Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons

Chapter 980 - 850: Contribution Settlement

Inside the Platinum Country.

The Platinum Palace floats above the Royal Capital.

The Moon’s Child guards patrol its outskirts.

Around the floating island beneath the Platinum Palace, clusters of colorful clouds drift, and the long-lost Cotton Candy has been living here all along.

Due to its playful nature, it has almost become a star within the Royal Capital.

The Ghost Maid is busy with daily tasks inside the palace.

Even though Kane and his companions only reside here for short periods every few months.

But generally speaking, when not busy, this is their regular abode.

At this moment, the palace’s beautiful garden stretches across the green lawn of its perimeter.

The flowers that can be planted here are all exquisite Magic Flowers, each worth a considerable amount outside.

In the crystal-made courtyard at the center of the garden, Kreya sits slowly.

Her eyes are slightly closed, and she appears unusually serene, seeming to be in meditation.

The sunlight shines through the transparent crystal dome, illuminating her delicate face.

If not paying attention, one might have the illusion she is merging seamlessly with the surroundings.

Only next to her, perched on the crystal column’s railing.

Lulu sits with her face in her hands, looking frustrated.

Her legs, which often swing, now merely hang down idly.

At this moment, Kreya seems to have finished her meditation, slowly opening her eyes.

She turns her head to look at Lulu, who sits on the crystal railing with a discontented expression, and can’t help but smile and shake her head.

"Still upset, Lulu?"

Upon hearing Kreya’s voice, Lulu finally comes to her senses, realizing Kreya has disengaged from meditation, and disappears in a flash from her original spot.

Sitting on Kreya’s shoulder, she hugs her neck.

"Sister Lulu, do you think I’ve been abandoned by Mist Mother?"

Hearing Lulu’s words, Kreya helplessly shakes her head and reaches out to pinch her nose.

"Alright, stop thinking about such things. How can what you said be possible?"

"Then why was our luck so bad this time, Kane is still exploring beyond the mist, so are Longbei and the others."

As she says this, Lulu flips off Kreya’s shoulder and rolls onto her horse’s back, behaving like a child throwing a tantrum, rolling around on the horse’s back.

Expressing her frustrated emotions.

Kreya can only shake her head helplessly at Lulu’s words, think for a moment, and comfort her: "Luck is something that no one can predict, and this is only the first group exploration outside the mist. Maybe next time we’ll be very fortunate."

Perhaps convinced by Kreya, or maybe realizing her frustration is meaningless, Lulu stops and lies on the horse’s back, gazing at the crystal dome overhead.

Kreya and her group have already been out of the mist for two or three days now, while Longbei and Kane are still conducting exploration actions outside the mist.

Because this time they are working in groups, a problem is bound to arise.

Since the exploration progress of each group and the world fragments they encounter are different, their times will inevitably be staggered.

A month outside the mist refers to the time spent walking or resting within it. The time spent exploring the world fragments is not included in this.

After all, if they encounter a large world fragment, solving the crisis might take more than a month.

As a result, Kreya and Lulu’s group, having not encountered a living world fragment, encountered mostly dead fragments.

The only obstacles they faced were some enemies or evil creatures left on the dead world fragments.

These hardly posed much hindrance to them.

Therefore, a total of one month’s walking time outside the mist, plus the exploration time, Kreya and her group finished this action in just over two months.

Meanwhile, Kane still has at least five or six days of action time outside the mist.

Longbei and his group even have nearly ten days of action time remaining outside the mist.

Even if they don’t encounter any living world fragments afterward, it will be more than half a month before they emerge.

The first to emerge, Kreya and her group, signify that their luck for this expedition is at the bottom of the pile.

Kreya, on the other hand, is not too affected by this feeling.

But for the child-like Lulu, the impact is significant.

Especially a few days ago, they saw Kane’s message advising everyone to be safe.

Because Kane himself encountered assailants.

And then he made quite a gain.

...

Kane once again reaches the end of a dead world fragment, facing the towering Wall of Mist.

"Youyou, help me calculate how long I can continue to stay outside the mist."

Upon hearing Kane’s voice, Youyou immediately nods its body: "Okay, master."

Then a sound resembling a calculation starts ringing.

It is unclear when Youyou began adding sound effects to its otherwise silent actions to demonstrate its diligent work.

"Master, your remaining travel time outside the mist is estimated to be 2 to 3 hours."

Hearing Youyou’s words, Kane nods.

Indeed, he can feel the sensory fatigue. As those before him advised, when feeling sensory fatigue, never push through; it’s time to leave.

Thinking of this, Kane picks up the walkie-talkie from his waist and sends a message to Longbei and his team.

Because he knows Kreya and her group have already left the mist.

After exchanging information with Longbei, he discovers their sensory fatigue signals are also appearing.

However, Longbei’s group is still slightly away from thoroughly exploring their current world fragment.

Thus, Kane decides to head out first.

As the Mist Ball was thrown into the sky.

Kane once again returned to the vast white mist.

The thought of wanting to leave was sent out, and the rewards from this action descended from the sky.

A Mist Ball emitting a faint light floated down and stopped in front of Kane.

This was all the harvest from his action this time.

A lifeless living World Fragment, clearing away countless Death World fragments, and taking down an invader.

These were all the contributions Kane gained this time.

When Kane placed his hand on the Mist Ball, the mist offered him options.

A piece of mediocre equipment, or a colorful Magic Material.

This choice made Kane ponder.

At this time, he still had two colorful Magic Stones in his hand.

But in recent days, some ideas had been forming in his mind.

After some thought, Kane decided to exchange for the colorful Magic Material.

As for the colorful equipment with mediocre attributes, forget it. After all, it’s random; no one wants a weapon with poor attributes.

The Mist Ball gently broke open, and a piece of Crystal Stone like just knocked off from a mine appeared.

Looking at this stone, Kane conducted a simple appraisal and then directly took it and tossed it into the Space Equipment.

This can completely be called a "Power Bank".

It serves no purpose other than charging Magic Stones; one can imagine how poor the attributes of equipment matched with this material would be.

Giving off a feeling of clearing inventory.

One should not think this way.

It’s disrespectful.

Kane laughed and shook his head, his figure dissipating in the boundless mist.

Not long after Kane left, both Longbei and Meizike also exited the last World Fragment.

"Synesthesia indeed feels tiring; Kane and Kreya have also stepped out of the mist, so let’s head out too."

Upon hearing Longbei’s words, Meizike nodded without objection.

At this moment, Longbei couldn’t help but laugh inexplicably: "The contributions this time must be quite good."

When they conveyed their intention to exit, three Mist Balls fell directly from the sky and stopped in front of them.

This time, they contributed a gold-grade world outside the mist, dealt with the crisis event inside, eliminated an invader, and cleared countless Death Fragments.

The Mist Balls opened one by one.

The first was an opportunity for insight enhancement, offering comprehensive strengthening of one’s understanding of the rules outside the mist.

The most typical reward.

Usually, such rewards are given, like Kreya and them receiving similar ones.

Because these rewards can be easily granted based on contributions.

The duration is simply adjusted based on the specific contribution.

For instance, Longbei received a five-day enhancement this time.

Kreya and her group received two one-day enhancements, akin to toil rewards.

The second Mist Ball contained a Magic Material.

Especially with this last Mist Ball, when they prepared to open it, the mist offered them a choice.

The final Mist Ball contained an item of equipment, and due to their sufficient contributions, this piece of equipment could be custom-made.

They could have a custom-made three-colored equipment.

In such situations, Longbei immediately relinquished this opportunity to Meizike.

Because in the team, Meizike was the hardest to get equipment that matched him.

Moreover, it’s extremely difficult to find one that suits his taste.

In such cases, Meizike, having been a long-time teammate, did not hesitate to accept gladly.

However, the equipment he customized after the Mist Ball opened truly surprised Longbei.

"What is this thing?"

Longbei looked at the equipment resembling a suitcase, scratching his head in confusion.

Pardon his ignorance; he truly couldn’t discern what this equipment was.

A large special Space Equipment?

He thought this was the most likely, aligning with the appearance of a suitcase and Meizike’s profession.

Upon hearing Longbei’s words, Meizike glanced at him: "I don’t lack Space Equipment."

Then, thinking for a moment, he lifted the suitcase in his hand and addressed Longbei.

"I customized equipment that can assist me in potion preparation and research."

"Oh, that’s right, it’s indeed an excellent idea."

After hearing Meizike’s explanation, Longbei nodded.

This customized equipment is indeed very good.

Under normal circumstances, obtaining such equipment is almost impossible, unheard of, only custom situations like this can produce it.

And it was the mist, custom-made three-colored equipment with attributes certain to fit Meizike.

Thinking about this, Longbei smiled.

"Then let’s return; I’m eager to see their expressions."

"Haha, lucky Longbei and Meizike."

With laughter, the two disappeared amidst the mist.