Farming Games are All About Grinding
Chapter 312 - 303: Arriving at the 75th Floor

Chapter 312: Chapter 303: Arriving at the 75th Floor

Han Qiwu rubbed his hands together after putting away his previous loot and took out the most important item from this round.

[Explosive Snowball Blueprint]

[Usage: Allows you to learn the crafting method for Explosive Snowballs upon use]

[Note: Only appears in areas where fifty or more snowballs have perished]

"Fifty snowballs? If it’s over a hundred snowballs, wouldn’t the loot be even better?" Han Qiwu speculated as he took out the blueprint for a closer look.

[You have learned how to craft Explosive Snowballs]

[Explosive Snowball]

[Materials: Ice Block ×2, Coal ×1, Ice-Snow Essence ×1]

[Usage Method: Throw]

[Effect: Upon impact with any object, it will destroy all mining points within a 5×5 radius centered on itself. If the explosion area contains cavern creatures, the Explosive Snowball will impose a slowing effect on them]

[Note: Self-crafted Explosive Snowballs have greater power!]

"The materials to craft Explosive Snowballs seem pretty simple. Might as well make one now and try it out." Han Qiwu smiled, taking out a piece of coal and a Snow Monster Essence. He then squatted down to pick up a chunk of ice.

[Crafting failed due to insufficient materials]

"Huh? What happened?" Han Qiwu looked again and realized that the ice block he picked up wasn’t usable for crafting.

This was going to be a bit troublesome.

Despite wandering around the icy mining layers for so long, Han Qiwu had never actually seen Ice Blocks as drops.

"Strange. Could Ice Blocks be some kind of monster drop item?" Han Qiwu muttered with a hint of helplessness, pocketed the materials, and continued chiseling away at the ice.

Overall, this round of loot was pretty good, especially getting the blueprint for Explosive Snowballs, a high-damage item.

As long as he could figure out the Ice Block problem, everything would be settled.

Half an hour later, Han Qiwu glanced back at the icy mining layer and stepped onto the stairs ahead.

[You have reached the 75th layer of the mining cavern]

After entering the 75th layer, Han Qiwu immediately began to look around, hoping to find creatures like Coal Sprites.

After checking the area, he indeed spotted a pitch-black Coal Sprite wandering about.

"Perfect timing!"

Han Qiwu took out his Mysterious Light Crossbow and fired a shot.

Although the Ice Slingshot paired with Explosive Snowballs had high damage output, it wasn’t necessary to use such powerful weapons for small Coal Sprites.

Besides, arrows fired from the Mysterious Crossbow travel much faster than pellets hurled by a slingshot.

"Whoosh!" _{f(r)eew(e)bnovel.(c)o(m)}

The Fishbone Arrow hit its mark, blasting the Coal Sprite apart.

"If I could find a nest of Coal Sprites, that would be fantastic." Han Qiwu grinned and headed over to pick up the coal on the ground.

After taking a couple steps, he noticed a glimmer of light reflecting off the ground ahead.

It looked just like system glow.

"There’s something here?" Han Qiwu crouched down, raised his torch, and examined the area closely.

Sure enough, embedded in the icy layer was a transparent object resembling a pickaxe.

He bent down, picked it up, and felt the hefty weight of it in his hands–cool to the touch but not freezing.

[Ice Pickaxe]

[Usage: Harvest Ice Blocks]

[Note: Can extract special items from icy layers]

"So that’s the key! No wonder it was so difficult to dig out that Snow Fruit Tree earlier. Guess it was because I lacked the proper tool." Han Qiwu realized, the conclusion hitting him like a bolt of clarity.

Moreover, it seemed the Ice Pickaxe could be used to gather raw materials like Ice Blocks for crafting Explosive Snowballs.

"The Ice Blocks I harvest this time should be usable, right?" Han Qiwu thought aloud and began hammering away at a nearby ice layer with his newly acquired Ice Pickaxe.

"Clang clang clang!"

While digging, he specifically monitored his stamina consumption and noticed that the Ice Pickaxe deducted a fixed 5 stamina points per use, which was significantly more than the Mother Copper Cross Pickaxe.

Still, even with the higher stamina cost, the Ice Pickaxe was far more efficient overall for harvesting Ice Blocks compared to the Mother Copper Cross Pickaxe.

In just three strikes, a perfectly cubic Ice Block about 1.5 meters in length, width, and height slid out from the icy layer, glimmering faintly with white light.

As expected, it worked. Han Qiwu examined the Ice Block’s attributes.

[Ice Block]

[Usage: Material/Food Ingredient]

[Price: 100 Gold]

[Note: Can transform into edible-grade Ice Block after being left in snowy environments for one day]

"This huge chunk?" Han Qiwu chuckled, reaching out to stow it away.

To his surprise, the Ice Block’s price was as high as 100 Gold. If he ever ran low on cash, mining Ice Blocks to sell might be a good idea after all.

As for the note about edible-grade Ice Blocks, Han Qiwu decided to test them out on a hot day later.

Considering the size of this block, it would take ages for him to finish eating it alone.

He glanced at the time: 13:12.

"I’ll spend another thirty minutes mining Ice Blocks before heading home to eat and getting ready to explore the mountain springs."

With his plan set, Han Qiwu didn’t rush back to mining. Instead, he wandered about with his miner helmet looking for a better spot.

Since mining Ice Blocks was the goal, he figured he might as well aim for locations that contained extra loot.

After circling the area, he spotted two icy layers with embedded items. Judging by their shapes, one seemed to be an Ice Mushroom, while the other resembled an Ice Fruit.

Time to dig.

After harvesting an Ice Block, Han Qiwu paused his work, set down the pickaxe, and pulled a piece of coal and a Snow Monster Essence from his inventory.

Time to test out crafting an Explosive Snowball!

Since he was in a bit of a rush, Han Qiwu decided against handling it manually.

[Explosive Snowball crafting in progress, estimated time: 3 minutes]

"Three minutes? Looks like I’ll need to craft ahead of time in the future. In real combat, this kind of time delay could be risky." Han Qiwu made a mental note and continued chiseling away at the icy layer ahead.

Three minutes shouldn’t go to waste.

When the time elapsed, a miniature Explosive Snowball icon appeared in Han Qiwu’s inventory.

Han Qiwu excitedly took it out to examine its attributes.

The properties were similar to the dropped version, but this crafted Explosive Snowball was noticeably smaller in size, making it easier to fit snugly into the Ice Slingshot’s holder.

Reflecting on the crafting process for Explosive Snowballs, Han Qiwu gained a new insight.

"It seems the note about greater power refers to adding extra materials with explosive properties—glass shards, metal scraps, or even stones—during the final crafting phase. That should amplify the explosion’s impact."

Having figured it out, Han Qiwu tucked away the Explosive Snowball and resumed chiseling at the Ice Mushroom ahead.

About twenty minutes later, Han Qiwu stowed away the Ice Mushroom and Ice Fruit he had successfully harvested and giddily stepped into the cable car.

This trip to the mines was incredibly fruitful; he had gained a total of 106 emeralds, over thirty pieces of coal, a solid stack of other drops, and twenty-plus Ice Blocks—more than enough for an extended period.

Time to head home for a meal!