Chapter 149: Drastic Increase of Evolution Points, Destroying Mountains and Suppressing Oceans

Roar! Is this the good stuff you were talking about?

The Sword Armored Fiery Beast looked at the tiny amount below the rift with some dissatisfaction. There wasn't even so much as a handful of these green crystal particles.

Squeak! This good stuff couldn't really build up when it kept getting eaten by those guys.

The Single-horned Orca wagged its tail, whimpering as it explained.

Roar! How do we split such a small amount?

The Fiery Beast extended its huge claw and pointed. It felt like these wouldn't even fill the gaps between its teeth.

Squeak! Brother, you helped me get revenge this time, so you can have it all.

The Orca appeared very generous.

The Fiery Beast, however, knew that this guy wasn't that dumb; if it had been able to defeat the Armored Spider Crabs on its own, it would have taken this stuff for itself and never called on the Fiery Beast in the first place.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Roar! Then I will dig in.

As the Fiery Beast roared, its tail swayed slightly as it swam closer to the rocks. With its huge mouth wide open, it emitted a strong suction force, swallowing up the scattered green crystal grains. As soon as they reached its belly, a surge of pure and intense life energy exploded within the Fiery Beast's body.

Crunch! Crunch!

The Fiery Beast's body expanded at a visibly rapid pace, like an inflating balloon. Its outer armor became thicker, and its aura grew even more ferocious.

Just a tiny mouthful of green crystal grains had caused the Fiery Beast's body to swell significantly, reaching a length of nineteen meters.

Its evolution points also skyrocketed, from just over 2,500 to over 2,700 in a sudden surge, leaving only a little over 200 points left to meet the requirement.

Phew!

Such astounding growth.

Suddenly, the Fiery Beast's eyes turned red, filled with intense killing intent as it looked at the green crack.

Damn those crabs! They'd actually eaten up all the Life Crystals accumulated here over the years. No wonder there were so many big ones.

Just as the Fiery Beast was angrily contemplating whether to turn back and kill those mutated beasts again, the Orca behind it started to whine a little with envy.

Squeak! Brother, are we leaving?

Roar! Wait, we can't just leave this here.

The Fiery Beast gestured for the Orca to move farther away. Then, with a swoosh, it dashed to the lip of the trench, over two hundred meters above, and floated upright beside the cliff.

The Fiery Beast's muscles swelled as it raised its claws high, gathering an endless surge of power.

Boom!

With the Fiery Beast's Raging Elephant Stomp, half of the cliffside collapsed with a deafening roar. Countless boulders and rubble crashed down along with muddy debris, submerging the trench.

As the Fiery Beast felt that wasn't enough, it continued to pound relentlessly along both sides of the trench, which spanned about a hundred meters in width and over two hundred meters in depth. With deafening rumblings, it gradually destroyed that section completely.

It intended to bury this place as a fixed resource collection point. Later, when more Life Crystals had accumulated, it would return to dig up and collect them. At least, provided that no other keenly perceptive mutated creatures discover it beforehand.

In the churning waters filled with sand and rubble, the Orca looked at the destruction, feeling somewhat bewildered.

Squeak! Brother, you buried this place. How will we eat here next time?

Roar! It's simple, just dig a hole to get in.

Squeak! How do we dig?

Roar! Use your claws, dummy.

... The Orca glanced at its own thick fins, then looked at the Fiery Beast's sharp claws, feeling even more confused for a moment. Should it use its head to dig then?

Roar! Let's go, we'll eat those guys up.

This time's harvest wasn't just those Life Crystals, but also the carcasses of dozens of mutated beasts. However....

Crack!

The Fiery Beast ripped apart the armor of a fifteen-meter-long spider crab, gazing at the scant flesh in its abdomen and feeling somewhat perplexed.

Undeterred, it grabbed hold of a one-meter-thick, spike-covered sturdy spider leg. With a burst of strength from its claws, it snapped it in two with a resounding crack.

Observing the white substance in the middle of the spider leg, resembling both flesh and tendon, the Fiery Beast felt a bit annoyed.

Did these guys use all those nutrients to just grow their exoskeletons?

The beasts that had been guarding this rift had mutated and grown rapidly, but their biological traits all seem to have developed into external armor, leaving barely one-tenth of their bodies composed of flesh.

However small the amount was, though, meat was still meat. The Fiery Beast didn't give up, simply snapping and tearing apart the spider crabs' bodies one by one.

Hmm, this super colossal crab has a bit less meat, but its flavor is quite rich and chewy, and it's packed with energy. If you were to steam it in a pot, it might take half a day to cook thoroughly.

This crab seems to have some sort of paste inside. It looks gooey and disgusting, but it actually tastes quite good. If it were grilled over volcanic magma, it would probably be even tastier.

These legs... forget it, chewing on all that exoskeleton is too much work. I haven't even gotten to the head yet.

Hmm! Not bad at all, the meat in the head is quite tender and flavorful.

As the Fiery Beast was mentally critiquing and dissecting a twenty-meter-wide spider crab, a bright crystal caught its eye.

A level 4 Life Crystal.

The corner of the Fiery Beast's mouth curled slightly upwards, revealing a sinister smile. It carefully used its massive claws to pick out the Life Crystal, treating it as delicately as if it were a tiny grain of sand and slowly placing it into the snakeskin pouch hanging on its neck.

The Fiery Beast was in good spirits now, thanks to its newfound crystal. Then, like a diligent little bee, it gnawed through all of the mutated spider crabs until there was nothing left to eat.

Having devoured the flesh of dozens of mutated creatures of varying sizes, the Fiery Beast gained another hundred evolution points and grew to a length of nineteen and a half meters, appearing even more massive and ferocious.

Squeak! Let's go.

Roar! Let's go.

The two massive mutated beasts swiftly swam toward the surface of the sea, reaching it in just a few breaths.

Bam!

A massive splash erupted as the gigantic orca burst out of the sea surface over ten meters into the air, before crashing back down with a thunderous boom, sending towering waves splashing around.

Clearly, avenging its previous loss had made the Orca very happy.

The Fiery Beast's appearance was much more low-key, its figure lurking beneath the water's surface several meters down, swimming in the direction of Chen Chu's main body.

This was the Fiery Beast's primary way of navigating the ocean. It always knew which direction Chen Chu's main body was relative to itself; in familiar waters, it could use that in conjunction with the various landmarks in the underwater terrain to estimate distances. While it wasn't able to be that accurate out in the deep sea, the Fiery Beast still never had to worry about getting completely lost.

*

"Only four level 1 and one level 2 mission today. It seems like most of the mutated beasts around here have been exterminated."

In the mission hall, many students gazed at the high-definition mountain map displayed on the large screen, feeling a slight sense of emotion.

The map was bright and clean, with almost no new missions popping up for over ten minutes. The few missions left were scattered in all directions.

"Tomorrow marks the end of the half-month mission period. The officials really calculated it accurately."

"That's normal. They've been doing these yearly purges for decades now."

"Yeah, with how thorough the purges are, these newly evolved mutated beasts have nowhere to escape. We should be grateful that the authorities have been suppressing the growth of mutated beasts all this time. Otherwise, the wilderness would be much more dangerous than it is now, especially for ordinary people."

"Even then, though, there's more cases of mutated beasts injuring people every year."

"Yeah."

"It might end earlier here tomorrow. This time, I made a good harvest, earning 19 contribution points."

"Nice job, I only earned 13 points. But I've already cultivated to the late stage of the First Heavenly Realm. When I go back, I'll exchange for a Level 1 Life Crystal and energy resources. I should be able to break through to the Second Realm soon."

Another student at the Second Heavenly Realm proudly said, "You guys are really useless, it's been almost half a month and you only earned that much? This time, I earned a whopping 41 contribution points."

"No shit. If I were in the Second Realm, I could earn just as much..."

Over three hundred students were either sitting or standing in the hall, discussing their gains from this trial in groups of two or three, each one excited and thrilled.

For these students, who had only earned 3 or 4 contribution points in the previous month, this purge had turned out to be a windfall for everyone. Most of the students at the First Heavenly Realm had earned over 10 points, with some earning more than 20.

Students at the Second Heavenly Realm had earned more, with most of them having around 30 to 40 points, except for the few unlucky ones who had earned fewer.

The most talented ones had earned even more; one remarkable student at the Second Heavenly Realm had harvested over 70 contribution points. This genius had been able to single-handedly take on level 2 mutated beasts, and could even handle two ordinary level 2 beasts at once.

If it hadn't been for the issue of spending most of their time on the road, deep within the mountains, or bringing back mutated beast corpses, they would have earned even more.

Of course, the ones who gained the most this time were the geniuses at the Third Heavenly Realm.

These talents, who had returned from Kyrola and had broken through to the Third Heavenly Realm in just over four months, were all very powerful. They could even single-handedly kill formidable level 3 mutated beasts. Most of these individuals had earned gains of over 100 contribution points, with only the scarcity of level 3 missions after the first two days preventing them from getting more.

Among them, the one with the greatest gains was Chen Chu. With 230 points in the first week, and over 80 this week, he had gotten over 300 points total.

Luo Fei, who had followed Chen Chu for a few days and worked hard after they had split up, had also earned quite a bit, around 140 points in total.

Of course, Chen Chu's ability to earn so much on his own was related to his terrifying fundamental strength. Among the students at the Second Heavenly Realm, their arm strength ranged from six to seven hundred kilograms. With the use of true power, they were capable of dragging mutated beast carcasses weighing up to a ton.

A cultivator at the Third Heavenly Realm possessed arm strength ranging from one to two thousand kilograms. Even then, though, it would take half a day for several people to drag one level 3 beast corpse out of the mountains. Chen Chu was the only one who could sprint with ten tons worth of mutated beast carcasses on his shoulders.

With how much lighter level 2 mutated beasts were, even level 2 missions had yielded quite a few contribution points after making two trips in a day.

However, not everyone had gained this time. Some students had become afraid at the sight of blood; instead of earning contribution points, they had ended up being sent to the hospital by the mutated beasts.

There were also some other students, including a dozen at the Second Heavenly Realm, who had come mainly to join in the excitement. After just one battle, however, they had realized that they didn't have the courage to face danger and had chosen to go home; for them, a peaceful and stable life was more preferable over fighting mutated beasts.

There were quite a few people like this. After the end of each school year, many freshmen who had broken through to the First Heavenly Realm in cultivation would choose to switch back to academics. After all, not everyone had the adventurous spirit to charge forward fearlessly onto the battlefield and engage in combat with those terrifying mutated beasts.

Of course, their switch to academics didn't mean they stopped cultivating altogether. It simply meant giving up the fixed monthly incomes and the competition with their classmates for school provided resources.

If they made any outstanding contributions to the country and society as a whole in the future, then they would still be rewarded with points; otherwise, they just quietly focused on their cultivation in the background.

No one could really say that their choice was wrong. After all, many talented individuals had perished halfway through their journeys from the fierce competition and battles. While the students who chose to quietly cultivate would have far slower progress, in the end, they would survive.

In the corner, Luo Fei turned to the handsome youth beside her and asked softly, "You'll be preparing to break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm tomorrow, won't you?"

From what Luo Fei could tell, Chen Chu had been on the verge of breaking through to the late stage of the Third Heavenly Realm at the beginning of last month. Now, after a month had passed, his cultivation must have reached the late stage of the Third Realm for sure.

With his terrifying talent, once he had acquired dragon essence and some strengthening resources, he should be able to break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm very soon.

Chen Chu withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

He currently had 89 contribution points in hand, which was more than enough to exchange for the first portion of dragon essence. However, he had chosen not to go back yet in order to earn more points.

When he went back the next day to break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, he would have likely also accumulated almost enough evolution points for the Sword Armored Fiery Beast as well, reaching around 3,000.

Then, once his avatar had completed its evolution, Chen Chu would prepare to head to the mutated beast battlefield. By that point, with his strength, slaying level 4 mutated beasts would be as easy as cutting vegetables. His rate of contribution point acquisition would be even faster, with the possibility of reaching 1,000 points in a month.

"Look, another mission just popped up."

"Wait, it's a level 4 mission?"

This news immediately stirred up the hall. Although the authorities conducted a purge every year, just like humans, some mutated beasts with exceptional abilities could evolve to level 4 within a year. Alternatively, some of the ones that had slipped through the net in previous years might have been hiding deep in the mountains and grown to level 4 after a few years.

However, once they reached level 4, these mutated beasts could no longer hide. Their larger size meant they required more food, which necessitated expanding their range of activity, leading to their inevitable discovery by humans.

"Mutated Dragon Armored Beast, suspected to have awakened a trace of a dragon bloodline, level 4, with formidable combat strength. Requires a team of five elite members at or above the Third Heavenly Realm to undertake. The mission will involve delving 130 kilometers into the mountains, and is estimated to last for a day. If no one takes it, it will be handled by military experts."

Looking at the information popping up on the big screen, someone exclaimed in surprise, "A mutated beast with a dragon bloodline. What a pity."

"Hey! Now no one can complete it," someone gloated.

Due to their size and innate abilities, mutated beasts were already on par with cultivators of the same level. Just like king-level bloodlines, however, beasts with dragon bloodlines far surpassed their own realm in terms of combat power.

With this beast being level 4, even if these geniuses at the Third Heavenly Realm teamed up, they might not necessarily be able to kill it, and there could even potentially be casualties on their side.

Even Li Chen and Zhang Zhilong, who had recently advanced to the middle stage of the Third Heavenly Realm with the help of a large amount of resources over the past two days, looked at each other with a wry smile.

The difference was too significant. For a while, no one dared to claim it.

Finally, Chen Chu stepped forward with his saber on his back. He looked around, then said, "Since nobody is willing to take it, I will deal with this mission."