Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty: Underground Tunnels

Chapter Twenty: Underground Tunnels

As the scarlet beam of light from the airship illuminated the battlefield, Valen forced out a weak smile as he remained standing from sheer determination.

If it wasn’t for his powerful endurance and recovery as a level 1, he would’ve likely collapsed long ago. Such exhaustion had likely surpassed hunger long ago.

His obsidian armour was incredibly deformed, the Singularity Reactor was completely depleted, and his entire being screamed for him to take a rest.

Glancing at the time display on his Silver Watch, he saw that it was already mid-afternoon with the watch displaying 2:40pm.

It had been a hectic first day as an Evolver for him. For a short while, he merely stared at the charred battlefield, processing all that had happened.

It had been a race against time. Twenty minutes. From the moment the Cloaked Man activated his Absolute Bronze Field, Valen had known that he could not win against him.

He could only wait until reinforcements arrived. In doing so, he had fought to survive against three level 10 Ironfang Centipedes, barely defeating them with his mini cannon.

Then, he engaged the man in the Blood Diamond Power Suit in a game of wits. He had known that 20 minutes had elapsed, and had thus bet everything on the reinforcements.

If the airship came even a minute later, he would have either had to surrender the black rocks or bite the bullet and rely on his system watch to save him just once, buying time until reinforcements came. The very idea of surrendering the precious wormhole-stabilisation minerals enraged him.

Heavy boots pounded against the scorched earth as military personnel poured out of the airship.

Some equipped Evolvers recorded the accounts of Valen’s teammates and the three mech pilots in the Hero Sector. Some also went to the fortified walls to access the detailed recording of the series of events in the Beast Haven.

Other Evolvers left the Hero Sector to clear out the Level 5 Amberfiends that had barricaded the entrance of the Haven. This wasn’t the first time an uprising had occurred within a Beast Haven, so their actions were quick and efficient. In no time, they were ready to depart.

While all of these played out, Valen had silently departed the area. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be saved, or was afraid of his identity being exposed.

Since the system had already sent his basic information to the Evolvers Association, it would be all too easy for these Evolvers of the military to discover his identity if they really intended to dig in.

This was why Valen had been excited about the Double Username Privilege. He had intended to hide his identity, clear a few beast havens, get rich quietly and level up faster.

But who knew that something such as an uprising would’ve occurred in his first beast haven raid, causing him to reveal more than he had intended to?

Currently, Valen sat in an underground network of tunnels, leaning against the wall and trying to slow down his heavy breathing.

The musty odour of dirt and decay filled the air. The tunnels stretched out in various directions, running under the surface.

This was the home of the massive centipedes, which ran beneath the Hero Sector. While no one was looking, he had sneaked in here for very obvious reasons.

’I had hoped to get opportunities in the beast haven, but instead of getting a treasure, I had ruined one.’ He thought in annoyance, glancing at his obsidian armour. Right now, he didn’t even know if it could be repaired.

As soon as the military evacuated everyone from the sector, the beast haven would be sealed off for a thorough investigation and extermination procedure. No unaffiliated Evolvers would be allowed in during that period, or they would be treated as enemies and shot down.

Due to that, he had to quickly investigate the hive of the centipedes and take whatever he could, or he wouldn’t be able to recoup his losses.

The law stated that any treasures found in a Beast Haven belonged entirely to the Evolver or civilian who discovered it, and no military personnel had the right to confiscate it without appropriate reasons.

Valen’s feet dragged as he leaned against the wall, trying to stop the sharp twist in his stomach. Due to his starvation, the recovery effect of his Blood Path had begun to slow. Now, it gave only 1HP after every 2 minutes.

Since only 13 minutes had passed since his evolution, and the sudden change which occurred two minutes ago in his recovery, he now had only 161HP, having recovered a mesely 11HP which would be wiped out in the next 17 minutes.

’This is not good. I have to be faster.’

Dread filled Valen’s heart at the thought of having to pay 10,000 points to the system once his HP reached 1 in two hours.

He straightened and continued his way through the underground tunnels. His enhanced sight allowed him to discover faint glimmers on the walls.

Stopping at one, he pried an extremely black chunk of metal loose from the wall.

His eyes brightened when he felt a warm current flowing into his palm from the metal, as he had recognised it.

It was a trophican — a unique metal that possessed trophic. They came in six colours: Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Red and White. White had the purest and most concentrated amount of trophic among them all.

Black coins were made from black trophicans. The same went for purple coins.

Although he was staring at the poorest quality one, it was still useful. That was because he regained some strength after accidentally absorbing the trophic just now. His eyes blazed as he rapidly absorbed the trophic within it.

After levelling up, his absorption speed had increased greatly. In a few seconds, the trophican within his hands had dimmed with cracks appearing on its surface.

The hunger hadn’t been satiated and his HP hadn’t replenished either, but at least he wouldn’t collapse anytime soon.

Following which, Valen began harvesting any trophican he came across, devouring the energy within at a frightening speed. Soon, he became able to stand straight and his dimmed vision had recovered slightly.

He also began to tuck some of the trophicans away for future use. Since no military personnel had searched underground for now, scavenging the tunnels might be the only profit he could get from the entire raid.

Racing through the underground labyrinth, he explored eight different tunnels, before a frown gradually surfaced on his face.

The last three tunnels he had explored had nothing within. It seemed as though the trophicans had been harvested by someone.

’Could someone have the same plans as me and had also snuck into the underground tunnels?’

Valen’s heart tightened at this thought. He glanced at his Silver Watch, and the scowl on his face deepened.

Two minutes. Maximum.

He only had roughly two minutes to round up and leave the tunnel. Any longer, and the reinforcements could detect his absence.

Furthermore, if they discovered his scavenging of the underground resources, they might not take it from him due to the law, but it wouldn’t deter the greedy thoughts of some powerful Evolvers who might move against him in secret.

They might not believe him even if he said all he found was a few trophicans. After all, where there were laws made by man, there would always be men who broke the rules.

Hence, Valen knew he had to hurry. Pushing the thought of there being another person here to the back of his mind, he reached the next fork in the tunnels. Ahead, three different tunnels branched out.

’If that mysterious person had also come here, he would definitely have picked the middle pathway. I’m not willing to clash with anyone right now, as I wish to benefit secretly. It’s best both of us never meet, and our identity remains hidden from the other. This way, it’s a win-win.’

Valen took the right path after considering for a few moments. He soon arrived into an underground room after a light sprint.

His pupils immediately shrunk. A secret stash! In the underground room was a stone surface, presumably the bed of a centipede.

On the floor beside it were three black rocks. Each of them looked exactly like the ones from an Ironfang Centipede.

’Could this have been the home of the Level 10 Feral Ironfang Centipede? I’ve truly struck gold!’ Valen thought in elation.

As it turned out, the Feral Centipede’s home wasn’t the middle tunnel but the one to the right. Any experienced individual would know that a ruler always took the centre of everything.

Yet, the feral centipede actually hadn’t taken the middle tunnel as its home. It was simply too cunning.

However, Valen didn’t care. All he knew was that his decision to avoid trouble had led him to riches.

’As expected, a patient dog eats the fattest bone. Erm, that’s not right. I’m not a dog. A wise one doesn’t make losing deals. Yeah, that’s the one.’

Valen internally amused himself while he glanced around the room. Next to the three black rocks lay several strange items covered by dust.

One was a metallic collar. Close to it lay an object resembling an oversized retractable measuring tape, small enough to fit in one hand.

Valen approached it and picked up the object. A narrow slit ran across its top, where a tightly wound red ribbon rested beneath the casing.

He was short on time and didn’t have the luxury to observe more carefully. He tapped his waist, causing the metal covering that area to shift. Then he placed the object into his pocket.

He turned his gaze to the metallic collar on the ground. He bent over and retrieved it, confused as to its function.

A system notification immediately sounded in his ears.

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System: [The System Watch has detected some unique fluctuations from the user’s item. Do you wish for the system to decode it?]

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"Yes." Valen answered without hesitation. The system would never steal from anyone, so he wasn’t worried.

After waiting for a moment, and seeing that the system would need some time to decode it, he put it alongside the black rocks in his pocket.

Intuition told him that he had discovered a truly valuable treasure.

’I’ll have to find a way to get enough points and buy an inventory ring. Also, I should get stronger and raid more powerful beast havens.’ He thought.

Suddenly, rumbles began to resonate through the underground tunnels.

The airship seemed to be ready to depart, and soon, military personnel would flood this place.

After exiting the tunnel on the right, Valen’s eyes quickly scanned the two remaining passages of the underground chamber.

But he had to resist temptation. Numerous great kings had fallen to greed, and heroes to beauty.

He was going to be different. He would steadily grow stronger. He was destined for great things. Losing everything here due to greed wouldn’t be worth it. Only shortsighted people would go for immediate benefits, and disregard longterm ones.

Repressing the growing annoyance within using philosophical quotes, Valen turned to the exit of the tunnel and used Charge, darting through the darkness faster than the eye could see.