Chapter 720 - 709: Finding Vulnerabilities
Chapter 720: Chapter 709: Finding Vulnerabilities
The mushroom road beneath his feet glowed faintly, a bluish-green, stretching into the darkened distance.
Norris treaded lightly, yet still, faint echoes bounced off the walls on either side, reverberating through the open tunnel, stretching out long.
Norris shrugged his shoulders, instinctively tucking his hands into his sleeves.
The boss had suddenly summoned him, only mentioning there was something "good".
But having stayed in the Mushroom Garden for so long, how could Norris not know?
What the boss referred to as "good stuff" sometimes truly were good things, but more often than not, they were "fun things" for the boss.
Whether they were pleasant or not for the recipient depended on luck.
The passage under his feet led to areas of the Underground City that were normally off-limits.
The last time he barged into the D Level Paradise, what he saw in there... those things, his memories of it remained quite fresh.
As he walked through the quiet passage, the unease in Norris’s heart, much like the phosphorescence beneath his feet, steadily rose to the surface.
—Splash—
Approaching the end of the tunnel, the sound of water came from the front.
It wasn’t dripping; someone was stirring the water’s surface, slowly, rhythmically.
A cave with a small lake?
Stepping forward, his field of vision widened.
Norris stood at the entrance, his feet as if nailed to the ground.
It was indeed a lake, a lake of blood.
Thick, red liquid filled the cavity of the entire cavern, shimmering under the light of glowing mushrooms.
The stench of blood hit him in the face, as intense as a battlefield of life-and-death struggles.
Norris instinctively pinched his nose, yet the smell drilled into his throat, filled his lungs, as if someone had shoved a rusty blade into his nasal cavity.
By the shore, there was a pile of meat.
Not a metaphor, it truly was a small hill made from huge hunks of flesh, some still dripping residual blood.
A few members of the Mushroom Race floundered in the blood lake, their bodies soaked in fresh blood, originally gray-white fungi now dark red from saturation.
They rolled and floundered in the blood, using their tentacles to splash the thick liquid at each other, sending up crimson splashes.
Their jibber-jabbering laughter filled the Fungal Network.
Norris had his mouth open but couldn’t utter a single word.
Just as he stood frozen, his mind blank, a tall figure rose from the center of the blood lake.
Blood followed the contours of Louisa’s shoulders, arms, and spine, leaving dark red traces on her pale skin.
Her hair was soaked, sticking to the sides of her face, and the tips were still dripping with blood.
She tipped her head back, her eyes hazy, as if not yet over the intoxication brought by the thick liquid.
She scooped up a handful of the blood, bringing it to her lips, slowly drinking it, the sound of her throat moving echoed through the cavern.
"Ah—" she exhaled long and slowly, satisfaction coloring her voice, "blood full of power..."
Saying so, she filled a jar with it, intending to feed it to the statue at home.
Her blood-red eyes turned, fixing on the stiff figure at the entrance, her lips slowly curled, revealing fangs still wet with blood.
"You’re here, Norris. Why are you standing there? Come on down and bathe in the dragon’s blood."
...
[Bathing in Dragon Blood (All Attributes Enhanced by 10%)]
After Norris, core members like Werewolf Karen, Mushroom Race Shou, Scarlet, Qiong, Edin, and others took the plunge one by one.
Only Little Elf Riel and Pink Puki couldn’t bear to bathe in blood and refused, and Lin Jun did not force them.
The dragon blood seemed like a large lake, but acquiring the [Bathing in Dragon Blood] effect absorbed much of its power, so after one round, although the blood remained, most of its power had been absorbed.
This time, the substitute in the [Ancient Dragon Path] was proven inefficient, but Lin Jun didn’t work in vain.
Dissimilar from blasting into smithereens last time, this time capturing the Giant Dragon alive meant none of its treasures were wasted!
Bathing in dragon blood could add a buff, though the hardness of Dragon Scales and Dragon Claws declined after the Giant Dragon’s death, they remained premium forging materials that could be sent to the forging factory, where those Dwarf craft masters were bound to be interested in these legendary materials.
Dragon Horns were also good materials, but Lin Jun didn’t intend to use them and instead added them to Marshal Puki’s statue in the square.
As for dragon meat... the non-poisonous parts could be sent to the official dining hall in Fungus Castle.
Dragon meat was a good gimmick, presumably able to reclaim quite a few contribution points.
As for Xiao Hai, after the [Ancient Dragon Path] increased by 1% again, his attributes indeed improved.
If the progress reaches full, whether Xiao Hai could become an Ancient Dragon is uncertain, but he’ll undoubtedly possess the strongest attributes of his tier.
Regrettably, not to mention whether there are another 89 foolish dragons that would fall for the same Absolute Flavor Mushroom trap, the production efficiency of Absolute Flavor Mushrooms makes it unlikely for Xiao Hai to be fed up to 100% progress before battling other dragons ends.
Now it seems that to drive [Ancient Dragon Path] progress, it still needs genuine battles!
However, this doesn’t mean Lin Jun has no tricks for [Ancient Dragon Path].
Since the world is fundamentally data-driven, based on Lin Jun’s speculation, behind the progress of [Ancient Dragon Path] should lie a calculation formula similar to kill contribution percentage; the more effort, the more progress advancement.
Then, can Xiao Hai be made to challenge a dragon repeatedly until it is killed?
Although Dragon Man Xiao Hai isn’t as strong in attributes as those Giant Dragons, the gap isn’t insurmountable; at least he can break their defense.
After a bout of battle, Xiao Hai retreats to replenish status while on the Giant Dragon’s side, massive Pukis suppress, not harming but also not letting it recover.
Then Xiao Hai continues progress fighting, repeating this until it’s killed, could it bypass the penalty of substitute fighting?
For the sake of his own Ancient Dragon, this clearly warrants a try.
However, this requires more preparation work.
A closed arena from which even a Giant Dragon can’t easily escape, a Puki team to suppress the Giant Dragon while Xiao Hai rests, and contingency plans if the Giant Dragon breaks free...
Come to think of it, the underground ruins in the Northern Territory seem quite suitable, just needing additional reinforcement.
Dragon struggles don’t wait for mushrooms, and under Lin Jun’s directive, the Fungus Castle craftsmen stopped their usual tasks to join the reconstruction project of the ruins.
...
While Lin Jun worried tirelessly for Xiao Hai, other factions encountered varying degrees of dragon disasters.
The Dwarves had to halt their advance, giving Levi a chance to catch his breath.
The human frontier defenses, for the first time, faced opponents that weren’t the Demon Race, but Giant Dragons.
The Emperor of the Empire remained indifferent to places other than Dragon Cliff and Muling Castle, igniting rising dissatisfaction among some Dukes.
And over the sea...
Countless Chis floated on the ocean surface, turning the entire sea a shade of purple.
Yet in the center of this purple sea, the Blue Dragon that had massacred countless bugs was entangled tightly by two enormous Tou Chi Beasts, half of its dragon body submerged into the ocean.
Above it, three Evil Eyes were continually casting petrification on the Blue Dragon, though to little effect, it still somewhat impeded its actions.
The Blue Dragon futilely spewed its last bout of lightning dragon breath, blasting two octopus tentacles of a Tou Chi Beast to pieces, before finally succumbing, dragged into the ocean, and after a series of bubbles, silence ensued.