At the moment he saw the high-grade magic stone, Gauss’s eyes brightened a bit.
Those mid-level magic stones were actually okay; after all, one could buy them with some gold coins, but high-grade magic stones were much more precious, at least they didn’t circulate on the market, and even through his connections, it was hard to get one.
Gauss had also inquired in Farlim and found that the production of high-quality magic stones was extremely rare, tightly held by noble families with control over major mines.
They could fill their coffers just by selling low and mid-level demon crystals, and since they weren’t short of money, they certainly wouldn’t put these precious and rare high-grade magic stones on sale in stores.
High-grade magic stones were the dream treasure for all casters, as the quality of magic power inside them was extremely high, and they were suitable for casters to absorb. It’s said that during meditation practice, placing one nearby can yield twice the result with half the effort.
Moreover, the biggest difference between high-grade magic stones and low and mid-level ones was their energy replenishment efficiency; even when drained, they could convert the scattered natural magic in the air to restore their own energy.
Gauss quickly stored this high-grade magic stone into his storage pouch.
Besides these wealth rewards, there was also a black one-handed crossbow. Gauss tested it with the identification technique, revealing it as a purple-quality artifact, able to be loaded with magic power as arrows.
Considering that he had no use for it at present, he thought he might give it to Aaliyah or Serdur.
After checking the rewards, the others approached, staring at the dense corpses in a daze, unable to believe the sheer number of enemies.
Looking at Gauss with eyes of admiration, all the Red Dragon Team members felt it extremely incredible, unable to understand how he managed to fight against thousands alone.
It should be known that in the latter half of the battle, Red Dragon Team members had been ordered by Gauss to retreat to the rear for rest, meaning most of the enemies were killed solely by Gauss’s strength.
"Let’s clean up the battlefield first."
"Just collect the high-value loot."
Gauss looked at the monster corpses that were scattered like mountains, knowing it was an enormous workload, hence he relaxed the requirements.
Otherwise, organizing materials from over ten thousand monsters would take forever.
"Perhaps we can outsource the low-value monster material to other adventure groups," Ying suggested.
Gauss, after contemplating, also felt her proposal made sense.
Given the sheer quantity, relying on the hundred or so members of the Red Dragon Team would find it hard to finish harvesting in a short time. Selling the ordinary monsters’ corpses to other adventure groups, surely many would be willing to accept.
They had more personnel, and local adventure groups could always pull in more support staff to process these materials.
"I’ll negotiate with someone after my cultivation," he said.
The urge for breakthrough within Gauss was becoming hard to suppress.
Actually, during the battle, he was already able to break through to Level 8, but the timing was unsuitable.
Now having slain this level’s lord and cleared most surrounding monsters, no monster would dare approach this area anytime soon, so he thought he would breakthrough first.
Perhaps due to excessive "overflow" of experience, coupled with the fact that advancing from Level 7 to Level 8 didn’t skip stages, he could feel this upgrade would not be too laborious.
Actually, not just him, the entire Red Dragon Team, especially Gauss’s teammates, all showed signs of breakthroughs.
This battle was a significant triumph for Gauss and the Red Dragon Team.
However, before breaking through, he patrolled the vicinity to ensure no dangers existed, then notified Aaliyah and other key members of the Red Dragon Team, and found a relatively flat piece of land to sit cross-legged.
After he sat down, the magic power within him surged unrestrainedly like boiling lava.
"Finally, it’s time to upgrade."
Gauss murmured softly, then collected his thoughts, focusing all attention inward.