"But having said that, the trigger chance of Double Strike definitely still needs to be improved. After all, after the improvement, it can be triggered more effectively and used more flexibly and freely during battle."

Of course, the main reason is that the trigger chance of Double Strike will increase along with the increase of the Talent Level, so there's no need to worry. Zhang Yanhang felt that as long as he kept working hard to increase his Talent Level, he would certainly be able to reach a somewhat moderate level of trigger chance.

After paying attention to the issue of Double Strike, Zhang Yanhang quickly looked at the kill notification message for the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant, which he had temporarily ignored because he was shocked by the effects of Double Strike.

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

...

"As expected of a Third Tier One-star monster, although it's only one star higher than the Crimson Iron Flame Ant, the soul points gained are almost double, reaching 310 points. To get 310 soul points in the Demonized Swamp, I'd have to kill thirty-one Demonized Dogtooth Giant Apes."

At times like these, Zhang Yanhang couldn't help but sigh at the difference in the efficiency of soul point acquisition between Second Tier and Third Tier.

After waiting in place for a while, treasure boxes of Dark Purple Quality began to spawn one after another on the corpses of the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants that now covered the entire channel. Zhang Yanhang counted a total of seven.

"The Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants I just killed added up to about forty, minus one for the First Kill, which means about seven dropped a Drop treasure box? Although there is no Rank Penalty because they are Same Tier monsters, this drop rate is much higher than in the Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalaguna."

Zhang Yanhang remembered that at the beginning in the Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalaguna, it was one Treasure Box dropped per ten Crimson Iron Worker Ants killed.

"But after all, this is just the first batch of Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants that I've killed. The sample size for the statistics is not sufficiently large. I need to kill many more, say to the tune of a four-digit number, before I can calculate the actual Treasure box drop rate."

As he spoke, Zhang Yanhang picked up the seven Dark Purple Quality Drop Treasure Boxes from the ground and placed them into his Waist Bag.

"Dark Purple Quality Drop Treasure Boxes, which I could only get by killing Lord Monsters at the Second Tier, are now easily obtainable in large quantities simply by killing a few Same Tier monsters. Advancing in Rank is indeed the best way to become stronger."

It was precisely because he knew this that Zhang Yanhang always placed great importance on the Ash Source, which is used for promotion in rank. Unfortunately for him, even though he valued the Ash Source, it didn't reciprocate; he has yet to discover other more common channels of acquisition.

After dealing with these Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, Zhang Yanhang quickly continued onward. Considering the progress of the cleanup, he had to immediately start clearing out the Large Crimson Iron Ants.

…

October 29, Thursday, the fourth day after Double Ninth Festival, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang entered the Ashen World, 6:41 p.m., Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, the Central Region of Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano.

Watching the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, who immediately rushed over after displaying the Flame Demon Body and attempted to self-destruct with Fiery Flames Burning Body Explosion, Zhang Yanhang felt they seemed a bit too eager, or rather, imbued with a particularly strong flavor of Syrian enthusiasm.

Zhang Yanhang remembered that at first, they weren't like this and would engage with some normal attacks, like using Fiery Flame Beam to focus fire on him. But as time went on, the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants he encountered became progressively more aggressive. Now, they basically self-destruct on sight.

Regarding this transformation, Zhang Yanhang thought it might be due to some kind of information exchange among them, which had informed them that he was very powerful and utterly unbeatable, thus their decision to self-destruct upon encounter.

Of course, it's also possible that the noise he made when hunting other Large Crimson Iron Ants had some kind of negative effect on the other Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants.

However, Zhang Yanhang has never bothered to activate the Silent Field for such matters. After all, monsters coming to investigate could actually be a good thing. Even if they ran away, they'd flee in the opposite direction to him, which is to say, they'd head towards the direction he was advancing towards, further concentrating the density of monsters, which is also beneficial.

After all, the region has a finite size, and they couldn't escape from it. Naturally, for him, it didn't matter where they fled; they couldn't escape from the palm of his hand.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

[Successfully killed a Third Tier One-star Monster, 'Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Ordinary)' x1, Soul Points +310.]

...

Accompanied by a series of loud explosions, the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants in front of Zhang Yanhang blew themselves up one after another. Huge pillars of fire, over a dozen meters wide, shot up into the sky, reaching the top of the channel and blasting the rock layer above into numerous fissures.

A torrent of rocks fell like heavy rain, splashing down toward Zhang Yanhang on the ground, only to be instantly deflected upon contact with the Energy Shield, quickly piling up a small mound in front of him.

But compared to these rocks, the most significant impact of the self-destructing Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants on Zhang Yanhang was that some of the Ants that initially did not plan to self-destruct were also indirectly detonated by the explosions of other ants, which, in turn, indirectly increased his hunting efficiency.

But to be honest, this chain-reaction of explosions might be good for other Awakeners who struggle with cleaning efficiency, but for him, it's still a bit slow. So, most of the time, he still uses Death Wave and the Six Roots Pure Soul Passage Spear to prevent their self-destruction, that is, killing them directly before they could explode.

After dealing with, or rather watching as this batch of Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants completely self-destructed, Zhang Yanhang, as usual, began to stand in place and silently wait for the Drop Treasure Boxes to spawn.

"Man, I've been cleaning up for almost half an hour now, haven't I?"

Including the batch of Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants he had just killed, Zhang Yanhang remembered he should have already cleared an area of one hundred square kilometers, with only the last fifty square kilometers left to complete the Second Stage of the cleanup plan.

"If I were to calculate the progress of the Second Stage of the cleanup, I would have completed about 66.7% so far, still lacking the final third."

But compared to the progress of the Second Stage cleanup, Zhang Yanhang was more concerned about the overall progress of the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano's cleanup plan.

So far, with a total area of six hundred fifty square kilometers for the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano, he had already cleared two hundred square kilometers including the First Stage, which translates to about a 30.8% completion rate. Not even a third yet, with an outstanding 69.2% left to complete.

"My current cleaning efficiency is still about one square kilometer cleared every twenty seconds, but judging by the current progress, it seems to be okay?"

Although Zhang Yanhang had not obtained any equipment that could improve his hunting efficiency, and despite a significant increase in his Attack Power, his cleaning efficiency had still maintained its original speed of one square kilometer every twenty seconds.

Fortunately, his current hunting efficiency was just adequate, and as long as there were no unexpected occurrences, it should still be sufficient, so he wasn't in a rush to make use of other methods to improve the hunting efficiency.

As Zhang Yanhang was pondering, the bodies of the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, reduced to chunks of charcoal from self-destruction, started to spawn Dark Purple Quality drop treasure boxes.

Zhang Yanhang immediately picked them up and put them into his Waist Bag, and then continued forward toward the monsters ahead without delay. Although his hunting efficiency was enough for the moment, he still couldn't afford to waste time.

...

October 29th, Thursday, four days after the Double Ninth Festival, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang entered the Ashen World, 6:55 PM, Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano, Central Region.

Zhang Yanhang stood at the entrance to the mine where Refined Crimson Iron was stored and immediately activated his Death Wave Skill without hesitation, enveloping the mine in front of him and the surrounding mines with Crimson Iron Destruction Ants transporting the Refined Crimson Iron within the reach of his Death Wave.

As the transparent and invisible wave spread, a great number of Crimson Iron Destruction Ants fell into silence, and Zhang Yanhang nodded in satisfaction, quietly listening to the kill notification sounds.

[Successfully killed a Second Tier Three Star Monster 'Crimson Iron Destruction Ant (Elite)'×1, Soul points +160.]

[Successfully killed a Second Tier Three Star Monster 'Crimson Iron Destruction Ant (Elite)'×1, Soul points +160.]

[Successfully killed a Second Tier Three Star Monster 'Crimson Iron Destruction Ant (Elite)'×1, Soul points +160.]

...

"Finally, I have completed the cleanup of the remaining fifty square kilometers of the Second Tier Stage, bringing the progress of the Second Tier cleanup plan to one hundred percent."

"And the overall progress of the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano cleanup plan has also increased from 30.8% to 38.5%, improving by another 7.7%. It's pleasing that we've now gone beyond one-third completion."

"With both the First Tier and Second Tier cleanup plans successfully completed, it's time to embark on the most challenging Third Stage. The Third Stage cleanup plan covers a vast area of three hundred kilometers, which is nearly half of the entire Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Tarano."

"However, on the flip side, if I can successfully complete the Third Stage, then there would be little difficulty in finishing the entire cleanup plan. As long as the Third Stage is completed on schedule, I can definitely return to the Main World before the Transmission Channel closes, without having to spend another five days and five nights in the Crimson Iron Ore Vein."

"But although the Third Stage plan is indeed critical, Zhang Yanhang has just completed the Second Tier, so he feels that he should first Open a wave of treasure boxes and commence the Third Stage cleanup afterwards."

"After all, sharpening the axe will not delay the work of cutting wood. If I can Open some new equipment that increases hunting efficiency, then the cleanup of the Central Region in the Third Stage should be much easier."

"Of course, before Opening the treasure boxes, Zhang Yanhang still needs to solve the issue of upgrading his Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist. He believes that he can use the refined crimson iron right in front of him to test a hypothesis he'd had earlier: whether multiple items can simultaneously break through their limits."

"If possible, that would undoubtedly save a great deal of time, but the specific details will only be known once he actually gets to work."

"After a quick scan of the surrounding environment, Zhang Yanhang started collecting the Drop treasure boxes that spawned after the death of the Crimson Iron Destruction Ants. Due to many Crimson Iron Destruction Ants being responsible for transporting the Crimson Marrow, a single use of the Death Wave Skill yielded around a dozen or so treasure boxes to collect."

"After collecting these dozen or so Purple Quality Drop treasure boxes, Zhang Yanhang promptly began to observe the specific conditions of the surrounding mines."

"According to the scan results, although there are five mines distributed nearby, three of them are for storing ordinary Crimson Marrow, with only two for the Refined Crimson Marrow."

"Fortunately, although there were only two mines, the stock of Refined Crimson Marrow inside was plentiful. Just the one in front of Zhang Yanhang contained at least two to three hundred tons of Refined Crimson Marrow, and the other mine was about the same. As long as there were no issues on his part, such an ample amount of Refined Crimson Marrow should be more than enough, even if experiments failed."

"Since the optimal weight for fusing Refined Crimson Iron at the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu was ten kilograms, Zhang Yanhang started by separating several ten-kilogram blocks of Refined Crimson Marrow for experimentation right off the bat."

"However, he quickly realized that ten kilograms might seem a lot for Refined Crimson Iron, but for Refined Crimson Marrow, it was barely enough even to make a dagger, and the Score was somewhat disappointing."

"Relying on his previous fusion experiences and gradually increasing the amount, he quickly identified the appropriate weight for Refined Crimson Marrow, which was around fifty kilograms—about five times that of the Refined Crimson Iron."

"But fortunately, quantity is not as important as Quality. The mine's Refined Crimson Marrow is abundant, and any weight short of a few hundred kilograms per fusion would be manageable."

"As for concerns that using this Refined Crimson Marrow, which is the food for Third Tier Large Crimson Iron Ants, might lead to their starvation, that couldn't bother him less. At most, they might go hungry for a few hours, but soon they'll all die by his hand, so having a meal or not at this point really doesn't make much of a difference."

"In short, there's no such thing as dying of fullness; if they're hungry, let them stay that way. It's just missing one meal, and once they respawn, they won't be hungry anymore."

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