Chapter 147: Distributing the Loot, the Three-Skill Mechanical Beast

Chapter 147: Distributing the Loot, the Three-Skill Mechanical Beast

The Flame Demon shattered into a pile of coal-like debris, leaving behind three Skill Cores, a piece of black crystal ore, and a fiery red Source Essence.

With the battlefield cleared, the two teams had no time to thoroughly examine their newfound treasures. The mission was not yet complete, and the most crucial task was to locate and destroy the Rift Point.

Despite defeating the Flame Demon, they had not yet searched the Sandstone Hill for any Rift Points.

Thus, the two teams immediately returned to the hill to conduct a thorough search.

The Sandstone Hill was not large, just a small slope made of sandstone with numerous crisscrossing caves.

With six Seers from both teams combined, the search was swift, and soon, a discovery was made.

"Found it! I see a very strange space," one of the Seers from Jian Qing's team announced.

Lu Heng reminded them, "Make sure to search the designated areas thoroughly to avoid the possibility of multiple Rift Points."

The Abyssal Rift was formed by the spatial overlap of two worlds.

After the appearance of a Rift Point, the likelihood of multiple Rift Points occurring nearby was high.

After about ten minutes, the six Seers completed their search and located two Rift Points.

Both Rift Points were located in the caves of the Sandstone Hill, one of which was in a rather tricky spot.

Lu Heng entered the cave and used his Second Transformation rank, the Rift Slash, to destroy the Rift Point.

Without Lu Heng's presence, destroying the Rift Point would have been a challenging task.

The Abyssal Rift was a spatial rift formed by the overlapping of two worlds, creating a compressed space.

This was a spatial phenomenon, and ordinary power had little effect on the Abyssal Rift.

Lu Heng's Rift Slash, with its spatial attribute, could easily destroy the Rift Point with a single strike.

Consequently, to deal with Abyssal Rifts, it was customary to bring along Metahumans with spatial abilities.

However, spatial abilities were of an extremely high rank and were quite rare during the early stages of the Abyssal Descent.

Even though six months had passed since the Abyssal Descent, and they were gradually entering the mid-stage, the number of Metahumans with spatial abilities remained scarce.

If spatial abilities were unavailable, the only option was to use bombs to forcefully destroy the Rift Point.

When the explosive power reached a critical point, it could indeed affect space to some extent, but whether it could successfully destroy the Rift Point was a matter of luck.

If the Rift Point couldn't be destroyed, blowing up the cave and burying the Rift Point could temporarily resolve the Mist issue.

They could wait for a Metahuman with spatial abilities to be dispatched to handle the Rift Point later.

After destroying one Rift Point, Lu Heng waited for his Source Energy to recover before destroying the second one.

During the destruction process, a group of six or seven Abyssal Aliens approached them.

With both teams now united and their weapons set up, dealing with the Abyssal Aliens was much easier. They just had to hold their ground and sweep them with machine guns.

After destroying both Rift Points, the crisis mission was finally complete.

Jian Qing and Chen Zihan began using their abilities to disperse the surrounding mist.

A gale blew, swirling the mist around the Sandstone Hill, rising into the sky and drifting away.

In an instant, the gale cleared the mist within a few hundred meters.

The group finally saw the blue sky and took a deep breath.

After breathing the acidic mist for nearly a week, several team members had swollen respiratory tracts.

Breathing fresh air again felt like a rebirth.

As the nearby mist dispersed, the communicators could finally receive satellite signals, and they contacted the Sulfur Valley military base to send helicopters for extraction.

The Sulfur Valley military base dispatched two 20-series helicopters to pick up both teams, and the injured were sent for treatment.

With the mission complete, it meant that the group would soon part ways.

They would spend the night at the military base and depart the next day.

That evening, the two teams gathered.

Wu Weibing laid out the acquired loot for distribution. It was time to divide the spoils.

With their imminent separation, a fair division was necessary.

The loot to be divided included three Skill Cores, five regular Cores, a piece of black crystal ore, and a fiery red Source Essence dropped by the Flame Demon.

Lu Heng had already examined the attributes of the Source Essence and confirmed it to be a Second Transformation rank, the Flame Messenger's Essence.

For a Metahuman who had not acquired a Second Transformation Essence, absorbing this Essence would grant them early access to the Flame Messenger's rank ability and initiate the Essence Battle.

Lu Heng already possessed the Second Transformation rank, the Swordsman's Essence, and absorbing this Essence would increase his Essence Fusion Rate.

Therefore, all twenty individuals present could make use of this Essence; the question was who it would be given to.

Typically, rank Essences should be prioritized for those who needed the corresponding rank abilities.

"Does anyone need this Source Essence?" Wu Weibing asked, holding up the Essence.

In truth, while anyone could use it, the question of suitability remained.

In the case of a wild team, suitability was not a concern; whoever got their hands on it first would claim it.

Most of the Metahumans present were transferred from the Special Operations Squad, so discipline was high.

Jian Qing raised her hand and spoke, "My team has a fire-type Metahuman who can use this. See if you have a need for it. If you give us this Essence, we won't take any other Cores."

As the captain, Jian Qing did her best to secure the Source Essence for her teammates.

In fact, Lu Heng's team also had a Flame Manipulator, who was crucial in dealing with the Fungus Carpet.

Lu Heng looked at him and asked, "What about you? Do you need it?"

The Flame Demon also extracted other Flame skills, which were very suitable for Flame Manipulators.

It was just a matter of choosing the right one.

The Flame Manipulator in Lu Heng's team was named Tao Yalun, and he was also interested in the Source Essence of Flame Messenger.

Tao Yalun was a member of Chen Zihan's squad and had once ventured into the wasteland planet of the Seks civilization together.

Although Lu Heng was only his temporary captain, if he wanted it, Lu Heng would definitely help him obtain it.

However, acquiring Source Essence came with benefits and risks.

Once the Essence was absorbed, it meant the start of an Essence Battle, and there was a possibility of being attacked by other Metahumans.

Tao Yalun thought for a moment and said, "I can do without the Essence, but I want a Skill Core."

He pointed at the Skill Core called Flame Amplification as he spoke.

After activating this skill, it could increase flame power by 30% for one minute.

In terms of effect, this skill was incredibly powerful, directly boosting flame power by 30%.

After some discussion between the two teams, they finally decided to give the Flame Messenger's Essence to Jian Qing's team's Flame Manipulator.

The Flame Amplification Core would go to Tao Yalun.

Additionally, the Flame Demon also extracted two other Skill Cores.

Flame Shield: Releases a Flame Shield on the user's body surface for 180 seconds, increasing Flame resistance by 50% and absorbing 500 Flame damage. Targets that come into contact with the Flame Shield take 20 Flame damage per second. Skill Cost: 30 Source Energy; Skill Level: C-Class.

There was also another C-Class Skill Core called Exploding Fireball.

Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Lin Zeyu discussed and then reached out to take the Flame Shield Core and the black crystal ore, saying, "We'll take these two, and you can divide the rest. This black crystal ore is a forging ore, and I can pay the difference."

Chen Zihan waved his hand and said, "No need, the remaining ones are enough for us, it's just right."

The remaining ordinary cores were also distributed, and thus, the spoils were divided.

Next, everyone gathered to drink and chat, and when they got tired, they dispersed to rest.

...

The Flame Shield Core was very useful, and the skill effect was powerful, but it could only add a shield to the user.

In other words, this was not an auxiliary skill but a defensive skill.

If used by Su Muyu, this skill could only add a shield to herself.

Therefore, Lu Heng planned to give it to the Mechanical Tiger.

The Mechanical Tiger's liquid metal shell was already immune to physical attacks, unless the physical attack's power was strong enough to overwhelm an A-Class Mechanical Beast, otherwise, it couldn't pose a threat to it.

However, the Mechanical Tiger still had a weakness, which was its fear of flames.

Ultra-high-temperature burning would melt its metal shell into molten iron.

Just like in the Abyssal Battlefield, the high-energy rays from the Seks civilization's Prism Armor Battle Tank had melted its metal shell into molten iron.

Considering this weakness, Lu Heng chose the Flame Shield Core for the Mechanical Tiger.

With this Core, it could absorb 500 points of flame damage and increase flame resistance by 50%.

With this skill, combined with the effect of Metal Enhancement, it could withstand high-temperature burning-type damage.

The skill was named Flame Shield, which could defend against flame damage, but its actual effect was to defend against high-temperature damage.

High-energy laser damage and flame damage were actually the same type, both causing burning damage.

Therefore, this Flame Shield could also defend against heat-based laser weapons.

After the Mechanical Tiger consumed this Core, it gained three skills.

They were Metal Enhancement at C-Class, City-Breaking Charge at B-Class, and Flame Shield at C-Class.

With these three skills combined, this big guy could be considered Bluesphere's number one iron lump, almost immune to physical attacks, and now with increased flame resistance.

Add to that the fearless City-Breaking Charge, and it could even ram head-on against tanks.

In terms of combat power alone, the Mechanical Tiger's strength was already comparable to that of a level 25 Metahuman.

Especially when facing the Flame Demon and Abyssal Aliens, ordinary Metahumans wouldn't dare to engage in direct confrontation, but the Mechanical Tiger could.

After resting for a night in Sulfur Valley, the next morning, the two teams of twenty people officially parted ways, each returning home or to their units.

Lu Heng's trio returned to the coastal area and rested well for a day, preparing to take the black crystal forging stone the next day to attempt an upgrade for the Aurora Blade.

Before even reaching Tempering Castle, they received news from Lin Zeyu, and it was international news.

Ten days ago, the Japan Kyushu Shin Toryu Sword Saint, Saito Makoto, was expelled from the country.

Subsequently, Japan spread the word that the Xia's swordsmen were all despicable and shameless, unwilling to fight, and instead used official power to expel the Japan Sword Saint.

The matter seemed to be as such, but with a different narrative, it sounded completely different.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end