Just as Shi Feng was quietly waiting for the Iron Wrist squad to finish looting their drops, he suddenly noticed something surprising.
The Black Devil Serpent's drops were far more unexpected than anyone could have imagined.
A Leader mob had only dropped three items. Two were equipment pieces, though neither had impressive quality — both were Iron Rank equipment at level 40. Beyond that, there was a single gray crystal, and nothing else.
Compared to the seven pieces of equipment he himself had dropped, the difference was night and day...
"It seems the Black Devil Serpent's drops really aren't much to speak of."
Shi Feng glanced at the loot and finally realized it wasn't that he'd been unlucky.
No sooner had Shi Feng finished lamenting the Black Devil Serpent's poor drops than Elementalist Chen Feng flew into a state of excitement.
"We're incredibly lucky — it actually dropped!" Elementalist Chen Feng laughed out loud.
"Really? Let me see!" Priest Li Huo rushed over as though he'd won the lottery. "We've only been hunting the Black Devil Serpent for four days, and it already dropped something this good? No way!"
The others all crowded around, beaming with excitement.
"Dropped something good?" Shi Feng was taken aback.
He'd already checked with the Eye of Observation. Iron Rank equipment at level 40 was indeed rare at this stage, but it was completely useless to current players — they couldn't even equip it. Plus, its base stats were only marginally better than Gold-grade equipment at level 30. Once the Iron Wrist squad reached level 40, would they really still be interested in level 40 Iron Rank gear?
Was that really worth getting so excited about?
"Wow, Captain Iron Wrist, it really dropped something! We've struck it rich!" Li Huo held up the gray crystal and excitedly showed it to Iron Wrist.
Iron Wrist took the gray crystal, examined it closely, gritted his teeth, and then handed it to Shi Feng. "Expert, you saved our Seventh Squad. We don't have much to thank you with, but please accept this Soul Crystal."
"This..." Shi Feng froze for a moment, then said, "I won't take it. Later I was actually hoping you and your squad could help me look into a few things — consider this the payment."
"How can we do that? Besides, the value of a Soul Crystal far exceeds the value of gathering intelligence for us." Iron Wrist thought it over and added, "What if I exchange it for gems of equal value?"
Gems were nothing new to Divine Realm players — they were practically one of the hardest currencies, used to socket into equipment to boost stats.
However, in the early days of the Divine Realm, gems were extremely scarce, and their prices only climbed higher and higher.
Right now, a Tier 1 gem typically cost around ten silver coins and could add three points to a stat. Tier 2 gems were considerably more expensive, selling for around ninety silver coins and adding six points to a stat. Strength, Agility, and Intelligence gems among them could even fetch a full gold coin each.
The best gems players could currently get their hands on were Tier 2 gems.
"Deal," Shi Feng agreed.
"That's great! Our squad has a total of twenty-three Tier 2 gems and eighty-nine Tier 1 gems. We don't have them all on us right now — they're all stored in the warehouse. I can bring the rest to you after I get back. Would that be alright?" Iron Wrist said, looking somewhat embarrassed.
But Shi Feng was quietly stunned.
Converting all those gems to gold coins would amount to roughly thirty gold. And yet thirty gold was only a fraction of the Soul Crystal's true value.
Having already agreed to the exchange, Shi Feng naturally wouldn't go back on his word. He accepted all the gems.
He could see just how desperately Iron Wrist and his squad craved this gray crystal. It seemed they'd come here to slay the Black Devil Serpent specifically for the gray crystal. But as far as he could tell, the crystal was useless to him — and he already had three more. If it ever turned out to be useful in the future, he could always come back and kill more Black Devil Serpents. With his Heavenly Blessing, getting a gray crystal to drop would be a matter of minutes.