Jiang Xuan turned around curiously and asked, “What’s wrong, Ganyu?”
Ganyu pursed her lips, looking a bit embarrassed.
After a moment of hesitation, Ganyu muttered softly, “My… my face is a bit dirty too…”
“…”
Jiang Xuan was stunned for a moment, but soon chuckled, raised his hand, and carefully wiped her face clean.
He didn’t say much, only speaking gently, “Bear with it for now, Ganyu. Conditions are limited here. Once we get back out, you can wash up properly.”
“This time, once we mine some iron ore and craft a few iron buckets, we can bring some water in next time. Then you can stay clean whenever you want.”
Ganyu didn’t quite hear what Jiang Xuan was saying.
She only felt warm and dizzy all over.
Even the horns on her head were feeling a bit hot.
She nodded in a daze, then turned around and threw herself back into the grand endeavor of mining.
Looking at Ganyu’s back, Jiang Xuan’s eyes turned somewhat deep.
After a moment of silence, he shook his head and walked over to another side to mine.
For Jiang Xuan, coal ore was just acceptable.
However, for Keqing and Ganyu, it was as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Their motivation had surged even further.
Simply enough, the three of them had no plans to push deeper right now anyway.
It was better to completely mine out all the coal ore here first.
Jiang Xuan had mentioned earlier that no matter what they mined this time, aside from setting aside resources to prepare for the future, Keqing and Ganyu could take a portion of the remainder with them.
That specific portion referred to the nine inventory slots on their person.
Don’t look down on nine inventory slots being small.
Each slot could stack up to sixty-four units of resources.
Converted into coal blocks, if the two of them could carry it all out, the coal blocks they brought back would be enough to supply the entirety of Liyue Harbor for over half a month.
Even if sold to Snezhnaya, it would probably fetch hundreds of millions of Mora.
After all, that was several hundred tons of high-quality coal ore.
When it came to coal, Teyvat certainly didn’t lack buyers.
Every nation needed it.
The freezing realm of Snezhnaya was a massive consumer, and Fontaine needed coal energy as well.
Of course, this was just Keqing and Ganyu thinking out loud.
After all, with eighteen inventory slots between them, they couldn’t just carry coal in all of them, right?
At the very least…
Keqing had her eye fixed on that torch that never burned out.
Especially after seeing Jiang Xuan place torches all around the perimeter.
The entire cavern was lit up as bright as day.
It made Keqing’s heart itch with desire even more.
All in all, the three were filled with motivation.
Within half an hour, they had basically swept away all the coal in the surrounding area.
The amount of coal here still exceeded Jiang Xuan’s expectations.
This haul yielded three and a half stacks of coal blocks.
It was quite a harvest.
Glancing at the pickaxe in his hand whose durability had turned red again, Jiang Xuan casually tossed it away.
It was made of stone, so there was no need to treasure it.
Stone was everywhere here; he could just mine some directly.
Just as he was about to rest, eat some food, and continue exploring with Keqing and Ganyu, Ganyu suddenly let out another sharp cry not far away.
This time, she sounded somewhat panicked.
Without a second thought, Jiang Xuan raised his shield, grabbed his stone sword, and charged toward Ganyu.
When he reached Ganyu’s side, Jiang Xuan’s pupils contracted slightly.
On the wall right in front of Ganyu…
An arrow was lodged!
14.
Bone Meal is Useful?
The Hall Master is Enraged!
The clattering sound of rattling bones echoed from the darkness.
Without a word, Jiang Xuan pulled Ganyu behind him.
Ganyu, who had been startled by the sudden arrow attack, felt his presence before her.
The slight panic in her heart vanished without a trace.
Keqing threw down her pickaxe and ran over rapidly.
In this world, her Stellar Restoration effect was terribly weak—running on foot was actually faster.
The two stood guard in front of Ganyu, one on each side.
Ganyu was a veteran of a hundred battles after all; although startled by the surprise attack, she quickly reacted. This story is hosted at g.com.
Standing between the two heavy shields, she drew her bow.
As Jiang Xuan had mentioned before:
Since they hadn’t encountered spiders yet and couldn’t craft bows, Ganyu was their only ranged power.
Naturally, she needed to be protected in the center.
“Did you hear the sound of bones clattering?”
Jiang Xuan spoke in a low voice, and both Keqing and Ganyu nodded solemnly.
“That’s a Skeleton Archer. I usually call it a Skeleton.”
“Judging by the sound, there’s only one. Don’t be afraid. It has no melee capabilities and can only shoot arrows.”
“So, press forward with shields up, and we can solve it directly. But if there are too many Skeletons, we’ll have to take cover.”
Although the Skeleton’s shooting didn’t seem fatal, that depended on who it was shooting at.
The mighty Steve…
The ultimate creature of strength and physique.
If it were anyone else, wouldn’t they be pierced straight through by a single arrow from a Skeleton?
Keqing and Ganyu stared intently at the darkness.
The clattering sound in their ears made them somewhat nervous.
This was the very first monster they had encountered since coming to Jiang Xuan’s world.
Jiang Xuan, on the other hand, had calmed down.
During this past year, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t encountered Skeletons before.
When he was an ordinary human, he could avoid them.
Now that he had the Steve Physique, there was no reason he couldn’t beat one.
Jiang Xuan raised his shield and held out a torch with his other hand.
“Ganyu, help me watch for ranged attacks. Keqing, protect Ganyu. I’ll go take care of it.”
Ganyu and Keqing didn’t object, only whispering a quiet “Be careful.”
Placing torches along the way, Jiang Xuan walked into the darkness.
That was deeper inside the cavern, a spot Jiang Xuan hadn’t explored yet.
After walking a dozen meters, just as Jiang Xuan was about to place a third torch—
The sound of wind breaking rang out.
Jiang Xuan instantly raised his shield.
A dull thud of impact echoed off the shield.