An Unconventional Beauty
Lin Xu relaxed and opened the panel:
Name: Dark Mage · Azure Race: Human Level: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 8 (+2) Constitution: 7 Spirit: 14 (+1) Intelligence: 13 (+2) Health: 70/70 Mana: 154/154 (+24) Skills: Fire Bullet · Azure (advanced): Condenses mana into a small fireball, dealing fire damage to the target and setting it alight Shadow Burn · Azure (intermediate): Draws upon fire and dark elements to burn the target's soul, dealing continuous magic damage and weakening its magic resistance Brain and Spirit Essence Tempering Method · Purple (advanced): Intelligence +2, spirit +2 Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter · Deep Sea Demonic Abyss (basic section/incomplete) · Dark Gold (expert): Summons the Deep Sea Demonic Abyss's otherworldly power and purifies it by lighting the soul lamp with the heart's fire, increasing mana recovery and cultivation speed. Mana recovery +1 point/second, Qi and spirit cultivation efficiency +50% Evaluation: The soul lamp burns bright, cultivation never ceases. The light of truth is glimpsed in the darkness, and mana surges like the deep sea
Lin Xu nodded in satisfaction. It didn't matter that the Dark Mage knew few spells; he could teach him the ones he knew. What mattered was that the Dark Mage's base attributes were quite good. "From now on, you'll be called Alaites."
Using the same method, he transformed the second Dark Mage into a Dharma protector, but this time it was Alaites, not Lin Xu, who spent mana to condense the Dharma Seed.
The submission of the two Dark Mages put Lin Xu in an excellent mood. His gaze then fell on the Dark Warriors and Dark Ladies.
According to the fragments of information he had obtained from the Evil Eyes' and Dark Mages' minds, the dungeon's fighting forces could be roughly divided into three tiers.
Low-tier troops were cannon fodder like skeletons and goblins. Apart from being cheap and numerous, they had no other advantages.
Evil Eyes and Dark Mages were mid-tier troops, the dungeon's mainstay, and came in many varieties.
Dark Warriors and Dark Ladies, on the other hand, were the dungeon's high-tier troops and its core fighting force. They were mid-rank professionals as soon as they were recruited, with astonishing combat power.
A Dark Warrior, for example, wore a full suit of enchanted plate armor and could blast through a city wall with Dark Battle Qi. One alone had the power to affect a local battlefield.
After some thought, Lin Xu's gaze settled on the Dark Ladies.
Compared to the hardheaded Dark Warriors, the Dark Ladies, who would flee, might offer a way in...
With that thought, the spirit lamp in his hand flickered, and Lin Xu's illusion art drew a Dark Lady into an illusion.
The burning bronze pillar, death by a thousand cuts, dismemberment by five horses...
One torture after another played out in the mental illusion. Judging by his experience with the Dark Mages, she would soon submit...
"Ah~ ah~"
The alluring gasps stunned Lin Xu. He carefully sensed the Dark Lady's mental state and actually detected a kind of "relaxation," a continuous "release"...
She was a masochist, and she'd gone straight to a mental orgasm!
"What the hell is this?" A black line appeared on his forehead, and he nearly lost his composure.
At that moment, scattered bits of information he had "seen" earlier in the Evil Eyes' and Dark Mages' memory fragments surfaced, and Lin Xu finally understood—the dungeon had dedicated torture chambers for punishing disobedient monsters or captured enemies, and the Dark Ladies were the ones who carried out the torture!
These unconventional beauties with explosive figures loved nothing more than whipping prisoners undergoing punishment with wet leather whips. The prisoners' agonized wails as they struggled were the sweetest music to their ears.
Sometimes, when the mood struck, a Dark Lady would even lie down on the instruments of torture of her own accord and experience the pleasure of being punished firsthand.
"Fuck!" Lin Xu nearly cursed aloud. He looked at the Dark Lady, her face flushed and her eyes hazy as she still basked in the afterglow. He fell silent for a moment, then turned his gaze to the Dark Warriors.
A moment later, he withdrew his consciousness, rubbing his temples.
As expected, the Dark Warriors' wills were even more resolute. In the Dark Warriors' and Evil Eyes' memory fragments, these silent warriors loved nothing more than working up a sweat on the training ground, practicing for an entire day at a time.
Or they would simply head to the arena and swing their greatswords in a bloody battle between men until one side fell in a pool of blood.
When Lin Xu's consciousness touched a Dark Warrior's mind, all he felt was a fighting will as solid as a rock!
"The wills of high-tier troops are far more resolute than I imagined..." He glanced at the Dark Lady, who wore a suspicious look of afterglow. Even these perverts were far tougher in mind and willpower than goblins and other rank-and-file troops.
Lin Xu shook his head regretfully. "Looks like I'll have to put this aside for now."
Under normal circumstances, the Consciousness Lock lay dormant in a troop's soul. Only with the troop's willing cooperation could it be activated, allowing Lin Xu to melt it with the flame of Lamp Kindling. Otherwise, this chain of loyalty was indestructible unless the troop's soul was burned to nothing.
After instructing the Dao soldiers on guard to keep a close watch on the captives, Lin Xu gave them one last look and left with the two Dark Mages.
Of course, he couldn't kill the captive mid-rank professionals; that would be too wasteful. Still less could he let the tigers return to the mountain, so he could only keep them locked up for the time being.
After settling in the two newly joined Dark Mages, Lin Xu instructed Wang Yue to make preparations for the village's defense, then set off for the scripture repository at Xuanwei Monastery.
Peach Tree Village was a little over ten li from Xuanwei Monastery. At Lin Xu's pace, aided by a lightness technique, it took him only the time needed to drink a cup of tea to reach the monastery gate.
Upon entering, he immediately noticed that there were far fewer monastery disciples coming and going. Each wore a grave expression and hurried along, carrying swords and talismans. Clearly, they had entered a state of battle readiness.
Lin Xu went straight to the scripture repository. This time, the old Daoist guarding it had clearly changed his attitude. He glanced at the silver identity token in Lin Xu's hand and nodded, letting him pass. "Inner disciples may read three Daoist scriptures for free each month, but they may not take them outside."
Lin Xu cupped his fists in thanks and stepped inside, his footsteps quiet.
A bronze coiling-dragon lamp suspended high beneath the dome cast a dim glow, giving the scriptures throughout the room an ancient golden-brown sheen.
Lin Xu walked slowly between the shelves, his fingertips brushing over one dust-laden Daoist scripture after another as he silently recited the arts he needed.
He had a clear objective for this visit: to find texts on artifact refining, formations, and talismans that could rapidly improve the village's production and defenses.
His gaze finally stopped on an incomplete volume. The ancient seal-script characters spelling "Azure Earth Artifact Refining Manual" were mottled and faded, yet they carried a weighty air.
He turned to the first page, where the casting patterns of a bronze furnace stood out vividly on the paper. The volume recorded methods for refining practical implements used by ordinary people. Waterwheels and plows, for instance, could become much more efficient and durable when infused with spirit patterns.
A trace of delight appeared in Lin Xu's eyes. This was exactly what Peach Tree Village urgently needed.
He quickly opened the incomplete volume. A flash of spiritual light entered his sea of consciousness, and a vast amount of information flooded in like a tide. In the state of Thought Overclocking, the text unfolded on its own in his sea of consciousness, and the structures of the spirit patterns were analyzed one by one.
With its contents engraved in his sea of consciousness, he also found the Compendium of Basic Formation Arts, the Essentials of Alchemy, and the Introduction to Talismans, and committed them to memory as well.