[Lu Family Courtyard] Energy Crystals

"Yes, rent."

Lu Qing explained to them, "Have you ever considered exactly where our Instance is located in space? I mean its precise coordinates."

Ren Yi paused. He really had never given the question much thought.

They relied entirely on mirrors to teleport into Instances, always arriving directly at their destinations. They had never explored exactly where the Instances belonged in space.

He concentrated for a moment, then replied, "You said before that it was outside the Pasture World."

"That's true in terms of the broader coordinates."

"Pasture Hunt-type Instances can be run within the Alliance, like the [Escape Room] Instance you experienced before."

"But this large-scale Instance summons is an invasion activity, so it can't be conducted directly within the Alliance."

Lu Qing paused. "So where we are now is actually inside a high-level ghost's Instance space."

"A high-level ghost's Instance space?"

Ren Yi vaguely remembered that only ghosts above A-Rank could possess a materialized Ghost Domain space in another dimension and build their own Instances within an independent space.

"That's right." Lu Qing raised a hand and pointed into the distance. Through the hazy moonlight, the outlines of a marketplace traced by lights were faintly visible across the river.

"Do you remember the other Instances I mentioned to you before?"

"In our Instance, Little Wutong guards the medicinal garden, Little Watermelon and Little Marten each oversee part of the melon fields, and A-Mu and Master Fu run the kitchen and study."

"With me at the center, we each do our part, and together we make up the complete [Lu Family Courtyard] Instance."

"Likewise, my [Lu Family Courtyard] is just one small unit within this large Instance space."

"It's nested together with countless other Instances, all connected to one another, and together they ultimately form a vast 'Instance world.'"

Ren Yi felt an inexplicable shock.

He had originally thought Instances were just separate "levels," but now it was as though he could see a vast network woven from countless ghosts and Instances.

Starting with the smallest units, they built layer upon layer, gathering grains of sand into a tower, until they formed a living, functioning independent world.

Seeing the unmistakable shock on the two young men's faces, Lu Qing smiled.

"Maintaining such a vast Instance space consumes an enormous amount of energy, so naturally, the Instances permanently based here have to pay 'rent' to the higher-ups on a regular basis."

"Isn't that just a landlord?" Lu Zihan couldn't help exclaiming, his voice full of amazement. "These high-level ghosts are practically getting paid to lie around!"

Lu Qing's expression darkened, and she rapped Lu Zihan on the head.

"What are you shouting about? This space belongs to your dad."

Ren Yi: "!"

He immediately turned and shot Lu Zihan a look full of "hatred for the rich."

So this guy really was the landlord's foolish son.

"Huh?" Lu Zihan held the spot where she'd hit him, grimacing in disbelief.

"Then how does he dare charge you rent? Mom, when you get back, you have to make him kneel on a washboard!"

Lu Qing was so exasperated by her foolish son that she laughed. She reached out, twisted his ear, and pulled him closer, lowering her voice as she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Of course it's just for appearances. What did you think? Otherwise, what would the ghosts in the other Instances think of me?"

"Ahhh, Mom, ow, ow, ow! I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Lu Zihan grimaced in pain and hurriedly looked to Ren Yi for help.

Ren Yi immediately lowered his eyes and composed himself, pretending not to see.

Ah, the night sky is so beautiful, the moon is so round, and the stars are shining just brightly enough...

After disciplining her son, Lu Qing let go and turned back to Ren Yi with a gentle smile. "Xiao Yi, how did your experiment go? It should have worked, right?"

She had noticed long ago that Ren Yi had been running all over the Instance with Lu Zihan, and she already had a few guesses.

"Mm, it went very smoothly." Ren Yi nodded.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

On the Ghost Net panel, the words [Level: E (Progress: 100/100)] stood out plainly.

But the progress bar is full, so why haven't I leveled up? At F-Rank, I advanced as soon as I reached the required progress.

"You can only level up after returning to the Alliance." Lu Qing seemed to have noticed Ren Yi's confusion and offered an explanation.

"Ah..." Ren Yi's expression froze as he suddenly thought of something terrible. "Then won't the ticket to the Three-City World later be useless to me?"

I finally got an all-you-can-eat buffet coupon, and now I'm already full. What kind of luck is that?

"Sigh, youngsters these days are too capable. I doubt the Alliance expected anyone to fill their progress bar this quickly."

Lu Qing covered her mouth and sighed softly, then changed tack. "Don't worry, Auntie has a way."

"I'll teach you how to make Energy Crystals."

"This..." Ren Yi paused, then hurriedly waved his hands. "That's too valuable. I can't accept it."

He knew very well how valuable the method of making Energy Crystals was.

Not only would it solve his current problem of being unable to absorb more energy before advancing, it would also solve the problem of storing energy when he had no targets on which to expend his "ammunition."

Even if storing it was less efficient than absorbing it directly, it was still far better than letting it go to waste.

"It's nothing." Lu Qing waved a hand and spoke without concern. "You're Zihan's good friend. Just look out for each other from now on!"

She suddenly thought of something and added, "Oh, right, Energy Crystallizations are also a hard currency among Instance bosses. They're a kind of special currency."

"If you're interested, have your family take you to the bosses' market sometime. You can find quite a few good things there."

"I understand. Thank you, Auntie!" Ren Yi could only agree, silently committing Lu Qing's help to memory.

To be fair, the Lu Family really did treat him well.

Whether it was his good buddy Lu Zihan, Aunt Lu Qing, who looked after him in every way, or even Lu Zihan's dad, Uncle Zhou, whom he hadn't met since awakening, they had all treated him with great sincerity.

Ren Yi trusted Lu Zihan completely, but as for these older ghosts... was there really such a thing as love for no reason?

Still, regardless, given his trust in the Alliance and the fact that Ren Man had entrusted him to Lu Qing without hesitation, it should be safe to say that Aunt Lu Qing meant him no harm.

Lu Qing led the two upstairs and back to her room.

She walked over to her dressing table, rummaged through an exquisite rosewood vanity box for a while, and took out two crystals. They were translucent white all over and gave off a faint glow.

Are these Energy Crystals?

Ren Yi took them, intrigued.

It was rather pitiful, come to think of it. He was almost ready to level up, yet this was his first time seeing what Energy Crystals actually looked like. He couldn't help holding them in his hands and examining them closely.

Just as he thought Lu Qing was about to teach him how to use Energy Crystals, how to make them, and the seven key points of making them, she spoke.

"Here, just eat them. You'll learn once you do."