Chapter 465 - 42: Principles of Low-Tier Crystal Core Manufacturing (Part 2)

Chapter 465: Chapter 42: Principles of Low-Tier Crystal Core Manufacturing (Part 2)

Rock immediately understood what these Spirit Fruits were for.

Lin Yu hurriedly explained, "No, no, no, my Spirit Fruits are different from the Cosmic Arena’s Attribute Fruits. They increase all of the user’s physical attributes."

"How is that any different? You don’t actually think the Cosmic Arena only has Attribute Fruits that increase a single attribute, do you?"

"Once you reach the higher levels of the Cosmic Arena, it provides Attribute Fruits that increase all attributes."

"Although your Attribute Fruits look a little different, their effect is probably the same, right?"

"I’ve already eaten all those types of Attribute Fruits. They’re useless to me now."

"Take them back!"

Rock shook his head, a little disappointed by the Attribute Fruits Lin Yu had presented.

"I’ll just pretend I never saw these things."

"Let me give you a piece of advice. It’s fine to eat them in your own territory, but don’t trade these fruits. If the Cosmic Arena finds out, they’ll come looking for trouble!"

"Take a look at the items on the list. If you want to trade for anything, just bring out the corresponding Divine Coins!"

Seeing that Rock was about to ignore him, Lin Yu quickly added, "Wait, Rock! My Attribute Fruits really are different from the Arena’s. They have no consumption limit!"

"No consumption limit?"

"No consumption limit!!!"

"These fruits have no consumption limit!?!?"

Rock’s voice grew louder and louder. If there was no consumption limit, it meant that even an ordinary person could gain an incredible amount of attributes just by eating these fruits.

With high enough attributes alone, one could crush most people in the Cosmos... even gods!

He recalled Lin Yu’s poor control over his own body and guessed that Lin Yu had probably gotten his attributes from eating these fruits.

"That’s right, they have no consumption limit!"

"But..."

Before Lin Yu could finish, Rock popped all four fruits—the three All-Attribute Spirit Fruits and the one Divine Fruit—into his mouth and swallowed them in one gulp.

He then closed his eyes to carefully sense the changes in his body.

"Just as I thought. My physical attributes have increased again, and it’s an all-attribute increase."

"But... why is one of the fruits so hard to digest?"

Rock was puzzled. The diet of the Crystal Core Giant race consisted of Crystal Cores and various Energy Crystal Stones, which showed just how powerful their digestive systems were. For a Spirit Fruit to enter his stomach and stubbornly refuse to be digested was truly bizarre.

"Right, what were you saying earlier?"

When Lin Yu saw how easily Rock had absorbed the three All-Attribute Spirit Fruits, he felt that the gap between humans and giants was truly as vast as heaven and earth.

It took him a full day to digest a single +10 High-Level All-Attribute Spirit Fruit, yet Rock had digested them the moment he swallowed.

Thankfully, the Divine Fruit was digesting more slowly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare continue with the trade.

"I was saying that although there’s no limit to how many you can eat, these Spirit Fruits are slow to digest. Without a good digestive system, it would probably take some time."

"I see. That’s not a problem for us Crystal Core Giants. Our digestion is excellent!"

"However, among these four Spirit Fruits you gave me, one is a bit hard to digest. What is it?"

"That’s the most precious Spirit Fruit from my territory. It only has a small chance of growing, and harvesting one depends on luck. I’ve only managed to harvest ten of them so far."

"I’ve named it the Divine Fruit. It increases all of a being’s attributes by +10—and not just the physical ones!"

Lin Yu explained, deliberately downplaying his harvest. From Rock’s reaction, he realized his pirated, improved version of the Attribute Fruits might be unexpectedly potent.

"A Divine Fruit! The name is very fitting. To be able to increase all attributes... that is indeed something only a Divine Fruit could do."

"Are you willing to trade these ’Divine Fruits’ as well?"

"I’ve already eaten almost all the ’Divine Fruits’ from my territory. I only have three left... no, two now. You’ve already eaten the other one."

Rock sighed. "Ah, as I thought! What a pity!"

"How about this!" Lin Yu’s face showed a hint of struggle. "If you’re willing to trade the principles of Crystal Cores, how about I gift you the remaining two ’Divine Fruits’?"

"This..." Rock hesitated. If the Divine Fruit could truly increase all attributes as Lin Yu claimed, the boost to stats like luck, charisma, comprehension, elemental affinity, and so on would be of great benefit, even to him.

Moreover, a rare fruit like this would make an excellent gift to take back after this stage ends.

Just as Rock was hesitating, the Divine Fruit in his body finished digesting. A cool stream flowed out from his stomach and circulated throughout his entire body.

A refreshing sensation spread through him, and Rock felt a pleasure that seemed to seep deep into his very marrow. The changes that followed surprised and delighted him.

The increase in his various hidden attributes deepened his perception of the world.

"Deal!"

"You give me Attribute Fruits equivalent to +10,000 to all attributes, and I’ll sell you this copy of ’Principles of Low-Tier Crystal Core Manufacturing’."

Rock made his decision in an instant. The book ’Principles of Low-Tier Crystal Core Manufacturing’ wasn’t on his race’s list of classified materials. In fact, it had been gifted to allies many times and wasn’t considered a secret.

The book’s explanations were all very superficial, like a pop-science book from some technological race explaining that their technology was achieved by boiling water.

There was no harm in others knowing such basic things.

"This... Rock, how did you know I only had enough Attribute Fruits left for a +10,000 to all attributes?"

"I can’t trade all of them to you. I still need some for myself."

Lin Yu started haggling, putting on an act. His main goal was to give Rock the false impression that his Attribute Fruits were rare and he didn’t have many, otherwise he was worried he’d stoke Rock’s greed.

Although he wasn’t afraid, he believed that less trouble was better than more. There was no need to stir up conflict unnecessarily.

After some haggling, Lin Yu ended up trading Attribute Fruits equivalent to a +7550 to all attributes, plus the two "Divine Fruits," in exchange for the book, ’Principles of Low-Tier Crystal Core Manufacturing’.

Finally, Lin Yu spent a considerable amount of Divine Coins to buy all the technologies on the shopping list Rock had first shown him.

Of course, Lin Yu didn’t use the Money Tree Leaves directly for payment.

Only Rock knew how many Divine Coins a Money Tree Leaf converted into. Who knew if he was holding something back?

Lin Yu walked over to his people, opened the chest of Money Tree Leaves, and reached his hand inside.

As he expected, now that he knew about Divine Coins—a currency comparable to competition points—the Money Tree Leaves gave him two options this time: convert to points, or convert to Divine Coins.

To make the trade, Lin Yu of course chose Divine Coins.

And then, something happened that took him by pleasant surprise—a single Money Tree Leaf converted into 1,000 Divine Coins.

’Why is this happening?’

’If Rock wasn’t lying, he only got one hundred Divine Coins. On what basis did I get 1,000?’

’It can’t be giving me more just because I’m the lord of the Money Tree, can it? There was nothing about that in its information description!’

’If that’s not the reason, then it must be a characteristic of the Money Tree Leaves themselves.’

’So, why?’

...

As Lin Yu pondered, he continuously picked up the Money Tree Leaves, converting them into Divine Coins.

Starting from the number 1,000, he eventually found a clue.

Regarding the value of Divine Coins, besides Rock’s vague explanation, his only standard of judgment had been the flashing duration when the Money Tree Leaves first converted.

Through a rough calculation before, he had concluded that the value of Divine Coins was similar to competition points.

Although Rock had said Divine Coins were more valuable than points, deep down, he didn’t believe it.

So, to him, Divine Coins and competition points had the same value. This was also why the Money Tree Leaves had asked for his choice during conversion; otherwise, they would have just converted into the most valuable currency directly.

And to him, 1,000 competition points was the threshold for something to be considered valuable. By that logic, 1,000 Divine Coins was also what he considered valuable.

’Is it really that subjective?’

’Could it really be converting based on a being’s internal standard of what’s "valuable"?’

After reaching this conclusion, Lin Yu decided to go back and run some more experiments to figure out the exact mechanics of these Money Tree Leaves.

Once he had gathered enough Divine Coins for Rock, Lin Yu materialized them all and handed them over.

When Rock saw the Divine Coins in Lin Yu’s hands, a flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes. He then pretended to be calm as he accepted them, and after counting them, he handed over the technical data Lin Yu wanted.

After Lin Yu left with his people, Rock dismissed his attendants and eagerly absorbed the Divine Coins into his body.

From within the closed reception hall, a faint, thoughtful murmur could be heard.

"Unclaimed, attribute-less Divine Coins..."