It is precisely because of this that Zong Ze did not exchange for the [Magic Energy Drilling Machine].

Now when he saw the Small Ice Mountain, he almost immediately reacted.

After a simple test, he found that the Small Ice Mountain was highly resistant to physical attacks.

Its melting point was far higher than ordinary ice; he built a bonfire next to it, letting the flames roast the ice surface, taking a full five or six minutes to melt about a ten-centimeter-thick ice layer.

This situation is quite normal. Doris activated the "Flamethrower" skill, using Cluster Flame to burn the Small Ice Mountain, but the effect wasn't much better, not to mention the ordinary bonfire.

Speaking of which, the two brothers have been communicating less frequently, each having their own matters to attend to.

Zong Shen would take some time before bed these days to send Zong Ze intelligence reports about the Frosty Winter Period through the [Relatives Channel], with only brief exchanges between the brothers.

They're not kids anymore, and as brothers, knowing the other is developing well is enough. The world of a Lord is busy, and the stronger a Lord, the more so.

Apart from flame melting and physical attacks, he also tried using Multiple Arcane Missiles to bombard the Small Ice Mountain, but unfortunately, the results were also not promising.

This Small Ice Mountain does not have the concept of Durability Value, even when Zong Ze fires Arcane Missiles with his exceptionally high magic damage, they just create a basin-sized gap.

Each Small Ice Mountain stands five or six meters high, with a covered area of seventy to eighty meters. With such damage capabilities, without a few hundred arcane missiles, it's impossible to break through. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

After casting Arcane Missiles, he also attempted to use Arcane Shaping to dismember the Small Ice Mountain, but still ended up failing.

This kind of Small Ice Mountain is a special creation of the Challenge Period, which doesn't contain any magic elements.

Finally, Zong Ze could only use a clumsy method, having his subordinate Rude Orcs and Blue-skinned Giants use Black Iron Spears to gradually chisel at the ice surface.

When twenty to thirty Orcs and Giants worked together, the efficiency wasn't low. At this pace, it would take about one or two hours to break through...

Though not comparable to his elder brother Zong Shen, he was still much stronger than ordinary Lords.

...

In the Kujite Empire located in the south of the Rodok Kingdom.

In the Naboru Basin, Chen Rui is also using the [Magic Energy Drilling Machine] to destructively drill the Small Ice Mountain.

His efficiency is even faster than Zong Shen's, using another uniquely shaped Magic Energy Mecha.

This Magic Energy Mecha also has a tracked base, but its front functional part consists of three large-sized cutting saw blades, each of which can retract inward or extend outward freely.

This also comes from Points Exchange, named [Magic Energy Cutter], and is considered a large cutting machine.

It's more efficient than the Tearer Mecha; the tracked transmission structure ensures transit efficiency in snow and ice, while multiple saw blades can directly cut several grooves into the Small Ice Mountain, damaging its structure and increasing the drilling machine's breakdown speed by at least thirty percent.

The comprehensive exploration efficiency surpasses Zong Shen's, stemming from experience heard in his previous life.

The efficiency of pairing a cutter with a drilling machine is faster than deploying two drilling machines simultaneously.

However, the Small Ice Mountain's onset location has visibly changed in this life.

He could only determine the position of the Small Ice Mountain through active search.

Like Zong Shen, Chen Rui also opted for group action.

Led by his powerful Half-Orc hero Galrona, divided groups with the same setup launched the treasure hunt action.

For this phase, he spent 4000 points on purchasing Magic Energy Mecha.

He did not tell Zong Shen about these details, as they are truly valuable pieces of information that could change gains. What he informed Zong Shen are generally empty or exaggerated things.

This point shows Chen Rui's cunning; as Zong Shen himself said, friendship needs the test of time.

In order to survive the Cataclysm and enter the third act, he will do everything to rally all forces that can be united, but that doesn't mean he will generously devote everything.

Surviving the Cataclysm is not for anyone else; it is ultimately for himself.

This is the objective essence of cooperation, with both inevitability and brutality.

Everyone crosses the sea in different ways, showing their abilities.

However, this indirectly proves the terror of the Cataclysm, showing that even reincarnated people from two lives have no confidence to survive it safely, needing to use uniting other strong Lords to change the outcome.

...

In the third phase of the Frosty Winter Challenge, whether strong or weak.

Or those ordinary people occupying the majority, all strive to become stronger in their own ways.

Time during the busyness flew by quietly like the dense sands in an hourglass.

When the sunset completely vanished at the horizon, night descended.

The six-hour sunny period officially ended, with the temperature once reaching up to 5°C above zero.

The surface chill released completely, and the heavy snow dropped like cotton candy into water, continuously collapsing down and merging with the lower ice, further thickening the ice layer.

This is a transition of snow into ice layer.

After six in the evening, the temperature began to drop drastically.

After sunset, it returned to below negative twenty degrees Celsius.