Chapter 1256: Crystal Mutation (1/2)

The first thing Qianye did after sending the ill soldiers back to the rear wasn’t a rushed exploration. Instead, he ordered the military engineers to build defensive structures on the hill in front of the valley and guard the door firmly. On the other hand, he sent out dozens of small scouting parties in each direction and had them draw up a map. This would make it easier for him to grasp the surrounding movements.

Qianye and Caroline also made preparations to explore deeper into the region.

The stone platform in the valley remained unchanged; it was just a pile of rocks at a glance. Crossing over the valley brought them to the area of dark golden sandstones. Caroline couldn’t remain calm, either, after seeing the raw ore.

After a simple survey, Caroline believed that this place was an ore vein, and it was so shallow that the ores were visible on the surface. Such bountiful deposits were only heard of in legends describing the upper continents of Evernight, all of them core regions of the four major dark races. Who would’ve thought they would see something like this right at the door of this world?

One could easily imagine how fierce the fight for land here would be.

Qianye wasn’t really focusing on the ore veins since he was attempting to fly at the moment. After several attempts, he finally got used to the flow of origin power in this new world and wobbled into the air. From above, the giant pillars in the distance caught his attention. Those structures were hundreds of meters tall, and despite their windswept exterior, they evidently looked man-made.

A shade of blue-green appeared far off over the horizon. According to the Empire’s research, the beasts’ diet contained a large number of metallic elements. If this was a common occurrence, the plants of the new world would be dark green, blue, or dark red in color. The distance was hard to gauge, either, due to the great distance or his vision turning blurry. All he could say was that it looked like a forest.

The presence of a forest meant the presence of living things. They might run into a large number of beasts again at that point.

While he was observing the land, Caroline had also adapted to the circulation of origin power and managed to fly to his side.

Qianye pointed at the distant stone pillars. “Let’s go over there and see.”

“Okay.”

The appearance of this pillar was even more impactful at close up—its diameter was over ten meters, with cracks and gaps over its surface. Clearly, it was formed of cut stone, but these rocks were several meters in size and dozens of tons in weight. How did they manage to lift them up?

Qianye flew around the pillar and up to the top, but he found nothing special. After some thought, he dug out a piece of the stone, but there was nothing special about that, either.

He went around the other pillars as well and found that they were all the same. Caroline placed a hand on the stone pillar and sensed the interior briefly. “Did you find anything?”

“No.”

“This pillar is wet.”

Qianye grabbed a piece of stone from the pillar and studied it in detail. The external surface of the rock was dry, but there was a bit of moisture inside.

After sensing further, Caroline came to a conclusion. “This pillar is absorbing moisture and origin power from its surroundings, maybe other things as well.”

The air in this world was moist, but everything else was dry because the origin power here would absorb moisture. This stone pillar could actually draw both moisture and origin power from the atmosphere.

Qianye thrust East Peak into the pillar, all the way to its hilt. Then, with a twist of his wrist, he pulled out a piece of the pillar’s core. There was nothing special about the stony material itself, but through the hole, Qianye’s True Sight could make out origin power flowing up and down the pillar.

Qianye landed at the base of the pillar. “Let’s try digging downward.”

The digging process was extremely fast with Caroline and Qianye working together. The ground sank deeper and deeper until they were dozens of meters below the surface. In a flash of blue light, a cluster of light blue crystals appeared before them.

This cluster was only the size of an arm and half-buried in the stone pillar, seemingly growing from it. Qianye’s ears started to ring the moment this crystal appeared, almost like the sharp buzz of bees.

Caroline crouched down and studied the crystal carefully. “Is this a condensation of the new world’s origin power?”

There was a smokey fluid circulating within the magnificent crystal. One could feel the intensity of its aura even through the crystalline container. Apparently, the smoke within was an extremely condensed form of the new world’s origin power.

Sensing something, Qianye pulled Caroline up. “Something’s coming.”

The two flew up to the top of the pillar in a flash.

Dozens of beasts were charging over in a cloud of rolling dust, made up of various sizes and species. After arriving at the base of the pillar and seeing the crystal, they pounced madly into the hole. The first beast had just arrived at the opening when it was bitten on the hind leg and flung out.