Crystal

"It was highly flammable, but not easily detonated."

On the laboratory table lay an orange-yellow crystal.

It was clearly a cut product, with marks left by blades around its edges.

"What was it for?"

"It's troublesome to explain, but you'll understand once you see it."

A simple machine had been set up in Fang Wen's makeshift laboratory.

A crystal was secured in place, wrapped tightly on all sides. Beneath it, a fuse burned fiercely, while above it sat a large weightlifting dumbbell.

Boom!

All at once, the threshold was reached, and an explosion occurred.

Boom!

This time, it was the sound of the flying dumbbell smashing through the ceiling.

Though the contact surface had been tiny, terrifying power erupted from it in an instant.

"How did it do that?"

The seemingly physics-defying scene surprised Lu PingAn.

He picked up the crystal and found no visible change to it. The only difference was some orange dust at the point where it had connected to the fuse.

Lu PingAn rubbed it. The dust was somewhat sticky, as if it had just melted.

"Was it simply an energy crystal? Or did it convert energy?"

"Energy conversion. As you can see, the fuse is specially made—a reusable heating material. This crystal converts thermal energy into kinetic energy. The crystal itself is a catalyst, and its consumption is extremely low."

These days, what was the most valuable and most reliable store of value? Precious metals? Banknotes? No. It was always energy.

Whether oil or electricity, both were the foundation of modern society, the essential arteries of industrial development.

A tube, a crystal, and a fuse could create a firearm capable of threatening a first-rank Professional. That alone proved just how absurd this thing's "conversion rate" was.

If it could be made into an industrial product...