Chapter 2618: Golden Jade Heart and Mother Stone
Having learned the causes and consequences, Jing Shi came over to express her gratitude. The conversations over the past few days made her greatly admire Xu Huo, and she even offered a piece of special ore given to her by someone else, saying it was an indispensable material for crafting advanced items.
After thanking her, Xu Huo handed the ore to Mr. Xi.
The two old men have been pondering for days about what kind of items could be made from those stones. Even though they are all Secondary Stones, the powers contained within them differ. Items crafted based on the stones’ natural inclinations yield better effects and higher success rates. Sometimes, a strange combination reaction occurs between materials, developing effects originally unforeseen by the Artifact Maker.
"Just in time, you’re here," Mr. Xi stopped him. "We’ve tested the properties of the stones you provided. Two of them are suitable for making Spiritual Items, though they’re not particularly remarkable. I suggest combining one with several others that have spatial attributes to add some Mental Interference effects to Space Attack Tools."
"Have you decided on a direction for the Space Attack Tools?" Xu Huo asked.
"The two common uses of Spatial Power are cutting and explosion. The principle is the same: to utilize the destructive force released after space is folded and compressed. However, for your stones, creating such tools is somewhat wasteful," Mr. Xi explained as he took out a hand-drawn blueprint. "We’ve discussed and decided to create a field attack item. Ideally, after the item is effective, the spatial power within a city-based range will automatically gather into high-energy Spatial Rays, cutting anything that enters this range."
The blueprint depicts a "#" network; it seems to use Spatial Rays to divide a certain space into uniform small squares.
"With the quality of these Secondary Stones, the condensed Spatial Rays should be able to cut tools of the same Level."
It’s not unusual for a Rank-A Prop to cover city-level ranges, but Xu Huo still wanted to control the range. "Can we set levels for the item’s coverage range? Often, we don’t need such a large area for lethality."
The majority of player activities occur in cities; there’s no need for indiscriminate large-scale killing just to deal with a few enemies.
"That’s a minor issue," Mr. Xi chuckled. "Do you have any other requirements?"
"More flexibility," Xu Huo said. "Ideally, I wouldn’t need to directly control the Spatial Rays, and it shouldn’t interfere with my actions."
The old man gave him a sideways glance, "You’re asking for too much. Where can you find an item with high lethality that can differentiate between friend and foe? Make one yourself and show me."
"If it can’t be made, then forget it," Xu Huo smiled at him, "Don’t be so irritable."
Mr. Xi snorted and turned his head, "Alright, alright, enough with the demands. You’re lacking imagination; now get going. We can handle what’s next."
Xu Huo didn’t object; he trusted professionals to handle professional matters. However, as he reached the door, he added, "Preferably something portable, I already have enough rings, buttons, and badges."
Mr. Xi waved dismissively, not even sparing him a glance.
As Xu Huo was coming down from the second floor, he found the Girl in the painting crouching at a corner of the staircase, looking downstairs. She was hiding poorly, with half of her body exposed and her head sticking out, easily visible from below.
"What are you doing?" he called out to her.
The Girl in the painting quickly turned around, explaining that she found out the female player actually had more than one Primeval Stone. She also had two "Golden Jade Heart" medals.
The "Golden Jade Heart" medal is similar to the "Bright Gentleman" medal but with a slightly different emphasis. Yan Jiayu once obtained it but thought Xu Huo preferred the "Bright Gentleman" medal, so she exchanged it with a friend she met in the game to give it to him.
It seems now that the Girl in the painting also liked the "Golden Jade Heart" medals.
Given the previous tension, buying or exchanging was not an option.
Although the Girl in the painting occasionally said things that offended others, she generally wasn’t easy to dislike. The female player didn’t hold a grudge over the past incident and, seeing the Girl in the painting staring at her medal, proactively told Xu Huo that rare medals like these in the game were made from a type of Primeval Stone. The Primeval Stone carried innate energy, which could improve a player’s physical state to some extent, although most people couldn’t feel it. The Girl in the painting might have evolved sensitively in this aspect, which is likely why she liked such medals.
Xu Huo speculated that the Girl in the painting might also have this kind of Primeval Stone material within her and inquired further about Primeval Stones.
The female player didn’t intentionally keep them in suspense, "That type of Primeval Stone is now extinct. The remaining ones are entirely collected by the Game Government and used to craft special game props, such as medals or additional rewards for instances."
"Acquiring an original Primeval Stone seems very difficult, but it’s possible to obtain it through instance rewards, which is considered a relatively straightforward approach."
"Does that type of Primeval Stone have a name or just a code?" Xu Huo asked again.
The female player smiled, "It was originally called Female Stone, later renamed Mother Stone and is at the same Level as the Time Origin."
"Could aiding player Evolution alone put it on par with the Time Origin?" Xu Huo was genuinely surprised. The Time Origin is a Primeval Stone with a Time Attribute, the rarest of all Primeval Stones, and said to be the cornerstone of the game. It’s rumored that someone once traded a Time Origin for an entire District.
Such ore has long surpassed being simple consumable material, yet the Game Government monopolized the Mother Stone for making medals and items, merely to aid player Evolution?
"As far as I know, other game items typically don’t use Mother Stone materials, even those from Rank-A Wormhole Points," the female player stated. "Perhaps it has other uses, but they aren’t as notable as aiding Evolution."
Nobody would believe a statement like that.
If that were the case, Mother Stone wouldn’t be classified as a Primeval Stone.
"As a player’s Evolution Rate increases, the restrictions become greater. By the time one becomes a Rank-A Player, such Evolution aids might become the dividing line between regular players and Super Players. Do you still think it doesn’t deserve to be called a Primeval Stone?" the female player raised an eyebrow.
Xu Huo understood her implication: that the Game Government uses this method to control the number of Super Players. However, the emergence of Super Players remains a rare occurrence, and not every Super Player depends on such Evolution aids. He leaned more towards other reasons.
Mother Stone... could it be related to the Girl in the painting’s ability to think?
"I just bought those two medals," the female player remarked. "District 001 players are quite chivalrous, so these types of medals should not be scarce."
"I see you’re familiar with District Government officials, perhaps you could obtain some through their channels."
Xu Huo wasn’t concerned by her probing words, thanked her, and then left with the Girl in the painting.