Chapter 178: This Is Not a Counterfeit Product, Right?
In Star City, Hou Liang introduced the various sections of Star City to familiarize Chen Feng with the city. He also gave Chen Feng some rough information on ways to navigate through the guide screen and coordinates here.
"Then... you can stroll around by yourself now. I already connected your communication tool to headquarters. If you have any problems, you can contact the others at any time. You can also contact the employees in charge here.
"Oh, right. There's also your reward. Every producer will receive a reward upon joining headquarters. But yours, though," Hou Liang said profoundly, "it's something a lot of people yearn for."
He only took Chen Feng here because he was coming here anyway. Due to the discovery of that mysterious organization, he still had a lot of things to do. After he finished saying what was required, he left.
Chen Feng did not find this surprising. Almost everyone here, the employees included, were extremely formidable producers. Hence, there were no customer service employees here.
One could only depend on oneself here.
However...
Rewards, eh.
Those final words of Hou Liang's greatly attracted Chen Feng.
At this moment.
Hum—
His communication tool buzzed.
Chen Feng's eyes shone. It's here!
Shua!
A screen popped out.
The reward for joining the headquarters was finally here.
"Ding—"
In Chen Feng's personal information window, several new items were added.
Crescent moon spring x3.
Ardent tiger spring x1.
Ordinary D-class formula (1 star, 2 star, or 3 star of the producer's choosing) x1.
"What's this?"
Chen Feng blanked.
Crescent moon spring?
Shua!
A new window popped out on the screen.
Crescent moon spring: Spring water formed of a powerful gene reagent. A mystical power is contained within. Able to greatly increase a producer's spiritual energy.
This was an item that only the Gene Production Association possessed!
Every single one of them was extremely valuable.
A lot of high-difficulty missions had this as a reward. For a lot of people, this was something they desired more than a formula. It was extremely valuable.
Under normal circumstances, one would only receive one set of this crescent moon spring when they first joined headquarters.
If one wanted more, one could only work hard!
As for Chen Feng, one set was rewarded for joining headquarters. Another set was rewarded for the Xia Yan incident where Chen Feng and Qin Hai had saved everyone. Due to the importance of the pictures he had taken, he had contributed greatly once again, and a third crescent moon spring was rewarded to him.
Right upon joining, Chen Feng had already obtained three sets of crescent moon spring.
As for the ardent tiger spring... it was used to increase the quality of one's physical body.
Crescent moon spring to increase spiritual energy, ardent tiger spring to increase one's body quality—strength, physique, agility. Both of these were treasures of the Gene Production Association.
Theoretically, one's spiritual energy would be able to resonate with the ardent tiger spring.
The higher one's spiritual energy was, the higher the increase of one's body quality would be. This served as a solution toward the weak physical body producers normally possessed.
At the same time, the ardent tiger spring was extremely valuable.
Comparatively, the third reward, an ordinary D-class formula, was much more mediocre.
"Don't worry about the formula first." Chen Feng's eyes lit up. "I should prioritize becoming stronger."
He had been stuck at 250 points for way too long.
The Gene Rookie Competition was merely a competition in the virtual world. With the virtual company building's assistance, one's proficiency in production would still increase. However, one's spiritual energy would not increase.
"It's about time I increase my attributes."
Chen Feng was filled with expectation.
He wanted to have a good look. How much spiritual energy increase could he gain from this so-called crescent moon spring?
Returning to the room assigned to him, Chen Feng noticed that in every room, a small-scale white transaction conveyer was installed.
Shua!
He scanned it with his wristband.
Hum—
A bottle of gene reagent appeared.
This was the commonly used transaction conveyer. In cities, only the merchants or those somewhat wealthy individuals could afford one. Here, they were everywhere.
Chen Feng picked up the gene reagent.
Shua!
----
Crescent Moon Spring
Function: Greatly increase one's spiritual energy
Class: ???
----
Question marks?
Chen Feng had a solemn mood.
This was the first time he had encountered something like this.
No wonder the descriptions had described the crescent moon spring as something so precious. Probably only those top-notch producers at the level of presidents or vice presidents could produce something like this.
Crescent moon spring...
Chen Feng was filled with anticipation.
Gulp.
In accordance to the description, Chen Feng gulped it down.
Bang!
A boom resounded in his brain.
Chen Feng felt like the world before his eyes had shattered apart, countless dazzling blue lights radiating and a bone-piercing chillness descending upon him. He had a feeling that he had entered an icy-blue world.
A mystical spiritual world!
Currently, a lot of people in the Star City felt this aura.
"It's the crescent moon spring."
"He has indeed started using it."
"Interesting." Everyone's mouths curled up into smiles. "So he's already in the crescent moon's world? I wonder, how long can this outstandingly talented young friend of ours last in there?"
Crescent moon spring!
After consumption, one would enter an independent spiritual world. An illusory mystical world! There, a huge volume of spiritual shockwaves would be used to increase one's power. If one was properly prepared, one might be able to last longer and have a higher amount of improvement. However, for Chen Feng to enter rashly like this...
"How long did you last previously?"
"15 seconds. Only 150 points of spiritual energy," that person replied regretfully.
For the him at that time, that single crescent moon spring was equivalent to an extremely high amount of riches. Unfortunately, he had not managed to properly grasp that chance he'd had.
"I only lasted for 20 seconds and gained 200 points of spiritual energy." He had a faint smile on his face. "I heard that this young friend of ours is an expert when it comes to breaking records. During the Gene Rookie Competition, he crushed all opposition. I wonder if he can create a new record this time."
"Quite probable."
Everyone was filled with anticipation.
Currently, Chen Feng had descended upon an ice-cold world.
"Where is this?"
Chen Feng blanked.
Bang!
Boundless seawater started gushing toward him.
From all directions!
Every single drop of seawater was filled with dense spiritual energy. That bone-piercing icy blue was in actuality highly concentrated spiritual energy. This was an ocean formed of spiritual energy!
What's the meaning of this? Using my own body to endure the spiritual shockwave?
Chen Feng guessed.
Next...
Bang!
He used his body to accept these attacks.
That very instant.
Pop!
His spiritual body shattered.
He only felt light swirled before his eyes before returning to the real world.
The end.
It's over?
Chen Feng scratched his head as he looked at his attribute. His 250 points of spirit had increased to 260 points. Time spent: 1 second.
"It's only capable of increasing 10 points?"
Chen Feng was filled with doubt. This was the so-called great increase?
Could this be a counterfeit product?
He looked at the empty reagent bottle.
Vaguely, he remembered a certain beverage advertisement from his previous life. The scene in the advertisement appeared in his head. After drinking the beverage during summer, one would instantly enter an icy-blue world, comfortably refreshing and cold.
Those messy special effects that gave off an uncomfortable feeling...
Mizone?[1]
Chen Feng looked at the empty bottle in his hand as he sunk into contemplation. He had a feeling that something had gone wrong.
Currently, far away, those that were observing what had happened here were speechless.
This...
He had indeed broken a record!
They had casually mentioned it. Unexpectedly, Chen Feng had truly broken a record. The shortest duration since the crescent moon spring came into existence.
One second!
"Isn't this too fast?"
Everyone smiled forcefully.
From their memory up until now, the record for the shortest duration was held by a producer called Li Hao with the nickname Little Li the Rapidfire. Even he was able to last 3 seconds.
This, this, this...
Someone recalled something. "Maybe it's because he's too young."
Before they joined this headquarters, most of them had a spiritual energy of around 800 or 900 points. Some of them had even reached D class.
As for Chen Feng?
He only had 250 points of spiritual energy when he'd joined.
Crescent moon spring. Essentially, it was something that used one's spiritual energy to form a spiritual body in the world of the crescent moon spring. Using the spiritual body, one would receive a formidable amount of spiritual energy!
The formed body would be the port used to transmit the spiritual energy to one's real body!
Hence, the stronger one's spiritual body was, the higher the amount of spiritual energy one would be able to accept.
As for Chen Feng...
He was too young and his spiritual energy was too weak. Hence, it had collapsed instantly. If he mastered some tricks to concentrate his mind and stabilize his spiritual body, he might be able to persevere longer.
"Seems like the Rapidfire title will be his now."
The tone of Little Li's voice when he said this was filled with joy.
Back then, due to his ignorance, this title had accompanied him all these years. He had been ridiculed with this title for way too long. Now that this newcomer Chen Feng was here, the same mistake had been repeated.
"Hehe."
"Little Chen the Rapidfire. Mhm, what a nice name."
Little Li was in joy.
"You..."
Everyone burst out laughing.
However, outside of everyone's expectation, at this moment, that familiar aura appeared once again.
"This is..."
Everyone paused in their steps.
Crescent moon spring!
The aura of crescent moon spring again!
"It's Chen Feng!"
With astonishment, everyone sensed that aura. Chen Feng actually had two of them?
Truly blessed by the heavens!
Everyone gasped in admiration. Obtaining two crescent moon springs the moment he joined. This meant that he had completed a mission even before he joined.
Incredible!
They had no choice but to respect this accomplishment.
However...
"What a waste."
Little Li's tone was somewhat solemn.
If they were aware that Chen Feng had more crescent moon springs, they would definitely have stopped this! A crescent moon spring would only increase 10 points of spiritual energy for the current Chen Feng. Using it in such a manner was simply a waste. One had to know that, after their first crescent moon spring, in order to further increase their spiritual energy, they completed a countless amount of missions before saving enough achievements to trade for a single crescent moon spring. It was an incredibly hard feat.
"Yeah."
Everyone smiled bitterly.
Since he'd only had a 10 points increase the first time he'd used it, how much could he increase this time?
Currently.
Shua!
Chen Feng had once again entered the icy-blue spiritual world.
He was already aware of the reason for his previous attempt ending in one second. It was due to his low spiritual energy. This was something he couldn't change. When he reached D class, things might improve when he once again used this reagent.
However...
Should he really wait till he reached D class?
Chen Feng could not accept that!
He would be going on that purifying mission soon, yet he was still somewhat weak.
Hence—
He definitely had to increase his power!
Spiritual body too weak?
No problem!
Changing a pose and trying it one more time!
As long as he found a suitable method, using his Luck Aura, he might be able to find a way to increase his power!
"Bang!"
Boundless icy blue engulfed him from all around.
Akin to an all-encompassing tsunami, the brutal waves of the spirit sea surged forth toward Chen Feng. At this instant, Chen Feng concentrated his mind.
This is the spiritual world!
I am a spiritual body!
Shua!
Chen Feng sat down cross-legged. This would be the firmest posture.
Bang!
The seawater charged toward him.
One second!
Bang!
His spiritual body shattered.
Light swirled before his eyes as Chen Feng instantly returned to reality.
It ended!
One second as well!
However, this time, a smile appeared on Chen Feng's lips. He had found an exploit!
However, he was not aware of the expressions of pain painted on the faces of all the producers in his vicinity.
Crescent moon spring!
That was the crescent moon spring!
Due to Chen Feng's stubbornness, such a valuable item was gone just like that!
"Only 20 points increase after using two."
Their hearts ached so much they were having difficulty breathing.
What a waste!
Too wasteful!
One had to know.
Under normal circumstances, it was very normal for one to have an increase ranging from 100 to 200 points of spiritual energy when they first used it. For those with astonishing talent who were also in D class, they would have an even greater increase.
This was the crescent moon spring!
Regardless of whether the user was E or D class, it was still an extremely valuable item.
Now...
Their heart ached.
"Should we tell him he can't waste this thing like this?"
Some sighed.
"Let it be." Another person shook his head. "The first consumption will normally end up as wastage no matter what. The second bottle he wasted was because nobody expected that he would have a second set. Now, though..."
"Just let him be happy with this, however short this happiness will last."
"When he finds out how valuable the crescent moon is, he will naturally feel the grief."
Everyone was silent.
Wasn't this how things had always been?
Back then, which of them did not grieve when they found out the value of the crescent moon spring? Thorough the years, this had became a tradition that a newbie had to experience.
This was also something the seniors of the headquarters found amusing to watch.
"But... what if he has a third one?" Little Li anxiously said.
Shua!
Everyone looked at him like they were looking at an idiot.
A third one?
What, you think this is mineral water?
However, it was at this moment that once again a familiar aura emerged.
?!
Everyone was alarmed.
Again?
The f*ck?
Is this for real?
Footnotes:
1. A beverage in China. Refer link: https://passionfruit.dunked.com/mizone-china