"As expected, I still have to perform a ritual before opening chests if I want a high Critical Hit effect."
Lin Bei froze for a second, muttering to himself.
But the moment he heard the name of the item the chest had produced, his gaze snapped to his storage space.
He hadn't expected this excellent-quality chest to actually yield "boundless star stone"!
And in considerable quantity—ten full pieces!
He now had forty boundless star stones in total; only sixty more and he could forge a complete Epic Level item!
"From now on I have to open more high-tier chests!"
Lin Bei resolved silently.
He glanced at the earlier system notice: under normal circumstances, opening an excellent chest that triggered a 10,000× Quantity Critical Hit would grant 10 million star stones.
But after triggering a 10,000× Quality Critical Hit, it granted ten boundless star stones.
In other words, the conversion ratio between the two was a million to one.
"That's a staggering ratio!"
"Though… it's the same ratio as common primal stone to supreme quality primordial stone."
"Looks like star stone really does function as the 'primal stone' of high-level worlds—both are special materials carrying immense energy, usable for crafting gear or as 'batteries' to power large devices."
"Since excellent chests in High-Level Survival Worlds can drop boundless star stone, I won't have to worry about supply anymore."
"The remaining task is to obtain enough Primal Force."
"According to its description, Primal Force must be extracted and refined from world origin fragments, or obtained by destroying a world outright."
"Destroying worlds is out; world origin fragments, though—I can give those a shot."
Lin Bei already had a plan in mind.
From the ranking rewards he had received "World BOSS Challenge Tickets"; each ticket granted one chance to challenge a World BOSS.
He had ten thousand of them—plenty to splurge.
His only concern wasn't how strong the World BOSS might be, but whether—like the Shadow Cat Demons in the Dark Night Forest—it had a respawn cap.
If the respawn rate couldn't keep up, all those tickets in his hand would be wasted.
"I'll ask Aleria later what the deal is with World BOSSes—at least I'll know what to expect."
"With this many tickets, could I just farm a pile of world origin fragments?"
"If that's true, then as long as I'm around the Lucky Faction is definitely going to soar!"
"I'll have to negotiate properly with Aleria and make her secure me more benefits."
"After all, she wouldn't want her dear little sister to be unhappy on my island, right?"
…"Achoo!"
In the dark space inside the Golden Hall, Aleria's nose itched and she sneezed.
"Oh, Miss Aleria, what's wrong?"
A teasing voice came from outside the hall: "By the way, reminder—time's almost up. If you change your mind, call me anytime; I'm in no rush."
"Hmph."
Aleria frowned and gave a cold snort, ignoring Apachi's mockery outside the door.
If she weren't afraid of exposing herself, she would have gone out and berated him long ago.
But she had to restrain herself and wait for the good show!
This time Apachi had openly threatened her; she had to teach him a lesson.
So she had to stay calm!
Outside the hall, Apachi's eyes behind his mask narrowed slightly, sensing something amiss.
"That little girl called Anya is her own sister."
"Yet now she shows no intention of backing down!"
"Could it be… she made arrangements in advance and secretly funneled some resources to that Survivor's island before I acted?"
"That… would make sense."
"But… hmph, so what?"
"In that case, I'll have to adjust my strategy and give her some strong medicine!"
Apachi glanced back at the Golden Hall, a sinister gleam flashing in his eyes.
He walked to a corner, took out a silver-white communicator wristband, and spoke softly.
"Plan changed; initiate the backup plan—deploy more Blood Demon Puppets!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Hm… to be safe, this time… have the Blood Demon Faction dispatch a hundred puppets each with over a million Combat power!"
"This... Lord, isn't this a bit inappropriate? A hundred Blood Demon Puppets each with Combat power over a million—this cost..."
"Do as I say. When it's done, I can grant you half a wisp of Primal Force."
"Really?! Hahaha, rest assured, Lord! I guarantee this matter!"
The call ended shortly.
Apachi strolled back to the entrance of the Golden Hall, whistling in contentment.
This time, it's truly in the bag!
"Hmm... this Mecha blueprint looks pretty nice."
In the Underworld, Lin Bei examined the Starlight Mecha blueprint, delight written all over his face.
This Mecha was of Epic Level.
Although one blueprint could produce only a single Starlight Mecha, for Lin Bei who dreamed of Mechas, it was enough.
However, building one required a lot of materials, and he didn't have enough on hand; he'd have to wait a while longer to fulfill his Mecha dream.
He then turned his gaze to the starship and the Star-Orbit Charging Cannon—both were of Transcendent Quality and massive equipment, so even after triggering the 10,000× Critical Hit he had received only ten of each.
But that was plenty for Lin Bei.
Just one Transcendent-grade starship was already staggeringly huge.
These vessels stretched 5 km long, 800 m wide, and 300 m tall—absolute behemoths!
Yet according to their specs, these Transcendent starships were classified as Combat starships, only on the larger side of the small-ship category.
Hard to imagine how awe-inspiring a true capital ship would be!
Likewise, the Star-Orbit Charging Cannon was equally outrageous: its barrel over 10 km long with a caliber exceeding 1 km; when fully charged, it could probably blast the moon apart in one shot.
But reaching full charge required a long time and vast energy.
The blueprint stated it would take 100,000 star stones to fill its reserves.
And the charging time would be nearly three hours.
Unless one used boundless star stones instead.
According to the specs, a single boundless star stone could instantly charge the cannon to full power.
Lin Bei currently had forty boundless star stones and ten Star-Orbit Charging Cannons.
Which meant that, should he choose to spend the resources, he could obliterate ten moons in one second!
"Now that's the kind of firepower I like~"
Lin Bei murmured, "Only too few cannons and star stones. If I had ten thousand cannons and a million star stones... I'd be able to swagger through any High-Level Survival World."
"As expected, it's still not enough."
"Personal strength is one thing; firepower and gear must keep pace!"
"Gotta guard against someone raiding my base."
Thinking this, Lin Bei glanced at the time on his Survival Bracelet.
"The Order Beacon folks should have set out a while ago."
"I wonder if the upgraded island defense system will give them a nice surprise?"
"According to Qingqing, the automated defense net's coverage has expanded from five kilometers to a hundred."
"Hope... they have a fun time."
Lin Bei smiled, not overly concerned about the Order Beacon people.
Their stats, even with 10,000× Critical Hit, held no attraction for him anymore.
He now realized that killing a thousand Survivors from Low-Tier Survival Worlds was less rewarding than killing one from a High-Level world.
Lin Bei's horizons had risen.
As for those small fry from the Order Beacon, he barely gave them a thought.
Still, just in case, he summoned a Death Avatar and sent it back to his island in the Island World to hold the fort.
With that, island security was completely assured... Island Survival World, deep night, a bright moon hung in the sky, its silver light spilling over the rippling sea in shimmering, chilly waves.
The Order Beacon fleet now advanced at full speed, heading straight for Lin Bei's island!
This time, they were determined to succeed!