Defiance of the Fall

So what was the use of the crystals? The most likely explanation he could find was evolution . He had seen all kinds of mutations and evolutions in the flora on the island caused by the cosmic energy . Who’s to say it didn’t work with the fauna as well . Perhaps the crystals could help a normal imp to evolve into something greater , like the Heralds .

It was a bit worrying , as normal imps were deadly enough . If suddenly a throng of them evolved into super-imps wouldn’t they burn down the whole island? He could only hope that evolving wasn’t that simple a matter for now .

The second thing on Zac’s mind was the crystals themselves . Where had it found them? If there were a bunch of them it would explain many things , such as why the density of cosmic energy was so high in the mountains . It could be due to the proximity of a large amount of Nexus Crystals , whose energy bled through into the surroundings .

It would also explain the unceasing flow of demons coming into the mountains . A mountain full of Nexus Crystals should be the equivalent of a multi-verse gold mine .

That , unfortunately , meant that the demons were continuously pilfering the resources that Zac would need to continue to improve and build up a town .

Zac was sorely lacking in Nexus Coins right now . He could barely improve himself , let alone build up a whole town . His gains lately from killing monkeys had been tremendous , but it was nothing compared to the costs of creating , and running , a town .

For example , there was an array called E-Grade Medium Scale Town Defense Array] that was a combination of a defensive shield and some attacking functions . It looked like a good all-around addition for a newly established settlement . But that array alone cost 5 million Nexus Coins , and furthermore , it wasn’t free to operate .

There were defensive turrets and anti-siege weapons as well , each costing over a million coins . There was just no way for him to grind that kind of amount of coins . Even if he got twice as strong and murdered monkeys without rest or sleep it would take years before he got all the basic structures of the town .

But if he had a large number of Nexus Crystals he might be able to pay all this , and maybe even more . He didn’t have any means of selling the Crystals for Nexus Coins at the moment , but there were things such as shops and auction houses in the outpost store . If he purchased one of those he was sure they’d accept his crystals for some coin .

Of course , it all hinged on him actually getting the crystals . Driven by a renewed sense of purpose , Zac headed back toward where he came from . Since the imp went out of its way to hide the crystals out here , there shouldn’t be much activity in the surroundings as well .

Zac made a mental note of the area since he might need a base of operations down here . As he carefully proceeded through the paths the ambient cosmic energy kept increasing , now starting to reach the density that he had felt in the valley with the monkey king .

After continuing on for roughly 10 minutes he heard some shuffling further down the path . Zac immediately stopped , a glint of greed and anticipation on his face . Every demon he found down here would probably make him wealthier . He imagined looting magic pouches packed to the rafters with crystals , a creepy grin slowly starting to emerge on his face .

Unfortunately it wasn’t a walking nest egg he encountered , but a white crocodile .

At a second glance he realized it wasn’t actually a crocodile , but a supersized salamander . It had a thick build and was roughly four meters long . It was mostly white with some purple markings . Zac thought that subterranean species normally possessed no eyes , but this didn’t seem to apply to this specimen . It lazily ambled through a subterranean tunnel , swiping up various mushrooms and herbs with its mouth along the way .

Zac didn’t know if it was a guard animal for the demons or just something that lived down here . He shrank into a side corridor to hide as he didn’t want to bother with this huge beast at the moment . The beast seemed oblivious to his existence until it suddenly exploded into motion just as it was next to the side-tunnel Zac hid in .

Its maw opened showing a line of large translucent teeth looking like huge salt crystals . The beast tilted its head and charged straight at Zac’s torso , but he was accustomed to this manner of attacks from the countless barghest he had fought .

Channeling his cosmic energy he grunted and punched the lizard in its head , slamming it into the wall of the tunnel , creating large cracks on the stone surface . That type of attack was usually enough to kill barghest by now , but it only seemed to enrage the salamander . He didn’t want a prolonged fight though and swung vertically with a maxed out Chop] , cleanly decapitating it .