Chapter 108 - 105: Might and Soul Core
Chapter 108: Chapter 105: Might and Soul Core
A faint golden energy coiled around the base of the Genetic Tree and was absorbed like nutrients. If Magic Energy was like water, then this Spirit Beast Essence was fertilizer.
As it was absorbed, Feng Hao felt a soothing sensation spread through his body, like being bathed in a spring breeze. Even his mind felt much clearer!
Soon, the Night Fang Cat Tiger’s essence was completely absorbed. The Genetic Tree in his sea of consciousness became shrouded in a layer of golden mist, seemingly enveloped by some special power. It felt surprisingly good.
’Let’s see if the Spirit Beast Essence is still in that corpse.’
Opening his eyes, Feng Hao’s gaze fell upon the corpse the Night Fang Cat Tiger had been eating. He carefully dissected it with his Dark Moon Dagger but found no Spirit Beast Essence. It seemed the Night Fang Cat Tiger had already devoured it.
Disappointed, he returned to the Night Fang Cat Tiger’s side. With some difficulty, he used the Dark Moon Dagger to pry open its skull and dug out a golden crystal the size of an eyeball.
This was the Power Crystal of a Secret Realm Spirit Beast—a Spirit Beast Essence. When refined into equipment, it provided a powerful boost. However, to activate the effect of the Essence in the equipment, one also needed the empowerment of a Secret Realm Power.
In other words, without a Secret Realm Power, one couldn’t use equipment enhanced with an Essence. Furthermore, different levels of Secret Realm Power corresponded to different levels of Essence-enhanced equipment. To make Infinite-grade equipment work, one needed Infinite Power. To make Taiyi-grade equipment work, one needed Taiyi Power, and so on.
Feng Hao hadn’t condensed a Power yet, so there was no hurry to refine the Essence. A scan with his Crystal Eye instantly revealed the enhancement data for the Night Fang Cat Tiger’s Essence:
[Infinite Essence]
Quality: Intermediate
Defense Boost: 104
Qi Blood Boost: 1400
’A shame it’s only intermediate, and the stats aren’t right for me.’ Feng Hao felt a pang of disappointment and put the Essence into his Spatial Ring.
Just like equipment materials, Essences also had quality tiers. They were divided into four grades: Low, Intermediate, High, and Supreme. A Low-grade Essence had only one stat boost, an Intermediate-grade one had two, and a High-grade one had three. A Supreme-grade Essence would have three normal stats plus one special stat.
In short, the higher the Essence’s quality, the greater the boost it provided to equipment. It was similar to the white, blue, purple, and orange equipment color-coding common in major online games on Earth.
After briefly recovering, Feng Hao continued in the same direction. He couldn’t help it; the humidity in this dense forest was just too high, making him feel sticky and uncomfortable.
After a two-hour trek, Feng Hao finally emerged from the damp, dense forest. Although a seemingly endless jungle still stretched out before him, at least it wasn’t as humid.
He encountered a few disgusting lizards along the way, all of which he dispatched with ease. Unfortunately, the Essences they dropped weren’t suitable for him either.
He continued in the same direction, his Crystal Eye constantly scanning his surroundings for any movement.
After some time, Feng Hao walked out of the jungle and was greeted by the sight of a bizarre wasteland. As far as the eye could see, the ground was covered with dead tree trunks and withered plants. Dry, sandy dust whipped through the air, reducing visibility to less than a hundred meters.
’Damn, what a drastic change.’
He glanced back at the jungle behind him, then at the Gobi-like wasteland before him. The contrast was staggering.
After some deliberation, Feng Hao decided it was better to head back into the jungle. Judging by the look of this wasteland, there probably weren’t many Spirit Beasts around anyway.
And so, Feng Hao returned to the jungle.
A few minutes later, a streak of green light flashed overhead—clearly the trail of a passing Magic Energy Flying Vehicle. After traveling for so long, he had finally encountered another living person. Unfortunately, the vehicle’s owner hadn’t noticed him.
’No wonder everyone likes to enter Secret Realms in a team. It’s actually pretty damn boring to be alone.’
Perched on a branch more than ten meters up a tree, Feng Hao leaned back, chewing on dry rations and grumbling to himself. He occasionally glanced around, hoping to spot another living soul.
Although he had been a famous lone wolf back in the game "Mage," the difference between a game and reality was immense.
After all, no matter how much of a loner you were in a game, you could still chat with friends. If you were truly bored out of your skull, you could just spout nonsense in the world chat. You couldn’t be as desperately bored and idle as he was right now.
SWOOSH—!
Just as Feng Hao was stewing in his complaints, an arrow shot past, embedding itself in the tree trunk next to him with a THWIP.
Feng Hao’s eyes lit up. He hastily stuffed his rations back into the ring and pulled out his Dark Moon Dagger. "Fuck yeah, finally some people!"
’Judging by the force of this arrow, it must’ve been shot from a fair distance. Whatever, I’ll sneak over and check it out.’
Leaping down from the tree, he wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth and sprinted in the direction the arrow had come from.
A few minutes later, Feng Hao could faintly hear the sounds of battle. He quickly slowed his pace, creeping forward cautiously until he finally got a clear view of the situation ahead.
He saw a three-person team ganging up on a giant Spirit Beast. Judging from their appearance and clothing, they clearly weren’t from the Ancient Cang Realm.
The team consisted of two men and a woman, all around level twenty-five. The main damage dealer was the Female Archer; the other two were a Sword Magic Master and a Martial Arts Mage.
The two men tied up the giant beast in close combat while the Female Archer constantly repositioned herself to shoot from a distance. Their coordination was excellent.
’Any Assassin who doesn’t kill-steal is a moron. Let’s see what’s up with this Spirit Beast.’ Feng Hao grinned wickedly and stealthily began to inspect it with his Crystal Eye:
[Three-eyed Giant Beast] (Infinite Spirit Beast)
Level: 8-star
Qi Blood: 5736/14230
Vitality: 185
Strength: 1760
Defense: 1952
Speed: 555
Claw/Fang Damage: 118
Pelt Protection: 30 (Hidden Force Protection: 10)
’Tsk, tsk, an Eight-star Spirit Beast. This should be enough for me to evolve a Power!’ Feng Hao licked his lips in excitement, as if he were back in his old days of killing and looting in the game "Mage."
However, just as the thought crossed his mind, the Female Archer on the three-person team sensed his presence.
The Female Archer, clad in cyan leather armor, frowned. A strange light glinted in her eyes as she called out sharply, "Everyone, be careful! Someone was just inspecting us."
The expressions of the two men fighting the Three-eyed Giant Beast tightened, and they both grew tense.
Just then, the Three-eyed Giant Beast flew into a furious rampage. Its combat power was terrifying. With a violent charge, it instantly sent the two men flying.
After sending the two men flying, the Three-eyed Giant Beast grew even more berserk. It charged madly toward the Female Archer with unstoppable momentum, instantly flattening a huge swath of trees in its path.
"Not good!" The Female Archer’s face went deathly pale, and she began to flee for her life.
Seeing the dire situation, her two male comrades endured their pain, swallowed a few Blood Recovery Pills, and rushed to support her.
Feng Hao was dumbfounded. He had never expected to be discovered. After all, with his [Black Pupils] skill active, his presence-concealing stat was supposed to be terrifyingly high.
’Shit, why is she running toward me?!’
As the Female Archer fled in a sorry state, she began to veer toward his position. It was obvious she was trying to drag him into the fight.
With the Three-eyed Giant Beast closing in, Feng Hao could only grit his teeth and reveal himself. As he moved to intercept the beast, he spun around and sent the Female Archer flying with a kick.
’Damn her. You don’t try to screw me over without getting taught a lesson.’
ROAR!
The Three-eyed Giant Beast was nearly on top of him. Feng Hao dodged a falling tree trunk, using it to launch himself onto the beast’s back. While struggling to keep his balance, he unleashed both [Dark Moon Massacre] and [Moon Wheel Dance], slamming both skills into the back of the Three-eyed Giant Beast’s head.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
His Crystal Eye registered three terrifying damage numbers popping up, instantly depleting the Three-eyed Giant Beast’s Qi Blood.
Unfortunately, the subsequent Hidden Force damage wasn’t enough to completely extinguish the Three-eyed Giant Beast’s vitality. Weakened, the beast collapsed to its knees and began to thrash about in its death throes, flinging Feng Hao from its back.