Manticore

Most skill books on the market come from adventures in the Spirit Realm. This uncertainty leads to a long-term shortage of skill books and persistently high prices.

"Take combat skills as an example. The most basic 'Basic Swordsmanship' costs as much as 10 Heaven Silver, enough to buy a basic set of adventure equipment." She looked at Lin Xu and concluded, "You may not care about money, but you can't ignore influence—if adventurers discover a territory where they can reliably obtain skill books, then this place will become a pilgrimage site for the entire Spirit Realm adventurer community."

Lin Xu's heart stirred, and he became truly interested.

With the Spirit Vein, he wasn't short of money from selling books, but his territory was in dire need of rebuilding, and he needed to leverage this to facilitate the flow of talent and resources between the real world and the Spirit Realm. Of course, this had to wait until the territory's infrastructure was completed and the industrial chain was fully established.

"Organize your thoughts, form a complete report, and submit it to me as soon as possible." Lin Xu nodded.

Li Yingqiu bowed and agreed.

Watching her turn and leave, Lin Xu went to the Precious Radiance Spirit-Tempering Cauldron, preparing to forge magical artifacts for the demon soldiers that the Black Tiger Demon had just recruited.

With a major battle looming, we must do everything in our power to arm our troops.

Compared to human equipment, the demon soldiers' weapons and equipment are much more complicated. For example, the Leopard Spirit is good at agility and speed, wears light armor, and wields a nimble scimitar.

But if it's a bull demon or a bear demon, they'll be heavily armored and wield large axes or bronze hammers.

In short, different Demon Race need to forge different weapons and equipment according to their racial type.

Deep within the mist, an underground legion is gradually approaching.

A hundred skeleton soldiers led the way, followed closely by fifty or sixty green goblins.

These are all cannon fodder for the legion, charging ahead in battle and covering the rear during retreats.

The main force of this legion is located at its center.

A group of twenty or thirty dark mages formed a mage corps and followed behind the giant lord.

The lord's guards consisted of eight dark warriors clad in full-body enchanted plate armor.

Six dark witches followed closely behind, along with two Half-Giant nearly three meters tall, clad in heavy armor and wielding enchanted Warhammer, who walked with heavy steps.

The seven pale-faced Vampire, dressed in tailcoats, maintained an elegant silence, but when they looked at the noisy monsters around them, they often revealed a bloodthirsty look.

Although they numbered only about twenty, they were the absolute core of this legion.

To the left of the legion was the left wing legion, composed of Fire Salamander and cave giants, while to the right was the right wing legion, a mixed force of heretics and spider demons.

Behind the main force was a ranged support team consisting of a dozen or so Dark Elf archers.

Above this underground legion, a dozen Evil Eye floated in mid-air, while more than twenty Demon Fly scurried around the legion, delivering the intelligence they had gathered to the city lord.

Suddenly, the sunlight in the sky was blocked, and a shadow swept across the horizon.

Above the Evil Eye, a gigantic Manticore flapped its bat wings and soared through the sky.

This colossal beast, about 30 meters long, looked down upon the entire legion from the sky. Its golden eyes were like torches, and its massive and majestic lion head coldly swept across the battlefield. Its sharp teeth were like swords forged from cold iron, and beneath its brown mane, fine and hard scales clung tightly to its rough skin.

Its thick limbs extended with sharp claws and hooks, its scorpion tail hung high like a hook, and the venom sac at the end gleamed with a cold, eerie blue light; its two enormous bat wings flapped, stirring up howling winds that shook the Evil Eye below, causing them to adjust their hovering postures.

It let out a low growl, the sound waves rippling outwards as if they were tangible, even causing distant mountain rocks to tremble slightly—that was the overseer of the underground legion, the predator of the sky.

Manticore, Level 12 War Beast, Strength 18, Agility 22, Constitution 17, Spirit 13, Intelligence 7, Health 5100, Magic 3120

Skill: Behemoth Unit, Health * 20, Mana * 20, Health Regeneration + 20/sec, Mana Regeneration + 20/sec

Seconds: Damage +100%, Critical Hit Chance +10%, Critical Hit Damage +100%

[Scorpion Tail Sting] Tears through the air with its stinger, dealing area-of-effect piercing damage and inflicting paralysis. [Berserk Stomp] Slams the earth, causing enemies within ten paces to lose their balance and fall. [Lion's Roar's Roar] Intimidates enemies, weakening their will to attack and reducing their accuracy. [Venom Gland Spray] Spews corrosive acid, continuously burning the target and reducing their defense. [Diving Assault] Descends from the sky, its wings tearing through the air, its claws like hooks striking the target's vitals. In the Spirit Realm, behemoth units enjoy the same spell and health bonuses as elite and hero units, and are 20%...

The bonuses start at several times, even more exaggerated than those of regular elite or hero units.

Furthermore, due to their size, these behemoth units receive a massive boost to their strength and physical attributes, and even their defense and damage resistance far exceed those of smaller creatures. However, their agility is correspondingly weakened.

"Just ahead..." The dungeon lord's gaze turned into the depths of the mist, where a Demon Fly pierced through the fog and found its target— Azure Cloud Mountain.

"The earth's pulse has subsided again... What happened with the previous Earth Vein fluctuations?" The giant silently sensed the changes in the Earth Vein. As the lord of the underground city, it was used to pondering things alone. "Was it a failure, or...?"

Its keen perception of the Earth Vein told it that the condensation of the Earth Authority had ended, but common sense told it that this idea was wrong. The condensation of power is a long process, and without special methods, the whole process would be stretched to hundreds or thousands of years.

Even it, the dungeon lord, with the added benefit of the Earth Vein Heart, would need half a month to complete this process...

Silently pondering, the giant did not slow down; whatever the outcome, he had to go and see for himself.

As a mature faction, the dungeon has corresponding countermeasures against mental perception or detection spells such as "crisis premonition" to prevent enemies from preparing in advance.

At this moment, in the quiet room of Azure Cloud Mountain, Lin Xu was completely unaware of the approaching danger. After completing the equipment forging of the demon soldiers, he once again immersed himself in cultivation.

After condensing the Mountain God Authority, he quickly noticed changes in his sea of consciousness —the Mountain Lord Talisman Edict and the phantom of the spirit lamp combined, releasing a bright light that constantly expanded the boundaries of his sea of consciousness.

In just a few hours, the diameter of his sea of consciousness expanded more than three times, and a massive amount of Spiritual Qi was transformed into magical power to fill the space.

As consciousness undergoes its transformation within the sea of consciousness, it becomes increasingly acute. With the magical power flowing throughout the body, even the most minute cellular defects are observed and repaired, gradually evolving towards perfection.

The acupoints, like stars, were illuminated in the sea of consciousness, twinkling with varying brightness, just like a sky full of stars.

"The expansion of my sea of consciousness is basically complete, and my magical power has been fully accumulated. I can begin the second stage of cultivation."

In a state of Thought Overclocking, Heavenly Cycle Star Formation Diagram forms around the body's acupoints, shining brightly in the consciousness.