73: Chapter 73: All Members Enhanced by +20!

Less than twenty minutes later.

Tian Ming returned to the Hall of Valor with several heroes such as Bull, Blade Guard, and twenty-two Troglodyte heroes.

"Master, the four transport channels have been fully widened."

Tian Ming reported to Xu Qin, "The width can accommodate two heavy Bone Transport Carts side by side, the inner walls have been reinforced with three layers, and all traps have been repaired."

Xu Qin opened the Underground Space panoramic map and inspected it carefully.

The four channels extended from the periphery of the mineral vein cavity towards the Floating City, not crossing each other, with a spacing of over two hundred meters.

Each channel had over a dozen branch interfaces reserved on both sides.

"Beautiful!"

Xu Qin closed the panel with satisfaction and turned to look at Tian Ming:

"Regardless of whether these preparations are ultimately needed, it is never wrong to have more measures in place. Right, Tian Ming?"

"Yes, Master."

Tian Ming's soul fire flickered slightly,

"Only by walking carefully every step of the way can we minimize losses."

"Good! Follow me to strengthen them."

Xu Qin walked directly to the Resurrection Platform.

He now had 3,687 source crystal essences.

The hero strengthening requirement was 100 per time.

He wanted to strengthen all twenty-eight heroes under his command.

"Twenty-eight heroes, 100 each, one round is exactly 2,800."

Xu Qin selected all twenty-eight hero units on the panel and clicked [Mineral Essence Strengthening].

[Confirm consuming 2,800 source crystal essences to perform mineral essence strengthening on the named hero units?]

[Confirm]

Hum!

The Promotion Platform shone with intense orange light.

Twenty-eight heroes boarded the platform one by one, wrapped in orange energy.

One minute later, the strengthening was complete.

Xu Qin opened the panel impatiently.

Tian Ming's changes were the most intuitive...

Attack power rose from 152 to 168,

HP rose to 1,240, and Mana rose to 3,020.

An overall increase of about 10%.

Bull, Blade Guard, Jackal Hunter, Chuan Yun, and Shadow also had growth, with similar magnitudes.

"As expected of Legendary quality." Xu Qin clicked his tongue, "It rose so much in one go."

Moreover, the most critical point was that source crystal essence could be strengthened repeatedly.

In other words, as long as the quantity of mineral essence was sufficient, heroes could be strengthened continuously.

But, 887 mineral essences remained.

Should he distribute them evenly, or focus on training?

For this question, Xu Qin reached an answer almost instantly.

Focus on training first.

In the current resource occupation battle, ranged units were the priority.

Ranged units fighting melee units had an innate advantage.

These Mineral Vein Guardians were pure physical melee monsters and couldn't run out of the pit.

Therefore, prioritizing the increase of ranged output was the optimal solution.

"Tian Ming and Chuan Yun, take the second round first."

Xu Qin selected Tian Ming on the panel and clicked [Mineral Essence Strengthening].

However, a prompt popped up.

[Warning: This hero unit is currently in a "Mineral Essence Strengthening Cooldown Period" (23 hours and 41 minutes remaining). Forced injection will cause the soul core to overload, and the hero unit has a very high probability of energy collapse (permanent destruction). Do you wish to force execution?]

"...Explode?"

Xu Qin saw the words "permanent destruction" and quickly retracted his finger.

"No way, I just strengthen it, and you're telling me it will explode?"

He hurriedly clicked on Chuan Yun.

Same warning.

Bull.

Same.

Twenty-two Troglodyte heroes, all on cooldown.

"So that's how it is..." Xu Qin took a deep breath, "Heroes have a cooldown; they can only be strengthened once a day."

What about troops?

Xu Qin turned to the Resurrection Platform, selected a batch of Skeleton Elf Archers, and clicked strengthen.

No warning.

The confirmation box popped up directly.

Consequently, the 1,970 Ranged Troops, plus the 30 Troglodytes that had been strengthened once, began strengthening again.

Consumed 20 mineral essences.

[Strengthening Complete!]

Nothing happened.

Xu Qin clicked again.

Still nothing.

Third time. Fourth time.

Until the nineteenth time.

Ding!

[Tip: The current batch of troops has reached the strengthening limit (+20), and you must wait for the 24-hour mineral essence cooldown before continuing.]

"The limit again."

Xu Qin snorted coldly.

Nineteen times plus the previous one made exactly twenty times.

20 mineral essences each time.

The Archers and Musketeers consumed 400.

Therefore, 507 remained.

"That's fine, I'll save them to improve other troops."

Xu Qin then looked at the Troglodytes.

He opened the command panel, selected 2,500 Undead Troglodytes, and started strengthening.

After twenty times.

Ding!

[The current batch of troops has reached the daily strengthening limit (+20).]

Counting the 30 Troglodytes that had strengthened with the Ranged Troops earlier.

Now there were 2,530 Troglodytes at +20.

Xu Qin looked at the 7 remaining source crystal essences in his inventory.

"I really didn't expect that the troops to first enjoy the strengthening bonus would be the Troglodytes and the ranged units."

Xu Qin closed the panel and looked around.

Twenty-eight heroes strengthened one round.

1,970 ranged units strengthened to +20.

And 2,530 Undead Troglodytes strengthened to +20.

A total of about 4,500 fully strengthened undead troops.

"Set off!"

...

Underground Space.

Xu Qin stood on the command platform, overlooking the entire 20,000-square-meter battle space.

The army dispersed, each taking their place.

Four heavy Bone Transport Carts drove into the four transport channels respectively.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Xu Qin said to Tian Ming,

"I always think that the mineral vein won't just be placed there for us to mine at will."

"So, after we start mining in a moment, the transport cart in Channel 1 will move first, and the other three channels will stand by."

"If there is a big move over there, it doesn't matter if one channel collapses; at least the other three can still retreat."

Immediately, Xu Qin began to issue orders:

"Ambush eight hundred Troglodytes in the branch roads around the four main channels. They are at +20; if an emergency occurs, they can seal, cut off, or act as human sandbags to delay time at any moment."

Order transmitted!

2,400 Troglodytes silently drilled into each branch entrance and disappeared into the darkness.

Xu Qin finally checked the entire underground project.

Four transport channels, seven to eight ambush points around each channel,

the branch roads connected to each other, allowing the Troglodytes to shuttle freely underground.

Shooting platforms were set up above the four walls of the main battlefield, and the Ranged Troops were in place.

Although some of the eighteen old snake-shaped trap channels had been used,

the Troglodytes had repaired them, and hundreds of deeper and stronger shafts had been added.

"Alright." Xu Qin clapped his hands, "Let's start!"

He pointed to the first transport channel.

"Team One, start mining. The other three teams, stand by."

The order was given.

At the very front of the first transport channel, one hundred +20 Undead Troglodytes began digging at the wall of the mineral vein cavity.

Ding!

Ding!

Orange crystal debris fell, was picked up by the Troglodytes on the side, and placed into the Bone Transport Cart.

But the crystal debris hadn't even filled half the cart.

Rumble!

The entire mineral vein let out a violent tremor.

The ground under Xu Qin's feet was shaking.

He immediately switched to the Sand Rat's perspective.

Inside the mineral vein cavity,

dozens of cracks appeared on the surface of the Crystal Mountain.

Four or five hundred brand-new Mineral Vein Guardians crawled out of the cracks!

Their six legs supported the ground, their crystallized shells glowing with piercing orange light, as they swarmed toward the entrance of Channel 1.

"Sure enough! I knew it!"

Xu Qin gritted his teeth and said.

"Channel 1 Troglodytes, bury the entrance! The convoy retreats!"

One hundred Troglodytes stopped digging and began to fill the entrance with soil.

Less than five seconds later, the entrance was sealed tight by thick earth and stone.

"Retreat!"