149: Dive into the lake, underwater palace
Looking at the information sent back by the Eye of Insight, Song Ming's face immediately showed a surprised expression.
He never expected that besides Merman Infants, there would be such good things in the undergroundcave.
fire crystal stone!
And there were even some top-grade ones!
One must know that the main purpose of these fire crystal stones was to help Professionals quickly restore their mana.
After all, every Professional had a limited amount of mana, and Song Ming was no exception.
Even though each of his skills didn't consume much mana,
if used frequently, it was still possible to deplete his mana.
Moreover, if mana was depleted during battle, it would be extremely dangerous.
This meant that Professionals would have no self-preservation abilities and could only be slaughtered.
They would be unable to deal with any danger.
Therefore, this was where fire crystal stones could come in handy.
After crushing them, they could quickly restore a Professional's mana.
This would prevent them from losing their combat ability in dangerous situations.
It could be said that they were very useful items.
Although Song Ming had enough mana, it wasn't infinite.
If he encountered a powerful enemy he couldn't defeat, or a large number of high-Rank monsters beyond his ability to handle, even with all his mana, it would be depleted.
Therefore, these fire crystal stones could come in handy for him at critical moments.
They would prevent him from falling into the predicament of having no mana.
Song Ming walked to the fire crystal stone patch and roughly counted them.
He found that there were over twenty top-grade fire crystal stones.
The rest were ordinary fire crystal stones, numbering around a hundred.
It seemed that the Merman Monsters gathered here because of the large number of fire crystal stones present.
Song Ming then put all these fire crystal stones into his backpack space.
One top-grade fire crystal stone was enough to replenish tens of thousands of mana for him, and the remaining ordinary quality ones could also replenish thousands of mana.
Even if he didn't use them,
many Professionals outside would scramble to buy such fire crystal stones.
After all, they were life-saving items in times of crisis.
Once a Professional lost mana support, especially a magic-user, their full strength could not be unleashed.
In battle, they would even be treated as live targets.
It was very dangerous.
Therefore, items like these that could quickly replenish mana were very popular among Professionals.
Of course, Song Ming had no intention of selling them.
Better safe than sorry.
He had always been one to plan ahead.
After taking the fire crystal stones, Song Ming turned his gaze to the huge lake in the center of thecave.
Since the Merman Monster Infants were on the shore,
it was very likely that their adult forms were beneath this lake.
Song Ming came to this large dungeon for two reasons: one was to grind monsters for experience and level up, and the other was to obtain items that permanently increased skill points.
However, along the way, he had killed many Treant Monsters and Merman Monsters, but he hadn't seen a single item that could permanently increase skill points.
He thought it was quite normal.
If such items were really that easy to obtain,
then he might have been able to buy them at the Exchange.
Song Ming was still very patient about this.
To not miss any monster, and also for the skill point items,
it was necessary for him to go underwater.
With the Guardian Divine Light on him, he was not afraid of the extreme environment at the bottom of the water.
This was also why he dared to go into the water to investigate.
Song Ming no longer hesitated and walked towards the lake in the center of thecave.
This lake was no different from the hot springs outside; both emitted white steam, appearing out of place in the icy environment of the Endless Snowfield.
It was also full of temptation.
After all, in such a freezing environment, suddenly seeing a hot spring valley emitting steam...
Who wouldn't want to comfortably go in for a bath?
However, once inside,
death would not be far away.
After all, there were dozens to hundreds of ugly Merman Monsters in the hot spring.
Ning Hua's Water-Repelling Pearl from the Trial Grounds was still with him, and Song Ming also had the Guardian Divine Light protecting him, so he easily dived to the bottom of the lake.
He had expected the water to be very dark.
However, the scene at the bottom of the lake greatly exceeded his expectations.
He saw a large number of red Ores growing at the bottom of the lake, emitting a fiery red glow, each one over a meter tall.
Looking around, they were densely embedded in the lakebed, illuminating the entire water surface brightly.
When Song Ming first saw these fiery red stones, he was faintly excited.
After all, if such a large quantity of such large fire crystal stones were all brought out, they would be worth at least several thousand credits.
However, the information sent back by the Eye of Insight poured cold water on him.
These Ores were not fire crystal stones at all.
They were Blazing Stones.
These two Ores were very similar in appearance, but Blazing Stones were larger and had faint spiderweb-like black cracks on their surface.
The main purpose of this Ore was as a common Material used by Artifact Refiners to increase the temperature of their furnaces.
The price was very low; such a large piece of Blazing Stone couldn't even sell for one credit.
Moreover, Song Ming's profession was not an Artifact Refiner, so this kind of thing was useless to him.
He pouted in disappointment, and at the same time, he understood why there was a hot spring in this valley.
Blazing Stones themselves emitted high temperatures and red light.
And with so many Blazing Stones at the bottom of the lake, this valley would naturally be as warm as spring.
Song Ming no longer paid attention to the Blazing Stones at the bottom of the lake; after all, all these stones combined wouldn't sell for many credits, so he naturally had no interest in them.
He then turned his gaze to the distance.
Unlike the red light emanating from the water, the hazy golden light in the distance was clearly more dazzling.
That should be where the monsters gathered.
Song Ming didn't hesitate; Ground Shrinking activated.
His figure instantly disappeared from its original spot, and in the next moment, he had appeared a thousand meters away.
At this point, he finally saw what this golden light was.
It was actually a magnificent underwater palace.
Around the entire palace was a nearly transparent, semi-circular protective shield, enclosing it.
And outside the protective shield,
there were groups of Murloc Guards patrolling and guarding.
Each Murloc squad numbered around ten individuals.
Song Ming could see at least a dozen such teams.
Moreover, each of these Merman Monsters was a full meter tall, twice the size of a Merman Infant.
Their entire skin was bluish-green, and they held various lengths of trident-shaped weapons.
These should be the adult forms of Merman Monsters, emitting an aura more than twice as strong as the Infants.
Furthermore, each team was led by a slender Merman Monster over two meters tall, whose body was blood-red, with long arms and legs, completely different from the other Merman Monsters.
The aura it emitted was also extremely powerful.
Song Ming activated the Eye of Insight, and the specific information of this Merman Monster was immediately transmitted back to him.