The sun rose slowly over the horizon, heralding yet another new day.
The students had already lined up, their faces brimming with excitement as they stood before the Academy's Gu Room.
Today was the day they would select their second Gu Insect!
Fang Yuan was the first to reach the Middle Stage and thus held the right of priority selection, placing him at the head of the line.
Behind him stood Gu Yue Mochen, Gu Yue Fang Zheng, and Gu Yue Chicheng, in that order.
Creak.
The Gu Room doors were opened by the attendants, and Fang Yuan was the first to step inside.
Though the Gu Room was not large, it held wonders within. The walls on all sides were riddled with small square niches, varying in size, each containing various vessels.
There were stone basins, jade plates, cages woven from grass, and fired purple-clay ceramic pots.
Chapter 64: Another Gu Selection in the Gu Room — all manner of Gu Insects, every one of the First Transformation, were housed within these vessels. In order to feed these Gu Insects, the Academy consumed over a thousand Yuan Stones every single day.
Fang Yuan's gaze swept across the room, and he noticed that many of the vessels were already empty, their Gu Insect occupants gone.
The Gu Room's stock was replenished only once a year. During the previous Life Gu selection, most of the youths had chosen the Moonlight Gu, and now not a single Moonlight Gu remained in the Gu Room.
The Gu Room had no windows on any of its walls, with only a small skylight set into the ceiling.
Sunlight streamed through the skylight, casting a rectangular patch of golden light onto the floor.
The first time he had entered the Gu Room, Fang Yuan had a clear objective — he picked the Moonlight Gu the moment he walked in. Now, however, he only had a few potential targets in mind.
And even those would depend on what the Gu Room actually had in stock.
Fang Yuan strolled along the left wall, taking his time as he browsed carefully.
After five steps, his pace slowed ever so slightly.
In a cubicle near shoulder height sat a copper bowl, and resting inside the bowl was a Gu Insect.
The Gu Insect resembled a stink bug — flat and broad, with a tiny head and an oval-shaped body. Its entire form gleamed with a yellowish-orange hue, radiating a copper-like metallic luster.
This was a Copper Skin Gu. A popular choice among close-combat Gu Masters. The Academy's Martial Arts Instructor had raised one such Copper Skin Gu — once activated, his entire body would turn yellow and his defensive power would dramatically increase.
Fang Yuan, with his vast experience, naturally had no interest in such a Gu. He continued walking and soon spotted a Stone Skin Gu.
The Stone Skin Gu shared a similar appearance to the Copper Skin Gu, differing only in its dull gray coloring, like a craft item carved from stone.
After six Stone Skin Gu in a row, he came upon an Iron Skin Gu.
The Iron Skin Gu was also quite similar in form to the Copper Skin Gu, with only minor differences in the details. It sat motionless inside an iron bowl, perfectly still. Its body radiated a cold, dark luster like black iron.
Human societies had families, and the world of Gu Insects had its own families as well.
These three Gu Insects that Fang Yuan had been viewing one after another all belonged to the same series. They looked alike and served similar functions.
"Iron Skin Gu, Copper Skin Gu, Stone Skin Gu, Jade Skin Gu... If there's a Jade Skin Gu here, I might just pick it this time," Fang Yuan murmured, a faint spark of anticipation rising in his heart as he continued forward.
But he was destined for disappointment. After the Iron Skin Gu came a row of Beast Skin Gu.
Jade Skin Gu and Beast Skin Gu, like Copper Skin Gu and the others, all belonged to the same series. But their values differed enormously. The Beast Skin Gu was the most common — its market price was even lower than that of the Stone Skin Gu — though it had many advancement paths and could be fused with many other Gu Insects.
The Jade Skin Gu was the rarest Gu Insect in this entire series. Its market price was second only to the Wine Worm, and with price fluctuations, it could sometimes match the Wine Worm's value.
Fang Yuan took a look but found no Jade Skin Gu. He wasn't disappointed; instead, he let out a relaxed smile. "Guye Stockade is only a mid-sized family, and the Academy's Gu Room can only be considered mid-tier. It would be too much to expect a Jade Skin Gu here."
With the left wall now fully examined, Fang Yuan moved on to another wall and continued his leisurely stroll.
This wall held the most Longhorn Gu.
Like the Skin Gu series, the Longhorn Gu were also a large family among First Transformation Gu Insects.
They shared a similar appearance — elongated and cylindrical, with a slightly flattened back. Most were black in color, radiating a metallic sheen. Their antennae were exceptionally long, exceeding the length of their bodies, and their powerful mandibles clicked open and shut with a crunching, crunching sound, like a saw cutting through wood. For this reason, Gu Masters in some regions also called them "Lumberjacks."
The first to catch Fang Yuan's eye was a Brute Force Longhorn Gu.
Its entire body was the color of red iron, and its pair of antennae was thicker than those of an ordinary Longhorn Gu. Every small segment along the antennae bore a bamboo-joint-like growth.
This Brute Force Longhorn Gu was quite popular on the market. During the merchant caravan that had recently arrived at Guye Stockade, someone had been selling large quantities of these Brute Force Longhorn Gu.
The Brute Force Longhorn Gu could grant a Gu Master temporary, tremendous strength. It was号称 one ox's worth of power, sustained for five breaths.
But it had two drawbacks.
The first was that each use consumed an enormous amount of True Essence. A Gu Master at the First Transformation, Middle Stage would spend ten percent of their True Essence per activation — at the Initial Stage, that translated to twenty percent per use.
The second was the aftereffects. If a Gu Master had a frail constitution and used this Gu too often, it would lead to muscle strains or even torn sinews. Only Gu Masters with robust builds dared to use it. With Fang Yuan's small frame, he could forget about it entirely.
Fang Yuan knew his own limitations. He walked past the Brute Force Longhorn Gu and continued browsing.
"Oh? This Gu is rather nice." His steps slowed.