“Don’t get too excited,” Lu Yu said. He didn’t want to discourage their morale, but since the other party had been so generous, he felt he should share some information with Zhang Tao.
Since others had been so open, he wasn’t going to be stingy either.
“We know the Blood Demon Bear is strong, but how can we know unless we try?” Zhang Tao replied. “Mr. Lu, we’re already extremely grateful. Without you, we might have lost several of our men and still failed to obtain the data.”
“I’m not talking about the Blood Demon Bear’s data or strength,” Lu Yu said. “I’ve encountered a monster similar to this one, marked as ‘adult’…”
Lu Yu didn’t mention the monster’s name, but roughly described the difference in strength of the Demon Ape when he encountered it again after two days.
Zhang Tao’s face turned pale, and his companions also felt their hearts pounding.
“I don’t know the growth limit of these monsters, but you’d better be careful. If two days are enough for a monster to increase its attack power by six or seven hundred points, even ten more of you might not be enough.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lu.”
Lu Yu’s honesty deeply impressed Zhang Tao.
Many others wouldn’t have shared this kind of information.
Such important data was worth at least two hundred Stellar Pearls.
“Alright, my mission is done. The rest is up to you. But if you can’t handle it, let me know—I’m also interested in this monster’s skills.”
“I understand,” Zhang Tao replied, watching Lu Yu leave with several large bags.
His companion looked at Lu Yu enviously and said, “Wouldn’t it be great? Just collecting data and getting a thousand Stellar Pearls. I’m starting to think about doing the same.”
“Don’t be fooled by appearances,” Zhang Tao said seriously. “If we had gone in without any data, we’d be risking our lives. Even Lu Yu, who went in, is risking his life for money. This money isn’t easy to earn. If you run into a monster too powerful, you could die instantly.”
“I know. I was just thinking out loud,” the companion replied awkwardly, scratching his head.
“Alright, let’s go back,” Zhang Tao gritted his teeth. “If what Lu Yu said is true, we’ll prepare tonight and make our move tomorrow.”
…
Lu Yu returned to the city through a spatial rift.
Though he now understood the monster’s background, he still couldn’t figure out why Zhang Tao and the others were determined to kill the Blood Demon Bear no matter the cost.
He knew that asking might not yield any answers.
So he had to find the answer himself.
Carrying a large pile of Star Weapons and two huge backpacks of Stellar Pearls,
he looked like a moving hill, more like a laborer.
As he ran along, several people who saw the glinting Star Weapons immediately showed greedy expressions.
But upon recognizing Lu Yu’s face, they had to suppress their greed.
As dusk approached, Lu Yu returned to the mine.
In one day, the Apes had left behind 50 Star Crystals as food. The yield wasn’t high.
Currently, he had over 3,600 Stellar Pearls and more than 300 mutated ones.
In Fanggang, this was already a considerable fortune.
If he used them, he could probably increase the progress of upgrading his Kill Soul to level two by another 50 percent.
However, he still had skills that required Stellar Pearls, so he wasn’t planning to use them now.
Using them wouldn’t even be enough for an upgrade. Better to save them for emergencies.
Lu Yu wasn’t a soldier, nor a commander. He didn’t know where Liu Heng and others would attack from.
So he spent 40 Star Crystals, 200 Stellar Pearls, and 40 mutated ones!
To build two towers, aimed directly at the stadium.
He didn’t expect these two towers to hold the line, but with one more day, he could mine another hundred Star Crystals.
Then seven towers combined with his domain might at least suppress one direction.
“Construction time: 1 hour and 20 minutes,” the crystal screen displayed the countdown and the tower’s appearance.
Through the sky projection in his mind, Lu Yu saw the tower’s appearance.
At the designated location, two diamond-shaped crystal silhouettes floated thirty meters apart, about a foot high, constantly rotating.
The crystals were still faint shadows, gradually materializing into actual crystal forms as the countdown on the crystal screen decreased.
…
Level 2 Defense Tower:
Attributes: 1,500 attack points, 30,000 maximum health, defense equal to the bones and tendons of the domain owner.
Special Effect: When the Kill Domain is attacked, the tower will simultaneously release two beams of attack energy per second as counterattacks. Attack range of 20 meters.
…
“Two beams of attack energy at the same time?” Lu Yu’s eyes lit up.
If that was the case, with further upgrades, the number of attack beams might increase.
After organizing his equipment, Lu Yu gave the Shattered Bone Hammer, Star Weapons, and mutated Stellar Pearls with skills to the Apes.
Just defending wasn’t his style.
In a real fight, over two hundred Apes armed with Star Weapons and skills would probably rival two hundred soldiers.
Xiao Xiao watched silently as Lu Yu kept working, not daring to interrupt.
Only when Lu Yu finally stopped did Xiao Xiao nervously approach, handing him a small bag timidly, saying, “B-Big Brother, t-these are the Stellar Pearls I collected these days. Let me repay you a bit first.”
“Forty?” Lu Yu only glanced at the size of the bag and could guess how many pearls were inside.
Xiao Xiao blushed and nodded, “A-Actually forty-three. I didn’t use any of them. This is all I collected.”
“Not even enough interest,” Lu Yu calculated and pushed the small bag back to Xiao Xiao, saying, “You keep it for now. Let me know when you can really repay me.”
Lu Yu was cold enough, but he also understood the significance of these Stellar Pearls to Xiao Xiao.
Though not many, they represented the effort of a fifteen-year-old girl over these days. He could see the sacrifices she had made.
Xiao Xiao thought Lu Yu was rejecting her because the amount was too small. She nervously took out a mutated Stellar Pearl glowing red from her inner shirt pocket and offered it to Lu Yu with both hands, saying, “T-This was dropped by a monster I accidentally encountered. I don’t have anything else.”
Lu Yu noticed that the mutated Stellar Pearl in Xiao Xiao’s hand wasn’t glowing blood-red, but rather like a flame.
It looked as if flames were burning inside the pearl.
He had never seen such a pearl before.
He instinctively used his Truth Eye, but in an instant, he froze.
Not just a simple freeze. In that moment, his brain roared, his heartbeat accelerated.
In an instant, countless thoughts surged through his mind.
Greed even swelled, making his mouth dry!
This wasn’t just an ordinary skill!
Lu Yu dared to say it was probably unique in all of Fanggang, maybe even in the entire China.
It was too special, too valuable to be priced.
Lu Yu’s mind was in turmoil. He didn’t even hear what Xiao Xiao had said.
He only knew that if he took this mutated pearl now, Xiao Xiao wouldn’t just repay everything. Even with a hundred thousand or a million Stellar Pearls, he might never make up for the loss.
He could lie to Xiao Xiao, saying it was nothing special, and calculate its value as a regular mutated pearl.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Lu Yu clenched his teeth tightly and handed the mutated pearl back to Xiao Xiao, saying, “I can’t take this.”
“Why?” Xiao Xiao asked anxiously. “I know the exchange rate is ten Stellar Pearls for one mutated pearl. I can just give you five. Five is enough.”
“You don’t understand,” Lu Yu said, having made a great effort to return the pearl, shaking his head. “This pearl’s value is too great. Crush it now. It contains a skill, and it’s yours by right.”
The skill within this mutated pearl had always been the same, just one attribute.
Lu Yu wasn’t worried that Xiao Xiao would waste the pearl and end up with a useless skill.
Just one attribute could change everything!
Xiao Xiao didn’t understand what Lu Yu meant.
She was wondering how he knew there would be a skill inside?
Curious, Xiao Xiao crushed the pearl. Not a beam of light, not a ball of light, but a fiery column a meter in diameter shot straight into the sky from the mutated pearl.
This fire column wasn’t just visible in the mine, but could even be seen in the stadium and even in other camps in Fanggang City.
The flames nearly pierced through the clouds.
A sharp, crisp cry rose from the fire.
A dragon shadow less than half a meter long emerged from the flames, circling in the air before diving into Xiao Xiao’s body.
A faint flame appeared on Xiao Xiao’s body, then vanished in an instant.
Xiao Xiao saw the skill’s attributes, stared blankly, then looked at Lu Yu with tear-filled eyes.
“Thank you, thank you, Big Brother!” Xiao Xiao softly wept, reaching up to wipe away her tears.
She wasn’t that young anymore. With all she had experienced, she understood what this skill represented.
She knew how much courage it must have taken for Big Brother to give it back to her instead of taking it.
“Don’t thank me. I just couldn’t afford it,” Lu Yu took a deep breath. If he were truly rich, he probably would have tried to buy it.
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