Chapter 77: Unknown Consciousness
Although Su Xiao wasn't sure whether Amu's condition was good or bad, one thing was certain: if he didn't help Amu replenish ice-type energy, it wouldn't be long before Amu started "eating itself." Amu was indeed fierce enough—when starving, it even wanted to devour its own core formation diagram.
"Moo~"
The red light in Amu's eyes grew denser. Su Xiao took out several low-grade alchemical materials, all of which shared a common trait: they were ice-attributed or leaned toward cold properties.
Seeing the materials Su Xiao produced, Amu, lying on the ground, swallowed its saliva. It wanted to eat but didn't dare to snatch.
Sensing that Amu wouldn't completely lose its rationality for now, Su Xiao sat up and handed the materials to Amu. Amu gulped down the ice-attributed materials in two or three bites. Its expression clearly showed it was still unsatisfied, but the red light in its eyes quickly faded.
Within less than ten minutes, two light-gold-quality pieces of equipment and a bottle of gold-quality potion appeared in the team storage space.
Su Xiao tentatively handed Amu a longsword named [Bateken]. The sword seemed forged from ice, with wisps of cold air rising from it.
Amu took the sword and bit down on the blade with a crunch. Given the durability of a light-gold-quality weapon, Amu's flat teeth should have shattered. But the actual situation was shocking: Amu's teeth glowed with an ice-blue light, and it bit the sword to pieces in one go.
In no more than three bites, Amu had chewed up the [Bateken] longsword.
Seeing this, Su Xiao's eyelid twitched. He took out another ice-attributed piece of equipment—this time a ring. The result was predictable: Amu didn't even chew; it simply tossed the ice-blue ring into its mouth.
A few minutes later, Su Xiao brought out a bottle of ice-attributed enhancement potion. Amu drank it like orange juice in one gulp, then chewed up the crystal vial that held the potion.
Nearly 250,000 Paradise Coins' worth of ice-attributed items—Amu devoured them all in under five minutes. This made Su Xiao realize that the equipment or items bought with 800,000 Paradise Coins might not be enough to fill Amu's stomach.
Realizing this, Su Xiao immediately contacted Lide and initiated a long-distance call.
"What's up?"
From Lide's end came the laughter of women—more than one. This old guy was no saint; he often indulged himself in Reincarnation Paradise.
"If I need ice-type energy, what's the most efficient method?"
"Ice-type energy?"
Inside a tavern styled after ancient Europe, Lide waved his hand, and the two mature women beside him stopped their soft laughter.
"For ice-type energy, that hammer you took last time was the best choice. That thing can form a self-sustaining cycle with the environment, providing as much ice energy as you need..."
Before Lide could finish, Su Xiao interrupted him.
"It's already been eaten."
"Eaten? Eaten?"
The usually composed Lide's voice wavered. That warhammer was something he had forged himself, used to suppress a certain consciousness within the Shia Temple.
"How was it eaten? Give me details. Devoured? Merged? Absorbed?"
"About seven bites. Ate it all..."
"Are you raising an equipment disassembly machine?!"
"Let's set that aside for now. If I need ice-type energy, give me a suggestion."
Su Xiao's reason for contacting Lide was simple: buying ice-type equipment could only solve the immediate crisis. Given Amu's current appetite, even a few legendary-grade ice-attributed items might not be enough to "fill it up."
"Let me think."
Lide pondered for a moment and quickly came up with a solution.
"Phantom Light Ore. Heard of it?"
"Yes. That stuff... is it feasible?"
"Of course. That hammer was forged from Phantom Light Ore. How much do you need?"
As he spoke, Lide let out a burp. From his tone, it was clear he wasn't drunk yet.
"A lot."
"Give me half an hour. The cost will be deducted from those Legendary Medals."
"No problem."
Su Xiao ended the call and contacted Bubu Wang and Beini, telling them to stop buying equipment or items and instead purchase ice-attributed ores or crystals. Amu was now accepting anything—as long as it had ice-type energy, it would eat.
Tossing Amu a bottle of ice-attributed potion, Su Xiao began waiting for news from Lide. Acquiring a large quantity of Phantom Light Ore in a short time was something only Lide, a master blacksmith, could accomplish.
Before long, Bubu Wang and Beini returned to the exclusive room. Dozens of ice-attributed ores and crystals were placed on the floor, and Amu could now eat freely.
Su Xiao still couldn't figure out what was happening inside Amu. The purple crystal from the Dark Crow World was likely the culprit behind Amu's frenzied consumption of ice-type energy.
From an alchemical perspective, Amu's current state was highly unscientific, as it was transforming toward a biological direction. Alice from the Demon Castle had tried countless times to make the Wolf Butler undergo a similar transformation, but all attempts failed.
Su Xiao didn't believe his alchemy surpassed Alice's. That meant the issue lay with the Shia Temple, the Land of Death, the Ice Warhammer, or the Purple Crystal. Which specific link it was, Su Xiao couldn't yet determine. But one thing was clear: Amu's transformation toward a biological state wasn't abrupt.
Before this, Amu's body was already filled with ice-type energy. It had formed an internal cycle with the Ice Warhammer, with the ice energy acting as its blood. At that point, Amu could already be considered somewhere between a pseudo-biological and an alchemical creature.
Now, Amu was transforming toward a biological state. Whether it would explode from excessive energy intake or successfully become a living being after absorbing enough ice-type energy remained unknown.
In fact, Su Xiao had overlooked one key point: the fundamental difference between Amu and the Wolf Butler. The Wolf Butler's core formation diagram was garbage—the materials used in that diagram held extraordinary significance for Alice.
Amu, on the other hand, had been gradually upgraded. If the internal materials of its core formation diagram became overloaded, Su Xiao would immediately replace them with higher-grade materials. After all, his strength was increasing, and the materials he could access were of higher and higher levels.
If the Wolf Butler was like jumping from scrap iron straight to titanium alloy, then Amu was undergoing gradual upgrades. The situations were vastly different. More importantly, the thing the Ice Warhammer had suppressed was terrifying—something brought from the void by the Shadow of Law Destruction.
Over the long period of suppression, the Ice Warhammer had absorbed the aura of that consciousness. Amu, having formed an internal cycle with the Ice Warhammer, had gradually integrated the power of that unknown consciousness into its body over time. This was the main reason for Amu's current changes.
The situation involved too many complex factors. Su Xiao wasn't a reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes, so he naturally couldn't deduce the connections.
As Su Xiao was pondering, Lide contacted him, asking for temporary access. Su Xiao was about to grant Lide temporary entry to the exclusive room when he suddenly remembered the Black Maple Tree in the corner.
Although Su Xiao and Lide were collaborators, one must be cautious. The Black Maple Tree was of utmost importance—there were only two or three in the entire void.
Signaling Bubu Wang to move the Black Maple Tree into the laboratory, Su Xiao granted Lide temporary access to the exclusive room.
As soon as Lide entered the exclusive room, his drunken, bleary eyes widened. The room had a cat, a dog, and a minotaur sitting on the floor. At first glance, it looked like he had walked into a zoo.
"I got the stuff. Cost about 20 Legendary Medals."
As Lide spoke, he waved his hand, and a large amount of ice-blue ore appeared in the exclusive room, nearly filling half the living room. Amu pounced on it immediately, biting into fist-sized chunks of Phantom Light Ore one after another, with cold air gradually spreading outward from its center.