~Ding~

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ANSWER: The system could only assimilate the energy present in the skeleton in this manner by storing it into the vital energy storage and the system energy storage. The energy was far too complexly integrated into the skeleton which would have made its conversion into spirit qi impossible. The most efficient method with the least amount of waste was this, thus the system chose it.

The system was also able to obtain some raw bloodline data of the Ash Crowned Buck from the skeleton. The cultivator to which the skeleton belonged to was a person bearing its bloodline. Although the entirety of that bloodline could not be obtained for direct assimilation, enough of it was obtained that it could be added to the data bank.

—————————————————————————————————

~Sigh~

After reading the system's answered there wasn't much that Lin Wu could do, thus he decided to just leave it be.

"At least now I have plenty of system energy to use for the functions and the vital energy to replenish my stamina and to regenerate myself if I get injured." Lin Wu consoled himself.

'Wait, that's not all. What is that beast carapace fragment that was added to my inventory? I don't remember putting it in there.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

"System, what is the beast carapace fragment that was added to my inventory? Did you add it? But where did it come from?" Lin Wu questioned.

~Ding~

—————————————————————————————————

ANSWER: The host consumed it in addition to the Skeleton as it was stuck in its ribs. After the analysis, the system determined that it is a type of beast carapace fragment, but the system does not what kind of beast it is. It is recommended that the host upgrades the data Banks by completing the quest.

The system may also be able to obtain more data from the data node after it is decrypted, but it is not fully confirmed.

—————————————————————————————————

"I ate that, huh? Didn't even feel it, neither did I taste it. Wait, taste?! I can't taste anything…" Lin Wu spoke to himself.

After reading the system's answer, Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded and then realized the reason why he had not felt it; his sense of taste was no longer present. To test out his theory again, Lin Wu tried to eat a little bit of the soil that was present everywhere and confirmed that he could indeed not able to taste it.

'Seems like I need to switch back to my organic form in order to taste again. This crystalline form seems to completely inhibit my sense of taste.' Lin Wu surmised.

To test out his new theory, Lin Wu activated his innate skill Cellular crystallization, and willed for his body to revert to the organic form. A couple of seconds passed, after which the changes finally appeared. It started with Lin Wu's head.

His eyes that were just two red lights sank in and the crystal skin morphed to become a smooth, chitin surface. The surface of the chitin then broke and two pupil-less red eyes appeared. They were the size of small coins and looked rather strange and disturbing. If a child or a person that was squeamish were to see them, they would definitely shout out ~Kyaahh~ upon seeing them and would feel disgusted.

Lin Wu's crystal mouth then closed and changed to a similar chitin surface. Then a seam appeared, which then split further to reveal a toothless mouth. But if one were to look deeper, they would see many small slots that were hidden within his mouth.

The crystallization kept on reverting and eventually reached his tail. Unlike Lin Wu's smooth crystalline tail that tapered evenly at the end, his organic form's tail was fat at the end and looked unsightly. A slit could also be observed, which was the excretory end of his body.

Lin Wu's body had more than fifty segments overall excluding the head. Each segment was around two centimeters in size and went around his body's circumference. Only his head did not have any segments and instead had a smooth surface of chitin. Overall, his body had not unique patterns or anything of that sort, making him look rather disgusting.

Lin Wu looked at his body's surface and had a bad feeling. He quickly summoned the host data window and saw his image there. And upon seeing it, his heart broke.

"I'm… I'm… I'm uglyyy!" Lin Wu shouted in horror.

"Nope, nope, nope, I'm never showing this form to others. My crystalline form is so pretty and shiny. If I come in contact with others I'm never showing them this form." Lin Wu declared to himself and just as he did this…

~Screech~

~Shing~

He had unconsciously opened his mouth when he was speaking to himself, though he usually only did so in his mind. This time an actual sound came out of his mouth that was rather disturbing to one's ears and would make a person's skin tingle.

Another sound came out of his mouth that was different than the screech. This sound was as if something hard was sliding over something hard. Or a metallic object being dragged over a stiff surface.

Lin Wu looked at the host data window and saw it…

"Oh, my god!!! What are those teeth!" Lin Wu exclaimed.

What he had seen were none other than countless sharp teeth that had popped up in his mouth. They were arranged in a symmetrical pattern into rows of four and looked eerily dangerous. They were covered in slimy saliva and were gray colored.

Lin Wu focused on them, and then the teeth retreated into the inside of his mouth. The slits that he had seen previously were actually the pockets where the teeth were hiding in. They would pop up whenever he needed them to be. But he also saw that he actually had no tongue.

~Huu~

Lin Wu took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

'I'm no less than a creature from people's nightmares.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

He then took another deep breath and remembered what he was originally going to do. Lowering his head to the ground, Lin Wu ate some of the soil and could feel its taste.

"Hmm, earthy with little hints of metal… What the hell am I doing?! Nows, not the time to act like a celebrity chef from my previous life. Ahh! I really need to get my soul stabilized, these childish tendencies keep on popping out." Lin Wu spoke to himself.