, then gave Qi-Qi a reassuring look before plunging into the water with a splash.
Opening his eyes underwater, Feeld knew the feeling, sour, salty, and painful.
But Feeld had no such worries. His giant physique gave him strong adaptability, and as long as he used a little magic to coat his eyes, he could block out the seawater.
Even in the ocean, he could see clearly around him.
Feeld quickly descended with the harpoon, searching for the Crimson Sea Eel's shadow among the coral reefs.
You know what, this Red Coral Reef was really beautiful. There were many colorful fish swimming around, as well as various strange sea monsters.
Most of them were quite docile, but some were more aggressive.
For example, just now
, Feeld had only descended to a depth of about a hundred meters when he saw a large fish over two meters long, with sharp teeth, swimming towards him.
Within thirty meters, the big fish began to accelerate and then headed straight for Feeld at a very fast speed.
There was a blue light around it, which should be its innate magic, allowing it to control the seawater to accelerate itself to a certain extent.
But for Feeld, a golden-level sea monster like this posed no threat.
When it reached Feeld, he punched it directly on the head.
Although there was a huge resistance in the water, Feeld's strength was quite sufficient. With one punch, he could even create a shockwave in the water, directly knocking out the big fish.
Continuing to dive, Feeld reached a depth of about one hundred and fifty meters and saw a coral cave about two meters wide.
It was said that the Crimson Sea Eel liked to hide in it.
So Feeld swam over, ready to investigate.