Both were somewhat stunned; the crystal emitting a faint glow made a four-character phrase flash through their minds.
What is an Energy Crystal?
As the name suggests, it is a crystal formed when energy is highly purified and condensed.
The formation of this special resource requires extremely harsh conditions. Generally, only in places where attribute-less energy is concentrated to the extreme, and after thousands or even tens of thousands of years of incubation, might such crystals appear.
Even the Insect Race, known for devouring all things and storing all kinds of energy within its body, cannot have a high probability of condensing Energy Crystals; it is merely a slightly higher probability compared to other Starry Sea Races.
Moreover, the rank of lifeforms has no relation to the Energy Crystals; it is purely a matter of probability.
Sometimes, even high-level Queen Insects that have lived for hundreds or thousands of years might not form Energy Crystals within them, while some low-level insect species, merely incubated for a few months, might luckily create Energy Crystals.
Of course, there are ranks of Energy Crystals, and this is directly related to the life rank of the incubating lifeform.
If a high-level lifeform forms an Energy Crystal, it naturally would be a high-level Energy Crystal, but if a low-rank lifeform forms one, it would be a low-level Energy Crystal.
After their excitement subsided, the two quickly excavated the fist-sized crystal shimmering with light.
After examining it for a moment, they concluded that the Energy Crystal formed within the Queen Insect was a valuable intermediate Energy Crystal.
Why is it considered valuable? The reason is simple: besides the extremely low probability of formation and rarity of Energy Crystals, it has another surprising function – enhancing the success rate of Torch Warship advancement.
The courses taught at schools used to mention that warships above First Rank only have an initial 1% success rate after starting an advancement mission.
To increase this success rate, aside from deploying to Alien Star Domain to hunt Alien Species, another way is to input specific rare enhancement resources.
Although there is a limit to this, with a maximum of only a 10% success rate increase, it is much sought after by the majority of Torch Ship Captains.
That's because "hunting Alien Races" may sound simple but is, in fact, fraught with danger.
Only hunting high-level Alien Races can substantially increase the success rate, while hunting the same rank or lower-rank Alien Species requires as many as a million points for a mere 1% increase in success rate. Therefore, no matter which one you choose, it is not something ordinary people can achieve, and it's even full of danger.
As for "inputting specific rare enhancement resources," the specific resources needed, although hard to find, and each warship requires different types of resources when starting the advancement mission, it is still possible to pinpoint them within a small scope. As long as preparations are made in advance, most can be collected within a year.
The key point is that this method is safe enough. The upper limit may not be very high, and even after collecting all resources, one can only reach 11% (1% [initial] + 10%).
But even if the advancement ultimately fails, the cost is merely the sinking of the warship; the captain himself won't be too badly affected, at most losing the hope to continue advancing through the Guidance Technique. Compared to choosing to hunt Alien Races and then likely dying in the Alien Territories of the Starry Sea, the outcome is much better.
The reason for mentioning all this is that Energy Crystals are one of the various special resources required for warship advancement.
For Torch Ship Captains who have started or are about to start advancement missions, Energy Crystals are a must-have. Therefore, in the entire domain of Torch Human Civilization, the value of Energy Crystals is on par with strategic resources like Titanium Crystals, not to mention the rarer intermediate Energy Crystals.
Compared to ordinary low-level Energy Crystals, intermediate Energy Crystals can be effective for warships advancing to higher ranks.
For example, to advance a First Rank Torch Warship to Second Rank, low-level Energy Crystals are sufficient, but for a Second Rank Torch Warship advancing to Third Rank, intermediate Energy Crystals may be needed, and for ranks beyond Third, only intermediate Energy Crystals suffice.
"An intermediate Energy Crystal is worth at least as much as an item of Blue Quality, or even Purple," Song Chi said quietly, holding the intermediate Energy Crystal.
At his side, Shen Qing also looked fervent, but he quickly thought of something and gently shook his head.
Having already obtained the Molecular Repulsion Energy Shield, this intermediate Energy Crystal should, by rights, be Song Chi's first choice to take, and with that, the crystal was essentially out of his reach. He knew that Song Chi's mother was recently striving to reach Second Rank, and Song Chi wouldn't give up the intermediate Energy Crystal.
Just as he thought, after only a moment of contemplation, Song Chi took out two items from the Cangqiong and handed them to Shen Qing.
The Core of Pollution and the low-light-class Ship Cannon.
If he was going to take the intermediate Energy Crystal, then based on the principle that Shen Qing should get the lion's share, he had to give up two of the four strange objects previously split among them; otherwise, it would be the complete opposite.
After all, the value of an intermediate Energy Crystal was only slightly less than that of the Molecular Repulsion Energy Shield.
Shen Qing did not refuse; this calculation wasn't something only Song Chi could do.
After checking everything in this second layer of space to ensure there was nothing else left aside from the carcasses of the armored and spattering insects, the two maneuvered the airship towards the isolation Spatial Veil between the first and second layers.