Chapter 959 - Void Stone
After completing his ascension from the Initial State, Han Wu continued his hunt for new targets. The Desolation Manifestation told him that this area no longer had anything that could satisfy his needs and that he would have to head to a new zone.
Han Wu agreed. The Desolation Manifestation then provided three directions, each offering a different path for growth.
The first option was to head southwest to a herd of Ironhoof Bulls, which excelled at raw power and could provide plenty of strength-based equipment.
The second was to head northeast to a lake where a flock of Black Ducks resided. Black Ducks were fast runners skilled in water-type attacks, making them ideal for an agility-offense build.
Finally, due west, a wolf pack ruled over a mountain. The pack’s alpha, a creature named Ferris, was a well-known boss in the area and had a Second Form.
Han Wu always pursued overwhelming power, so he naturally chose the hardest challenge. The more challenging the trial, the greater the reward. That was a truth Han Wu had learned over his years of invading civilizations. With that, he headed straight for the western mountain without looking back.
The Agility +5 attribute gave his speed a 50% boost and reduced his stamina consumption while running. In less than an hour, Han Wu reached Wolf Mountain.
A wild wolf lunged at him from the bushes the instant he set foot on the mountain. Han Wu didn’t hold back. He raised his fist and swung.
Strength +5 granted a 50% boost to his raw strength, roughly double that of a normal adult. The punch dazed the wolf, leaving it stumbling in place. Han Wu seized the advantage, following up with another blow that snapped the wolf’s spine and killed it on the spot.
He picked up the five White Soul Coins the wolf dropped with a lick of his lips. It had a decent drop rate.
Killing one wolf appeared to anger the entire mountain, as more wolves poured out of the grass and threw themselves at Han Wu. They even had some strategy to their attacks. While Han Wu was busy dealing with one, another would strike from the opposite side.
If Han Wu couldn’t break free quickly, more wolves would pile on, turning a two-sided assault into a full encirclement until they devoured him completely.
The wolves had misjudged his defenses, however. His Defense +10 wasn’t just for show. It nearly doubled his body’s toughness, making his skin as durable as cowhide. The wolves’ claws were nothing more than an itch to him. Only their bites could do any actual damage.
Han Wu’s reflexes were sharp. Even with the pack surrounding him, he constantly watched his flank for incoming bites, spinning with force and sending several wolves flying.
He pinned one wolf’s head down, slammed three punches into its skull, and smashed it apart. Its body slowly dissolved into light. After repeating this method across a few exchanges, he managed to cut the number of attacking wolves in half.
Then a howl erupted from one of the uninjured wolves. The surviving wolves joined in and morphed before Han Wu’s eyes. Their grey-white fur sprouted streaks of different colored fur—some green, others yellow, and a few red.
“These wolves have entered their First Form,” the Desolation Manifestation warned. “Be careful.”
It was this transformation that finally allowed Han Wu to grasp that the First Form was essentially an additional transformation on top of one’s base state. These wolves’ First Forms were weak, amounting to nothing more than a few colored streaks in their fur.
Thinking little of it, he charged forward again, targeting a wolf with yellow streaks. Contrary to his expectations, this wolf didn’t engage him directly. Instead, it dodged backward while a yellow glow flickered in its mouth.
Before Han Wu could react, a ball of yellow light shot from the wolf’s mouth and flew at him. Han Wu caught it with his quick reflexes. It was a heavy stone carrying considerable force.
An unprepared hit from it would have left a nasty bruise. A strike to the chest could have even broken a few ribs.
“Interesting,” Han Wu remarked, hurling the stone right back at the yellow-streaked wolf.
With Strength +5 behind the throw, the stone slammed into the wolf and knocked it flat, blood pouring from its mouth. Han Wu closed the distance in one step and stomped it to death.
After another round of fighting, all the First Form wolves were dead, giving him time to collect his spoils. The normal wolves dropped mostly Rank 0 items with a few Rank 1 pieces mixed in. Their coin drops averaged five to eight White Soul Coins.
The First Form wolves dropped mainly Rank 1 materials and equipment. Even their coin drops increased, ranging from ten to fifteen White Soul Coins.
Han Wu picked out four pieces of Rank 1 equipment and placed them in his slots. He then selected a Rank 1 Fire Stone and a Rank 1 Wood Stone from the materials.
For the Rank 1 Fire Stone, he spent twenty-five White Soul Coins to inscribe the skill Flame Palm, which provided Attack +3 and Fire +2 when activated. He then spent another thirty White Soul Coins to inscribe the skill Slow Recovery, which accelerated healing and granted a temporary Constitution +3 bonus, onto the Rank 1 Wood Stone.
Among the materials gathered, Han Wu also found a special Rank 1 Void Stone. The Void Stone could also be equipped in a slot, but its function differed from the Fire Stone or Wood Stone in that it could store one cubic meter worth of items in total volume.
It could be used to carry fruit or water for replenishing stamina, but Han Wu couldn’t help but feel that using it in such a way was a waste, so he studied it to see whether it could store items from his Divine Civilization inventory.
The answer was yes!
The first thing Han Wu thought of was his Refiner. The Refiner was an incredibly useful tool that could break down low-quality materials and equipment into pure energy crystals. He just didn’t know what effect it would have when brought into the White Soul Civilization.
Han Wu tried it and successfully managed to place the Refiner inside. However, the internal space of a Rank 1 Void Stone was small, and only 0.008 cubic meters of space remained for feeding in materials. That was roughly a twenty-centimeter cube.
This meant he would only toss in compact items for the Refiner to break down. He fed a Rank 0 short knife into the Refiner. It processed the item in ten seconds and produced a small, transparent crystal.
Han Wu picked up the crystal and could immediately feel that it was different from the ones he normally got in the Divine Civilization. The Desolation Manifestation inspected it and concluded that the crystal contained mysterious, pure energy well-suited for crafting weapons or enhancing the quality of non-elemental weapons.
Unfortunately, Han Wu was still out in the wilderness. While he had picked up a few blacksmithing basics over his years of study, he lacked the proper equipment to strengthen any weapons.
He could only store the transparent crystals alongside his other materials and save them for later.