Cultivation Online

When they returned to the military base, one of the soldiers asked Yuan, "Corporal, how long do you think you’ll continue doing these missions? I know you’re new to the military, but surely you won’t be doing this for the rest of your career, right?"

Yuan chuckled, "Of course not. I will stop doing these missions when I feel like I have done enough, which might be sooner than I originally anticipated."

"Is that so? In any case, good luck, and thanks for doing the mission for us."

"It’s been my pleasure."

After going their separate ways, Yuan made his way back to the residential area instead of the mission hall.

When he arrived, he saw Sergeant Quang coming out of his room.

"Oh? I was about to head to the mission hall to find you," Sergeant Quang remarked.

Although Sergeant Quang and Sergeant Bing were still acting as Yuan’s bodyguard on base, they were no longer as strict and constantly following him around like watchdogs. Moreover, rather than both of them following Yuan simultaneously, they took turns, which was suggested by Yuan himself, allowing them to have more time to themselves.

"Look what I found." Yuan retrieved the Unknown Ore he had discovered during the mission and showed it to Sergeant Quang.

"How far into the Orange Zone did you go to find that?"

Instead of celebrating Yuan’s find, Sergeant Quang looked concerned. The presence of an Unknown Ore suggested Yuan had ventured deep into the Orange Zone.

"Not far at all. In fact, I ventured less than I usually do. According to the soldiers with me, I was just incredibly lucky."

"In that case, they’re right. Unknown Ore is rarely found near the outskirts of the Orange Zone because we patrol those areas so frequently."

"How do they even come into existence?" Yuan suddenly asked.

"Honestly, I don’t know, but most people just consider it nature’s gift."

"I see..."

"Anyway, since you have an Unknown Ore, I guess you’ll want to turn it in for merit and money? I’ll bring you to the distribution center."

"Actually, before we do that, I have a few questions. Do they do anything special to the Unknown Ore when you turn it in? For example, will they examine it?"

Sergeant Quang raised an eyebrow at Yuan’s strange question and pondered for a moment before responding, "Not that I know of. What is there to examine, anyway? Do you think people hand in fake Unknown Ores or something? These ores are impossible to fake—not that anyone would be stupid enough to do something like that in the first place since it’s a serious crime."

Yuan fell silent for a moment.

Then, without a word, silently absorbed all of the Eternal Essence in the Unknown Ore.

After absorbing all of its Eternal Essence, Yuan examined the Unknown Ore for any changes.

"There’s no change!" Yuan’s eyes widened.

To his surprise, the Unknown Ore showed no discernible change in its appearance even after losing all of its Eternal Essence.

He looked at Sergeant Quang and showed him the Unknown Ore again.

"Notice anything different?" he asked.

"No...?" Sergeant Quang answered, sounding uncertain, as he wondered if Yuan was asking him some kind of trick question.

"Take a closer look." Yuan insisted, even handing the entire Unknown Ore to him.

After taking a good moment to examine the Unknown Ore, Sergeant Quang looked at Yuan and asked, "Are you messing with me or something? Are you going to tell me that this isn’t an Unknown Ore but something else entirely?"

"Yes, I was just messing with you." Yuan chuckled as he retrieved the Unknown Ore. "But it’s really an Unknown Ore."

"..."

"Anyway, can you take me to the distribution center now?"

"Sure..." Sergeant Quang sensed that something was off about Yuan, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Some time later, they arrived at the distribution center, and Yuan went to hand over the Unknown Ore despite having already absorbed all of its Eternal Essence.

’Even if they realize something is wrong with it, I can just say that I found it in that condition, and they have no prove that I’d done anything to it...’ Yuan chuckled inwardly.

Despite his questionable actions, Yuan didn’t mind all that much. It was only a single Unknown Ore, and while he still wasn’t certain whether this was a real world or merely an illusion, he leaned toward it being the latter, so he figured he might as well do a few unethical things.

"One Unknown Ore, correct? Please place your hand on the machine, so I can credit you for your merits."

The worker accepted the Unknown Ore after a mere glance at it and gestured toward the machine before Yuan.

<You have received some merits>

<You have received 1,000 Gaia Credits>

After receiving the reward, Yuan calmly walked away, acting completely innocent with nothing to hide.

’So the money is distributed and used through the system too, huh?’ Yuan thought to himself after realizing that this was his first contact with this world’s currency.

’And since they seem to have no clue that I’d already absorbed the energy inside the Unknown Ore... I might as well stop doing cleanup missions and start going on the ones that focus on gathering them!’

However, just to be sure they didn’t notice the Unknown Ore’s drained Eternal Essence and couldn’t track him for it, Yuan continued doing cleanup missions for another two weeks.

"Did you hear? The Cleaning Maniac has finally stopped doing cleanup missions!"

"No. Where did you hear that?"

"From my buddies who are scheduled for a gathering mission for Unknown Ores. He said that Corporal Yuan is on his team."

"Oh, really? Did that weirdo finally get bored of Void Specters, or did he just realize there are better missions out there?"

The news spread quickly, eventually reaching the ears of General Gu and General Mei. One was delighted by the news, while the other was furious.

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