Chapter 135 Energy Crystal

"Let's go pick up the loot first, I'll add some points," Nie Yan said to Tang Yao, looking ahead. The corpses of mechanical puppets stretched for fifty or sixty yards down the street, various items scattered haphazardly on the ground.

"Okay," Tang Yao replied, searching through the corpses of the mechanical puppets, picking up the items that had dropped.

Nie Yan checked his stats. He had seven free attribute points and three skill points. Without hesitation, he added all seven attribute points to Agility. He checked his Agility, it was already at 137, still 23 points away from 160. He would be able to equip the Scarlet Poison Ring soon. If he could equip it, his attack would increase significantly.

*I need to get some Agility gems to make up the difference.*

As for the three skill points, Nie Yan added them to Intermediate Stealth, Advanced Crossbow Mastery, and Advanced Dual Wield. After his skills reached Advanced, their effects were even stronger than before. For example, Intermediate Stealth made it even harder to detect him. Players with Perception between twenty and thirty points wouldn't even be able to sense his presence. Dual Wield Mastery allowed him to add roughly 30% of his off-hand weapon's attack to his main hand, significantly increasing his damage. Crossbow Mastery increased his attack power by around 10% when using crossbows, and also increased his firing speed.

After adding his attribute points, Nie Yan and Tang Yao started gathering the loot dropped by the mechanical puppets, like two scavengers searching through the ruins, occasionally bending over to pick up an item.

After a while, they had picked up everything the mechanical puppets had dropped.

"I got five Charging Crystal Shards, how about you?" Tang Yao asked, most concerned about the shards.

"I got two," Nie Yan replied. That made a total of seven Charging Crystal Shards.

Nie Yan traded the Charging Crystal Shards to Tang Yao. Collecting seven shards from one wave of monsters was quite fast. However, they would become increasingly difficult to collect later on, since the Azure Mechanical Puppets wouldn't continue to respawn.

"We have seven already!" Tang Yao exclaimed excitedly, seeing hope.

Nie Yan gathered all the loot together. They had gotten quite a bit, including several Tier 2 Health and Strength Gems, as well as a few Level 40 White-grade equipment. This loot should be worth around fifteen or sixteen gold.

After calculating the cost, the Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs they had used were worth nineteen gold, meaning they had spent a total of three or four gold on this wave of monsters.

However, spending three or four gold to allow Nie Yan to level up by four levels and Tang Yao to level up by two was still extremely worthwhile.

"Prepare to lure the next wave," Nie Yan said. They only had enough Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs left for four more waves, but it would still be a lot of fun.

While Nie Yan and Tang Yao were grinding like crazy, the outside world was in an uproar. After being silent for a while, Kestrel's leveling speed had exploded once again, rapidly increasing and widening the gap between him and Breaking the Heavens. However, everyone was already used to Kestrel's freakish leveling speed. So, while they were surprised, no one was foolish enough to run to the official website to accuse Breaking the Heavens of cheating. As for what others on the Level Ranking thought, that was their problem. Kestrel had sparked a new leveling frenzy. However, this time, many players were researching how to grind monsters above their level. Although the cost was high, many people were also reaping significant rewards. Even some of the players on the Level Ranking had started focusing on grinding monsters above their level. The bonus experience was simply too tempting. With Tang Yao as an example, they were extremely enthusiastic. Many people died as a result and fell off the Level Ranking, while others shot up.

Nie Yan didn't care what others thought, they continued to grind the mechanical puppets.

Nie Yan lured over a massive horde of four or five hundred mechanical puppets, then tossed the Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs into the air. They fell into the middle of the horde, and with a series of explosions, the mechanical puppets were instantly mowed down. Like harvesting wheat, they fell in droves, until all were wiped out.

The generous experience allowed Nie Yan to shoot up to Level 26, while Tang Yao reached Level 29.

Nie Yan once again added all his free attribute points to Agility, checking his stats. 146, still 14 points away. For Nie Yan, adding 14 points was just a matter of one piece of equipment or two Agility Gems.

After the mechanical puppets were cleared away, it was time to harvest the loot.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao found six Charging Crystal Shards on the corpses.

"Nie Yan, look at this!" Tang Yao exclaimed, picking up a crystal that radiated a faint blue light, about the size of a thumb, from next to one of the mechanical puppets. Because of the Charging Crystal Shards, he was particularly sensitive to anything crystal-like.

Nie Yan stared blankly at the crystal in Tang Yao's hand, then became ecstatic.

Anything related to Energy Crystals was extremely rare and precious, and often had unique uses, like Charging Crystals.

The drop rate for Energy Crystals in the entire Eternal City was only a few hundred thousandths of a percent. Tens of thousands of players grinded in Eternal City, and only one of them would find an Energy Crystal after several weeks. If someone found one, they would immediately become rich. The money earned from selling it would be enough for them to buy a full set of Dark Gold equipment and still have plenty left over. It was like someone suddenly winning five million in the lottery.

Energy Crystals were also classified based on their color. The lowest grade was red, which was the most common. Blue was extremely rare, and worth several times more than red Energy Crystals. There was also purple, but it was even rarer than Legendary equipment.

They had only grinded two waves of monsters, and they had already found a blue Energy Crystal.

Nie Yan couldn't help but sigh at their good luck.

"Let me see," Nie Yan said.

Tang Yao handed the Energy Crystal to Nie Yan, who checked its stats.

Mutated Energy Crystal: Can grant a summoned creature permanent mutated energy. Can only be used once.

Below was a large description, including how to use the Mutated Energy Crystal.

It was actually a Mutated Energy Crystal! Nie Yan couldn't help but marvel at his luck. It was one of the rarest types of Energy Crystals. If it was implanted into a summoned creature's brain, it could cause a mutation, granting it a certain degree of low-level intelligence and permanent existence.

For example, the Arcane Sprite. If a Mutated Energy Crystal was implanted in its brain, it would cause a mutation, granting it certain abilities. However, this mutated ability was uncontrollable.

However, using it on the Arcane Sprite was clearly not worth it, since the Arcane Sprite was a permanent summoned creature.

If Nie Yan successfully commanded an undead creature using Undead Sacrifice, then implanted a Mutated Energy Crystal in its brain, it could become a permanent summoned creature. Since summoned creatures couldn't level up, it wasn't worth using it when they were at a low level. It was best to find a pet that could level up.

In his previous life, someone had used a Mutated Energy Crystal on a Mantis-type pet. This had triggered a mutation, turning it into a Phantom Mantis feared by all. It could stealth and hunt like a Thief, and its strength was astonishing.

Even in the later stages of the game, the price of a Mutated Energy Crystal remained high. He never had to worry about it losing value.

"Can this Energy Crystal revive the Arcane Sprite?" Tang Yao asked hopefully, thinking this Mutated Energy Crystal, like the Charging Crystal, had the effect of reviving it.

"No," Nie Yan shook his head.

"Then forget it, you can keep it," Tang Yao said, not interested in mutation or implanting the crystal into his Arcane Sprite's head.

Nie Yan pondered. He didn't know if he would ever have the chance to use this Mutated Energy Crystal in the future. After all, pets were too rare. Out of tens of thousands of players, only one or two might own one. As for using it on a summoned creature, he wasn't considering it for now, since the vast majority of summoned creatures couldn't level up. Unless he could find one or two extremely rare summoned creatures.

He put the Mutated Energy Crystal into his bag. Even if he spent all one hundred gold, it wouldn't be a waste, because the value of a Mutated Energy Crystal far exceeded one hundred gold. It was not inferior to a Sub-Legendary item.

After grinding three more waves of monsters, Tang Yao reached Level 30, continuing to add stats with a 4 Intelligence, 1 Agility distribution until Level 60.

As for Nie Yan, his experience just barely broke through to Level 29. Since he was the main damage dealer, he was getting more experience.

All two hundred Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs had been used up, not a single one remained.

Besides the Mutated Energy Crystal, the other loot they had found was worth about eighty gold. Of course, they couldn't immediately convert all of it into cash.

"Should we continue buying Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs and leveling up?" Tang Yao asked Nie Yan. This leveling speed was undoubtedly very fast, but it cost too much money.

If they continued, the cash from the Starry Night Potion Shop would quickly be depleted.

"How many Charging Crystal Shards did you get?" Nie Yan asked.

"Thirty-six," Tang Yao replied after checking his bag. They were still far from their goal.

"Of course we're continuing. I'll go to the Starry Night Potion Shop and get some money. We should have enough for today," Nie Yan said. Reviving the Arcane Sprite was also important. Money spent could be earned back. In fact, they had earned quite a bit from leveling up today. As for cash, he could still find ways to gather it.

Just as Nie Yan and Tang Yao were preparing to return to the city to purchase Wide Area Damage Magic Bombs and continue leveling up here, they suddenly received news that something had happened in the guild! Nie Yan's heart skipped a beat.