Apotheosis

The sixteen life stones formed a circle around the leaf and wrapped themselves around the glowing object. The said object emitted a blinding flash of light, which made it hard for Zen to figure out what it was.

Without giving it much thought, Zen lifted the pickaxe up high into the air.

"Crack!"

He already knew that the leaves on the upper layers were thicker and bigger. Their blue color was also more vivid, and their structure was more solid as well.

While the leaves were thick, their toughness exceeded Zen's expectations. There were no cracks on the leaf at all when he slammed the pickaxe against it.

"This..." Zen's eyes widened, and he was clearly astonished.

Although he only had a low-grade sacred weapon on him, he could easily split a mountain in half with his strength without having to use his forceful energy. Was the leaf under his feet really so tough?

But Zen had finally found these life stones, so he wouldn't give up so easily.

As he thought of it, the power of a hundred dragon scales burst forth from his body. Then, he picked up the pickaxe again and hit the leaf with it!

"Crack!"

When the pickaxe hit the leaf, a small crack appeared on its surface.

"The leaf is not that hard!" A faint smile spread on Zen's face. He continued to swing his pickaxe when he saw that his attack was effective. The cracks spread more with each strike, and on his last blow—it finally shattered.

It was only then when Zen removed the broken parts with the pickaxe that the life stones underneath were revealed.

The look in Zen's eyes softened as he gazed at the life stones. Letitia was still waiting for him to bring back the life stones to save her life, so he carefully stored them one by one into his space ring. After he was done, he turned his gaze to the shiny object.

Zen didn't see through the thick leaf clearly just a while ago, but now he discovered that it was a square crystal. The light inside flickered continuously like water, and reflected a bright, white light.

"I don't know what kind of ore it is, but I'll take it first!" Zen didn't hesitate and placed the shiny ore inside his space ring. Then, he leaped again and descended into the void below. He followed a circle of flashing light and once again, he fell from the side of the pyramid.

When Zen finally reached the ground and steadied himself, he was greeted by the sight of Callan, Fiona, and Randy.

Randy gave him a faint smile. Just as when he was about to ask Zen if he'd obtained anything, he was disrupted by a loud s

ife stones.

"I give them to you!" Fiona said with a smile. She was quite a scrupulous woman.

After the battle at the West Dragon River had ended, she remembered that Turner said Zen needed the life stones. Up until that moment, she had dug out many life stones, but no one knew whether she actively looked for them, or she unintentionally found them.

As for the other things, Zen might reject them, but he would definitely accept the life stones.

When the nearby warriors saw Fiona generously give the life stones to Zen, they became green with envy. While the life stones weren't as precious as a fire stone, they were still worth a lot…

Zen also didn't want to take Fiona's life stones without giving her anything in return. He'd dug up a dozen or so life stones as well, but he couldn't possibly use them as a gift. While he thought of that, his lips suddenly curved into a smile. He said, "Thank you. But here, I also have something for you!"

When he collected the life stones earlier, he found a shiny object in the middle of them. Zen wasn't sure what it was. He only thought that it was extremely beautiful with its flickering crystal light, so it was a good idea to give it to Fiona.

However, just as when he took the object out, Randy suddenly gasped loudly and violently coughed a few times. He then looked at Zen fearfully and asked, "Thad, are you sure you want to give that thing to Fiona?"

The cubic object Zen took out was truly eye-catching, so it instantly drew everyone's attention with its bright, white crystal glow.

Almost everyone stared at the strange object in shock, while the divine-level talents looked at it with blatant greed and obvious jealousy.