Chapter 61: If the World Won't Give It, Create It Yourself

The psycho-stimulant elixir gradually transformed during the ultimate sublimation.

The thumb-thick potion expanded to the thickness of a wrist.

The texture and refinement of the syringe were also sublimated through the transformation, eventually shrouded in a strange, pulsating energy.

[Notification: "Psycho-stimulant Elixir (5x)" has successfully sublimated into "Psycho-stimulant Elixir (20x)"]

Lu Ming raised his hand to take the levitating, reshaping psycho-stimulant elixir and safely stored it away.

Could one not cherish the consumption of 7,500 specialized crystals?

(Author's note and self-criticism: The data for yesterday's chapter was incorrect. The sublimation cost of the stimulant elixir was corrected from 5,000 to 4,000. I bow and apologize to all dear readers. I am truly sorry, and I will be much more rigorous in the future.)

Glancing at the remaining specialized crystals, Lu Ming leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips tightly together.

618 pieces—it was too painful to look at.

It burned through crystals far too quickly; truly, powerful abilities always came with a price.

The forging of defensive gear would have to be postponed. Right, and there was also the egg of the Ancient Owl Emperor.

At this moment, it was resting in his pocket, waiting to be hatched, but he lacked the crystals.

With a sigh, Lu Ming sat back in his previous position, closed his eyes, and began to ponder ways to acquire crystals.

After a moment of silence, he finally opened the trading marketplace.

The list of goods was growing longer, and the categories were becoming more comprehensive.

The tool category was massive, and the weapon category was also beginning to flourish.

Ninety-nine percent of them were Iron-grade weapons, and the items requested in exchange were basically daily necessities, which were the only ones that actually sold.

Those demanding specialized crystals and skill books were all hanging at the very bottom of the list, ignored for over a dozen hours.

What was this called again? A price war.

Who would use specialized crystals to trade for weapons when they could get them with daily living supplies?

For ordinary people, a single crystal was a supreme treasure obtained only after several battles between life and death; how could they easily hand it over to others?

Haa—!

Leaning against the back of the chair and letting out a long sigh to the heavens, Lu Ming felt that his plan to earn some crystals using Iron-grade weapons had temporarily failed, leaving him no choice but to turn his gaze back to hunting alien creatures.

Given his current combat power, larvae could be instantly killed with a single blow, yielding two crystals per kill.

Elite-tier mature Sickle-Owls could also be killed instantly, but the crystal yield was ten times that of a larva.

If there were a place where elite Sickle-Owls gathered in groups, and he could slaughter a thousand or eight hundred of them at once, he would definitely take off instantly.

Unfortunately, where would such a place exist? At most, it might appear in the core area's police headquarters. But in that place, to say nothing of reaching the Doom War King level, one at least had to be an Extreme Hunting Warrior to have any confidence...

Just as he was brainstorming, Lu Ming suddenly froze!

He sat up straight, his left hand instinctively moving to support his forehead, then instantly covering his mouth and nose instead, before looking left and right, and finally failing to hold back a burst of laughter.

Too slow, his reaction was simply too slow!

Places where elite Sickle-Owls gathered densely might be hard to find, but weren't places where Sickle-Owl larvae gathered everywhere?

If anything could be sublimated, then why couldn't it be alien creatures?

The world wouldn't provide it, so Lu Ming would create it himself!

Once this thought popped up, Lu Ming could no longer suppress his excitement. He looked at Chuxue, who was sound asleep during her nap, gently pulled back the blanket, picked her up into his arms, retrieved the luxurious three-piece set and the deluxe viewing chair, and turned to walk outside!

He had to go and test it out, otherwise, the itch in his heart would be unbearable.

By the way, he had to praise Chuxue for being so well-behaved that it tugged at one's heartstrings.

Realizing she was being picked up, she opened her eyes just a tiny crack, and upon seeing that it was her master, she wrapped her arms back around his neck and continued to sleep, without a shred of annoyance at being disturbed the entire time. She was an angel, an angel who had descended by his side.

Maintaining his speed and trying to keep his footsteps steady, Lu Ming returned to the fourth floor of the shopping mall.

The path of corpses cleared by the South Korean swordsman cut the entire fourth-floor area into two sections.

Roughly estimating, there were still around a thousand Sickle-Owl larvae located on the fourth floor. As long as the sublimation succeeded, that would be a gross profit of twenty thousand level.

Walking near the Sickle-Owl larvae and locking onto the closest one, Lu Ming silently chanted: "Ultimate Sublimation!"

[Notification: Please select the sublimation tier]

"Tier 2."

[Notification: Sublimating the E-grade juvenile alien "Sickle-Owl Larva" requires 100 specialized crystals. Confirm consumption of 100 specialized crystals to sublimate the Sickle-Owl Larva into an E-grade elite "Sickle-Owl"?]

100?!

Was this reasonable?

Killing a Sickle-Owl only yielded 20 crystals, which meant that by increasing the alien's strength and expending the effort for an instant kill, he still had to shell out an extra 80 crystals instead? Are you out of your mind?

"Cancel!"

It seemed direct sublimation to a Sickle-Owl wouldn't work.

Then let's try a Sickle-Owl Pupa.

"Ultimate Sublimation."

[Notification: Please select the sublimation tier]

"Tier 1."

[Notification: Sublimating the E-grade juvenile "Sickle-Owl Larva" requires 20 specialized crystals.]

What the hell!

His face turned somewhat dark, and Lu Ming felt utterly aggrieved.

"Cancel."

He was nauseated; sublimating an alien creature had a cost and output that were completely disproportionate!

Seriously, he was a bit discouraged. He had thought he stumbled upon a ridiculously awesome sublimation technique, only to find that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Did he really have to obediently kill monsters by the book?

Silent and wordless, Lu Ming let out a light sigh and was about to casually harvest the corpse he had deliberately left behind earlier, when his gaze suddenly flickered.

Living sublimation consumed a massive amount, but what about corpse sublimation? Would there be any difference?

Once this thought arose, even Lu Ming himself found it a bit hard to believe. Weren't they the exact same thing? Could a corpse be treated like a piece of dead meat by the Ultimate Sublimation and get upgraded for just a few crystals?

Heh!

With a self-deprecating chuckle, Lu Ming decided to try it out with the attitude of buying a lottery ticket, and chanted: "Ultimate Sublimation."

[Notification: Please select the sublimation tier]

"Tier 2."

[Notification: Sublimating the "Sickle-Owl Larva Corpse" requires no specialized crystals. Confirm sublimation of the "Sickle-Owl Larva Corpse" into a "Sickle-Owl Corpse"?]

(￣_,￣) Tsk, he knew it.

(⊙?⊙) Huh?

(o言o)！！ What the fuck?

Blinking his eyes, Lu Ming re-read the system message, a stampede of ten thousand wild horses galloping through his heart!

How was it free again?

"Con—Confirm."

Damn it, the rollercoaster ride had wrecked his confidence.

"Confirm!"

To safeguard the dignity of a tough guy, he shouted the confirmation a second time.

The Sickle-Owl larva corpse disintegrated, melted, and when it was reconstructed, it turned into an elite Sickle-Owl over two meters long.

The corpse remained intact, except for a hole right through its chest, which was precisely where its weak point lay. The wound and scars were completely identical to those from its larval stage.

"Greed."

[Successfully decomposed the Sickle-Owl corpse, obtained Specialized Crystal*20, Sickle-Owl Blade*4, Sickle-Owl Carapace*10, Ordinary Alien Blood*200ml]

Seeing the crystals that had genuinely entered his inventory, Lu Ming felt it was somewhat dreamlike. It was just that these 20 crystals seemed a bit strange; they actually refused to stack or merge with his remaining 618 crystals.

Flipping through his inventory to find the Sickle-Owl blades and carapaces, the result was completely identical.

Frowning deeply, a highly probable conjecture surfaced in Lu Ming's mind.

To verify this conjecture, Lu Ming fished out a single, independently placed specialized crystal and silently chanted "Ultimate Sublimation."

[......]

Case closed.

Consumables of the same origin, beyond a doubt.

Materials born from a sublimated corpse could not undergo the sublimation process a second time.

Just like bound and unbound items in game inventory systems.

Except that bound versus unbound determined whether items could be traded.

While same-origin versus non-same-origin determined whether items could be sublimated.