Chapter 145: Feral Beast Crystal Core

Closing his eyes, the shadow of the alluring Sola still lingered on his eyelids. Rayan's mind was too feverish to think clearly, the heat within him reaching his throat.

Seeing that her master was no longer looking at her, Sola calmed down and focused on restoring his physical strength. Teasing him was simply because the opportunity was rare, and she couldn't help but do it, but at the same time, she was clear that what she needed to do most at the moment was to help her master recover as quickly as possible.

The two embraced for an entire hour, and finally, Rayan reopened his eyes.

Sola was overjoyed, "Master, are you alright?"

Rayan nodded and withdrew his arm from Sola's chest. The feeling was strange; although he was pulling away, he felt as if he was deliberately touching Sola's breasts. The soft flesh and the firm nipples slid across his fingertips, making him almost want to squeeze them hard, as a revenge for the previous time she grabbed his penis.

—There was already some ambiguous intimacy between them, and both were indulging in these ambiguous actions, taking advantage of each other unintentionally. As things progressed, it wouldn't be long before he could no longer restrain his impulses, and he would press Sola under him, lift her skirt, and tear her bodice...

Despite his reluctance, Rayan had to endure it. The priority was to quickly break through the Tenth Tier Battle Qi and find a way to compensate for his shortcomings in attack.

After defeating the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion, his Battle Qi had not broken through, which somewhat disappointed him. He knew that advancing to a hero was not an easy task, but along the way, he had killed at least a hundred Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions, and such combat experience should have been enough to qualify for advancement.

He couldn't help but think of Crimson Thorn, that unreasonable female robber leader who advanced to Apprentice Hero by grabbing his penis.

Then he thought of the time when he was trapped in a test of inner demons; it was through a night of passion with Olivia that he broke through from Ninth Tier Battle Qi to Tenth Tier, and also gained sword gang power, as well as a doubled speed of advancement.

Could it be that to advance quickly, he must do that sort of thing with a woman?!

Rayan couldn't help but glance at Sola, who was straightening her clothes, and felt ashamed for the absurd thoughts in his mind.

No. Even if it really worked, he wouldn't use such a reason to do that sort of thing with Sola—he wanted to do it with her simply because he desired her, his body and his soul yearned for her. This desire was pure and intense, allowing no other impurities.

Seeing Rayan staring at her, Sola couldn't help but smile and brushed away a few strands of hair from her forehead. "Master, Sola should go clean up that Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion now."

"Uh-huh," Rayan nodded absentmindedly. If advancing to hero depended on doing that sort of thing with Sola, then did he really still need to keep fighting all the way?

Sola lifted the hem of her skirt, pulled out an obsidian dagger, and straddled the copper-colored chitinous shell of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion, bending over to get busy. The shell of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion was hard but had already been cut into two by Rayan's Blood Crow Strike. With the sharp edge of the obsidian, Sola didn't have much trouble.

"Ah!" Not long after she started cutting, Sola gasped in surprise as if she had discovered a rare treasure, "There really is such a thing!"

Rayan was puzzled and walked over to Sola. "What is it?"

Sola fiddled around inside the body of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion for a while, then pulled out a fist-sized transparent crystal. The surface of the crystal was regularly arranged in rhombic faces, and in its center, a pure flame flickered.

"This is?" Rayan vaguely had an answer in mind, but he wasn't sure.

"Feral Beast Crystal Core."

Sola said excitedly, "Although I've never seen this thing before, I've heard the elders of the tribe talk about it when I was a child, it's definitely correct."

Rayan had also seen a description of the "Feral Beast Crystal Core" in the professional books left by alchemist Morien. Simply put, this is a material that all manufacturing industries need. Alchemists need it to configure the essential potions in the guild, and blacksmiths need it to increase the success rate of quenching—anything involving high-end manufacturing cannot do without this stuff.

The demand for Feral Beast Crystal Cores was so high that countless people flocked to it. But this noble material usually only appears in Feral Beasts of Seventh Rank and above. The outer appearance of a Seventh Rank Feral Beast would have a distinctive copper color, an Eighth Rank Feral Beast would have a silver halo, a Ninth Rank Feral Beast would have a golden halo, and a Tenth Rank Feral Beast — also known as a divine beast — would have a shell shining with rainbow colors like the light of the spectrum.

These colors are the signs of a Feral Beast having a Crystal Core. However, in reality, aside from divine beasts that are guaranteed to have a Crystal Core, Ninth Rank Feral Beasts only have a "high probability" of having one, Eighth Rank Feral Beasts have a "certain chance", and Seventh Rank Feral Beasts have an "extremely small chance".

Normally, killing a Seventh Rank Feral Beast would require the strength of an Intermediate Hero, or a team of about five Junior Heroes, or a team of more than fifteen Apprentice Heroes. Even if a non-heroic team could gather a hundred people, they would likely fail to coordinate effectively in battle and would not be able to defeat the beast.

This means that even an Intermediate Hero like Trevor, after killing a Seventh Rank Feral Beast, only has an "extremely small chance" of obtaining a Feral Beast Crystal Core.

This has destined the extravagant cost of the Feral Beast Crystal Cores, which could almost be described as priceless. As soon as a Feral Beast Crystal Core appears in the main city's auction house, it would immediately be snapped up by merchants who specialize in camping out at auctions. The black market price has even reached as high as ten thousand gold coins per piece.

Such high prices in turn spur people's desire to strike it rich overnight. Many makeshift Junior Hero teams have also emerged because of this. If they kill a Seventh Rank Feral Beast without finding a Crystal Core, they might just curse their bad luck, "Damn it! Unlucky!" But once a Feral Beast Crystal Core is discovered, they immediately turn on each other to snatch it. After all, ten thousand gold coins are enough for them to live a carefree life.

Of course, there are also some teams that distribute the spoils reasonably, but such teams usually belong to a certain guild, and the trophies they obtain must first be handed over to the guild, where a designated merchant will purchase them at a much lower price, often only giving out five thousand for what might otherwise sell for ten thousand, which breaks down to only a thousand per person.

Over time, the Feral Beast Crystal Core has become something everyone desires to obtain but fears the trouble that comes with actually finding one.

For Rayan, these concerns were not an issue. He had a fire spirit affinity, which made him much more effective against the Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions than other heroes, allowing him to monopolize the Feral Beast Crystal Core without worrying about others coveting it.

Sola cleaned the Feral Beast Crystal Core she held, smiling at Rayan, "Master, eat it quickly."

Rayan paused, "This isn't a Feral Beast heart, why should I eat it? Moreover, there is no mention of Crystal Cores being edible on the Auroria Continent."

Sola explained, "There's no such thing on the Auroria Continent, but the barbarian tribes have it. Humans can't eat it because they don't believe in the elemental forces and don't have element affinity. If they try to consume it recklessly, they can only choke themselves to death. But Master is different, you have a fire spirit affinity, and this Crystal Core is of the fire attribute, eating it will only increase your reputation within the fire spirit!"

Rayan's eyebrows shot up.

If it was as Sola said, just by consuming enough fire Crystal Cores, he could achieve a worshiped reputation and become completely immune to fire attacks!

Not only that, if he had the opportunity to obtain a Crystal Core of the wind attribute, his reputation in the wind spirit would also be enhanced! And as for the other element affinities, as long as there was a chance to open up a reputation, it could also be improved by consuming Crystal Cores! If he could max out the reputation of the four elemental creations: wind, fire, water, and earth, then he would be immune to all elemental damage!

Rayan suppressed the turmoil in his heart and gently shook his head at Sola, "Knowing this information is enough for me; keep this fire Crystal Core for yourself."

Sola quickly said, "Master, I have a fire spirit myself, I don't need to enhance my fire spirit reputation, eating this would be useless for me!"

Rayan thought it over and realized that reputation indeed had no use for Achisola. He then took the fire Crystal Core from Sola's hand and carefully placed it in his mouth.

Before he even swallowed, his body heated up like a fever, large beads of sweat rolled down his temples, and the heat from his limbs concentrated in his mouth. In just a few seconds, the fire Crystal Core melted away.

The heat in his body subsided, and Rayan opened his mouth, finding no discomfort at all.

"Is that it?"

Even if ten thousand gold coins were thrown into the calm sea, they would at least stir up a sizable splash, but the Crystal Core melted in his mouth without even a taste.

Sola continued to cut the body of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion, laughing, "Sola has never eaten a Crystal Core, so I can't explain to Master what it feels like. But whatever the taste, it's definitely not as delicious as Seventh Rank scorpion meat."

Rayan tried to sense his fire spirit affinity, but he felt nothing. After all, he wasn't like Sola; he didn't have a fire spirit living inside him, so he couldn't control fire as Sola could. But this also had an advantage: he could possess four affinities at the same time without worrying about ancient elements fighting inside his body.

"Sola, do you know how many fire Crystal Cores I would need to eat to reach a worshiped reputation?"

Sola tilted her neck and thought for a moment, "From revered to worshiped, about a thousand I guess. Subtracting the one Master just ate, you would need nine hundred ninety-nine more."

A worshiped reputation was indeed not so easy to achieve, Rayan sighed, not without irony, "That's just great."

With his current strength, he could only barely defeat a Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion. Moreover, his combat experience and sword gang power had been stuck due to the Battle Qi tier not breaking through. If he couldn't advance to Apprentice Hero soon, obtaining nine hundred ninety-nine fire Crystal Cores was simply a fool's dream.

How to advance quickly then?

Rayan's gaze once again fell between Sola's drooping breasts.