After all the energy crystal fragments were collected, the city lord filled a whole cloth bag. The city lord was beaming from ear to ear, and his eight personal guards were especially excited, practically walking on air. Without waiting for orders, they immediately formed a circle in front of Jiang Hao, clearly waiting for him to pull a gold-level monster.

【Energy Crystal Beast】

Gold-level elite

Level: 22

life:

Physical attack:

Physical defense: 3100

Speed: 256

......

Jiang Hao skipped over the skills, saying there was no need to look at them.

The gold-grade energy crystal beast, with over 5.5 million HP, was slightly smaller than the silver-grade ones. Its white body was almost transparent, resembling cloudy glass. The sheer number of beasts crammed into the mine made Jiang Hao's scalp tingle.

Ten people deal over 900,000 damage per second. Subtracting the ridiculous mechanism of the beasts regenerating 1% of their health per second during the battle, it takes more than 6 seconds to kill a single beast.

The mere thought of the energy crystals dropped by these gold-level beasts, which could be used to break his curse, filled Jiang Hao with renewed energy. His eight guards, each with an eager expression, and while the city lord's face remained expressionless, a glint of light shone in his eyes, clearly indicating he was ready and waiting for Jiang Hao to draw the monsters.

"Get ready, I'm going to pull the mobs."

After drinking a healing potion, Jiang Hao raised his staff. The others nodded and all raised their broadswords. Jiang Hao looked at a golden-level beast in the distance, waved his staff, and the beast's body suddenly vanished from its spot. The other beasts, however, remained oblivious, continuing to sway back and forth in a small area.

A flash of white light appeared beneath the staff, and the gold-level energy crystal beast appeared beneath it, its yellow star, a dizzying effect, spinning rapidly above its head.

-

-

-

-

......

Everyone frantically swung their weapons, hacking at the gold-level energy crystal beast surrounded by the group. Some of the guards, in particular, even had a fanatical glint in their eyes.

"Hey? Why are you guys so excited?"

Jiang Hao couldn't help but ask one of the guards.

"Reporting to you, sir, it's because...it's probably because...we've never fought a Gold-level Energy Crystal Beast before. This is our first time, so it's quite novel."

Jiang Hao suddenly realized. Given the density of Energy Crystal Beasts, Jinling City would have to send at least Dark Gold level warriors to have any chance of hunting down a Gold-level Energy Crystal Beast.

This also reminded him of the first time he fought a Black Iron-level monster. Every time he struck the head of a White-shelled Turtle Elite, he felt a sacred, almost reverent feeling, as if he were performing some kind of ritual.

"Don't worry, it's just a gold-level energy crystal beast. You'll get used to it after a while."

The guard gave a heavy "hmm," as if he had received a great encouragement.

With time running out, Jiang Hao stopped six seconds later, and the city lord of Jinling City delivered the final blow.

-

The first gold-level energy crystal beast's health bar was emptied, and its body turned into faint white particles that began to dissipate, finally disappearing a second later.

A small piece of energy crystal, gleaming with light, was caught steadily by a large hand just as it was about to fall to the ground.

He is the city lord of Jinling City.

"Letting any energy crystal fall to the ground is disrespectful to a gold-level energy crystal beast."

With his eyes fixed on the small energy crystal in his hand, the city lord of Jinling City murmured to himself.

This energy crystal is about the size of a soybean. Although it is still somewhat cloudy inside, it is much better than the silver-grade energy crystal fragments. In particular, it emits a faint luster around it, making it seem much more high-end than the energy crystal fragments at first glance.

The city lord of Jinling City wiped away non-existent stains with his sleeve, or perhaps he wanted to make it shine even brighter. Then, he took out a yellow cloth bag from his pocket and carefully placed the small energy crystal inside.

wc, is he really that serious?

Aren't there still plenty over there?

Besides, when you first killed this beast, you didn't seem to respect it much, did you?

Jiang Hao glanced at his guards and noticed that although they didn't say anything, their eyes were all shining as they looked at the small piece of energy crystal.

"Ready, I'm going to continue pulling mobs."

The city lord immediately stuffed the yellow cloth bag into his bosom and, together with his eight personal guards, raised the large swords in his hands.

Ten people took down a Gold-level Energy Crystal Beast in just over six seconds, fighting almost non-stop for eight hours. Finally, the City Lord of Jinling City and his eight guards were on the verge of collapse. Jiang Hao saw their arms trembling; they could barely lift their swords. After defeating the Energy Crystal Beast in front of them, Jiang Hao glanced at the remaining two-thirds of the remaining beasts in the distant mine and waved his hand.

"Wait, wait, take a break. You all look exhausted."

The city lord of Jinling City waved his hand, putting away the small energy crystal.

"Rest where you are and make the most of your time to recover your strength."

"yes."

After giving a weak and feeble response, the eight guards immediately collapsed to the ground. One by one, they pulled out some white jerky from their pockets and began to gnaw on it.

Jiang Hao looked on with a puzzled expression.

Holy crap, they can actually eat!

"Little friend doesn't seem to feel very tired?"

The city chairman of Jinling sat down on the ground, took out a piece of dried meat, tore off a piece and put it in his mouth, and asked Jiang Hao with some doubt.

"I'm just a little mentally tired, but I don't feel anything unusual physically."

"Adventurers have it so good, they have unlimited stamina. Unlike us, we have stamina limitations."

Can eating restore physical strength?

Jiang Hao drank a few sips of the health-restoring potion and pointed at several guards who were gnawing on dried meat.

"Yes, and the quality of food directly affects the speed of stamina recovery. These dried fish are one of the fastest ways to replenish stamina. They are essential military supplies for the Royal Guard when they go out on missions. After a hearty meal, they can last for at least 12 hours of high-intensity combat."

Jiang Hao wondered if players could eat it.

"Can players eat this? Could you give me some?"

"Haha, of course you can eat it! You should try it."

The city lord of Jinling took out another piece of dried fish from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Hao.

Jiang Hao took a small bite. The fresh and fragrant fish meat, mixed with a slightly salty taste and a chewy texture, was quite good.

After swallowing several large mouthfuls of dried fish, Jiang Hao felt his head lighten, and his previously somewhat muddled mind cleared up a bit. At the same time, he also felt some strength returning to his body.

Having been in the game for so long, Jiang Hao hadn't logged off once, either fighting monsters or on his way to fight them. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything, and was already quite exhausted. But there was nothing he could do; the thousands of sows were warning him not to log off. To earn more money, Jiang Hao had been forcing himself to keep going. Fortunately, healing potions could alleviate his fatigue, allowing him to persevere until this moment. Now, receiving the dried fish from the city lord, although it didn't restore health, its effect on restoring spirit and stamina was surprisingly good. He unconsciously took a few more bites, quickly finishing the entire piece of dried fish.

"I have two more here, I'll give you one more."

Seeing Jiang Hao eating so hurriedly, the city lord of Jinling City handed him another piece. Jiang Hao didn't stand on ceremony and took it without hesitation. After finishing another whole piece of dried fish, Jiang Hao felt a surge of clarity in his mind and a surge of strength throughout his body.

"Alright, let's hurry up."

Seeing that the guards had all finished eating and were looking energetic and vigorous, the city lord of Jinling City issued another order.