Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 549 - 388: Ancient Marvels? Soul Power Surge!
It was truly unexpected. Only a few months had passed since she’d left the military academy, yet such an outstanding new star was already making a name for himself. I’ll have to ask around about him later.
At this thought, the female student’s smile grew even gentler and kinder. She hadn’t expected the underclassman before her to be such a big spender. This was a delightful surprise.
However, Fang Zhou surprised her yet again. He pointed to the two black stones in the farthest corner and said softly, "Oh, and those two over there."
The female student couldn’t help but feel a flicker of astonishment, and her smile became even softer.
Soon, eight stones were neatly arranged before Fang Zhou. Each one exuded a different texture and luster, but their surfaces revealed nothing special. Fang Zhou immediately took out his personal terminal and, without hesitation, transferred 800 contribution points to the female student.
This action immediately caught the attention of the other students in the tent.
"Hmm? Someone’s starting to gamble on stones," a student murmured, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"We’ve been looking for over an hour and didn’t dare make a move. It’s good to see someone testing the waters," another student chimed in, a trace of envy in their eyes.
"Hey, I think that’s Junior Fang Zhou. No wonder he can pull out 800 contribution points just like that. Among all the second-year students, Fang Zhou is probably the only one with that kind of wealth, right?"
Some upperclassmen had already recognized him. After all, Fang Zhou had taken first place in the new recruits’ grand competition, making him a household name at Sea City Military Academy. The female student hosting the stall, however, was usually focused only on her Cultivation and paid no mind to outside gossip. Thus, she had only heard of Fang Zhou’s reputation and didn’t recognize him on sight. But with the reminders from the other students, she immediately connected his handsome face with his radiant, legendary deeds and felt a thrill of excitement.
In a corner of the tent, however, some students were watching with the clear intent of enjoying a show.
"Fang Zhou’s Talent and combat power are certainly nothing to scoff at, and his pockets are way deeper than ours. But when it comes to stone gambling, he looks like a total greenhorn. Hmph, does he think stone gambling is that easy? He’s going to get his head smashed in today," one student sneered. His companions nodded in agreement, their faces showing hints of schadenfreude.
The students stood where they were, discussing in low voices, their gazes fixed on Fang Zhou.
"Junior Fang Zhou, would you like to solve the stones on the spot? Our casino offers free stone-solving services," the female student suggested gently, casting admiring glances at him.
Fang Zhou glanced around from the corner of his eye, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. He waved his hand, politely declining her kind offer. "Black is my lucky color. This is my first time gambling on stones, so it’s a momentous occasion. I want to solve them myself!"
The female student’s eyes shone even brighter. What boldness, she praised silently. That’s the bearing of the new recruits’ competition champion, all right.
However, others muttered under their breath, "He really doesn’t know his own limits. Who picks stones based on a lucky color? Sigh, he might as well be throwing contribution points into a lake just to watch them splash."
"Fang Zhou’s contribution points didn’t come from nowhere. He earned every single one through his Talent and by painstakingly inferring Skills. Since he has the ability to make that money, he can naturally spend it however he wants. Why are you being so sour?"
Despite this defense, seeing Fang Zhou’s approach, most of the students in the tent couldn’t help but lower their expectations, which were already not very high to begin with. Some even looked away, turning back to observe the fossils on the counter.
The shifting mood of the crowd didn’t affect Fang Zhou’s state of mind in the slightest. With a calm expression, he silently channeled the Undead Mana from his mana core. His right hand began to emit a gray-black radiance, like the deepest star in the night sky, carrying a hint of icy cold.
Fang Zhou picked up a black stone, cradling it in his palm. He then closed his fingers, slowly kneading and rubbing the fossil’s surface. The gray light flickered, its glow rippling like water. The black stone in his hand gradually shrank, and a large amount of fine stone powder trickled from between his fingers, scattering onto the tent’s carpet.
HISS! "Junior Fang Zhou is truly remarkable," a student whispered, their eyes full of admiration. "That kind of effortless control over Mana is something few Black Iron-level students can achieve. It’s only been a little over two months since he broke through the bottleneck to Black Iron, right? Judging by his Mana fluctuations, he’s almost about to break through to the Black Iron Middle Rank. His Talent is just too outrageous."
"This technique, however, is too crude for solving stones," some of the more seasoned students said, shaking their heads.
The black stone in Fang Zhou’s hand grew smaller and smaller. At first, he couldn’t close his palm around it, but after a moment, it had shrunk to the size of a fist, completely enveloped by his fingers. The gray light intensified. The fossil gradually shrank to the size of a marble, until finally, only a pile of stone dust remained in a small mound on the carpet.
It was a completely solid stone, with no ancient Marvels inside.
The atmosphere in the tent suddenly grew heavy. Students shook their heads one by one, their eyes filled with disappointment. "Just as we thought, it’s a bust. Junior Fang Zhou is probably going to take a huge loss this time."
"Junior, you still have seven stones left," the female student encouraged warmly, trying to ease his potential embarrassment.
Fang Zhou’s expression remained perfectly calm, as if he were completely unaffected. In reality, he was ecstatic.
The reason was simple. As he was grinding the fossil with his Undead Mana, his attribute panel had been flashing with prompts.
"Detected the presence of a Soul Crystal. It can be absorbed as Soul Power. Absorb?"
Of course, Fang Zhou had unhesitatingly chosen to confirm. By the time the black fossil had completely turned to dust on the ground, Fang Zhou had successfully absorbed 120 points of Soul Power.
For Fang Zhou, this was a deeply satisfying reward. After all, the very reason he came here to gamble on stones was to get his hands on the Soul Crystals that might be inside the fossils. As for whether there were any ancient Marvels, he didn’t really care. It would be great if there were, but it didn’t matter if there weren’t.
It was like exchanging 100 contribution points for 120 points of Soul Power. The exchange rate of over 1:1 left Fang Zhou incredibly satisfied. After all, as his soul essence improved, his Corpse Clone’s efficiency at killing and leveling up in the Undead Realm was increasing rapidly. However, he wasn’t able to extract as much Soul Power from Black Iron-level Undead Creatures as he had envisioned. This greatly hindered the speed at which Fang Zhou could power himself up by ’spending’ resources.
Now, by taking advantage of this trade fair, he had successfully tapped into the Soul Crystals hidden within these fossils. This would undoubtedly accelerate his accumulation of Soul Power.
Fang Zhou calculated silently. If the remaining seven fossils are like this one, my haul today will be immense. The more Soul Power he had, the faster he could infer new Skills or even increase his Skill Proficiency. This is a perfect, virtuous cycle.
Fang Zhou calmed his racing heart, picked up the second black fossil, and continued to grind it down. The result for this one was, again, a solid rock with no ancient Marvel inside. However, Fang Zhou successfully extracted another 80 points of Soul Power from it.
He moved on to the third fossil, and the outcome was the same. Although it appeared to be a solid stone on the outside, Fang Zhou once again absorbed 140 points of Soul Power.
This string of successes gradually led Fang Zhou to a hypothesis. Although he still didn’t fully understand the principle behind how Soul Crystals formed in ancient Marvels, he could make a rough deduction. Soul Crystals were a special, rare resource that formed only when an ancient Marvel was eroded by the Power of Time under specific conditions. The formation process of this resource was complex, requiring long-term geological changes and energy accumulation.
The reason the three fossils he had just ’solved’ contained Soul Crystals but no ancient Marvels was simple.
