Of the more than three thousand spirit crystals, Lu Yuan kept five hundred to absorb and temper his Gene Chain over the coming days.
He used all of the remaining two thousand-plus spirit crystals to charge the Evolution Cube.
The Evolution Cube once again glowed with a deep blue light, even more profound than it had been the first time.
However, it still did not have enough energy to evolve the Black Iron Body.
But Lu Yuan was not in a hurry.
He had thought it over carefully. Every evolution of a gene would surely bring changes to the genetic combat skill.
Quite a few people had seen his Black Iron Body. If he evolved it during the trainee stage, the combat skill would change along with it.
He would clearly still be a trainee and have yet to inscribe a second gene, yet his combat skill would have changed. That would be far too strange.
There was no problem with being a genius, but evolving genes was far too miraculous. Lu Yuan would never let anyone find out about it.
If others learned that he could evolve genes, he would probably be in great danger.
Therefore, Lu Yuan planned to evolve the Black Iron Body after breaking through to the first rank.
At that time, he could claim it was the second Extraordinary Gene he had acquired.
Inscribing a leader-grade Extraordinary Gene at the first rank was powerful, but it was not unheard of. At most, people would treat him as an unparalleled genius.
And in secret, he could inscribe another gene.
With two leader-grade Extraordinary Genes empowering him, just how strong would he become?
The thought alone was terrifying.
The Evolution Cube absorbed the spirit crystals, while Lu Yuan himself absorbed some spirit crystals to temper his Gene Chain.
By the time his body could no longer endure it, his Gene Tempering Level had reached 14%.
If others learned of this cultivation speed, they would probably be shocked senseless.
He still had around two hundred spirit crystals left, and Lu Yuan intended to save them.
Spirit crystals could actually be sold for money, but to Gene Warriors, spirit crystals were undoubtedly far more valuable than money. Generally, very few Gene Warriors would exchange spirit crystals for cash.
Even though Lu Yuan was this poor, he would never consider selling spirit crystals.
After absorbing the spirit crystals, Lu Yuan rested for a while and ate something before setting off again to continue hunting ferocious beasts.
As Lu Yuan's strength increased, his efficiency at hunting ferocious beasts grew ever higher.
Before long, his War Rune Space was completely filled with materials.
At this point, the light gate leading out had only lit up less than halfway.
He definitely could not stop hunting ferocious beasts now, so he could only go sell the materials.
The place to sell materials was naturally the small market at the dungeon exit.
It was difficult to tell directions inside the dungeon, but fortunately, the post he had read when buying the map had explained how.
There was a type of grass inside the dungeon that had a strong tendency to grow toward wind.
This grass grew in the direction where the airflow was strongest.
Inside the dungeon, though he did not know why, the air was always fairly good. But only in the direction of the exit did the airflow become stronger.
As long as one found this kind of grass, one could determine the direction of the exit from the direction it grew.
Lu Yuan searched the nearby passages for a while and soon found a small purple blade of grass in a corner.
The grass lay flat against the wall, growing toward one direction.
Lu Yuan smiled and moved in the direction the grass was growing.
As he continued searching for wind-seeking grass along the way, Lu Yuan noticed that there were fewer and fewer ferocious beasts. Occasionally, he could even see other teams of Gene Warriors.
Every Gene Warrior team became wary when they saw Lu Yuan.
They only relaxed after Lu Yuan had left.
Of course, some human Gene Warriors smiled and nodded at Lu Yuan as a greeting when they saw him.
In a place like this, relations between members of the same race were naturally closer than those with other races.
If two teams of Gene Warriors got into a conflict, helping one's own race was considered customary.
This was not limited to humans. Catfolk, elves, and dog-headed people were the same.
After walking for a while longer, Lu Yuan finally found the exit.
As soon as he left the dungeon, a biting cold wind rushed at him, making him shiver.
It was nighttime now. Night covered the entire desert, and the night wind was piercingly cold.
The sky was filled with brilliant stars, silver light spilling down so that it did not seem too dark.
"Buying materials! Ordinary materials, elite materials, all kinds of materials! Large quantities preferred! Prices guaranteed to satisfy!"
"Late-night stall! Grilled scorpion meat, grilled ant legs, stir-fried spider meat! Get it while it lasts!"
"Selling Gene Armaments! Selling Gene Armaments! Prices negotiable!"
"..."
Even in the middle of the night, quite a few Gene Warriors were still setting up stalls and hawking their goods at the exit.
Not everyone liked fighting ferocious beasts. Being able to earn spirit crystals through business and raise one's Gene Tempering Level was not bad either.
Of course, there might also be special reasons for this.
After all, many Gene Warriors had signed contracts with corporations. Perhaps this was a task assigned by those corporations.
However, Lu Yuan noticed that all the stall vendors shouting their wares were human. There was not a single dog-headed person, catfolk, or elf.
Elves were rather proud by nature and disdained setting up roadside stalls.
Catfolk seemed to have their own internal channels for handling goods and were somewhat different from the other three races.
Lu Yuan came to a material-buying stall whose owner was shouting particularly loudly.
The stall owner was a young human man.
When he saw Lu Yuan, his eyes lit up, and he revealed a hearty smile.
"Sir, are you selling materials?"
"Yeah. Take a look at the prices."
Lu Yuan took out the materials he wanted to sell and placed them on the stall.
"That is quite a lot. It seems you had a good haul this time, sir."
"Hmm... Little Stone Man's Hearts are two spirit crystals each, Scorpion Tail Needles are three spirit crystals each, bundles of spider silk are three and a half spirit crystals each... The total comes to 1,139.5 spirit crystals. I will round it up to 1,140 spirit crystals. What do you think?"
Lu Yuan smiled and nodded. "Sure, that price works."
He had previously checked the market prices for these materials in the Origin Land. This young man was quite fair; his prices were already the highest on the market.
Lu Yuan was already very satisfied with 1,140 spirit crystals.
Together with the spirit crystals he had left, his total number of spirit crystals had reached 1,387.
He did not plan to let the Evolution Cube absorb these spirit crystals. Instead, he would use them for cultivation and as a reserve of spiritual power.
After putting away the spirit crystals the young man handed him, Lu Yuan was about to leave when the young man quickly smiled and said,
"Sir, please wait."
"What is it?"
Lu Yuan looked at him somewhat puzzled.
"Sir, I take it you are a lone wanderer? Your haul this time was quite substantial, so your strength should be pretty good, right?"
"Is there a problem?"
"Look, I am a materials merchant under the Exquisite Merchant Guild. My monthly performance pressure is not small either. How about this? If you come to me whenever you sell materials in the future, I will absolutely give you the highest market price. You definitely will not find a higher price elsewhere."
The young man spoke with a smile.
Lu Yuan understood. No wonder this young man had offered such a good price earlier.
He considered it for a moment, then nodded. "No problem. As long as I am still in the dungeon, I will come to you whenever I have materials."
It made no difference to Lu Yuan who he sold to. Having a familiar materials merchant would save him some trouble instead.
When the young man saw Lu Yuan agree, his eyes lit up, and his smile grew even brighter.
"My name is Li Luo. May I ask your surname, sir?"
"My surname is Lu."
"Mr. Lu! Then I hope we can work together more in the future. By the way, Mr. Lu, do you have a Communication Crystal? How about we exchange contact information?"
"I have not bought one yet."
Lu Yuan wondered if he really should get himself a Communication Crystal.
Otherwise, he would not even be able to contact people when he needed to.
"I see. Then just come here directly whenever you want to sell materials. I am usually here."
Lu Yuan nodded, then entered the dungeon again.
After all, there were less than two months left until the college entrance examination, and his cultivation was still a bit too low.
He had to cultivate properly before the examination.
And Black Shadow still had not made a move. It remained a thorn in Lu Yuan's heart. Only by cultivating diligently and improving his own strength could he feel safe.
For the following period, Lu Yuan kept hunting ferocious beasts in the dungeon.
He grew stronger and stronger, and the ferocious beasts in the outer regions of the dungeon could no longer pose any threat to him.
With his powerful defensive ability and seemingly inexhaustible spiritual power, he simply bulldozed his way through everything.
He could kill several hundred ferocious beasts every day, naturally gaining quite a few spirit crystals and materials.
He even had to leave the dungeon once a day to sell some materials.
When Lu Yuan left the dungeon to sell materials on the second day, Li Luo was stunned.
"Mr. Lu, do you need something?"
"Of course I am selling materials."
Lu Yuan tossed a pile of materials onto the stall.
Li Luo's eyes widened. "You killed all of these in one day?"
Lu Yuan nodded.
In fact, he had already tried to pick materials that were valuable and easy to carry.
The number of ferocious beasts he had actually killed was roughly twice the amount suggested by these materials.
Li Luo gave Lu Yuan another look, then counted the materials.
"1,100 spirit crystals in total."
On the third day.
Li Luo looked at the pile of materials Lu Yuan had set down.
"Mr. Lu, you actually harvested this much again today?! Your strength is truly formidable! Let me count these for you. Hmm... 1,120 spirit crystals in total."
He smilingly handed the spirit crystals to Lu Yuan.
"Thanks to Mr. Lu, I feel like my performance can improve a little."
Lu Yuan smiled. "If you want to thank me, then give me a few more spirit crystals."
"Ahahaha... Mr. Lu, you must be joking... I have already given you the highest amount within my authority. If I go any higher, I am afraid I will lose my job."
Lu Yuan smiled and did not take it to heart.
Ever since the battle in the ant nest, he had come to understand the strength of the guardian type.
With his defensive ability, he could roam through the dungeon however he pleased.
He could kill five or six hundred ferocious beasts every day.
Even without counting the materials, he could earn over 1,500 spirit crystals a day from spirit crystals alone.
Adding in the materials, he could earn over 2,600 spirit crystals every day!
In three days, his number of spirit crystals had reached as many as 6,643.
At the current market price outside, it took 150 to 200 yuan to buy one spirit crystal. Even calculated at the lowest price of 150, he had earned over 997,000 yuan in these three days!
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