Yu Keyan watched Lu Wu leave without asking any further questions.
Looking at the One-Eyed Demon Wolf's corpse, Lu Wu was glad he had not burned it. Otherwise, he would have lost the chance to sacrifice its internal organs.
The organs were still warm. Hopefully, sacrificing them would yield a better reward.
Slitting open the female wolf demon's abdomen, Lu Wu reached straight inside, ignoring the wet warmth against his arm.
[Congratulations, host. Successfully sacrificed the One-Eyed Demon Wolf's internal organs. Reward obtained: Stars Enhancement]
When the system's announcement of a successful sacrifice sounded, Lu Wu checked for himself.
Invisible energy from heaven and earth poured in continuously, and seven Stars appeared in his green Wind Element Stardust.
Compared to the brilliantly shining Fire Element Stars beside them, these seven Stars were not only tiny but also extremely dim.
Looks like whenever I awaken an element in the future, I should find something to sacrifice. Even the lowest-tier reward will cut down on my meditation time. Lu Wu began making some plans.
A Demon Beast had quite a few internal organs. Lu Wu reached out to touch the others, only to find that the sacrifice failed.
"Strange. Could this One-Eyed Demon Wolf's organs have been damaged by its difficult labor?" Lu Wu withdrew his hand and muttered to himself.
But Lu Wu was not upset. He walked toward the other One-Eyed Demon Wolf's corpse.
He slit open its belly and reached inside to make a sacrifice, just as before.
[Congratulations, host. Successfully sacrificed the One-Eyed Demon Wolf's internal organs. Reward obtained: Stars Enhancement]
With the sacrifice complete, the Wind Element Stars were slightly stronger than before, but they were still very dim and very small.
Lu Wu knew that, at this point, the rewards for sacrificing Servant Level organs were somewhat meager, but this was already quite good.
He tried another organ, but the sacrifice failed again.
"What is going on? This one won't work either?" Puzzled, Lu Wu cut straight through the flesh of its belly to see what was wrong with the organs inside.
Looking inside, Lu Wu discovered that all the internal organs had lost their color, their energy completely gone.
Returning to the female wolf demon, Lu Wu cut it open again. After a careful examination, he reached a conclusion.
If the organs being sacrificed were connected to one another, they would all be sacrificed together!!
Lu Wu did not know whether to laugh or cry at this discovery.
Had he known, he would not have taken the easy way out. He would have removed the organs and sacrificed them one by one. That way, his Wind Element Stars would definitely have grown even sturdier!
Having learned this lesson, whenever Lu Wu sacrificed Demon Beast organs in the future, he certainly would not reach straight inside again if he had the time.
He went back and regulated his breathing for a while. His Fire Element magic energy had barely been depleted at all, so Lu Wu began practicing control over his Wind Element Stars right there.
He soon brought the first one under control. After all, enhanced Stars could store more magic energy, making them harder to control.
Yet now, he had brought it under control with ease.
"Looks like strengthening my soul gave my mental strength a very noticeable boost. Controlling Stars really is easy now." Lu Wu found that he had effortlessly brought two under control and was quite satisfied.
After resting, the team began heading to other areas to hunt Demon Beasts. They also needed to find somewhere to stay.
Although this cave was decent, any Demon Beast that discovered it could easily reach the entrance, and the cave had only one way in and out.
A day quickly passed.
During that time, everyone worked together to kill several lone Demon Beasts. Besides One-Eyed Demon Wolves, there were also Blue-striped Iguanas and Golden Grass Magpies.
On a cliff, they killed a Golden Grass Magpie at the Servant Advancement Stage.
Its cave was more than ten meters above the ground, and Yu Keyan immediately chose it as their campsite and lodging.
Every time they killed a Demon Beast, Yu Keyan collected a small piece of something as proof.
They placed the One-Eyed Demon Wolf cubs inside the cave, lit a fire, and roasted the Golden Grass Magpie's meat, then began replenishing their energy.
Over the entire day, they had hunted down four Servant-level Demons in total.
Some had been blasted by Yu Keyan's Lightning Element magic until all their internal organs were destroyed, leaving no way to sacrifice them.
Still, Lu Wu had managed to make one more sacrifice, and his Wind Element Stars had grown a little sturdier again.
Night fell. The fire kept burning, and the One-Eyed Demon Wolf cubs fell asleep under the group's care.
Lu Wu stayed outside the cave. At this time of year, Bo City was not particularly hot yet, but as a mage, he had very strong resistance.
Moreover, Lu Wu was a Fire Element mage, resistant to both cold and heat.
Finding a spot to lean against, Lu Wu settled down. He was not worried about Demon Beasts approaching. This was the Golden Grass Magpie's cave, set into a cliff, and even they had struggled to climb up.
Most of the Demon Beasts around Bo City belonged to demonic wolf packs. Getting up here would not be easy for them.
Previously, he had brought two Wind Element Stars under control in a short time. Now that they had been enhanced several times, controlling them had become more difficult.
Lu Wu cultivated throughout the first half of the night before barely managing to bring the third one under control.
"Looks like although enhancing Stardust increases the magic energy it can store, it also takes longer to establish control. Otherwise, I would've been able to control at least four by now." Late that night, Lu Wu finished his control practice.
But that was not really the right way to calculate it. With the Sacrifice System's rewards, he did not need to spend any time meditating to make Stars emerge from his Stardust.
He could be a step ahead of others every time!
Yu Keyan took over watch duty for the second half of the night, and Lu Wu went straight to rest.
By his estimate, the difficulty of controlling the fourth would double, and it would probably take a week.
And if he made more successful sacrifices afterward, that timeframe would probably become fraught with uncertainty.
Over the next few days, the team used their cave lodging as a base and kept hunting Demon Beasts in the surrounding areas.
Along the way, they encountered the other two teams, Wu Xiaoxiao's and Dongfang Qing's. Every team had members who had suffered injuries.
The same was true of Lu Wu. Their traps did not work every time, and sometimes unexpected situations arose.
A month quickly passed, and the training and assessment period Hei Guan had stipulated was about to end.
The One-Eyed Demon Wolf cubs could already eat raw meat from the Demon Beasts the team hunted, and they were no longer small.
"These three little fellows... I really am a little reluctant to sell them." Yang Wan watched the three One-Eyed Demon Wolves running around and play-fighting inside the cave as she spoke with some feeling.
Lu Wu, on the other hand, did not mind either way.
He had not expected every sacrifice reward over the past month to be Stars Enhancement. By now, his Wind Element Stars had been enhanced to almost the same level as his Fire Element Stars.
Seven brilliantly shining Stars constantly roamed across each of his two Stardusts, the red Fire Element Stardust and the green Wind Element Stardust.
The only difference was that, under his mental control, the Fire Element Stars obediently lined up and waited for Lu Wu to bestow his favor upon them.
Among the Wind Element Stars, however, he had fully mastered the first five, which already let Lu Wu toy with them as he pleased, while the sixth and seventh were like fiercely chaste women, choosing death over submission.
Lu Wu knew that although his mental strength was decent, conquering the last two would still require time to cultivate their affection.
Perhaps the Wind Element Stars were the type that needed time and companionship.
Lu Wu was in no hurry. Compared to his Fire Element back then, his current progress with the Wind Element was already several times faster.
On the one hand, he had experience and could attend to his Stars more comfortably. On the other, with a Stardust Magic Tool, he could last longer now!
That made conquering the Stars even easier.
"If we don't sell them, raising them won't be easy. Their appetites are already bigger than all of ours combined," Mu Shengqi said rather helplessly. "If any of you want to raise them, I have no objections."
"I have no objections either." Naturally, Yu Keyan did not want to raise them. "But if you want to sell them for a good price, I can contact the Great Sparrow City Military Department afterward."