Chapter 193: Mutated Energy Crystal

“Go and collect the loot first, I’ll allocate the attribute points,” Nie Yan said to Tang Yao, gazing ahead where the corpses of mechanical puppets stretched for fifty to sixty yards along the street, with various items scattered across the ground.

“Okay,” Tang Yao replied, and began rummaging through the corpses of the mechanical puppets to collect the dropped items.

Nie Yan checked his status. He had seven free attribute points and three skill points. Without hesitation, he allocated all seven free attribute points to Agility. His Agility was now 137, still 23 points short of 160, meaning he would soon be able to equip the Ring of Crimson Toxin. Equipping the Ring of Crimson Toxin would significantly increase his attack power.

He planned to get a few Agility gems to reach the required Agility score.

As for the three skill points, Nie Yan allocated them to Intermediate Stealth, Advanced Crossbow Specialization, and Advanced Dual Wield Specialization. Upgrading these skills to advanced levels enhanced their effects. For example, Intermediate Stealth improved his ability to conceal his presence, making it difficult for players with Perception scores of only twenty or thirty to detect Nie Yan while he was stealthed. Dual Wield Specialization allowed him to transfer about 30% of his off-hand weapon’s attack power to his main hand, significantly increasing his overall attack. Crossbow Specialization improved his crossbow attack power by about 10% and increased his firing speed.

After allocating the attribute points, Nie Yan joined Tang Yao in collecting the loot dropped by the mechanical puppets, like two scavengers searching through the ruins, occasionally bending down to pick up an item.

After a while, all the loot from the mechanical puppets had been collected.

“I got five pieces of Charged Crystal Fragments. How about you?” Tang Yao was most concerned about the Charged Crystal Fragments.

“I got two,” Nie Yan replied. That meant they had collected seven pieces in total.

Nie Yan transferred the Charged Crystal Fragments to Tang Yao. Collecting seven pieces in just one round of monsters was pretty fast. However, as they progressed, the Charged Crystal Fragments would become harder to collect since the blue-armored mechanical puppets would no longer respawn.

“Seven already,” Tang Yao said excitedly, seeing hope on the horizon.

Nie Yan gathered all the loot. There were quite a few items, including several grade-two Life and Strength gems, and a few white items of level forty. These items were estimated to be worth about fifteen to sixteen gold coins.

Calculating their expenses, the area-damage magic bombs consumed were worth nineteen gold coins, meaning this round of monsters had cost them three or four gold coins.

However, spending three or four gold coins allowed Nie Yan to gain four levels and Tang Yao to gain two levels, making it a worthwhile investment.

“Prepare to pull the next wave,” Nie Yan said. With the remaining area-damage magic bombs, they could clear four more waves of monsters, which was still quite satisfying.

While Nie Yan and Tang Yao were leveling up furiously, the outside world was in an uproar. Huanzi’s leveling speed, after a period of stagnation, had surged again, rapidly pulling ahead of Potian. However, this time, everyone had already gotten used to Huanzi’s abnormal leveling speed. Although surprised, no one foolishly went to the official website to report Huanzi for cheating. As for what others on the level leaderboard thought, that was their own business. Huanzi had once again triggered a leveling storm. This time, many players were researching how to fight monsters beyond their level. Although the cost was heavy, many players gained significant benefits. Even some players on the level leaderboard began to focus on defeating higher-level monsters, as the bonus experience for defeating higher-level monsters was too tempting. Inspired by Tang Yao’s example, they were extremely enthusiastic about it. Many players died and dropped off the leaderboard, while others surged upward.

Nie Yan didn’t care what others thought. They continued to farm the mechanical puppets.

Nie Yan lured a large group of four or five hundred mechanical puppets, then threw area-damage magic bombs into the air, which fell into the crowd of mechanical puppets. Boom after boom, the mechanical puppets were instantly swept down in large numbers. Like cutting wheat, the mechanical puppets fell in waves until they were completely wiped out.

The generous experience gain caused Nie Yan to soar to level 26, while Tang Yao reached level 29.

Nie Yan allocated all his free attribute points to Agility again. His Agility was now 146, still 14 points short. For Nie Yan, adding 14 attribute points was merely a matter of equipping one or two Agility gems.

After the mechanical puppets were eliminated, it was time to collect the loot.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao found six Charged Crystal Fragments from the fallen mechanical puppets.

“Nie Yan, look at this!” Tang Yao exclaimed, picking up a crystal emitting a faint blue radiant glow, about the size of a thumb. Because of the Charged Crystal Fragments, Tang Yao had become particularly sensitive to crystals.

Nie Yan looked at the crystal between Tang Yao’s fingers, stunned for a moment before bursting into joy.

Energy crystals were extremely rare and valuable, often having unique uses, such as Charged Crystals.

The drop rate of Energy Crystals across the entire Eternal City was merely one in several hundred thousand. Thousands of players farming monsters in Eternal City for weeks might only have one player lucky enough to obtain an Energy Crystal. If someone did obtain one, they would immediately become rich, as selling the Energy Crystal would earn enough money to buy a set of rare gold equipment with plenty left over, just like someone winning five million in the real world.

Energy Crystals were also categorized by color. The lowest grade was red, the more common type. Blue was extremely rare, worth several times more than red Energy Crystals. There were even purple ones, rarer than legendary equipment.

They had only farmed two waves of monsters when they unexpectedly obtained a blue Energy Crystal.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but exclaim that pioneering was indeed great.

“Let me see,” Nie Yan said.

Tang Yao handed the Energy Crystal to Nie Yan, who examined its attributes.

Mutagenic Energy Crystal: Grants permanent mutagenic energy to summoned creatures. Can only be used once.

Below was a lengthy description, including instructions on how to use the Mutagenic Energy Crystal.

It was actually a Mutagenic Energy Crystal. Nie Yan couldn’t help but marvel at his luck. The Mutagenic Energy Crystal was one of the rarest types of Energy Crystals. If inserted into a summoned creature’s brain, it could trigger mutations in the summoned creature, granting it a certain degree of low-level intelligence and making it permanent.

For example, if inserted into an Arcane Sprite’s brain, it could cause the Arcane Sprite to mutate, gaining certain abilities. However, these mutation abilities were uncontrollable.

However, using it on an Arcane Sprite was clearly not cost-effective, as Arcane Sprites were permanent summoned creatures.

If Nie Yan successfully commanded an undead creature through the Necrotic Rite and then inserted a Mutagenic Energy Crystal into the summoned creature’s brain, it could become a permanent summoned creature. Since summoned creatures couldn’t level up, using Mutagenic Energy Crystals on low-level summoned creatures wasn’t cost-effective. It was best to find a pet that could level up.

In a previous life, someone inserted a Mutagenic Energy Crystal into a mantis-type pet, causing the mantis to mutate into a feared Phantom Mantis, capable of stealth and assassination like a rogue, with formidable power.

The price of a Mutagenic Energy Crystal remained high even in later stages, never worrying about depreciation.

“Can this Energy Crystal revive the Arcane Sprite?” Tang Yao asked hopefully, thinking the Mutagenic Energy Crystal had the same effect as the Charged Crystal in reviving the Arcane Sprite.

“No,” Nie Yan shook his head.

“Then forget it. You can keep it,” Tang Yao wasn’t interested in mutations, especially not in inserting a Mutagenic Energy Crystal into the Arcane Sprite’s head.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he would ever have the opportunity to use this Mutagenic Energy Crystal, as pets were extremely rare. Among tens of thousands of players, only one or two might possess a pet. As for using it on summoned creatures, he wasn’t considering it for now, because most summoned creatures couldn’t level up unless he could find one or two extremely rare summoned creatures.

He placed the Mutagenic Energy Crystal into his backpack. Even if all two hundred gold coins were spent, it wouldn’t be a loss. The value of a Mutagenic Energy Crystal far exceeded two hundred gold coins, rivaling legendary-level items.

They farmed three more waves of monsters. Tang Yao broke through level 30. Before reaching level 60, he continued his 4-intelligence-to-1-agility allocation.

As for Nie Yan, his experience precisely broke level 29. Since he was the main damage dealer, he received more experience.

All two hundred area-damage magic bombs were used, none left.

In addition to the Mutagenic Energy Crystal, the other loot was estimated to be worth about eighty gold. Of course, these items couldn’t all be immediately converted into cash.

“Should we continue buying area-damage magic bombs to level up?” Tang Yao asked Nie Yan. This leveling speed was undoubtedly very fast, but it consumed a lot of money.

If Nie Yan and Tang Yao continued leveling up, the cash from the pharmacy would be quickly consumed.

“How many Charged Crystal Fragments have you obtained?” Nie Yan asked.

“Thirty-six,” Tang Yao checked his backpack. They still had a long way to go.

“Of course, we should continue. I’ll go to the Starry Sky Pharmacy to get money. It should be enough for today,” Nie Yan thought. Reviving the Arcane Sprite was also urgent. Money could be earned back after being spent. In fact, today’s leveling had earned quite a bit, and cash could still be raised somehow.

Just as Nie Yan and Tang Yao were preparing to return to the city to purchase area-damage magic bombs and continue leveling up here, they suddenly received news that something had happened with the guild! Nie Yan’s heart sank.