207: Chapter 207 Yes, that's the right amount of force!

"Boom!"

The three-meter-thick Profound Gold Sand wall completely closed, thoroughly shutting out the last traces of light and sound.

Inside the main passage, a dead silence fell.

Su Ming glanced at the System panel that only he could see.

[Current Restoration: 4.12%]

"Target is 10%. Today's KPI depends on you guys."

Over a dozen pairs of crimson compound eyes lit up in the darkness, locking onto Su Ming—the only living thing present—in unison.

Ear-piercing screeches echoed throughout the bottom of the pit!

The first wave of Magic Spiders moved.

The two Tier 4 Magic Spiders in the lead were the fastest. Kicking off hard with their hind legs, their massive bodies turned into two streaks of black lightning, pouncing toward Su Ming from the left and right simultaneously.

Their blade-sharp chelicerae left afterimages in the air, aiming straight for his head and shoulders!

Su Ming stood where he was with his hands in his pockets, not moving an inch.

The next second.

The massive mouths of the two Magic Spiders bit down fiercely.

"Crack!"

A dull, tooth-gritting crack echoed through the empty bottom of the pit.

But that was not the sound of bones shattering.

The moment the Magic Spiders' chelicerae made contact with Su Ming's body, the [sinking star] combat suit on his skin suddenly lit up with a layer of dark gold crystalline patterns.

The patterns spread rapidly from the points of impact, not only covering his shoulders but even perfectly wrapping his entire head in a layer of flowing liquid metal.

[Heavy Core Defense] passively triggered!

The sharp chelicerae of the two Tier 4 Magic Spiders, which could easily tear through alloy armor,

shattered into pieces on the spot upon contact with that layer of dark gold crystal!

Dark green bodily fluids mixed with shattered carapace sprayed out wildly.

The two Magic Spiders let out a miserable wail,

their massive bodies sent flying by a terrifying counter-shock force, tumbling to the ground and twitching in agony.

The Tier 5 Elite Magic Spider following behind them clearly dithered for a moment, its crimson compound eyes blinking in confusion.

But immediately after, a deeper fury took over!

It let out a screech, thrusting its two thickest front legs forward violently,

turning them into two black spears flickering with shadow Source Energy,

a spiraling penetration forcefield condensing at their tips,

as they stabbed viciously toward Su Ming's shoulders and chest!

This attack combined both physical penetration and energy burst!

"Thud! Thud!"

Two heavy, dull thuds.

The [sinking star] crystalline grid on Su Ming's body rippled with two visible rings of dark gold ripples.

[Restoration Progress +0.04%]

[Restoration Progress +0.03%] [Restoration Progress +0.08%]

A succession of notification sounds rang out in Su Ming's mind.

Su Ming felt as if his chest had been scratched twice; it was a bit itchy.

However, the Tier 5 Magic Spider that initiated the attack met an incredibly miserable end.

The instant its spear struck Su Ming, a physical counter-shock force far beyond its imagination surged back up its front legs!

"Crack!"

Accompanied by a crisp bone-cracking sound, its incredibly hard front leg was actually snapped right off at the base by this counter-shock force!

Its massive body lost balance and flipped backward, crashing heavily onto the ground as it let out painful screeches.

Su Ming's eyes lit up.

Not bad!

He took a step forward of his own accord, puffing out his chest and presenting it right in front of the one-legged Tier 5 Magic Spider.

"Yes, that's the force! Don't just tickle me!"

Su Ming offered his guidance rather "thoughtfully."

For the first time, an emotion of mingled confusion and fear surfaced in the Tier 5 Magic Spider's crimson compound eyes.

It instinctively propped itself up with its remaining limbs and shrank back.

The surrounding Tier 4 Magic Spiders, which had been ready to swarm him, also hesitated briefly.

This bipedal beast that snuck in...

What on earth was it?

A few Magic Spiders crowded on the outer perimeter, unable to squeeze in, began spitting spider silk frantically.

It wasn't ordinary spider silk, but highly toxic and corrosive venomous silk stored in their poison sacs.

The foul-smelling acidic venom hissed as it hit the ground, instantly corroding it and sending up plumes of white smoke.

In an instant, a foul-smelling web of poison blanketed the sky as it rained down.

Su Ming took the opportunity to activate [Kinetic Siphon].

He stood where he was, letting the venomous webs drench his body.

[Low-concentration poison-type Source Energy detected. Converting to mass points...]

[mass points +1,000]

[mass points +1,000]

[...]

The System notification sounds continuously spammed his screen.

Su Ming scanned the panel.

[Restoration Progress: 4.27%]

[mass points Balance: 513,070]

After this series of attacks, his restoration progress had risen by 0.12%.

He had also made a tidy profit in mass points.

Yet, Su Ming still frowned.

Simply because "grinding mobs" was too slow!

These Magic Spiders were as big as small trucks at their smallest. With over a dozen of them surrounding him, they formed layer upon layer.

He, on the other hand, was barely over 1.8 meters tall. Standing there, his body's surface area of contact was simply too small.

At most, only three or four spiders could touch him at a time. The other monsters could only watch anxiously from behind, unable to deal any damage.

How could he properly experience his "Golden Finger" of "getting stronger by taking a beating" like this?

Su Ming stroked his chin.

First, he spread his arms wide, maximizing his contact area as he bathed in the spraying venom.

Seeing this, several Magic Spiders pounced again, biting down hard on his arms and legs.

Su Ming even kindly adjusted his posture.

"Alright, don't fight over it. I'll let you have a bite too."

"The one over there, you already bit me just now. Don't be too greedy."

At this moment, broken spider silk hung from his arms, green bodily fluids dripped from his hair, and shattered chelicerae and tooth fragments littered the ground beneath his feet.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was a zoo keeper feeding the animals!

No, the efficiency was still too low!

Su Ming thought of something fun. He opened the sub-skill of [Mass Reconstruction Lv3] on the System panel.

[Morphological Fine-Tuning: Allows free adjustment of physical volume, facial features, and muscle definition within a range of ±10%.]

Without hesitation, he dragged the body size parameter straight to the upper limit of +10%!

A man, of course, had to adjust it to be "bigger"!

[Beginning morphological reconstruction...]

The next second!

"Crack, crack, pop!"

A series of bone-popping sounds, like roasting beans, erupted from inside his body!

Amidst the gnawing of the surrounding Magic Spiders, Su Ming's height began to soar!

1.9 meters, 2 meters, 2.06 meters!

His originally lean build expanded rapidly, his shoulder width exploded, and his muscles bulged and knotted.

A perfect inverted triangle physique was fully revealed, with every muscle packed with an explosive sense of power.

He looked down at his broader field of vision, felt the surging power within his body, and squeezed his near-perfect chest muscles.

His jawline was sharp enough to slice open boxes.

"Sigh, I've gotten more handsome again."

Su Ming muttered with satisfaction, "A pity I can't directly turn into a giant."

"I'll stick with this form from now on!"

Su Ming stood there like a sturdy, human-shaped target.

His current size gave him a much larger contact area than before!

This time, the number of Magic Spiders that could reach him simultaneously increased from three to five.

Now, that's what you call efficiency!

"Crunch, crunch—"

The sound of shattering teeth formed a continuous chorus.

The numbers on the System panel began to tick up at a visible speed.

[[sinking star] Restoration Progress: 4.27% → 4.29% → 4.32%...]

...

Meanwhile,

on the other side of the sand wall.

Night Crow and the other two, who were rapidly advancing through the lateral exploration tunnel,

suddenly heard a series of dull impact sounds and skin-crawling screeches from behind them.

"Thud! Thud! Crack!"

The sounds were still clearly audible even through the thick sand wall.

Night Crow's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He looked back at the thick wall, deep self-blame flashing in his eyes.

Those were the sounds of Magic Spiders' chelicerae striking, and the sound of bones shattering!

Boss...

is facing the onslaught of the entire spider swarm alone!

"Big Brother!"

Young Master Gu Lingfeng punched the rock wall, his eyes turning red.

Various images flashed frantically in his mind.

Scenes of being swarmed and gnawed on by thousands of giant spiders.

Big Brother... Big Brother wouldn't really...

However, amidst this solemn and tragic atmosphere, an extremely discordant voice rang out.

Ye Xiao, who was sandwiched in the middle, let out a yawn.

His face still wore that same careless, punchable expression.

"Alright, alright, put your hearts back in your chests."

He curled his lip.

"Even a Tier 6 Source-Piercing Blasting Bomb exploding in his palm didn't do a thing to him."

"Right now, Brother Ming is probably having the time of his life!"

What on earth?

What kind of talk is that?!

Young Master Gu Lingfeng and Night Crow turned their heads at the same time, looking at him with utter bewilderment.

Ye Xiao really wanted to explain, but he couldn't make it clear in a short time.

He simply recalled how, in the underground secret chamber, he had used Chidori to slash Su Ming with all his might until he himself was foaming at the mouth, while that master just stood there, enjoying himself while taking the beating.

Facing their ignorant stares, Ye Xiao did not hold back at all. Instead, he puffed out his chest and said in a superior tone:

"Although I don't know exactly how strong Brother Ming is, I feel like even if a Tier 8 Beast Emperor came, he still wouldn't die!"

"Only I truly understand how freakish he is!"

Young Master Gu Lingfeng and Night Crow looked at each other.

The look they exchanged was filled with utter confusion...

Just what had this kid and Su Ming...

gone through together?

...