Refining a Level-Five Crystal Core

"We made a net profit of 5,000 Federation credits today!" Yuqing's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected those shabby-looking props to be worth so much. "Dolly, I'll transfer the money to you."

"No, no, everyone helped. We should split it equally." Dolly hurriedly waved her hands.

"Okay, we'll split it equally." Yuqing divided the 5,000 Federation credits into five shares and transferred them to the others, keeping 1,000 for herself.

Looking at her account balance, Yuqing nearly cried tears of joy.

"System bro!" she called to the system in her mind, her voice positively floating. "Did you see that? I made money! The first pot of gold I earned myself!"

[I saw, I saw. Great job, host.] 01010 sounded amused. [Want to take a stroll through the Ninth Military District's city? This money is more than enough for a trip to the snack street and a couple of games at the arcade.]

Yuqing's eyes lit up, but she quickly calmed down again.

She counted the days on her fingers. It was only about a week until the military district paid her wages.

She might as well wait until she got her first paycheck, then enjoy a proper shopping trip. She could also bring back a few small gifts for Ers and the others to thank them for looking after her all this time.

"I'll wait until next week," she decided after some thought. "There's no hurry, anyway."

[All right.] 01010 nodded. [Then this week, host, you can first refine that level-five Frost Rabbit crystal core in the game, then step up your physical training as planned.]

It paused, then added, [But the crystal cores in the game still contain too little energy, and refining them in the game is nowhere near as effective as doing it in the real world. Once your spiritual power level and physical fitness meet the requirements, we'll have to go to the outskirts of the military district and hunt some real contaminated species. You'll improve faster that way.]

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Yuqing nodded and took the ice-blue level-five crystal core out of her backpack.

The crystal core was the size of a fist, translucent throughout and glowing faintly blue. It felt icy cold in her hand, and its energy was astonishingly pure. She had long wanted to refine it, but had never found the right opportunity. The game's mandatory logout time was almost here, so she had to hurry and absorb the core.

"Aili, are you going to absorb that crystal core now?" Xilaier and the others noticed what she was doing and came over.

"Mm-hmm," Yuqing replied.

Shen Que immediately stood and glanced around. "I'll keep watch right here."

"Then Dolly and I will patrol outside and make sure no exotic beasts get close." Crystal cores were hard currency in the game, and guide NPCs were even rarer treasures. If other players found them, they would surely try to snatch them. They had to make absolutely sure nothing went wrong.

Ajiasi said nothing. He walked over to Yuqing and sat down beside her.

"Thank you." Yuqing closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused her mind.

Pale white spiritual power slowly flowed out of her body, wrapping around the ice-blue crystal core like a soft, warm stream of water.

The core trembled slightly. Then a vast surge of pure energy poured in along her spiritual power.

The ice-element energy was cold and clear, like spring water in a mountain stream, flowing slowly through her meridians.

The crystal core of a level-five exotic beast held more immense and purer power than that of a level-four beast. Yuqing guided the energy, merging it into her Spiritual Sea bit by bit.

At first, the searing pain in her meridians made Yuqing break out in a cold sweat. But as the energy flowed in, her Mindscape began to ripple gently, then gradually rose and expanded. Her spiritual power grew denser and purer, as though it had been filtered. Even Bai Ze in her sea of consciousness perked up considerably, swishing its tail and coming over to devour the escaping energy one mouthful at a time.

Time passed little by little, and everyone watched Yuqing anxiously.

The concentration of Guide Pheromone in the air kept rising, growing purer and warmer.

Their Spiritual Seas were soothed and nourished by the Guide Pheromone, sweeping away the fatigue of days spent traveling. Even the minor injuries they had suffered earlier began to itch faintly, as if healing faster.

Ajiasi stood in a corner with his back to everyone, his body taut.

His spiritual power had always been unstable, like a beast that could go berserk at any moment. But now the beast had quieted down, curling up obediently and enjoying this rare peace.

What a pity this was a game. Once he returned to the real world, he would still be a monster with a berserk value of 88%.

"How is it? How is it?" Yuqing opened her eyes, feeling at ease all over. Even her eyesight had improved considerably. "Have I gotten stronger? I just felt like I was bursting with strength!"

"Mm, much stronger." Shen Que smiled and rubbed Yuqing's head. "Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

"No." Aside from the excruciating pain of cleansing her muscles and marrow at the start, all she felt afterward was comfort.

That night, they took turns keeping watch as usual. They hadn't originally planned to have Yuqing take a shift; after all, there was no reason to make the guide lady do such dirty, tiring work. But Yuqing had just made a breakthrough and had all this energy with nowhere to spend it. Forget sleeping-she felt as if she'd had several shots of espresso, and her mind was perfectly alert.

With no other choice, Shen Que finally let Yuqing keep watch with Ajiasi for the first half of the night.

The fire crackled, and the steady breathing of Xilaier and the others filled their ears. Even on the rocky, uncomfortable ground, they were sleeping exceptionally well.

"Ajiasi, are you a military academy student too?" Yuqing asked curiously.

"Mm." Ajiasi nodded. He was indeed enrolled at a military academy, but his spiritual rampage value was too high. Afraid he might suddenly go berserk, the school had sent him home to recuperate while keeping his enrollment active.

"What's life at the military academy like? Can you tell me about it?" The general knowledge the system had taught her mentioned that everyone in the interstellar world valued martial prowess, and over 90 percent of sentinels chose to attend military academies. First, because of spiritual contamination, sentinels needed to burn off their abundant energy more than ordinary people did. Second, soldiers held a prestigious position, and the major military academies and military districts all offered soldiers many benefits.

"Nothing special. The instructors just point at us and curse us out every day, and the school dumps us in a primeval forest in the middle of the night to survive in the wilderness. Sometimes the school releases a few contaminated creatures to attack us, that's all." Speaking of life at the academy, even the normally taciturn Ajiasi couldn't resist grumbling a little.

"Hahaha." Yuqing couldn't help laughing out loud. From Ajiasi's description alone, she could already picture the scene vividly. "Your lives were so... full of ups and downs."

"Mm." But that had all been a long time ago, so long ago that it felt like a previous life to Ajiasi.

"I probably won't be able to go back to the military academy in this lifetime."

"By the way, Ajiasi, can you do me a favor?" The energy inside Yuqing was nearly overflowing, and she didn't want to waste it.

"What is it?" Ajiasi asked.

"Can you let me enter your Spiritual Sea?" Yuqing said matter-of-factly.

01010: !