The Use of Crystals

Ren Yi began to recall the knowledge related to the Energy Crystal Production Method that had been poured into his mind through that knowledge crystal earlier.

"Energy crystal" was just a general term; they could be specifically divided into two major categories: "Rule Crystals" and "Ability Crystals."

Rule Crystals could be understood as solidified "food," which could be absorbed by an Anomaly with the corresponding rules to increase their own progress points.

For instance, Lu Zihan had already made progress before his first Instance; he must have absorbed Rule Crystals related to "rebuttal" or "negation."

Ability Crystals, on the other hand, were formed when an Anomaly solidified their own core abilities into a crystalline form.

In comparison, an Ability Crystal was more like a one-time-use item.

For example, the knowledge crystal Auntie Lu had given them was made by an Anomaly whose abilities were related to knowledge; it could be used to solidify and transmit various types of information.

Making Ability Crystals was far more difficult than making Rule Crystals, and they involved a wide variety of "recipes" and had broader uses.

To summarize: Rule Crystals were like "pills," while Ability Crystals were like "talismans."

But regardless of the type, there was one core restriction: each Anomaly could only produce crystals related to their own rules and abilities.

Ren Yi's core rule was "positive emotion," and his ability was "illusion," so the only things he could produce now were positive emotion crystals and illusion crystals.

From the outside, Ren Yi remained motionless, lying there with steady breathing as if he were in a deep sleep.

Beneath his human shell, his flesh and blood silently and slowly liquefied, leaving only a thin layer of skin and meat as an outer wrap, forming a temporary "processing space."

Next, he tried to manipulate his liquefied internal body to "capture" those points of light representing positive emotions, intending to squeeze them together.

However, those points of light were like slippery fish in water, flowing everywhere inside his body.

Every time he tried to catch one, it would stir the energy flow within his body, allowing the light points to take the opportunity to slip away with the current.

Ren Yi felt that long-lost sense of chaos from when he had first awakened—the feeling of being unable to control his own body.

Gradually, he began to learn a few tricks.

Ren Yi stopped trying to grab the light points directly. Instead, he manipulated the compression space, squeezing in from all directions without leaving any gaps, slowly shrinking the area where the light points could move.

As the space continued to shrink, the originally scattered light points were gradually gathered together.

Finally, inside his arm, a circular "mold space" was formed.

Ren Yi continued to apply even pressure, letting the gathered light points slowly fill the mold.

This process felt strangely similar to a scene he had witnessed in a pastry shop before.

A pastry chef would put kneaded dough into a mold, press down firmly to shape it, and finally produce various neat forms.

The moment this thought surfaced, Ren Yi's mind wandered uncontrollably.

Using one's body to press unstable matter into a mold and solidify it into a desired shape... had he seen this scene somewhere before?

A rather unpleasant memory suddenly came flooding back.

He abruptly remembered that when he had first awakened and couldn't stabilize his form, his brother would always "shape" him.

Thinking about it now, wasn't his brother's method pretty much the same as how he was making an energy crystal right now?

Like making a pastry—no, like making an energy crystal—pressing him into a "mold"?

Ren Yi belatedly realized this bit of his embarrassing past, and he nearly lost his rhythm, causing the light points he was controlling to wobble.

He quickly gathered his focus and concentrated on the task at hand.

Eventually, those points of light were perfectly gathered together, slowly solidifying into a fixed shape.

After an unknown amount of time, the light points in the processing space were completely solidified.

A spherical crystal, only about the size of a pinky fingernail, pure white and emitting a faint, warm glow, lay quietly amidst the flesh and blood of his arm.

Ren Yi's first impression was that it was a bit uncomfortable—it was poking him.

He grumbled inwardly; it seemed he couldn't store a large number of energy crystals inside his body. Not only would it be uncomfortable, but it might also affect his physical movements.

If his humanoid form accidentally collapsed in front of the Holy City folk, that would be a disaster.

But the energy crystal looked quite peculiar; it would be hard to explain if someone discovered it.

He might need to find another way.

He continued to test it with his perception. When his perception touched the crystal, a sense of realization—"I can absorb this"—was transmitted back to him.

Unfortunately, he was currently at the bottleneck of E-rank. Even if he absorbed this crystal, he couldn't increase his progress points; he could only store it.

He remembered Auntie Lu saying that energy crystals were the hard currency among Instance bosses, equivalent to a type of currency they could print themselves.

There were established "exchange rates" between different energy crystals, allowing them to be used for trade.

Wait, that's not right.

Ren Yi suddenly realized that the energy crystal he had just made probably couldn't be used as hard currency.

What was that knowledge point called again?

The core of currency is being a "universal equivalent," requiring widespread value and liquidity.

Energy crystals could become hard currency because, to an Anomaly with the corresponding rules, they were essentially tangible progress points.

Since almost all Anomalies needed to increase their progress, there was a natural foundation for circulation.

The reason there were "exchange rates" was that energy crystals from certain rare rules or abilities had higher value.

For example, crystals for emotions like fear were quite common, while crystals for rules like Lu Zihan's "rebuttal and negation" were slightly rarer.

Ren Yi's rule was naturally rare—this was evident from how Dr. Lin had nearly broken down trying to find a matching energy crystal for him.

But the problem was that it was too rare—so rare that only Ren Yi himself could use it.

In this way, this crystal lost its basis as a "universal equivalent."

Even if he took it outside, other Anomalies couldn't use it, so naturally, no one would recognize its value.

Ren Yi's consciousness lingered on that pure white crystal, feeling a bit dazed.

So after all that effort, the Rule Crystal he produced had no other use except for storing excess positive emotion at a rather inefficient ratio?

Though it wasn't a huge problem—after all, besides Rule Crystals, he could still make illusion Ability Crystals, which could always be traded.

But even so, watching one of the two types of crystals he could make turn out to be useless left him feeling a bit unwilling.

Ren Yi couldn't help but fiddle with the newly made energy crystal inside his arm, turning it over and over.

Increasing the pressure of his solid flesh... useless. Trying to pierce it with hardened, sharp limbs... no reaction. Not to mention liquefaction or turning into energy... wait?

Ren Yi suddenly discovered that he had lost control over a portion of his energized body.

There was no pain, but a piece of his limb next to the crystal was suddenly missing.

Yet he could clearly perceive that the part of his limb was still there; he just couldn't send any commands to it, and it was completely unresponsive.

Ren Yi quickly expanded his perception to cover the energy crystal. Upon closer inspection, he immediately noticed something strange.

A small cloud of slowly flowing white gas had appeared inside the crystal. The crystal, which had previously only emitted a faint glow, now looked exceptionally mystical and vivid, enhanced by this gaseous flow.

"..." Was the aesthetic of a crystal made by an Anomaly supposed to look like this?

Pulling his stray thoughts back, Ren Yi realized what had happened.

He had "shattered" once again.