I'm Trapped in the Block

As his life slowly faded, the Ancient Mine Race found that he had also, unknowingly, drifted toward extremism.

’Descendants with perfect personalities?’

He looked at this generation of descendants, lost in revelry and blind optimism about the future, and couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity.

He sought out the purple, gauze-like creature again and confessed everything he had done.

The purple, gauze-like creature didn’t find his reckless meddling with the emotional ratios to be particularly shocking.

"I’ve done the same thing," the purple, gauze-like creature said, comforting him with a smile. "You should have come and asked me sooner."

"I learned that ratio from humans. The emotions influence and restrain one another, creating different personalities. Tampering with it recklessly will only lead to unforeseen consequences."

But what was done was done. This generation of descendants, which had once brought the Ancient Mine Race great satisfaction, had now become another source of his shame.

He had no choice but to humbly seek guidance once more, asking how he could possibly create descendants that met his standards.

To his surprise, the purple, gauze-like creature also shook its head, admitting it didn’t know. "You have to experiment on your own. Whether they meet your standards is just your subjective judgment."

However, after hearing the Ancient Mine Race’s story, the purple, gauze-like creature offered him a piece of advice.

"If you need to create exceptionally powerful descendants quickly, you’ll have to make them master their strength with speed and skill. You also need to give them a shortcut to understanding the Abyss."

The Ancient Mine Race had a sudden realization.

After he returned, he swiftly destroyed the generation of descendants that were still lost in their revelry.

He then created the fifth generation of descendants, following the emotional ratio the purple, gauze-like creature had taught him to the letter, without making a single change.

Next, he created the Stimulation Signal, a place where fighting would allow any member of the Mineral Race to rapidly master their abilities.

Moreover, due to the battle lust granted by the battlefield, this generation of descendants would grow increasingly fierce and eager for combat.

In the beginning, the Stimulation Signal released by the Ancient Mine Race was incredibly strong. It could easily cover the entire Thorn Stone Forest, even without an environment rich in mineral deposits.

He taught this generation of descendants how to enter and exit the battlefield at will. They could enter to train whenever they wished.

The descendants fought in the virtual battlefield, mastering the sensation of their power surging, and could then use that experience to adjust their abilities in the real world.

The Ancient Mine Race had found a clever way to make his descendants grow strong quickly, saving a vast amount of time.

He even personally tested the descendants who fought their way to the very end within the battlefield, but alas, none of them could defeat him.

His awe-inspiring form, with its countless arms, was worshipped as a deity by this generation of descendants, becoming the central faith of their civilization.

This time, the emergence of faith actually had a positive effect on the civilization’s development. This generation of descendants knew clearly that their abilities were a gift from their god, and so they fought relentlessly to please him.

Whether inside the battlefield or in reality, this generation of descendants displayed unparalleled combat prowess.

Although none of his descendants had ever managed to kill his virtual form, he was still very pleased.

If they continued to develop this way, a descendant capable of defeating him was sure to emerge.

As he spoke of this, the Ancient Mine Race’s face filled with contentment. It was clear he was extremely fond of this generation.

However, at this absolutely critical juncture...

He fell ill.

"Dementia." The Ancient Mine Race laughed self-deprecatingly. "Hilarious, isn’t it? That a being like me could get dementia."

At first, it was just memory loss, forgetting things. Then, his memory began to degrade, and he could no longer recognize familiar objects.

Eventually, he even began to regress to memories from his youth. In his moments of confusion, he would mistake his descendants for the companions who had adventured with him long ago.

Without the Ancient Mine Race’s maintenance, the Stimulation Signal soon began to malfunction. The descendants found they could no longer enter the battlefield, and even started forgetting what happened inside.

As time went on, these descendants forgot about the battlefield entirely. Even if they entered it by chance, they would only feel a surge of battle lust upon exiting, with no knowledge of what they had just experienced.

On one occasion, the Ancient Mine Race realized he was about to suffer a prolonged bout of memory loss. He gave most of his heirlooms to these descendants and told them to go out and hide.

At this, the Ancient Mine Race lowered his head and fell silent.

"And then?" Mo Ling asked, confused. "What happened?"

The Ancient Mine Race stared at his hands, his gaze vacant, as if he had suddenly slipped into some strange state.

Seeing his strange behavior, Mo Ling didn’t press the issue. He just watched him quietly, waiting for him to recover.

However, the Ancient Mine Race’s condition seemed to be deteriorating.

He suddenly stood up and began pacing back and forth, occasionally freezing in place with a vacant stare.

A moment later, he abruptly raised a hand and pointed at Mo Ling, looking as if he wanted to say something in surprise, but he choked, unable to get a single word out.

After pacing for some time, the Ancient Mine Race slowly walked over to Mo Ling’s side and sat down again.

This time he sat very close to Mo Ling, seeming to regard him with great familiarity.

The Ancient Mine Race’s tone suddenly shifted, as if he had slipped into another persona. "How did you get this material?"

Mo Ling was taken aback. "What material?"

The Ancient Mine Race pointed at his Block head. "This kind! I’ve been searching for this material for a very long time. I need it to build something, but it can only be found at the Bottom of the Abyss. I must depart at once."

With that, he clapped Mo Ling on the shoulder, stood up, and started walking away into the distance.

Mo Ling was utterly bewildered by the Ancient Mine Race’s bizarre behavior.

’Is he having an episode?’ Mo Ling thought, quickly chasing after him to try and stop him.

But the Ancient Mine Race hadn’t gone far before he suddenly turned around, the dazed look in his eyes slowly fading.

He led Mo Ling back to the stone and said apologetically, "I was just a bit confused. Let’s continue."

"Next came the sixth generation of descendants..." the Ancient Mine Race said slowly.

"What about the previous generation? The one you were most satisfied with?" Mo Ling asked, confused when he realized the Ancient Mine Race had skipped a period of time.

"I forgot."

With just that one understated reply, the Ancient Mine Race resumed his story.

After a long period of memory loss, the Ancient Mine Race discovered that the fifth generation of descendants had suddenly vanished.

He didn’t have much time left, and his mind was in turmoil. Driven by his obsession, he began creating the sixth generation of descendants.

But in his chaotic state, he made a mistake in the process.

In a daze, he injected only a single emotion into the bodies of his descendants: fear.

And so, the current Mineral Race of the Thorn Stone Forest, who know only fear, were born. After fulfilling his obsession to create descendants, he again sank into a state of memory loss.

The Stimulation Signal, without his maintenance, grew steadily weaker. Any descendants who happened to enter the battlefield would forget their combat experience the moment they left.

Furthermore, this generation, which knew only fear, would not develop any battle lust. The Stimulation Signal would only cause them to feel a sudden, inexplicable fear of their own companions.

In his hazy state, he discovered that under the influence of the Stimulation Signal, this fear-ridden generation began to spontaneously divide into factions and wage meaningless battles.

"Do you know why they divided their factions this way? Rare minerals and common minerals. It’s hard to understand, isn’t it?" the Ancient Mine Race asked Mo Ling with a sense of helplessness.

"I don’t understand," Mo Ling answered honestly.

Seeing Mo Ling shake his head, the Ancient Mine Race waved his hand and once again summoned the map of the battlefield before them.

"Take a look at the distribution of mineral veins within the battlefield. Then you’ll understand."