Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 536: Efficient Clearing

The condensed silvery starlight qi exploded from the tip of the spear in a spiral force.

Three raptors were immediately sucked in, their heads turned to mush before they could even comprehend what had hit them.

The remaining raptors, although they reacted in a split second, got engulfed by the suction force generated by the rotating starlight.

Their formation, driven by instinct and bloodlust, crumbled against the physics of Lin Mo's technique.

It was a vortex of gravitational distortion created by the revolution of his 1st six-star constellation compressing around the spear's trajectory.

The raptors shrieked as they were pulled off their feet, their claws scrabbling uselessly against the air.

'Order in chaos?' Lin Mo murmured inwardly as his eyes glowed with a faint amethyst hue, indicating the Psionic-Tempered attribute of his qi.

Once again, he twisted his wrist, and the vortex detonated.

BOOM!

Shards of starlight exploded outwards like a fragmentation grenade. The raptors caught in the center were shredded instantly. Their toughness as Foundation Establishment beasts proved to be insufficient against the piercing quality of the starlight qi.

The ones on the periphery were blasted back, slamming into the ancient fern trees with bone-cracking force. But more importantly, they were dazed. The 'Soul Shock' effect inherent in his new attribute had scrambled their primitive minds. They stumbled, snapping their jaws at empty air, their coordinated pack tactics utterly broken.

[Remaining Creatures: 22]

He exhaled as his form reappeared in the middle. On his right were the shrieking raptors covered in red dust of the Demon King Chili Taihao Spicy noodles. On his left were the dazed raptors.

He was expecting more but this seemed to be the limit of the first floor. No more surprises or a secret Floor Guardian.

With that in mind, his heel pivoted as he once again left behind a solid-looking afterimage while dashing towards the nearest raptor.

Just in time, the raptor seemed to recover and tried to bite down on him. But his figure blurred, becoming another image as its jaws snapped shut on empty air.

Meanwhile, the real Lin Mo leapt using [Qi Solidification] to create a temporary platform in mid-air.

He kicked off the invisible wall, launching himself downwards like a meteor.

"[Dragon Crescent Sweep]!"

His spear carved a luminous half-moon through the dense pack. The enhanced starlight qi, now heavier and more potent due to his mid-stage breakthrough, sliced through their toughened scales with terrifying ease.

Black blood sprayed, painting the ferns.

[Remaining Creatures: 9]

The notifications scrolled past his peripheral vision, a steady stream of income that fueled his momentum.

"What is this efficiency? Am I really the same Lin Mo from Earth?" He blabbered once again, still reeling from how smoothly he executed his movements.

Back in the Jade Hollow Conduit Tower, he used the prototype Starshot Revolver to breeze through the floors. Its destructive force was so much that he didn't actually need to lift a finger back then unless his head couldn't take the mental exhaustion caused by firing it.

Now, he's fully utilizing the technique and combat style he created, derived from the Foundational Martial Technique.

Muscle memory and a profound understanding of kinetics and energy efficiency. Or simply how the cultivators use spiritual energy like a fuel.

The 'flow' wasn't a mystical concept anymore but a logistical one. Energy in, energy out. Minimum effort, maximum impact.

It was the same principle most geniuses use to bring out 100% efficiency of their techniques and spells.

Still, he couldn't afford to be complacent. Even now, the threat of dying in the tower remains. Even if he prepared the [Emergency Escape Talisman], there's still a possibility of encountering something too strong or too quick for him to react and flee using it.

And so, with the thought of that, he pulled another item from the store's inventory: an opened pack of the [Spirit Embodiment Sticker Seal].

He picked the topmost sticker and peeled the protective backing off the adhesive surface.

It depicted a diving Falcon, its wings spread in a streamlined V-shape, screaming with the intent of velocity.

He slapped it onto his left arm and pooled spiritual energy into it.

WHOOSH!

At the same time as the spiritual projection of the falcon superimposed with his body, a sudden, weightless sensation enveloped him. It wasn't the raw, explosive power of the [Nine Heavens Storm] that Xiaoyu wielded, nor the sturdy heaviness of the Tortoise variant he had seen the Crimson Vale disciples use.

His perception of time slowed slightly, not because of his mind, but because his body was now priming itself to move faster than his current cultivation should allow.

"Speed. But still not enough to become the Flash," Lin Mo grinned.

The remaining nine Verdant-Scale Raptors, shaking off the red dust and the daze of his previous attacks, roared in unison. They recognized the threat. The predator had become the prey, and now the prey was evolving.

They charged, becoming another wall of green scales and snapping jaws, desperate to overwhelm him with sheer mass.

Lin Mo didn't brace himself. He simply leaned forward.

And vanished.

To the raptors, it looked as if their target had simply ceased to exist. One moment he was there, the next, a gust of wind displaced the ferns where he had stood.

To Lin Mo, the world was a blur of green and brown. The [Falcon Sticker Seal] synergized perfectly with his [Crimson Flow Phantom Steps]. The phantom afterimages he usually left behind didn't linger. They seemed to sprint alongside him, creating a confusing stampede of one man.

He appeared on the flank of the nearest raptor. The beast didn't even have time to turn its head.

Thrust.

The spear tip, wreathed in the amethyst-tinged starlight qi, pierced the raptor's neck. He didn't stop to withdraw it.

He used his momentum to drag the blade sideways, severing the creature's spine before kicking off its collapsing body to launch himself at the next target.

[Remaining Creatures: 8]

It became a dance of slaughter.

Lin Mo moved like a pinball, bouncing from one enemy to the next with impossible speed.

Strike. Dodge. Solidify.

He created a small platform of [Qi Solidification] in mid-air, used it to vault over a snapping jaw, and drove his spear downwards into the skull of a raptor trying to ambush him from below.

The [Stellar Domain] moved with him, a mobile field of suppression. Every time he flashed past a raptor, the creature would stumble, its movements lagging by a fatal fraction of a second as the domain's heavy starlight atmosphere clashed with its earth-attribute qi.

Seven. Six. Four. Two.

The final two raptors, realizing their pack was gone, hesitated. Their primal instincts screamed at them to run, to flee this silver demon who moved like the wind and struck like a falling star.

But they were nothing but the tower's creation. Its programming overrides their fear.

With a final, desperate screech, they lunged together, one high, one low.

Lin Mo skidded to a halt, the sudden stop kicking up a cloud of dirt. The sticker's effect was waning, the phantom falcon fading from his aura.

"Good timing," he muttered.

He twirled his spear, holding it behind his back with one hand while extending his other hand forward.

He channeled his remaining starlight qi, compressing it into a dense, vibrating sphere in his palm.

"Let's try a ranged application of the solidification. [Stellar Shot]."

He flicked his fingers. Two small, bullet-sized pellets of solidified starlight shot out. They weren't as fast as the revolver's rounds, nor as explosive, but they were silent and practically invisible.

Thwip. Thwip.

The pellets struck the raptors mid-lunge, piercing their eyes and burying deep into their brains.

The beasts collapsed, sliding to a halt just inches from his boots. Their bodies flickered and dissolved into green light.

[Remaining Creatures: 0]

[Floor 1 Cleared.]

[Time Elapsed: 14 Minutes 32 Seconds]

[Rating: S]

[Rewards: 1 Green Chest, 500 Dimension Essence, Access to Floor 2 Unlocked.]

The oppressive humidity of the jungle seemed to lift slightly as the system announced his victory. A small, ornate wooden chest with glowing green runes materialized in the center of the clearing, hovering gently above the ferns.

Lin Mo walked over, wiping a speck of green blood from his cheek. He wasn't winded. His [Stillwater Body] was already converting the residual kinetic energy of his high-speed movements back into stamina.

"Fourteen minutes. Not bad for a warm-up. Though I suspect Xiaoyu did it in five. In any case, this is better. If only the store's enemy and the Outer Realm forces were as strong as these guys, I could take it easy. Alas… I'm always gonna face someone above my caliber. I should really just stay in the store and let the patrons take care of all the troubles."

He wryly smiled as he walked over to the chest.

He tapped it and it creaked open instantly, revealing its contents.

[Item Acquired: Verdant Raptor Claw x3]

[Item Acquired: Heart of the Forest (Low-Grade Spirit Herb)]

[Item Acquired: Basic Beast Taming Manual (Fragment)]

"Crafting materials, a common herb, and a fragment of a manual… The store or the [Boundless Knowledge Jade] probably has something more advanced. Another difference from the Jade Hollow, the reward isn't personalized." Lin Mo muttered as he stored the items. "I can already imagine Xiaoyu grumbling about getting miscellaneous loot."

After checking his status, he looked towards the edge of the clearing where the swirling portal had appeared.

The gateway to Floor 2.