Can I Whip You Once?

+10

+10

A series of recovery numbers appeared above Liu Muxue's head.

When she realized that this Mole Person could not harm her, she relaxed slightly.

Then she recalled how Cao Xing had taught her to fight before.

Though she felt a little shy, she gradually found her rhythm in battle.

Liu Muxue thrust her sword forward, striking the Mole Person in the chest.

-32

Blood flowed from the Mole Person's chest as it continuously let out squeaks.

It swung its iron pickaxe and struck down again.

Liu Muxue was forced two steps back by the blow.

Then she raised her longsword and thrust again.

"Pfft!"

From then on—

The Mole Person hit her with its pickaxe, and Liu Muxue answered with another sword thrust.

The two began a turn-based battle.

The sight made Cao Xing want to laugh.

Still, Liu Muxue was already doing quite well to reach this point.

A minute or two later, the number of Mole People in the mine tunnel steadily dwindled.

As he watched his recruited creatures fight ahead, Cao Xing raised his staff as well.

A large amount of frost power gathered around his staff.

Then, three forty-centimeter-long ice spikes appeared before Cao Xing, crystal-clear and radiating a chilling aura.

Cao Xing waved his staff. "Go!"

The next moment, the three ice spikes shot out.

All of them struck one Mole Person miner.

-681

-71

-103!

The three ice spikes took over two hundred health from the Mole Person miner.

Cao Xing was fairly satisfied with that damage. After all, he was only a level 4 Frost Mage.

However, compared to Sarah casually dealing seven or eight hundred damage with a single strike, the gap was still enormous.

Before long, they had killed all the Mole Person miners here.

At that moment, fear had already appeared in the eyes of the Mole People overseer holding a whip.

It turned around and ran deeper into the mine tunnel.

Just then—

Sarah emerged from the shadows.

She raised her right hand and threw a pitch-black dagger, which struck the Mole People overseer squarely in the back.

"Eek!!"

The Mole People overseer let out a scream, and a damage number appeared above its head.

-843

One strike directly emptied its health bar.

Level 20 Sarah was simply too powerful!

"Sarah, well done," Cao Xing praised from behind.

Sarah reacted as coldly as ever, though this time she added one more line.

"The Shadow Sanctuary guides me forward."

Cao Xing nodded, thinking, Sarah has already met the level requirement for advancement. If I can get a second-tier Heart of Strength now, I can advance Sarah into a third-tier creature.

By then, her strength could double again.

But a second-tier Heart of Strength won't be easy to obtain. I'll look into it when I get the chance.

Once the battle was over, it was naturally time to clean up the battlefield.

Cao Xing began searching beneath the Mole People corpses for loot.

At that moment, another system notification appeared.

Humanoid creatures cannot be dismantled.

Cao Xing's mouth twitched.

Why did this system always think he would do something like that?

After rummaging through the Mole Person's body, Cao Xing found quite a few items.

Obtained Dried Rations x5, Weak Book of Chaos x1, Viscous Liquid x1, Iron Ingot x1, Iron Pickaxe x1

Cao Xing began checking the descriptions of these items.

Dried Rations (White): Unpalatable food. 1 piece of dried rations = 1 food.

Weak Book of Chaos: Randomly increases one of an allied unit's four primary attributes by 1 point.

(Note: Cannot be used on a lord.)

Viscous Liquid (White): Blackened viscous liquid. Its purpose is unknown.

The Moldy Army: Heard there's oil here 🛢

(It seems to be some kind of alchemy material. If you encounter a merchant in the wilderness, you can try selling it.)

Iron Ingot (White): Can be dismantled to obtain Iron x5.

Iron Pickaxe (White): Attack Power 4–5. Can be used to mine ores.

Cao Xing thought, This Book of Chaos seems pretty good. If enough of them drop, I could potentially stack one recruited creature's attributes to a terrifying degree.

Unfortunately, I can't use it on myself.

Then, Cao Xing spent roughly five minutes quickly clearing the battlefield.

Total obtained: Dried Rations x130, Weak Book of Chaos x3

Besides those, there were also some materials and one piece of equipment.

Viscous Liquid (White) x31

Iron Pickaxe (White) x27

Iron Ingot (White) x4

Mole People Overseer's Whip (Green) x1

The interesting item was the last piece of equipment.

Mole People Overseer's Whip (Green): Special Equipment
Quality: Fine
Attack Power: 13–15

Special Effect ①: Lash (Whip a target to speed up its work, increasing its movement speed by 10% for the next 5 minutes.)

Special Effect ②: Heightened Pain (A whip coated in olive oil increases the pain caused by whipping by 50%.)

After reading the description, Cao Xing wore a strange expression.

"This thing... could it also be some kind of buff effect?"

"If I combine it with my hidden talent, could it become permanent?"

Cao Xing decided to test it first. After all, a 10% movement speed increase was quite good.

So, under the astonished gazes of Liu Muxue, Andrew, and the others, Cao Xing viciously whipped himself.

"Smack!"

After the crisp sound rang out, Cao Xing sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hiss!! That hurts!"

Although this thing did not deal much damage, getting whipped really hurt because of the second effect, Heightened Pain!

Before Cao Xing could recover from the pain—

A system notification appeared before him.

You have been affected by the whip effect. Movement speed increased by 10% for 5 minutes.

[Talent Eternal Power activated. Lash has become a permanent buff.]

Cao Xing: "..."

Holy crap, it really worked?

Cao Xing was utterly stunned.

Then, as if he had thought of something, delight appeared on his face.

Because this meant that, when combined with the Snakefolk Berserk skill, he could permanently increase his own and other allied units' movement speed by 30%!

That was a massive improvement!

Liu Muxue and the others beside him were completely baffled.

They had watched Cao Xing whip himself, grimacing in pain.

Then, his eyes suddenly became excited.

As though he had awakened some strange trait.

And now, he was looking at them with that same excited gaze.

The upright Assam had no idea what was happening. He asked, "My lord, what is wrong?"

Cao Xing raised his head and looked at him. "Assam, can I whip you once?"

Assam: "..."

Liu Muxue: "..."

Sarah: "..."

Although the request was strange, Assam would not disobey Cao Xing's orders due to his loyalty of 95.

As if he had made some difficult decision, he nodded. "If my lord wishes it, then..."

Cao Xing did not stand on ceremony. He swung the whip and lashed Assam directly.

"Smack!"