He shivered, feeling his Soul Strength had grown even more resilient. It was the same feeling he'd had two months ago when he'd fallen into an enlightened state after resting for half a day with Grandma Yun, Wen Rou, and the others from the Cloud Welfare Institute.

HISS!

Just by watching others chat, he could gain insights and enhance his Soul Strength.

Could I really be an unprecedented genius? Sigh... The attribute panel and the Skeleton Clone have truly limited the expression of my talent!

After a moment of self-mockery, Fang Zhou clung to a faint glimmer of hope as he examined the final resource in the trade section: the Mirror of the Heart.

Accompanied by a dazzling magical light, the trade interface for the Mirror of the Heart opened before him. Its detailed description revealed that it was an ancient Marvel excavated from a Spatial Fragment of the Mythical World. It was suspected to be a creation of an alien civilization that relied on psionic powers. Periodically, the Mirror of the Heart would absorb a certain amount of Soul Nourishment energy from nature. By gazing into this extraordinary Marvel for just five minutes a day, a user could slightly restore their Soul Power.

The only drawback was that the mirror had been damaged by an unknown force. According to the seller's speculation, it might have been a Marvel of Blue Fine quality or higher before being damaged, and it likely possessed other magical effects besides accelerating Soul Nourishment. Unfortunately, it was now mostly shattered. As an artifact from an alien civilization, there were no known methods to repair it.

Fang Zhou nodded in agreement as he read the detailed description. The seller was quite honest, clearly explaining both the strengths and weaknesses of the item. Who on earth could he be?

Opening the seller's personal terminal, Fang Zhou's eyes narrowed. The seller was Gu Yueyuan, the No. 1 Seed Student of the second year at Sea City Military Academy.

What shocked Fang Zhou even more was that Gu Yueyuan had awakened as an Insect Nest Walker, an extremely rare Profession. This was a non-standard Profession, considered a type of Magic Professional. As an Insect Nest Walker, one could develop both their physical body and soul into a massive Insect Nest, setting up various culture mediums to breed and create diverse armies of insects. This eerie and terrifying cultivation path granted extremely powerful direct combat abilities, but it also silently altered the mindset of the Profession's Awakeners, gradually transforming their thinking into that of an insect hive mind.

From what Fang Zhou knew, the Insect Nest Walker was a powerful late-game Profession. In the early stages, they could only capture or cultivate weak swarms that couldn't gather in large numbers or be considered high-quality combatants. However, upon advancing to the Golden Tier and higher, an Insect Nest Walker's combat power grew exponentially. It was said that on the Human-Demon Battlefield in the Mythical World, a single Legendary Crown-level Insect Nest Walker held a frontline alone, single-handedly repelling the siege of several Legendary Demon Lords.

As far as Fang Zhou knew, this strange and unpredictable rare Profession had only been recorded a handful of times in the several decades of the Blue Star's Era of Myth. In fact, it was even rarer than his own Undead Mage Profession.

As Fang Zhou recalled the information about Insect Nest Walkers, his interest was piqued. I wonder what resource Gu Yueyuan wants to trade for the Mirror of the Heart? After suffering multiple disappointments tonight, he hadn't held out much hope.

However, as his gaze fell upon Gu Yueyuan's listed requirements, he grew excited. Gu Yueyuan wasn't asking for contribution points, Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, or other resources. He specifically wanted Insect Magic Crystals. The listing also noted that Life Crystals purified from Insect Magic Crystals would be even better.

Fang Zhou took out the Life Crystal he had obtained by hunting and purifying the Magic Crystal from the Fierce Ant Queen in the ore vein ant nest, a creature at the Peak of the Apprentice Upper Rank. He felt as if fortune had just fallen from the heavens. What a delightful coincidence!

According to the information, Gu Yueyuan had already broken through his bottleneck and successfully advanced to the Black Iron Tier, becoming a Lower Black Iron Insect Nest Walker. He was the first Seed Student in the entire second year to reach the Black Iron Tier. If he had still been in the Apprentice Stage, he might not have offered the Mirror of the Heart for trade. But now that he had broken through, the heavily damaged Marvel was of little use to him. It was only natural that he would offer it in exchange for resources more useful to his current level.

Although Fang Zhou didn't know the exact reason, he could guess why Gu Yueyuan specifically needed Life Crystals purified from Insect Magic Crystals. He must want to use them to cultivate his swarm and increase his combat power. After all, just as the core of Fang Zhou's combat power as an Undead Mage lay in his summoned undead, the foundation of an Insect Nest Walker's strength was their cultivated insect army. Furthermore, powerful insect-type Demons were already rare in the Blue Star world. Those that were talented enough to coincidentally form a Magic Crystal were practically priceless. Gu Yueyuan probably didn't expect anyone to come forward with the required resource so quickly when he posted the trade offer.

Smiling broadly, Fang Zhou gently rubbed the crystal-clear Life Crystal in his hand, feeling a private sense of relief. Fortunately, just this evening in the laboratory for the Undead Mage research project, he had mentioned to Instructors Shen Hongyu and Huang Qiuyue that he needed Life Crystals for his bone regeneration study. Instructor Shen Hongyu had already agreed to do her best to find Apprentice-level Life Crystals for him. Instructor Su Xinyan had also volunteered to seek support for resources like Life Crystals from Mage Sandro of the Purple Iris Alliance.

For Fang Zhou, the type of Life Crystal didn't matter. He only needed the condensed Life Energy within them to nourish his physical body and enhance his Four-dimensional Attributes. Trading away his only Life Crystal—the one purified from the ant queen's Magic Crystal—would have no real impact on him. It wouldn't be long before Instructors Su Xinyan and Shen Hongyu found other Life Crystals for him, and he could only absorb one Apprentice-level Life Crystal at a time anyway.

If he could really trade this Insect Magic Crystal, which wasn't of much use to him, for the Mirror of the Heart, it would be an incredibly worthwhile deal. This trade is definitely happening!

Having made up his mind, Fang Zhou opened the trade interface for the Mirror of the Heart. He went to click on Gu Yueyuan's icon but found it was grayed out, indicating he was offline. Fang Zhou was slightly taken aback. It was rare to find a soul-nourishing resource he could actually trade for, and the seller was offline? Still, he wasn't too anxious. After all, Instructors Su Xinyan and Shen Hongyu hadn't gathered any other Life Crystals for him yet.

He opened the chat interface and saw a status message Gu Yueyuan had left.

[A Bit of Wind and Frost] (Gu Yueyuan): Away on a mission. Please leave a message if you have Insect Magic Crystals.

Fang Zhou understood. He then sent Gu Yueyuan a trade request.

[Ordinary Apprentice] (Fang Zhou): Hello, Senior Brother Gu. I'm Fang Zhou, the first-year No. 1 Seed Student and a Middle Rank Apprentice Undead Mage. I'd like to trade for your Mirror of the Heart. I have a Life Crystal that was acquired while hunting in Cave No. 1, purified from the Magic Crystal of a Fierce Ant Queen at the Peak of the Apprentice Upper Rank.

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