Bloodshadow Valley lay in the southeastern corner of the Lanyin Empire, bordering the Far East Prairie and the Blazing Sun Desert.
The environment here was unusual, and it was clear someone had deliberately made it that way. To the northwest was a dense forest with abundant rainfall; to the east, near the Far East Prairie, was a high-altitude grassland; and to the south, near the Blazing Sun Desert, was a scorching desert.
(In the original work, that was how the Rhine Empire was situated geographically. I also wondered how that part of the Blazing Sun Desert could have a desert climate.)
Different magical beasts lived in the different environments.
The Rhine Clan lived in "Bloodshadow Valley," which was surrounded by them.
"This really is a magic formation refined from the corpse of a Deity-level giant monster!" a young member of the Rhine Clan exclaimed in shock.
From a distance, they looked like towering trees standing in orderly rows, but up close, they turned out to be ribs. There was also a small hill in the distance whose shape suggested it was a monster's skull buried under sand and stone.
"It looks like the skeleton of a crocodile."
"It must be tens of thousands of meters long," someone exclaimed.
Jason couldn't clearly remember many details from the original work, but he vaguely recalled that the Midgod Ba-Serpent, Tarosse, had once revealed his true form, which was around ten thousand meters long. It looked as though this divine beast had probably been a Midgod too.
"The elemental concentration here is over fifty times higher than outside. It's probably even higher farther in," someone said in delight.
It's about the same as the center of Mist Valley, Jason thought.
(In the original work, the elemental concentration directly beneath the magic formation in that cave in Mist Valley was a hundred times higher than outside, but the central area occupied by Eighth-level dragons was not described directly.)
On the Yulan continent, some people also used various magic formations to increase the elemental concentration in their training areas, but at most they could raise it to a little over ten times the level outside, and doing so consumed a great many magicite crystals. Treasured places like Mist Valley and Netherworld Valley were extremely rare.
A closer look at the upright bones revealed intricate patterns carved into them. The divine beast's skeleton had clearly been processed afterward, and the elemental concentration here was connected to those runes.
The closer they got to the skull, the higher the elemental concentration became. Jason and his companions did not venture as far as the skull, as it was already occupied by stronger people.
Roughly halfway into Bloodshadow Valley stood a row of completed buildings resembling townhouses.
"You can live here alone or share a place with someone. The shops and dining hall we just passed supply food and provisions at regular times. Also, be careful to use the designated training grounds for fighting and sparring." The Saint-level expert leading them pointed at the enclosed training grounds in the distance, then pointed to three roads. "If you want to go out and train, use the three entrances and exits. Don't climb the surrounding hills at random. The runes that maintain the valley's elements are there."
The Saint-level expert who had guided the group of more than fifty into the valley left, and Jason and the others began assigning rooms.
Jason and Veronica chose a place on the third floor. It was simple, with one bedroom and a living room, and basic soundproofing runes on the walls. The toilet and bathing room were in two separate little buildings outside.
Apparently, several more groups would be coming in later and would probably be assigned to other areas. If fighting wasn't taken into account, Bloodshadow Valley was quite large, about half the size of Mist Valley.
(The valley contained the divine beast's remains, and its total area was much larger than the skeleton.)
Jason sensed the elemental energy around him.
"This place is better than Mist Valley. The different elements are well balanced, and their concentration isn't low either," Jason remarked.
One reason the two had left Mist Valley without any reluctance was that its elements were predominantly of the darkness attribute, which suited neither of them.
"Mm. Are you going to consolidate your magic first, or go straight out and fight magical beasts to try to break through to Ninth-level Warrior?" Veronica asked.
"I'll consolidate my magic first." Jason had previously learned two types of magic, water and lightning. The training methods for the other two, life and fate, were held by the High Priest and the Radiant Church, and Jason wouldn't be able to find them anytime soon.
"I want to stabilize my cultivation first too, and fully master Wielding Something Heavy as Though It Were Light while I'm at it." It hadn't been long since Veronica had broken through to Eighth-level Warrior either.
After transforming, Veronica now had the strength of a peak Ninth-level Warrior. Once she comprehended Wielding Something Heavy as Though It Were Light, she would be able to suppress Jason with ease. However, she didn't seem to like using her dragon transformation. Jason hadn't seen Veronica use it since they left Mist Valley.
"Meow." Linda had been brought along too. She had grown tired of eating at the imperial palace during this time, so she had decided to come to Bloodshadow Valley and work hard.
Jason trained in the living room, while Veronica and Linda trained in the bedroom. The reason was that Jason had sensed that Lumba had broken through to the seventh level in the Netherworld, and he wanted to find time to go take a look.
"I've finally caught up to your level." Lumba was, of course, referring to Jason's level in Necromancy.
"Mm, looks like you completed your transformation through adversity." Jason sized Lumba up.
The breakthrough from the sixth to the seventh level was very difficult for undead and required a great deal of Soulfire, because it involved a transformation of their "type." Some also had to awaken magic.
Lumba had originally been a Dark Warrior, and his "type" hadn't changed, but he still had to awaken magic, and his weapons had to change to suit his preferences.
Lumba's weapon had become a one-handed battle-axe, wreathed in fire-element energy, and he now carried a bone shield in his left hand, with earth-element energy gathering on it. As for Lumba himself, his formerly zombie-like body was now covered in a layer of black cloth. He looked like a wandering warrior or an adventurer who had lived in the wilderness for a long time.
"What magic did you awaken?" Jason asked.
"Fireball, Flame Ring, Mire, Gravity, and Earthquake." Lumba still relied mainly on close combat and had awakened only five spells.
He now had the strength of a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, and apart from the location of his Undead Fire, no other part of him was a vital point.
Jason was quite satisfied. If he had only cultivated Necromancy, the current Lumba already possessed a certain amount of fighting strength, not to mention the group of fifth- and sixth-level undead supporting him.
"Hm? One?" Jason asked.
Even if Lumba hadn't broken through to the seventh level, the undead squad would have been more than capable of killing a seventh-level undead.
Lumba nodded. "It's a seventh-level undead Corpse Dragon."
Even after death, dragons still looked down on other races. Once transformed by the Netherworld, they became seventh-level undead, and thanks to their size, they were nearly invincible against others of the same level.
On the other hand, there were very few of them.
"Interesting."
Jason checked the state of his undead army: Lumba was at the early stage of the seventh level; the dual-sword skeleton, the little zombie, and the zombie archer were at the peak of the sixth level; the skeletal leopard was at the middle stage of the sixth level; and the skeleton rhinoceros and four humanoid skeletons were all at the early stage of the sixth level.
"That should be enough to deal with a Corpse Dragon." Jason then asked, "Where is it?"
It wasn't until midnight that Jason opened his eyes, having kept his consciousness in the Netherworld the entire time.
"**, that Corpse Dragon didn't have a shred of draconic pride. It actually flew away at the end of the fight."