Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World

Caelus immediately went forward and opened the glowing chest.

[System: You have received the following:]

[Unidentified Egg (Mythical, ???)]

[Material Refiner (Mythical, 1-Star)]

[Monster Compass (Mythical, 1-Star)]

[Evolution Catalyst (Legendary, 1-Star)]

[Heart of the Darkspawn Lord (Mythical, 1-Star)]

"Oh?!" Caelus was visibly excited seeing this. Five items? This was vastly better than he had expected it to be.

Without hesitation, he checked all of their detailed descriptions.

[Item: Unidentified Egg (Mythical, ???) – An egg hailing from the olden era. Who knows what is incubating inside it.]

[Target required to hatch the egg: (0/100,000 monsters killed)]

"Is that target not a bit too exaggerated?" Caelus was bewildered.

He sighed and moved onto the next item. Killing 100,000 monsters was going to take quite a while.

[Item: Material Refiner (Mythical, 1-Star) — Take the Beast Cores of monsters from the Iron rank and refine them into a potent enhancement powder. You can mix it in water and drink it, or snort it... or just dry eat it. It tastes exactly like pure white powdered sugar... There is a mild chance of experiencing side effects.]

[Effect: Permanently adds +3 Combat Score to your base foundation.]

"???" Caelus’s expression was incredibly strange.

What the hell? This item sounded incredibly suspicious. But at the same time, considering it was a Mythical-grade tool, the massive permanent stat boost would definitely come in handy.

[Item: Monster Compass (Mythical, 1-Star) — A mystical compass. You can use this to accurately track down Tyrant and Lord-type beasts in the Domain. It only functions up to the Iron III rank. After your next major ascension, it becomes invalid.]

[Item: Evolution Catalyst (Legendary, 1-Star) — Use this rare catalyst to forcefully upgrade any standard skill into a Legendary version of itself.]

"Oh, this one is very nice," Caelus smiled.

This meant he could immediately upgrade one of his core skills to the Legendary tier! He opened his skill tab in absolute glee. He wanted to make the most out of this precious catalyst.

He looked at the status tab carefully.

[Name: Caelus Kross]

[Race: Chaos Perception Dragon (Locked)]

[Lifespan: 125 Years]

[Class: Ender]

[Profession: Blacksmith (Tier 1: Iron II) (1,000/25,000 EXP), Engineer (Tier 1: Iron I) (2,000/25,000 EXP)]

[Aspect: Chaos Perception Eyes (Mythical, 1-Star)]

[Talent: Endless Extraction (SSS-Rank), Body Enhancement (D-Rank), Dexterity (C-Rank), Fire Manipulation (D-Rank), Lightning Domain (Lower B-Rank), Charge (D-Rank), Weapon Light Barrage (D-Rank), Shadow Hand (D-Rank), Projection Frame (Upper A-Rank), First Generation: Spark Ignition (C-Rank), Tremor Authority (Middle B-Rank), Poison Application (E-Rank), Laser Manipulation (Lower B-Rank)]

[Mod: Golden Light]

[HP: 160/160 (Recovery: 5/min)]

[CA: 150/150]

[Aura: 25/25 (Recovery: 2/min)]

[Rank: Iron I]

[Aura Rank: Tier 1 (9/100)]

[Level: 21 (Capped)]

[System: Click here for Ascension.]

[Combat Score: 8.0 (Iron II)]

[Affinity: E-Rank]

[Origin Credits: 9,631]

[Reputation: 25]

[Title: Rookie Emperor (Passive Skill), Town Leader of Server 513, Harvester (Rare)]

[Skill: Fireball (Common, 1-Star), Blood Manipulation (Common, 1-Star), Compressed Lightning Shot (Rare, 1-Star), Lightning Step (Common, 1-Star), Weapon Manifestation (Common, 1-Star), Tremor (Rare, 1-Star), Thunderclap (Rare, 1-Star), Stream (Epic), Plasma Nuke (Mythical, 1-Star), Laser Shot (Rare, 1-Star), Point-Defense Grid (Epic, 1-Star), Aura Density]

[Profession Skills: Rainbow Light Forge (Tier 1: Iron II), Herb Gatherer (Tier 1: Iron I), Flash Patterning (Tier 1: Iron I)]

In the end, he decided on Compressed Lightning Shot. It was easily his most frequently used utility skill.

The Evolution Catalyst glitched into code and was rapidly absorbed into Caelus’s body.

[Ding!]

[System: Your skill ’Compressed Lightning Shot’ is currently evolving.]

The golden-black lightning within him began to violently churn. The stone floor beneath his feet began to visibly crack from the pressure as drastic changes took place.

[System: Compressed Lightning Shot (Rare, 1-Star) > Lightning Singularity (Legendary, 1-Star)]

[Skill: Lightning Singularity (Legendary, 1-Star) – Unleash a hyper-concentrated, high-voltage lightning bolt that deals massive AoE damage. The specific area you point at temporarily becomes a destructive, localized singularity of lightning.]

[Legendary Trait 1: Synaptic Overclock - Passively boosts neural network functioning and dynamic vision by 300% while simply keeping this skill primed for a sensory buff for 3 minutes.]

[Legendary Trait 2: Overload - Hits at +1 Combat Score higher than your current output and ignores 50% of enemy shielding to deal massive true damage.]

[Cost: 25 CA]

"Oh? This is incredibly good," Caelus smiled from ear to ear.

The Lightning Singularity was a vastly more potent version of his Lightning Shot. The total amount of lightning generated and compressed was so high that it naturally hit at a +1 Combat Score advantage! Even better, it had a secondary utility effect where it significantly boosted his synaptic processing speeds!

He could just channel the skill in his hand, and it would keep passively boosting his nervous system during a fight.

However, the major downside of this upgraded skill was the heavy cost. His B-Rank talent, Lightning Domain, was simply not efficient enough anymore to subsidize the energy. Hence, the skill required a massive 25 CA to cast, just like his Plasma Nuke.

Then, his eyes fell onto the Heart of the Darkspawn Lord.

[Item: Heart of the Darkspawn Lord (Mythical, 1-Star) - Consuming it will lead to unexpected, permanent benefits. There are absolutely no side effects.]

[System: Consume?]

Seeing this, Caelus clicked ’Yes’ without a shred of hesitation. The Domain never lied; if the system stated there were no side effects, that meant it was perfectly safe.

Boom!

A powerful, dark aura instantly enveloped Caelus. A profound sense of biological elevation rushed into his core, and in the very next moment, his golden eyes widened in shock.

[Ding!]

[System: The Power of the Olden Days has permanently calibrated your existence.]

[System: Affinity: E-Rank > D-Rank.]

The status tab for his Lightning Singularity skill violently glitched, and in the next moment, the steep casting cost of 25 CA dropped...

It turned into 15 CA!

"Holy shit!" Caelus was stunned.

His base affinity had actually increased!

The Heart of the Darkspawn Lord was infinitely better than he had initially expected. In fact, it completely shattered his expectations!

"This is amazing. Now even Plasma Nuke only costs exactly 12 CA to cast," Caelus smiled in satisfaction.

The Mythical chest was overall extremely worth the effort. He even got a free Legendary skill out of it.

With his loot sorted, he walked out of the instanced arena to find Sylvia. She was already waiting outside, sitting peacefully near the base of the tower alongside a patch of glowing flowers. Her eyes were closed, and a serene, small smile graced her lips. She looked exceptionally beautiful resting there.

"I am back, Miss Vampire Princess," Caelus announced smoothly.

"My knight," Sylvia opened her ruby eyes, her face visibly brightening at the sight of him.

"What did you manage to get?" Caelus asked with a meaningful smile.

"I got an Evolution Catalyst, several Mythical-grade HP potions, a Mythical-grade Soul Contract Scroll that can forcefully bind a Lord-tier monster, some Escape Stones that we can use to instantly teleport 100 miles away from enemies, and several Reputation Tokens," she listed off happily.

"Wait, Reputation Tokens?" Caelus blinked in surprise. "How much total reputation did you get from them?"

"10 points," Sylvia smiled brightly.

The tokens could be directly exchanged for raw Reputation points. She initially had 12 Reputation, and now she had 22. She was only exactly 3 Reputation points short of matching him!

"Not bad at all," Caelus smiled, truly happy for her progress. "What about the Evolution Catalyst? What skill did you use it on?"

"I used it on my Weapon Manifestation skill," Sylvia grinned.

She already possessed way too many overpowered combat skills, so upgrading her utility made perfect sense.

[Skill: Fractured Arc (Legendary, 1-Star) - Unleash a concentrated wave of weapon energy. The primary beam rapidly refracts and breaks into thousands of smaller, lethal energy beams.]

[Legendary Trait: Spatial Awareness increases exponentially. Within a 5-meter radius, the Fractured Arc can be unleashed defensively around the user and perfectly controlled with a simple wave of one’s hand. Hits at +1 Combat Score.]

This was an incredibly versatile skill. It was almost as good, if not slightly better for crowd control, than the skill he had just evolved.

Caelus then told her about his affinity increasing.

"It finally increased?" Sylvia was overjoyed, even happier than Caelus himself.

"Yeah, the Heart of the Darkspawn Lord. Whatever it was, it did the trick," Caelus smiled.

On that note, he could not extract any stats from the darkspawns since their bodies immediately dispersed into smoke once the floor was cleared.

"Then, shall we do our Ascension Quest and enter the Endless Expanse?" he asked.

"Yes," Sylvia licked her lips. "I am sure there will be plenty of monsters to kill."

"Haha..." Caelus laughed awkwardly.

While Sylvia looked completely normal, she was a terrifying force in battle. Back in District A, she had slaughtered monsters with a devilish grin and glowing red eyes, her flawless face splattered with blood. She required a massive amount of energy to manage and was ready to go on a rampage at any given moment. She loved blood, especially his. If left unchecked, she would be at the local beast den, slaughtering creatures left and right. She was only tame right now because she was by his side.

"Come, let us go. The Ascension Quest will not be easy," Caelus sighed.

He suddenly remembered the material powder. They needed all the buffs they could get for a major boss fight. Right now, Sylvia’s Origin Blessing could not buff their Combat Score any further, and his Tremor ability was useless until they officially ascended and recalibrated to the Iron II level.

He took out the Mythical item. It looked remarkably like a premium coffee grinder. Both of them stared at it in confusion. Caelus tossed some leftover Beast Cores from his nearly full inventory into the funnel and cranked the handle. A bright light shone from the spout, revealing a sealed glass vial of suspicious white powder.

[Item: Refined White Powder]

[Effect: Tastes exactly like powdered sugar. Permanently increases Combat Score by +3. Mild chance of experiencing side effects. Note: You can use a card to align it perfectly to snort, mix it in water, or just dry eat it.]

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A/N: If you are enjoying the book so far, support it with a power stone or two. Thank you.