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Volume 1 – Chapter 12: Soul Power Crystal StoneLooking at the rice-grain size crystal fragments on the table, Qin Lun"s eyes flashed, he really didn"t think that this old goblin would back down so easily. However, was the old fellow that confident in these crystal fragments and wasn"t worried that he"d continue arguing?
Qin Lun reached out his hand, his heart filled with curiosity. But just as his finger touched the crystal fragment, that human skull design that lay dormant in the hollow of his right hand suddenly reacted.
After yesterday"s cool feeling of finally digesting something from the skull design, the originally rhythmic pulse had slowly weakened until it had finally disappeared. No matter what Qin Lun had tried, that strange simple computer had never appeared in his mind again.
But when Qin Lun pinched these crystal fragments, the eye sockets of this skull design once again had two dots of scarlet fire and was beating rhythmically again. Along with this undetectable rhythmic beat, the center of the skull design suddenly developed an attractive force, as if it was a baby holding a pacifier in their mouth, it automatically started to suck in those orange-yellow crystal fragments.
A weak cool air went along Qin Lun"s finger and traveled into the small skull in the center of his palm. The crystal fragment visibly shrunk and unexpected disappeared right under the old goblin"s and Qin Lun"s eyelids.
"This is…… a magic jelly bean?" Qin Lun blinked his eyes, not the slightest bit embarra.s.sed by his own greedy actions. Instead, he reached out his hand again to pick up another orange-yellow crystal and watched as it slowly disappeared his fingertips.
"You, you, this design…… a formal apostle?!" the old goblin turned a deaf ear to Qin Lun"s sarcastic remark and lost his calm for the first time, his speech somewhat incoherent. His eyes protruded widely as he stared at the Qin Lun"s palm that only just revealed a portion of the skull design.
He only came back to his senses when the third crystal fragment disappeared from Qin Lun"s fingertips, and angrily covered the rest of the crystal fragments on the table.
"What magic jelly bean, these are Soul Power Crystal Stones!"
The goblin elder looked at Qin Lun with a complicated face, "The design on your hand isn"t a tattoo and only appeared after you arrived in Shattered Starry Sky, right? Do you want to know what it is?"
"What is this?" Qin Lun slowly collected his smile and sat straight in his chair. Although he did not care about worldly affairs, but he still knew that when you ask others for advice, you needed to be humble and respectful.
"This isn"t some confidential secret, when you go to the drifting city, they will tell you anyway!" the old goblin sighed and his face was a bit vacant, as if he was immersed in some old memories.
When apostles first enter Shattered Starry Sky, they would all come in contact with the shattered Law Crystal when they are in the s.p.a.ce-time tunnel. Some overly lucky apostles would directly obtain a piece of Law Crystal that was more complete or some other sort of item that had mixed with an intact Law Crystal.
The odds of this happening is only one in one thousand, and one of the reasons is that intact Law Crystals inside of the s.p.a.ce-time tunnel was quite rare. The other reason was because the apostles didn"t know how precious these Law Crystals were at first and would not specifically go out to look for items that had been mixed with an intact Law Crystal. Furthermore, the Law Crystals in those items practically only exist for about two or three minutes before directly dissipating. By the time the apostles have come to understand all of this, the treasures would have already have turned into trash.
The design on Qin Lun"s hand was called a Soul Imprint. It was a Law Crystal that had a.s.similated with a Law Ent.i.ty or formed from an item which was able to contain a Law Crystal.
A Soul Imprint differentiates preparatory apostles from formal apostles and could usually only be obtained by preparatory apostles when they crossed over to another world for the first time and completed the mission of the different world, where they could obtain an intact Law Crystal to a.s.similate into their body.
As far as apostles are concerned, the role of a Soul Imprint could never be replaced. Through the Soul imprint, apostles could monitor their Law Ent.i.ty"s condition at any time, store numerous spiritual equipment and obtain all sorts of combat skills and lineage ability.
To say it in another way, the Soul Imprint was like the second soul for the apostles, it counted as their life"s treasure, that was why they were called Soul Imprints. An apostle could only have one Soul Imprint, so when they obtain other Law Crystals, they could only use it to increase their original Soul Imprint. A Soul Imprint was the true embodiment of an apostle"s will, no matter what kind of mixture their Law Crystal had, their outer appearance was only one kind.
"At the beginning, Soul Imprints are like infants have just been born and are very weak. Their ability can only mature step by step by using soul force crystal stones to feed them, which allow the apostles to control them." the goblin elder cast a glance at Qin Lun and snappily said, "You know the preciousness of the soul force crystal stone now! Calling them magic jelly beans…… hmph!"
"He he!" Qin Lun laughed a little and rubbed his nose, there wasn"t any sign of embarra.s.sment on his face, "So if there aren"t any soul force crystal stones, then the Soul Imprint will have no effect?"
"No, even without soul force crystal stones, the Soul Imprint can still mature, but it will do so by directly absorbing the apostle"s vitality. And even a mature Soul Imprint will continue to consume some of the apostle"s vitality." the old goblin opened his large mouth and laughed.
"However, there aren"t any apostles that care about this bit of consumption. As long as they can safely complete a mission from another world, they can obtain a large amount of crystal stone. If you die in your mission, then what does that small bit of consumption count for?"
"Alright then, I am very satisfied with the soul force crystal stone as compensation. Giving me one hundred grains of that should be enough!" Qin Lun finally released the tension and revealed a bright smile.
"One hundred grains?" the goblin elder widely opened his muddy eyes as he shook his head like a rattle, "That is impossible! You already absorbed three just now, the most I can give you is seven more!"
"Not negotiable?"
"Not negotiable!"
Qin Lun slowly narrowed his eyes, the sharp red in his eyes flashed through but this time the old goblin refused to back down, his face was expressionless as he looked over at the serial killer.
"There are altogether one thousand zombies in the base, I only want one hundred grains of soul force crystal stones which isn"t much at all!" Win Lun suddenly grinned, "If the others finds out about the value of these soul force crystal stones, I"m sure they will come back and look for you again. At that time, something like one hundred grains would not be able to make them leave!"
The old goblin"s face finally underwent a big change and suddenly opened his eyes, tremblingly getting up from the couch. The fat on his face had twisted into a clump as he moved to stand in front of Qin Lun and said in a low voice: "How did you know?"
Qin Lun smiled but did not speak, nevertheless, he was slightly sighing with regret in his heart. The old goblin"s reaction thoroughly confirmed his guess.
The zombies in the base don"t have any intelligence nor were they infected with any virus. That was something all of the prisoners knew, otherwise, they would have long since died. Then those zombies who have lost their souls, what exactly was supporting their biological instincts? This question had never been answered.
In fact, when the prisoners first met Gerd"s Flying Vehicle Society, the Lulu Race"s reaction after seeing the zombies had caused Qin Lun to become somewhat suspicious. But because Gerd had quickly taken them away from the scene, he could only bury his suspicions at the bottom of his heart.
When Qin Lun picked up the soul force crystal stone and discovered the cool air from the soul force crystal stone was exactly the same from the cool air he had obtained when he"d killed Chekhov. He couldn"t help but become suspicious about whether these so-called soul force crystal stones were actually the product of a Law Crystal fragment and a human body.
In other words, when he killed Chekhov, the mixture of Law Crystal on the Russian man merely became a cool stream of air and hadn"t been completely absorbed by him. As a result, it had been forcefully sucked out of Chekhov"s body by Qin Lun"s fused Soul Imprint.
Under such lucky chance and coincidence, if Qin Lun could still not make the connection between the soul force crystal stone and the zombies, then he really would be wasting a good brain. However, these things were not necessary to tell the old goblin.
Since the soul force crystal stones had such a great function, then he could only give up the opportunity to appreciate the old fellow"s act and try his best to win some crystal stones.
The old goblin"s face was changed unpredictably, but he only waved a hand to dismiss the two goblin guards that made to attack Qin Lun. After quite a while, the goblin elder"s face gradually returned to tranquility and he once again leaned against the couch, throwing over a small pouch onto the table while he was at it.
"Soul force crystal stones is the crystallization of a Law Crystal and an intelligent life. If the intelligent life loses its soul during the s.p.a.ce-time teleportation, then under the support of these crystals, they will temporarily turn into zombies until they have used up all of the crystal stone in their body."
As the old goblin opened his mouth again, the expression on his face became more and more gentle until his eyes were unexpectedly shining while he smilingly looked over at Qin Lun.
"There are many types of soul force crystal stones. It is consumed quickly in a human body and more than one thousand zombies can roughly produce six hundred soul force crystal stones. Including the three you have just now absorbed, there are one hundred and fifty-six grains of soul force crystal stone in this bag. It is everything that Gerd has obtained in while taking care of the Lulu race until now. I can give you all of it, as long as you can agree to one of my conditions."
Qin Lun slightly frowned but didn"t reach out to take the small pouch of soul force crystal stone. He raised his head cautious and asked: "Tell me the condition first!"
"Sigh, the young people these days really don"t respect the old or cherish the young by even a bit, it"s not like this old man will let you suffer a loss!" the goblin elder unhurriedly waved at the two goblin guards behind, "Go, bring over Di Di!"
Very quickly, the goblin guards brought a small goblin into the tent. It was a goblin youngster that was weak and thin in stature, with tender arms, and long ears that still had a bit of down on them. The eyes of goblins were originally large, but the eyes of this small goblin were incomparably large and were blinking with a beryl like brightness.
"Di Di is Gerd"s youngest child and is also my grandson. He is six years old this year, by human standards, he is a youngster that is just about to become an adult. He liked to listen to my adventure stories since a young time and has been determined to walk out of the Scarlet Gobi to see the foreign world!" the old goblin lovingly rubbed Di Di"s small head, "I will hand him over to you……"
"Wait a minute, I don"t know how to take care of children!" Qin Lun interrupted the old goblin"s words with an expressionless face.
"There is no problem, Di Di can take care of himself!"
"I am very dangerous, he isn"t safe by my side!"
"Life and death are ruled by fate! Out of this tent, Di Di is your servant. Even if you immediately kill him, the Lu Lu Race will not have any complaints!" The old goblin smilingly pushed the pouch along with Di Di towards Qin Lun.
"Right now, both of them are yours!"
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