Inside Stone Mann Tower.
After the voice in the sky made its announcement, the elite trial began.
Stone Men appeared once more on the gray-white ground before Lu Yuan.
However, these Stone Men were no longer gray-white, but deep gray.
After appearing, the Stone Man clenched both fists, slammed them against his chest, let out a roar, and stomped a foot onto the ground.
Boom!
The ground exploded as its body charged toward Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan's pupils contracted slightly.
"It's fast!"
This Deep Gray Stone Man's speed had nearly reached the level of 50% Tempering Level.
Although it was still a little slower than Lu Yuan, it was far faster than the gray-white Stone Men in the ordinary trials.
The Deep Gray Stone Man appeared before Lu Yuan and threw a punch at him.
The wind from its fist howled, whipping Lu Yuan's hair.
Lu Yuan swung the greatsword in his hand, colliding with the Deep Gray Stone Man's fist.
Boom!!
Amid the thunderous impact, cracks appeared across the Deep Gray Stone Man's fist, and its body was sent flying backward.
Lu Yuan sensed the Deep Gray Stone Man's strength and relaxed slightly.
Its attack power was not weak, but the damage it could inflict on Lu Yuan was limited.
Fortunately, that was the case. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for him to push into deeper stages.
After confirming the Deep Gray Stone Man's strength, Lu Yuan advanced with his sword. Slash after slash rained down without pause, shattering its head.
Elite Level 1 Trial Cleared. Reward: 10 drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew.
Lu Yuan's eyes lit up. Ten drops?
This reward was ten times that of the Level 1 ordinary trial.
Wouldn't Level 2 offer even more?
Trial Participant XI9201, would you like to begin the Elite Level 2 Trial? If you refuse, you will leave Stone Mann Tower.
"Begin the trial!"
Lu Yuan agreed immediately.
Just as Lu Yuan had expected, the Level 2 elite trial featured ten Deep Gray Stone Men.
The combined combat power of ten Deep Gray Stone Men was even greater than that of a hundred gray-white Stone Men.
Lu Yuan spent quite a while before finally killing them all.
Elite Level 2 Trial Cleared. Reward: 100 drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew, 1 drop of Moonstone Essence.
"Hmm? There's something different?"
Lu Yuan's eyes lit up as he looked into the air.
A patch of Moonstone Spirit Dew appeared, with a drop of silver liquid floating at its center.
Moonstone Essence.
Lu Yuan took the Moonstone Essence into his hand and received its information.
Moonstone Essence was refined from Moonstone Spirit Dew. Its effects were similar to Moonstone Spirit Dew's: it could increase cultivation, heal injuries, and, when used in large quantities, strengthen one's defense.
However, Moonstone Essence was a hundred times more effective than Moonstone Spirit Dew!
And that was not just in terms of cultivation.
Moonstone Essence also possessed an extremely powerful healing effect, even stronger than an Excellent Healing Potion.
Lu Yuan carefully put away the Moonstone Essence instead of using it immediately.
If he used this thing when seriously injured, it might give him an extra life.
Then, Lu Yuan absorbed the hundred drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew.
At that moment, his Tempering Level finally reached 41%.
After absorbing the Moonstone Spirit Dew, Lu Yuan began the Elite Level 3 Trial.
A hundred Deep Gray Stone Men appeared.
Lu Yuan spent quite some time before finally killing them all.
Although his defensive abilities were incredibly strong and the Deep Gray Stone Men could not deal much damage to him, fighting a hundred of them continuously still left Lu Yuan with fairly serious injuries.
He used that drop of Moonstone Essence to maintain his peak condition.
After clearing the Elite Level 3 Trial, Lu Yuan received a thousand drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew and ten drops of Moonstone Essence.
Lu Yuan absorbed the Moonstone Spirit Dew, raising his Tempering Level to 48%.
Not only that, after absorbing more than a thousand drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew, Lu Yuan could clearly feel his body growing stronger under its nourishment.
His muscles, bones, and skin all became tougher and more powerful than before.
His defense increased by nearly ten percent, while his strength and speed also improved.
It had to be said that this was not an improvement brought by tempering his genes. It was an additional enhancement!
All of this was the effect of Moonstone Spirit Dew.
After the Level 3 elite trial, there was no higher-level trial as Lu Yuan had imagined. Instead, there was an Elite Level 4 Trial.
Naturally, Lu Yuan chose to accept.
The opponents in the Elite Level 4 Trial were a full thousand Deep Gray Stone Men.
Even someone who had engraved an Elite Gene and reached 100% Tempering Level would probably have their legs go weak when facing so many Deep Gray Stone Men.
After all, killing that many Stone Men would consume far too much spiritual energy.
Where would an apprentice-level Gene Warrior find that much spiritual energy?
A thousand Deep Gray Stone Men charged toward Lu Yuan, making the earth tremble beneath their feet.
Lu Yuan was even a little worried that they might trample him to death.
Fortunately, Lu Yuan discovered that as his Tempering Level continued to increase, combined with the enhancement Moonstone Spirit Dew had given his own defenses...
At this moment, while Black Iron Body was active, the Deep Gray Stone Men could no longer break through Lu Yuan's defense.
That made Lu Yuan happy.
He completely ignored his own defenses and continuously swung his sword, killing the Deep Gray Stone Men one after another.
Whenever his spiritual energy ran low, he absorbed spirit crystals to recover it.
Lu Yuan felt as though he had returned to the time when he had fallen into the ant nest, swinging his sword until his arm went numb.
He did not know how much time passed before Lu Yuan killed the final Deep Gray Stone Man with one slash.
The voice in the sky rang out.
Elite Level 4 Trial Cleared. Reward: 100 drops of Moonstone Essence, Gene Armament: Moon Stone.
Before Lu Yuan floated a hundred drops of silver Moonstone Essence, along with a crescent-shaped stone the color of moonlight.
A dark cyan glow flickered across the moon-white crescent stone.
Lu Yuan's eyes were immediately drawn to that dark cyan glow, and his face filled with shock.
"Cyan... a boss-level Gene Armament?!"
Ordinary Elite Gene Armaments emitted a green glow, while boss-level Gene Armaments emitted a cyan glow.
One had to know that Elite Gene Armaments were already extraordinarily powerful and precious.
For example, the Beetle Claw greatsword in Lu Yuan's hands was still extremely useful even though his Tempering Level had already exceeded 40%.
After killing more than ten thousand vicious beasts in the underground palace, he had not obtained another Elite Gene Armament.
It was obvious just how precious Elite Gene Armaments were.
Yet now, he had actually been rewarded with a boss-level Gene Armament?!
The surprise came so quickly that he almost suspected he was dreaming.
The rewards for the Level 4 elite trial were actually so abundant!
Lu Yuan hurriedly took the items into his hand.
The Origin Ground transmitted the Moon Stone's information into Lu Yuan's mind.
Moon Stone: This was an emblem-type Gene Armament. As long as it was stored within the Gene Chain, it could take effect without needing to be manifested.
The Moon Stone's effect was to enhance the body's overall strength, and it also possessed a special ability called Moon Stone Guard.
Moon Stone Guard was a protective ability that could resist mental attacks and protect its owner's mind.
The ability to protect one's mind was an extremely powerful defensive ability.
After all, this was the special ability of a boss-level Gene Armament.
Unfortunately, Lu Yuan felt that he might not have much use for it.
What apprentice-level Gene Warrior would use mental attacks?
That was far too ridiculous.
By comparison, the all-around enhancement to his physical body filled Lu Yuan with delight.
With a thought, he tried to absorb the Moon Stone into his body.
However, the moment he began absorbing it, a stinging pain spread through his body, and he quickly stopped.
"Is this a boss-level armament? Its requirements for the physical body are actually this high. Even though my Tempering Level is almost 50%, I still can't equip it."
He let out a breath. "I still need to keep cultivating. Fortunately, I still have a hundred drops of Moonstone Essence."
Lu Yuan looked at the hundred drops of silver liquid in the air and smiled.
"I'll absorb them now."
Lu Yuan began absorbing the Moonstone Essence.
One drop, ten drops, twenty drops...
The spiritual energy contained within Moonstone Essence was a hundred times that of Moonstone Spirit Dew. As Lu Yuan absorbed it, the dense and vast spiritual energy rapidly tempered his Gene Chain.
Within the white mist in his body, the Gene Chain grew increasingly bright.
50%, 55%, 60%...
After Lu Yuan absorbed seventy-one drops of Moonstone Essence, a swelling, stinging pain appeared throughout his body, and he could no longer absorb any more spiritual energy.
Even the exceptionally gentle spiritual energy of Moonstone Essence could not be absorbed without limit.
Seventy-one drops of Moonstone Essence were equivalent to 7,100 drops of Moonstone Spirit Dew, and also roughly the spiritual energy contained in more than seven thousand spirit crystals!
If he had absorbed spirit crystals instead, Lu Yuan would have needed around ten days to finish absorbing them all!
But now, it had taken only a few short minutes!
Despite the vast amount of spiritual energy, even though Lu Yuan had engraved an Elite Extraordinary Gene and required several times more spiritual energy than ordinary genes to temper his Gene Chain, his Tempering Level still rose to 74%!
As his Tempering Level increased, Lu Yuan's body became far stronger than before, and immense power surged from within him.
Far more powerful than before!
Before you continue