Chapter 16: Black Iron Maxed Out, The Tide of Demons

After the Wu siblings left, Liu Hen hurriedly took Little Black Stone back into the cave.

Once inside, he eagerly began upgrading the All-Element Pickaxe.

"One hundred sixty-six magic crystals—how many levels can that upgrade the All-Element Pickaxe?" he wondered expectantly.

With a thought, seven iron ores and seven magic crystals vanished from his spatial backpack.

About a minute later, the All-Element Pickaxe reached level seven.

At this point, the number of slots in the spatial backpack had increased to seven.

But Liu Hen didn’t stop there; he chose to continue upgrading.

Another minute passed, and the pickaxe reached level eight, with the backpack slots increasing to eight as well.

“Can it be upgraded indefinitely? I’ve already stocked up seven or eight hundred iron ores,” Liu Hen thought eagerly, continuing the upgrades.

A minute and a half later, the pickaxe hit level nine, and the backpack slots rose to nine.

Finally, after two more minutes, the All-Element Pickaxe reached level ten, and the backpack slots increased to ten.

But now, the upgrade materials changed.

[All-Element Pickaxe (Black Iron Max Level) Lv.10 (Upgrade Requirements: One Copper Ore, 10 Magic Crystals)]

[Magic Crystals: 132]

[Spatial Backpack Slots: 10]

[Recipe: Creation Workbench (Bonfire, Bark Insulating Clothes)]

"Black Iron max level… I knew it wouldn’t be that simple," Liu Hen muttered, staring at the information in his mind. "Next upgrade requires copper ore?"

He frowned quietly. The original owner had grown up in this region and had traversed every inch of land within a hundred-mile radius in search of food and anything useful, so he was intimately familiar with the area.

Yet, even so, there was no memory of any copper ore deposits here.

If worst came to worst, leaving this area would be the only option.

"But there’s no rush now. Ten backpack slots are enough for the time being," he thought, then turned his attention to the Creation Workbench.

"Let’s use the remaining resources to upgrade the workbench."

When he had upgraded it to level two before, the recipe for insulating clothes had appeared inside.

Liu Hen was eager to see what new recipe would appear at level three.

He gathered three hundred iron ores from the pile on the ground and chose to upgrade the workbench.

In the next moment, three hundred iron ores and three magic crystals disappeared simultaneously.

The countdown began… two hours.

“Why does this Creation Workbench upgrade take so long?” Liu Hen wondered.

Still, two hours wasn’t too long; he could wait.

“I’ll test the mining speed of the Black Iron max-level All-Element Pickaxe.”

Two hours was neither short nor long.

While waiting, he took out the pickaxe and went to the far end of the cave.

*Clang!*

With one strike—

[Stone Fragments +10]

Cracks appeared across the cave wall, and a large amount of rubble fell, leaving a head-sized indentation.

“The mining speed has greatly improved!” Liu Hen’s eyes sparkled with joy.

This meant his digging speed would be much faster.

In the future, even if danger arose, he could escape by digging.

Just then, the bonfire suddenly went out, plunging the cave into darkness.

“Master, be careful…” Little Black Stone instinctively stood in front of Liu Hen, looking tense.

Liu Hen was startled but quickly recovered.

He patted Little Black Stone’s head comfortingly and said, “It’s just the fuel running out. Let’s go get more.”

“Fuel?” Little Black Stone blinked, then breathed a sigh of relief, having thought it was something dangerous.

Liu Hen emptied the spatial backpack, leaving only ice blocks and tree cakes, then retrieved the bonfire to prevent monsters lurking in the dark outside.

“Seven slots, can hold seven hundred pieces of wood—enough.”

He immediately went outside with Little Black Stone, dug a passage through the wall, set Little Black Stone as lookout, and began gathering wood himself.

…

In the darkness, the Wu siblings traveled cautiously but quickly.

Though strong and equipped far better than ordinary wastelanders, and not worried even if robbed, they remained very careful.

This time, eager to sell their precious goods, they avoided fighting monsters, choosing to detour instead.

After more than half an hour, they arrived at the Red Snail Camp.

Though it was early night, there were only a handful of wastelanders within a hundred-mile radius; without fate intervening, it was hard to gather together.

Thus, the camp remained quiet, aside from the disabled wastelanders waiting to die beneath the city walls.

“Hey, Wu siblings, did you bring back any treasures this time?” Manager Chen greeted them warmly, his attitude completely different from how he treated Liu Hen.

“No disturbance, Manager Chen?” Wu Yuanming smiled.

“Not at all. But wait, why are you wearing so little clothing? Aren’t you cold?”

Manager Chen's eyes immediately landed on Wu Yuanming’s seemingly thin clothes, his face full of suspicion.

“Could this clothing be special somehow?”

Even during early night, surface temperatures didn’t rise above minus twenty degrees Celsius.

In such conditions, only the lowest-class wastelanders wore so little, having no clothes at all.

But the Wu siblings were different; they definitely had clothes, especially Wu Yuanming, their leader.

The siblings exchanged smiles.

Wu Yuanming said, “Manager Chen, you have a keen eye. This garment was bought from a distant place at considerable cost.”

“What’s special about it?” Manager Chen asked curiously.

“Let me not spoil the surprise just yet. This clothing is made by an esper,” Wu Yuanming said mysteriously.

“An esper?!” Manager Chen’s expression shifted, his curiosity deepening.

“Don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us what’s so extraordinary about this clothing that lets you laugh in such extreme conditions.”

“Manager Chen, let me tell you…” Wu Yuanming launched into a vivid tale, describing the great effort to meet the esper and acquire two such garments.

A seemingly ordinary story was told with grandeur.

Chen’s face showed shock: “Like tree bark protecting the trunk, it retains body heat and serves as armor? Really?”

He cared little for other details; these two points mattered most.

The camp’s people avoided going out because their bulky thermal suits made them vulnerable outside.

If their suits were damaged, they couldn’t endure the extreme climate or stay long outdoors.

If such clothing existed, they might even venture beyond the camp and communicate with neighbors.

“Manager Chen, why don’t you try it on?”

Wu Yuanming handed over the extra set.

Without hesitation, Chen took off his shirt and put on the bark insulating clothes.

Soon, he was astonished, his face serious.

This clothing deserved careful consideration.

“How many magic crystals?” he asked bluntly.

“Two hundred,” Wu Yuanming replied calmly but was inwardly anxious, worried the camp wouldn’t want the clothing.

“Two hundred?” Chen frowned. “Too expensive.”

Wu Yuanming also frowned. “Manager Chen, we brought these from so far away, and they’re practically treasures. You have to let us make some profit. If there’s demand, we’ll make another trip to buy more from that esper.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Chen hesitated, then said, “If you sell me the one you’re wearing too, I’ll pay you two hundred and one each.”

“Ah?”

The Wu siblings were stunned but quickly agreed.

The deal went surprisingly smoothly; the five of them earned 200 magic crystals instantly.

Afterward, they bought fifty pounds of tree cakes and left quickly.

Once the Wu siblings departed, Manager Chen took the two bark insulating clothes into the hollow mountain and found a high-ranking official.

“My lord, weren’t you planning to form a trade caravan to the neighboring camp but worried about suitable protective clothing? These are perfect…”

He spoke passionately about the great effort spent acquiring them from wandering traders.

Finally, he said, “My lord, I suffered a lot to find these. You must give me some profit; after all, I need to eat. Five hundred magic crystals each will do... I will urge those traders to get more soon.”

…

“Big brother, I feel like the real value of those insulating clothes is more than two hundred magic crystals. Chen agreed too quickly,” the Wu siblings whispered as they hurried along in the dark.

“I know, but the deal’s done.”

Wu Yuanming was a bit frustrated, realizing he had underestimated the bark insulating clothes’ worth.

He was about to say more when his expression suddenly changed and he crouched quickly.

The others sensed something too and crouched.

In the next moment, a horde of monsters passed nearby.

Yes—a horde!

Due to poor visibility and the silent footsteps of the monsters, their exact number was unknown.

But what they could see was already over a hundred.

Among them were four-armed monsters, and even a few six-armed ones hidden within.

“This is… a demon tide?!”

Cold sweat broke out on their faces as their hearts chilled.

They had encountered a rare demon tide.

Such a massive swarm, composed of at least a thousand monsters, left no life surviving in its wake.