My 100th Rebirth a day before the Apocalypse - Chapter 64

Chapter 64 What?!
As Sparrow delivered his final blow to the zombie behind him, he prepared to advance when a glimmer caught his eye—a shiny white crystal nestled within the zombie’s head. “Ah! Miss! Check this out! There’s a crystal core in this one!” he called out excitedly.

Kisha’s head snapped in the direction of Sparrow’s voice to verify his claim. Sure enough, there was a gleaming crystal in his hands, resembling shattered glass. Its formlessness made it appear as if it were mere debris, stuck to the zombie’s head for some unknown reason.

Kisha cut the zombie in front of her before she ran towards Sparrow who was happily running to them to show his spoils of war. And once he reached Kisha’s side, he passed the crystal core to her with trembling hands. He was too excited because Kisha had told them that this crystal core was crucial for their advancements.

With the crystal core now in her possession, Kisha employs her ‘Eye of Truth’ to inspect the item. This unique application of her ability proves invaluable, as it allows her not only to view the stat windows of beasts and humans but also to inspect items imbued with spiritual energy.

[Zombie Core]

Level: 0

Attribute: None

Spirit: 10

Description: A transparent zombie core that has recently formed, containing only a small amount of energy.

….

“How was it?” Duke inquired, eyeing the crystal in Kisha’s palm with a hint of skepticism. To him, the shard seemed no more than a common piece of glass, and he wondered if Sparrow’s excitement was warranted or if he was simply exaggerating.

Even without a detailed examination, Kisha could discern the subtle energy fluctuations within the crystal core, she just used her gift for testing an item with spiritual energy. While it might be challenging for those who hadn’t awakened to sense the energy within crystal cores, Kisha’s heightened senses made it second nature for her.

Kisha nodded and returned the crystal core to Sparrow, who looked at her with an incredulous expression. Before he could voice his question, Kisha instructed, “Try sensing what’s inside the crystal.”

Sparrow furrowed his brows, unsure of how to proceed. He stared at the crystal, attempting to sense its energy, but found himself coming up empty-handed. Turning back to Kisha, his expression conveyed more questions than answers.

Kisha shook her head with a sense of resignation. “You can’t just stare at it. You need to feel and sense the energy within, much like how you feel the wind even when you can’t see it, or the warmth of sunlight when it’s intangible,” she explained patiently, recognizing that this was their first encounter with such a phenomenon.

Observing Sparrow’s continued struggle to comprehend, Vulture took the crystal core instead, closing his eyes in concentration. “Hmmm, there’s a faint warmth emanating from it,” he noted.

“Of course it’s warm, it just came out from my palms, you know,” Sparrow retorted, sounding somewhat exasperated as if addressing someone who wasn’t quite getting it in the head, in short Stupid.

“I know, I’m not stupid, I am not talking about the surface of the crystal but within the crystal core. It felt like something warm is coming out from within is what I’m trying to say.” Vulture clarified, his expression showing a hint of frustration at Sparrow’s misunderstanding. Unlike Sparrow, who relied more on logic, Vulture trusted his intuition.

Kisha regarded Vulture with a newfound respect. Sensing the energy within the crystal wasn’t easy, and not everyone could do it. After all, the primary method of utilizing the crystal core was simply ingesting it.

The challenge arose from the fact that not everyone could sense the energy within crystal cores, especially in the early stages of their discovery. This vulnerability led some unscrupulous individuals to exploit others by substituting genuine crystal cores with ordinary glass shards.

Hence, Kisha aimed to educate everyone on how to discern genuine crystal cores from fake ones, enhancing their sensitivity to the cores’ energy signatures.

Duke approached to examine the crystal core, scrutinizing it intently. “Can this truly aid our advancement? And how do we harness its potential?” he inquired, gently returning the core to Kisha’s hand.

“This crystal core contains the concentrated virus, as I’ve explained before. Once ingested, it gradually integrates into our energy cores, the source of our awakened abilities,” Kisha elaborated.

“Wait, what? We’re supposed to eat this?” Sparrow jumped up from his position, his face instantly turning pale in disgust at the thought.

“Of course, we’ll wash it clean before consuming it,” Kisha reassured, not seeing what was wrong with the process, as she’d been doing it for how long, no one knew.

Duke’s brows furrowed as he stared at the crystal core, then at the zombie lying on the ground, before returning his gaze to the crystal core, his expression growing more intense with each passing moment.

The sight of the disgusting zombies and the stench emanating from their bodies made the idea of consuming something that came from those rotting corpses utterly repulsive and unimaginable to them. Even Duke couldn’t hide his disgust, scrunching up his nose as he looked at Kisha. Despite his revulsion, Kisha found his expression endearingly cute, unable to suppress a soft chuckle after observing him for a while.

Observing their reactions, she sought to alleviate their concerns. “Don’t worry,” she reassured them. “Although it’s as hard as a real crystal to the touch, once you put it in your mouth, it’ll dissolve like candy and taste just as sweet. You won’t even remember it came from a rotting corpse.” She did not forget to tease them lightly at the end of her sentence, hoping to lighten the mood.

Despite her efforts, their reluctance persisted.

“Do we have to consume that now, or should we continue to look around for more?” Sparrow inquired, his expression contorted in distaste.

“We should avoid zombies for now. Within the next 1-2 days, most of the crystal cores will likely have formed, and we can start hoarding them to begin leveling up,” Kisha suggested, stowing the crystal core in her inventory.

“Why should we do that? What if we get attacked?” Vulture innocently questioned before suggesting, “Isn’t it fine to take out the ones in our way and just collect from those we’ve defeated after two days?”

“Why would we break our piggy bank when it hasn’t even generated money yet? Don’t you think it’s wasteful?” Kisha retorted, her brows furrowed in concern. The thought of squandering potentially valuable crystal cores weighed heavily on her heart.

“Em,” Vulture mumbled, unsure of how to respond. He found himself agreeing with Kisha’s logic.

“Then, let’s move out,” Duke interjected, breaking their little exchange and signaling for them to continue forward. His frustration over the lack of information about his family’s whereabouts was evident in his tone.