170: Chapter 170 Thunder Goddess!

At the Adventurer Camp, night had fallen, but the mission hall remained bright and bustling.

"Bang!"

A heavy bag was slammed onto the military merit exchange counter, the dull thud causing the Professionals queuing for missions nearby to glance over.

"Settling a mission, and also... tallying these up."

Chen Xi looked indifferent as he pointed to the bag stained with traces of blood.

The staff member behind the counter opened the bag carelessly, but the next second, his pupils constricted violently, and he jolted up from his chair.

"This... is this?!"

Inside the bag were neatly arranged dozens of blood-stained military merit medals, each representing a soldier who had rendered great service to the military, or perhaps... some thugs who had been killing and looting Outside the Border.

"These were confiscated from a group of Men in Black," Chen Xi explained calmly. "They were illegally extracting beast essence in Storm Canyon, and we have already dealt with them."

"Storm Canyon?! That's a B-rank mission area!"

The staff member gasped and scrambled to calculate the value.

A moment later, an electronic voice rang out crisply in the hall, each number striking the onlookers' hearts like a heavy hammer.

"Beep—!"

"B-rank mission 【Storm Canyon Anomaly】 completed! Base reward: 300 points!"

"Three-star mercenary privilege triggered, extra reward: 200 points!"

"Confiscated illegal military merit medals conversion: 800 points!"

"Total received: 1300 military merit points!!"

Boom!

The hall instantly erupted.

"1300 points?! Did I hear that right? I work my ass off for a month and only get 100 points!"

"Are these newcomers monsters? A perfect clear on their first B-rank mission?"

"Too ruthless... this is basically robbery!"

Chen Xi ignored the envious and jealous gazes around him; he looked at the balance displayed on his bracelet—【1430 points】—and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Added to the remaining small change from before, this was a huge fortune!

"Open Shop!"

Chen Xi did not hesitate, his fingers tapping rapidly in the void, directly locking onto the item he had been longing for.

【Item: void spirit stone】

【Grade: ss-rank material】

【Price: 500 military merit points】

"Purchase!"

"Beep—Deducted 500 military merit points, purchase successful!"

As a beam of teleportation light flashed, a transparent crystal box sealed with runes appeared in Chen Xi's hand.

Inside the box, a deep purple stone that seemed to contain an endless starry sky floated quietly, the surrounding space even distorting slightly because of its presence.

This was the ss-rank material—void spirit stone!

"Finally complete..."

Chen Xi gripped the box tightly and turned to look at Su Xiaoxiao behind him, his eyes burning:

"Xiao Xiao, your moment has arrived."

Su Xiaoxiao looked at the stone, and a hint of irrepressible excitement flashed in her usually cold eyes.

She took a deep breath and nodded heavily.

"Let's go! Find Wang Shan!"

...

Inside Lei Gang's camp.

Wang Shan was carefully holding two special containers, as if holding his own life.

In the container on the left was a pool of blue liquid emitting extreme cold, as if it could freeze the soul—this was the 【ten-thousand-year dark ice marrow】 (alternative version) extracted from the spines of twenty Frost Giant Pythons.

In the container on the right was a mass of purple thunder plasma that kept pulsing like a living creature—this was the 【thunder origin core】 (alternative version) condensed from the hearts of thirty Thunder Wing Illusion Butterflies.

Although they were extracts, under the enhancement of Wang Shan's S-rank talent 【Extraction】, their quality was infinitely close to natural ss-rank material!

"Captain Chen, mission accomplished!"

Seeing Chen Xi enter, Wang Shan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face full of exhaustion but unable to hide his excitement:

"These two things are extremely unstable and must be used within an hour, or the energy will dissipate!"

"That's enough."

Chen Xi placed the 【void spirit stone】 on the table.

In an instant, ice, thunder, and void—three completely different top-tier energies—interwove in the narrow iron room, and the air emitted a creaking sound under the unbearable load.

Chen Xi looked at Su Xiaoxiao, his expression becoming unprecedentedly serious:

"Xiao Xiao, an SS-rank advancement is no small matter."

"Of these three powers, one is extreme cold, one is extremely violent, and the other represents the void space power."

"To fuse them into your body, the pain you will have to endure may be ten or a hundred times greater than before."

"Once you fail... at best, your meridians will be completely severed, and at worst, you will perish on the spot."

Chen Xi reached out, his gaze fixed on Su Xiaoxiao's eyes:

"Do you dare?"

Su Xiaoxiao did not hesitate at all.

She took a step forward, her beautiful face filled with determination and firmness.

She thought of her helplessness when facing strong enemies at the Freshman Challenge Tournament, the unwillingness when Night Curtain disbanded, and even more, the back of Chen Xi standing in front of her time and time again.

"Captain Chen."

Su Xiaoxiao gripped her magic staff, her voice as crisp as ice and jade colliding:

"I don't want to hide behind you anymore."

"Even if it means being shattered to pieces, I must take this step!"

"I want to become... the sword that can cut through all thorns for you!"

"Good!"

Chen Xi's eyes were full of admiration, and he waved his hand:

"Everyone on alert! I am going to start card crafting!"

Camp 8, inside the iron room.

Chen Xi sat cross-legged, his mental power surging out like a tide, instantly enveloping the three ss-rank materials in front of him.

"Talent — 【Miracle Creation】! Activate!"

Hum—!!!

A golden beam of light erupted from Chen Xi's body, illuminating the entire room brightly.

Under his control, the extremely cold 【ten-thousand-year dark ice marrow】 first turned into an ice-blue long river, circling in the air.

Immediately after, the violent 【thunder origin core】 turned into a purple thunder dragon, roaring as it rushed into the ice river.

The collision of ice and fire (thunder) instantly triggered a violent energy storm!

"Suppress it for me!"

Veins bulged on Chen Xi's forehead as he outputted his mental power crazily, forcibly pressing these two forces that were trying to destroy each other together.

Subsequently, his gaze focused as he looked at the last material.

"void spirit stone, fuse!"

That deep purple stone instantly disintegrated, turning into countless starlit space fragments, which, like an adhesive, were forcibly embedded into the center of the ice-thunder storm.

The addition of void power instantly made the originally violent energy become eerie.

It was devouring, restructuring, and building a brand-new set of rules!

...

Meanwhile, outside the camp.

The originally calm night sky suddenly began to churn without warning.

With Camp 8 as the center, the sky for several kilometers around was instantly covered by dark clouds.

But these dark clouds were not black; they presented a strange purple-blue vortex shape!

"Rumble—"

Dull thunder exploded in the center of the vortex, but what fell was not rain, but fine ice crystals!

As the ice crystals hit the ground, before they could even melt, they exploded into fine black space cracks in the air!

This terrifying natural phenomenon instantly alarmed the entire Adventurer Camp.

"Holy crap! What is going on?!"