Fang Senyan watched the string of prompts flashing across his retina, a surge of elation flooding his heart, though he immediately delved into the details of the task completion percentage. The response he received was: Silver Series Mission Hidden Branch Chapter: The Injection Mission will not complete itself. Once the completion rate reaches 100%, the operation to finalize this mission can be initiated. However, one could choose not to finalize it, continuing instead to feed the Liquid Metal-Enhanced Lifeform various forms of "nutrition" to gain additional completion progress. The higher this extra progress, the greater the chance of achieving an LVMAX evaluation.

Fundamentally, this was no different from the work done by laborers on Earth: first, you complete the baseline piecework to earn a basic wage, and anything produced above that becomes a bonus.

After consuming the Ant Queen, Lamutas showed no further signs of burrowing into the earth to evolve; instead, its overall strength—such as power and vitality—increased by about 15%. The cooldown time for its Nature spells dropped by 25%, spell consumption decreased by 25%, and it had mastered a new Nature spell.

Previously, the upper limit for Nature spells Lamutas could learn was Tier Two; now, it had broken through to Tier Three.

At this point, Fang Senyan had to seriously reconsider Lamutas's designated role. If it continued to evolve along this trajectory, Lamutas possessed immense value. If circumstances allowed, Fang Senyan certainly wouldn't mind taking it on as a personal retainer.

Just then, Lamutas carefully extracted something from the Ant Queen's viscera—an object the size of a coconut, resembling a gallbladder—and let out a rumbling, pig-like grunt before respectfully presenting it to Fang Senyan.

Fang Senyan took it, finding the thing utterly repulsive. It was slick and wet, covered in what looked like numerous throbbing blood vessels, resembling a malignant tumor. Viscous, fleshy red fluid oozed between his fingers, dripping audibly onto the ground.

Despite its appearance, Fang Senyan chose to trust his summoned creature. He set the object aside, used his knife to slice away the outer layer, and discovered its structure was reminiscent of an orange or pomelo, possessing incredibly thick flesh walls and a volume as large as a coconut, yet the internal cavity had shrunk to the size of a mere fist.

However, once he breached that inner cavity, an indescribable aroma wafted out. Initially, the smell was somewhat fishy and acrid, but after prolonged exposure and adaptation, it settled into something surprisingly comforting. Looking inside, Fang Senyan saw clear liquid sloshing around. He poured it out; there was only about three or four ounces in total.

"Master... drink..." Lamutas gestured anxiously from the side. Fang Senyan shot it a questioning look. If anyone else had suggested this, he would never have dared put it near his mouth; after all, an Ant Queen was a highly poisonous creature, and if that object was a venom sac, drinking it would lead to a very swift demise.

Considering Lamutas’s loyalty, Fang Senyan pinched his nose and took a sip, immediately receiving the prompt: "You have consumed a rare medicinal substance: Monarch Ant Nectar (Ant Dew) from the Unicorn Flying Ant."

"All your attributes +1."

"What!!" Fang Senyan had never anticipated such a windfall.

It was crucial to remember that since becoming a Colonizer, increasing his primary attributes—Strength and Stamina—now required three points of Free Attribute Points to raise each stat by one. Secondary attributes demanded five Free Attribute Points per point, while all others required a staggering seven points for a single increase! To gain +1 across all attributes meant this single sip was equivalent to receiving over forty Free Attribute Points as a gift! Admittedly, the drawback was that these forty points were not freely distributable, but the benefit was still staggering.

Fang Senyan immediately took a second sip and again received the prompt for All Attributes +1. However, when he greedily finished the third sip, bringing his total attribute gain to +3, he received the unforgiving notification: "Your body has reached its absorption limit for the rare medicinal substance: Monarch Ant Nectar (Ant Dew) from the Unicorn Flying Ant. Further consumption will be ineffective and may even induce adverse mutation reactions."

Fang Senyan sighed with regret. He had drunk very cautiously, consuming perhaps one ounce across those three sips. The remaining rare medicinal substance, Monarch Ant Nectar, amounted to about two ounces. Calculating based on the initial dosage, he could divide this into six portions, each capable of granting +1 to all attributes.

This was undoubtedly immense wealth. Evidently, the losses Fang Senyan had sustained by forfeiting ownership of the Xian Ore and the Unknown Wonder were entirely recouped. However, for Paul and Aldaris, even if they had been allotted the Ant Queen's corpse, they likely wouldn't have been able to procure this rare substance. The reason was simple: for an ant colony, the Nectar served only two purposes—hatching worker drones for battle, or hatching a new Queen. The colony, prior to encountering Fang Senyan and his group, had been at its peak of prosperity; the Queen would certainly not secrete Monarch Nectar casually, much like a human woman does not spontaneously enter lactation. Even if excess nutrition led to secretion, the output was immediately reabsorbed internally. Without a creature like Lamutas, possessing a supremely keen sense of smell, and given the scarcity of relevant data, locating the organ that secreted the royal jelly within the Ant Queen's massive, locomotive-sized corpse would have been nearly impossible, let alone extracting the Nectar itself.

At this point, Fang Senyan retrieved test tubes and began portioning the remaining Ant Nectar into six doses. Not long after, Paul and Aldaris emerged laboriously from the ant nest. Why laboriously? Because there were a full eight pieces of high-purity Xian Ore, the smallest of which was the size of a millstone. Their personal storage spaces were already crammed full; they had no room for such bulky items and could only grunt and strain as they acted as porters.

Before the discovery of Planet Epross, any ore containing a Xian element concentration exceeding seven parts per 100,000 was considered rich ore. But after the corpse of Ryannt, a senior surveyor for the Galactic Mining Association, and the Xian Ore he carried were found, the standard for rich ore was elevated to 5%.

The pulverizing and extraction device Fang Senyan’s team now carried could even process ore with only a 1% concentration. Preliminary analysis of the samples taken earlier suggested the purity of these eight Xian Ore pieces ranged between 2% and 7%—certainly valuable enough for refinement.

Unquestionably, now that everything was settled, Paul and Aldaris’s choice was not to haul the raw ore away, but to refine it first before departing.

Thus, the three paused, setting about crushing the ore, cutting it into walnut-sized chunks, and feeding them into the pulverizing extractor. It was worth noting that the Xian element was not any known metallic element; Paul's psychic abilities had absolutely no effect on it, a fact that caused Paul to lament for quite some time....

Regarding his own gains, Fang Senyan did not attempt to hide anything from Aldaris. In truth, Fang Senyan was not a man driven by maximizing profit. He quietly passed a test tube of Ant Nectar to Aldaris, who glanced at Fang Senyan but said nothing, simply drinking it down unobtrusively. Fang Senyan then helped the two men shift the remaining Xian Ore onto the ground.

It had to be admitted that the visual effect of the Xian Ore was quite stunning. To put it plainly, the material looked as if it were formed from tightly packed, fine white sand, studded densely with garnets, sapphires, and amethysts of varying sizes.... When struck by sunlight, it refracted a kaleidoscope of colors, breathtakingly beautiful. Furthermore, approaching the ore induced an irresistible sense of calm, as if one’s entire being had been thoroughly washed clean by clear spring water, leaving the mind with an unprecedented clarity. This sensation was likely why the Unicorn Flying Ant had left the ore behind. Fang Senyan concurrently checked relevant records and found mention of this phenomenon: "You are bathed in the radiation of the Xian element; your MP recovery speed +10%, Health recovery speed +10%."

The task of crushing the Xian Ore was naturally delegated to the war metal puppet Heracles and Lamutas. The three men took the opportunity to relax comfortably against a dry rock, basking in the warm sun and beginning to bandage and tend to the various injuries they had sustained earlier.

A short while later, Paul suddenly sat bolt upright, squinting and speaking in a tone laced with three parts mockery and seven parts caution: "They’ve arrived."

Fang Senyan’s heart stirred. His own perception wasn't poor, yet Paul was the one issuing the warning first! Clearly, Paul had deployed some special means of detection. At this moment, likely due to their successful collaboration just now, Paul's guard had dropped considerably, leading him to finally reveal his hidden capabilities.

Soon, Fang Senyan saw the massive, bear-like silhouette of Hedykuri striding toward them. He was accompanied by several others. Without question, the look in their eyes upon seeing the extracted Xian Ore was indescribable—a mixture of greed, envy, madness, and admiration....

"You, you actually, actually..." Roni shrieked first. He seemed momentarily unable to find the words, but the avarice blazing in his eyes was undisguised.

Fang Senyan, however, smiled inwardly. According to the agreement, he had relinquished all ownership claims to the Xian Ore. Therefore, at this juncture, it was certainly not his place to step forward. Fang Senyan was thoroughly enjoying this sensation of hiding in the shadows behind others. (To be continued)