Theoretically speaking, Memory Crystals, Tier 6 Mage mana crystals, and Ore Beast cores should all be considered valuable items. Why hadn't they triggered a level-up for his Storage space before?
“Is it because of the material value...?”
Memory Crystals were indeed valuable, but their value lay in the inheritance of knowledge contained within. If what was stored inside was just a terabyte of singing, dancing, and rapping, it would naturally become utterly worthless.
The same logic probably applied to mana crystals. To a caveman, a sharp stone would undoubtedly be far more valuable than a high-tech computer chip.
Once Li Xiuman figured out the criteria for the system's judgment, he stopped dwelling on it and resumed mining the Red-Faceted Square Gold Ore.
By the time he pried loose the very last piece of Red-Faceted Square Gold Ore, the ore bed before him was completely empty.
All the Red-Faceted Square Gold piled up inside his storage space formed a mound about half a person's height. This was a normal yield for a Red-Faceted Square Gold deposit. After all, this material was an extremely rare mineral to begin with; it was impossible to mine something absurd like several tons of it all at once.
Next, Li Xiuman dug up the high-quality molten fine iron ore scattered across the ground. While this molten fine iron ore wasn't incredibly valuable on its own, that was only when compared to the gold ore. For the current Li Xiuman, while he didn't dare to reveal too much of the Red-Faceted Square Gold, he had no such qualms about the molten fine iron. Furthermore, since he possessed the [Golem] skill, he was destined to be a massive consumer of mineral resources. Now that he also had [Storage], whether for future research or actual combat, he would definitely go through a lot of ore. Therefore, the more he had, the better.
The entire karst cave now looked as if it had been gnawed on by a dog. Its original magnificent luster was completely gone, leaving behind nothing but a rugged landscape of pits and hollows.
Li Xiuman cast a satisfied glance over his handiwork before leaving the mine cave.
Since the capacity of his storage space had expanded, he no longer had to compromise on how to handle the Ore Beast's carcass. He resumed dismantling it, stuffing the parts neatly into his storage space.
The sheer volume of his harvest made Li Xiuman feel slightly uneasy. If he still had a heart, it would probably be pounding wildly right now. He was simply too excited. He decided he needed to kill a few fire crocodiles to calm himself down.
Fire crocodiles: ...
He continued his descent.
By the time he reached the twenty-sixth floor, three days had already passed.
Li Xiuman became obsessed with acquiring rare materials to level up his Storage skill.
Perhaps because they belonged to the same category of items, the Red-Faceted Square Gold, which theoretically should have been able to upgrade his storage space again, did not trigger another level-up.
Thus, he began searching for other types of rare materials.
But his luck could not always favor him; over these three days, he only managed to find one Nonagonal Fire Crystal and a small batch of Octagonal Fire Crystals.
Equipped with the Storage skill and freed from any worries about his carrying capacity, he was practically sweeping clean the entire dungeon.
Li Xiuman finally understood why storage-type skills were so rare in this world. At this rate, someone really could empty out an entire dungeon.
The twenty-sixth floor of the dungeon was no different from the previous levels. It was reached via the same lava waterfall, and filled with the same molten lava. Looking at the lava now, he felt none of the awe or excitement he had experienced the first time. In fact, it was starting to make him sick to his stomach.
Besides, he was a skeleton. He truly had no idea how humans managed to survive inside this sweltering lava dungeon.
He pried out the magic stone from the Firewing Beast beneath him and packed it into his storage space.
Constant exploring and monster grinding had taken their toll. Even with Li Xiuman's high Spirit stat, he was beginning to feel mentally exhausted.
Finding a secluded cave, Li Xiuman tapped the rock wall with his wand. “Golem Creation!”
The stones on the rock wall began to squirm and wriggle. Before long, a Swordsman Golem and a Heavy Armored Golem detached themselves from the wall and stepped forward.
“Watch our surroundings,” Li Xiuman ordered. He then sat down at the foot of a stone wall, leaned against it, and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, Li Xiuman did not immediately resume his exploration.
The continuous battles, especially the clash with the Ore Wolf, had yielded some insights. He needed to process this knowledge while it was still fresh.
Pulling out 《The Skeleton's Magic Book》, Li Xiuman attempted to create his own Tier 2 Magic.
Specifically, a Tier 2 composite spell from his composite magic series.
It was a fusion of the Tier 2 wind and earth spells, "Rock Spear" and "Wind Swirl," which would create "Storm Rock Spear."
There was also an even more advanced wind, earth, and fire composite spell: "Storm Molten Spear."
Previously, deploying two separate Tier 2 magic circles in succession consumed too much mana, took too long to cast, and failed to unleash their maximum potential. Fusing the two magic circles to develop a composite spell was the correct path forward.
Li Xiuman began sketching drafts of the magic circle. Using his current magical knowledge, he attempted to modify and link the two magic circles together.
Fusing Tier 2 spells was incomparably more difficult than fusing Tier 1 spells. After a whole day of hard work, Li Xiuman had progressed less than halfway with the new magic circle.
If he could successfully develop this spell, his magical prowess would surely take a massive leap forward.
Li Xiuman took out his Memory Crystal to study the Tier 2 magical knowledge stored within.
If his current level was lacking, he would just have to study and improve.
In this manner, Li Xiuman steadily built a solid foundation for his Tier 2 Magic.
Only when his two golems finally collapsed and dissipated did Li Xiuman pack away his Memory Crystal and 《The Skeleton's Magic Book》. Gripping his wand, he stepped out of the karst cave once more.
...
The twenty-seventh floor of the dungeon.
Molten lava churned. A colossal, horned fire crocodile was relentlessly pursuing a flying figure through the magma.
This fire crocodile was none other than the Molten Six-Legged Fire Crocodile King.
And the figure flying in a disheveled panic was Li Xiuman, who had entered the twenty-seventh floor not long ago.
Li Xiuman hadn't expected to be targeted by the fire crocodile king so quickly after stepping onto the twenty-seventh floor. It seemed the creature still remembered him.
Or more accurately, it remembered his left arm bone. There was still a lingering trace of energy within his left arm. Although it didn't affect him much in his daily life and was gradually being digested with each level-up, at this moment, in the eyes of the fire crocodile king, it was a glaring beacon. It remembered this abominable human who had escaped from its jaws last time.
“Wind Spiral Spike!”
Li Xiuman spun around while flying backward in midair, raising his wand to point at the fire crocodile in the lava.
Two-colored magic circles of green and yellow unfolded, stacking one in front of the other.
A howling wind vortex, enveloping an earth spike, shot out in rapid succession.
The fire crocodile opened its maw and spat a massive molten fireball without mercy. Accompanied by the roaring crackle of bursting magma, it hurtled toward Li Xiuman.
Even when the Wind Spiral Spike collided with the molten fireball, it was like a drop of water in the ocean, merely whipping up a small swirl of fire on its surface.
“Tier 2 Magic, Water Prison!”
Li Xiuman quickly switched his spell.
A blue magic circle enveloped the molten fireball. Water surged and coalesced around it with a violent hiss, instantly erupting into a plume of billowing steam.
The molten fireball solidified into a steaming ball of rock, continuing its trajectory toward the skeleton.
Li Xiuman raised his wand, thrusting it straight toward the incoming boulder as a yellow magic circle expanded in front of the tip.
“Golem Creation!”
Empowered by Great Strength, he swung his wand with the open magic circle toward the boulder.
The moment it struck, the magic circle rippled across the surface of the stone sphere.
The straight wand bent slightly under the strain before launching the stone sphere back like a baseball with shattering force.
In midair, the squirming stone transformed into a golem wielding a greatsword, crashing down upon the fire crocodile king in a heavy, overhead slash.
The fire crocodile king's head, protruding from the lava, violently reeled from the impact, and its massive gaping maw was forced shut under the tremendous pressure.
Rate on N.U.
