Ren Yi slowly withdrew the light from his palm, and the head-sized illusion-based energy crystal shrank with it, turning into a streak of golden light that merged into his palm and vanished.
He said no more, turning to walk toward the camp with Gawain following close behind.
Wherever he passed, the originally crowded masses instinctively retreated, actively clearing an unobstructed path for him.
Ren Yi kept his lips pressed in a thin line throughout, maintaining a cold, detached expression as he walked past without looking left or right.
Returning to the center of the camp, he found the Pope already waiting. Seeing him approach, Ren Yi didn't wait for the man to speak, immediately cutting him off.
"Your Holiness, I have found a way to use the Divine Gift Crystals to collect faith!"
His face wore an expression of exasperation, as if to say, "None of you are competent; it’s all on me to carry this."
Next, he began to put effort into imagining the flowery rhetoric of the clergy.
"The Divine Gift Crystal that manifested just now is the supreme core for gathering faith and summoning our God. We must select several of the most devout believers to worship it at set times daily."
"During worship, they must hold piety in their hearts and silently chant our God's name, transferring their power of faith into the crystal."
"Remember, individual faith is ultimately limited," Ren Yi added, changing his tone. "Therefore, the crystal must frequently change holders, allowing more devout believers to receive its baptismal blessing, thereby maximizing the gathering of power."
The Pope remained silent for a while, as if slowly translating and digesting the meaning of Ren Yi's words.
After a long pause, he slowly nodded and asked, "Then how do we determine when the Divine Gift Crystal has collected enough faith?"
Vague answers would not work for this question.
Fortunately, it wasn't a difficult question to answer; he just had to tell the truth.
"It depends on the specks of light within. When the light reaches its peak brightness and stops increasing, it means the capacity is full."
"Then, how many are needed?" the Pope pressed.
"At least a thousand," Ren Yi answered firmly.
This number was certainly not chosen at random.
He had asked Dr. Lin before, and the energy ratio required for an Anomaly to rank up was roughly a factor of ten.
Given that his progress bar to upgrade from E-rank to D-rank was 100, he reasonably speculated that the next advancement from D-rank to C-rank would likely require 1,000 points.
Those thousand crystals were preparation for his rank-up; the energy collected within would naturally be his future "private stash."
One had to realize that subsequent Instances would likely have participant limits. An opportunity like this, where he could treat an entire world as an "energy buffet" for harvest, might not come again until he truly owned his own Instance.
Thus, Ren Yi was determined to settle things once and for all in this Three Cities World, earning enough "living expenses" for his advancement to C-rank in one go.
The Pope was very cooperative.
In Ren Yi's view, he seemed a bit too cooperative.
He appeared completely unconcerned about his own power being shaken, having turned entirely into a mouthpiece for Ren Yi's instructions.
Was it because he was truly pure and blameless, devoutly believing in that deity named the Azure God?
Or was there another plot behind this?
Ren Yi lowered his eyelids, concealing the thoughts in his eyes.
It didn't matter; he only needed the Pope's brief cooperation anyway.
The Pope soon departed to begin arranging for the troops to enter the city for the cleanup operation.
Ren Yi did not follow the main force. Instead, under Gawain's guidance, he walked toward the cleanest, temporary tent in the camp.
He needed a quiet environment to process the rich gains from his recent "performance."
The influx of faith-based emotions from just now had been extremely bountiful. At this moment, his arms were covered in golden specks of light; he had to convert this energy into crystals as soon as possible to solidify it and prevent it from dissipating.
Closing the door and blocking out the noise from outside, Ren Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Gawain stood outside the door. That faint sense of being watched still surfaced from time to time, but he could now produce energy crystals openly.
He flipped his hand, and a golden halo of energy appeared in his palm, transformed from the positive emotions he had just collected.
Sensing the energy contained within, Ren Yi fell into a brief moment of hesitation: which type of crystal should he refine?
Rule Crystals were the safest choice.
These crystals had no other complex effects; their core function was to collect positive emotion energy for him on a large, continuous scale. They could completely solidify the gains from this "performance" and continue to accumulate energy like a rolling snowball.
However, the temptation of Ability Crystals was also great.
As the name suggested, Ability Crystals could carry specific Espers' powers, clearly brimming with potential for "stirring up trouble."
Whether used for self-defense or to create chaos and achieve goals at critical moments, they were far more practical than Rule Crystals that could only collect energy.
But on second thought, Ren Yi calmed down again.
Given the current situation, using crystals merged with his own body as long-term energy collection devices to passively harvest faith energy meant there was no real need to stir up trouble.
More importantly, Ability Crystals had significant usage restrictions.
They required illusion content to be preset. If he made them now and gave them to the people of the Holy City without presetting an illusion, the crystals would be nothing more than empty decorations, completely useless.
Furthermore, because of the Rule Array inscribed inside, their energy-carrying efficiency was significantly worse than that of Rule Crystals. Using them solely to collect energy would be a waste.
Ren Yi weighed his options for a moment and began the production.
It wasn't until evening that he slowly walked out of the tent.
Gawain was waiting outside and hurriedly bowed when he saw him emerge.
"Walk with me; there are some things I want to ask you," Ren Yi said flatly.
He had produced about a hundred energy crystals. Aside from ten Ability Crystals, the rest were Rule Crystals.
However, he couldn't take them out right now.
He had claimed they could only be made through blood sacrifices of mutant beasts; bringing them out now would expose the lie.
As for now...
Ren Yi glanced at Gawain.
He had made sure to give this older man some special attention while putting on his special effects earlier.
As a loyal knight under the Pope, this man's devotion did not disappoint Ren Yi.
At the very least, his gaze had softened slightly, and the previous sense of surveillance was intermittent, appearing somewhat conflicted.
In that case, he could try to pry some information from him that would be inconvenient to ask that old fox of a Pope.
"How are the preparations on the military's side?" Ren Yi asked casually as he walked ahead, his gaze sweeping over the now somewhat sparse camp.
"We have basically confirmed the locations of four mutant beast nests," Gawain responded. "Traps are already being set."
Ren Yi nodded.
He wanted live mutant beasts, but it was naturally impossible to catch them one by one. Therefore, after deliberation, the Holy City side had settled on a plan that was highly efficient, despite potential losses.
The plan was simple: find the nests first and lure the adult mutant beasts out.
While ordinary firearms weren't very effective against mutant beasts, as the saying goes, all fear stems from insufficient firepower.
If guns didn't work, they would use grenades and RPGs. If bullets were useless, the explosive shockwaves would always do something.
And due to the unique resistance of mutant beasts, heavy fire saturation likely wouldn't kill them; it would mostly just knock them unconscious.
This was perfect for Ren Yi. At that time, he would only need to step in and deliver the finishing blows one by one.
Besides that, the nests themselves were a priority.
According to the Holy City's estimates, there was a high probability of younglings inside the nests, which would allow for another wave of energy harvesting.
By clearing the four nests this way, they could sweep through the mutant beasts of the entire City of Stars in a short time.
This meant he could collect a very considerable amount of energy.
Moreover, during this period, he wouldn't need to waste his abilities on guarding against those around him. Every mutant beast he killed would yield pure profit in energy.
All according to plan.
Just then, Ren Yi noticed a commotion coming from the camp not far away.
Ren Yi's eyes flashed.
It seemed the person he was waiting for was about to arrive.
Rate on N.U.
