573: Chapter 40 Final Preparations_1 573: Chapter 40 Final Preparations_1 “By Denia above, is there really a forest below?” Lina gasped, covering her mouth.
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would hardly believe it.
I assud it would be like Dragonscar, where the bottom is all bare ground.
But where did these trees originate from?
There are no trees in this area, I only see grass and shrubs, where did the seeds co from?”
“These trees are very ancient,” Pannis explained, “they might have been propagating here generation after generation since before the First Epoch.
Who knows what this area looked like then, in the countless years before the First Epoch.
Maybe this place was not plateaus and mountains, but was just a plain suitable for growing trees.”
It was already dawn.
The mist swirling inside the Earth’s Scar gradually beca thin.
Although it still obscured the view, with their Legendary Rank professionals vision, they could vaguely see what was below through the thick mist.
Their guide, Ike, looked down for a while then nodded, “The fog has dissipated as much as it can, it can’t get any thinner.
It is about ti to go down.”
“Before we enter, we shall do one last equipnt check,” Pannis said.
“Make sure each item ntioned could be used at any ti, and they’re all in the best condition.”
“Headlamp.” Pannis removed the leather headband from his head.
A similar kind of headlamp was used by everyone during their adventure in the Crying Cave.
As long as you put in a one-hundred-Tael Light-attribute Crystal shard that’s been activated, it can maintain a faint light beam for a long ti, lighting up the direction where your forehead is pointing.
These lamps were too bulky to attach to a hat, so they had to use this thod instead.
Of the five mbers of the adventure team, only Freya hadn’t participated in that adventure and hadn’t used this simple and effective tool.
But thanks to early preparations, Freya had already learned how to use it under Catherine’s guidance.
“Very good, next item, shoulder lamp.” The girls each took a uniquely shaped Crystal Energy lamp from a sturdy sheath fixed on their left shoulder, switched it on and off several tis to ensure it could function normally.
This type of lamp looked strange, its main body was vertical, its size and shape similar to an ordinary Crystal Energy hand lamp.
The activation, absorption, and storage Arrays for the Crystal Energy were all inscribed inside the main body.
But the only difference from a hand lamp was that the main part of this handle doesn’t glow and was all made of opaque tal.
On top of the main part, there was a curved neck, one end connected to the main body, the other end remained horizontal.
When the crystal energy was turned on, a narrow beam of light was emitted from the curved neck.
Although not strong and its brightness was low, its range was very far and could light up space as far as fifty ters away.
The shoulder lamp was attached to a strap on their shoulder and could keep a certain brightness in front of the body at all tis.
This kind of shoulder lamp might not seem different from a Crystal Energy lamp, but the inside Array was far more complex than an ordinary lamp, and therefore very expensive.
The kind that five used was sold for as high as three thousand gold coins, even at the internal fee of the chanic Guild.
“Wrist Rope.” Pannis lifted his hand, and a rope ford from countless fine tal wires and processed tree spider silk sprung out from the back of his wrist.
A unique suction cup opened in the air on the top of the rope, crossing over the ten ters distance and nailed to the ground.
The unique suction cup clung tightly to the ground and wouldn’t beco loose even when forcefully tugged.
Seeing that each person, including Ike, properly deployed their wrist ropes, Pannis nodded.
With a few clicks on his wrist, the suction cup imdiately lost its suction and beca loose, and the wrist rope automatically retracted into the wrist guard.
“Locator and positioning disk.” Each one took out a crystal disk slightly larger than their palm, on which six differently coloured lights were flashing.
Each color represented a person in the team.
As long as they were within a five hundred ter range, the general location of team mbers carrying a locator would be displayed on the positioning disk.
“Snake-proof boots.” The snake-proof boots were a pair of long boots made from specially processed Armored Bull skin, with a very strong defense force.
Although these are called snake-proof boots, they could almost resist all threats from ground insects and snakes.
Unless it’s an exaggeratedly strong snake-type magical beast from the Forest of Death, no bug or snake could bite through these boots.
However, these boots were very hot to wear.
You need to use them with Ice-attribute frost Crystal fragnts to endure wearing them, or else you will feel unbearably hot in a few hours.
“Frost Crystal fragnts, and you must ensure sufficient quantity.” As expected, the next thing Pannis checked was this.
However, it wasn’t just for the snake-proof boots: “The deeper we go underground, the higher the temperature will be.
If we really go one or two thousand ters underground, the surrounding temperature will probably be like an oven.
We can only rely on these to survive for a long ti.
Luckily we prepared enough before, five thousand frost Crystal fragnts should be enough for the six of us to survive for fifteen days.”
“Do you intend to take fifteen days as a cycle?” said Ike, “The frost Crystal fragnts should indeed be enough, but fifteen days might not be sufficient.”
“If there’s not enough ti, we’ll co back up and resupply, then go down again,” Pannis explained.
“Humans aren’t like you Cavern Dwarves, you’re used to living underground, humans can’t take it ntally.”
“I see, you may continue,” Ike nodded, agreeing with Pannis’ opinion.
“If there are any other special human needs, Mr.
Pannis, feel free to remind .
I don’t understand humans very well.
When considering problems, I do it from the perspective of a Cavern Dwarf, so I might not be thorough enough.”
“Alright then, next is the low-frequency whistle.” Everyone had a small whistle hanging around their necks.
When they put it in their mouth and blew hard on it, there was no sound.
But a very small tal block that everyone carried on their person vibrated.
The vibration would intensify when facing the direction of the person blowing the whistle.
This was rarely used and emitted a deep sound wave that most organisms couldn’t hear.
The small tal block was the receiver, which only reacted to this sound wave.
Although it seed useful, this kind of sound wave had a very limited transmission range, less than one hundred ters.
It was not as useful as imagined and was only used in particularly dark environnts, or when enemies were nearby and oral ssages could not be transmitted.
“Twenty packs of odor removal powder for each person, three bottles of healing potion each, two Breath Retention Potions each, and two Eagle Eye potions each.” Pannis listed out one by one as he was checking, “This about covers it, now everyone should check their personal belongings.
We might not have enough ti to prepare once we start descending, so make sure you’re ready.”
“What kind of challenges are we going to face below?” Catherine, having the fewest provisions for battle, was the first one to finish organizing.
Waiting for her turn, she asked, “You and Mr.
Ike look very serious.
Are there any dangers?”
“Actually, once we reach the forest below, it would be relatively safer.” Pannis exchanged glances with Ike, recounting, “I have once traveled along the edges of several nearby Earth’s Scars with so friends.
We didn’t go too deep, just wandered above ground.
In the forest below, there are fierce small-sized magical beasts, whose nas I can’t even rember, and nurous giant bugs.
Although they fight frequently, as long as we are careful given our current abilities, it shouldn’t pose any problem.
The real challenge lies in the descent.”
“What’s wrong with the descent?” After packing her things, Lina sat down with a thick novel and squeezed out so reading ti.
Hearing Pannis’s explanation, she couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “Is there any creature that would attack us on the cliff?”
“Yes, there will be several.” Pannis said with a bitter smile, “Although it may seem as if the fog is thinning around here, you’ll see when we descend that the fog within the Earth’s Scar is quite dense, making it difficult to see our surroundings.
Do you rember the Misty Forest we’ve crossed in the Shining Forest?
Although the fog here isn’t as dramatic, it achieves a similar effect.
In the fog, bizarre creatures can unexpectedly pop up and launch attacks on us, and often, we can barely make out what they are.
Plus, we will be hanging in mid-air.
If soone accidentally falls, probably only Vivian will survive the landing.”
“There are many attackers?” Catherine frowned, asking sowhat anxiously, “Will the attack frequency be high?”
“It depends on luck.” Pannis sighed and shook his head, “If you’re lucky, you might not encounter any, but if you’re unlucky, you could run into a bunch.
As for the exact frequency – no one knows for sure.
Ike, your team’s still uncertain about this, aren’t you?”
“Indeed.” Ike shook his head, “You must deploy your shield and descend rapidly.
Because we never know when we will be attacked, waiting until the attack happens to deploy the shield is too late.
Hence, only professionals of Legendary Rank or above can pull this off.
After all, the Gold Rank’s shields do not last long enough, especially when under attack – they disperse even faster and won’t last until we get through the fog layer.”
“Does deploying the shield guarantee our safety?” Vivian and Freya finished packing almost simultaneously.
Carrying similarly large backpacks, Vivian asked, “Is there a chance that the enemy could breach the shield?”
“I have yet to encounter that situation.” Arte pondered, shaking his head, “From my current knowledge, as long as you keep your shield deployed and ensure that you won’t fall due to excessive attacks, you should be okay.”
“That’s enough then,” Catherine said confidently, standing up, “Considering our current abilities, we should be able to maintain our shields for at least an hour.
That should be enough ti for us to reach the bottom.”
“Looks like everyone is ready,” Ike scanned the group and nodded, “Let’s get ready to quickly descend.”
“Let’s go, my friends,” Catherine said softly, “It’s ti to venture onwards.” (To be continued.
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