It was a Mineral Race member, yellowish-white all over. Its skin had a smooth, oily texture, like a river-polished pebble.

Mo Ling couldn’t identify what kind of mineral it was, but it was clearly here for Shibeng.

The Mineral Race member’s body shape had already changed. Its eight arms had become like a spider’s jointed legs, extending all the way to the ground, giving it a rather bizarre appearance.

It even walked by supporting itself with those limbs, crawling along the rock face into the Basalt Ore Vein where Shibeng was located.

Upon seeing Shibeng, the Spider Mine Race member bent its limbs and, upon extending them again, instantly launched its body through the air toward him.

While still some distance from Shibeng in mid-air, the ends of its arms transformed into round hammerheads, which it swung and spun through the air.

’He actually transformed his limbs into hammers, the most damaging weapon type against the Mineral Race,’ Mo Ling thought with some surprise.

It seemed this Spider Mine Race member had already hunted many enemies, its combat instincts reaching a very high level.

Facing the aggressive enemy, Shibeng didn’t meet it head-on. Instead, he extended a long spear from his arm and hurled it at the attacking Spider Mine Race member.

But the spear had no effect; it was easily deflected by the Spider Mine Race member’s flailing arms.

Just as the hammers were about to land on Shibeng, he leaped to the side, letting inertia carry the Spider Mine Race member forward.

Once the Spider Mine Race member flew past, Shibeng darted forward and charged at it as it landed.

Shibeng seemed to have learned the trick of transforming into blunt weapons as well. Round hammerheads extended from his four fists, and he smashed them viciously into the Spider Mine Race member’s back.

The Spider Mine Race member tried to block by bending its arms backward, but its thin, jointed limbs became a weakness at that moment and were smashed to pieces by the hammers.

Shibeng’s heavy fists landed squarely on the Spider Mine Race member’s back, and a crack instantly appeared.

It seemed the Spider Mine Race member’s body wasn’t yet strong enough to completely prevent damage, but the crack was also healing at a rapid pace.

So Shibeng pressed his advantage, pinning the Spider Mine Race member down and landing several more punches on the same crack.

Only when the fallen Spider Mine Race member shattered and stopped moving did Shibeng slowly stand up.

The high-speed barrage had even caused Shibeng’s body to overheat; smoke began to rise from his arms.

Mo Ling watched the scene, stunned.

’Say what you will about this simulated battlefield, but the physics engine is incredibly well-made.’

Mo Ling had noticed this before when he participated. Although the simulated battlefield’s scenery was very crude, the participants’ bodies felt incredibly real.

The combat with enemies was visceral, as if the focus was specifically placed on battle feedback.

’I wonder what the purpose of pulling people in here is.’

Mo Ling always felt that this battlefield had some kind of unknown guiding purpose.

Whether it was the addictive sense of power or the ever-present sense of crisis, everything seemed to be driving people to fight continuously.

’No wonder Cixing always believed this was the source of the war. If you’re influenced by this kind of signal every day, it’s inevitable you’d want to fight after getting out.’

If this signal were strong enough, would the battle lust of those Abnormal Vein Patients continue to grow until it became uncontrollable?

Mo Ling didn’t dare to dwell on it and could only continue to watch Shibeng’s changes.

After defeating the spider-like creature, Shibeng once again stood frozen in place. Mo Ling guessed he was checking the fog-filled map.

Sure enough, after a short while, Shibeng began to move in a different direction, and Mo Ling quickly followed.

Before long, Shibeng saw the yellowish-white ore vein of the Spider Mine Race member he had just fought. He walked over and cleared it out completely.

Then, Shibeng set off again, beginning his search for enemies around the Basalt Ore Vein.

Within these ore veins, some internal struggles among the clans had not even ended; they were still killing each other.

When Shibeng joined the fray, it became a massacre, a complete mismatch of power.

In the process, Shibeng’s power grew stronger and stronger, until he could eventually shatter an entire ore vein with a single punch.

Mo Ling had experienced it himself. This power-up was all-encompassing; the body’s agility and even perception would undergo a qualitative leap.

It was like being as sluggish as a snail at the beginning and then becoming as swift as a cheetah. At that point, one would be terrified of returning to their original physical state.

This anxiety about one’s own power would accumulate as the battlefield situation grew more difficult.

For Shibeng, this meant a continuous accumulation of fear.

Mo Ling looked at Shibeng with a hint of worry.

However, Shibeng’s condition was still fine for now. Just as when he first arrived on the battlefield, he continued to defeat an enemy, adapt to his new strength, and advance methodically.

’He’s too steady.’

Shibeng didn’t choose to change his body’s form like the other Mineral Race members. He still maintained his original appearance of a heavily armored warrior.

As a result, the enemies he now faced were sometimes several times his size, like a human fighting a giant beast.

But this also meant he didn’t need to re-adapt to his body. In this very form, Shibeng defeated one enemy after another in brutal, close-quarters combat.

His intricately structured armor also played a role. Some of the menacing, aggressive-looking enemies couldn’t even break through Shibeng’s defenses.

During this process, he continuously learned various combat techniques and even experimented with different kinds of weapons.

He no longer limited himself to the blades, spears, and swords that his body could transform into. Instead, he would eject these weapons from his body and then pick them up to use.

So every time he clashed with an enemy, others would suffer bodily harm, while he would only suffer weapon damage.

Mo Ling suddenly began to understand the concept of "inanimate objects" that Shibeng had mentioned when he was creating his armor.

Among the Mineral Race, this seemed to represent a different level of power application. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Not only that, but Mo Ling also discovered that Shibeng’s use of weapons was far from shallow. He seemed to have a training system, and he was constantly refining it as he grew more familiar with his enemies.

’It’s what he talked about before—the ability to turn fear into knowledge!’ Mo Ling recalled what Shibeng had said in the tunnel, and it all clicked into place.

Gradually, enemies who had no combat skills and relied solely on brute force were completely helpless against Shibeng. He defeated them with ease as soon as they met.

As one ore vein after another was destroyed, Mo Ling’s mood grew increasingly heavy.

’That thing is coming.’

Sure enough, after the last ore vein was destroyed, a familiar tremor ran through the area after a short while, and the tunnels began to collapse.

Seeing this, Shibeng did the same thing Mo Ling had done before: he smashed through the rock wall, ran up through the opening, and emerged onto the surface of the Thorn Stone Forest.

The giant Mineral Race member with countless arms once again crawled out from deep underground. It glanced at Mo Ling, who was floating in the sky, its eyes filled with exhaustion and helplessness.

This time, the giant Mineral Race member seemed a little different; the floating objects that were usually around it were gone.

Immediately after, the giant Mineral Race member turned its gaze back to the surface of the Thorn Stone Forest, looking at Shibeng, the sole survivor of the battle.

Its massive eyes stared at the tiny, black-armored knight, its expression revealing no emotion.

And Shibeng, gazing up at the colossus that stood upon the earth, remained perfectly still.