Chapter 22: Energy Core: The True Purpose of the Breathing Method

"It's over..."

On the rooftop, Fang Shi looked at the corpse of the Fire-Winged Bird and murmured.

In his previous life, this was the Fire-Winged Bird that had chased him to the brink of death on the fourth day of the apocalypse.

In this life, it died so easily under his own hand.

In fact, under the conditions just now, even if Fang Shi had only been at Level 2, he could have killed this Fire-Winged Bird.

This is a good start, a perfect start!

His current self is completely different from the him of his previous life.

No longer a small character struggling desperately, but a helmsman who has grasped the direction.

No matter how much suffering lies ahead, he has more choices than he did in his previous life.

Do not underestimate it just because Fang Shi killed the Fire-Winged Bird single-handedly.

You must know that there are differences between Level 3s.

Given the strength of this Fire-Winged Bird, ordinary human survivors would need an entire team of Level 3s, fully armed and coordinating with perfect synergy, to kill it.

The reason is simple: even at the same level, the quantity of attributes, the number of specialties, and the nature of skills can all determine differences in combat power.

Ordinary human survivors, even after attribute completion, still hold a disadvantage against otherworldly creatures in terms of total attributes.

Not to mention that otherworldly creatures all possess their own special supernatural abilities.

Just like the Fire-Winged Bird, besides the flame damage attached to its normal attacks.

The energy within its body can spew flame power three times, with a range of up to 9 meters, dealing 5d4 flame damage to the target.

An ordinary Level 3 human, once hit, would immediately lose more than half their life; classes with low health points would die instantly.

Even though the Blue Star lacks primal force and releasing supernatural abilities requires a greater cost, it is still enough for the Fire-Winged Bird to release it once.

If it weren't for the fact that during the battle just now, Fang Shi's attacks were fast and fierce, relying on experience to judge the Fire-Winged Bird's movement trajectory.

He rushed to the edge of the rooftop immediately and severely injured the Fire-Winged Bird.

Causing it to have absolutely no opportunity to charge up, unable to launch its flame attack.

Of course, Fang Shi was not afraid even if the Fire-Winged Bird launched its flame attack.

The Fire-Winged Bird's flame attack can only travel in a straight line; as long as one constantly pays attention to the direction of its beak, Fang Shi's reaction speed makes it easy to dodge.

Compared to this, what Fang Shi felt was harder to deal with was the Fire-Winged Bird forcing movement through flame attacks, then taking the opportunity to tear and attack with its sharp claws.

Such a combination move was truly full of threat.

Next, Fang Shi dragged the Fire-Winged Bird's corpse directly into the rooftop stairwell to place it.

Then he used his Fine Steel Sword to begin dissecting the Fire-Winged Bird's corpse.

After some time of exploration, Fang Shi pulled out a marble-sized spherical crystal from the Fire-Winged Bird's chest.

After wiping off the residual flesh and blood on it, the full appearance of this crystal was completely revealed.

The crystal was fiery red, transparent and beautiful like a ruby, with a wisp of flame flickering slightly at its center.

Seeing the appearance of this crystal, Fang Shi finally revealed a satisfied smile.

This was the reason he had taken the trouble to pull the Fire-Winged Bird, which had fallen from the building, back.

This fiery red spherical crystal is the Energy Core of the Fire-Winged Bird.

It is also something shared by otherworldly creatures that possess supernatural power.

Most of the Fire-Winged Bird's flame energy is stored within it.

Fortunately, Fang Shi acted decisively and resolved the Fire-Winged Bird very quickly.

The flame power inside the core was still in a nearly full state.

As an organ for storing energy, the Energy Core has many uses.

It can be inlaid into weapons to enchant them, providing elemental power of corresponding attributes.

Or it can serve as a material to sublimate metal, enhancing its hardness and toughness.

It can also be used to set up arrays, providing energy for the operation of the arrays.

Of course, it also has one most widespread function,

which is to be used for cultivation.

The simplest method is to carry it, utilizing the characteristic of energy flowing spontaneously from high energy to low energy.

Absorbing the primal force overflowing from the Energy Core, using the strengthening effect of primal force on all things to temper the body, passively cultivating.

A more advanced method is to draw out the primal force from the Energy Core through the Shi Breathing Method to actively cultivate.

If one is confident in their digestion ability, one can also attempt to swallow it; efficiency depends on digestion ability.

But no matter what cultivation method, it is far more efficient than the training methods humans used in the past.

Primal force has a better body-tempering effect on humans with lower base attributes.

In fact, simply consuming the flesh and blood of otherworldly creatures can also absorb primal force, rapidly increasing base attributes.

Therefore, as long as humans can kill a few otherworldly creatures and cultivate a few assault experts, they can rapidly increase their strength like a rolling snowball.

This is the reason why humans, after passing through the initial difficult period, could quickly establish a foothold in the apocalypse.

Therefore, the value of the Energy Core is Gao Ang; especially for a core with almost no damage like Fang Shi's, one can equal ten of others.

Full-energy cores are rare; most otherworldly creatures that are killed have undergone a period of bitter struggle, and their energy has long been consumed almost entirely.

The Energy Cores harvested afterwards naturally do not store full energy.

Only powerful figures like Fang Shi can have such gains.

"With this Energy Core, the progress of the Fang Shi Breathing Method finally has a solution."

"Otherwise, relying on ordinary food for training, how long would it take to reach the fourth layer?"

Fang Shi thought joyfully; this Fire-Winged Bird was full of treasures, not only solving his cultivation problem but also ensuring food for the day after tomorrow.

Without electricity, in the scorching heat of June, the meat stored in the refrigerator had long since begun to rot.

Fang Shi did not want to keep eating dry rations, chocolate, and packaged meat; occasionally, it was necessary to eat some cooked food.

"Xiao Xi, did you see that? That fiery red giant bird."

Zhai Yan's eyes revealed a trace of fear as he spoke, somewhat panicked.

Xiao Xi's voice trembled slightly: "I know. That is something even more terrifying than the demon on the rooftop."

Why were only the two of them left in this building?

It was because, on the second day the apocalypse began, a bold figure among the survivors of this building...

... displayed his wisdom, proving that zombies were objects that could be manipulated.

He seduced the remaining survivors into going with him to fight monsters and level up.

Since Xiao Xi was timid and truly unwilling to go out, that person, with the team just established, could not force him.

And since Zhai Yan needed to accompany Xiao Xi, on the second day, only they two remained inside the building.

Who could have expected that this single lapse in judgment would save their lives?

No one knew what that group had actually done; by the time they returned, it was already night.

Moreover, the number of returnees had been halved; they dragged their exhausted bodies, intending to go home.

But what greeted them was death.

When they were ten meters away from the building, several fiery red giant birds descended from the sky, devouring the remaining people completely.

Flesh was torn apart, bones were separated, as if vultures were feeding.

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan witnessed this cruel scene from the upper floors, their hearts turning cold.

Before this, Xiao Xi had seen this beautiful creature circling in the night sky, its entire body emitting faint flames.

In that pitch-black night, it was like a beam of light, instantly stirring affection in his heart.

Who could have expected that the more beautiful a thing is, the more cruel and barbaric it becomes; the giant bird's actions shattered Xiao Xi's illusions.

The cruelty of the apocalypse for humanity had not changed.

Now, such beautiful monsters had appeared beneath the building again; more critically, while they were speaking, this giant bird flew toward their building.

Terrified, Xiao Xi let out a shrill scream.

Even though Zhai Yan trembled with fear, he stepped forward, shielding Xiao Xi behind him.

Unexpectedly, the giant bird swept past, flying toward the rooftop.

"It flew toward the rooftop. That person seems to be on the terrace. Could it be that this monster is heading for that person?"

Although Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan were utterly exhausted, they were constantly monitoring Fang Shi's actions.

After all, their strength was inferior to his; their actions had to depend on Fang Shi's mood.

Even if Fang Shi said he would grant them freedom, what if?

Before escaping this sea of bitterness, they still needed to be cautious.

"Isn't that perfect?" Xiao Xi's tone was somewhat excited. "Two demons meeting; it would be best if they destroyed each other."

Zhai Yan shook his head in disagreement: "No. The monster's strength is clearly superior to that person's. Just its speed far exceeds that person's; moreover, this monster can even breathe fire."

Xiao Xi thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Their vision was limited; they could not discern the contrast in strength.

Furthermore, Fang Shi had not displayed his full power before them, and at that time, he had not yet reached Level 3.

They simply judged the strength based on the speed and supernatural power displayed by the Fire-Winged Bird.

Coupled with the cruel act of dismembering the survivors, their psychology leaned even more toward the Fire-Winged Bird.

"Regardless, after the rooftop demon dies, tomorrow morning you will go lure the zombies for me to grind."

Xiao Xi spoke to Zhai Yan with a harsh tone.

"Okay, okay." Zhai Yan hurriedly replied, fearing that if he agreed too slowly, Xiao Xi would not give him a good look again.

"Bang!"

A huge sound came from the rooftop, interrupting the two who were conversing.

It was like a heavy object smashing violently onto the floor; combined with the building's poor soundproofing, it felt as though the sky was collapsing.

Both were startled.

"What happened?"

"Perhaps they are fighting?" Zhai Yan guessed.

The two listened carefully and heard a series of violent footsteps.

Immediately following a shrill bird cry, everything fell completely silent.

No, there should still be some movement, but the sound was too faint to be obvious.

"Tell me, who won?" Xiao Xi said, somewhat uncertain.

"Perhaps that person?" Zhai Yan was somewhat unsettled.

The final bird cry was simply too tragic; even though they did not understand bird language, they could perceive the pain within it.

They discussed for a while, and in the end, it was the timid Xiao Xi who suggested going up to check.

The reason was simple: Fang Shi was not a maniacal killer; going up would not harm them.

As for whether the survivor was a monster, there was even less need to fear.

They had long noticed the monster's characteristic: it dared not attack humans hiding inside buildings.

However, even so, they wanted to wait a bit longer, waiting ten or so minutes before going up.

Perhaps by then, everything would be settled.