Ethan walked over to Marek's corpse and looked down at what was left—only half a body. He shook his head.
No crystal core.
Just like them, Marek had a constellation map in his mind instead. That meant the body wasn't worth anything except as feed for mutant beasts.
Zombies and mutant beasts—those kinds of mutated creatures—formed a crystal core in their heads after mutation. It automatically absorbed mysterious energy and strengthened them over time.
Humans, on the other hand, leveled up by lighting the stars on the constellation map inside their minds. Which meant Marek was probably human too… or at least a high-intelligence species close enough.
No wonder he could speak.
Humans could eat crystal cores to boost their strength fast.
Zombies and mutant beasts could speed up their growth by eating corpses.
The two paths were similar. The main difference was that crystal cores were condensed energy—so you got power immediately—while eating corpses required digestion and time.
