Chapter 97: Strange Beast Crystal
Scytherion immediately accepted the order without hesitation. The moment Clayne finished speaking, the dragon-headed mantis spread its wings and launched itself through the shattered opening of the building. A violent gust swept through the room as the creature disappeared into the city. Several seconds later, distant explosions and collapsing structures began echoing from different directions.
Clayne did not even need to look outside to know what was happening.
Scytherion had begun hunting.
The creature treated the ruined city like its personal feeding ground.
Every few minutes, distant shockwaves rolled across the horizon. Sometimes entire buildings collapsed. Sometimes massive clouds of dust rose into the sky. Occasionally, horrifying roars echoed from mutated beasts unfortunate enough to encounter the mantis.
The sounds never lasted long.
The outcome was always the same.
Death.
Meanwhile, Clayne remained inside the school building, surrounded by piles of crystals gathered during the previous days.
The first crystal entered his palm.
He immediately began cultivating.
Spiritual energy flowed from the crystal.
The energy entered his body.
Circulated.
Attempted to merge with his cultivation.
Then the familiar resistance appeared.
The sensation was becoming increasingly infuriating.
It felt as though his body was a sealed container. No matter how much spiritual energy he poured inside, only a tiny fraction remained. The rest escaped.
By now, he had consumed enough crystals to make entire sects from the Tiny World go mad with envy.
Yet his cultivation progressed at a snail’s pace.
Minutes later, he opened his eyes.
Failure.
Again.
The crystal crumbled into dust.
Another crystal appeared in his hand.
Then another attempt began.
Then another failure.
Hours passed.
The pile of crystals gradually shrank.
Clayne’s mood gradually worsened.
At one point, he even stood up and kicked a broken chair across the room.
The chair smashed into a wall and shattered.
"Why?"
He genuinely could not understand.
The Tiny World treasures worked.
The heavenly-tribulation fruits worked.
The spiritual energy worked.
Yet the vast majority of crystals from the real world seemed nearly useless.
The problem was not that they lacked power.
Some contained tremendous amounts of energy.
The problem was compatibility.
Every attempt felt wrong.
The energy entered his body only to drift around uselessly before escaping.
It was like trying to fill a leaking bucket.
The more he cultivated, the more frustrated he became.
Eventually, another hour passed.
Then another.
Scytherion returned.
The mantis landed heavily outside the room carrying dozens of crystals in its claws and mouth.
Several larger crystals rolled across the floor.
The creature appeared incredibly proud.
"Master."
"Food."
"No."
"Master food."
Clayne sighed.
Then accepted the crystals.
The process repeated.
Cultivation.
Failure.
Cultivation.
Failure.
Cultivation.
Failure.
The sky gradually darkened.
Night arrived.
Scytherion left again.
Returned again.
Left again.
Returned again.
Each trip brought more crystals.
Some came from mutated dogs.
Some came from giant birds.
Some came from strange beasts Clayne had never seen before.
One crystal originated from a creature resembling a rhinoceros covered entirely in bone spikes.
Another came from a massive serpent.
A third came from a creature that looked like a cross between a wolf and a bat.
None of them worked.
The energy remained incompatible.
By midnight, Clayne’s patience was reaching its limit.
His cultivation had improved.
Technically.
But only technically.
The increase was so insignificant that it felt insulting.
Meanwhile, Scytherion seemed to be growing stronger every few hours.
The creature casually devoured crystals like snacks and showed visible improvements afterward.
The comparison alone was enough to make Clayne grind his teeth.
Eventually, during another one of Scytherion’s hunting trips, the mantis returned carrying something unusual.
At first, Clayne barely paid attention.
The crystal looked different.
Smaller.
Darker.
Its surface possessed faint crimson veins.
The energy inside felt strange.
Not beast-like.
Not spiritual.
Something else.
Scytherion immediately pushed it toward him.
The mantis appeared uncertain.
"Master."
"Strange food."
Clayne frowned.
Then picked it up.
The moment his fingers touched the crystal, he felt something different.
A peculiar sensation traveled through his body.
Unlike the beast crystals, this one felt familiar.
Very familiar.
The feeling reminded him of Urduja.
The parasitic tails.
The strange mutated creatures.
The red mist.
His eyes narrowed.
"What a strange parasitic beast crystal..."
Without hesitation, he opened the Tiny World.
Then he carefully placed the crystal inside Silent River Hill.
The reaction was immediate.
Dark clouds gathered.
Lightning descended.
The crystal endured heavenly tribulation.
The process lasted far longer than normal.
Several tiny cultivators hiding near the edge of Silent River Hill immediately fled in terror as thunder repeatedly struck the crystal.
When the process finally ended, the crystal had completely transformed.
Its crimson veins now glowed.
Its spiritual fluctuations became astonishingly dense.
Even Clayne could sense it.
The moment he removed it from the Tiny World, his heart began pounding.
The feeling was completely different from before.
This crystal resonated with him.
Not slightly.
Strongly.
Very strongly.
For the first time since obtaining crystals from the real world, he felt excitement.
Without wasting a single second, Clayne sat down and immediately began cultivating.
The crystal dissolved.
Spiritual energy entered his body.
Then—
His eyes widened.
It worked.
It actually worked.
No resistance appeared.
No rejection.
No leakage.
The energy flowed naturally through every meridian.
Every pathway.
Every corner of his body.
The sensation was so smooth that Clayne almost thought he was imagining it.
The spiritual energy merged with him completely.
His cultivation surged.
Boom.
The sixth stage of Qi Infusion Realm shook violently.
The bottleneck cracked.
Then shattered.
Seventh Stage.
Clayne almost laughed.
He immediately demanded more.
Scytherion looked confused but obeyed.
The mantis vanished into the city.
Hours later it returned carrying additional parasitic crystals.
Some came from strange infected creatures.
Others came from mutated beings that appeared neither beast nor undead.
Clayne accepted every single one.
Then cultivated.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The process became addictive.
Each crystal pushed him forward.
Each cultivation session strengthened him.
The spiritual energy no longer resisted.
The energy no longer escaped.
Everything finally clicked into place.
Days of frustration vanished.
For the first time since entering the apocalypse, Clayne finally discovered a cultivation resource suitable for himself.
The realization filled him with excitement.
The Seventh Stage became the Eighth.
The Eighth became the Ninth.
The Ninth became the Tenth.
The Tenth became the Eleventh.
Each breakthrough occurred faster than the last.
Meanwhile, Scytherion continued hunting relentlessly throughout the city, bringing back every parasitic crystal it could find.
The mantis did not even complain.
After all, every time Clayne absorbed a crystal, the leftovers were still useful to it.
Both master and beast benefited.
The arrangement was perfect.
By the time the next breakthrough arrived, the spiritual energy surrounding Clayne had become dense enough to distort the air.
His muscles tightened.
His bones strengthened.
Every breath carried spiritual fluctuations.
The room itself trembled slightly.
Finally, after absorbing another parasitic crystal tempered by heavenly tribulation, a violent wave of energy erupted from his body.
Boom.
The surrounding windows shattered.
Dust exploded outward.
Spiritual energy surged through every meridian.
Clayne slowly opened his eyes.
Disbelief appeared on his face.
The impossible had happened.
His cultivation had not merely advanced.
It had skyrocketed.
From the Sixth Stage of Qi Infusion Realm...
...he had reached the Seventh Stage of Qi Infusion Realm.
Even Clayne sat there in stunned silence for several moments, unable to believe the speed of his own growth.
