Chapter 897
Chapter 897 - 883 The Real Treasure
1,470 words
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8 min read
The arrival of reinforcements is always a joyful occasion.
Especially when this person even has a way to take everyone away.
On the other side, Lu Ping’an was also somewhat surprised... he had been ready to use the Courtyard, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
"Energy Materialization? This ability is quite interesting."
The mutated members of the Luka Royal Family, of course, have their unique aspects.
Casola, a Newborn of the Royal Family, possessed the trait of "Energy Materialization" of their kind... Naturally, it was not the transformation of normal energy life forms into flesh and blood beings, which was not something an ordinary member of the Royal Family could achieve.
"It is truly beautiful..."
In Lu Ping’an’s hand were some pale yellow Crystals, inside which starlight twinkled faintly, as if reflecting the galaxy.
And just a minute ago, this was a Luka person.
"This is also the reason we’ve been able to hold out until now..."
Normally, when a Luka planet is attacked by the Energy-devouring Evil Sunflower, it would shatter cleanly and entirely.
Their weapons were meaningless, and the more powerful the individual combat power, the more "delicious" they became.
That these people managed to escape here, clearly had a reason.
The cause was Casola’s awakening trait, "Energy Crystallization"... They could transform their energy bodies into such yellow Crystals and have them carried by their own kind.
In this form, their kind were just ordinary "stones", and thus naturally would not emit energy to attract natural predators.
That’s how they successfully escaped... Some carried "stone doors" relay-style on the run, and eventually placed them in this underground warehouse, then sealed all the doors.
"This Crystal? Does it have any other use?"
"...No other uses have been found for the time being. Maybe it can be used to carry more of our kind during long journeys?"
The Newborn member of the Royal Family was somewhat confused; he hadn’t yet discovered what use this ability had when the natural disaster struck.
What could be changed were only the few members of his kind who recognized him as King and underwent branch transformation... That night, during the surprise attack, most Luka people who hadn’t completed the transformation were directly turned into food.
At least, in terms of escaping from the pursuit of natural enemies, this should be a benign mutation.
Most mutations within ethnic groups were like this; in most cases, the mutations were harmful, and the few beneficial changes were often extremely subtle in outcome.
"...If we’re certain that crystallization cannot be voluntarily reversed, two points to you, Lu Ping’an, for darkness."
Meanwhile, Big Cat, who had hands as dark as her heart, was interested in the crystals transformed from energy state life forms and wanted to conduct some research on them.
But now, with the "Dragon" clone, it seemed that all they needed to do was carry these stones and leave, which also greatly facilitated Lu Ping’an’s escape.
"No, we can’t go, many of our people didn’t have time to escape and were crystallized at our original campsite."
Originally, there were more than just those present who had become Casola’s kin; many completed their transformation during the three days of frenzy.
They had also been attacked by the Energy-devouring Evil Sunflower... and if their response were fast enough, they would try to transform into this crystal form and remain in place.
"...Can’t they really resolve it on their own?"
"At that time, we were purely ’stones,’ and our spirits were in a deep slumber. Those of our kin who were forced into crystals, if they don’t receive help from someone on the outside, will remain that way forever. If it drags on too long, reversing it becomes extremely difficult."
When Lu Ping’an received the bag and casually tossed it into the Dragon’s mouth, some of the crystals went to another space.
Engineers, Alchemists, Magic Alchemists, High-level Gardeners, High-level Beast Tamers... Lu Ping’an’s Logistics Team would quickly come up with research reports.
Whether it was Big Cat’s intuition or the judgment of other professionals, they all felt that these stones were not just good-looking.
As he casually chatted with the "royalty" on the opposite side to pass the time, he also awaited the report’s results to decide how to treat these unfortunate souls.
"Please don’t mind them, prioritize your own safety first."
"To sacrifice for you is their greatest honor...."
On his way, Lu Ping’an saw that Hammer-men all had independent and distinct personalities, and he wasn’t quite accustomed to suddenly seeing so many that were "exceptionally servile."
"There seems to be a mark of authority on the Royal Family that gets activated when seen by others from their species... In a sense, these Luka people are under ’brain control’ now. They seem normal otherwise, but their loyalty towards the Royal Family is unlimited."
Big Cat, having seen much of the world, spoke with conviction as if she had been privy to this knowledge all along.
In her mouth, it was a sort of bee-like structure, hard to say whether it formed naturally or was artificially designed... After all, energy beings have too many unnatural factors from the start.
There are indeed pure energy life forms in nature, but they are often chaotic and entirely devoid of order.
Meanwhile, as Lu Ping’an helped move these "stones," earning grateful looks from the other Luka people, he also began, unknowingly, to shed even more hair.
Luckily, to minimize energy consumption (stones in a light sleep state still consume energy, but significantly less, and if they reach a threshold and enter a deep sleep state, reawakening them would be time-consuming, energy-draining, and resource-intensive), most of the remaining tribe had already entered the stone state. They were simply tossed into bags, which made the transport work much easier.
Now, it was the Prince who insisted on rescuing his people, while his small personal guard insisted that he abandon them and leave this doomed world in good faith.
Actually, Lu Ping’an felt that their deliberations didn’t really matter... He, as the "driver," had no intention of adding more pressure to his workload.
In Casola’s mouth, that previous base held not only many of his people but also a lot of expensive equipment and valuable materials in the warehouse...
"... Our employer is the captain of that ship... He only tasked me with rescuing you. Why don’t we go there first and see what the captain has to say."
Lu Ping’an didn’t confront directly but skillfully suggested a strategic retreat.
Lu Ping’an knew that once they met the captain, regardless of what the Royal Family member said, escaping would likely become the top priority.
"Sormen Steel, we have discovered Sormen Steel on this planet!"
Finally, gritting his teeth, Casola revealed the planet’s biggest secret.
"What’s that?" Lu Ping’an heard this and remained indifferent... He couldn’t possibly care about something he had never even heard of.
"In your terms, it’s a ’Harmonizing Metal,’ an extremely high-quality fusion agent..."
"...That stuff?! It’s really useful," Big Cat interjected with keen interest.
In the Multi-universe, many universes share a similar or identical periodic table of the Elements, naturally leading to commodities unique to that universe.
However, the really expensive and rare specialties that can cross interstellar boundaries are always worth a fortune wherever they are in the Multi-universe.
The majority of the minerals on this planet were of limited value, but some Luka factions invested heavily simply because they found rare minerals here.
"That thing’s really valuable?"
"Not just valuable, it’s priceless... Your Abyss Beheading Sword is powerful, right? Given enough of this material, you can make a base for weapons of the same caliber."
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Mass produce Rule-level weapons?
"Even better, it has the ability to fuse several different metals together into a new alloy conceptually, and using it merely for weapon forging is a waste..."
"Fang Wen was even yelling ’I want it ’... In their industry, this is a dream metal that theoretically shouldn’t even exist."
The most frustrating thing, though, is that as a "Fusion Metal," its reactivity is too strong, meaning it’s very difficult to preserve, and it deteriorates easily if not handled with care.
Efficient yet difficult to mine and sell—naturally, it has become a dream metal on the market.
"Fang Wen said that with 500 grams, she could make an Upper Silver-level supreme Spirit Awakening object."
"At least thirty kilograms, we need at least thirty kilograms! As long as my people are saved, all this will be yours."
Alright, this time, it seems there’s a reason to go all out.
— End of Chapter 897 —