'I have to be faster,' Richard thought.

He considered what kind of attack he needed to unleash.

It had to destroy a wide area, but the destructive force must not be too strong, otherwise it would shatter the Spirit Nature.

After thinking for a moment, Richard decided to use his wave.

Whoosh!

His wave instantly spread out, but only as a thin layer, enveloping the entire mine.

He touched the earring on his left ear, activating its power.

It was, of course, the Echo of Wave, allowing him to launch attacks through his wave.

Through the wave, Richard sent countless lightning bolts that exploded the moment they appeared.

They appeared everywhere because they could manifest anywhere his wave existed, including the areas he couldn't reach directly.

Their explosions were not excessive, yet every lightning bolt was powerful enough to destroy one large Spirit Nature chunk.

Richard continuously released new bolts, and their explosions shook the entire mine.

However, destroying the entire mine was not that easy.

Richard burned through his Aether quickly, then absorbed energy from the surrounding Spirit Nature to replenish it.

His hands were not idle either. Spirit Nature that was near him was instantly stored into his Storage Artefact.

When he saw a lot of open space forming, he released fifty Shadow Monsters, each carrying a Storage Artefact.

They spread out and began gathering the scattered Spirit Nature.

"Grace!" Richard summoned Grace out of the Dragon Hall again since it was safe enough now, even though the mine kept rising.

Ten Graces appeared, and their domains could now spread farther since they were fully outside.

"Grace, help me gather the Spirit Nature," Richard said.

Grace nodded. Her nine shadows immediately dashed in all directions.

They moved even faster, so even though there were only nine of them, their gathering speed matched the Shadow Monsters.

Richard even became optimistic that he could take everything before the mine reached the surface.

Of course, he still kept firing his lightning.

"I've gathered 100 million," Grace suddenly said, looking shocked.

That amount was huge—enough to buy a High-grade Tier 6 Weapon.

On the other side, Richard did not count how much the Shadow Monsters had gathered.

He just kept collecting.

However, according to his estimation—combined with Grace's haul—they had collected around 25%.

"We must be faster," he said, and Grace nodded.

For such a massive amount of Spirit Nature, even someone like Grace looked thrilled.

Richard kept seeing her smile again and again.

He wasn't even sure how he would split it with her later.

Grace became more serious, releasing more power into her domain.

But just when they thought everything was going smoothly, suddenly an old man whose body resembled earth appeared above them.

Richard was stunned to see the old man, and the old man was just as stunned.

A moment later, his expression turned furious.

"Boy, how greedy you are," he shouted loudly.

Richard slightly furrowed his brows. This old man was a Lord, and he clearly had expertise in earth power.

Even if his Earth Element affinity wasn't as high as Richard's, he had clearly trained Codices and Arcane Arts related to earth.

Here, he could be extremely dangerous.

"Old man, are you trying to fight me?" Richard shouted.

He did not want a fight—more accurately, he was not in the condition for one. Fighting would slow down his collection process.

"Boy, do you think I'm afraid of you?" the old man retorted.

"You should be," Richard answered.

"Hmph! Hmph!" The old man snorted twice.

And he didn't stay still.

He extended his hand toward Richard.

It enlarged, as if he wanted to grab Richard directly.

Of course, it was merely a move to hinder him.

"Richard, I'll handle him!" Grace suddenly said. She waved her hand and threw out a small red tree— the Red Knight Tree she bought from the Aether Magic Shop.

When she bought it, Richard thought it was Tier 11. But now, even in its small form, he could feel danger from it.

'What Tier is it now?' Richard wondered.

How could it become this strong in such a short time?

Unless Grace fed it with resources that drastically increased its power—which explained why she was desperate to buy it.

Bruakkk!

The tree suddenly grew larger, and its red body turned into blazing fire.

Its branches stretched out, piercing the surrounding earth to attack the old man.

"What?" The old man was stunned.

He quickly sank back into the earth, but the Red Knight Tree's branches chased after him underground.

Even though the tree used fire power, it didn't change the fact that its origin was earth.

"Damn it!"

Richard heard the old man's voice.

He reappeared at a different spot, still chased by the tree.

It seemed the tree was overwhelmingly superior.

Whoosh!

Richard sent a slash from his blade toward the old man when he thought he wouldn't be able to dodge.

And indeed, the old man could only dodge slightly, and the slash struck his leg, cutting it cleanly off.

The old man's eyes widened, and he hurriedly went back underground.

"Old man, if you don't run now, I'll kill you when I'm done!"

Richard shouted loudly.

Being interrupted during something important, he would show no mercy.

No response came from the old man. It seemed he finally felt fear.

"Richard, he should be from the Order of the Peak World…" Grace suddenly said.

"Ohhh…" Richard was slightly surprised.

But he shook his head, uninterested.

He refocused on gathering Aether.

Apparently, they had gathered more than 50% already.

He began trying to calculate.

Over 500 million? No, much more. It had reached over 800 million Spirit Nature.

Far more than he initially estimated.

"It seems we're close to the surface," Grace said again as she looked upward.

Richard nodded. They weren't just close anymore.

"We can take more than half of what's left," he said.

"I hope so… By the way, have you thought of a plan to escape?" Grace asked.

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