"Awesome" exclaimed all three of them simultaneously.
"We were lucky" muttered Prakash after which even Enbi Arin couldn't help but put on a solemn expression.
"Isn't this supposed to be a joyous occasion. Why the solemn look?" Still caught up in his reverie Li Qiu couldn't figure out the reason for their solemn expressions.
Prakash couldn't help but put on an anxious expression "do you still remember the part about the world average in our stats?"
"Yeah I do" Li Qiu nodded after which Prakash continued " after that you also informed us about the internet and it's true nature"
"I did say that"
"Do you remember about my hypothesis about the systems? How they collect, analyze and share information?"
Li Qiu couldn't help but put up a confused look "what does that have to do with this? Stop being long winded and spit it out" and finally lost his patience.
"It's simple actually, the fact that such an information is available on the internet implies that sufficient people have already discovered such artefacts, figured out their uses and classified them. This was all within a span of 2 days. Do you now understand what this signifies?" Said Prakash with a solemn expression.
Li Qiu shuddered "such efficiency, we wouldn't have even known about such an item if it was not due to the chanced coincidence, would we even be able to keep up with such growth?".
Enbi Arin still had an unwavering confidence "it's not such a bad situation as you imagine it to be. I was also shocked initially but there is a silver lining even in this situation"
"And what is that"
"It's simple actually. They couldn't have gained such information without significant losses and whatever information they discover, share and compile, all of that will eventually end up in the internet due to those weird tentacles and the pale golden egg. So as long as we stay vigilant we could profit from this information Network. Though we must increase your Aria quality as soon as possible to burn off those excess tentacles with your spirit flame"
Prakash pointed at the still existing heap of all those awakened creatures and Practitioner scorpion carcasses "once big bro has recovered his Aria, we could burn this heap and see if we can create another artefact out of it"
"That's a good idea" complimented Li Qiu.
"But before that, we must absorb these Aria cores to quickly increase our strength. There would probably be another swarm of monsters converging if an artefact actually forms from the heap after we burn it" cautioned Enbi Arin.
"Actually I think it's better to absorb the Aria cores at night before we sleep. I noticed that while our stats are slowly increasing, our bodies are also slowly changing which requires us to rest at that period to avoid any significant damage done to our bodies. So we must tread carefully to avoid encountering any Practitioner stage creatures"
"Sounds fair" acknowledged both Enbi Arin and Li Qiu.
"There was something else that I wanted to confirm" said Prakash as he turned towards Enbi Arin.
"Go on"
"If you use your attribute juggler to convert most of your stats into Aria quantity and end up using all of them, and then transferring then back to their original attribute. Will there be any changes?"
"You are quite perceptive" complimented Enbi Arin to which Prakash blushed and continued
"actually if I transferred those stats back to their original attribute before my Aria recovered then those stats will become my potential stats"
At this moment Prakash widened his eyes at the revelation and quickly figured out the truth "you mean..."
"Hahahaha" Enbi Arin laughed jovially.
"Yep, just as you had guessed, I transferred all my potential stats to my Aria quantity and just kept eating food for a few hours till my Aria recovered and then I transferred those stats back. And lo and behold I became a Practitioner".
Prakash couldn't help but sigh in resignation while Li Qiu mentally berated himself for not noticing such details.
At that time during her explanation about her abilities when Enbi Arin shrugged nonchalantly, Li Qiu also stopped thinking further which might prove disastrous in the future. "I must remember her words to never stop thinking up new solutions" and made another mental note in his head.
"Now let's focus on our current scenario. This artefact, how can we use it, what are its Pros, Cons, everything" said Enbi Arin and picked up the small egg shaped object.
Enbi Arin noticed that the artefact was quite heavy for its size. It was about 10 cm in length and 7 cm in breadth with an oval shape. It felt similar to silicon in touch.
She decided to further examine it inside and brought both Li Qiu and Prakash back to their base to first have a nice meal to fill up their exhausted Aria.
One Li Qiu filled up his Aria he went to set ablaze the new monster pile while Enbi Arin sealed the entrance with packing tape again while Prakash set up a few barricades with the help of a few shelves and racks.
Once they were done with all the preparations and saw the monster heap burning albeit a bit slower as compared to before, the trio went back to experiment on their artefact while Li Qiu also kept his attention to any sounds from outside while waiting for his Aria the recover.
Li Qiu kept adding flames to the heap after every interval of an hour because of the higher quality and quantity of monster carcasses which refused to burn properly.
On seeing that the monster pile was burning slower than they had expected the trio started training but kept their training to just a few warm-up exercises and mediation to always stay in a battle-ready state and have calm nerves.
About approximately 6 hours had passed in a similar fashion before they heard a loud monster roar followed by various cacophony of noises. The trio attentively peeked through a small transparent hole in the entrance to figure out the situation outside.
"No shit" Enbi Arin
"Holy shit" Prakash
"Devil's shit" Li Qiu
""Bullshit"" Prakash and Enbi Arin
"Umm....Rooster shit?" Said Li Qiu
'smack'
"Eiyouch.... Sorry mistress rooster Slayer"
'smack' 'smack' 'thump'
"..." Li Qiu felt a single huge bump grow on his head and exclaimed in adoration "such impeccable accuracy. As expected of mistress..."
"Big bro stop screwing around. The situation outside is quite precarious and Enbi Arin stop charging your butcher beam" Prakash interrupted seeing as their banter was escalating to dangerous heights.
"Tch..." Enbi Arin
Li Qiu felt cold sweat form on his spine while Prakash wondered if this big bro of his was a masochist.
After this momentary distraction, they peeked through the hole again and saw quite a few silhouettes appear near the still burning pile.
There was a swarm of ants (they couldn't identify their race since most insects mutated drastically and hence they could only determine it to be a species of ants) ranging between 70-80 with a Practitioner queen leading them.
Then there were a mass of gruesome wiggling legs bundled up in slithering creepiness, probably about 15-20 centipedes and they also had a Practitioner millipede above them. There was also an entire assortment of insects ranging from mosquitoes to butterflies.
There were a total of 7 Practitioner stage creatures in the mix with only the ant queen and the millipede leading their own swarm. The butterflies and mosquitoes didn't have any Practitioner stage leaders among them.
Unlike common encounters, they didn't have any standoffs against each other, no trash talking (trash insecting?) and no unnecessary actions. The moment they came across each other, they engaged in a wild free for all slaughter.
"Damn... It's starting" exclaimed a pale-faced Li Qiu.