As it was, Loki wasn’t the only one who came to the conclusion that the world essence had saved them three days of time. After all, the growth of the white gem had happened right under their noses. Thanks to their Insight Stat, they all knew exactly how much the white crystal had grown up to 2 decimal places of a centimeter.
After coming to the conclusion that the world essence had saved them 3 days of time, they also concluded that the saved time wasn’t worth it. This was because the world essence that was sacrificed was worth at least 100 years of lifespan.
Even someone with a Life Fire of average conversion efficiency of 8.25% would be able to get 3,001 days’ worth of lifespan from the world essence. Yet, a hundred years’ worth of world essence could only increase the progress of the gem’s growth by 3 days. So the white gem had an abyssmal efficiency of 0.00822%.
It was clear at a glance just how inefficient the white gem was. To use world essence to speed up its growth would be a waste of their world essence.
So they were reluctant to use world essence to speed up the growth of the outpost core. But Money Body had asked them to donate world essence, and Money Body had also donated some of his world essence.
In fact, Money Body was still taking out world essence and was feeding it to the white gem. As he was doing this, he was also glaring at them as if daring them to refuse him.
Since he was already leading by example, they couldn’t refuse. They could only grit their teeth and bring out world essence.
Before making a decision, Loki thought long and hard about Money Body’s plan for any signs of trickery. The part he dwelled most on was the part Money Body didn’t talk about. Especially the part about how the dragons would react once the outpost core finishes its growth stage.
When he thought about it, he thought to himself, ’As long as we are in this together and he doesn’t get to hoard the reward for himself, I don’t mind. And if he hopes that I will die in the scuffle, I don’t mind either.’
That last thought made him chuckle. As he chuckled, he took some world essence from his Cave Heaven.
He had decided to go along with Money Body’s plan. The main reason he did so was that Money Body was leaving him no choice in the matter.
Of course, he is not being compelled because of the threat of Money Body’s power. He is being compelled to go along because of the benefits involved that he will miss out on if he doesn’t join in.
Money Body made a suggestion, but he didn’t ask for their opinions about it. In fact, he didn’t finish making the suggestion, and he didn’t even explain everything about the plan before he began executing the plan.
Based on how Money Body was already feeding the outpost core world essence without waiting for them, Loki was sure that Money Body was going to go through with the plan, no matter what they thought about it.
So if he didn’t contribute world essence to speed up the growth of the outpost core, he wouldn’t be able to earn contribution points for doing so. And if Money Body were allowed to feed the outpost core alone, the rank 8 money cultivator would earn all the contribution points for doing so.
Since his main goal for this mission was divine merit points, he couldn’t let go of free contribution points like this. To top things off, even if he were willing to let Money Body have all the contribution points, he would still have to deal with the fallout of Money Body’s plan, whether he liked it or not.
So, on one side was the option to help with the plan, reap some of the rewards, and deal with the repercussions of the plan. On the other side was the option to stay out of the plan, but still have to deal with the repercussions of the plan.
Between the two options, the choice was clear. And unless he was willing to fight Money Body to stop the rank 8 cultivator from going through with the plan, his only favorable choice was to help Money Body with the plan.
With these thoughts going through his mind, the world essence he brought out was much bigger than what Money Body had produced so far. This caused Money Body to freeze for a brief moment.
Money Body has halted his actions in surprise because he didn’t expect Loki to go along with his plan. Of his three mission mates, he had expected Loki to be the most vocal opposition.
As it turned out, not only had Loki decided to join him without saying a word, but Loki was also behaving as if he had come up with the plan and Money Body was the one piggybacking on his idea.
This made Money Body snort while thinking, ’I knew that I didn’t like this guy for a reason. It is as if his existence is just there to annoy me.’
’It is a good thing that I am preoccupied right now, or I would beat him so bad that he would permanently become entangled with death. When I am done with him, death would be the least of his concerns.’
Loki brought the world essence and gave it to the bees. His face was calm and expressionless as he did. But for some reason, Money Body thought that Loki was smirking. This annoyed the money cultivator.
It wasn’t obvious, but Loki was really smirking. He smirked inwardly as he thought, ’Don’t think I didn’t notice your reaction. Now watch me take your plan for myself. I am sure that it must be hurting you so badly to see me agree with your plan.’
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