Chapter 135: Monster Crystal Core

Description

Liya returned to the castle and separated from Lin, and Lin left looking somewhat sullen.

After that, Liya got what she needed. Once the items were in hand, she didn’t plan to waste time and headed straight to the Alchemy Workshop.

Claire had already prepared everything Liya requested.

Back at the door of the residence, Liya looked at Claire.

“It won’t take long. I’ll go in alone. Claire, you wait outside.”

“Understood.”

Claire gave a slight nod and stepped back.

Liya didn’t pay her any more mind, turned around, pushed open the door, and walked inside.

The Alchemy Workshop had certain special requirements, such as the surrounding Magic Power and elemental environment, along with anti-disturbance functions, and the seal on the main door was the most critical part.

The moment she entered, she activated the door’s seal.

Even with just one seal, Liya wasn’t fully reassured, so she took out a potion bottle containing a Barrier.

Seeing the Barrier rise up and envelop the entire Alchemy Workshop, Liya finally relaxed.

“There we go~”

She took the container holding Dragon Blood out from the Mirror.

Small wooden racks held test tubes, arranged into two little towers.

The Dragon Blood given to her was only one hundred kilograms.

Blood density is only slightly greater than water, and even though it was Dragon Blood, this had been purified once, making the hundred-kilogram quantity extremely valuable.

Liya certainly wouldn’t complain about it being too little, especially since this was only one month’s supply.

Getting Dragon Blood automatically every month just by lying around, that was a life Liya never dared to dream of before!

Dragon Blood is a strategic resource, but it’s rarely stored directly because it’s affected by the Depth of time.

If left sitting like that, it would continuously decay until the power within completely dissipated, turning into the most ordinary inferior Dragon Blood.

By then, refining it into Dragon Blood Potion would waste a great deal of medicinal power, so after being stored for a certain period, Dragon Blood gets refined into Dragon Blood Potion, dispersing its power and slowing down the rate of decay.

If Liya had asked for Dragon Blood Potion instead, the quantity definitely wouldn’t have been limited to just this hundred kilograms.

Even if she soaked her feet in Dragon Blood Potion, it would be no problem, the Isolde Family had that kind of wealth.

However, using Dragon Blood Potion to extract Dragon Blood Essence would consume an enormous amount of Spirituality, making the cost-performance far too low.

Liya chose instead to directly refine the Bloodline Power within the Dragon Blood, which was more convenient and worry-free.

After dispelling her illusion form, she began using the Star Tempering Art to refine the Dragon Blood.

In less than ten seconds, that hundred kilograms of Dragon Blood was refined by Liya into Dragon Blood Essence.

The golden-red liquid within the Silver Fire was the true manifestation of Bloodline Power.

Liya took a look and estimated the volume in her mind.

“Around seventy-four or seventy-five drops…”

“Before coming to Frost City, the first qualitative change happened after the tenth drop of Dragon Blood, that was the start of the quantitative shift.”

“After arriving in Frost City, I absorbed another twenty-three drops in that Meditation Room, one qualitative change and two physical Break Limits, which was a huge boost for me, especially the Dragon Scale.”

“What I absorbed wasn’t thirty drops, but over thirty. Maybe these fifteen drops of Dragon Blood can achieve Break Limit twice?”

She stored the Dragon Blood in a Potion Bottle for now, not planning to absorb it in this Alchemy Workshop.

She’d go to the Meditation Room tonight to absorb it, where it would be safer.

Next was the other matter.

Liya took a Magic Beast core out from the Mirror.

It was a deep red crystal the size of her true body’s fist.

The crystal radiated a gentle red glow, dimming and brightening at times, as if it were breathing.

This Magic Beast core came from a Rock Dragon Lizard.

It grew beside the heart, protected at the deepest position by the ribs, numerous organs, and muscles.

It was an extremely important organ.

That’s right, a Magic Beast core is an organ within a Magic Beast’s body and the key to unleashing their innate spells.

It’s said that many spells were discovered through research on beast cores.

It was this core that gave the Rock Dragon Lizard its high Fire Element Affinity, granting it resistance to high temperatures, allowing it to survive beside magma, replenishing part of its bodily consumption by absorbing Fire Elements, and also granting it an innate Fireball Technique.

Liya planned to try refining the Magic Beast core to see if she could obtain Elemental Affinity from it.

She once again activated the Star Tempering Art, wrapping the Magic Beast core in her hands with silver flames.

The Silver Fire dissolved the crystal, turning it into a thick, translucent slurry.

Within less than a second or two, the slurry began to boil and bubble.

The impurities turned into bubbles and dissipated into nothing, while the remaining slurry grew more refined and brighter.

By the eighth second, the Magic Beast core was reduced to a single grain-of-rice-sized point of light.

Liya didn’t hesitate for a moment.

Her Spirituality probed into it, wanting to see what was going on.

At the moment of contact, just like when she absorbed Fire Element Affinity before, it merged into her Spirituality, flowed along it into her Soul, and fused with her Fire Element Affinity.

“It really increased…”

Liya sensed it and discovered an unexpected bonus, she had incidentally learned Fireball Technique.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?”

“Well, I was too poor back then…”

Magic Beast cores are expensive.

After all, they’re excellent materials for Magic Artifacts with a wide range of applications.

Whether crafted into weapons or armor, or used as the foundation for formations, they have great uses.

Moreover, a Magic Beast that produces a core has already reached the level of a Tier 1 Human.

Such a beast typically requires a standard squad to take down without injuries.

The Magic Beast cores Liya obtained in the past were all sold off by Anna for money.

Liya rarely even had the chance to touch them, and the money was all held by Anna too.

She worked her back off putting in plenty of effort but got nothing in return.

At least when there was Dragon Blood, Anna would still leave a portion for Liya.

If she looked like Mundo, Anna would probably only treat her as a tool as well.

Forget Dragon Blood, even the money she got her hands on would be halved, and she’d have to do even more work!

“I should’ve gone solo sooner.”

Liya didn’t dwell on the past anymore.

She sensed her Fire Element Affinity, which had reached a level over forty, making it much easier to learn fire spells.

She felt a bit emotional.

The Star Tempering Art was truly useful, this was practically adding points directly to her talent!

But Liya also knew that this improvement in Elemental Affinity would have diminishing returns. T

he further she went with this method, the greater the consumption would be, and Magic Beast cores weren’t cheap on the market.

But for those truly wealthy Great Nobles, this kind of opportunity was something you could only hope to encounter by chance.

If Liya ever exposed this ability, her fate…

Would be being locked up in a basement, refining Magic Beast cores all day, and barely managing to eat one meal.

Now that she knew Magic Beast cores could be refined for Elemental Affinity, Liya stopped worrying about all that and went all in on adding points, boosting all her Elemental Affinity across the board.

After doing all that, Liya’s head ached terribly.

It was a sign of her Soul being wrung dry, reminding her that her Spirituality was too depleted and she needed to rest properly.

Looking at the equipment in the Alchemy Workshop, she couldn’t be bothered to cover her tracks. Whatever she did, let them guess.

Liya sat down on the chair, drenched in sweat, breathing lightly.

“Phew…”

She let out a long breath.

Though a bit tired, her pale golden eyes were especially bright.

“Does the world feel a bit more familiar?”

As an analogy, it was like a nearsighted person putting on glasses for the first time.

The world before their eyes was no longer blurry, but filled with exquisite detail, as if they were getting to know it all over again.

Claire had prepared Magic Beast cores of all the major elements.

After Liya refined and absorbed them to add points across the board, all the major elements reached an affinity of over thirty.

Even the mutually incompatible fire and water elements didn’t create any conflict, which made her somewhat excited.

“Maybe… I could become a master of all elements?”

Liya jumped up from the chair, her delicate, pretty face full of the excitement of discovering a new continent.

“I can have Claire bring more, and raise Wind Element Affinity first!”

With that thought in mind, Liya put on her illusion form and opened the seal on the Alchemy Workshop’s main door.

At the entrance, Claire had been waiting there for a while.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, she turned to look and saw the barely concealed joy on Liya’s face.

Claire was puzzled for a moment, then quickly tucked away her surprise, lowered her head slightly, and awaited instructions.

Liya didn’t waste words and got straight to the point.

“Claire, could you prepare some more Magic Beast cores for me?”

“Certainly.”

Claire was a bit puzzled as to why Liya needed so many beast cores, but she didn’t ask.

After agreeing, she prepared to head to the warehouse to request them for Liya.

“Preferably Wind Element ones, and one or two of the others as well.”

“Understood.”

However, after only taking a few steps, Liya called out to stop Claire.

“Wait, Claire. Could I get some high-tier Wind Element Magic Beast cores?”

At that, Claire paused mid-step, turned around to look at Liya, and took a second or two before responding.

“Of course. The warehouse has the core of a Tier 3 bird-type Magic Beast, and it happens to be Wind Element. I’ll retrieve it for you shortly. Young Master Liya, do you have any other needs?”

“No, that’s all. Go ahead, I’ll head back to my quarters first.”

Hearing Tier 3, Liya’s eyes lit up immediately.

Claire bowed, then turned and walked away quickly.

About half an hour later, she delivered the items to Liya. Liya stored them in the Mirror.

Right now, her Spirituality was too depleted to continue using the Star Tempering Art.

She would need to wait until tonight when her Spirituality recovered before trying again.

For the rest of the time, Liya focused on recovering her Spirituality, preparing for what she needed to do tonight.

Soon, night fell.

Liya arrived at the door of the Meditation Room ahead of time.

Without hesitation, she pushed open the stone door and walked in.

She closed the door and activated the seal.

Gazing at the pitch-dark space, she raised her hand.

[Illumination Spell]

A ball of light flared up, illuminating the entire stone chamber.

Liya fixed her gaze on the pitch-black stone walls.