Chapter 424: Dark Energy Lattice

Late at night, inside the carriages of the Infinite.

The lights were off, and a few blue cold-light lamps were placed inside Carriage No. 2. The members of the Infinite were gathered together, some standing, some sitting, looking like a scene from a midnight storytelling session.

"14,000?"

Gedi's words immediately left the members of the Infinite looking stunned. None of them had been able to tell that this girl, who looked under 20, had not only broken through to the Angel level but had also reached a peak Spirit-Oscillation Value of 14,000. It sounded somewhat unbelievable.

"How could it be so high?" Xiang Xiang Ningjing frowned at this moment. "I mean, were those monsters from just now really that hard to deal with?"

Her implication was obvious: with that level of strength, dealing with a few monsters shouldn't have been that strenuous, even if those monsters had already evolved biological force fields.

Vanessa put one hand on her hip, looked at the group of powerhouses led by Xiang Xiang Ningjing, and let her gaze rest on Fire Brother before speaking.

"The Phoenix Society is still in a conservative stage regarding lattice-ization and hasn't made it public, but I thought you all would know, being Sword-Bearers. I didn't expect..."

Gedi walked over and said to Vanessa, "We all know that lattice-ization indeed has drawbacks and can cause ability loss of control. Currently, only Advent-faction organizations like the Holy City dare to plunder it openly. Even the vegetable juice balance is for this reason."

"But lattice-ization is the most effective way for ability users to increase energy density to deal with Anomalies. Can any drawback be worse than death? Anyway, I don't see it that way," Vanessa said.

Lin Xian watched the two discuss and heard some key information, so he said,

"Lattice-ization? Is this the reason your Spirit-Oscillation Value can reach 14,000?"

"Yes." Gedi was just about to answer, but Vanessa stopped her, stepped forward, and looked at Lin Xian with a meaningful gaze. "Sword-Bearer, let's cooperate. I will give you all the information, and besides..."

She looked around the circle and said with great interest, "We can help you all complete lattice-ization. You should know that this can at least double your ability peaks!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Mo Mo Nika, Xiang Xiang Ningjing, Chen Sixuan, Kiki, and the others all frowned. Qian Dele, Fire Brother, Luo Yang, and Long Zhijie also had slight changes in their expressions. Clearly, everyone had started to become interested in what Vanessa said.

"Double it?" Shu Qin said at this moment. "Biological modification?"

Lin Xian looked at the pitch-black, dead silence surrounding the Infinite on the information center interface, then turned his head back and said,

"Tell me about it first. By the way..."

Lin Xian pressed his earpiece and called for Ding Junyi, Xiao Yuan, and Sun Yuzhen. Both of them were in Carriage No. 3 protecting Director Ding, but Lin Xian felt that in this situation, it was better for everyone to discuss it together.

Soon, the three of them walked in from the dark carriage. Seeing this, Lin Xian said, "My team members are all here. Director Ding is an expert in dark energy research and is also very interested in this."

Upon hearing this, Vanessa and Gedi exchanged glances, and then Vanessa said to Lin Xian, "First, let me clarify one point: we didn't release the power of the lattice just now, because the energy for this power comes from dark energy, which is the Dark Invasion. Second, using this power after dark is very dangerous, especially when we don't have Dark Marks. Releasing this power is equivalent to lighting up a Dark Mark on oneself. Unless we are certain we can eliminate all Anomalies in the area, we won't use it unless absolutely necessary."

"This lattice you're talking about, why does it sound like it's not your own?" Kiki crossed her arms. "Can it be turned on and off?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Sorry, if it were daytime, I wouldn't mind showing you, but now..."

As she spoke, she glanced at Gedi. Gedi nodded, raised her hand, and pressed a mechanical unit by her ear. In an instant, her mechanical prosthetic eye flickered with blue light, and a miniature holographic projection appeared before everyone.

In the image, a complex spherical crystal structure appeared, slowly rotating. When Ding Junyi saw it, her gaze narrowed slightly, as if she had sensed something, but she didn't speak, listening to Vanessa's introduction first.

"This is called a Dark Energy Lattice. By using spirit-energy displacement, an Anomaly's blood essence is replaced with a crystal core seed inside the human body. We call this crystal core seed a 'lattice.' If an Anomaly's blood essence is the energy source for those Anomalies, then this lattice is equivalent to a 'battery' cultivated by humans inside their bodies. This thing has many benefits. As far as I know, only a small number of ability users are cultivating it now, because it requires a peak Spirit-Oscillation Value of at least 5,000. And the 5,000 I'm talking about doesn't count the Phoenix Society's limit coefficient; it's the most basic."

"Ah?" Kiki said immediately upon hearing this. "You mean, this is humans implanting a blood essence into their own bodies?"

"'Implanting' is an inaccurate description," Gedi said calmly. "Strictly speaking, humans and blood essence are incompatible, and the efficiency of energy acquisition is very low. This is a consensus for everyone. Although humans can filter and absorb dark energy in the dark to evolve themselves, the efficiency is far lower than that of Anomalies. This is why, although humans evolve quickly, it is currently very difficult to defeat Anomalies with ability users alone. It is also why the Phoenix Society developed the Cold Dark Reagent and advocates balancing the dark energy in the body through sunlight and vegetable juice."

"Yes, this lattice can be imagined as a new 'organ' for energy concentration that humans have evolved in the dark," Vanessa introduced. "With a lattice, the efficiency of humans absorbing and converting dark energy will be greatly improved. Previously, according to the Phoenix Society's calculations, the highest purification filtration was 18%, and the human body was about the same. But with a lattice, this efficiency can be increased to 50%, or even 60% or 70%. The most important point is that the lattice can store this dark energy power, which can greatly increase the energy density of abilities. This is the main reason why my ability peak could increase from 7,100 to 14,000."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expressions changed in shock. Lu Xingchen and the others couldn't help but widen their eyes. Increasing from 7,600 to 14,000 was a direct doubling; this was too exaggerated.

"You mean, this thing is equivalent to a power bank?" Sasha asked, frowning.

"No." Ding Junyi looked at Vanessa and spoke at this moment. "If I had to describe it, it's equivalent to a human's second..."

"Ability engine."

"Wow, that description is very apt." Vanessa took a deep breath and looked at everyone. "Yes, the lattice is equivalent to an ability user's second engine. There are now quite a few S-level battle reports from Dawn City and Reykjavik, which contain analyses of S-levels absorbing dark energy of the same type to recover energy or enhance energy density and destructive power. So, this is actually learned from Anomalies. The increase in ability peak can directly act on the body and mental power, which is very effective."

"So... we have to put one of these things in our bodies?" Qian Dele leaned back on the sofa, looking suspicious. "That sounds ominous."

Mo Mo Nika stood to the side with her arms crossed and said leisurely, "The displacement and crystal core seed you mentioned, this must be quite troublesome, right?"

"Not only troublesome, but also very risky," Gedi said at this moment. The holographic image in front of her began to change. The spherical lattice was now placed in the area between the human lungs in the chest. It looked only the size of a thumb, but it had a quite exaggerated energy release. ===== CHAPTER 425 =====