Digging dirt, mining Elemental Stones, building shabby structures for the Dark World denizens to reside in. These three are the main duties being given to the expandables that were sent here.
All in all, the Noxians were being treated as a slave. However, that was only limited to those not part of an Aristocratic Family. If someone is affiliated to it, they're given the same treatment as the Mortal Ranks from the Dark World. Even after surrendering to the enemy, their people were even degraded to something like that.
Not my problem though. Surely, even to those who defected back to us, the hierarchy was still the same. But that's for their race to sort out. Sooner or later someone will rise up and correct those mistakes.
"You. Mining. And you. Mining as well. Get your pickaxes at whoever's at the mine. They will also give you your daily quota. Finish that and you will be able to go home."
After around 20 minutes on the line. We finally got our duty designation.
And that was enough time to fully observe this place. It's not as big as a city yet, if I could compare it with something, then a town with at least 50 households.
From where we are, we only needed to walk for a bit to see the two crucial devices from a distance. One was even too eye-catching due to its beacon-like dark beam which maintained the Dark Zone. And the other was connected to it via tube to channel the Elemental Energy outside to convert those to their Dark Energy.
Also there's another device that was connected to the two, it's serving as a tank to store the converted Dark Energy which will then be transferred to the other device to be used for the zone's expansion.
Let's call the three devices as the Zonemaker, the Converter and the Tank for now. Destroying one of those could effectively stop this zone from expanding.
However, the place where the three are located not only has a ton of Rank 4 to Rank 5 Mortals, but also has that glaring fluctuation of immense Energy. And along with that, the warning from my Adaptability which I haven't felt in a while was ringing continuously.
Those traps were specifically for a Transcendent or to be more precise, to an Energy-based Incarnation such as the World's Will.
It could seriously injure us but not enough to deal catastrophic damage, but it was fairly lethal for her. If that kind of trap hit her before, it's already a wonder how she managed to retreat and how did she not detect it.
Coming inside this Zone cut us off from the outside. There's no other energy here but the Dark Energy and I wouldn't be able to hear the World's Will's voice unless we took down the Zonemaker.
There's still 10 minutes before the appointed time but there's nothing to learn anymore. There's also no new information coming out from the people's mouths, be it a Noxian or a Dark World denizen.
Well, for now, let's follow their arrangement.
"Daisuke, I feel like I can absorb passively and convert the Energy here. Should I do it?"
Jayna asked when we gained a distance from the others as we trudged the path towards the Elemental Stone Mine.
Ah. I see. She doesn't have a System that's why she's finding it hard to interpret the Automatic Conversion of the Flux Energy State. If not for this, I'll probably be as confused as her.
"Not now. If you did, someone might notice you. Only Transcendents or a Dark World denizen can absorb the energy here. We can do it later after destroying this Zone. Also, with the Flux Energy State, the conversion of energy will be higher for us compared to the others."
"I understand. It's almost time, right? Tell me what to do."
"Un. 5 minutes. The Orb of Concealment might not be effective there. It's dotted with traps which give off intense fluctuation of Energy. Though I'm not sure if it would make the Concealment Aura unstable, it's better to be safe than sorry."
Looking ahead, the Elemental Stone mine isn't that noticeable, it's inside a big hole that was supposed to be the place where they will set up the three devices. They just accidently discovered it and now they're benefiting from this. Converting the stones for more Dark Energy.
Elemental Stones are as valuable as Regenium or even the Energy Stones that we picked up from Ancient Ruins. More like, it's a lower version of those Energy Stones. A resource for denser Elemental Energy.
One can use it on Formations or directly absorb it. Depending on its purity, the Energy one can absorb in every stone is up to 100 times that of a denizen's normal Absorption Rate in one minute.
An Elemental Stone has 3 grades according to purity, the low-grade, intermediate-grade and high-grade stones.
Low-grade stones will be consumed in one minute but the Energy one can absorb in it is equivalent to five minutes of normal Absorption.
Intermediate-grade stones will be consumed in two minutes and its energy equivalent is twenty minutes of normal absorption.
And lastly, high-grade stones will be consumed in five minutes and its energy equivalent is 100 minutes of normal absorption.
The normal Absorption Rate of every denizen is around sixty units per minute or just one unit per second. Depending on an individual's aptitude, it can increase up to five times of that. And Aptitude most likely pertains to an Individual's Energy Control.
Let's not make myself an example. Fleur is considered a pinnacle genius in this world during her younger days. She has the pinnacle-grade aptitude which is the maximum one can get. But that's only according to them. Who knows? There's a possibility that someone from the past has a higher aptitude than her.
Fleur can absorb 5 units of Elemental Energy per second or 300 units per minute. And if I applied it to the System's terms, Aptitude most likely pertains to an individual's Intelligence stat much like the Brain Capacity in the World of Meta. Now that she's a Transcendent her Absorption Rate has already increased tremendously.
If she consumed a low-grade Elemental Zone this time, she could probably absorb it in mere seconds. And even if that's the case, she'll still get the benefit of the higher rate of absorption. In short, it could save her a few seconds of her time.
When Sofiel saw the effect of my Energy Zone, she likened it to a consumption of one intermediate-grade Elemental Stone or in other words, ten times increase in rate of absorption. That's the reason why the Elite's training could progress that well. Now that I'm not there, it would surely slow down.
Well, even if I could also benefit from that, my cultivation is still at a snail's pace. Most likely, if I don't have five Pathways, I would've finished the Mortal Pathway shortly after reaching Transcendence.
Ah. I've strayed too far from what I'm thinking.
Where am I?
Right. The Elemental Stone Mine.
The daily quota given by them that we needed to do is to mine ten low-grade Elemental Stones per day. If someone found an intermediate-grade, one is enough. And if someone finds a high-grade, then he will instantly finish his task here, freeing himself from the daily labor.
Sounds generous, huh? But what are the odds? Less than 1%.
We only have five minutes left before we start destroying this place.
But upon seeing this mine and that dense amount of Energy I could sense inside something like a storage room… It will be bad not to take what's in front of us.
"Jayna, do you feel like stealing something again?"
I asked the girl beside me.
Confused, she tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember that time in the Ancient Ruins? The Orc's treasure room."
Realizing what I meant. Jayna's confused eyes brightened. Soon enough it was completely replaced by her excitement.
"We have five minutes. Let's go."
"Yes!"
After deciding what to do, she matched my increased pace and we instantly arrived at another makeshift construction, the Dark World denizen handed us two pickaxes and helmets before ushering us towards the entrance of the mine.
Since it's now considered this territory, this mine doesn't have a lot of guards and the security is too lax. Apart from the guy handing out the pickaxes, there are only two guards watching the entrance and most likely there's also someone inside the mine managing the miners.
"2 minutes, run to that storage room. I'm activating this."
I whispered to Jayna before showing her what's on my hand. The Orb of Ailment
"My stone!"
Her eyes brightened upon seeing it before a grin was pasted on her lips.
Of course, she knew the effect of it. Her Pranking Stone.
Once we reached the entrance where the two guards were standing, I snapped my fingers as a signal for Jayna to move.
"Hey! Where are you going? You can't go there!"
Upon seeing the direction where she ran off to, the two guards instantly became alerted as they ran after her with their weapons unsheathed.
Before they could even take their fifth step, the two fell on the ground writhing in pain as the purplish-aura of the Orb of Ailment engulfed them.
"Huh? What did you do?"
The Noxian behind me was terrified at what he witnessed. However, just like the two Dark World denizen guards, he fell down hugging himself due to extreme cold.
The side effect of the Ailment instantly worked on them.
Just like that time when I massacred the whole encampment, the Ailment Aura instantly spread engulfing the whole mine and even the makeshift construction where the guy handing out the pickaxes is located.
I observed everyone's state and after making sure they're all unconscious, I followed Jayna to the storage room.
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