Chapter 47: Four Man Exploration Team
Evey tide snake the dragonman youngster and ghost girl encountered while exploring had been absorbed by the Bloodcore.
Thus, the young man had collected a great amount of the tide snake bloodline, and now, the bronze level bloodline was complete, while the iron level was over half towards completion.
Some secrets of Bloodcore had been shared, and since Cang Xu was united at their side, the dragonman youngster and Zi Di didn’t need to be secretive in front of them.
Thus, it was far more convenient to do such things.
As for Zong Ge, although he currently did not know about the Bloodcore’s existence, he surmised that the youngster’s transformation abilities were related to the Bloodcore.
Cang Xu and Zi Di were of the same mind. The young man had intentionally displayed his abilities in front of Zong Ge to make it easier in the future to indulge the latter in the secret of the Bloodcore.
Apart from this, the young man also needed to practice the tide snake’s racial magics.
This let him understand the tide snakes much more.
This kind of understanding was very profound, for could anyone else turn into a tide snake like the young man could and experience how it felt?
After ejecting about ten Venomous fang Knives, the young man now only needed to see a few movements to discern whether a tide snake wanted to shoot a venomous fang.
“Anyways, this transformed part, even if it perfectly coexists, does not improve my battle straight by much.”
The young man now had much more applicable experience.
Although these racial magics were beyond the capabilities of his body, they actually complemented it.
For example, take the Freeze Ray racial magic.
The power the magic displayed when he was a tide snake could not compare to when he used it as a dragonman.
The Venomous Fang Throwing Knives were more obvious.
This racial magic was fairly special, it needed casting materials – tide snake venomous fangs.
If the young man had a full mouth of dragon teeth, he could not use this racial magic.
“If I sought its might, I would need to be more tide snake.”
“If it was a hybrid transformation, although it wouldn’t be as powerful in a pure form, it would be an additional method of attack for me.”
In practical applications, the young man had become very prudent in using hybrid transformations.
If an enemy fled or left behind information, the young man’s transformations would provoke the attention of auspicious people.
After all, this kind of transformation was unusual!
Only if he was certain nothing would be left behind or if he was compelled by desperate circumstances would he do so.
Therefore, the young man still directed his development towards improving his battle qi and battle skills.
The young man’s face flashed with red light, and he became a dragonman again, the venomous fangs and snake tongue from before seeming to be nothing but a fleeting hallucination.
He looked at the silent Zong Ge and smiled, “After I obtained the Bloodcore, my beast transformation abilities were greatly strengthened.”
Zong Ge gazed deeply back, “That treasure was placed on the third level by War Merchant, it was more important to him than the two other divine artifacts. You were remolded by War Merchant, and have the beast transformation ability, thus, it should’ve originated from it?”
The dragonman youngster nodded, “Your guess is correct.”
Zong Ge sighed, then replied with a complex tone, “You must be careful, this ability is both weird and mysterious, perhaps every usage of it costs a hidden and heavy price. We can always depend on battle qi.”
The dragonman youngster expressed his acknowledgment.
He still had some reservations about Zong Ge.
Although Zong Ge had fought by his side, his situation was different from Zi Di’s and Cang Xu’s, Zong Ge had once fought him for the position of leadership.
Not only was it because of this experience, but also because the young man understood Zong Ge, he was an ambitious man.
This kind of person was difficult to keep satisfied and any benefits offered as a lure would likely have the opposite effect.
Zong Ge was a peak silver, and had a deeper battle qi cultivation than the young man, the iron level Cang Xu could not compare to him.
The dragonman youngster was able to suppress mainly with the Bloodcore’s help.
Zong Ge also had reservations with the young man and the others.
He came from an extraordinary family, and he exposed many clues through how he lived. These clues were all seen by the survivors to some extent.
After the battlefield was cleaned up, the four people continued to explore.
Cang Xu and Zong Ge joined in, increasing the survivors’ exploration efficiency by a large amount.
The dragonman youngster acted less often.
Zi Di often practiced necromancy, exhibiting her diligent side.
Zong Ge’s cutlass and shield were ordinary, however with peak silver level battle qi infused into them, they became vicious tools that reaped lives.
Cang Xu occasionally imparted Zi Di with guidance or experiences, he once served as a college professor and was very good at teaching. From time to time, he too acted personally to gather snake souls.
The necromancer displayed their formidable might in front of the young man and the half beastman.
Cang Xu and Zi Di gathered many more snake souls, then after the fighting died down, they could get even more snake souls from the corpses of fallen tide snakes.
These snake souls were mostly ordinary, but the tide snakes had a hard time dealing with them.
“As far as necromancers are concerned, as long as they enough magic power, they can immediately raise an army from a battlefield.”
“Ordinary souls are the best cannon fodder, while cultivator souls can become an army’s backbone.”
“Fortunately, their spirit power has limits, and controlling ghosts will constantly consume that.”
“At the same time, the Soul Summoning Spell is not always successful, and failure is always a possibility. Every failed casting will always backfire and injure the magician. The only difference is how big it is.”
Zong Ge carefully watched, and couldn’t help but fear the necromancy.
Their journey went smoothly.
Despite the tide snakes getting stronger, and the snake groups getting larger, none were the for man exploration team’s match.
It was mainly because Cang Xu’s and Zi Di’s strength was growing rapidly!
Anyways, the survivors did suffer losses.
The wear and tear on their scouting birds was growing more apparent.
These alchemy puppets were inharmonious with the caves, and would easily trigger the aggression of snake groups and be hunted.
They assumed the arduous task of investigating and were the first to explore unfamiliar territory. Regardless of whether it was snake or rat groups, both had strong territorial instincts.
“After this, we need to make some serpentine or mouse shaped scouting puppets.” Said Zi Di.
The alchemy bird puppets had suffered great attrition, making her somewhat regretful.
She retrieved as many damaged alchemy birds as possible. After all, the birds’ alchemical materials could be reused.
Under current circumstances, the survivors’ resources were finite, and they had to haggle over every bit.
The more resources that were saved in the early periods of development, the more efficient and higher they could grow and strengthen.
The four cultivator team, with the help of the alchemy birds, quickly attained the objective of the Hunting Guild’s exploration mission.
The four did not care about that.
They left to explore another subterranean space.
Because they hadn’t found the Green Jade Gold Coffin yet.
The scouting birds had explored the entire island, including its towns and villages, and found nothing.
The survivors analyzed that it was very possible that these subterranean spaces might conceal the divine artifact.
At the time, the Green Jade Gold Coffin’s teleportation coordinates had been transmitted.
The transmitted coordinates were here, on Snake Rat Island.
Through a secret investigation, the survivors discovered that the island residents did not feel any fluctuations of teleportation on that day.
If instead, the Green Jade Gold Coffin was teleported into the depths of the underground, then the teleportation fluctuations would have been masked.
It was also possible that War Merchant had built a teleportation formation here.
From War Merchant’s point of view, he was on the imperial most wanted list, thus having a few escape routes was very rational.
Mystifying Monster Island was his headquarters, and Snake Rat Island was comparatively close to it.
It was possible that he left an escape route here.
This guess had a strong basis, and in the tower spirit’s data, the survivors discovered a few hidden teleportation points. Other places you could teleport to from Mystifying Monster Island.
“The air temperature has risen.” After going deeper for some time, the young man was the first to notice this.
“It seems we are lucky. There is an underground heat source here.” Zi Di smiled.
As they went deeper underground, the magic beasts they mainly encountered were tide snakes.
But Snake Rat Island had two magic beast species on it, tide snakes were only one of them. The smelt rats had always been in a deadlocked confrontation with the tide snakes.
These rats were heat resistant magic beasts, and smelt rats with cultivation could bathe in magma.
Ordinary smelt rats all lived near heat sources, none of them liked moist environments.
The young captain glanced at a map.
This map had a wide scope and was very detailed and reliable.
The main path the four walked was the widest part of the cave. There were many scouting birds exploring other paths.
Therefore, the map displayed a main path, separated by subterranean spaces of various sizes and many other paths bifurcating from above ground.
The geothermal source was not in the direction of the main path.
“Let’s survey there.” The dragonman youngster decided.
The four left the main path and entered another that branched off.
After a short time, they saw their first live smelt rat.
It was as big as an adult bear, and had brown-red fur.
Its fur was very thick, and was decorated with flame like patterns.
The smelt rat’s head had a distinct layer of bone that looked like a black helmet.
The smelt rat’s eyes were an orange-yellow and emitted light, against its bone black helmet, it looked like two drops of magma floating in the darkness.
Silver level!
The smelt rat had an extraordinary life level.
The four people were not surprised.
Smelt rats with cultivation had a far larger movement range than ordinary ones.
Ordinary smelt rats did not like damp and cold environments, therefore they holed up near underground heat sources.
As a result, smelt rats had different territory structures than tide snakes.
Tide snakes with cultivation acted as their core, while ordinary tide snakes moved all over the place and acted in the group’s periphery.
Smelt rats with cultivation frequently roamed the fringes of their territory, while common ones gathered in the heart of it.
Smelt rats did not possess any abilities to conceal themselves, thus the four had discovered their existence earlier.
“I’ll go first.” Zong Ge took the lead and charged ahead.
With sword and shield in hand, he confronted the smelt rat.
The two slammed into each other, and sank into a deadlock in the underground tunnel.
Although they were the same level, the half beastman’s strength could not compare to the smelt rat’s.
However, his whole body instigated his battle qi, causing his strength, speed, and defense to soar, allowing him to directly face off against the smelt rat.
At the same time, he also poured battle qi into his equipment.
Although the smelt rat’s sharp claws and teeth clashed against the ordinary sword and shield, the ordinary equipment did not break, and the blows only caused silver battle qi to splatter off of them.
As it turns out, he is also an expert at using a sword and shield like this.” The dragonman youngster evaluated internally.
In the prior fight with the tide snakes, Zong Ge’s did not display his skill.
But now when confronted with a silver level smelt rat, Zong Ge’s martial skill was truly exposed.
In the survivors’ mind, the weapon Zong Ge was most skilled at was the broadsword. Zong Ge had swung that broadsword powerfully and violently, and now, he used a shield to defend himself thoroughly and wait for an opportunity to stab decisively with his sharp cutlass.
His stature paled in comparison to the smelt rat, but the three people behind him felt a sense of security.
The smelt rat had finite intellect, and Zong Ge quickly understood how it worked. The latter relied on his adept martial skill to gradually gain the advantage.
The smelt rat’s flesh was lacerated by the cutlass, causing blood to flow from all over.
The pain intensified its vicious nature.
Suddenly, it screeched, and suddenly, flames bellowed from all over its body.
The flames looked like a layer of clothes covering its body.
Racial magic – Flame Battle Garb!
The smelt rat’s life aura increased sharply, and it charged into Zong Ge once again.
Zong Ge remained calm and fearless. But just as he was about to use his battle skill, he heard the dragonman youngster say, “Let me give it a go.”
The silver level smelt rat was worthy of acting upon.
Zong Ge retreated and allowed the dragonman youngster to take the field.
Ding.
With a reverberating echo of an explosion, the dragonman youngster’s speed rose dramatically and he slammed into the smelt rat’s bosom.
The smelt rat was caught off guard, the blow knocked to the ground and caused to cough blood.
Zong Ge’s eyes contracted, the dragonman youngster’s attacks were far braver and more fearless than his.
The half beastman’s sword and shield style had both offense and defense, like a barbed city wall. While the dragonman youngster was completely filled with offense, like an artillery shell!
“I have to consume more battle qi to withstand the Flame Battle Garb.”
“While he can rely on his dragon scales to easily resist it.”
The smelt rat was bullied further underground by the young man.
The young man didn’t have to use any battle skills, and just relied on his new Bursting Explosion battle qi that filled his ordinary punches with power.
The smelt rat only had one racial magic, but it did not affect the dragonman youngster.
Under the young man’s rain of fists, the smelt rat’s condition continuously dropped.
The young man gradually pulled back, giving Zi Di the opportunity to attack too.
But this time, she didn’t achieve much.
When ordinary souls approached the Flame Battle Garb, they would be scorched away.
Bronze level snake souls could tangle with and impede it, however, the longer they were near the Flame Battle Garb, the weaker they would become.
Iron level snake souls could threaten the silver level smelt rat, but only a little.
“These snake souls are of low quality, we’ll need much more to deal with this silver level smelt rat.” Zi Di concluded.
Cang Xu had experienced this, but he didn’t block Zi Di’s attempt.
This kind of actual combat experience was very precious. Teachings were comparatively shallow to deeper personal experiences.
Under the survivors’ maltreatment, the smelt rat’s viciousness was suppressed and it tried to flee.
The dragonman youngster caught up to it.
Battle skill – Demolition Fist!
The velocity of his fist soared, and in everyone’s view, a scarlet red shadow bled from his fist.
When his fist hit the sturdy smelt rat, an explosion rang out.
It sounded like a bomb going off.
The explosive force was so strong that the smelt rat’s thoracic cavity was penetrated, causing most of its internal organs to turn into a swirl of fleshly fragments and tempestuous blood that exploded outwards, covering large swaths of the tunnel walls with the slurry.
The smelt rat fell to the ground, dead as it was possible.
Upon seeing the young man use the battle skill, Zong Ge immediately recalled the tide snake corpse from earlier.
“Its snake head must’ve been burst apart by a Demolition Fist.”
“Its might truly is extraordinary!”
Zi Di hurried over to pick up the corpse.
“Lord Captain, please use that battle skill less often.”
“A silver level smelt rat corpse is worth more, and has many alchemy materials, they aren’t cheap. Even if we don’t sell it, we can still make use of it.”
“We can use them to make scouts in the form of smelt rats.”
“You know our financial situation is very tight right now.”
“Oh, of course, of course.” The dragonman youngster apologized at once.
If he used the Bloodcore, he could have absorbed it all, and squandered nothing.
However, Zong Ge was here.
It was too inconvenient to absorb external bloodlines in front of him.
Cang Xu was exhilarated as he said, “President Zi Di, don’t worry about gathering these materials.”
“A silver level smelt rat soul is the best material to make a ghost out of.”
Zi Di immediately stopped messing with the corpse and doubtfully asked, “I can do that? I am still only a bronze level necromancer.”
“This is an outstanding feature of necromancy, we can call back souls whose life levels exceed ours.” Cang Xu explained, “In addition, if you don’t give it a try, how will you know what the result will be?”
Zi Di’s attempt failed.
The silver level smelt rat soul dissipated, and she had to bear the backlash of the magic.
“That’s fine.” Cang Xu maintained his optimism.
“I noticed.” He looked at the ghost girl, “That this necromancy inheritance suits you more than me!”
“I am a semi-dead person, a corpse wizard, thus pure ghosts have a negative effect on my body.”
“But you are different, Miss Zi Di.”
“You are a pure ghost, and your life essence is more intimate with these ghosts. Therefore, under the same conditions, you can recruit more ghosts than me, control them for longer at a lower spirit consumption, and have a higher success rate with the Soul Summoning Spell. Even if you fail, the backlash will harm you less.”
“Perhaps in the future, you can establish an enormous ghost army, and as the leader of an army of ten thousand, be a ghost queen.”
But Zi Di shook her head, she was uninterested in the future Cang Xu described, “Compared to that, I’d much rather be resurrected.”
She unconsciously looked at the dragonman youngster.
The dragonman youngster was smiling back at her.