For Zhang Xiaoman, collecting intelligence about Alien Species was also a very important task.
These creatures were nothing like the ones on Water Blue Star; their methods of attack were extremely tricky, and in order to better counter them, he needed to understand them more clearly.
After all, there is a saying that goes, "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster."
With a flick of his finger, he released a Dark Energy Shock that shattered the claw reaching towards him, and Zhang Xiaoman’s eyes lit up with excitement.
The attack just now was merely a probing strike. Dark Energy Shock was a skill that sat between physical and energy attacks.
Upon hitting a physical target, it could cause a shock damage effect akin to physical harm, and if it hit an energy body, it could also produce some effects.
However, the ability to interfere with energy bodies using Dark Energy Shock was very limited; almost ninety percent of its strength could not be executed properly.
And what was most regrettable was that Dark Energy Shock could not penetrate objects and energy bodies to attack.
That meant Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t use Dark Energy Shock to directly destroy the internal structure of an object.
Even more so, if the opponent possessed abilities similar to a Magic Shield, then his Dark Energy Shock would first have to exhaust a substantial amount of energy to destroy the shield before it could affect the target inside.
In summary, it was a skill that seemed powerful but came with many limitations when actually applied.
Nevertheless, when facing weak creatures like Wandering Spirits, even if the damage of Dark Energy Shock was greatly reduced against energy bodies, it was still enough to kill them.
After all, these Wandering Spirits could only provide points that were roughly equivalent to those from a Parasitic Spirit.
Although points could not be used as a standard for judging the combat power of Alien Species, they could generally serve as a quantifiable value of overall strength.
After seeing the effect of Dark Energy Shock, Zhang Xiaoman was struck with a thought that immediately emerged in his mind.
He lifted his hand to reapply the Spirit Detection Technique on himself, then turned his gaze to the walls on both sides of the corridor.
At that glance, Zhang Xiaoman could distinctly sense dozens of monsters of various sizes tucked within the walls right beside him and his companions.
Not only that, he also detected some faint Dark Energy fluctuations coming from the area beneath his feet.
"Well, it seems I’ve stumbled upon a nest of Wandering Spirits," he mused inwardly.
Seeing that those monsters were starting to converge towards their location, he no longer hesitated. He arranged the Dark Energy Formula in his hand, and a Dark Energy Shock was ready to go.
He raised his hand, then clenched his fist.
Silver light danced in Zhang Xiaoman’s eyes. Facing the surge of monsters, the Dark Energy Shock in his hand was itching to go, as if it couldn’t wait to obliterate these creatures.
With a dull sound, he swung his right fist against the wall beside him.
The next second, cracks spread, dust flew, and the corridor was filled with dozens of sharp, piercing screams that caused Aaron and Beelu excruciating headaches.
Fortunately, the noise only lasted for an instant before vanishing. Zhang Xiaoman, immune to psychic attacks, felt no discomfort whatsoever.
Now, the entire corridor had taken on a new appearance in the wake of his punch; the exterior coating shattered and fell off, affecting all the Wandering Spirits hidden inside the wall paintings.
From Zhang Xiaoman’s Spirit Detection field of view, the dozen or so monsters that were originally concealed here had now completely disappeared, evidently wiped out by his recent Dark Energy Shock.
An AOE attack instantly killed dozens of Wandering Spirits!
A smile appeared on Zhang Xiaoman’s face, his control over Dark Energy had reached a new level.
By his side, Aaron and Beelu were completely shocked by the sudden turn of events.
Although they lacked the Spirit Detection Technique’s field of view, just from the monster corpses falling out of the cracked walls they could guess most of what had just happened.
"Is it over just like that? What terrifying power..."
Aaron could no longer stay calm at this moment, he stared at the scene before him, incredulously muttering to himself.
As for Beelu, there was no need to mention his reaction; he had already adopted an expression of utter amazement, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. If someone were to take his picture right now, it would surely become the next viral image on the internet.
However, there were quite a few side effects from Zhang Xiaoman’s recent move.
All the coating on the walls had fallen off, and although under his control the building’s structure remained unharmed, the place was nonetheless left in a mess.
Dust filled the air, and several lights were damaged due to wiring faults, causing the corridor to become much darker.
Zhang Xiaoman unleashed another Dark Energy Shock, aiming at the corpses of the monsters.
The corpses of these Wandering Spirits were fist-sized spheres, floating in mid-air, emitting a faint light, looking very unstable, as if they might dissipate at any moment.
This time he adjusted consumption to the lowest 10 points, dispersing and weakening his power as much as possible, applying a reverse force to those spheres, pushing them towards himself.
The energy expended for this fine control was low, but in Zhang Xiaoman’s view, the difficulty was no less than going all out, it was, in fact, one of the more difficult skills for him to master.
Being able to reach this point was also his limit.
Dark Energy Shock was a formula that required a lot of skill, and Zhang Xiaoman felt that this move had some potential for further development.
It didn’t have to focus solely on strength; considering fine control could be very promising.
As he applied the reverse force, all the spheres gently floated towards him, as if pulled by telekinetic superpowers.
This move naturally amazed Aaron and Beelu; Beelu couldn’t help but shout "Cool!"
However, having already witnessed a one-hit kill of all the monsters, their reactions were not overly exaggerated this time.
"Ding, Wandering Spirit Essence absorbed, points increased by 3."
"Ding, Wandering Spirit Essence absorbed, points increased by 3."
"Ding, Wandering Spirit Essence absorbed, points increased by 4."
A series of System prompts sounded in his ears, and Zhang Xiaoman absorbed all 13 monsters.
"A total of 40 points, it looks like I’ve made a killing today. Even if I don’t find anything later, it wouldn’t be a wasted trip," he mused.
After absorbing all the monster corpses, Zhang Xiaoman then turned back to the stairs and continued heading towards the power distribution room below.