So Short on Spirit Crystals

Under 8x gravity, Lu Yuan stood motionless, eyes closed.

Since inscribing the Rejuvenation gene, his spiritual sensitivity had sharpened considerably. Here, beneath the Gravity Room's crushing pressure, that sensitivity let him perceive his own body with startling clarity — blood coursing through his veins, organs contracting and shifting, muscles straining against the load.

This was precisely what Black Steel Force demanded: a deep, embodied understanding of how force moved through the body.

Less than half an hour in, exhaustion was already hitting him hard.

He had no choice but to drop into a cross-legged sit, pull out Spirit Crystals, and begin absorbing spirit power. Energy flooded into him, gradually lifting the fatigue settling into his bones. A portion flowed into his Gene Chain as well, continuing the tempering of his first gene segment. The sections that hadn't fully consolidated after his recent evolutions gradually began brightening again from the base, rekindling their glow.

Time passed. When he had absorbed over three thousand Spirit Crystals, his body and Gene Chain finally reached saturation.

He rose and resumed training.

He had already cultivated Black Steel Force to the second tier before this session. In this environment — with the gravity forcing him to feel every microscopic mechanism of his body's force generation — he was confident he could advance to the third tier, maybe even the fourth, in record time.

When he started moving, the energy drain accelerated sharply. Even his spirit power depleted faster.

That observation stopped him for a moment. The high gravity was making his body *hungrier*, more capable of absorbing and integrating spirit power. Part of that was simply the massive physical enhancement after his First-rank breakthrough. But the gravity itself seemed to be amplifying his body's absorption capacity.

So the Gravity Room accelerated spirit power intake as well as physical conditioning.

No wonder the forum posts had praised both the Simulation Room and the Gravity Room so highly.

The benefits were genuine. The cost, however, was also very real.

Five hours later, the Gravity Room's gravity slowly disengaged.

After hours under crushing pressure, returning to normal gravity felt like he might float away. He knew it was just an illusion — but his body couldn't help reacting.

He looked at what he'd spent.

Over five thousand Spirit Crystals. For one session.

A chill ran down his spine.

*Five thousand crystals in five hours. What does that work out to over a full day?*

The math was ugly. At that rate, a full set of Elite Grade Gene Armament — worth ten thousand crystals or more — would be gone in roughly ten hours of training. Two full sets per day, if he pushed it.

He had thought his reserves were comfortable. Coming back from the Ancient Sea Oasis, he had over twenty thousand Spirit Crystals even without recharging the Evolution Cube. He'd felt pretty flush.

That comfort evaporated.

*Twenty thousand crystals. That's barely twenty hours of Gravity Room time.*

He rubbed his temple, somewhere between amazed and troubled. Previously, the biggest single absorption session he'd had was under a thousand crystals. Three thousand just to satiate himself after a training session — five thousand for the full five hours — the difference was almost incomprehensible.

Part of it was his body post-breakthrough being far more powerful and demanding. Part of it was the gravity amplifying absorption. The result was the same either way: a terrifying burn rate.

This kind of lavish training method was never designed for ordinary Gene Warriors. Only scions of powerful families could afford to train like this routinely.

Still — the benefits were undeniable.

*When the crystals run out, I'll just go hunt Feral Beasts,* he decided.

For the next three days, Lu Yuan trained in the Gravity Room during the day and returned to rest at night.

By the end, the results were clear. The Gene Chain tempering that had dropped after his recent evolutions — Crimson Copper Light, having crashed to 11% post-evolution — was back up to 20%. His attributes had risen across the board.

The technique breakthrough, though incomplete, was also significant: he had finally gotten a tangible feel for the third tier of Black Steel Force. The conceptual barrier was beginning to crack.

The cost: over five thousand Spirit Crystals per session, day after day.

On the third evening, the Light Gate fully restored. Lu Yuan stepped out of the Land of Origin.

It was night outside.

White light spilled from the streetlamps. Signs and plaques on storefronts glittered. Gene Warriors were out in numbers, filling the streets.

He was strolling at a leisurely pace when a voice rang out from behind him.

"Hey — Yuanbro? You're *here*?"

He turned. Gelin and Zhuo Ming's group were standing a few paces back. The one who'd called out was Zhuo Ming, face lit with surprise.

"How did you all end up back here?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Most Gene Warriors come back to Sandy Rock City when they're not too far out," Gelin said. "Safer here. We've been resting up for a bit." He looked Lu Yuan over. "Haven't seen you in days. You weren't in the Underground Palace?"

"I went somewhere else."

Zhuo Ming's curiosity immediately flared. "Where'd you go, Yuanbro?"

"Ancient Sea Oasis."

Every one of them went wide-eyed.

Zhuo Ming let out a dramatic gasp. "*Ancient Sea Oasis?!* That's one of the most dangerous zones around Sandy Rock City! You actually went there?"

Gelin gave a rueful smile. "I went there once. The Feral Beasts are minimum 50% tempering, and most of them travel in packs — huge ones. It's brutal. That time, our whole team was wiped out in less than half a day. I've been sticking to the Underground Palace ever since." He shook his head slowly. "Never expected you'd already be operating in that place, Lu Yuan. The pace you're improving at is genuinely staggering."

"I got some gains out there," Lu Yuan said with an easy smile. "Improved quite a bit." He paused. "There really are a lot of pack-type beasts in Ancient Sea Oasis. Without my defense being what it is, I would've been in serious trouble. Even with it, there were a few moments where I nearly didn't make it out."

That wasn't false modesty. When he'd been chased by an entire Elite Grade Feral Beast herd, surviving had come down to his inexhaustible spirit power reserves.

Gelin and the others listened with expressions of genuine admiration.

"Your tempering must have shot way up, Yuanbro," Zhuo Ming said, grinning.

"Not bad," Lu Yuan said simply. He wasn't going to mention the breakthrough.

Gelin brightened. "By the way — we had some decent luck ourselves this trip. We killed an Elite Grade Underground Palace Sand Python and got a full set of Elite Grade Armament off it. None of us can equip it, so we're thinking of consigning it at the auction — the auction's almost here anyway."

Zhuo Ming beamed. "Haha! I'll get a cut of over a thousand crystals from this! Maybe I can push for another advance before exam season and get into a better warrior academy."

The others wore matching grins, all of them visibly pumped.

Lu Yuan laughed. "That's genuinely lucky. Congratulations."

To him personally, one set of Elite Grade Gene Armament wasn't much to write home about. But for an ordinary Gene Warrior, Elite Grade was hard to come by — a single set ran over ten thousand crystals. A real windfall.

"Hey, Lu Yuan," Gelin said. "We're heading to Entertainment City to celebrate. Want to come along?"

Lu Yuan hesitated.

"Come on, Yuanbro! Loads of beautiful women there."

His mouth twitched. He could practically see the gleam in Zhuo Ming's eyes from here.

He, Lu Yuan, was not the type to go to places like that. Other people called him the Pure Young Master, after all.

This had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to see what the girls there looked like.

But with Gelin and the others all pressing him, it felt rude to keep refusing. "Fine," he said. "Since you're all insisting."

Entertainment City was a sprawling leisure district — and nothing like what Lu Yuan had pictured.

He'd half-expected something like a nightclub strip. What he found instead was a vast complex of venues: virtual game parlors, venues hosting entertainment activities specific to cat-kin, human, elf, and gnoll tastes, a stretch of food stalls lining the approaches, and further in, a row of proper bars.

The streetside stalls offered all manner of late-night snacks — roasted spider legs, grilled Sand Ant meat, and various other exotic fare sourced from Sandy Rock City's Feral Beasts.

Gene Warriors crowded the area. Nearly all of them were strikingly good-looking. That was just how it tended to go — the superior genetics of Gene Warriors seemed to produce more attractive physiques as well.

Not all Gene Warriors chose to camp in the field. When they were close enough, most came back to Sandy Rock City to rest. It was simply safer here.

Their group made their way into the most well-known bar in Sandy Rock City. Inside, it was more like a cozy tavern than any kind of club — a place to sit with friends, share drinks, and have a conversation.

Zhuo Ming stepped through the door and immediately transformed. His eyes sharpened into a scanning sweep of the room, sharp and precise, taking stock of every table without appearing to look at anyone in particular.

On the stage, a very beautiful elf was singing. Her voice was melodic and clear, drifting easily over the low murmur of the room. Lu Yuan noticed the Gene Battle Marks on her wrist.

*She's a Gene Warrior?*

Zhuo Ming caught him looking and flashed a sly grin.

"Does Yuanbro think she's good-looking?"

"I'm just curious," Lu Yuan said. "She's a Gene Warrior — why is she singing here?"

"What's strange about it? Plenty of Gene Warriors pick up side gigs when they're back in the city resting — earn a few Spirit Crystals. A singer here apparently makes over a hundred crystals an hour. That's more than most of us bring in hunting."

*Oh.* It clicked into place. A part-time job. Made perfect sense.

He'd noted that most Gene Warriors in the area had above-average looks. Maybe it was something in the genes.

"So?" Zhuo Ming sidled over, voice dropping with conspiratorial enthusiasm. "Lots of beauties, right, Yuanbro? Check out the eight-o'clock table — those four cat-kin. Tell me that's not something else."

Lu Yuan glanced over quietly.

He had to admit: they were quite striking.

But even so — if he was being honest with himself — the most beautiful person he'd seen was still Yeye, from that brief encounter.

Not that he was some kind of connoisseur. He was the Pure Young Master. People said so.

Despite Zhuo Ming's evident efforts, the being-approached-by-beautiful-women portion of the evening never materialized. A few female Gene Warriors glanced his way — twice, even — but no one came over to talk.

*Must be my imagination.*

The group settled in, had their drinks, talked for a while, and let themselves unwind. Then they headed out.

Walking back, Lu Yuan turned the numbers over in his head.

Five thousand Spirit Crystals in five hours. Ten hours per Elite Grade armament equivalent. A full day would eat through two full sets.

His total was just over twenty thousand crystals — that figure included everything he'd brought back on his way to Sandy Rock City, none of which had gone toward recharging the Evolution Cube. Even so, twenty thousand was all he had.

Twenty thousand crystals. At his current burn rate: barely twenty hours of Gravity Room training.

He had thought he was comfortable.

Lu Yuan rubbed his forehead.

Before the Gravity Room, his biggest single absorption session had been under a thousand crystals. Now three thousand per session was baseline, and five thousand for five sustained hours of training under 8x gravity. The scale of the difference was almost laughable.

*I'm really short on Spirit Crystals.*

He massaged his temples, a touch of helpless wryness in his expression.

Well. Simple solution.

*When the crystals run out, go hunt Feral Beasts.*