Yang Tao didn't go looking for another boss right away. Instead, he planned to return to the main world and upgrade his Tinkers' weapons. He felt that his weapon's attack power was too low.
Even fighting a Naga took forever.
After returning home and waiting for a while, he saw Zabuza and Haku coming back as well.
"My lord! You're back!" Haku greeted him warmly as always.
"Yeah! How did things go for you two these past few days?" Yang Tao asked.
The two of them had been mining and hunting monsters in the Nether to upgrade their weapons.
Zabuza replied, "My lord, all the ores we mined over the past two days are stored in the warehouse chests! We got almost two full chests."
Yang Tao was pleased to hear this. It seemed they had been working hard!
"Wait a bit. I'll smelt some materials and upgrade your weapons!"
He went to the warehouse and looked at the chests filled with Ardite and Cobalt ores. He took out three stacks of each.
He put them into the Tinkers' smeltery to start processing, but he didn't throw everything in at once. Ardite and Cobalt could combine into Manyullyn, but they also had special properties on their own. Yang Tao decided to make some of each type.
When he took the weapon Zabuza handed him, he almost drooled with envy—it still had ten upgrade slots left!
"Zabuza, just how many monsters did you kill? Your weapon is already this strong!"
"I don't even know! I just kept mining and attacking any monster I saw!"
Yang Tao enchanted Zabuza's weapon with max attack speed, max sharpness, and Fortune III. Now, it was a finished product! The only thing left was to upgrade it further and get an indestructible enchantment—then it would be perfect!
After upgrading both Zabuza's and Haku's weapons, he let them go do their own things.
Yang Tao then used the new ores to upgrade his bow and arrows before heading to the mob farm to continue leveling up his weapons.
Time always flies when you're focused on something.
Yang Tao lost count of how many arrows he had fired. By now, both his bow and arrows had been enchanted eight times.
Exhausted, he finally stopped.
"Alright, that's enough for now. It's getting harder and harder to upgrade further."
He flew back home and collapsed onto the couch to rest his tired mind.
"Maybe I should take Zabuza and Haku on a Twilight Forest expedition? Having some help might speed things up."
With that thought in mind, he opened the chat and sent a message to Zabuza and Haku.
"Zabuza! Haku! Want to come with me to the Twilight Forest to fight a boss?"
Even though Zabuza and Haku didn't know what a "boss" was, they agreed without hesitation.
Yang Tao waited leisurely for the two to arrive, and soon they showed up.
Seeing that everyone was ready, Yang Tao didn't waste any words and led them straight to the Twilight Portal.
"Just jump in!" After giving them instructions, Yang Tao jumped in first.
Before long, the three of them appeared in the Twilight Forest.
Seeing the scenery for the first time, Haku, as a woman, couldn't help but admire, "The starry sky is so beautiful! And the trees are so tall!"
But for someone like Zabuza, a rogue ninja from Kirigakure, the scenery meant nothing. The moment he arrived, he stayed on guard, scanning his surroundings for any threats.
Seeing Zabuza's cautious stance, Yang Tao thought to himself that it was probably just an occupational habit. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing—after all, in the ninja world, a missing-nin without vigilance would have long been taken out by Kakuzu for a bounty.
"Alright! Let's go find the Minotaur. No need to be so tense here, Zabuza!"
The three of them flew through the sky, searching for the Minotaur Maze.
Maybe it was because Haku was with them, but Yang Tao quickly spotted the entrance to the maze.
"There it is! Get ready, we're going in!"
Leading the way, Yang Tao jumped into the maze. The pitch-black surroundings felt uncomfortable, so he took out a prepared night vision potion and smashed it on the ground.
Immediately, a large number of monsters swarmed toward them. Not only were there the usual ones, but also special creatures unique to the Twilight Forest.
However, the three of them quickly cleared them out.
Yang Tao reassured the others, "Don't worry, there aren't any strong monsters in here. The only annoying thing is that the maze itself is kind of a hassle."
He picked a passage and confidently led them forward. "As long as we follow the wall, we'll find the second-floor entrance in no time!"
And sure enough, it didn't take long for them to... end up back at the first-floor entrance.
Yang Tao awkwardly scratched his head. "Oops, my bad! Let's go this way instead!" He picked a new path and went in.
A little while later, Yang Tao stood in silence, staring at the first-floor entrance once again. His face darkened.
Haku stepped forward. "Sir, maybe I should lead the way?"
She chose a path directly opposite the one Yang Tao had picked earlier. "Let's try this way, sir!"
Without a word, Yang Tao followed her lead. The three of them fought their way through the maze and finally reached the second-floor entrance.
But instead of looking happy, Yang Tao's expression was even worse than before. There was no excitement at all about finding the entrance.
Inside, he made a silent vow: "Once I get my hands on stronger explosives, I'm going to blow up every Minotaur Maze I can find!"
With Haku leading the way, they quickly arrived at the boss room. The Minotaur was locked inside, surrounded by wooden fences.
The Minotaur itself was weak—just a small boss, even weaker than the Naga. The real challenge was the maze, which was such a mess that even with a map, it could still take a long time to navigate.
Yang Tao pulled out his tools and told the other two, "Get ready, I'm opening the door!"
With that, he tore down the wooden fence.
The Minotaur spotted the intruders. It let out a low growl, gripped its massive axe, and charged straight at Zabuza.
But Zabuza easily dodged.
With their upgraded weapons dealing way more damage, the Minotaur was quickly defeated, collapsing at their feet.
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