Chapter 504: The Altar's Ability.

The dark dwarf-like figure on top of the Great Altar Cutter shot an exasperated look at Gao Peng. The piece of wood on the altar gradually began to blur, its color fading away. Finally, with a pop, it vanished, leaving a faint brown crystal in its place.

Gao Peng was taken aback. He hadn’t expected the dwarf to actually produce something. He narrowed his eyes at the brown crystal.

[Item Name]: Rough Wooden Crystal

[Item Effect]: A crystalline object that contains the rudimentary nutrients normally found in wood. It can be used to feed herbivorous and omnivorous monsters.

Is it supposed to be a food-processing instrument? Gao Peng’s eyes lit up. This is incredible! Now I don’t have to worry about starving in the wild ever again.

Like a child eager to try out his new toy, Gao Peng began placing other objects he could find in the immediate vicinity on the altar.

The dwarf was livid at this point. I wouldn’t have minded too much if you were testing me out with high-grade materials, but now you’re just placing stones, pieces of wood, and monster hides that you found lying around on my altar… This is just degrading.

Later on, Gao Peng began using higher quality materials, such as monster carcasses, medicinal concoctions that he had personally brewed, and an assortment of minerals. Gao Peng realized at this point that the altar’s main function was refining materials.

It could bring out the essence of a material and process it subsequently. However, it couldn’t conjure something out of thin air. This wasn’t the kind of altar that Gao Peng had initially imagined it to be, the kind that could completely disregard the laws of equivalent exchange and bestow upon its user more than what it was offered.

It was more like a processing medium that could only process inanimate objects. It probably couldn’t disassemble a live insect even if it wanted to. Unfortunately, its ruined state had considerably affected its efficiency.

As if sensing Gao Peng’s disappointment, the dwarf hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you bring me a high-level monster carcass, I can definitely turn it into something better.”

Gao Peng shot it a sideways look and let out a soft groan. After ruminating on the dwarf’s words, Gao Peng said to Silly, “Bring that huge black snake out for me, will you?”

Nodding, Silly produced the Black Rock Infernal Boa’s corpse from its portable space. The corpse was way too big, filling up the labyrinth’s interior completely as soon as it left Silly’s portable space.

The large serpentine body took up a huge portion of the space they were standing in.

“And how am I supposed to offer this to you?” The altar could barely hold the boa’s head. This was like trying to cook an elephant with a wok. It was a fool’s errand, or so Gao Peng thought.

The dwarf on the altar was hugging the Black Rock Infernal Boa’s head like its life depended on it. It had all but disappeared in the snake’s shadow. “Just watch,” said the dwarf.

A moment later, the Black Rock Infernal Boa’s body began to turn transparent. Its body was gradually fading away. Its blood, flesh, and bones slowly turned translucent until finally, it disappeared into thin air. Gao Peng then noticed that a small black serpentine shape was floating above the altar. At least as thick as a thumb, it was idly orbiting above the altar.

“Burp.” The dwarf’s belly suddenly expanded outward, as if it had been pregnant for ten months. “That was quite filling…”

Seeing that this could take a while, Gao Peng ordered the White Steel Bladed Beast to bring in the other familiars to rest in the labyrinth for the night.

The night passed without incident. The next day, just as the first rays of dawn hit the sky, Gao Peng crawled out of his tent and saw three spherical objects floating above the Great Altar Cutter. On the left was a red meatball-like object. It was dark red, and there was a faint smell of cooked meat lingering around it.

[Item Name]: Meat Essence (Emperor-tier)

[Item Description]: Distilled from the flesh and blood of a King-tier monster, it can be consumed to fill one up. It is rich in high-level nutrients.

An earthy yellow ball of light floated in the middle.

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[Item Name]: Level 2 Earth Resistance Fruit

[Item Description]: Capable of bestowing Level-2 earth resistance upon the user, who won’t be able to further enhance this effect via any other means. Once it has served its purpose, the fruit will disappear.

On the right was a fiery ball of light. It somewhat resembled the earthy ball of light in the middle.

[Item Name]: Level 2 Fire Resistance Fruit

[Item Description]: Capable of bestowing Level-2 fire resistance upon the user, who won’t be able to further enhance this effect via any other means. Once it has served its purpose, the fruit will disappear.

Gao Peng thought that the name “One-Time Fruit” suited them well. This was the first time he had come across these items. In fact, he had never even heard of them until that day.

Gao Peng could still remember that the Black Rock Infernal Boa had Level-3 Earth Resistance and Level-3 Fire Resistance in its arsenal of monster abilities. Level-3 abilities weren’t especially remarkable as far as an Emperor-tier monster was concerned. It was a shame that the Black Rock Infernal Boa’s Level-4 and Level-5 abilities weren’t converted into fruits as well.

“I didn’t think you could extract a monster’s abilities from their bodies,” said Gao Peng. He really was surprised by this.

This goes against all conventions… Well, maybe not that much, considering that the extracted abilities are all downgraded in the process, and they can’t be further upgraded through other external means. This means that once any of my familiars receives Level 2 Earth Resistance from its corresponding fruit, that ability will remain at Level 2 forever.

The word “accessory” suddenly crossed Gao Peng’s mind. This is just like equipping a familiar with an enchanted accessory.

Any ability received from the fruits could no longer be upgraded through any other means. However, Gao Peng was fine with that.

“So you can extract the abilities of other monsters from their bodies. No wonder you were so sure of yourself back then,” said Gao Peng, as if a life-changing revelation had suddenly dawned on him.

The dwarf was startled. “How on earth did you know that?”

“I know everything. I just wasn’t sure who you were until now,” said Gao Peng, nodding sagely.

The dwarf stared at Gao Peng. It didn’t remember telling him about his other ability. It knew for a fact that it had erased all traces of its existence from this world.

It began pestering Gao Peng as to how he had come across such information. Gao Peng simply smiled at it without another word. Paranoia now gripped the dwarf’s heart.

Did some of them survive…? That’s not right. If they knew I was still alive, they wouldn’t be silent about it. This is strange…

“I’m not exactly in the best shape right now. Once I’ve regained my former glory, I’ll become even stronger, and my ability to extract other monsters’ abilities will become even more complete,” assured the dwarf.

There’s definitely more to it than meets the eye… Gao Peng shot it a sideways glance, then looked away. “All right. Seems like there’s still some use left in you. I’ll keep you.” He then ordered Stripey to keep an eye on the altar and make sure it didn’t try to flee.

The dwarf was silently celebrating its good fortune. This human certainly seems like the reasonable type.

Gao Peng placed the altar on Stripey’s back, where a couple of boulders shifted around the altar, firmly locking it in place.

For the rest of the day, Gao Peng and company searched the entire labyrinth for anything valuable. Unfortunately, the Red-skinned Sanguine Pig Demons were still incapable of understanding the concept of personal wealth. There was absolutely nothing of value in the labyrinth.

Gao Peng couldn’t even find a single scrap of this Precept Fragment that was mentioned in the Pig Demon’s monster description. The altar was the only discovery of note that he had made in this labyrinth.

He led his familiars to the next labyrinth.