Hegemonic Body (Seeking Support)

Liang Ji received the 'Snake Barbarian Scripture' bloodline inheritance, the Mountain Splitting Axe, and other skills, along with two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones from his teacher.

The Spirit Stones were the school's reward for his performance during the trial. Two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones weren't much; they could only purchase one or two first-tier Spirit Roots or Spirit Seeds.

However, to Liang Ji, every bit of strength was precious, able to help him narrow the gap between himself and the top Star Lord students.

On Dragon Soul Star, Liang Ji invested the 'Snake Barbarian Scripture' bloodline inheritance, along with the skills for the Mountain Splitting Axe, Flying Snake Spear, and Bedrock Shield.

Roar!

The Dragon Soul coiled around the Natal Star let out a dragon's roar, swallowing these inheritances and skills. After refining them, they descended into the 'Heavenly Emperor Temple' of the Half-Dragonfolk tribe.

Next, the priests of the Heavenly Emperor Temple would impart these bloodline inheritances and skills to the Half-Dragonfolk.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye, equivalent to over a thousand years on Dragon Soul Star. The 'Snake Barbarian Scripture' bloodline inheritance had spread widely among the Half-Dragonfolk retainers. Those who had awakened their bloodline, gained intelligence, and advanced to first-tier Half-Dragonfolk had all cultivated the 'Snake Barbarian Scripture'.

However, as always, the cultivation of the 'Snake Barbarian Scripture' had mutated in the Half-Dragonfolk.

Due to their different bloodline, the Half-Dragonfolk cultivated not the 'Barbarian Body', but the 'Hegemonic Body'.

The characteristic of the Barbarian Body was its unparalleled brute strength and impenetrable defense against weapons.

The Hegemonic Body, however, was a step further. Its strength advanced from 'unparalleled brute strength' to 'unrivaled dominance', with few in the same tier capable of matching its might. Its defense not only retained its impenetrability against physical attacks but also added elemental defense, capable of resisting various elemental damages like ice, fire, and poison.

However, these elemental defenses required the Half-Dragonfolk retainers to cultivate in various corresponding environments to increase.

For example, to gain the ability to resist fire damage, the Half-Dragonfolk retainers needed to cultivate in a fiery environment. To gain the ability to resist ice damage, they needed to cultivate in an icy environment, and so on.

Liang Ji observed these stats and information, his brow furrowed in thought, a slight smile on his face.

The mutation from the Barbarian Body to the Hegemonic Body further validated some of his ideas, giving him more confidence in developing his retainers in the future, catching up to, and even surpassing, the top Star Lord students.

However, this change also disrupted some of his plans.

Originally, after seeing the various Rune Artifact equipment and the peak combat power displayed by the retainers of the top Star Lord students on the trial star, Liang Ji had planned to spend a fortune to acquire a Rune Master inheritance himself, cultivating his own Rune Masters among the Half-Dragonfolk to equip his retainers with Rune Artifacts.

But now, the various manifestations of the Hegemonic Body had thrown his plans into disarray.

To unleash the full potential of the Hegemonic Body, he would undoubtedly need to construct various cultivation environments on his Natal Star for his Half-Dragonfolk retainers to cultivate and increase their elemental defenses.

The construction of these cultivation environments required the integration of various corresponding Spirit Seeds. His current Spirit Stones might not even be enough to purchase many Spirit Seeds, let alone afford a Rune Master inheritance.

So, should he proceed with his original plan to purchase the Rune Master inheritance, or switch to buying Spirit Seeds for setting up cultivation environments?

Liang Ji hesitated for only two seconds before casting the Rune Master inheritance out of his mind.

Based on the effects of the 'Hegemonic Body', he believed that as long as he could properly cultivate the 'Hegemonic Body' of his Half-Dragonfolk retainers, he could contend with the retainers of those top Star Lords, even without Rune Artifact equipment.

"There are still twenty days until the mock exam. This mock exam is held by the school itself and is relatively simple."

"Generally, the homeroom teacher, Teacher Du, will dispatch first-tier retainers from his Natal Star to assess the students' retainers. However, sometimes the principal will also send out his own first-tier retainers for the assessment."

On the trial star, Liang Ji had witnessed Fang Xiaohan's preparations for the mock exam and the college entrance examination, which had deeply moved him.

In the past few days, while cultivating and nurturing his retainers, he had also begun collecting information and making preparations for the mock exam and the college entrance examination.

According to the information he had gathered, Teacher Du's retainers on his Natal Star originated from ordinary Spotted Serpentfolk. However, after many years of cultivation and upgrades, even at the same first-tier level, their combat power was far beyond that of the retainers of new Star Lord students like himself.

"According to some senior students' comments on the school's official forum, Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk retainers are particularly potent with poison."

"The principal's retainers are a special type of ice-fire dual-tailed Serpentfolk, capable of inflicting both ice and fire damage simultaneously."

"This means that to achieve better results in the mock exam, I need to at least train my Half-Dragonfolk retainers' Hegemonic Body to possess poison resistance, ice resistance, and fire resistance – three types of elemental defenses!"

"And the stronger the elemental defense, the better."

Liang Ji mused thoughtfully.

In the afternoon, in the school's training room, he continued to learn the 'Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist' under Teacher Wang Hu.

Most students in the Star Lord class had already completed the skin and muscle training. Now, at the beginning of the second semester, Teacher Wang Hu started teaching the 'Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist', guiding them in strengthening their tendons and bones.

After school, Liang Ji logged onto the 'Treasure Gathering Basin' official website and began searching for various Spirit Seeds and spiritual items used for constructing cultivation environments.

Star Lords in the Star Alliance had specialized research on the construction of cultivation environments for their retainers, even forming a professional course.

They classified the cultivation environments and grounds they built: first-tier as 'Law Grounds', second-tier as 'Spirit Grounds', third-tier as 'Treasure Grounds', fourth-tier as 'Dao Fields', and fifth-tier as 'Secret Realms', and so on.

What Liang Ji needed to build now was the prototype of a first-tier Law Ground. However, given his current conditions and assets, even building a few rudimentary Law Grounds would be considered good. He would need to continuously invest resources later to improve and perfect them.

After some searching, Liang Ji finally selected the 'Myriad Poison Grotto', 'Frozen Abyss', and 'Flame Valley' as his Law Ground seeds.

These Law Ground seeds were several times more expensive than ordinary first-tier Spirit Roots or Spirit Seeds.

Furthermore, after refining them on his Natal Star to form cultivation Law Grounds, continuous investment of corresponding elemental Spirit Seeds would be required for nurturing, resembling a bottomless pit.

The twenty thousand low-grade Spirit Stones invested by Shan De Lou and Hundred Herbs Collection in Liang Ji had dwindled to about five thousand in the past few months.

And these three Law Ground seeds alone would cost around ten thousand Spirit Stones.

Fortunately, in the previous trial star, Liang Ji had gained fifteen thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, and the school had rewarded him with another two thousand.

Otherwise, he would not even have had enough money to purchase these three Law Ground seeds this time.

And this was just the beginning. For the Half-Dragonfolk's Hegemonic Body to achieve comprehensive elemental defense and reach its peak in the future, more types of Law Grounds would need to be constructed on Dragon Soul Star.

Moreover, as the Half-Dragonfolk advanced, these Law Grounds would also need to be perfected and upgraded, which would undoubtedly be countless bottomless pits that devoured Spirit Stones!

Liang Ji felt dizzy and panicked just thinking about it.