Chapter 72

Cheng Yang immediately looked at the ground and found that, indeed, there were already some light blue spirit stones appearing a bit further away.

A hint of surprise welled up in Cheng Yang’s heart. The Level 1 spirit stones had already earned him over a thousand points of spirit energy. If these were higher-level spirit stones, how much spirit energy could he gain?

Cheng Yang had not yet rushed over to pick up the spirit stones when a hissing sound suddenly came from the depths of the cave. The sound was exactly the same as the giant rats he had just killed.

"Damn! Are there still giant rats in here?" Cheng Yang looked at the winding stone cave and couldn't help but sigh.

Sure enough, before he could make any further moves, a series of thuds came from the depths of the cave. Cheng Yang immediately became alert; he didn't want to be caught off guard.

A few moments later, two spots of light glowing faintly floated out from the cave. As they got closer, Cheng Yang realized it was a giant rat even larger than the ones he had encountered earlier.

If the previous rats were as big as leopards, this one was at least as large as a black bear. When it ran, the ground trembled slightly.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang immediately knew the situation was not good. With a thought, he cast an Ice Freeze spell at the giant rat. In the second it took for him to cast the spell, the rat had already run over twenty meters, leaving only about ten meters between them.

Fortunately, the Ice Freeze spell had no success rate, so the giant rat was instantly frozen in place.

Cheng Yang didn't dare to stay for a moment and immediately turned to run out. At the same time, he threw an ice ball backward, aiming for the giant rat's head.

However, just as Cheng Yang had run about ten meters and released the ice ball, the ice on the giant rat's body melted instantly, and it started running after him again.

This meant that the Ice Freeze spell had only lasted for one second, its effect reduced by half. Cheng Yang estimated that this peak Level 1 giant rat likely had some special skill or ability that weakened his control spells.

Cheng Yang had killed peak Level 1 demonized beasts before, but that was in the Blood Church dungeon, and he was on a tree branch, safe from attacks. Now, he was in a narrow cave, where he had no advantage and was actually at a disadvantage.

In a blink, the ice ball hit the giant rat, but the massive impact did not affect it at all. After the ice ball shattered, ice shards scattered everywhere, and the slowing effect did not work.

The giant rat was now only about twenty meters away from Cheng Yang. As he ran, he shot another ice ball.

Cheng Yang calculated in his mind that the giant rat's magic defense should be around 8 points, meaning each of his attacks would only deal about thirty points of damage. With its peak Level 1 strength, its health should be around 240 points, so he would need to hit it at least seven times to kill it.

He had only performed two rounds of attacks, and the giant rat had already closed the distance by over ten meters. Before it caught up to him, he had one more chance to attack.

What about the remaining attacks? With the giant rat's peak Level 1 attack power, it would only take three hits to kill him. If he drank a health potion, he would have a chance to kill it first.

Killing a peak Level 1 giant rat didn't seem too difficult, but who knew how many more there were in the cave? If he couldn't get a certain number of spirit stones, this mission would be a loss. What was the point of killing one peak Level 1 giant rat? It would only give him 8 points of spirit energy.

Cheng Yang couldn't think of any other way, so he decided to take it one step at a time.

He shot another ice ball, hitting the giant rat's chest, making it let out a painful scream.

Cheng Yang's good fortune was about to end. The giant rat swiped at his head with a claw. Cheng Yang dodged to the side, but the huge claw hit his shoulder, sending him flying.

"Such strength!" Cheng Yang was annoyed. When his feet hit the ground, he instantly shot another ice ball.

The giant rat had just retracted its claw and was about to charge again when it was hit by the ice ball. Anger flared in its chest, and with a roar, it lunged at Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang saw this and guessed it was aiming for his head. Although he knew that the demonized beast's attacks generally didn't have special effects, he didn't dare to take the risk. Using his combat experience, he skillfully avoided the fatal blow, but his right side was still hit by the giant rat's head.

He was thrown several meters and crashed into the stone wall with a loud thud, the pain spreading throughout his body. It seemed this peak Level 1 giant rat was not to be underestimated.

A mouthful of blood spurted from Cheng Yang's mouth. The scene looked very grim, but in reality, he had only taken about thirty points of damage.

At this point, Cheng Yang's health was down to about twenty points. If he took another hit, he would likely be dead. He hadn't even considered the possibility of being reborn.

"Damn! Here it comes again..." Cheng Yang didn't have time to catch his breath as the giant rat charged at him again. Knowing that dodging was useless, he immediately shot another ice ball.

At the same time, he held a health potion in his other hand and quickly drank it.

The giant rat was very fast, and in a flash, it was already close to Cheng Yang. By this time, the potion in his mouth hadn't even reached his stomach...

Cheng Yang was anxious. The ice ball hit the giant rat's head, and it shattered into pieces, covering the rat's body and slowing it down.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang knew the ice ball's slowing effect was working. He quickly moved, escaping the giant rat's attack range. A moment later, the health potion took effect, and his health was restored.

A smile returned to Cheng Yang's face, and he immediately shot another ice ball, hitting the giant rat before it could recover from the slowing effect.

"Screech..." The high-pitched scream expressed the giant rat's current anger and unease.

Taking advantage of its weakened state, Cheng Yang, who was not a soft-hearted person, shot another magic missile. The peak Level 1 giant rat was knocked to the ground, its eyes closing in defeat.

A sense of rebirth welled up in Cheng Yang's heart. If the ice ball's slowing effect hadn't kicked in at the last moment, he would have died before achieving his goal.

Since his rebirth, Cheng Yang had always felt superior, believing he was the most knowledgeable about the rules and events of the first year of the apocalypse.

However, this experience was a wake-up call. Information and intelligence were indeed very important, but if he lost his life, they would be worthless. The most likely threat to his life were these demonized beasts.

In his previous life, he had killed tens of thousands of demonized beasts, but the strongest were only late Level 1. They were no match for the one he had just faced. Due to his lack of experience, he hadn't fully grasped the combat habits of these peak Level 1 giant rats and had underestimated their sudden burst of power, leading to the crisis.

From now on, he must take these demonized beasts seriously, or he might end up in a dangerous situation.

Cheng Yang calmed himself and then examined the giant rat's body.

Looking at the large creature, Cheng Yang felt a bit depressed. If he knew how to skin, this giant rat could have provided him with a high-quality pelt. A peak Level 1 demonized beast's pelt could likely make black iron-grade equipment.

Cheng Yang took one last look at the giant rat's body and then turned to walk deeper into the cave.

This time, he was much more cautious. If he hadn't been excited by the blue stones, he might not have been discovered by the peak Level 1 giant rat so early.

Cheng Yang slowly moved forward, quickly returning to the spot where he had encountered the peak Level 1 giant rat. Looking at the light blue stones, he knew he had to find a way to get one.

He would wait until he understood what these were before deciding whether to take the risk.

Cheng Yang tied his clothes tightly and then moved forward cautiously. It took him a full minute to advance less than twenty meters.

Cheng Yang knew that his current approach was very risky. Just because he had killed one giant rat didn't mean he could handle two if they appeared suddenly.

Finally, Cheng Yang held his breath and approached a light blue stone, slowly bending down to pick it up.

He didn't know if anything in this world needed to be identified, but in his previous life, he hadn't encountered anything that required identification. Of course, his previous experience was still in the beginner stage, and his understanding of the world was still superficial.

Now, the stone in his hand didn't need identification, and he immediately knew its properties.

Spirit Stone (Level 2): Contains 1000 points of spirit energy, which can be absorbed by warriors or sacrificed to the territory to increase the corresponding amount of spirit energy. Mining condition: Level 7 Mining skill.

Sure enough, it was a higher-level spirit stone. The joy in Cheng Yang's heart was indescribable. The Level 2 spirit stone contained a hundred times the energy of a Level 1 stone, and just thinking about it made him very excited.

If a Level 2 spirit stone was like this, what about a Level 3? Would it contain 100,000 points of spirit energy?

If he had any doubts about whether to continue exploring, they were now gone. Within his line of sight, there were more than three Level