As Alex watched him cast the spell several times, his earlier guess proved to be correct. Joseph first condensed mana into a dense bullet shape before using kinetic mana to propel it forward at high speed.
’So Mana Bullet really can’t be used without Kinetic Element mana,’ Alex thought.
He wasn’t disappointed by the discovery. The leader crab monster had fired water bullets naturally, proving there had to be another method of launching elemental attacks.
’If I can figure that out, my Fire Bullets should become much faster,’ Alex thought.
Once the shields were finished, Alex focused on his inventory. The sturdiest shield disappeared from his hands the moment he willed it inside.
At the same time, he felt a faint mental strain settle over his mind. It wasn’t painful, but it remained constant as long as the shield stayed inside the inventory. Curious, Alex summoned it back into his hand, and the pressure immediately disappeared.
’So storing items consumes some kind of mental energy,’ he observed.
The burden wasn’t enough to bother him, so he stored the shield once more. Carrying it inside the inventory was far more convenient than keeping it strapped to his back. The rest of the shields were for others.
Emma walked over just as he finished.
"You should take this," she said as she held out the Gene Potential from the crab leader.
Alex had intended to ask for it eventually, but he still acted as if he was hesitating before accepting it.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes. You took the biggest risks during the fight, so it wouldn’t feel right for me to keep it. Besides, you already gave me a good shield, so I can take a lose for now," Emma replied with a small smile.
Alex nodded before absorbing the Gene Potential.
[Your Species Level has increased. Level 3 → Level 4]
[2 Stat Points gained.]
This time, he didn’t hesitate with stat points. He knew where he needed them.
[Mana: 17 → 23]
The familiar sensation spread through his chest as his heart seemed to swell. Unlike before, however, a faint pain accompanied it. Alex immediately reinforced his heart with mana, and the discomfort quickly disappeared.
Before he could think further about it, Emma spoke again with an expectant smile. "Now that you’ve absorbed it, can you cut out some meat for us?"
Alex chuckled faintly and nodded. Everyone was hungry, and although he planned to return to Earth soon, the others still needed time to reach Level 10.
They would have to continue fighting in the Land of Origin, so eating properly was important.
He walked over to the crab leader’s corpse and began cutting into it.
The muscles were unbelievably tough, but Emma knew which parts of a crab were normally tender enough to eat. Although this was a monster rather than a real crab, her knowledge still proved useful.
Alex handled the butchering while Emma sorted the usable meat into neat piles beside him. He was still inexperienced, so many of the cuts were rough, but they eventually gathered enough meat for everyone.
By the time he finished, Frank and Sarah had returned carrying bundles of dry firewood.
Alex lit them with a fireball, and Emma immediately began smoking the meat over the growing fire while everyone else prepared to rest.
Alex, however, looked back at the crab leader’s corpse. While cutting the meat earlier, he had sensed something strange buried deeper inside its body.
’There was definitely something there,’ he thought.
He sliced further into the corpse until he reached its heart. Carefully cutting it open, he watched the organ unravel before revealing a smooth blue gem hidden inside.
Alex picked it up and turned it over in his hand.
’What is this?’ he wondered.
A notification appeared before his eyes.
[Elemental Stone (E Rank)]
[Ew, how can you hold it with your hand after digging it through a corpse.]
[Effect: Can be used for crafting items with water element properties.]
Alex looked at the blue gem in his hand with surprise.
’It’s an E Rank item.’
It was the highest-ranked item he had obtained so far, making it far more valuable than any of the equipment he currently possessed.
Joseph walked over after noticing the gem.
He examined it for a moment before saying, "It must be something valuable. Maybe it’s what allowed that monster to shoot those water bullets. You should keep it."
Alex turned toward the others instead of replying immediately.
Since everyone had fought the monsters together, he wanted to hear what they thought before deciding who should keep it.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Take it. You deserve it. Besides, my fists are good enough for me," Yulia said as she waved her hand dismissively.
Alex accepted their decision with a nod and stored the Elemental Stone inside his inventory.
The familiar mental strain returned as the item disappeared. This time, it was stronger, making him assume that higher rank items brought more strain. It was still light enough to ignore, though.
After that, he opened the hearts of the other high-level crab monsters to see if they held anything similar.
Each of them contained a black stone roughly the same size as the blue one. However, no notification appeared when he picked them up, and they weren’t recognized as items by the System.
Through the Mark of Origin, Alex could faintly sense Origin Energy inside them, but the amount was extremely small.
’Maybe these are just low-quality materials,’ he thought before storing them with the extra shields he made.
After collecting everything worth taking, Alex was about to activate Return when Petra suddenly raised her hand.
"I got a map!"
Everyone turned toward her. The little girl held up a folded piece of brown parchment with a huge smile on her face.
’She must have opened one of the Reward Boxes from clearing the dungeon,’ Alex thought as he walked over with the others.
The moment he focused on the parchment, another notification appeared.
..
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