Chapter 108

Chapter 85: Clues to the Holy Altar, the Magical Bread!

Shen Xing's eyes flickered slightly, thinking to himself that just as he had expected, Hellscream this time had greatly improved his abilities.

Not only did it activate an advanced skill, but it also gained two bloodline skills.

He first clicked on the first skill and took a look.

[Mirror Image Killing Formation: Requires first casting 'Mirror Image Clone', then all clones are activated and instantly disappear from the original location.]

After 1 second, deal multi-hit damage (number of clones * 2) to all enemies within a 10-meter radius.

Cooldown time: 85 seconds

"It's actually an advanced killing move of the Mirror Image Clone, and it's an area-of-effect skill at that. That's incredibly powerful."

After all, the damage of this killing formation depends on the number of clones.

Shen Xing can continuously increase Hellscream's agility and the number of clones through [Life-Sacrifice Evolution], thereby indirectly increasing the power of this skill.

Then, he glanced at the two bloodline skills following Hellscream.

[Demon Wings (Passive): Initially activates the demonic power within your bloodline, granting abilities such as short-range flight and accelerated dives.]

[Wind of Calamity: Vibrate your wings to unleash two Infernal hurricanes that deal crossfire damage to enemies along the 'X' axis and have a chance to knock them back.]

Cooldown time: 45 seconds

(Note: "My wings can stir up flames, my Roar can shatter mountains, I am -- Calamity!")

"These two skills are quite useful."

"It not only granted Hellscream the ability to fly, but also enhanced his area-of-effect attacks and ranged attacks."

Shen Xing nodded in satisfaction.

He encouraged Hellscream to keep trying.

Then he found Leina and gave her the Boss Rank Soul that had dropped when he killed the Evil Eye the day before.

Flames surged and raging skyward.

This woman also successfully rose to the Boss One Star ★★ and activated a mid-level spell: Flame Nova.

This skill is an extremely powerful area-of-effect attack that rapidly expands outward from the caster, forming a ring of flames.

Given Leina's mental attributes, her maximum killing range could even reach 100 meters.

Lord Shen sighed, thinking that his luck was pretty good; he had succeeded even with a 50% chance.

Then, with a wave of his hand, he dispatched two more generals, Hellscream and Leina, to explore the western and northern parts of the territory.

He then pushed his wheelchair to the center of the territory and teleported the other three treasures into the game.

"Whoosh..."

Gray mist billowed out and then slowly dissipated.

Three gems—orange, red, and white—appeared in his hand.

These are: Flame Gem, Strength Gem, and Troop Lair Evolution Stone.

"Next, we'll need to embed gems and upgrade the nest."

Shen Xing first arrived at the western part of the territory, next to the lava pool with a diameter of five meters, which was also the area of Dretch Unit Nest.

Near the lava pool, there is a black stone pillar with a hexagonal groove in the middle.

This is where the gemstones are set.

[Should I socket Flame Gem) into the Lesser Demon Lair (Elite ★)?]

"Yes."

The orange gemstone fit perfectly into the groove.

The magma pool began to boil violently, bubbling up and emitting a strong sulfurous odor.

The auras of the 15 Dretch in the distance (four more were summoned in the last two days) suddenly increased significantly.

[Inlay successful! All Dretch in the territory gain 15% increased fire damage and 15% reduced fire skill cooldown]

"The Dretch Squad's power has increased again. Now, one wave of bombardment should be enough to instantly kill a Transcendent Rank creature like the Evil Eye."

Shen Xing pondered for a moment, then continued pushing the wheelchair to the orc hut in the center of the territory.

Then, he took out the enhancement stone given to him by Xu Jiayi and used it.

[Use Troop Nest Enhancement Stone to upgrade the Orc Barracks (Common ★★★) to (Elite ★)?]

Shen Xing had considered using materials to upgrade the Orc Barracks to Elite One Star or two, and then using enhancement stones to directly upgrade it to Elite Three Stars.

Alternatively, upgrading the Lesser Demon Lair to Elite Two Stars would be more cost-effective.

However, the materials required to upgrade the Orc Barracks are becoming increasingly expensive, and it's unclear when we'll be able to gather them all.

Needless to say, Dretch Lesser Demon Lair the use of Hellfire Seed.

He had already used up all 15 of them, and couldn't recruit a single Dretch, which meant he hadn't improved at all.

When used on Orc Barracks, it can immediately recruit a large number of Elite One Star orcs, which is a real improvement.

So he decided to use the enhancement stone now.

[Upgrading in progress, estimated time remaining: 17 hours 24 minutes...]

The entire Orc Barracks was enveloped in a white halo, and the automatic upgrade process began.

"Great, I can start recruiting Elite One Star orcs in bulk tomorrow."

"We'll see if we can recruit 100 directly and create a 100-person synergy."

Shen Xing felt a sense of anticipation.

Then, he pushed his wheelchair and leisurely surveyed his growing territory.

Gray raindrops fell steadily overhead, thick fog churned outside, and the roars of monsters echoed incessantly.

Only this territory radiates light and warmth, giving people a sense of peace.

Shen Xing circled the perimeter of the territory, setting up animal traps and tripwires, before returning to the center of the territory.

Before him stood a magnificent altar.

On a platform about two meters high, stands a dark gold statue of a king, holding a sword in both hands, gazing into the distance, exuding an aura of majesty.

It is the [Hero Altar] that has already been completed.

"With this altar, we can now confidently let Hellscream embark on... adventures."

Shen Xing withdrew his gaze and looked again at the Moon Well beside the statue, which emitted a soft, clear light.

Two days later, a layer of clear well water had accumulated at the bottom of the well.

He went closer and collected all the well water.

[Received: 5.5 liters of Moon Spring Water]

After fetching the water, Shen Xing went to the Bluestone Street area of his territory.

Opposite the houses, a quaint two-story building stands quietly—this is the [Hero Tavern].

"The last recruitment attempt failed, but the cooldown period ends today. Let's see if we can recruit some new people this time."

After absorbing Soul Stone over the past few days, Shen Xing's level has risen to level 8, and the tavern's recruitment range has also increased to eight kilometers.

The chances of recruiting new people should be higher than last time.

With that in mind, he immediately clicked on 'Hero Recruitment'.

"Buzz..."

The tavern's wooden door opened automatically, and beams of white light emanated from inside.

After finishing all that, Shen Xing was about to take a patrol outside the territory when he suddenly smelled an enticing aroma of wheat.

"Smell... it smells so good!"

Many units in the territory smelled the fragrance.

Following the source of the smell, one could see steam rising from the chimney of a food processing plant not far away.

Immediately afterwards, a young man with dark skin strode over.

"My lord, the first batch of bread has been produced!" Monday said excitedly.

"Oh? It's ready so quickly?" Shen Xing became interested. "Let's go take a look."

"Yes!"

On Monday, he turned around first and walked towards the processing plant.

Soon, they arrived inside the factory.

Several rows of metal racks were neatly stacked with freshly baked bread from the oven, and the air was filled with the unique aroma of toasted wheat flour.

However... the shape of this bread is really not flattering.

Some looked like pillows that had been sat on, some were flat like pancakes, and a few were simply baked to a charcoal black.

"How did you make these breads?" Shen Xing asked curiously.

"My lord, I've found two slaves who previously worked in the city's bakery and have them come in to make these."

On Monday, he answered truthfully, "First, add a certain proportion of water, then knead the flour into a dough, and finally put it in the oven."

"However... the finished product does look rather ugly." He lowered his head somewhat awkwardly.

Upon hearing this, Shen Xing sighed inwardly.

As expected... professional tasks should be handled by professionals. These slaves are good at farming and mining, but making bread is indeed a bit of a challenge.

Although food processing plants have the tools and equipment to produce food directly, a certain foundation is still required.

Otherwise, the food would turn out like this.

He didn't say much, and casually picked up a piece of bread.