Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 550 - 389: Whip of Suffering, Corrosive Poison Series Skill Tree!

In my opinion, it’s very likely that some ancient Marvels were originally buried within these three fossils, and Soul Crystals did indeed form over the great passage of time. However, after being buried underground for countless years, the ancient Marvels that were once hidden within them have decayed into ordinary stone under the influence of the Power of Time, losing all trace of their existence. And yet, the Soul Crystals that formed are still preserved within the fossils.

Soul Crystals are intangible and substanceless, without sound or taste. With my current detection methods, I can’t perform any quantitative analysis. I’ve never heard Sandro or Su Xinyan mention a resource like Soul Crystals, which must mean humanity knows very little about this substance. Therefore, I can only make an educated guess based on my own experience. Perhaps in the future, as my strength improves, I’ll be able to analyze the origin of Soul Crystals with more diverse and powerful detection methods.

Currently, Fang Zhou was in a state of knowing the ’what’ but not the ’why’. However, just knowing the ’what’ was enough for him to grow stronger.

While Fang Zhou was excited about discovering another reliable way to accumulate Soul Power, the other students watching him cut the stones began to whisper amongst themselves.

"Don’t bother watching. There’s no point in betting on stones he picked just for their color," one student said impatiently.

"If he actually gets an ancient Marvel out of that, I’ll eat all the stone dust on the ground," another student teased with a smirk, drawing a few chuckles from the surrounding crowd.

"Junior Fang Zhou, don’t lose heart. There are still five left, and you’ve only cut into a few of them," the female student receptionist encouraged him, her voice soft and pleasant.

Fang Zhou remained calm. He picked up the fourth fossil, and just as he ground it down to the size of his palm, his movements suddenly paused.

The surrounding students immediately fell silent, their eyes fixed on the stone in Fang Zhou’s hand.

"Huh? There’s something in it!"

"The material is changing! It’s not the black stone from before; it’s turning an inky black."

"Did he actually pull it off? Like a blind cat catching a dead mouse?"

A wave of quiet gasps rippled through the onlookers.

"Junior, please be careful as you cut the stone from here on out," the female student urged, startled that something was actually happening. "Don’t use too much force! The ancient Marvels hidden inside are extremely fragile. If you’re too rough, you could destroy it."

Fang Zhou’s movements slowed significantly. As his fingers worked, dust now pattered down intermittently, no longer falling in a continuous stream. Black dust drifted down. As the stone shrank, Fang Zhou’s motions became even slower and gentler. The pile of dust on the carpet grew higher until finally, the inky black stone core in Fang Zhou’s hand was completely ground away.

"Sigh... what a pity. It was just a stone within a stone."

"What a waste of my excitement. I really thought there was an ancient Marvel in there."

"You guys are so gullible. Do you think stone gambling is that easy? Eight or nine out of ten are empty. If they weren’t, why wouldn’t the students who find these Marvel-bearing fossils just cut them open themselves? Wouldn’t they want to make the money?"

"Junior, your luck is actually quite good. Finding a stone within a stone on your first try isn’t something an ordinary person could do," the female student said, trying another way to console Fang Zhou while also mentally preparing him for the likely outcome. Finding nothing while stone gambling was a nine-out-of-ten occurrence; it was all too common. In her eyes, Fang Zhou was just acting on a whim, so the probability of him picking a treasure-bearing fossil was minuscule. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Fang Zhou simply smiled without responding and took out the fifth stone.

That fourth stone had just given him a full 200 points of Soul Power, filling him with even more confidence for his next choice. He ground it carefully. This time, it only took the space of ten breaths to wear away the black stone skin on the surface, revealing a lumpy, yellow ball of mud.

The appearance of this mud ball immediately drew the attention of the watching students.

"Huh?"

"It’s not another stone within a stone, is it?" another student guessed, their tone uncertain.

"Looks like it," a student said, baffled. "But it’s strange. This yellow soil was encased in hard, black stone; it should have been compressed until it was smooth. Why is its surface so uneven?" The other students nodded in agreement.

Seeing the yellow mud ball in his hand, Fang Zhou’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart stirred. He continued to grind it. A gray light shone like a blade as the soil turned to powder and fell away. Mixed in with the fine powder were numerous clumps of dirt that tumbled onto the growing pile of dust at his feet.

"Is there really something in there?!" Some of the students’ eyes widened in astonishment as they watched.

"It’s hard to say," some said, their voices now tinged with uncertainty.

"I think there is... I really think so," someone whispered.

Fang Zhou remained unaffected, focusing only on the ball of mud in his hand. His movements were slow and meticulous. A moment later, fine strands of dry powder began to trickle down. As he worked, an ancient Marvel, buried for ages, was gradually revealed before everyone’s eyes.

"My gods, there’s really an ancient Marvel!"

"He actually opened one!"

"Are you kidding me? You can win at stone gambling like this?"

"Fang Zhou’s luck is insane! He really managed to pull out an ancient Marvel through sheer, brute-force luck!"

Instantly, a chorus of astonished shouts erupted from the students, and the atmosphere inside the tent became electric.