"I don’t really feel hungry right now, and since there are only a little over three hours left until the teleportation channel closes, I can still have dinner when I get back in time."
Besides eating dinner, Zhang Yanhang also felt that he probably didn’t need to organize anything, so the third option of making some preparations was definitely not a choice for him at the moment, as choosing it would be a pure waste of time.
As for the second option, that was even less likely. He had already decided to enter the Ashen World, so there was no way he would suddenly choose to back out here, although he did indeed still feel tired. But working overtime for three hours should still be manageable.
"So, I choose Option One and enter the Ashen World immediately," Zhang Yanhang hoped that the monsters inside the Crimson Iron Ant Nest across from him wouldn’t be too strong, ideally within the range of First Tier and Second Tier.
The worst-case scenario would also have to be within the Third Tier. Although he currently didn’t have the ability to fight Third Tier monsters, once he cleared Raccoon City and got promoted to Second Tier, he should be able to barely fight some of the weaker Third Tier monsters.
Monsters at levels above Third Tier? Then Zhang Yanhang would likely be unable to clear the Crimson Iron Ant Nest across from him for quite a long time in the future.
It would take him almost half a month to advance to Second Tier, and upgrading to Third Tier will definitely take longer than it took for Second Tier, at least another half a month or more.
Therefore, in order for this new teleportation channel not to become a useless one in the near future, he hoped that the rank of the monsters on the other side would remain below Third Tier.
Moreover, only if the strength of the monsters on the other side remained below Third Tier, could he avoid being suddenly besieged by high-level monsters and dying on the spot during his exploration.
With Zhang Yanhang’s current strength, fighting a Second Order One Star Prototype Tyrant T-001 was still a bit strenuous, let alone monsters above Third Tier.
If such powerful monsters attacked Zhang Yanhang, it was estimated that just a few normal attacks would easily break his Energy Shield, and naturally, Zhang Yanhang’s fate would not need to be mentioned; he would definitely die on the spot, just a matter of whether it would be in one second or two.
After Zhang Yanhang made the choice to head to the Ashen World, suddenly everything in front of him turned dark, then suddenly red, and he stood firmly on a piece of hard, crimson-colored ground. He habitually looked around, and everywhere his eyes reached was enveloped in crimson.
From Zhang Yanhang’s observations, he was currently in a strange and wide channel. The channel was round in shape, approximately three meters wide and three meters high, and had very obvious signs of being excavated artificially, not a naturally formed channel.
Zhang Yanhang touched the crimson-colored strange rocks on the wall; they were extremely hard overall. He punched with all his might and only a layer of rock skin fell off.
He used Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil to perceive the composition of the crimson rocks in front of him and discovered that it was a type of new material that didn’t exist in the Main World at all—"Could this be Crimson iron? It shouldn’t be, right?"
Zhang Yanhang felt that only by further purifying these crimson-colored rocks might it be possible to produce the so-called Crimson iron, as these crimson-colored rocks, although indeed very hard, were too brittle and completely unsuitable as material for forging equipment.
As for the relationship between these crimson-colored rocks and Crimson iron, Zhang Yanhang guessed it should be like the relationship between iron ore and iron.
After briefly observing the crimson-colored rocks, Zhang Yanhang turned Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil to its maximum range, but found he could only explore a distance of just over two hundred meters; left, right, forwards, backwards, up and down were all enveloped by the crimson-colored rocks, which caused slightly more interference to his perception than ordinary soil and rocks.
If it weren’t for the recent upgrade of Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil’s Level and corresponding increase in perception penetration power, let alone two hundred meters, Zhang Yanhang might not even have been able to perceive one hundred meters.
"So the question arises, since my current location is completely enveloped and covered by crimson-colored rocks, am I underground or inside a mountain?"
But although Zhang Yanhang didn’t know whether he was underground or within a mountain, he at least knew one thing—that this place must be a super large range of Crimson Iron Ore Vein.
By the way, Zhang Yanhang could still see the surrounding environment with the naked eye not because he had activated the external state of the Energy Shield, but because the crimson rocks around him were constantly emitting a dim crimson glow. After a while, Zhang Yanhang felt that this was pure light pollution.
The passage where Zhang Yanhang was located was a dead end, with its end right behind him. The entire length of the passage was only about ten meters and it was C-shaped, looking freshly excavated.
Apart from the surroundings, Zhang Yanhang also perceived the monsters in the Crimson Iron Ant Nest. The nearest one to him was a First Tier One Star ordinary monster, the Crimson Iron Worker Ant.
[Crimson Iron Worker Ant (Ordinary)]
[Level: First Tier 1-star]
[Talent: 1, Ant Power. 2, Crimson Iron Ant (Worker Ant).]
[Ant Power: When launching an attack, there is a 0.1% chance to trigger an extra attack effect. Strength +10%.] Find the newest release on NoveI-Fire.ɴet
[Crimson Iron Ant (Worker Ant): Born from the mating of the Lord Monster, the Crimson Iron Ant Queen and the Crimson Iron Ant King, these are infertile and not yet fully developed female Crimson Iron Ants.
Since the Crimson Iron Worker Ants feed on Crimson Iron ore and absorb some of the trace elements from it, although a small amount of these elements are used within the body, most of the time the Crimson Iron Worker Ants prioritize using them for developing exoskeletal armor, resulting in a defensive power far exceeding the upper limit of their Constitution Attribute.
As a means of consuming Crimson Iron ore, Crimson Iron Worker Ants secrete a large amount of Ant Acid to soften the ore before scraping it off with their claw-shaped mouthparts. Under this special feeding method, the Crimson Iron Worker Ants have evolved a more potent Ant Acid and the ability to spit large amounts of this acid.
Simultaneously, to efficiently scrape off the acid-softened Crimson Iron ore, the Crimson Iron Worker Ants have also evolved a set of claw-shaped mouthparts more solid than their exoskeletal armor.
As a result of consuming large amounts of Crimson Iron ore, the Crimson Iron Worker Ants have become completely unable to adapt to other foods and emit a faint crimson glow all over.
However, even though they have evolved an acid capable of softening the Crimson Iron ore, there are still some hard materials in the Crimson Iron ore that the Crimson Iron Worker Ants cannot digest. These special excretions are generally referred to as Crimson Iron by the outside world.]
[Life Value: 135/135]
[Skills: 1, Bite. 2, Acid Spray.]