170: Simple medicine

Three days had passed since Xiong Nian attempted to enter the Thunder Pond.

During these three days, Xu Yan did not rush Xiong Nian into using blood soul crystal to rapidly increase her strength. Instead, he let Xiong Nian gradually increase her contact area with the Thunder Pond water. Now, Xiong Nian could withstand the stimulation of submerging her entire body, except for her head, into the pond water.

At the same time, on the monitoring instrument summoned by Wu Xiang, when Xiong Nian came into contact with the Thunder Pond, the speed at which the energy and nutrients accumulated in her body began to accelerate their dissolution and absorption by Xiong Nian's body. The deeper Xiong Nian went into the Thunder Pond, the faster the dissolution and absorption.

In just three days, about one-fifth of the energy and nutrients accumulated in Xiong Nian's body had been digested by her body with the aid of the Thunder Pond. This was even while Xiong Nian continued to use various spirit food while soaking in the Thunder Pond.

Just this absorbed one-fifth allowed Xiong Nian's strength to increase by one level, reaching Commander Rank Level Eight. Moreover, Xiong Nian's physical constitution also significantly improved under the tempering of the thunder power.

According to the report derived from Wu Xiang's analysis of the monitoring instrument data, even without using blood soul crystal, just soaking in the Thunder Pond, if the internal nutrients and external resources could keep up, Xiong Nian would be able to reach the Commander Rank limit in less than a month.

As for whether she could break through to Monarch Rank, that would depend on whether Xiong Nian could find the opportunity for that breakthrough.

Upon seeing this, a premonition, which had not appeared for a long time, once again manifested in Xu Yan. This feeling, in an almost explicit manner, directly informed Xu Yan that after Xiong Nian used the Thunder Pond to raise her strength to the Commander Rank limit, the Thunder Urgency Platform would provide her with the opportunity to break through to Monarch Rank.

This meant that even without using the blood soul crystal, Xiong Nian had another way to quickly raise her strength to Monarch Rank, and compared to the former, the latter was more stable and safer.

The moment this feeling appeared, Xu Yan immediately activated Heavens Mandate Guidance.

Previously, he had thought about gaining more practical experience and not relying too much on his Innate Talent, so he had not used Heavens Mandate Guidance to find a special location to assist Xiong Nian in using the blood soul crystal.

Now, after discovering that the situation had changed, for the sake of caution, it was naturally safer to activate it and inquire.

As Xu Yan broke through to Monarch Rank, the Innate Talent of Heavens Mandate Guidance also underwent some changes.

Compared to previously directly providing the theoretically best choice, Heavens Mandate Guidance now, while giving an answer, would also inform Xu Yan of the possible outcomes of different choices.

After all, due to the existence of emotions, sometimes the theoretically best answer is not the best answer in reality.

According to the answer given by Heavens Mandate Guidance, if they chose not to use the blood soul crystal, and waited until Xiong Nian's strength reached the Commander Rank limit, then letting her enter the Thunder Urgency Platform, the legacy of the ancestors would provide assistance for Xiong Nian's breakthrough, allowing her to gain higher potential while breaking through to Monarch Rank.

If they chose to use the blood soul crystal, first and foremost, the Thunder Pond indeed had a great effect on the absorption of the blood soul crystal; it could not only accelerate its absorption but also enhance its effect.

However, due to the characteristic of the thunder power in the Thunder Pond to dispel evil, some substances in the blood soul crystal would be considered a type of “evil heresy” by it. At that time, the stimulation Xiong Nian would experience would be several, or even dozens, of times stronger than simply using the Thunder Pond.

Similarly, the negative effects contained within the blood soul crystal would become even more intense under the action of the Thunder Pond.

In this way, Xiong Nian would endure a double, and enhanced, stimulation and torment of both body and soul.

Under this stimulation and torment, as long as Xiong Nian could successfully endure it, her physical body, soul, and will would all undergo an almost transformative improvement. In this situation, Xiong Nian would not even need to wait for an opportunity; as long as her strength met the standard, she could directly break through to Monarch Rank.

Furthermore, the legacy of the ancestors mentioned earlier would not disappear because of this method; instead, it would yield even greater benefits.

Well, just by looking at the description length of the two choice outcomes, one could tell that the latter was the best choice given by Heavens Mandate Guidance.

Theoretically, the latter indeed yields greater benefits; the only drawback is that Xiong Nian would suffer immense pain and torment.

If the former were chosen, not only would she not suffer, but her strength and potential would both receive considerable improvement. Coupled with Xu Yan's almost cheat-like Initiator, she might find a new evolution path in the future, and her ultimate achievements might not be inferior to the latter.

Regarding this, Xu Yan did not make a direct choice. Instead, he informed Xiong Nian of Wu Xiang's analysis and the results after he used Heavens Mandate Guidance, once again entrusting the choice to Xiong Nian.

For the choice Xu Yan offered again, Xiong Nian directly chose the latter.

Xu Yan, not surprised by this, instructed Xiong Nian to continue adapting to the Thunder Pond, striving to be able to fully submerge herself in it as soon as possible.

As for Xu Yan, he had Wu Xiang set up a temporary laboratory for him on the shore. With the aid of various instruments and Heavens Mandate Guidance, he began researching the composition and characteristics of the blood soul crystal, and attempting to see if it could be combined with other materials to make spirit food, potions, or the like.

While Xiong Nian was experimenting and Xu Yan was researching, another four days passed.

During these four days, Xiong Nian completely adapted to the stimulation brought by the thunder power in the Thunder Pond, submerging her entire body into it, and the absorption rate of the accumulated energy and nutrients in her body further increased.

Similarly, with the aid of various high-end instruments, Xu Yan successfully found several resources that could be used together with the blood soul crystal. Under the screening of Heavens Mandate Guidance, he completed a preliminary fusion, creating a somewhat crude simple potion.

Because of the need to temper the soul and will, Xu Yan did not choose to alleviate the pain brought by the blood soul crystal. Instead, he tried to ensure that Xiong Nian, after using the blood soul crystal, would receive more benefits while enduring the same amount of pain.

After creating the simple potion and confirming it was problem-free, Xu Yan called Xiong Nian from the Thunder Pond to the shore. After confirming she was ready, he handed her the potion, instructing her not to enter the Thunder Pond yet, but to first adapt to the side effects of the blood soul crystal before proceeding to the next step.