Chapter 1

With the help of the metal patch, Lin Lichuan's subsequent hunting became increasingly easy.

The strange beasts and star beasts he encountered along the way were all killed without resistance, allowing him to advance unimpeded.

After more than ten minutes, Lin Lichuan had already entered the depths of a forest.

"This should be the deep territory of that star beast," Lin Lichuan observed his surroundings. The black shadow he had seen last time was moving around in this forest, so it was likely that the creature's usual resting place was here.

"Is it because of this thing that it hasn't shown itself?" Lin Lichuan looked at the metal patch on the back of his hand, intending to peel it off and put it in his backpack. However, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and he instantly vanished from his spot.

In the next second, a cold, sharp light flashed past where he had been standing, leaving a deep, several-meter-long gash in the ground with a sharp hiss.

Lin Lichuan reappeared abruptly over ten meters away, squinting as he sized up the creature that had ambushed him.

A monster with a form extremely similar to a human.

A grotesque face, about 1.89 meters tall, smooth muscle lines, and scale patterns that slightly protruded from the skin like tattoos. If not for the pair of large fleshy wings on its back and the prominent protrusions on either side of its forehead, it might have been mistaken for a human with a penchant for tattoos and a unique appearance.

Even some extraordinary beings who had never seen a star beast might mistake the creature for a shapeshifter.

"Is this a star beast with a biological energy level exceeding 25, which has become so similar to a human...?" Lin Lichuan's eyes flickered with surprise. His gaze swept over the protrusions on the star beast's forehead, and he suddenly recalled the two horns on the top of the Star Clan skeleton's head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

However, there was no time for him to ponder this. After the failed ambush, the star beast roared in anger and charged at him again, carrying a gust of foul wind.

Lin Lichuan decisively activated his Hollowfication, black light surging from his face, instantly forming a ghastly white mask that covered his entire face.

After upgrading to Level 2, the way the mask appeared had changed. It no longer emerged from his ears and mouth like cement but was directly condensed from black spiritual pressure.

Lin Lichuan speculated that this change was due to his further mastery of the Hollowfication power. The white armor covering his chest and left arm, which appeared during Level 1 Hollowfication, had disappeared, and his mental state had stabilized, no longer emitting the previous aggressive and violent aura, which also confirmed this.

Additionally, the mask of the third stage of Hollowfication now had four red stripes on the upper right side instead of three, two stripes in the middle, and three more on the lower right jaw, making the mask even more eerie and terrifying.

In comparison, the increase in power was not as significant as Lin Lichuan had expected. He estimated that his current power had definitely broken through to Level 27, but there was still a considerable gap to Level 28.

"It seems that this stage of Hollowfication focuses more on stabilizing power rather than increasing its intensity."

Lin Lichuan was slightly disappointed, but this emotion quickly passed. At least he could now use Hollowfication without any reservations.

Thud!

A dull impact sound suddenly rang out. The charging star beast was thrown back at a speed even faster than when it had come. Before it hit the ground, Lin Lichuan had already appeared beside it, a black, sharp blade slicing down viciously.

With a biological energy level difference, the star beast was no match for Lin Lichuan and was quickly overpowered.

As Lu Qiu had said, this star beast, which liked to ambush, was extremely fast, almost as fast as Lin Lichuan before his Hollowfication upgrade. However, this was now its weakness.

With both Hollowfication and Bankai activated, Lin Lichuan's movement speed had reached an astonishing level. From the side, it looked as if the star beast was enveloped by countless black lightning bolts, suffering hundreds of slashes per second, with sparks and blood mist bursting from its body.

The battle did not last long. After about two minutes, the star beast, now covered in wounds, could no longer hold on. It collapsed with a mournful howl and quickly fell silent.

Black light flashed, and Lin Lichuan reappeared, carefully sensing the spiritual pressure in his body.

"About half remains. This suggests that the maximum duration should be around 4 minutes. With recovery drugs, it can last up to 8 minutes, more than enough."

Lin Lichuan's face briefly showed joy. Eight minutes was sufficient to handle most battles, and now Hollowfication could finally be considered a normal combat technique.

"However..."

Coming back to his senses, he turned to look at the star beast's corpse and then at the metal patch on his hand, a hint of doubt crossing his brow.

"This thing seems ineffective against star beasts with a biological energy level exceeding 25."

Upon careful consideration, this made sense. The higher the life energy level of a creature, the stronger its resistance to extraordinary items. This was a universal rule, regardless of species, similar to how the Sigh Ring had a much better effect on a Level 27 Moon Knight than on a Level 26 one.

He wondered how the Star Clan controlled these high-level star beasts.

Although he was curious, this question was irrelevant to the current situation, so Lin Lichuan did not dwell on it for long. He put it aside and approached the star beast's corpse, quickly extracting the meteorite crystal and absorbing it on the spot.

"392 crystals... roughly equivalent to the meteorite energy contained in a meteorite."

The rich spoils made Lin Lichuan feel elated. After a quick inspection of the surroundings and dealing with any remaining strange beasts and star beasts, he returned to the cave.

On the way back, he stopped by the riverbank where he had fought with Celt and others, picking up the remaining two metal patches.

When he returned to the cave, Lu Qiu was writing and drawing on a large number of papers spread on the ground, seemingly organizing information. The papers were already filled with text and patterns.

Hearing the footsteps, Lu Qiu looked up, slightly stunned.

"Done? So quickly?"

The high-level star beasts, aside from their own strength, had many lower-level kin as guards. According to Lu Qiu's estimation, even the weakest one would take Lin Lichuan a considerable amount of time to deal with, and the round trip would take half a day. She didn't expect him to return so soon.

"The process went smoothly. It was thanks to this." Lin Lichuan threw the metal patch to Lu Qiu.

Lu Qiu quickly caught it, glanced at it, and her gaze flickered. "This is something you found on Celt. What's special about it?"

Lin Lichuan didn't keep her in suspense and quickly explained the function of the metal patch.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiu was instantly shocked, her face showing involuntary surprise.

"This thing can eliminate the hostility of strange beasts and star beasts..."

"Only for star beasts up to Level 25," Lin Lichuan reminded her.

"Even so, this is remarkable. With this, exploring star disaster ruins will almost be risk-free."

It was well known that the greatest danger in star disaster ruins was the strange beasts and star beasts. If this issue could be resolved, the ruins would just be a more dangerous wilderness, a tremendous boon for explorers.

If they had had this thing initially, the family's exploration team wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties.

"I didn't expect the Enlightenment Church to have such a thing. Did they obtain it from the ruins?" Lu Qiu muttered.

"From what I can tell, they should have quite a few of these metal patches." Lin Lichuan shrugged.

Celt had no prior knowledge that they were entering the ruins, so he couldn't have prepared the metal patches in advance. This meant they carried them with them, one per person, suggesting that the Enlightenment Church had a sufficient supply, though the exact number was unknown.

Lu Qiu nodded in agreement, then hesitated.

Lin Lichuan noticed and smiled. "You can have this one."

"Really?" Lu Qiu was slightly taken aback.

"I have two more," Lin Lichuan said with a smile.

"In that case, I won't refuse." Lu Qiu's face lit up with genuine joy. She wasn't particularly concerned about the metal patch's ability to eliminate the hostility of strange beasts and star beasts, as her strength already made Level 26 and below creatures no threat. Instead, the research value of the metal patch was more appealing to her.

Her radiant smile made the dim cave seem to brighten, and Lin Lichuan was momentarily taken aback.

Lu Qiu quickly noticed this, a slight blush appearing on her face as she awkwardly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

An ambiguous atmosphere instantly filled the cave.