Lu Ming walked over and picked up the gem that had fallen to the ground, along with the 7 Copper Coins dropped by the Undead Mage.
He glanced at the gem.
[Soul Stone] (Special Item)
[Purity: 13%]
[Description: A stone formed by the fusion of souls, possessing powerful spiritual energy. It is said that the blacksmiths in Starlight City are buying these in large quantities...]
The Soul Stone is the most valuable item in the Nether Ghost Tower map!
Players can submit Soul Stones to the blacksmiths in Starlight City to receive rewards.
Moreover, as long as there are enough Soul Stones, players can repeatedly submit tasks and claim rewards!
This is the core reason why the Nether Ghost Tower map is so popular among players in the second layer!
Wealthy players, who can't be bothered to farm themselves, simply buy Soul Stones from other players and repeatedly claim rewards from the blacksmiths to level up quickly.
In addition to generous experience and a large amount of Copper Coin rewards, there is also a chance to receive Bronze-level [Soul Set] equipment as a reward!
The higher the purity of the Soul Stone submitted to the merchant, the more generous the reward, and the higher the chance of obtaining Soul Set equipment.
Therefore, Soul Stones are valued based on their purity; the higher the purity, the more valuable they are.
Currently, on the market, a Soul Stone like the one in Lu Ming's hand, with a purity between 0%-40%, is considered fifth-grade, valued at about 20 bucks each!
Purity between 41%-70% is fourth-grade, priced at about 50 bucks each.
Purity between 71%-90% is third-grade, priced at 100 each!
Purity between 91%-99% is second-grade, priced at 300 each!
If you manage to get a perfect Soul Stone with 100% purity, you're in for a fortune.
Because on the market, a perfect Soul Stone is priced as high as a thousand bucks each!
Due to the purchases by these wealthy players, Soul Stones are in short supply on the market, so many players make a living by farming Soul Stones in the Nether Ghost Tower to support their families.
Someone calculated.
If you have enough money, spending about a billion on Soul Stones can effortlessly level you from 10 to 50 in just one day!
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For someone like Lu Ming, who bends over backward for a living.
"Better to keep my feet on the ground!"
The drop rate of Soul Stones is extremely low, only about 10%.
And the lower the plane, the lower the probability of high-purity Soul Stones appearing.
In the first plane of the Nether Ghost Tower where Lu Ming is currently located, the undead between levels 11-15 mostly drop the lowest-grade fifth-grade items.
However, Lu Ming wins by quantity.
He has an Undead Legion, killing monsters at speeds dozens or even hundreds of times faster than other players of the same level!
At this moment, 240 second-tier Undead Warriors, under the dual formation of [War Tread] and [Life Barrier], are rampaging through the vast camp, engaging in a massive slaughter.
It's no exaggeration to say that the Undead Warriors, with an attack power as high as 1672, even surpass the health points of the undead monsters in the camp!
So cutting them down is as easy as slicing vegetables!
The battle notifications kept ringing in Lu Ming's ears.
[Ding~ Killed level 14 Undead Knight, Experience Points +78!]
[Ding~ Killed level 13 Undead Knight, Experience Points +68!]
[Ding...]
In a two-person team, each person gets 80% experience.
The final blow does not affect this, so Lu Ming still gets 100% of the full kill rewards.
This means that even with Lin Youwei, it's as if he's solo farming, with no impact on his own benefits!
Meanwhile, the Soul Stones in Lu Ming's backpack are increasing at a visible rate.
In no time, he already has dozens!
Lu Ming took a look.
Although most are low-purity fifth-grade items, with only one fourth-grade item in every ten, the sheer quantity outweighs the quality!
It's worth noting that even those who have been farming in the Nether Ghost Tower for over a decade, on a good day, can only gather 10-20 Soul Stones!
"Something's not right!"
Just as Lu Ming was browsing online for information about Soul Stone drops, he suddenly noticed a problem.
"The drop rate of Soul Stones is only about 10%, meaning you have to kill ten undead to possibly get one."
"Why does it feel like my drop rate is higher than that?"
According to the kill records, the Undead Warriors have slaughtered nearly a hundred undead so far.
Yet the number of Soul Stones in his bag has already exceeded thirty!
And it seems like the Copper Coins dropped by these undead are also unusual!
Normally, a monster between levels 11-15 should drop 2-3 Copper Coins.
But each undead killed by Lu Ming's Undead Warriors yields almost 7-8 Copper Coins!
"What's going on?"
In his surprise, Lu Ming suddenly remembered: when Lin Youwei showed him her account panel, her talent seemed to be a drop rate boost!
Thinking of this, Lu Ming opened the skill panel and indeed found a temporary team-shared skill: Drop Rate Boost (Increases monster drop rate by 10%)!
What surprised Lu Ming even more was that this skill, shared by Lin Youwei's talent, could be enhanced by his own talent [Comprehensive Amplification]!
This means the original 10% drop rate boost was enhanced to 200%!
It was this 200% drop rate boost that tripled Lu Ming's monster drop rate!
Thus, the Soul Stone, which normally had only a 10% drop rate, now had a 30% drop rate in Lu Ming's hands!
And the Copper Coin drop rate was also tripled!
Mystery solved!
Lu Ming glanced back at Lin Youwei, who was unaware of all this, feeling a burst of joy inside.
"Bringing her along was indeed a wise choice!"
This is no burden!
This is practically a lucky charm!
Of course, it also requires being with someone like Lu Ming, who has a ten-star talent for Comprehensive Amplification, to make it work.
Otherwise, her talent shared with others would still be lackluster.
Thus, with the triple drop rate boost and the slaughter by the Undead Legion, the Soul Stones in Lu Ming's backpack accumulated rapidly at a visible pace.
The number of Copper Coins also skyrocketed!
"At the market rate of 2 bucks per Copper Coin, it's like earning fifteen or sixteen bucks for every monster killed, enough for a bowl of beef noodles!"
Lu Ming never imagined that one day, making money would be as easy as picking it up!
Meanwhile.
The terrifyingly powerful Undead Warriors scattered throughout the camp naturally attracted the attention of many nearby players.
Players cast looks of shock and awe at the Undead Warriors.
"Damn! Whose summon is this? So badass! Cutting down level 13 and 14 monsters like they're nothing!"
"Why does it look familiar? Could it be that Trickster who went viral on TikTok yesterday for taking down a Black Iron level BOSS in ten seconds?"
"Holy crap! Where's that Trickster? Let's go and team up!"
...
Over here, Lin Youwei, who didn't have to do anything but watch her experience bar soar, was stunned by the speed of the increase.
And Lu Ming wasn't idle either.
Although he didn't need to kill monsters himself, every minute he would draw his sword and casually kill a monster to increase the proficiency of his [Sword Draw] skill.
After more than an hour.
After drawing his sword a hundred times, the proficiency finally reached 100 points.
[Ding~ Congratulations, your [Sword Draw] skill has upgraded to E-level!]
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