Chapter 103: Whereabouts of the 3 Spiritual Pearls

"It still isn’t working."

Lily collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at the sky.

One hour had passed.

During this time, she had tried every method she could think of. She even imitated the signature ultimate move poses of anime protagonists, but it was completely useless.

"I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. I’ll just let nature take its course. Rushing things won’t get me anywhere."

Lily lay on the ground for a moment before sitting straight up.

She currently had three Heavenly Stones and six attribute stones. These six attribute stones came from three different Spiritual Pearls.

Gathering the Five Elements Spiritual Bead offered corresponding rewards. She wondered what the reward would be if she collected all the derivative-attribute Spiritual Pearls.

With this in mind, she took out the two Dark Stones and placed them in front of her. Then, she took out a Heavenly Stone.

The three stones were arranged in a triangle in front of her. A second later, a System prompt appeared.

[Eternal Night Dark Stone and Mysterious Dark Stone detected. Heavenly Stone capable of completing fragmented items detected. Do you wish to complete it?]

"Yes."

[It has been detected that someone else holds the remaining fragmented parts. To complete the Dark Spirit Pearl, you must pay compensation to this individual. Do you wish to pay?]

Lily was speechless.

It could actually work like this?

It seemed Julian Bishop was willing to give her the final Wood Stone not just because its power stagnated when used alone. Most likely, he simply could not afford the compensation fee, especially since she held the other three fragments.

Lily checked the required compensation.

The System provided several options.

If she paid purely with resources, it would be an astronomical figure. Even if it wouldn’t completely bankrupt her, it would still hurt her wallet for a while. The other options were to pay with items, Crystal Cores, or a Skill Book.

"I can’t believe I have this many items now."

Lily was slightly startled as she looked at the inventory count on her interface.

She tapped the interface a few times. Ultimately, she chose to give up five items with overlapping functions and a Dark Attribute Skill Book as compensation to complete the Dark Spirit Pearl.

Five items and a Skill Book seemed like a steep price, but to Lily, it was entirely worth it. The higher the price she paid, the more precious the completed Dark Spirit Pearl would be.

At the same time, this served as a wake-up call.

During the completion process, if someone else held other fragments, the Survivor had to trade items of roughly equal value instead of the System forcefully completing it. This proved that these attribute stones and Spiritual Pearls were unique entities, not mass-produced System items.

As the completion finished, a black bead appeared in Lily’s hand.

"There really is such a thing as iridescent black in this world."

Looking at the Dark Spirit Pearl, Lily felt for the first time that the color black could be incredibly beautiful. It looked as if it wanted to suck her entire being inside.

She then used the remaining Heavenly Stones on the Light Stone and the Wind Stone.

When completing the Light Stone, Lily did not have to pay any compensation. This meant that no other Survivor currently held a Light Stone fragment, and it was highly likely no one ever would. However, the Wind Stone cost her twice as much as the Dark Stone. Surprisingly, the other two Wind Stones were in the hands of other Survivors.

Three Spiritual Pearls—black, white, and cyan—lined up in front of her. She was only missing the Ice Spirit Pearl and the Thunder Spirit Pearl. So far, there hadn’t been a single trace of those two. Collecting them all would probably not be so easy.

As for what to do with the three Spiritual Pearls in front of her...

Lily originally wanted to fuse them into Shelly. After all, the turtle was her primary vehicle. But on second thought, Shelly didn’t seem to need the abilities of these three Spiritual Pearls right now.

The Dark Spirit Pearl and Light Spirit Pearl represented darkness and light. As long as a vehicle fused with them, its interior would become a self-contained world, completely unaffected by the outside environment, capable of controlling day and night.

However, Shelly was at the bottom of the sea, which was already pitch black. The Dark Spirit Pearl was useless there. Furthermore, with the Light Wing Tree around, the Light Spirit Pearl’s effect wasn’t that significant either.

Then there was the Wind Spirit Pearl, which could summon wind around the vehicle. Again, since Shelly was deep underwater, this ability would be practically useless.

After thinking it over, Lily turned her attention to the Sky Garden.

She couldn’t keep the Sky Garden down here forever. Her original plan was to launch it into the sky once it reached Level 5. With these three Spiritual Pearls integrated into it, the garden wouldn’t be affected by the weather even after it left the ocean floor.

With this in mind, Lily walked over to where the Sky Garden was placed.

Compared to before, the Sky Garden seemed to have grown significantly larger. It was no longer barren; instead, many green seedlings had sprouted across its surface.

She had casually scattered the flower seed gift pack she previously opened from a Treasure Chest over it, and now they were growing nicely.

She then checked the Sky Garden’s upgrade progress. It had risen from zero to five percent.

Though the speed was a bit slow, as long as the flowers flourished, the upgrade speed would only increase.

Lily took out the three Spiritual Pearls and fused them into the Sky Garden.

After integrating the Dark Spirit Pearl and Light Spirit Pearl, the Sky Garden didn’t undergo any drastic changes. The flower plants on it just seemed a bit more vibrant.

But after the Wind Spirit Pearl was fused, a gentle breeze swept past, lifting Lily’s loose hair.

Once she finished all of this, Lily scattered a few more flower seeds and turned to leave.

After returning to her courtyard, she received a message from Mimi Bishop.

Mimi: "Boss, I found someone whose Talent allows her to locate Treasure Chests and increases the probability of opening rare items. Should we recruit her?"

Reading the message, Lily thought to herself that this Talent was quite practical. Most players still relied on Treasure Chests. Whenever Shelly went out looking for food every day, it would bring back any Treasure Chests it bumped into for Lily to open all at once. However...

Lily: "What is her name? How do you know her, and what is her personality like?"

Although she coveted this person’s Talent, it was better to ask questions clearly first. It wouldn’t be fun to bring unnecessary trouble upon herself.

On the other end, Mimi read Lily’s message and replied.

Mimi: "Her name is Lucy Langley. We were high school classmates, but we separated for college after graduation. Boss, I swear on my character that Lucy is definitely not a bad person."

Mimi: "She’s not like me, alone in the world with no attachments. She has a family to feed. She only wants to join you because she knows about my connection with you. Her demands aren’t high; room and board are enough."

Lily: "Board is fine, but forget about the room. I’m not good at handling that kind of thing. From now on, you will be responsible for coordinating with her. The more she works, the more she gets."