Show Me the Money

Strictly speaking, the Crystal Crab King wasn't a Yao boss, so this pearl was still not a complete inner core.

However, it still contained a great amount of water energy. Fatty originally wanted to feed the pearl to the Elemental Skill Book, but he changed his mind. His Elemental Equipment set and Elemental Sword were only Silver-tier and fell short of his current level. Those gears needed elemental inner cores to rank up.

After the party cleaned up the battlefield, only a piece of Gold equipment was good enough to be kept while the rest went to the Elemental Skill Book.

Ever since Memory was upgraded to Replica, Fatty had recorded several dozens of spells of all attributes in the book.

The party wandered around the tunnels and slew several bosses, yet were still unable to figure out the right path.

"Weird, how does this place have so many bosses?" Han Shen found it very strange.

"The more bosses there are, the more OP the Celestial item hidden here will be," Xiao Jian said.

"I wonder what it is!" Everyone held high hopes for the Celestial item.

The roads inside the Crystal Maze were tangled and complex. Taking a tunnel, they would be met with forking tunnels shortly after to choose from. Fortunately, Fatty had the X-Ray Mirror that allowed them to see the vicinity, otherwise, they'd have to spend forever just turning left and right.

However, the Mirror's ten use limit severely restricted their progress.

"How far have we walked?" asked Xiao Jian after killing another boss.

"Not very far," Fatty replied after calculating a little.

Sallip's map had become useless the moment they entered this maze. No one knew how big this place was or where the Celestial item was hidden.

"ROAAAAH!"

A thunderous roar echoed from upfront. The floor violently quaked and crystals fell like rain.

Fatty picked up all the crystals that fell and placed them in his inventory. Along the way, he had occasionally cast Harvest and accumulated several thousand pieces of the colorful crystals.

The group moved forth, following the direction of the roar. After a corner, they discovered that it was a dead end. And at the end of this dead end was a huge scorpion-type monster.

Crystal Yao Scorpion

Yao boss

Level: 60

Attack: 155 - 180

Defense: 135

HP: 12000

Notes: A huge scorpion who got lost in the Crystal Maze. Undergoing mutation due to the unique environment of the maze, it gained great power and evolved into a Yao monster.

This boss was roughly eight meters tall, over twenty meters long, and its pincers were at least ten meters long. At the end of the scorpion's curved tail, a cold metal gleam flashed.

Like the crystal crabs, this Crystal Yao Scorpion was entirely transparent as if made of glass, making its body of packs look somewhat artistic instead of frightening like normal scorpions.

"Yao boss!" Everyone was excited, not a trace of fear was seen.

"Watch out for this one," Fatty reminded in a low voice. This Yao boss was only one level above the level 59 Gold boss Crystal Crab King, but this one level was like the gap between heaven and earth.

Moreover, this one was obviously much more powerful than that Yao-tier Holy Unicorn King back in the Ice Rose Alliance base siege. Back then, to handle that unicorn, Fatty had to spend several scrolls of great value.

It certainly wouldn't work to let Liu Lan tank at the front now, because a Yao boss could definitely insta-kill her without giving the priest a chance to heal.

Boom! Fatty unleashed the Earth Dragon. Also, he summoned Inky and made it fly by the dragon's side as a healer.

"Your mount is such a BUG! It can be a mount and a pet, all in one," Cheng Xiong praised with both envy and admiration.

However, Fatty's idea was a bit too simple. The Crystal Yao Scorpion charged forth, its dancing pincers tore at the Earth Dragon's body and effortlessly wiped off more than half of the latter's health.

Under Fatty's order, Inky cast Heal with all its might and barely maintained the dragon's HP above the midpoint.

Liu Lan clicked her tongue. If it had been her, that certainly would have been a one-hit KO.

Whoosh. Liu Lan summoned the Lightning Bird. The pet rammed head-first at the boss's crystalline body and was struck dizzy upon collision. Sparky flailed its wings, wobbling around in the air when the scorpion lashed a pincer and cut it in half. Bird feathers fluttered all over.

"Wuwuu, my poor Sparky!" Liu Lan grieved as she re-summoned the Lightning Bird that had just lost a level.

"Lightning Birds only have this one offensive skill?" Fatty couldn't help but re-confirm.

"Mhm." Liu Lan nodded.

Lightning Birds were extreme creatures. Aside from strong defense and magic attribute, they only maintained a super quick speed and powerful physical attack. Any normal monster would be pierced through with their lightning speed dive.

"This scorpion is just as nasty as those crabs." Liu Lan gritted her teeth in fury. When they fought the Crystal Crabs, her Lightning Bird had to stand aside as well because the crabs' exoskeleton was too solid.

"Attack the belly, that part is softer," Fatty reminded.

A trait that set apart a Yao boss from a Gold boss of the same level was its clearly much higher AI. After exchanging a few blows, the scorpion's tail suddenly shot out. A cold gleam flashed, and a bloody hole appeared on the Earth Dragon's head.

"Rarrghh!" The Earth Dragon howled as a green light flashed above its head. No matter how hard Inky healed the dragon, it couldn't outmatch the blood outflow. Very soon, the Earth Dragon fell and returned to Fatty's mount inventory in a white light.

Rumble…

The Crystal Yao Scorpion shuddered, the lumps on its back suddenly burst apart. From the torn lumps, several hundred basin-sized scorpions crawled out.

These scorpions were crystalline and varied in color. There were red scorpions, black scorpions, etc.

Crystal Scorpion

Level: 55

Attack: 115 - 125

Defense: 115

HP: 6000

Whoosh whoosh whoosh. The scorpion mobs crawled over, baring fangs and claws. Everyone instantly moved back.

Several hundred level 55 monsters wasn't something that they could confront head-on, so retreat was the only option.

After they retreated several dozens of meters, however, the scorpions still refused to let them off and kept chasing them.

"Damn it! Must we really give up on this Yao boss?!" Cheng Xiong yelled.

"What a pity. We should have brought a mage along, any attribute would do." Xiao Jian's face was full of pity. He didn't want to let the benefit right before their eyes slip away either.

Fatty was expressionless. A light flashed as the Elemental Skill Book appeared in his hand.

Whoosh. A layer of ice suddenly covered the ground. The crystal scorpions were slowed down by half. Compared to their momentum earlier, they now crawled like turtles.

"You… How can you use magic?!" Cheng Xiong's jaw dropped.

"Why can't he?" Liu Lan looked at Fatty with proud eyes.

"Cut the crap and attack!" Xiao Jian let out a battle cry and slashed his sword, hitting several scorpions at once.

The players and their pets cast every skill in their possession. At the side, Fatty unleashed all sorts of magic attacks.

Lightning Chain, Water Screen, Fire Dragon Break, Wind Cape of Confusion, Earth Spike, and even an ice magic, Frozen.

While they were all low-level AoEs, they worked just perfect in this situation. Especially Frozen, the skill slowed the Crystal Scorpion's movement and attack speed, creating a chance for the party to slowly whittle down their numbers.

A while ago, Fatty had recorded several dozens of magic spells in the Elemental Skill Book, all of which were low-level spells of all attributes. However, each spell could only be used thrice. After the third time, they disappeared, so Fatty stowed away the Elemental Skill Book and began attacking with his Elemental Sword.

"Whew…"

Over an hour later, the last Crystal Scorpion kicked the bucket. Fatty let out a long sigh, utterly exhausted. Liu Lan's condition was even worse as she directly leaned on him, having no strength left to stand on her own.

Killing several hundred monsters in just over an hour, everyone found this kind of high tempo activity intolerable.

"Sooo f*cking exhausted! But the gain is awesome!" Cheng Xiong was so excited that his bald head seemed to shine.

Hundreds of level 55 monsters amounted to quite a huge sum of experience. During the battle, Xiao Jian and Cheng Xiong all leveled up to 44.

"Ahh, we definitely have to bring some mages next time. Warriors' AoE ability can't compare to Mages." Barely standing with the support of his sword, Xiao Jian leaned on the wall and gasped for breath.

Fatty forced himself up and started to clean the battlefield. Others would ignore the trashy equipment as they were worthless and space-consuming, but it was different in Fatty's case. His Elemental Skill Book was no picky eater.

Level 55 normal monsters' drops didn't meet the party's standard, so everything was tossed to the Elemental Skill Book except for a few rare gears.

Ever since the tournament when Memory was upgraded to Replica, the skill book had devoured a great deal of equipment, but still showed no sign of change at all.

Fatty understood that the book would require more and more energy in the later stage. Consuming equipment alone wouldn't get it too far; it was best to seek more God-tier power to feed it.

"Let's go! Time for the big one." After resting for a bit, everyone got back on their feet and headed towards the Crystal Yao Scorpion.

……

"Ahhh! A Yao boss is indeed a Yao boss. I'm drained!" Watching the boss fall with a rumble, Cheng Xiong's butt also fell on the ground and rooted there.

The five were all experts in addition to being assisted by their high-ranked pets, yet it took them over three hours to grind this Crystal Yao Scorpion to death. Many crises occurred during the battle. The party could have been annihilated if it weren't for Cheng Xiong, the nanny healer.

"Geez, they're both level 60 Yao bosses, but this one is far superior to the Holy Unicorn." Liu Lan sighed.

"Maybe it's the effect of the Celestial item?" Han Shen suddenly raised a doubt.

Everyone was stunned at this idea. Theoretically, both were level 60 Yao bosses, the Holy Unicorn should be much more powerful than this mutated scorpion as a born Yao of Light attribute.

"Celestial item!" Han Shen's eyes sparkled.

"Huh? A pet egg?" Fatty picked up an object the size of a duck egg under the boss's body.

"A Yao boss pet egg must be worth a lot of money right?" Everyone flocked over.

"Should be around 200,000 gold coins in the market," Xiao Jian estimated.

"Anyone wants it?" Fatty asked. Everyone else shook their heads. They all had pets that were just as good and trained to high levels to boot, so it wasn't worth it to switch to another.

"Okay, I'll take it then. I'll give you guys your share of money later." Fatty placed the Crystal Yao Scorpion Egg in his inventory.