Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Gold Devouring Vine · Crystal of Life

Seeing this, the black tendrils that had been relentlessly pursuing seemed completely enraged, their whipping frequency becoming even more astonishing. At the same time, Song Chi also noticed that the sharp barbs on the tendrils seemed to have changed.

A faint golden glow twinkled among them, casting these already coldly shimmering barbs in an even more terrifying light, to the point where the surrounding starry space seemed to twist slightly in the flow of the gold light.

Song Chi’s eyes narrowed, instinctively feeling that something was amiss, but before he could react,

the next second saw the black tendrils mixed with golden light lash out again.

Buzz buzz buzz!

Above the dark matter energy shield, waves of intense turbulence immediately appeared, far surpassing any previous disturbance.

Correspondingly, the shield value of the dark matter energy shield was reduced by more than four hundred points, nearly one-fifteenth of the total shield value.

“Could it be an armor-breaking effect?”

The component of the dark matter energy shield generator had defensive attributes, and usually, external attacks had to go through this reduction of defense before affecting the energy shield; the previous attacks had been no different.

However, after that golden glow appeared, these black tendrils’ attacks seemed to have increased several times in strength, and the only thing Song Chi could think of was an armor-breaking effect.

Looking at the remaining shield value of just over four thousand points, Song Chi gritted his teeth, forcefully suppressing the urge to react. Even with the enhancement of an armor-breaking effect, the Cangqiong could still hold on for a while. He was curious to see which would come first: the enemy’s core showing itself or the Cangqiong’s energy shield being breached.

After a brief accumulation of power, the spectral main cannon fired for the second time.

This shot still failed to penetrate the rocky layer of the fragment, but judging from the increasingly frenzied state of the black tendrils’ attack, Song Chi became even more confident in his inner guess.

What followed was a repeat of the previous actions. Two minutes later, after the fourth shot of the spectral main cannon struck, the pit in the rock below was finally completely penetrated. Through this hole, approximately three meters in diameter, Song Chi, high above, finally saw the true nature of the “starry plant” hidden within the core of the fragment.

Nearly one meter in diameter and close to fifty meters in length, the thick main body of the vine was adorned with two distinctly different colors: the lower half was a pale gold, while the upper half was the familiar black.

After quickly consulting “The Compendium of Alien Civilizations and Creatures of the Shattered Starry Sea,” Song Chi recognized the roots of this “starry plant.”

Hmm… More accurately, it was not a starry plant but a special floating land plant known as the Gold Devouring Vine.

The Gold Devouring Vine was quite a unique floating land plant. It often took root in large metal ore veins, absorbing the metallic essence from the ores to grow and strengthen. Once it matured, it possessed terrifying destructive and attack powers.

Having identified the Gold Devouring Vine, Song Chi felt somewhat relieved, thankful that it was a Gold Devouring Vine and not a genuine starry plant like the Star Devouring Vine. Otherwise, it wouldn’t likely be just at the peak of the first rank, and the fate of the Cangqiong would have been predictable.

Being one of the floating land plants, the Gold Devouring Vine, no matter how unique, could not escape the essence of floating land vegetation.

The reason why they are called floating land plants is precisely because they lack the ability to grow indefinitely in the starry space. Thus, it is not that the Gold Devouring Vine just happened to be at the peak of the first rank; in the unique environment of the starry space, it can only evolve to the peak of the first rank.

Otherwise, the external fragment would no longer be able to contain it, and once it left the refuge of the core of the fragment, the special environment of the starry space would claim its life.

This was also the reason the Furious Tiger Mining Cart had such a violent reaction when it attempted to excavate this fragment and destroyed the environment it relied on to survive.

Having understood the specific situation, the subsequent response naturally became simpler. The Cang Qiong remained suspended in the high sky, occasionally firing its main cannon, while the seven Fire Peony Soldier Figurines began to continuously rush into the core of that fragment. Employing a tactic of harming the enemy at the cost of significant self-damage, they steadily depleted the Gold Devouring Vine.

About an hour had passed, when only three Soldier Figurines remained, the Gold Devouring Vine within the core of the fragment below had completely lost its life energy fluctuations.

A large cavity was blasted into the Floating Land Fragment, and the stellar matter continuously pouring into the core of the fragment had been eroding the opponent. Combined with the suicidal attacks from the seven Fire Peony Soldier Figurines, the Gold Devouring Vine, which should have been very resilient, died suffocatingly amidst the stars.

Seeing this, Song Chi still chose not to take action himself but instead sent the remaining three Fire Peony Soldier Figurines to clean up the battlefield.

A few minutes later, Song Chi, now holding a fist-sized green Crystal Core, finally found the specific information on this core obtained from inside the Gold Devouring Vine in the information database.

Name: Crystal of Life

Rank: First Rank Peak

Effect: Can be used to accelerate the growth of various herbs, tree species, and other special plant life, shortening their growth cycle.

Note: Often found within life entities of the same rank plant class.

The value of this Crystal of Life was quite good, roughly worth several strands of First Rank Floating Land Origin, which is about several hundreds of strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.

Song Chi was very satisfied with this. Although it took more time, there was a corresponding reward. Even if it didn’t compare to the thousand tons of Refined Gold Ore previously found, it was still equivalent to the yield of several explorations of the Star Domain by other Zero Rank Torch Warships.

He then retracted the Furious Tiger Mining Cart, which had also been a major target of the Gold Devouring Vine during the previous battle. At this moment, the cart was damaged to an extent of thirty percent, inevitably reducing the efficiency of subsequent work. However, Song Chi wasn’t wasteful enough to simply abandon it.

Once he returned, it could be sent for repairs at a maintenance shop and still be used afterwards. After all, it had cost him several million Credit Points, and he had just broken even.

Just as he finished tidying up and was preparing to directly start the engine to leave, the on-board intelligence system of the Furious Tiger Mining Cart in the hangar once again issued a prompt.

“Radiation reaction of ‘Phantom Crystal Ore’ detected below, initially estimated to be over a hundred tons.”

Upon hearing this prompt, Song Chi hurriedly extinguished the engines that were about to restart and reopened the shuttle bay doors.

Phantom Crystals were an extremely special resource for enhancing Torch Warships. Although they were not a specifically required resource and warships could be freely enhanced without them, this did not affect their high value in the slightest.

It is said that adding a suitable amount of Phantom Crystal during the enhancement of “Warship Armor” components could improve the stealth capabilities of the Torch Warship itself. If enough Phantom Crystal is invested, it becomes very difficult for life entities of the same rank or radars of warships of the same rank to detect.

Because of such a special effect, not only within the domain of Torch Human Civilization but also throughout the entire Shattered Starry Sea, the value of Phantom Crystal has remained high.

In the domain of Torch Human Civilization, as far as Song Chi knows, the market price of Phantom Crystals has reached 5 strands of First Rank Floating Land Origin per ton,