A Resounding Victory

The battle was over in just four or five minutes.

The Fire Sprite's arrival became the final straw that broke the Blackscale Lizardmen.

Wherever the little creature went, Blackscale Lizardmen turned into living torches one after another, their bodies erupting in raging flames. Wailing and screaming, they fell to the ground and rolled about madly until they became charred corpses.

Even the mighty Blackscale Lizardman Chieftain only held out a little longer under the Fire Sprite's attacks before ultimately suffering the same fate.

Elemental creatures like the Fire Sprite were practically the natural nemesis of Blackscale Lizardmen, who lacked even battle aura and fought entirely with their physical bodies.

Once the battle ended, everyone began clearing the battlefield.

Every person who passed by Sunan secretly looked at him with reverence.

The Fire Sprite was certainly terrifying, but Sunan, who could summon such a monster, inspired even greater awe from the depths of their hearts.

The soldiers who had not participated in the battle at Blackstone Mine were especially stunned.

They had never imagined that the frail-looking Young Master Sunan could be so formidable.

That strange, mysterious power of his seemed even more powerful than Lord Kei's!

At that moment, they suddenly understood why the knight generals had always treated Sunan with such respect.

It was clearly reverence for the strong!

"After today's battle, the news that I've become a Wizard Apprentice probably won't stay hidden."

Noticing the soldiers' gazes around him, Sunan mused silently.

Still, he did not pay it much mind. This sort of thing could not be kept secret for long anyway.

As the number of knights in Blackstone City increased and the Blackrock Cavalry Regiment became more active, more and more people would inevitably investigate the reason behind it.

When that happened, he would not be able to keep a low profile even if he wanted to.

There were still some elderly, young, women, and children among the Blackscale Lizardmen in the tribe, around sixty or seventy in total.

Kei did not order them all killed. Instead, he had these Blackscale Lizardmen tied up and taken back to Blackstone City, clearly intending to keep them in captivity as a steady supply of blood.

The corpses of the dead Blackscale Lizardmen could not be wasted either. Their blood was all drained and stored in special preservation containers to be taken away.

The Giant Lizard Mutant was also bound and taken away.

Compared to ordinary Blackscale Lizardmen, the Giant Lizard Mutant was undoubtedly a better source of blood.

After all, what flowed through its body was genuine Dragon Lizard Blood.

Everyone was excited on the journey back.

Kei's face bore an undisguisable smile.

This battle had completely eliminated the cancer that was the Blackscale Lizardmen.

And the price they paid was fewer than fifty casualties.

They owed such a brilliant victory to Sunan.

He alone had killed seventy or eighty Blackscale Lizardmen, including nearly ten knight-level Blackscale Lizardman elites.

This battle could truly be described as a resounding victory!

More importantly, Blackstone City would now have an endless supply of materials for making Lesser Dragon Blood Potions.

Kei could practically see the number of knights in Blackstone City skyrocketing.

The triumphant army received a warm welcome from the citizens upon returning to the city.

Especially when they saw the escorted Blackscale Lizardman prisoners, the cheers became deafening.

Many civilians whose relatives had died at the hands of the Blackscale Lizardmen could not resist throwing stones at the prisoners.

The soldiers did not stop them, pretending not to see as they allowed the civilians to vent their anger.

After returning to the inner fortress, Kei instructed old Geller, the Butler, to prepare food and wine for a celebratory banquet. The knights led by Jordan responded enthusiastically.

For the entire night, the inner fortress was steeped in an atmosphere of wild jubilation.

After the war, Blackstone City returned to its course of development.

Sunan also became busy.

Aside from meditating, he devoted most of his time to making Lesser Dragon Blood Potions.

Large quantities of Blackscale Lizardman blood were transported into Sunan's laboratory, then turned into Lesser Dragon Blood Potions.

Nearly every day, new knights were born in Blackstone City.

Only after all the Blackscale Lizardman blood acquired during the battle had been used up, forcing him to draw blood from the Blackscale Lizardman prisoners for materials, did Sunan slow down his production of Lesser Dragon Blood Potions.

But at this point, his attention shifted to the Giant Lizard Mutant.

The Giant Lizard Mutant possessed exceptionally vigorous vitality. After around ten days of recovery, the wounds left by the Fire Sprite had long since healed completely.

Sunan had specially synthesized a batch of high-quality metal from Blackstone Iron to forge a massive cage for imprisoning the Giant Lizard Mutant.

To prevent the Giant Lizard Mutant from escaping, he also gave it a Touch of Fatigue every day.

By now, the Giant Lizard Mutant looked terrified whenever it saw him.

Inside the enormous metal cage, under the giant lizard's aggrieved gaze, Sunan drew another large tube of blood from it as usual before leaving the cage, closing the door, and locking it securely.

The concentration of Dragon Lizard Blood in the giant lizard's body was even higher than he had expected, reaching 18.35%.

If he used Blackscale Lizardman blood, he would need roughly twenty times the volume of blood to synthesize Dragon Lizard Blood of that concentration.

"This concentration of Dragon Lizard Blood will save me quite a bit of time."

Sunan looked at the row of bottles and jars filled with crimson liquid on the laboratory table. They were all blood he had drawn from the giant lizard over the past few days.

If he had drawn it from the Blackscale Lizardman prisoners instead, it would probably have taken one or two months to accumulate this much Dragon Lizard Blood.

"This should be enough."

Steadying himself, Sunan began synthesizing Subdragon Blood before starting to make Lesser Dragon Blood Potions.

Having made a great number of potions during this period, his Potion Making skill proficiency had long since surpassed 2,000. He was only a little over 800 proficiency away from reaching Level 3.

The success rate for making Lesser Dragon Blood Potions had also exceeded 30%.

For a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice, that was already an astonishing success rate.

Half a day later, more than twenty bottles of Lesser Dragon Blood Potion had appeared on the laboratory table.

Three of them had even reached mid-grade quality.

Sunan placed the potions into the cube one by one.

After placing three mid-grade and five low-grade Lesser Dragon Blood Potions inside, the potion in the synthesis interface finally underwent a qualitative change.

Dragon Blood Potion (First Tier/Low Grade): After consumption, strengthens constitution. The specific degree of enhancement depends on the consumer's constitution; the weaker the constitution, the stronger the effect. Repeated consumption weakens the effect. The consumer's constitution must be at least 5.

"Not bad."

A satisfied smile appeared on Sunan's face.

If he had made Dragon Blood Potions directly, with his current Level 2 Potion Making skill, the success rate would probably have been a pitiful single digit.

Even if luck allowed him to make one bottle, the material cost would be at least six or seven times what it was now.

By comparison, making low-tier potions first and then synthesizing them into high-tier potions with the cube was clearly much more cost-effective.

Coming back to himself, Sunan synthesized the potion without hesitation and drank it on the spot.

His constitution was currently 5.61, exactly meeting the consumption requirement.

A familiar heat suddenly erupted from within his body and instantly surged through every limb and bone.

Sunan felt as though his entire body had been soaked in scalding magma. Amid the intense pain was a faint, irresistible thrill.

It took quite a while for the strange sensation in his body to slowly fade.

Sunan let out a long breath. His muscles and bones seemed to have become much denser, while a surging sense of power welled up within him as though it could burst forth at any moment.

Looking at the panel again, his constitution had already become 11.46!

It had increased by nearly six full points!

"As expected of a first-tier potion!"

Joy spread across Sunan's face.

In terms of constitution alone, he was now almost on par with an Intermediate Knight.

His constitution had even surpassed his 11.35 Spirit Power.

It could only be said that compared to raising Spirit Power, strengthening the physical body posed almost no difficulty for wizards and Wizard Apprentices.

"Star Ring Meditation needs just over 3,000 more proficiency to reach Level 4. At the fastest, it'll only take a little over a month."

Thinking that he would soon advance to a Level Two Wizard Apprentice, Sunan could not help but feel invigorated.

After recovering from his delight, he used the remaining Lesser Dragon Blood Potions to synthesize another Dragon Blood Potion.

He did not intend to drink this potion himself. He planned to give it to Kei instead.

"A person can consume at most four or five bottles of Dragon Blood Potion. Taking more after that won't have any effect, but that should be enough for Kei to advance to a Grand Knight."