The first day in the Scrap Iron Hills yielded ten ordinary-level demons and a piece of ’Echo’ attribute source metal.
Yan Luo is taking notes in his journal, and he has identified the type of source metal he acquired using the information stored in his eyepiece.
The source metal with the Echo attribute is very expensive, costing about one million to one and a half million more than his previous estimate of three million.
Engraving tools made from ’Echo’ metal are best suited for use by engravers in the spellcaster class sequence. For example, after a single cast, echo metal will replay magic power, creating a secondary spell with 10% to 30% of the original spell’s power.
Similarly, echo metal is also suitable for engravers in the shooting class sequence since these engravers generally attach magic power to bullets to counter the demons’ deflection shields and enhance lethality.
All in all, it’s an attribute with widely varied applications.
The piece of source metal Yan Luo acquired can transform about a dozen kilograms into echo metal; if it were slightly larger, its price might increase by another million.
Yet, on the first day alone, such vast yields make Yan Luo admire—it truly is the inner layer of the Abyss.
"If the source metal sells for four million, nearly five million would be in the savings..."
Though being a hunter is highly profitable, it is also quite costly.
In each hunt within the Abyss, Yan Luo can obtain at least three materials from dangerous-level demons, with prices ranging from 60,000 to 500,000, while materials from ordinary-level demons are relatively cheap and can be neglected.
After eliminating the Purple Fox Squad, Yan Luo hasn’t upgraded his exoskeleton but has repaired it several times.
Even so, he previously only saved over nine hundred thousand.
Yan Luo believes that if he wants to eliminate the Abyss, he must find a way to deal with the aftermath of the Abyss’s disappearance.
Currently, Blue Star is heavily tied to the Abyss; eliminating all Abysses means cutting down the technology tree that Blue Star has already advanced on.
Therefore, he must save money to support the development of basic disciplines, preventing a drastic drop in living standards for people and losing direction post-Abyss disappearance.
By doing so, he can prevent everyone from opposing his actions.
Having made the notes, Yan Luo began setting up the campsite.
The situation in the Scrap Iron Hills differs from the Dark Forest; the Scrap Iron Hills lack treetop cover above, allowing flying demons to easily discover Yan Luo from below.
Any demon in the Abyss harbors hostility toward humans; apart from harmless-level demons, which seldom attack humans actively due to disparity in strength between themselves and hunters, other demons will initiate attacks upon sighting humans.
Yan Luo erected a tall tent around his motorcycle, activating the tent’s optical invisibility feature, and placed a soundwave interference device on the ground to prevent demons with unusual sensory perceptions from detecting him.
Being a solo hunter necessitates this approach; having a team enables a member to stand guard, but Yan Luo is alone and must rely on devices to mimic a teammate’s function.
Previous solo hunter predecessors advised Yan Luo that with an optical invisibility tent and a soundwave interference device, safety is nearly assured, but to be extra cautious, it’s better to install several biological activity monitors around the campsite.
The ’night’ of the first day, Yan Luo slept soundly.
The biological activity monitors did not issue a warning, although the camera did capture footage of nearby demon activity.
Gathering all devices and storing them in the motorcycle’s rear compartment, Yan Luo set off again to continue demon hunting.
He plans to hunt in the Scrap Iron Hills for three days and spend the remaining days at Blood Lake.
At Blood Lake, he might gain more enhancements.
Yan Luo rode his motorcycle across this vast terrain, approximately 270,000 square kilometers.
The hills are uneven, with peculiar rocks jutting out like layers of solidified ocean waves.
Ahead, demons sporadically appear, fortunately even when multiple demons emerge, Yan Luo need not worry about being outnumbered.
Demons are not ordinary creatures; they bear no kinship despite being of the same kind, and if one threatens another or requires sustenance, demons will attack each other.
Multiple demons of the same level appearing together generally leads to them fighting one another.
For example, Yan Luo currently sees a Gold-winged Eagle fighting a Dragon-scaled Python.
The Gold-winged Eagle, circling in the sky, has wings as sharp as blades, glinting with metallic sheen under the crimson moonlight, while the Dragon-scaled Python coiled around a stone pillar is formidable too, its scales as resilient as mythical dragon scales.
Neither are easy monsters to deal with.
Yan Luo straddles his motorcycle atop a hill, quietly observing the battle between the Gold-winged Eagle and the Dragon-scaled Python.
The Gold-winged Eagle dived several times, attempting to slice through the Dragon-scaled Python with wing strokes, but could only scrape off a few scales.
The Dragon-scaled Python isn’t venomous; it primarily uses strong muscles to constrict foes, yet the agile movements of the Gold-winged Eagle thwart its efforts to get a tight grip, as the eagle swiftly ascends with every python attempt to clasp.
Neither can overpower the other, and the fight continues endlessly.
Yan Luo heard the Gold-winged Eagle’s cries from several kilometers away; upon arriving, he watched the battle for nearly ten minutes, and the two monsters still fought tirelessly.
Fortunately, with time, injuries began to appear on both monsters.
Yan Luo knew now was the best time to intervene.
Without hesitation, Yan Luo twisted the throttle, racing down from the hilltop.
The motorcycle traversed over hills, quickly arriving near the battlefield of the Gold-winged Eagle and the Dragon-scaled Python.
Yan Luo steered the motorcycle directly toward the stone pillar entwined by the Dragon-scaled Python, drawing the attention of both monsters.
Both cast their gaze upon Yan Luo, noting the item in his hand.
The Dragon-scaled Python hissed, watching as Yan Luo hurled a bomb onto the pillar it coiled around.
The twelve-meter-high pillar exploded midsection, sending the Dragon-scaled Python plummeting to the ground, even startling the Gold-winged Eagle flying above.
The colossal beast, fifteen meters long and weighing over 12 tons, crashed heavily; fortunately, the Dragon-scaled Python’s rigid bones and disintegrating pillar during the fall spared it severe injury, as even its toughest bones and strongest muscles couldn’t withstand a crushing impact from the pillar’s weight.
Nevertheless, the Dragon-scaled Python was severely disoriented by the fall.
Yan Luo rode his motorcycle towards the python, lifting the bike’s front wheel as the python raised its head, allowing the rear wheel to hit a rock, causing the motorcycle to bounce up.
"Have a taste of my motorcycle!"
The Dragon-scaled Python just lifted its head to see a huge black shadow crashing down.
Together with his exoskeleton, Yan Luo weighed 568 kilograms, combined with nearly a ton of motorcycle, shackling the python’s head to the ground.
Amidst the motorcycle engine’s roar, a crisp sound of bone cracking echoed.
The motorcycle zipped over the python’s body, heading beyond it.
Yan Luo then swiveled the bike, turning back to continue assaulting the python.
Against a tough-skinned and thick-bodied monster like the Dragon-scaled Python, even close-range shooting couldn’t inflict injury—how should it be killed?
The answer is simple: by ramming it with the bike!
As Yan Luo charged once more at the python, the Gold-winged Eagle swiftly swooped from the sky.
However, its target wasn’t the python, but Yan Luo.
Yan Luo released his right hand from the handlebar and drew a shotgun from the backpack, ready for the eagle’s attack.
When the Gold-winged Eagle was just five meters from him, Yan Luo fired a buckshot.
The buckshot exploded mid-air, scattering pellets that splattered against the eagle.
From triggering the gun to the bullet igniting took half a second, during which the eagle descended another two meters, allowing Yan Luo to shoot just at the right time for pellets to bypass the deflection shield and hit the eagle’s body.
The shot momentarily stunned the Gold-winged Eagle for 0.1 seconds. Its weight-induced inertia made abrupt stopping impossible, leaving it no choice but to watch Yan Luo depart as it crashed onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Yan Luo had already targeted the Dragon-scaled Python with his motorcycle.