Chapter 1 Washing

Rumbling, Lin En climbed ashore from the river. It had been a long time since he'd had such a refreshing wash.

After a while, having put on all his clothes, Lin En started off.

He took the unburnt torch from his backpack, lit it, and prepared to move forward. But before he even started, Lin En felt a slight tremor in the ground.

"Crap, what's going on? Is it an earthquake?"

It didn't feel like an earthquake, more like the feeling of a pile driver hammering posts.

"Damn." Lin En hastily hid. The tremors grew stronger and more frequent. Before long, he heard heavy footsteps approaching.

After a moment, he saw several tall figures appear. By the faint light of the glowing plants, Lin En was surprised to discover that they were arms pieced together from stones.

Lin En thought to himself, "Could they be stone giants or something? If they are, I need to sneak away."

Just as Lin En was figuring out how to escape, a chat group popped up.

Rock Golem Leader: "I'm going to wash in the river. You guys wait."

Rock Golem No. 1: "Okay."

No. 2: "Oh."

No. 3: "Ah."

No. 4: "..."

...

...

Rumbling, the Rock Golem Leader, lying in the water, sighed, "When will you guys reach the fourth rank? You're all so clumsy at the second and third ranks."

Rock Golem No. 1: "Wasn't it because you didn't call us when the meteorite shower happened? Otherwise, we wouldn't be stuck below the fourth rank, okay?"

No. 2: "Yeah, you were actually lower than me back then."

No. 3: "Why don't I know anything about this?"

No. 2: "You were still sleeping at the time."

No. 3: "I see."

Rock Golem Leader: "Ahem, I'm done washing. You guys go."

...

After eavesdropping, Lin En pondered. "So, they're at least at the second rank. The Rock Golem Leader is probably at the fourth rank, or even higher?"

The sound of water splashing continued to ring out. By the time Lin En reacted, all the Rock Golems had disappeared.

After waiting for a while and not sensing any movement, Lin En emerged from behind the stalactite. He glanced in the direction they had come from. Although it was pitch black, the Rock Golems had gone that way.

He lit his torch and continued forward. After half an hour, Lin En looked at the exit ahead and belatedly realized, "Could those Rock Golems be the 'little cuties' Da Shan was talking about?"

But thinking about the three- or four-meter-tall Rock Golems, "They're a bit big for me, but for Da Shan, they really are little cuties."

The light was dazzling. Lin En shielded his eyes with his hand. This was how it was after being in a pitch-black environment for too long. After a while, he felt better and lowered his hand to observe.

"(´⊙w⊙`)" "Did I come directly to the foot of the mountain? But I didn't feel like I was going downhill, but rather uphill. How strange."

He slowly walked out of the cave. As soon as he stepped out, the system's notification popped up.

[System: You have entered a special area, the Endless Mountains]

[System: You are now in the entrance area of the Endless Mountains]

"Special area? Endless Mountains? Entrance?"

"I know what a special area is, like the previous Misty Maze. The Endless Mountains is the name of this special area? And there's an entrance?"

"I wonder what's so special about these Endless Mountains? Endless Mountains, Endless Mountains, according to the name, 'endless mountains,' does that mean there are countless peaks?"

"Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I'll just stop thinking about it. Won't I know once I go in and take a look?"

After looking around, Lin En found the cave Da Shan had mentioned. He looked at the surrounding environment, planned his route, and set off directly.

What Lin En didn't know was that after stepping into the Endless Mountains, the number of mining attempts decreased by one.

In about ten minutes, Lin En was standing at the cave entrance. The cave wasn't big, only four or five meters deep. The light was sufficient, so it was quite clear.

Lin En walked into the cave and carefully observed it. This cave had been abandoned for a long time. He wondered what kind of high-level ferocious beast had lived here before.

At the deepest point, Lin En found a small silver treasure chest and a palm-sized scale. Looking at the scale, it wasn't hard to imagine how big its owner must have been.

He opened the treasure chest, and there was only one item inside.

[System: Master Fan Deng's Notes *1]

Name: Master Fan Deng's Notes (Special, Unique)

Category: Item

Effect: Grants Fan Deng Appraisal Technique upon use

(Master Fan Deng's notebook, containing a wealth of appraisal techniques, is one of the holy grails for appraisers. Note: Master Fan Deng was an all-round appraiser)

"Damn, appraisal technique! I finally have the ability to appraise! And it's an all-round appraisal! I'm rich, hahaha."

After learning it, Lin En used the appraisal technique on the scale in his hand.

Name: Scale Serpent Scale (Rare)

Category: Material

(Scale from a sixth-order ferocious beast, the Scale Serpent. Adding one piece when refining advanced strength potions and advanced stamina potions can improve the quality and effect)

Lin En looked at the scale in his hand and exclaimed, "It's actually from a sixth-order ferocious beast. Just one scale is bigger than my palm. I wonder how big the actual creature is. At least it's not inferior to the stone giant, right?"

He put away the scale and walked straight out of the cave. After asking Da Shan if there were any other caves on this mountain, he went straight to the next peak.

Upon stepping onto the next peak, the number of mining attempts decreased by one again.

Each time Lin En stepped onto a new peak, he would ask what good things there were, and then, following Da Shan's guidance, he could quickly collect all the treasures.

In this way, after climbing four peaks in a row, Lin En had successively harvested many materials, mostly ores and some herbs.

Standing at the foot of the fourth peak, Lin En was sorting through his loot. There were quite a few types of ores, with iron ore and copper ore being the most abundant, followed by silver ore, and a small amount of gold ore and two pieces of mithril ore. The herbs had mostly completed the ingredients for the advanced strength potion, with only two main ingredients missing.

After sorting everything out, Lin En walked towards the next peak. Once again, he asked Da Shan what good things there were here, and Da Shan's answer filled Lin En with joy.

There was actually a golden treasure chest here. Lin En's body, which had been a bit tired after climbing four mountains, was immediately filled with energy, and he ran towards the mountaintop at full speed.

Normally, it would take more than an hour to climb to the top, but Lin En managed to reach the top in just an hour.

Haa... haa... Panting heavily, Lin En didn't even wipe away his sweat as he looked around. The entire mountaintop was actually flat.

Soon, Lin En spotted the golden treasure chest. The treasure chest was located on a stone platform, with two silver treasure chests on either side.

Looking at the one gold and two silver treasure chests, Lin En's saliva involuntarily dripped down.