Dark Moon Era Chapter 123 - A Harvest

Chapter 123: A Harvest

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

He was curious about was the crystal.

What was the crystal? No one truly understood it. The old civilization only ntioned sothing about calculi, which was also known as stone, that would form in human or animal bodies in the form of gallstones and kidney stones.

Crystal? Could it be considered a Śarīra of natural formation? In which era did such a crystal co into public notice? It did not seem like soone had made it up either.

Tang Ling was not a scientist. Although he was curious and eagerly sought knowledge, he did not have the ti and suitable environnt to study.

All he could say was that the crystal was unique to this era, and was usually found in the aorta of the heart.

Tang Ling had never seen a real crystal before, but according to the information that he had received, the bloody red crystal with a tint of purple was not sothing abruptly embedded itself in the heart. It was more like sothing that grew naturally and was connected to the veins.

The aorta around the crystal would undergo changes. It tended to beco more tenacious and harder. The closer it was to the crystal, the more tenacious the aorta would be.

It felt like the cells in the heart were slowly changing, eventually forming the crystal.

As for the composition of the crystal, Tang Ling did not know the slightest detail. He wondered whether he could spot cells within the crystal.

However, such changes were logical in this era. Otherwise, given the heart structure of the people from the old civilization, it could not have handled the power and speed that the people of this era possessed, at least, not for human beings.

It also seed like the stronger the living being, the higher the chance of the crystal forming in its heart.

As for insects...

Tang Ling was pondering upon the thought while he quickly and simply bandaged his wounds. He then smashed the black-winged mantis to death. Given his current strength, spending so extra effort killing a tranquilized black-winged mantis was not difficult.

Then, he searched for the crystal.

Insects did not possess hearts like human beings. Instead, there was an organ known as the dorsal blood vessel or ventral blood vessel, which could be found at either the upper or the lower part of the abdon. It could be considered a combination of the heart and arteries, similar to the aorta. The muscles that pumped the blood to the aortic arches were also located there.

Tang Ling ca searching for the crystal, so he must have had all this knowledge.

Without further ado, he used his sharp military knife, which he had borrowed from Orston for a week, and started to dissect the black-winged mantis.

When he exposed the dorsal blood vessel and noticed symptoms of hardening, Tang Ling’s heart raced.

He moved his hand along the hardened area and searched for the central point. His heart was praying for the unusual changes that were caused by the crystal formation to appear.

His hand moved exceptionally slowly until he finally felt an unusually hard spot, then he stopped. He quickly looked at what his hand had found.

It was small, probably only the size of half a thumb. It was in a bewitching red in color and glowed very dimly. It seed very intricate and was translucent.

When he removed it from the black-winged mantis’s body, he raised it up under the sunlight and was able to spot so tiny purple lines in it.

So, this was the so-called crystal? The crystal that was worth 50 Hope credits per gram?

The crystal in his hand was about 3 grams, and he felt a little surreal holding it in his hand. He quickly calculated in his heart that in the past 20 days, even if he completed all the possible missions from the Hope Barrier without any rest, he would earn less than 80 Hope credits.

Yet, this little piece of crystal was worth 150 Hope credits?

Tang Ling curled his fingers and held the crystal tightly. It felt nothing like holding a pebble. It was warm and tender as if it was alive. One would love it from the bottom of the heart and would try to possess it.

Lucky!

Even a Level 3 mutated beast might not form a crystal if its whole heart was turning hard.

However, Tang Ling was able to find one on a Level 3 mutated insect! Moreover, judging from the grade of the crystal, it should be considered a quality good.

However, it was not the ti for him to be infatuated with his findings. He was still on the edge of the battlefield, and the fight might extend here any second.

Besides that, this chaleon black-winged mantis was considered a high-value insect among the Level 3 mutated insects. Its front arms and wings were spoils that the Hope Barrier would purchase with Hope credits.

Its flesh might not be much but was definitely sellable as well.

Of course, Tang Ling could not deal with the body of the black-winged mantis here and now. If he was unlucky and ran into so other thing, he might not be able to keep his pri battle form since he was hurt.

No one from the battlefield was weak.

He kept the crystal but still did not co up with a viable solution to deal with the black-winged mantis, so he grabbed the body and sprinted back into the forest.

The black-winged mantis was around 100 kgs, but it had bled out and lost so weight. Furthermore, given Tang Ling’s current strength, carrying the body was not hard.

******

The spot where Tang Ling deed as his eating ground was probably the best place to deal with the black-winged mantis’s body, and it was still considerably near to the battlefield.

The Goddess of Luck seed to have favored Tang Ling this ti. After he retrieved his tactical backpack from the tree, he sprinted with all his might and managed to return to his eating ground in around 5 minutes.

He did not run into any problems on the way back.

However, dissecting the black-winged mantis completely was troubleso as it had many tough body parts. Fortunately, he had the precious military knife from Orston. Otherwise, with his own refined steel knife, he would have to spend extra ti just sawing into the body.

Even so, Tang Ling did a rather poor job at dissecting the black-winged mantis. However, the little hardened plate in front of its chest, the front arms from which the flesh had been emptied, and the pair of wings plus the legs were all taken.

Whatever he could stuff in his expandable tactical backpack, he filled, but the big front arms and the pair of wings must be hung outside instead. He did not have another option around this.

Fortunately, it was rare to run into soone in the northern forest, so Tang Ling believed that he would not get robbed.

As for the flesh, he gobbled every single piece of it after cleaning them.

His body required replenishnt after the fight. Even though he was eating over his daily quota, using the eating thod that Su Yao taught him, he could digest faster and store the energy in his body.

He tapped on his full stomach after the quick al, savoring the power that he got from the Level 3 mutated insect. Even though he carefully dug out all the flesh from its heavy carapace, he got less than 5 kgs of at in the end.

Thankfully, the 5 kgs of at could at least cure his problem of hunger for the next two days. Then, he would have ti for so missions and earn so Hope credits.

The important thing was that the quality of the at seed to benefit him more than a king beast’s at.

In order to beco strong, he must start with eating! He had to know how to eat properly!

Satisfied, Tang Ling carried his spoils and endured the fatigue as he headed towards his secret base to keep his spoils before he returned to the Hope Barrier.

The harvest might even grant him more luxurious sleeping ti that night, but he could not afford to waste ti on the way back. He must summarize his gains and losses of his hunt as soon as possible.