Chapter 15
...…
Piang!
As soon as the stone hit against another rock and caused a reverberating clang, the Venomweaver shot down from the tree canopy. Causing the wind to whistle as it crashed to the ground, it snapped at the stone!
However, when it realized that there was no juicy blood bag within its gaping mouth, its many eyes darted in ten different directions, trying to find the one who had thrown the rock.
It soon ended up spotting a man with long black hair and a piercing gaze—a man who stared at it as if their roles were reversed.
"SKREEETCH!!!"
The Venomweaver let out an ear-deafening screech, driving its long legs into the ground before violently launching itself at the tiny human, planning to devour him in a single, big gulp!
"Gotcha."
The moment the Venomweaver swallowed the human, an eerie voice oozing confidence echoed from within its throat.
"!!!!!!"
For some reason, it was having a bad feeling about its meal speaking in such a way.
That was when it suddenly recalled that its last meal looked oddly similar to this one...
Amidst its jumbled thoughts, the creature failed to notice 24 other tiny figures jumping from behind a few trees and latching onto its body!
"!!!!!!"
The Venomweaver tried to shake off the ants, but before it could even move an inch, one of the Clones said, "Did you know that there's one rather unusual function of Beast Cores? Well, I doubt anyone within this small, remote area knows about it…"
BLING!
Following his words, a bright flash of multi-colored light erupted from the clones' bodies—some red, some blue, some green—and all of them were preparing to self-destruct!
"If one puts a Beast Core near their heart, they will receive a tremendously, albeit temporary, boost in power. It might even allow one to cross a minor realm or two. Combine that with the self-destructive option of Beast Cores, and you've got yourself a homemade pipe bomb…"
A wide smirk spread across the faces of all the clones as the lights flashing from their chests grew even brighter.
When they finally reached their peak, something truly fantastical happened!
BOOOM!
An explosion reverberated, blasting a huge hole in the Venomweaver's rightmost leg, causing it to wobble to the side.
"ESKEEETCH!!!"
The Venomweaver entered a frenzied state, its beady eyes turning blood-red. But before it could boost its strength through the berserker aspect, another explosion followed…
BOOOM!
And then another…
BOOOM! BOOOM!
Two more…
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
First, it was one, but it soon became ten and the chain of explosions continued!
The Venomweaver had all eight of its legs and large chunks of its abdomen meat blown off, sending its massive body violently crashing into a nearby tree.
WHAABAM!
Now reduced to nothing more than a beaten-up meatball, the creature lay there, its feelers slightly twitching as life slowly drained from its eyes.
However, before it fully left into the afterlife, it glimpsed the somehow unscathed human standing atop its bloodied head.
Still and motionless, the human almost made it seem as if its existence meant nothing...
The Venomweaver died with a great deal of reluctance, yet its life would most definitely be put to good use…
_____
SHING!
Lucifer carefully chipped away at the Venomweaver's corpse. With swift, precise cuts through its extremely tough carapace, he quickly managed to extract a giant green crystal.
'A Poison Elemental Beast Core… This will be perfect for when I decide to cultivate the Poison Element.'
Satisfied, he put the Beast Core in his storage ring before examining the rest of the corpse, considering which of its parts could be used in the future.
Once he salvaged a few materials of its body that could potentially be turned into armor or weapons, he left the rest for the wolves.
One might wonder why Lucifer would abandon such a valuable corpse, but the truth was that he couldn't yet reveal his full strength. For the time being, he had to limit himself and show only a fraction of his power.
Of course, he could still maximise his gains this way—it would just take a bit more time...
As he walked away from the Venomweaver's cratered corpse, he made sure to check his latest system notifications.
BLING!
[Ding! Your Clones have killed a Venomweaver in the 6th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm!]
[Ding! All of your Clones may have died, but fret not, for this kill has earned you 6500 Clone Essence!]
Lucifer could hardly believe the number. When he took a look at the amount of Clone Essence he had in his Essence Bank, he was nearly left slack-jawed.
"A 6th Stage Qi Condensation Realm Spiritual Beast actually gives this much Clone Essence…? Even though more than 25 Clones died in the process, I got back more than double what I've lost."
He took a moment to admire his 8000+ Clone Essence before deciding to buy 50 Clones with Strength in the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation.
Though his heart cried with blood as he saw his Clone Essence drop to 3000, that didn't demoralize him in the slightest. In fact, it was with a renewed, hardened mindset that he spawned the 50 Clones and sent them out into the wild.
Their mission was the same as the last batch of clones, but with so many on the job, they would easily be able to accomplish their tasks.
Meanwhile, Lucifer used another 1500 Clone Essence to spawn 15 more Clones, all of which would be dedicated to working on Alchemy.
Although they had all the relevant knowledge stored in their information bank, they still needed the materials.
It was for this reason that he alone had set out for the City of Riversea, intending to acquire more than a dozen Alchemy Furnaces and several months' worth of Precious Herbs.
While he was on that, the 15 newly bought clones remained within what he called the 'Clone Storage,' awaiting the procurement of necessary supplies to begin their work.
...….