Chapter 118: The Flame and Frost Crystal Core

Wang Ling hesitated for a moment before saying, "Pay!" Although spending 1,000 currency points for an inquiry seemed a bit wasteful, knowing the reason would allow him to learn from the experience for future missions.

After ruthlessly deducting 1,000 currency points, the mainframe extension stated, "Based on your performance, your mission clearance rating should have been A. However, completing the mission three days early and failing to engage the high-level zombie horde resulted in a decrease in rating. Using a trick to destroy the zombie robot caused a significant drop in the final evaluation, resulting in a final grade of D."

"Uh..." Wang Ling’s mouth twitched. He never imagined that easily taking out the robot would result in a penalty from the Space for his rating. Fortunately, the Space did not confiscate the Bronze Flash Key dropped by the final boss; otherwise, he would have been truly heartbroken.

At this moment, another question arose in his mind. He continued to ask, "If my performance rating was only A, what would I have needed to do to achieve an S or X grade?"

"If you wish to inquire for information, please pay 1,000 currency points."

Wang Ling raised the middle fingers of both hands, making a contemptuous gesture at the sphere of light, and said indignantly, "Pay!"

"You would have needed to hold the house stronghold for five days, fighting against all types of high-level zombie hordes. In the final phase of the fifth day, Dr. Edgar would have joined the attack piloting the zombie robot. Successfully surviving this duration would have resulted in an S-grade rating. Successfully destroying the robot and killing Dr. Edgar during this period would have resulted in an X-grade rating."

"I see... So, taking overly opportunistic measures to finish the mission easily leads the Space to lower the clearance rating. But to make me go head-to-head with that giant iron beast in a real fight? Not even if you killed me! Anyway, I’ve gained enough benefits; a D-grade is a D-grade. I’ll just get fewer attribute and skill points."

After all, he had obtained the Zen Garden card, the final boss key, and the Cob Cannon card, and he had successfully completed the mission in this world. The only pity was that because he didn't have enough reward points, he couldn't buy some of the plant seeds he was particularly interested in from Dave, such as Magnet-shroom, Marigold, Gold Magnet, Grave Buster, Cattail, Gloom-shroom, Winter Melon...

There was also a treasure chest as a clearance reward. After the previous two main missions, the chests had only contained currency points. This time, after opening the chest, something else finally appeared—a precious sapphire that could be exchanged for 1,000 currency points, which was not even as much as the currency points he had received directly.

Wang Ling now had two sapphires. He didn't exchange the measly 2,000 currency points; instead, he kept them with his other valuables—the mushroom gold, silver, and copper coins—as collectibles.

"There is only a 1% chance to get rare items from a clearance chest. It seems my luck really isn't that great!"

With a sigh, he took out the Bronze Flash Key. After using it, a simple yet heavy bronze chest was summoned, glowing with a serene, watery blue light. For an item dropped by the highest-level boss in a world, Wang Ling was quite expectant.

"Could it contain a zombie robot?"

After some thought, Wang Ling cast aside this unrealistic idea. If it were a robot, that would be too much of a bug! He would be able to walk all over the beginner zone in the future, and the Dream Space would never allow such an item to be opened in the beginner zone. It would violate the purpose of evolution; after all, there is a mainframe controlling the balance, so the possibility of opening a robot was almost zero.

As the chest opened, the Dream Badge prompted: "You have obtained 10,000 currency points, 1 attribute point, 1 skill point, and 1 Dream skill point."

Flash chests seemed to always include rewards in wealth, and this batch was quite substantial. Wang Ling’s total wealth now amounted to 67,500 currency points, 20 attribute points, 15 skill points, and 4 Dream skill points! The biggest gain from this wealth came from the two teams he had wiped out: the Whirlwind Team and the Chrysanthemum and Blade Team. The vast majority of the wealth stored by those two teams had fallen into his hands.

Wang Ling looked into the treasure chest and saw two fist-sized, crystal-ball-shaped crystals, one red and one blue. Inside one, flames were rising, while inside the other, there were tiny specks of frost. They looked even more beautiful than gemstones.

"What are these?"

He picked up the two items with curiosity and could clearly feel a scorching heat and a chilling cold radiating from the crystals, respectively.

"Flame Crystal Core: A crystal core embedded by Dr. Edgar in the zombie robot to increase its ability to spit fireballs. It contains fire energy. Absorbing it will grant a faint level of fire elemental energy."

"Frost Crystal Core: A crystal core embedded by Dr. Edgar in the zombie robot to increase its ability to spit ice balls. It contains ice energy. Absorbing it will grant a faint level of ice elemental energy."

"They are items that increase energy systems!"

Wang Ling was somewhat surprised. He knew that obtaining an energy system was even more precious than obtaining a powerful skill! After obtaining an energy system, although the immediate increase in strength was far less obvious than obtaining a skill, one could develop their own unique skills through self-cultivation.

However, he already possessed spiritual energy. Having too many energy systems would inevitably lead to complexity, and these two crystal cores seemed of little use.

After a moment of thought, Wang Ling considered the characteristics of his spiritual energy, and a pleasant surprise welled up in his heart—what he possessed now was the most basic, non-elemental spiritual energy. Since the Dragon Soul was dormant, he didn't know when he would possess Dragon Soul spiritual energy.

Therefore, exploring the changes in spiritual energy and evolving his basic non-elemental spiritual energy into elemental spiritual energy was a logical evolutionary path. It was extremely difficult to explore spiritual energy changes on one's own. By obtaining these two crystal cores containing ice and fire energy, he could use the ice and fire elements within them to explore the ice and fire transformations of his spiritual energy!

If he could fire off fire-attribute or ice-attribute spiritual energy blasts, with the elemental bonus, such energy projectiles would certainly be more powerful than basic non-elemental spiritual energy blasts! Excitedly looking at the two crystal cores, Wang Ling felt that he had plenty of cultivation tasks to keep him busy during the seven-day rest period.

Placing the flame and frost crystal cores on the table, Wang Ling thought of his sixty-thousand-plus currency points and looked at the mainframe extension in the center of the room. A certain idea immediately popped into his mind.

He shook his head, temporarily casting aside the distracting thought. After all, no matter how many currency points he had, he had to prioritize improving his strength. He currently lacked long-range attack methods, and the recoil time of the White Iron Firelock was far too long; upgrading this weapon was imperative.

He took out the White Iron Firelock and began to pay currency points to upgrade the weapon through the mainframe extension. After upgrading it by one level, he was delighted to find that the recoil time had indeed decreased!

After paying 3,000 currency points, the White Iron Firelock was upgraded to LV4. Then, the mainframe extension sent a prompt: "When upgrading equipment from LV4 to LV7, the cost of currency points increases, and there is a risk of upgrade failure."

Since Wang Ling had enough currency points and could meet the equipment requirements, he continued the upgrade. He lost an additional 4,000 currency points due to two failures, but finally reached LV7, costing a total of 10,000 points. The mainframe extension sent another prompt: "When upgrading equipment from LV7 to LV9, there is a risk of the upgrade resetting to LV1."

After hesitating for a long time, Wang Ling stopped the idea of further upgrading. If he failed, the 13,000 currency points spent on the upgrade would be wasted. Although he had many currency points, he had many other uses for them, and he couldn't afford to be too wasteful now.

The upgraded White Iron Firelock had significantly improved attributes:

"White Iron Firelock: Type: Firearm; Grade: E; Attribute: Red Equipment; Attack: 35-55; Ability: 30-second self-recoil; Ammo Type: Lead Shot; Magazine Capacity: 1; Range: Optimal range 40 meters, effective range 60 meters. Upgrade Level: LV7."

"Skill: Flame Shot, adds fire elemental damage to the bullet, causing the ammunition to explode upon hitting an enemy, dealing 3x damage. Additionally, it deals 33 points of fire elemental damage to targets within a one-meter diameter and 23 points of fire splash damage to a five-meter diameter area. Every time a Flame Shot is fired, the musket must rest for 30 minutes to allow the old-fashioned barrel to cool down completely."

"Equipment Requirements: Strength: 30, Agility: 33, Basic Ranged Combat LV3."

"Description: An easy-to-use short-barreled musket, very simple to maintain; Moguri musketeers love it."

After the upgrade, not only did the recoil speed change from the original one minute to 30 seconds, but the shooting distance and attack power also increased significantly, and the built-in Flame Shot skill was also strengthened accordingly.

"But 30 seconds still feels a bit long... If it could be upgraded to LV10, I'm afraid the shooting speed and range would truly meet combat needs. A handgun with infinite ammo, decent firing speed, and range is more practical than any other weapon. Alas, I dare not waste any more currency points..."

Wang Ling shook his head, completely casting aside the desire to continue upgrading, and then took out the Meteor Iron Spearhead. After a little thought, he gave up on the idea of upgrading this weapon. The Meteor Iron Spearhead was suitable for those with high agility who could use sharp weapons for stabbing and take advantage of the characteristic that wounds were not easy to heal; he wasn't accustomed to using it. Moreover, it was only an E-grade blue piece of equipment, and in his current eyes, it was a bit beneath him.

"I have 54,500 currency points left. I promised Hassan I would find him a good scimitar weapon. If I want to buy a satisfactory weapon for myself, I'm afraid the remaining currency points won't be enough to 'create a person.' Furthermore, the space in my storage bag needs to be expanded, which is also an expense. Is there anything I can sell?"

After checking for a while, Wang Ling found that although he had many things, there was nothing he could sell. Just then, he suddenly saw a prop he had obtained in the Plants vs. Zombies world. Picking it up, a sinister smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"Well, with this, it's time to check out the Free Market."