“I’m not gifting you these spirit ores for you to refine. Hop on. The gift I want to give you is right ahead,” the armored beast urged. Left with no other choice, Jared could only sit on the armored beast’s back. He tagged along as it continued digging deeper, heading further into the mine.
Soon, it slowed down and started panting heavily. Moreover, as it dug further, the sounds of metallic collisions drifted into the air. Worse still, its two paws had turned into a mess of flesh and blood by then.
Seeing that, Jared quickly spoke up. “What exactly do you want to gift me, Mr. Armored Beast? I don’t think we should continue digging further. Your body seems to be at the edge of its limits.”
“It’s okay. We’re almost there. I’ve got to repay you when you’ve saved us all.” The armored beast doggedly dug on, never once stopping despite the mutilated condition of its two front paws.
That sight moved Jared to the core, for there were some people whose consciences and sense of gratitude were far lacking in comparison to the armored beast before his eyes.
It was also the reason Hammerhead had been telling him that the most frightening thing in Ethereal Realm was human nature, as many humans were even worse than beasts and demons.
The armored beasts had suffered infinitely for over ten years in the mine, but it had never crossed their minds to leave, even if it meant starving to death. On the contrary, some people might betray their family and sect for just some meager benefits.
Before Jared had realized it, the armored beast had dug dozens of meters more. Without warning, a blinding golden light illuminated the entire mine. The golden light was so dazzling that he could not open his eyes for a moment.
A long while passed, and he only opened his eyes when he had adapted to the light. Instantly, he was greeted by the sight of a spirit ore glowing with a radiant golden light inlaid right in the middle of a cluster of spirit ores.
“Finally, I’ve found it!” After crowing that, the armored beast dug out the spirit ore emanating the golden light..
“Here, take this. It’s the highest grade of ore, gold apatite. While it’s small in size, the energy contained within is immense. With it, you can boost your capabilities at lightning speed. It might even help you break through a cultivation level,” it boasted.
Jared took the gold apatite. Not only did it feel exceedingly heavy despite its size, but there were also scale-like patterns on it. It was as though it was covered with a layer of armor like his Golem Body.
He merely extended a shred of spiritual sense but was promptly astounded by the vast energy within the gold apatite. In fact, it likely exceeded the amount of energy within Jared himself. Shocked, he thanked the armored beast fervently before venturing, “How many gold apatites are here in this mine, Mr. Armored Beast?”
He thought that he could return there to cultivate after settling everything in the mundane world if there were a number of gold apatites such as that. With them, his capabilities were sure to skyrocket.
“I don’t know either. Perhaps this is the only one. Or there might also be a few more. But even the entire Ferric Mountain can’t yield much of this kind of spirit ore of the highest grade. Presently, I’ve only discovered this one. I found it more than ten years ago but left it unmined. As for whether such gold apatite is present in other mines, I’m not sure about that.
That said, I can help to keep an eye out for you. Regretfully, I can’t make the arbitrary decision to gift them to you even if we manage to mine more in the future. After all, these belong to Divine Smithing Sect,” the armored beast answered honestly. “I get it, Mr. Armored Beast. If there are more gold apatite, I won’t be taking them without compensation.”
The creature’s attitude had sheer admiration inundating Jared. The armored beasts still belonged to Divine Smithing Sect, and while the organization had been wiped out of existence, Hammerhead was still alive, so they had to continue serving the sect.
