(Lian Li POV)
I stepped through the hidden doorway that Elaria had opened. I was quite intrigued by the mechanisms involved in the pulling of a lever within a hidden compartment inside a wall.
Objects that I have never seen before in my life greeted me, the walls a shade of white that was an even purer shade than marble.
After Master told us about what he found in Monster Crystals yesterday, he tasked us to work together with his sisters in order for the two of us to know each other better.
He also said that it would be a good chance to see if we could learn new things by ourselves which may lead to Master giving us more opportunities to do such research alongside him.
It was another Divine Request from Master that we will not fail!
While we were busy with this new task, Master left for the town for some business he had, saying he would return tonight to see our progress.
Elaria and Odriana had then brought us down here, stating they had a stash of Monster Crystals stored within this workshop.
"What is this place?" Diao Chan asked, marvelling at the various oddities around us.
"This is my workshop," Elaria announced proudly, gesturing to the various metal things with a hand. "It's where I materialise, or at least try to materialise, all of Onii-sama's greatest ideas!"
"Master… Made these?" Eris goggled.
Odriana nodded with a proud smile, "My little brother thought of them all, yes. Then Elaria and I attempt to recreate them here before releasing them out into the world."
Master truly is a being out of this world, his greatness transcends even the world!
"Anyway, let me show you what a Monster Crystal is here," Elaria beckoned us over to a table where some kind of bear monster was strapped onto it.
She grabbed one of the knives lying around before cutting open its belly, "It usually forms after a day or two in the corpse and it's mostly located in the monster's abdomen. Just need to cut it up like so and…"
Elaria plunged her hand into the incision without hesitation, sinking her entire arm into the monster's belly.
We watched as she dug around for awhile before pulling out what seemed to be a diamond shaped crystal.
"And here it is!" Elaria showed it off proudly.
She handed it over to us with her blood soaked hand to take a look.
I held the crystal with both hands, the others gathering around me to inspect it.
"Yummy Candy?" Cai Hong asked, sucking on her finger.
Manami patted her head, "It's not a candy, Cai Hong. Don't eat it."
"Okies~"
"It feels… Like there's Quarks inside?" I muttered.
Odriana nodded, "Monsters are animals that have Elemental Quarks in the first place. So after they die, the Elemental Quarks crystallise into these Monster Crystals."
Manami prodded the crystal with a finger, "Master said that we should be able to absorb the Quarks within it… How?"
Elaria shrugged, "You're the Practitioners, not me. All I can do is tell you the process of making it possible to be used by our generators."
That reminds me, "Speaking of which, I realise Practitioners seem to be quite discriminated against around here. Why?"
Odriana crossed her arms, "Oh we all know how most Practitioners are like, we've seen the stories and case studies. The arrogant young masters, the self-absorbed old fogies and the so called 'elites' who throw their weight around the mortals and exploit them."
Eris scowled, "Master is not most Practitioners."
"Of course not," Elaria scoffed. "Onii-sama transcends the realm of mortal boundaries. Anything he influences is also above the judgement of mortals."
All of us nodded in agreement, such a thing is natural after all.
"Now, usually I would break the hard part of the crystal out to expose the inner core, so you might want to try that," Elaria suggested.
Eris unsheathed her blade and sliced the top part of it off in one smooth motion.
We peered into its interior to see a small jelly like core that sent out waves of Pure Elemental Quarks.
Was this what Master was talking about? It can't be that simple right?
"Eh… So what do ya suppose we need to do? Just stick ma finger in that?" Eris suggested, her index finger already extended in preparation to do so.
"Ara? I don't think it will have any effect on Eris though? Seeing as you're not a Practitioner," Manami pointed out.
"Hey, ya never know, you know?" Eris grinned, poking her finger straight into the jelly.
I sucked in a breath as Eris suddenly shivered, her whole body shuddering in place.
"Brrr… That's cold…" the swordswoman complained, pulling out her finger from it.
"Nothing?" I asked.
"Nothing…" She shook her head.
I frowned, poking my own finger in it.
It was as Eris said, the jelly was cold and I shivered slightly too.
But other than that, there was nothing else. No surge of power, no sudden clarity of the mind, not even any pain.
"Nothing?" Manami asked.
"Nothing," I repeated what Eris had said moments ago.
"Hmmm… Maybe ya need to er… I dunno… Stimulate it?" Eris suggested while wiggling her eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes at her, but taking a second to think about it, maybe she had a point.
I circulate lightning quarks within me, sparks flying off of me as I directed the lightning towards the palm of my hand.
The crystal glowed blue, then yellow before turning an angry red.
Lightning sparked around the crystal and a high pitched whistling sound began emanating from the crystal.
Sensing danger, I immediately shouted for them to get down before tossing the crystal high up in the air away from us.
Manami erected a hasty barrier around us and not a second later, the crystal exploded into multiple fragments, crystalline shards raining around the room and raining down on the barrier harmlessly.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Diao Chan asked, getting up from the ground and dusting her knees.
I pursed my lips, "I don't think so… I think I put too much lightning into it?"
"Oh! Could you do that again?!" Elaria exclaimed, grabbing my arm. "Just do it again but this time stop when it's yellow! I think we just discovered something really extraordinary!"
I looked up in the air where the crystal had already exploded into pieces, "Ummm… Unless you have a spare one lying around somewhere, I'm afraid–"
"Here!" She presented another Monster Crystal from Master knows where.
"Where were you keeping that?"
"Details, details… Now come on!"
I relented to her request, moving to hand it over to Eris to cut open when she held up a hand to stop me.
"Just do it as is, I don't think you actually need to break open the outer shell!"
Shrugging, I just did as she said so, directing my lightning quarks towards the crystal.
Once the crystal glowed a bright yellow, I passed it over to her.
Elaria held the crystal carefully with a hand, inspecting every nook and cranny of it with some kind of glass that she dug out from her pocket.
I wasn't even aware the dress she wore had pockets.
"Amazing… This… This crystal's output has increased by a hundred fold! Sugoi! Amazing! This is groundbreaking! Do you know what this means?!"
All of us just stared at her.
"We've essentially pushed forward our technology standards by more than a century's worth! Previously we needed at least ten of these to even power the generator for half a day! Now we only need one to power it for five days straight! Imagine what we can do with a bigger crystal!"
I raised my eyebrow at her, "Ummm… What does this have to do with what Master requested of us? About how we can use this to strengthen our Cultivation Points?"
She waved her hand, "Do you not get this?! Energy has been a big stopper for a lot of advancements! If we can even just have Practitioners recharge this, we'll have infinite power! From there, anything is possible! Practitioner armaments… Exo suits… External enhancements… As expected of Onii-sama to give me guidance even now!"
I don't really get it, but for her to be this excited must mean it's quite important?
I wonder if this is what Master was aiming for?
