"I think it’s worth a try."

Teacher Fang studied the faint glow on the back of Han Ning’s hand.

"So many miraculous things have already happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if something else special occurred."

Just as Han Ning was talking with the two teachers, his Spiritual Power suddenly stirred.

His perspective shifted.

Before him, a dark red region appeared.

There was no flowing magma, only ordinary, dark rock walls.

But the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm inside him told him that the temperature here was only slightly lower than it had been by the Magma Lake.

It couldn’t convert the exact temperature into a specific value to inform him.

It didn’t matter that the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm didn’t know; all the travel data was being recorded by the Detectors. As long as the three Rock-Breaking Ants returned safely, it would be fine.

Suddenly, a stationary rock ahead trembled slightly.

A round head appeared in Han Ning’s field of vision.

Immediately after, a succession of round heads broke through the rock wall.

They spotted the lingering Rock-Breaking Ant at the same time.

With almost no hesitation,

the owners of these heads let out a series of "silent" growls at the Rock-Breaking Ant.

From those round heads of varying lengths, clouds of dark-colored gas spewed forth.

HSSSSSS...

His vision suddenly went black.

Then, under the control of the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm, the Rock-Breaking Ant zipped away, burrowing into the rock wall above and quickly retreating from the area.

’What the hell is this thing...’

Han Ning frowned slightly, recalling the appearance of those round heads.

Because the three Rock-Breaking Ants weren’t moving together, only one had encountered the round-headed creatures.

Their shape was a bit like a turtle’s head, but their eyes were very small, and their heads were covered in rock-like bumps. Compounded by the darkness, he couldn’t tell if they were actually turtle heads, nor could he identify what kind of Soul Beast it was.

He vaguely remembered that there were no creatures with a similar appearance in the Yinsaike Race’s Soul Beast Atlas.

"What’s wrong?"

The two teachers noticed the expression on Han Ning’s face.

"There’s a situation with the Rock-Breaking Ant. It’s been attacked by an unknown creature."

...

「One hundred and sixty kilometers from the academy’s north gate.」

Beneath a gloomy sky with drizzling rain, a massive, crimson-skinned figure cut through the thick fog and landed lightly on a relatively dry patch of sand and gravel.

Yin Yi flicked out her vines, wrapped them around Han Ning, Dean Wu, and Leon and his daughter, and gently lowered them to the ground.

"So this is the place where the Rock-Breaking Ant detected the anomaly?" Dean Wu asked, standing in the rain under an umbrella as he surveyed the gloomy surroundings.

"That’s right."

With a thought from Han Ning, the three Rock-Breaking Ants, which had already regrouped, zipped out of the muddy ground. Three small Detectors were firmly attached to their backs.

He stepped forward, detached the three Detectors, and handed them to Dean Wu. "There’s a rich source of geothermal energy underground here," he said, "but it’s been taken over by a group of unknown Soul Beasts. Should we investigate them, or continue searching for a new geothermal source?"

"160 kilometers... that’s a bit far."

The one who spoke was Leon. He crouched down and rubbed the wet soil between his fingers. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Is this the closest geothermal spot to the academy in the north? Even if there weren’t Soul Beasts occupying it, with our current industrial capabilities, it would be difficult to transmit electricity to an area over a hundred kilometers away."

"Dad, look, what’s that?"

Just then, Lisa, who was holding the umbrella for Leon, suddenly pointed to a small puddle of rainwater a few meters in front of them.

"What?"

Leon paused, surprised. Following Lisa’s gesture, the father and daughter walked over to the puddle. Leon bent down, picked up a black rock from beside his feet, and examined it closely in his hand.

"Coal?"

The moment they saw the blackish-brown rock, Han Ning and Dean Wu’s expressions changed, and they spoke in unison.

Verifying whether the rock in Leon’s hand was coal was simple.

Han Ning gestured for Leon to toss him the black rock. He then clenched it in his fist, channeling his recently recovered Spiritual Power and the Spiritual Energy within his body.

A faint red line lit up on the back of his hand, and a crimson flame suddenly erupted from his palm.

The flame engulfed the black rock, quickly evaporating the water on its surface and beginning to burn its core.

Gradually, Han Ning felt the temperature in his palm rise. A small cluster of pale red embers, distinct from his Spiritual Energy flame, rose from the surface of the black rock.

Seeing this, Han Ning dispersed his Spiritual Energy flame. The small black rock in his hand was now enveloped in a faint red flame, burning quietly. Its blackish-brown surface glowed with a slight red halo.

"When coal has a lot of impurities and doesn’t burn completely, the flame tends to be reddish," Leon said, watching the rock burn in Han Ning’s palm.

As he spoke, he kicked at the gravel on the ground, dislodging several more fingernail-sized, blackish-brown pebbles from the shallow pit his toe had created.

Han Ning placed the burning piece of coal on the ground, shook his hot hand, and muttered to himself:

’Could it be... that there’s a coal mine here?’

He looked toward the area where the coal was found and commanded the three Rock-Breaking Ants to dig through the surface layer, burrowing as deep as they could.

The three Rock-Breaking Ants, each about two meters long, instantly turned into excavators. They aimed their purplish-red forelimbs at the ground and began to dig relentlessly.

Their forelimbs were powerful and extremely thick. Infused with the Earth Element, their power to penetrate the soil was formidable.

In just a short while, a large pit, three meters in diameter and nearly two meters deep, appeared before the four of them.

The bottom of the pit revealed a scene of intermingled black and brown.

To verify if the black rocks below were coal, Han Ning sent a message to Egg Pancake with his Spiritual Power:

’Don’t use Red Lotus Fire. Just use a normal flame and shoot it at the bottom of the pit.’

Egg Pancake’s Red Lotus Fire was difficult to extinguish and would automatically draw in surrounding Fire Type Spirits, making it unsuitable for the test.

"Kee!"

Egg Pancake, who was lying behind Han Ning, stretched its huge head forward and opened its mouth slightly.

FWOOSH—

A torrent of ordinary, orange-yellow flame gushed from its massive mouth, engulfing the pit in a sea of fire.

WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH—

The temperature inside the pit skyrocketed. Flames, separate from Egg Pancake’s blast, began to rise from the black rocks. Exposed to the oxygen in the air, their surfaces glowed red and they began to burn intensely.

Dean Wu watched the black blocks of coal burning quietly at the bottom of the pit, a hint of joy on his face.

"It’s true, it’s coal. I never thought we’d find a coal mine here. The only question is how large the reserves are."

Leon said,

"Determining the approximate reserves is simple. Han Ning just needs to command the three Rock-Breaking Ants. Using this spot as the center, they can dive underground and collect rock samples of a certain weight at set intervals. By repeating this process multiple times, we can roughly calculate the mine’s total reserves."