Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Loren planned to search for uncut and unpolished spirit stone deposits.

Since he couldn't access the storage room anymore, he couldn't possibly return empty-handed after coming all this way.

He needed to bring something back with him.

Coming to the spirit stone mines and leaving with nothing would be utterly unbearable for Loren.

Making a trip into the spirit stone veins and not collecting anything would be a complete loss.

After passing through several chaotic intersections, Loren reached the end of one of the branching tunnels.

There was no path ahead.

Loren set down Evan's unconscious body.

Then he walked alone to the end and reached out to feel the rock wall.

He raised his revolver and fired a shot at the rock wall.

The bullet's explosion blasted open the rock wall, revealing its true nature.

It was entirely raw spirit stone ore emitting blue light, distributed and embedded throughout the rock wall.

Most of these raw spirit stones were encased in rock, with only small portions exposed.

"Can you devour the spirit stones in this condition?" Loren's question echoed through the narrow space.

"Of course, Master. It's just like eating a banana - peel off the outer layer first."

The raven's confident voice resonated in Loren's mind.

Loren retracted the black wings behind him, and the raven reappeared on his shoulder.

"Go ahead, eat as much as you can." Loren reminded the raven to keep track of time.

Before that Federation squad discovered his activities, Loren intended to devour as many spirit stones as possible.

A spirit stone buffet - such a combination of words was quite rare.

If he missed this opportunity, who knew when he'd encounter another like it.

With Loren's permission, the raven immediately flew from his shoulder straight toward the spirit stone-embedded rock wall.

The raven's small claws firmly grasped the protrusions on the rock wall.

Its beak began pecking at the raw spirit stone ore on the wall.

The rock-encased portions were easily broken open by its beak.

Revealing the pure spirit stone within.

It skillfully opened its beak and began consuming large quantities of spirit stones.

Seeing that the raven had started devouring the spirit stone deposits, Loren walked a few steps out toward the tunnel entrance to keep watch for his psychic ability raven.

Theoretically, what he was doing now also counted as stealing Federation mineral resources.

But it didn't matter - currently the spirit stone mines were in an unmanaged vacuum period.

During this timeframe, as long as he wasn't caught red-handed by that Federation squad, everything would be fine.

The long wait began...

After Loren checked his pocket watch several times, the raven's call finally came from deep within the tunnel.

The raven had been devouring raw spirit stone ore for a full ten hours!!

When Loren entered the tunnel, he saw an extremely bloated raven.

Or rather, except for the black feathers, it no longer resembled a raven.

The raven's body had swollen like a balloon.

As an energy entity, after such binge eating, it was clearly suffering from indigestion.

"Can you still move?" Loren asked.

"Not really, Master," the raven replied frankly.

Loren nodded, stepped forward, and touched the raven's back.

A flash of light passed.

The raven's bloated figure disappeared.

Large black wings reappeared behind Loren's back.

After merging, Loren instinctively assessed his power.

A continuous stream of power was emerging from within his body.

Loren clenched his fist, feeling the seemingly limitless power within him.

This feeling of fullness wasn't bad at all, Loren thought subconsciously.

"Master, I'm going to sleep for a while."

"I have a premonition that after I digest all this devoured energy, I'll be ready to break through to the fifth tier at any time."

The raven's voice sounded again in Loren's mind.

"Sleep well, you've worked hard."

In his good mood, Loren thoughtfully comforted his psychic ability.

Sentient beings are so troublesome!

That thought flashed through Loren's mind.

Then, after one last glance at the pitted rock wall, Loren directly hoisted the still-unconscious Evan from the ground and left the area.

It had to be said, Loren had been somewhat heavy-handed.

After more than ten hours, Evan still hadn't woken up.

Snapping his fingers along the way, applying Fortune to himself.

Loren quickly returned to the bottom of the large pit where he had jumped down.

His black wings gently flapping behind him, he flew upward along the large pit toward the surface.

Carrying Evan, Loren burst out of the large pit.

Soaring through the sky above the heavy prison.

Loren glanced downward.

The heavy prison had now been taken over by Federation Energy Department personnel.

No longer just those uniformed prison guards.

Indeed, that six-person squad he encountered earlier was from the Federation.

Loren shook his head, gave a light flap of his wings, and flew directly away.

Loren's flight direction was obvious - toward the Upper District's Interstellar Hunter Association.

Ms. Thia was still waiting for him there.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department personnel who had taken over the heavy prison. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ⓝovelFire.net

All looked up, watching Loren's distant figure in the sky.

"Who is that? He doesn't seem to be one of ours, does he?"

"Don't worry about it, the higher-ups will handle it."

"We should first inventory how much spirit stone deposits remain under our feet and how long they can still be mined."

"True, what a headache. So much work."

"Who would have thought this planet had such abundant spirit stone deposits?"

"Who was it that ordered the report to higher-ups claiming mining was completed back then?"

"They had some nerve!!"

"Why worry about that? The higher-ups will handle it."

"Just coast along, why be so serious?"

Outside the prison, at that temporarily erected platform.

The Energy Department officials on the platform, and the journalists from various media outlets below.

Both groups saw Loren's dashing figure flying off into the distance.

Under the Energy Department official's hint, an investigator quietly left.

Several of the journalist friends from various media outlets also rushed off in the direction Loren had departed.

Rather than waiting here for the Energy Department's investigation announcement.

Better to take the initiative, chase a big story! Get an exclusive scoop!

That distant figure flying out from inside the prison clearly knew inside information.

Loren, who had just appeared in public view and was already targeted by various parties.

Had just landed at the Upper District's city gates.

The Upper District had an energy shield covering the entire district - Loren couldn't fly directly inside.

Although Loren had once considered finding an opportunity to destroy this energy shield.

Unfortunately, he never found the right chance.

These city-wide energy shields existed in every moderately large city within Federation territory.

Beautifully named as advanced urban protection equipment, but actually used maybe once every few years.

Apart from being somewhat wasteful of spirit stones, Loren hadn't discovered any benefits that energy shields provided for cities.

Oh right, Loren occasionally disguised himself to rob those vehicles that regularly transported spirit stones to power the energy shields...