Chapter 365

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“But compared to both, whether it’s a metal drill bit or an enchanted solid wood drill bit, your water drill bit clearly has more advantages.

Unfortunately, this is created with your mana and not technology, a product of nature and magic. Nonetheless, it provides us with a fresh perspective. Perhaps the Imperial Research Institute can explore in this direction, to see if we can cultivate drilling materials that can transition between liquid and solid states and possess considerable elasticity.”

In these words, he felt Yasan’s praise and, at the same time, his own display of technology.

“So, do the elves also have similar mining equipment?”

Yasan was momentarily stunned, then said, “Of course, every elven mine is equipped with similar excavation devices; otherwise, with the low efficiency of manual labor, we wouldn’t be able to meet the empire’s vast mineral needs.”

Ji Chen nodded.

Alchemy technology in this fantasy world was quite advanced. Although the paths to realization were quite different, the level of technology displayed in certain aspects was not inferior to that of Earth.

The water drill bit dug at a very fast pace. Between Ji Chen and Yasan’s conversation, it had advanced dozens of meters, a speed hundreds of times faster than manual excavation.

A little over ten minutes later.

After the water drill bit broke through a layer of rubble, the sense of obstruction suddenly disappeared, and it drilled into an empty space. Ji Chen had an idea and transformed the drill bit back into water.

Before him appeared an undamaged cavity, inside which dozens of elven warriors were looking at him excitedly.

“Someone has finally come to rescue us. 1 thought we were going to die here.”

“Wait, is that Lord Yasan behind you? Is it Lord Yasan who personally came to save us!?”

These elven warriors subconsciously looked at Yasan standing in the background, ignoring Ji Chen in the front.

Yasan’s face changed slightly at this and scolded, “It was Lord Ji Chen who saved you. Hurry up and thank him.”

At his words, they were slightly taken aback but quickly said, “Lord Ji Chen, thank you very much for your assistance. Please forgive our earlier offense.”

Ji Chen waved his hand indifferently; he was getting used to the elves’ pride.

After all, this rescue was essentially a transaction, and there was no need to overthink it.

He just asked, “Are there any more elves or Imperial soldiers trapped further in?”

One of the elves immediately replied, “After going several tens of meters deeper, this cave will split into two paths. A group of warriors is trapped in the left fork, while the deepest part of the right fork is a storage room for the Deceiver.”

A storage room?

Ji Chen’s heart stirred, but he knew that rescuing people was the priority now, not looting.

“Let’s continue digging, and have the injured elven warriors leave first.”

Yasan nodded, then turned to the elves following him and said, “You take the injured warriors out, and the rest of you, continue to assist Lord Ji Chen in moving rubble and clearing the path.”

“Yes!”

After all the elves inside had come out, Yasan said to Ji Chen, “My lord, let’s continue.”

Ji Chen nodded slightly and condensed the water drill bit again to resume digging.

After digging another thirty to forty meters, a fork in the cave appeared before them.

Without wasting any time, they followed the left path as described by the elves earlier.

At this point, the passage was beginning to slope downward. The collapse of the upper rock layers didn’t seem to have a severe impact here, just some rubble blocking the path.

They could faintly hear the elves inside digging in the opposite direction.

Ji Chen didn’t stop the water drill, nor was he afraid that it might harm the people behind him who were also digging. He had great confidence in his control.

Inside, the elves were sweating profusely as they dug through the rubble, but suddenly, they heard a strange humming sound.

“Wait, did any of you hear something strange?”

“Did you? You’re not trapped here and experiencing auditory hallucinations, are you? You’ve lost your mind even before getting out.”

“Um, 1 think I heard it too, like the sound of some kind of drilling machine.”

“Nonsense! Even if Lord Yasan were to bring an alchemical drilling machine from elsewhere, it would take at least half a month, and how much time has passed now? Not even half a day!

If it’s true, I’ll give you all my secret stash money after we get out!”

At this moment, they listened carefully again and indeed, there was no strange humming sound anymore; it had turned into a distinct rumbling noise.

Soon, the noise grew louder, and the pile of rubble in front of them was suddenly knocked away, revealing a massive aqua-blue drill bit.

Just inches away from the elf who had sworn there was no unusual sound, it came to a slow stop, startling him backward, and nearly causing him to lose his soul.

The drill bit transformed into water, revealing a rather handsome human male behind it.

This human male cast a glance at them and said to the ones behind him, “Found them, a small group of elves, not more or less.”

As they emerged from the cave, Ji Chen looked up at the sky; it was midday.

Turning his gaze, there was only this one cave passage they had cleared so far, but there were at least dozens more like it, each trapping soldiers. It seemed like they would spend the whole day here, but the thought of the rewards that awaited him afterward filled him with motivation.

There was no time to lose.

Under Yasan’s guidance, they found the next collapsed cave.

It was a repetition of the same process.

First, he attached his psychic power to the water flow, then he drilled into the crevices to investigate if anyone was trapped inside. If they were, he would condense water drills to clear the way; otherwise, he would leave it aside for now.

Sometimes during the excavation, they discovered many elves and soldiers crushed by the collapsed rocks. Without Ji Chen’s powerful control, the high-speed spinning drill could have torn the bodies apart, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

Each time they found the body of an elven warrior, Yasan’s face grew darker.

However, as the elf had mentioned earlier, the Deceiver had underestimated the strength of the cave structure, which had been reinforced multiple times by the elves. The hastily placed explosives didn’t cause a severe collapse.

Experienced warriors quickly found sturdy structures as they sensed imminent collapses.

As they dug deeper, although many were injured, most of them had survived.

Thanks to Ji Chen’s efficient drilling speed, more and more elven warriors and soldiers were rescued, seeing the light of day again.

Outside the cave, news about Ji Chen began to spread among the saved elven warriors and soldiers. Without exception, they felt deeply grateful to the person who had rescued them from the pitch-dark cave.

Of course, Ji Chen only learned about this after he had come out.

At this moment, he was still inside the pitch-black cave, working the drill like a miner, hoping to strike the “ore” (meaning the elves and soldiers).

Soon, another cave was opened, and another group of elves and soldiers were rescued.

Ji Chen waved his hand, dispersing the water drill.

His breath was somewhat rapid and heavy.

Sustaining the drill for an extended period and keeping it spinning at high speed was quite mana-consuming.

However, at the same time, his control over mana and water was gradually strengthening. His mana output became more precise and efficient, with fewer unnecessary losses.

If he had been careless with his spending before, it was now a matter of optimizing every expenditure.

Efficiency in mana utilization greatly increased.

Ji Chen had a sudden flash of insight and came up with an idea.

Could he simultaneously create two, three, or even more water drills and have them work together? Wouldn’t that significantly improve efficiency?

Excited by this idea, he decided to give it a try later.

Once his mana was sufficiently replenished.

He condensed the water drill once again.

This time, not just one, but two.

Creating them individually was a breeze; he could easily form a hundred or a thousand.

However, making them move in a coordinated manner was a challenging task..