My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

Lin Mo's steps suddenly froze on the spot.

The stone steps fell silent for a moment, with only the breathing of a few people remaining.

His fingers tightened involuntarily on the hilt of the black sword, and for the first time, a visible tremor appeared on his face.

"Directly...provide experience points?"

Yin Xue even bounced off Lin Mo's shoulder.

She hovered in mid-air, her scarlet eyes wide open, her small mouth opening and closing repeatedly before finally managing to squeeze out a single sentence.

"What did you say?! You're giving me experience points directly?!"

Her voice echoed through the narrow stone staircase, startling Mianmian into shrinking back.

Two furry little paws covered their ears.

It's no wonder that Yin Xue reacted so strongly.

On this continent, rare and precious materials are as numerous as hairs on a cow, some can enhance attributes, some can temper the body, some can prolong life, and some can amplify combat power.

These things are rare, but Yin Xue saw many of them when he was the Demon King.

She had never even heard of a treasure that could directly provide experience points, despite living for so long.

"If word gets out about this, the whole continent will go crazy."

Yin Xue murmured, then suddenly raised his head and glared at the black sword.

"Zhou Yue! Why didn't you say so sooner?!"

"I only sensed it just now."

Zhou Yue spoke calmly, ignoring Yin Xue's question.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions in his heart.

He started walking again, continuing down the stone steps, his pace quickening slightly.

"Explain clearly: what is the principle behind it? What are the limitations?"

Zhou Yue's voice echoed between the stone steps: "Divine Essence Crystals are divided into several grades. As far as I know, there are at least three grades: upper, middle, and lower. The lower grade can provide 30% of experience points. I have seen the middle grade but have never used it. The upper grade... directly raises the level by one."

He paused, a rare hint of emotion in his voice.

"Back then, I was able to break through to demigod level so quickly because of those divine essence crystals. Otherwise, if I had just relied on fighting the Demon King's army to accumulate them, it would have taken at least another three to five years."

Lin Mo frowned.

"Wait, providing 30% experience points—that's too vague. 30% experience points at level 1 is completely different from 30% at level 90."

Zhou Yue stopped pointing and turned around to look directly at Lin Mo.

"This is the most terrifying aspect of Divine Essence Crystals: regardless of level, it guarantees a fixed 30% chance of success."

The stone staircase fell silent once again.

Yin Xue's wings stopped in mid-air, and he was suspended there as if he had been frozen in place.

Mianmian peeked her little head out from above Lin Mo's head, her dark eyes filled with great confusion.

Although it couldn't understand the specific meaning, its owner suddenly became very excited.

Lin Mo's breath hitched slightly.

"In other words, a top-grade divine essence crystal is equivalent to leveling up out of thin air."

He spoke slowly, as if repeatedly confirming the correctness of this fact.

"Whether I am level 85 or 95 now - as long as I find a high-quality crystal, I will be level 1."

"Theoretically, yes."

Zhou Yue affirmed.

Yin Xue finally came to his senses, and the corner of his mouth twitched violently.

"No wonder...no wonder the Holy Kingdom of the Tower has so many demigods. I always thought they relied on some kind of asceticism and holy light blessing, but it turns out they were hiding something like this!"

Her tone shifted from shock to indignation, and her little wings flapped loudly.

"These charlatans are really well-covered up!"

Lin Mo did not remain in shock for long.

He stepped down again, his mind already racing with calculations.

"So, if I level up from level 85 to 100, wouldn't I only need fifteen Divine Essence Crystals?"

Since the war with the entire continent began, the upgrade speed has slowed down after the initial rapid pace.

Races that can provide a lot of experience points have ways to defend against the ghost army, while races that cannot defend against the ghost army do not provide much experience points.

Lin Mo urgently needs to level up quickly.

"Theoretically, yes."

Zhou Yue's tone remained calm, but he quickly raised his voice.

"But I haven't finished yet. The cost of this is much greater than you imagine."

Lin Mo continued walking: "Speak."

"First of all, low-grade divine essence crystals are unusable by experts above level 80. Secondly, to use a crystal, one must recognize it as a master."

"Recognizing a master?"

"The divine power contained within a superior crystal is too immense. Before it can be used, it must be nourished with free attribute points. Only after the crystal absorbs enough free attribute points will it recognize a master and then it can be used."

Zhou Yue's tone became exceptionally heavy.

"Each high-grade crystal requires at least 1000 free attribute points to nourish it. Consuming free attribute points means overdrawing combat power, and it's 1,000 points at a time."

Lin Mo suddenly stopped.

He was silent for two seconds, then turned around and looked at Black Sword with a strange expression.

"How many?"

"One thousand points, I know that's a huge number, and you probably don't have enough free attribute points, so we need to plan carefully. First, we'll level up to accumulate free attribute points, and then..."

"I think I have around 100,000 free attribute points."

Zhou Yue's words came to an abrupt halt.

"……How many?"

"One hundred thousand."

Lin Mo's tone was flat.

Yin Xue burst out laughing.

She clutched her stomach as she flew through the air: "Zhou Yue! That earnest expression you gave me just now! Hahahaha!"

Zhou Yue remained silent for a long time, and when he spoke again, his tone was as complex as if he had swallowed a bottle of mixed emotions.

"You little rascal... how did you even manage to save that up...?"

Even Zhou Yue, a veteran who had seen countless battles and was used to big scenes, couldn't help but gasp in shock.

He was once a renowned powerhouse on the continent, a demigod-level warrior, and considered himself to have seen quite a bit of the world.

How did Lin Mo, an 85-level warrior, accumulate 10 attribute points?

This left Zhou Yue unsure whether to be angry or amused, and in the end, he could only silently guide everyone to continue downwards.

The stone steps finally came to an end after the last bend.

A heavy stone door had been pushed open, revealing a long, dark corridor behind it.

Dim soul lamps were embedded in the wall, casting long, thin shadows of the group.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, and the deeper one went, the stronger the faint, sacred aura in the air became.

This made Yin Xue wrinkle his nose uncomfortably.

At the end of the corridor was a stone door.

The stone gate was covered with intricate defensive runes, the patterns of which had faded but still revealed their former majesty.

Directly in front of that stone gate stood a colossal object, tens of meters tall.

It was a giant mechanical guard.

Its body is carved from a single piece of pure white boulder.

The surface is densely engraved with golden holy symbols, which extend from the torso to the limbs.

It was as if countless chains were tightly binding the holy light within.

Its limbs were cast from pure gold minerals, with unknown gemstones embedded in the joints, each the size of a fist.

Zhou Yue and Yin Xue spoke at the same time.

"Templar Guards"

Lin Mo clearly didn't recognize this thing.

Zhou Yue explained, "This was created by combining the Church's sacred magic with the Goblin race's mechanical arts. It's equivalent to a level 99 powerhouse, and its strength is even greater than some demigods."

Lin Mo nodded.

"So, you can enter the secret room by breaking it, right?"