October 29th, Thursday, four days after the Double Ninth Festival, and also Zhang Yanhang's first day in Ashen World. At 10:56 PM, in the Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, near the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano in the central region and the inner side area connection passage.

After eradicating all the large Crimson Iron Ants in front of him with a single Death Wave, Zhang Yanhang finally resolved the entirety of the Crimson Iron Ants in the central region, without leaving a single one behind, especially since Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil is not just for show.

"The third stage clearing plan—cleaning up the latter half of the 300 square kilometers in the central region, plus the previously cleaned 100 square kilometers from the first stage and 150 square kilometers from the second stage—I have now cleared a total of 550 square kilometers. Only the last 100 square kilometers remain to completely clear the entire large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano."

If one were to calculate Zhang Yanhang's current progress in his cleaning plan, it would have reached 84.6%, skyrocketing from less than three-quarters to well over five-quarters.

"I have to admit, if I didn't open treasure boxes, I might truly be able to return to the Main World before the transmission channel closes. After all, it's not even eleven o'clock yet, and it really is more than enough to clear the remaining 100 square kilometers in one hour. But since I still have over eight hours to spare, let's first go check the Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box."

While speaking, Zhang Yanhang initiated teleportation. Although he had passed by the Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box earlier, he was busy hunting monsters and therefore didn't check it. Now that he had completely cleansed the central region, he definitely should thoroughly examine his current area completion rate.

"Based on my current cleaning progress, I should at least receive a grade 'A' evaluation, right?" Watching the constantly flickering golden light from the Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box in front of him, Zhang Yanhang quickly began to check his current evaluation level.

[Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box (Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano)]

[Quality: None (Generated automatically by Ashen World, no quality.)]

[Type: Treasure Box]

[Origin: Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano.]

[Current Area Comprehensive Evaluation Detail List]

[Crimson Iron Destruction Ant (Second Tier Three-star Elite Monster): 40100/40000]

[Crimson Iron Flame Ant (Second Tier Four-star Ordinary Monster): 20000/20000]

[Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ant (Third Tier One-star Ordinary Monster): 1285/1500]

[Crimson Iron Hell Ant (Third Tier Two-star Ordinary Monster): 603/750]

[Crimson Iron Prince Ant (Third Tier Three-star Elite Monster): 0/200]

[Crimson Iron Queen Ant (Fourth Tier Four-star Lord Monster): 0/1]

[Current Area Comprehensive Completion Rate: 95.1%]

[Current Area Comprehensive Evaluation Level: S+ (F-EX)]

[Special Attribute: Ashen Treasure Box—After completion of the evaluation, the user can obtain an Ashen Treasure Box corresponding to the evaluation level.]

[Usage Requirements: Current Area Comprehensive Evaluation Level F and above.]

[Introduction: Generated automatically by Ashen World, this Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box can calculate the current area's comprehensive evaluation level in real-time and produce a corresponding level Ashen Treasure Box.]

"I didn't expect to underestimate myself; I thought A+ was pretty good, but it turned out to be S+."

If Zhang Yanhang remembered correctly, this should be his first time receiving an S+ rating at this 'initial stage.' Previously, the highest he had managed was A+.

After all, those previous area evaluation settlement treasure boxes were generally placed in the middle section, and though this large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano was also in the middle section, it was indeed placed towards the latter part of the middle, which allowed him to check the evaluation settlement treasure box only after clearing the entire central region.

"I killed 40,100 of the estimated 40,000 Crimson Iron Destruction Ants, and all 20,000 of the Crimson Iron Flame Ants designated. If that's the case, an S+ rating might indeed be normal, but did I really kill that many monsters?"

Zhang Yanhang now recalled the monster density in the latter half of the central area was indeed richer. He had thought it was a characteristic of the latter half, but now it seemed it might be because the Crimson Iron Queen Ant had summoned the large Crimson Iron Ants to defend the ant nest, causing those from the inner area and the core area to also rush to the central region, where he wiped them out in one fell swoop.

As for the reason why he killed an additional hundred Crimson Iron Destruction Ants when the estimated number was forty thousand, it naturally stemmed from when Zhang Yanhang cleared the third prize pool of Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano's lucky slot machine, exterminating an additional hundred Crimson Iron Destruction Ants.

"Moreover, I even killed 1,285 of the estimated 1,500 Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, leaving only 215, and a similar situation with the Crimson Iron Hell Ants, where I killed 603 of the estimated 750, leaving only 147 still struggling to survive.

In other words, counting the 215 Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, 147 Crimson Iron Hell Ants, 200 Crimson Iron Prince Ants, and the Lord Monster Crimson Iron Queen Ant, the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano has less than six hundred large Crimson Iron Ants left, or rather just 563.

However, what the hell are these 200 Crimson Iron Prince Ants? How come there are so many, despite being third Tier three-star elite monsters comparable to third Tier Four-stars, their numbers are nearly becoming the most in the ant nest; had I killed an additional twenty or thirty Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants earlier, there would now be more leaders than subordinates."

Zhang Yanhang truly doubted whether the Crimson Iron Queen Ant could handle so many Crimson Iron Prince Ants at once.

"No matter how I look at it, the number of 200 Crimson Iron Prince Ants seems abnormal. In the areas I've encountered previously, the second-in-command, just below the Lord Monster, usually had only one, seldom reaching double figures, let alone triple figures like these Crimson Iron Prince Ants."

Zhang Yanhang strangely felt that the large number of Crimson Iron Prince Ants in Talano might be related to Nameless Blacksmith's plan of using teleportation traps to capture adventures, turning them into Crimson Iron Prince Ants, and breeding them with the Crimson Iron Queen Ant to obtain special hormones.

Even if the breeding speed of Crimson Iron Prince Ants was incredibly fast, it was absolutely improbable for two hundred to simultaneously serve one Crimson Iron Queen Ant. At Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu, just three Ant Kings sufficed for their Lord Monster, the Crimson Iron Ant Queen; here, the ratio was nearly seventy times higher, which was quite absurd.

Although he couldn't understand why there were so many Crimson Iron Prince Ants, Zhang Yanhang wasn't worried. The more monsters, the happier he was, since more monsters meant higher gain.

After checking the evaluation settlement list, Zhang Yanhang quickly opened his soul point balance to see how many soul points he had earned by almost entirely clearing the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano.

No matter how much or little, gathering enough soul points for the "Heavenly Earth Skill" upgrade was certainly not a problem.

[Soul points: 7988554 (+5265150)]

"It wasn't in vain that I cleared the latter 300 square kilometers; just from kills, I gained 5,265,150 soul points, boosting my soul point balance from the original 27,273,404 to 7,988,554. It was indeed very easy to gather enough for the Heavenly Earth Skill upgrade.

There were a total of 62,451 large Crimson Iron Ants in the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano. This time, I killed roughly over thirty thousand, that is, more than half of the large Crimson Iron Ants, which explains why the killing profit alone was over five million. This means the treasure box gains later might even exceed ten million..."

Zhang Yanhang, after clearing the latter half of the central region, killed the largest proportion of Crimson Iron Destruction Ants, at least over sixteen thousand, followed by Crimson Iron Flame Ants, though slightly less, still over thirteen thousand.

The Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, due to their smaller numbers, were killed in the hundreds by him, around seven to eight hundred.

Lastly, the Crimson Iron Hell Ants, which Zhang Yanhang remembered distinctly because he had encountered them when clearing the latter half. Thus, the 603 marked in the evaluation settlement list represented all the Crimson Iron Hell Ants he killed this time, only 147 remaining from extinction.

After checking his soul point balance, Zhang Yanhang quickly emptied a massive amount of drop treasure boxes, over four digits, from his waist bag onto the ground, forming a small mountain several meters high.

After a brief inventory, Zhang Yanhang was astounded to find that he had obtained a total of 1,732 Drop Treasure Boxes this time, a substantial increase from the last, or rather, more than half as many again.

"It really paid off to clear out more than half of the entire large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano in one go. The number of treasure boxes dropped didn't disappoint me at all."

This haul of Drop Treasure Boxes could be said to have violently pulled up the record Zhang Yanhang had previously held.

Of the 1,732 Drop Treasure Boxes Zhang Yanhang acquired this time, the greatest contributor was still the Third Tier Three-star Elite Monster, Crimson Iron Destruction Ant, which alone had contributed a record-breaking 846 Drop Treasure Boxes.

Next were the 691 Drop Treasure Boxes from the Crimson Iron Flame Ants, which contributed the second highest number, all dying in the process.

Then came the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, which, even though they were fewer in number, managed to contribute 108 Drop Treasure Boxes, thanks to not having a Rank Penalty. Overall, this was quite good.

Lastly were the most disappointing, the Crimson Iron Hell Ants. Due to their even smaller numbers than the Crimson Iron Flame Demon Ants, they contributed the least number of Drop Treasure Boxes—merely 87.

However, considering that their Soul Points' value was much higher than that of other large Crimson Iron Ants, these 87 Drop Treasure Boxes from the Crimson Iron Hell Ants were at least equivalent to three to four hundred from either the Crimson Iron Destruction Ants or the Crimson Iron Flame Ants, and more importantly, they could yield high-quality new equipment.

After finishing the inventory of all the treasure boxes, Zhang Yanhang quickly picked up a Dark Purple Quality Drop Treasure Box from a Third Tier two-star Ordinary Monster, Crimson Iron Hell Ant.

"Last time, it took nearly an hour to open less than 1,200 Drop Treasure Boxes. This time with 1,732, it feels like it will take at least an hour and a half."

"But I have plenty of time now. An hour and a half to open the treasure boxes is manageable. Even if it takes two hours, I will still have six hours of free time to spend, surely enough time to clear out the entire large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano."

Zhang Yanhang felt that even if he obtained a multitude of new equipment this time, it should not take a full six hours to fuse them, given that he was not fusing thermo-baric bombs but ordinary equipment, which would be sufficient in one or two hours.

In other words, Zhang Yanhang estimated that afterwards, he should still have three to four hours left to take down both the Crimson Iron Prince Ant and the Lord Monster Crimson Iron Queen Ant, averaging 2.5 minutes per square kilometer, which was quite ample.

[Would you like to open the 'Drop Treasure Box (Crimson Iron Hell Ant)'?]

"Yes, open it."

Since he had plenty of time now, although Zhang Yanhang wasn't turning down new equipment that could enhance his hunting efficiency, he really preferred some new equipment that could provide other bonuses, such as those that could increase the Fixed Damage Limit.

Well, wishing for that was a bit improbable, after all, equipment typically related to the monster itself in one way or another, and since Crimson Iron Hell Ants clearly lacked any fixed damage attack skills, it was indeed unlikely to yield such specialized bonuses.

[Please select the specific contents of the 'Drop Treasure Box (Crimson Iron Hell Ant)']

[Item One: ?]

[Item Two: ?]

[Item Three: ?]

[Item Four: ?]

[Item Five: ?]

"Compared to equipment that could increase my fixed damage limit, raise my Luck Value, or even provide me with Ghostification ability, what I really want to find right now, or rather what's most likely for me to find, is still equipment that boosts my Power Effect."

For Zhang Yanhang, who has always adhered to the principle that 'one force breaks all techniques' and usually refrained from using close combat tactics, increasing Power Effect was indeed a very useful boost. Although he was already dealing damage well beyond what was necessary against Third Tier monsters, his pursuit of strength was still endless; after all, he still had that little dream of lifting a thousand tons with one hand to fulfill.

"Considering the performance of the Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armor from before, if I can find new equipment in this Crimson Iron Hell Ant's Drop treasure box, it will probably be just like before where a few fusions would promote it directly to Dark Gold…"

Zhang Yanhang was indeed looking forward to Dark Gold Equipment, as it was the highest Quality of equipment he had come into contact with so far.

[Item One]

[Option One: Crimson Marrow Bloodthorn Spear, Dark Purple Quality, Weapon]

[Option Two: 3000 Soul points]

[Option Three: 6000 Soul points]

"Is the first item related to weapons? Speaking of which, I used to frequently see options related to pets in the Drop treasure boxes, but recently there haven't been any pet-related options in the boxes dropped by the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu."

Zhang Yanhang remembered that in the past, it was common to find lower Quality or lower Level monsters as pets from Drop treasure boxes, but recently they had completely disappeared. Although he actually didn't want a giant ant as his pet, he admittedly still cared a little about it.

But fortunately, it wasn't a big deal after all, no pet options, so be it; Zhang Yanhang didn't bother to dwell on why they had disappeared.

"However, this time it's actually a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Marrow Bloodthorn Spear? It seems like this is already the third weapon beginning with 'Crimson Marrow Bloodthorn' to be found. Does the Nameless Blacksmith really like this series that much?"

Of course, rather than the Nameless Blacksmith liking this series, Zhang Yanhang felt it was more likely that the blacksmith was too lazy to come up with new names and thus added all the trial weapons into the Crimson Marrow Bloodthorn series, making it a bit more recognizable for adventurers to use.

After all, if your opponent pulled out something like Magic Sword Ingram or Holy Sword Avalon, and you just pulled out a Crimson Iron Sword, it would be somewhat embarrassing. But if it's called a Crimson Marrow Blood Stab Broadsword, it sounds better and isn't so embarrassing.

The reason for such speculation was mainly because every time Zhang Yanhang would check thumbnails of these weapons, but he had never seen anything related to thorns on them, not even the blood part; at most, the weapon itself looked a bit reddened as if stained with fresh blood.

[Item Two]

[Option One: Refined Crimson Marrow (one kilogram), Dark Purple Quality, Material]

[Option Two: 3000 Soul points]

[Option Three: 6000 Soul points]

"It's odd that despite the Crimson Iron Hell Ant being one star stronger than the Crimson Iron Flame Ant, the options include the same material, even the weight is the same, just one kilogram. If only they could give a bit more, even two kilograms would be something.

And besides, since the Crimson Iron Hell Ant can already digest some of the energy it previously couldn't, why can't it yield higher Quality materials…

But on second thought, that makes sense, as I've always obtained what the large Crimson Iron Ants couldn't digest. If it really digested it, I wouldn't be able to obtain it at all because it's already digested. Where would I get it from then?

Extract it from its body? With my current level of Alchemy, it's not impossible, but it would definitely be a waste of time and effort, not to mention ungrateful. Besides, even if I wanted to extract it, there's hardly any opportunity now since the corpse refreshes in an hour…"

From this perspective, Zhang Yanhang felt that it would indeed be very difficult to obtain materials of higher Quality than Refined Crimson Marrow inside the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano.

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