Chapter 94: Chapter 92: Phantom of the Battlefield

「A few minutes ago.」

After reaching the center of the Stone Ball, ripples spread through the air, and Mo Ling found himself plunged into a void of absolute darkness.

Then, with a flash of light, he appeared next to an unknown vein within the Thorn Stone Forest, his body emitting a dazzling ripple of light.

But Mo Ling could feel that this place wasn’t real. A cheap, counterfeit feeling filled the air, and he sensed he could leave whenever he pleased.

"Kill all your enemies." A deep, heavy voice suddenly boomed in Mo Ling’s mind.

Only then did Mo Ling realize he was surrounded by warring members of the Mineral Race. The light around his body slowly faded, revealing green, stone-like skin.

"The race you will be participating as in this war is—the Olivine."

"Huh?"

While Mo Ling was still trying to figure out what was happening, an enemy approached. It was a newborn of the Olivine Race, just like him.

’What is going on?’

Mo Ling was still wondering why members of the same Mineral Race were attacking each other when his "kinsman" transformed its four hands into sharp blades and slashed at him.

Just as the blades were about to strike, Mo Ling instinctively used his teleportation ability on the "kinsman." The aggressive attacker vanished in an instant.

Then, Mo Ling suddenly felt the dead body of an Olivine appear inside his Block.

Outside the Block, the chaotic battlefield raged on.

However, Mo Ling couldn’t see the Block from the outside; he could only sense the space within it.

With a thought, he tossed the Olivine kinsman’s body back outside.

As he puzzled over this, a powerful energy surged from the corpse into Mo Ling’s Olivine body, causing it to swell. He suddenly grew taller, and his strength increased immensely.

"Kill all your enemies." The deep voice echoed once more.

Ignoring the voice, Mo Ling began to wander casually through the battlefield.

The members of the Mineral Race here were frantically attacking any enemies around them. Most of them were from the Olivine Race.

After one member of the Olivine Race exhausted itself to defeat an enemy, its body began to change, transforming from a frail, newborn state into that of a sturdy warrior.

It glanced around, then charged, shattering a nearby weak Mineral Race member into pieces. Its power grew stronger again.

Its gaze swept the area again, and the warrior locked onto the leisurely Mo Ling. Their eyes met, and it instantly rushed forward.

It merged its four hands in front of it, forming a massive lance, and thrust directly at Mo Ling.

However, before it could even reach him, it vanished on the spot, its lance clattering to the ground.

A moment later, Mo Ling casually tossed out a corpse.

The sensation of immense power surging into him struck Mo Ling’s body once more.

But Mo Ling only found it strange.

’This feeling... it’s easy to get addicted to it.’

He watched the other Mineral Race members. They seemed confused when they first appeared, but after a single battle, they immediately turned into bloodthirsty killers.

They instantly threw themselves into the next fight, slaughtering one another.

Before long, only a few powerful members of the Olivine Race remained in the vein, and they were all glaring ferociously at Mo Ling.

This was because Mo Ling was currently the weakest of the surviving Olivine. Whoever killed him first would surpass the others.

In an instant, all these powerful Olivine charged at Mo Ling.

Then, one by one, they were teleported and killed. Soon, only heaps of shattered gems lay on the ground. Mo Ling stood among them, completely baffled.

The familiar surge of power washed over him again, more intense than ever before. It rushed to his head, bringing with it a maddening battle lust.

"Kill all your enemies." The voice still echoed in his ears.

Then, a new message entered Mo Ling’s mind.

"Internal strife victorious. The Thorn Stone Forest war is now open."

A map of the Thorn Stone Forest suddenly materialized in Mo Ling’s mind. The map was covered in a black fog, with only the area he was in illuminated.

It was labeled with a few words: "Olivine Vein."

’What does it want me to do?’

Mo Ling picked a random direction and started walking. As he did, the fog on the map dispersed, revealing the area.

’Is it asking me to explore the map?’

He hadn’t walked far when a vein appeared on the map. Before he could get a closer look, a ferocious blue Mineral Race member charged at him.

The blue creature was covered in spikes and had a robust physique, clearly a survivor of many battles. After it charged, Mo Ling pulled it into his Block.

That addictive power surged through him again, and the voice urged Mo Ling to destroy the blue Mineral Race’s vein.

Sure enough, after he destroyed the "Lapis Lazuli Vein" marked on the map, the label vanished, and his power continued to grow.

Mo Ling followed the map, exploring and slaughtering every last member of the Mineral Race in the entire Thorn Stone Forest until only the initial Olivine Vein remained.

His body had reached a terrifying level of strength. Mo Ling tested it out—a casual punch could now easily shatter a stone wall.

Moreover, his ability to control olivine had become frighteningly powerful; both his range of control and his regeneration had grown immensely.

This feeling of near-invincibility was also highly addictive.

"And now?"

Mo Ling stood there, unsure of what to do next.

While Mo Ling was feeling lost, the entire Thorn Stone Forest suddenly began to shake. The cavern started to collapse, and Mo Ling quickly protected himself with olivine and escaped to the surface.

Controlling the olivine to lift himself into the sky, Mo Ling watched as the Thorn Stone Forest caved in, leaving a giant chasm in its center.

Then, several giant hands gripped the edge of the chasm and hauled something up.

With a push from those hands, a colossal creature leaped onto the surface.

Its entire body was composed of seven-colored stones, which formed a dizzying array of misshapen blocks of color. Countless arms crisscrossed and waved about.

’This is the giant Mineral Race creature from the carving!’

Not only that, but Mo Ling could finally see clearly what was floating around the giant creature.

They were strange objects.

The mottled patterns surrounding the giant Mineral Race creature in the carving were actually various items. No wonder Mo Ling had found the proportions so strange.

The objects floated continuously around the giant creature, as if some force was keeping them tethered to it.

But among these objects, Mo Ling spotted something incredibly familiar.

A red bandana!

He quickly looked inside his Block and saw that the red bandana he had stored there was still lying quietly on the metal floor.

He took a closer look at the red bandana near the giant creature. It was identical.

Moreover, among the floating objects, Mo Ling also saw a pair of gloves—the very same Golden Touch Hand that Li Luo had shown him.

At this moment, a bold conjecture formed in Mo Ling’s mind.

’These items... are they all relics?’

Just as Mo Ling was reeling from the shock, the giant Mineral Race creature noticed him, its cold gaze fixing upon him.

Then, the familiar deep voice actually came from the giant creature’s mouth. The nagging voice from before had been his all along.

But this time, the voice was not as emotionless as when it had been guiding Mo Ling.

"Don’t cause trouble."

Its voice was filled with exhaustion.

The moment it finished speaking, a strange Seven-Colored Light Wave shot from its enormous eyes and struck Mo Ling, instantly knocking him back into the state of darkness.

When he came to his senses, he was back in the familiar center of the Stone Ball.