Chapter 37

Cheng Yang can now learn the formula for refining the small vial of Life Elixir, but he currently has no more Spirit Energy Points, so he has to put it on hold for now. The most critical point is that Cheng Yang's current demand for the Life Elixir is not very high; he only needs to keep a few bottles on hand for emergencies.

Of course, learning the formula alone is not enough to refine the elixir; he also needs refining tools, such as a medicine furnace, which is essential for refining the elixir. For refining more advanced elixirs later on, he will need a refining furnace.

Cheng Yang immediately bought a medicine furnace and a medicine hoe from the shop, completing his set of tools. However, his account's Spirit Energy Points decreased by another 200 points, and these living tools are indeed not cheap.

Cheng Yang looked at the remaining 400+ Spirit Energy Points in his account and couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seems he still has to stay busy for the first half of the night.

Fortunately, such consumption is not without its benefits. At least it contributed over 70 Spirit Energy Points to the territory's Spirit Energy Pool, and because he is the lord of Luofeng Village, 3 Spirit Energy Points were added to his personal account.

1,400 Spirit Energy Points, after a round trip, returned 3 points to himself. Is this considered treating a beggar?

Walking out of the refining room, it was already quite late. Cheng Yang saw Liu Hao and others gathered in front of the carpentry shop, all with shocked faces, completely at a loss. He immediately understood their situation; it seemed that some people had entered the carpentry shop and were driven out by the boss inside.

He knew that the bosses of these shops did not use civilized methods to drive people out; they simply waved their hands and swept the people out. Even in the previous world, after the apocalypse had lasted for a year, people still did not understand how powerful the shop owners were. There had even been incidents of robbing shops, but all the robbers were mercilessly killed.

"Yangzi, what... what's going on inside?" Liu Hao, upon seeing Cheng Yang, seemed to have grabbed a lifeline.

Cheng Yang said, "Why can't there be people inside?"

"But..." Liu Hao wanted to say more but was interrupted by Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang said, "Forget it, Haozi. I can't explain everything inside. The only thing I can infer is that those people might not be from Earth. However, they have intelligence and emotions, so they must be treated like other humans. This will benefit you in the future."

"What kind of benefit?" Liu Hao still didn't understand.

Cheng Yang said, "If one day you can't buy things from the shops, you'll know the benefit."

Liu Hao is not stupid and naturally understood the meaning behind Cheng Yang's words. If he offended these people, he would be directly deprived of the right to purchase supplies. Is this considered a benefit?

Liu Hao smiled bitterly again, "But those people didn't offend him, so why were they all driven out? I didn't dare to go in afterward."

Cheng Yang rolled his eyes and said, "You sent in people who had no Spirit Energy Points, so they were naturally driven out. These people are all money-grubbers. If you go in, they will treat you like a god."

"Really?" Liu Hao was still hesitant.

Cheng Yang said impatiently, "Why don't you try it and see?"

Liu Hao said, "Alright, I'll go try it." With that, Liu Hao walked toward the carpentry shop and indeed was not driven out for a long time.

Cheng Yang immediately said, "Only those who have chosen a combat profession can take on a secondary profession, so those who haven't chosen a profession shouldn't go and cause trouble. Additionally, to take on a secondary profession, you must complete a transaction with the shop owner, and the transaction amount must be no less than 10 Spirit Energy Points. So, those who don't have 10 Spirit Energy Points shouldn't go and cause trouble."

Then, Cheng Yang let everyone choose whether they wanted to become carpenters or alchemists, as this was related to personal interests and hobbies, and Cheng Yang did not intend to force anyone. Additionally, Cheng Yang briefly explained the other types of secondary professions available to avoid people with other talents choosing the wrong profession.

After the introduction, Cheng Yang placed the medicine furnace he had just bought in his room and then walked out of the territory alone. His target this time was the large monster clusters. After all, he now had a relatively ample supply of Magic Energy Elixirs and didn't have to worry about sustained combat ability.

Of course, if he could find some herbs for refining Magic Energy Elixirs tonight, that would be even better. However, he didn't have high hopes for this, as the visibility at night was poor, and finding herbs growing in the grass was extremely difficult.

Cheng Yang spent a few minutes quickly rushing out of the Luofeng Village territory and entered the wild where monster clusters were dense.

This place was already over a kilometer away from the Luofeng Village territory and had not been visited by the village's combat teams during the day. Therefore, the danger level here was very high. Not only were there small clusters of dozens of mutated beasts, but there were also large clusters of four to five hundred.

Originally, Cheng Yang did not plan to deal with these small monster clusters, as they were perfect for his team to practice on. However, to avoid any accidents, he decided to eliminate them.

After successfully wiping out two small monster clusters of about fifty mutated beasts, Cheng Yang finally discovered a large monster cluster of over three hundred.

During the day, Cheng Yang had also eliminated such a monster cluster, but at that time, he used a dragging method. After a while of fighting, he would run a distance to recover his Magic Energy Points and then come back to fight again. This method was undoubtedly very inefficient.

Now the situation was different. With enough Magic Energy Elixirs in hand, Cheng Yang felt extremely confident. Seeing the cluster of green-skinned monkeys, he immediately dashed forward and fired a magic missile. A leisurely green-skinned monkey didn't even understand what was happening before it lost its life.

Cheng Yang showed no mercy, continuing his attacks while slowly retreating in a certain rhythm.

As Cheng Yang's attacks unfolded, the green-skinned monkeys realized they were under attack, and the forest immediately erupted with cries like those of infants. Then, the green-skinned monkeys swarmed toward Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang slightly increased his speed, but this slight increase was relative to himself. His current speed was no slower than that of the green-skinned monkeys.

After more than thirty attacks, the green-skinned monkeys had lost one-tenth of their numbers, but Cheng Yang's Spirit Energy Points were also depleted. Cheng Yang immediately took a bottle of Magic Energy Elixir from his bag, opened it, and drank it in one gulp.

A refreshing chill permeated Cheng Yang's body, and the slight fatigue from the night disappeared. His depleted Spirit Energy Points began to surge instantly.

Cheng Yang did not pause for a moment, and the magic missiles continued to fly. By the time the tenth magic missile was fired, his Spirit Energy Points were already full. It's worth noting that Cheng Yang had a natural affinity for medicines, and any medicine or elixir he consumed had a double effect. This means that the medium bottle of Magic Energy Elixir he consumed actually restored 220 Magic Energy Points, while Cheng Yang's Magic Energy Points were only a little over 160. If he hadn't continuously used magic missiles during the effect period of the Magic Energy Elixir, the wasted Magic Energy Points would have been even more.

The attacks continued, and Cheng Yang used two magic missiles to take down a mid-stage first-level green-skinned monkey that had rushed out, then proceeded to slaughter the remaining green-skinned monkeys.

At this point, the green-skinned monkeys were red-eyed with anger. They did not assess whether they could kill Cheng Yang, their enemy, and simply swarmed forward. The result was that more green-skinned monkeys turned into Spirit Energy Points for Cheng Yang.

After the battle, Cheng Yang took stock of his gains. He obtained 314 Spirit Energy Points, and the medium bottles of Magic Energy Elixir he consumed totaled seven bottles, equivalent to 56 Spirit Energy Points. On the surface, it seemed like a loss, but if time was factored in, the difference was significant.

In the past, it would take Cheng Yang about an hour to deal with a monster cluster of this size, and he had to be very cautious. Now, with Magic Energy Elixirs, it only took him about seven to eight minutes to resolve the battle. The remaining time could be used to find and eliminate two more monster clusters of this size.

If it weren't for the fact that Cheng Yang didn't have a spatial ring and lacked the space to carry more Magic Energy Elixirs, he would have spent all his Spirit Energy Points to buy Magic Energy Elixirs and then plunged into the jungle for a frenzied slaughter.

This was a unique advantage that Cheng Yang now had, as he had a territory from the beginning. This advantage made him unafraid even when facing large monster clusters.

Of course, Cheng Yang was not arrogant enough to think he was invincible. In the previous world, many experts who thought they were invincible ended up dead, because this was the apocalypse, and no one knew when a powerful monster would suddenly appear from somewhere.

Based on the experience from the previous world, all the wilderness bases were generally near cities, and the farther away from the wilderness bases, the more likely it was to encounter powerful monsters.

In the early stages of the apocalypse, the truly powerful were not the mutated beasts but the aberrant beasts. Mutated beasts were common species in the transformed world, and their strength followed certain rules set by the deities. However, aberrant beasts were different. They were formed when the original monsters in the world underwent mutations during the deities' transformation of the world.

Because aberrant beasts were formed through mutations, their strength was highly unpredictable. Some were weaker than first-level early-stage mutated beasts, while others were extremely powerful. In the previous world, the most powerful aberrant beast seen had mid-third-level strength. How powerful is mid-third-level? The leader of a mutated beast cluster that destroyed a human base was only a peak second-level existence. The mid-third-level aberrant beast had the strength to completely crush a mutated beast cluster of over a million.

The power of aberrant beasts made humans fear, but fortunately, their numbers were not many, or humans would have had no chance of turning the tide.

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