Grinding EXP From Fireball Skill

Chapter 124: Mine Guardian Beast

CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP!

Reina arrived with a troop of soldiers. She hastily dismounted and asked, "Sir Allen, are you all right?"

Allen shook his head. "I’m fine. Take this man and interrogate him. Find out just how many people are behind this."

Reina nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Take him away," Reina commanded. "And make sure he has no opportunity to commit suicide."

Soon, the assassin leader was taken away.

Before they led him off, they dislocated his jaw to prevent him from concealing poison in his mouth or biting his tongue to kill himself.

As the assassin leader was led away, he shot a glare at Li Wei, his heart seething with resentment.

’If Li Wei hadn’t stopped Allen, I’d be dead by now,’ he thought. ’I wouldn’t have to face this torture.’

Allen looked at Li Wei and asked, "How did you know he was the assassin leader?"

Li Wei told Allen how he had unintentionally stumbled upon the Assassins’ meeting earlier.

Allen was quite surprised to hear this, his face filled with astonishment.

"I don’t know whether to call you lucky or unlucky."

"If what you say is true, then capturing their leader is a major breakthrough. We might be able to expose the mastermind behind all this."

’Just as Li Wei said, capturing the ordinary Professionals who were only following orders would have been useless.’

’They don’t know anything.’

’No wonder Reina couldn’t get any useful information out of them.’

’The assassin leader is our only way forward.’

Allen extended an invitation. "Sir Timo, do you have time to pay a visit to Maple City?"

"If we get any important intel out of him, I can request a reward for you from the City Lord’s Mansion."

Li Wei replied, "My apologies, but I don’t have the time right now. When I get the chance, though, I will certainly visit Grand Mage Allen in Maple City."

Seeing this, Allen didn’t insist.

After bidding Allen farewell, Li Wei hurried off to find the Ant King Armor.

’Where did I bury it again?’

Li Wei searched the forest for his buried treasure.

He had left a marker, but everything in the forest looked the same, and he couldn’t find the spot right away.

SCRAPE, SCRAPE, SCRAPE!

The sound of digging came from nearby, and Li Wei’s eyes narrowed.

"Shadow Attendant!"

The Shadow Attendant sped toward the source of the sound.

Li Wei moved in that direction as well, ready for a fight.

When he saw the tall figure up ahead, Li Wei’s expression turned to one of surprise.

’The Golden Anteater!’

He saw the Golden Anteater digging at the base of a large tree.

Looking up, he saw the marker he had left on the trunk.

Li Wei immediately realized the Golden Anteater was digging for the Ant King Armor.

After eating the Ant King’s organs, the Golden Anteater had evolved slightly, its power increasing by a fair amount.

Clearly, it had come for the armor Li Wei had hidden.

Without a second thought, Li Wei raised his hand to cast his Fireball Skill, preparing to kill the Golden Anteater.

The Golden Anteater sensed the danger, stopped digging, and looked around for the source of the threat.

It shuddered when it saw the Fireball in Li Wei’s hand.

The memory of being grievously wounded before came flooding back.

It quickly dropped to the ground, letting out a low whine.

"Whooo... whooo..."

Li Wei was taken aback by the Golden Anteater’s actions.

’What’s going on?’

’It’s not running or attacking?’

’Is it surrendering?’

After a moment’s hesitation, Li Wei withdrew his Mana, dispersing the coalescing Fireball.

Seeing this, the Golden Anteater cautiously crawled toward Li Wei.

"Whuff... whuff..."

The Golden Anteater fawned over Li Wei, trying to greet him.

Even though Li Wei had given it a thrashing, the time it spent tagging along with him had been the absolute peak of its beastly life.

It got to eat all kinds of delicious food, stuffing itself silly.

It even managed to go up a minor Level.

The Golden Anteater wanted to keep following Li Wei and living the good life.

Li Wei looked at the Golden Anteater, a little surprised.

He reached out and patted the Golden Anteater’s head. The beast let out a soft chuff of pleasure.

As Li Wei looked at the Golden Anteater, which was as large as a small hill, trying to act cute, he found it impossible to appreciate any charm it might have.

It couldn’t be helped; the Golden Anteater just looked too ferocious.

After a moment of thought, Li Wei patted the Golden Anteater. "You can follow me if you want, but I can’t take you with me."

The Golden Anteater looked at him, its expression puzzled.

Magic Beasts weren’t unintelligent; most had the intellect of a human child.

It could understand what Li Wei was saying.

Li Wei continued, "I don’t have enough space to keep you where I live. Besides, figuring out what to feed you in the city would be another problem."

"How about you stay here? I can arrange an official role for you. Then you can roam the mines freely without being attacked by humans, and you can eat all the Iron-Eating Ants you want."

"And I’ll come visit when I have time."

"I ran into a smaller Golden Anteater underground—I think it was a female. This is your chance, don’t miss it."

After all that explanation, the Golden Anteater seemed to grasp the gist of what Li Wei was saying.

Li Wei had it dig up the buried Ant King Armor.

He put the largest piece of the armor into his Spatial Ring.

The remaining broken fragments were all left for the Golden Anteater to eat.

The Golden Anteater struggled to chew on the fragments, only able to bite into the Ant King’s shell after corroding it piece by piece with its Super Acid Liquid.

Even so, it munched away happily.

To the beast, this was a treasure that could help it evolve and grow stronger.

Li Wei packed the shell fragments into a bag for the Golden Anteater and tied it around its neck.

That way, it could use its tongue to pull one out whenever it wanted a snack.

"Stop eating for now," Li Wei said. "Come with me."

Li Wei led the Golden Anteater toward the encampment.

This was his third time returning to the camp.

He found Reina.

"Officer Reina, this is my Summoned Beast," Li Wei said.

The Golden Anteater trailing behind Li Wei lifted its head slightly, as if to say, "That’s me, all right."

Reina glanced at the Golden Anteater, then looked back at him in confusion. "What is it you want to say?"

Li Wei said, "The Golden Anteater is a temporary partner of mine. I have to leave this place, but it needs to stay."

"As it happens, you’ve been struggling with how to control the Iron-Eating Ants. Well, it can help you solve that problem."

Li Wei explained his idea to Reina.

Reina looked at him in astonishment. "You’re really going to leave it here to be a Guardian Beast?"

"Won’t it go out of control once you’re gone?" Reina asked, concerned.

Li Wei said, "No, it won’t. It’s smarter than people think."

Hearing this, the Golden Anteater nodded its head vigorously.

Reina hesitated for a moment before saying, "I can’t make this decision on my own. Please wait a moment while I ask Mage Allen."

Reina went and found Allen, explaining Li Wei’s idea to him.

Allen smiled. "Of course, that’s fine."

"If the Golden Anteater can keep the Iron-Eating Ant population in check, then we can certainly treat it as the Mine Guardian Beast."

"Of course, we’ll need to take some safety precautions first."

Allen took out a ring and handed it to Li Wei.

"This is a Beast Taming Ring. Despite its name, it can only be used on Magic Beasts that have already been tamed. It’s used for tracking and restraining them."

"Put this on it, and it will ensure the beast doesn’t harm humans," Allen said.

Li Wei accepted the Beast Taming Ring and looked toward the Golden Anteater.

In the end, he slipped the Beast Taming Ring onto one of the Golden Anteater’s smaller claws.

Li Wei patted the Golden Anteater’s head. "From now on, you’re the Mine Guardian Beast. You can roam freely within the mines, but you must never, ever harm humans."

The Golden Anteater nodded, showing that it understood.