Chapter 187: Upgrading Talents! New Mount and Pet Functions Added!
At this moment—
Within the core pollution zone of Wan territory—
The Abyssal Corrupted Cao Anmin sensed a summons.
He immediately beat his wings and flew into the sky, rapidly heading toward the center of Old Wan City.
Everywhere along the path—
Both heaven and earth were filled with twisted, mutated monsters and grotesque scenery.
After the Abyss descended—
Old Wan City became the core pollution zone.
Naturally, it was the most twisted and maddened region in all of Wan territory.
Although Abyssal creatures lacked reproductive ability—
They possessed eternal lifespans and immortality.
For one hundred and twenty years—
Living beings had continuously become corrupted.
Yet no Abyssal creature had ever truly died.
Thus, their numbers and scale had continuously increased—
And now had reached an utterly terrifying level.
As the Abyss’ headquarters within this space—
The scale of Abyssal monsters gathered within Old Wan City exceeded imagination!
Even the city itself—
After enduring endless daily pollution—
Had long since become unrecognizable.
All kinds of bizarre transformations had occurred—
Turning it into the most horrifying forbidden zone of life within the Wan City region.
Its danger level vastly surpassed that of Xinye City.
If an ordinary person lacking strong willpower accidentally entered this place—
Forget whether they could endure the atmosphere here—
Simply glancing at the chaotic and grotesquely mutated scenery of this city of madness would cause their sanity to collapse and their mind to break.
However—
As a citizen of the Abyss—
Cao Anmin already thrived here like a fish in water.
His thoughts had long been assimilated by the Abyssal Will.
He had lived with this identity for over one hundred and twenty years.
The memories of his former self had already been swept into the farthest corners of his mind.
Most of the values and thoughts he once held as a human—
Now seemed immature and childish remnants from before his evolution.
The current Cao Anmin—
Heard the whispers of the Abyss every single moment.
Every single moment—
He could feel the greatness of the Abyss.
He was proud to have become a child of the Abyss.
He had also long since prepared himself to be completely swallowed by it.
Because only the Abyss could create the most depraved and mutated—
Yet also the greatest and most perfect existence.
Even if his consciousness and sanity were entirely devoured by the Abyss—
He himself would become a part of the Abyss.
He would never disappear!
As Cao Anmin slowly descended into Old Wan City with his wings beating—
Nearly ten Abyssal citizens stood before him.
Among them—
The aura of the leading figure was especially terrifying.
Even compared to Cao Anmin—
The difference was immeasurable.
“Brother!”
Cao Anmin called out in a hoarse voice.
This person was precisely Cao Cao’s eldest son, Cao Ang.
Of course—
To Abyssal beings—
Relationships such as parents, siblings, and bloodlines no longer held meaning.
Yet Cao Anmin still subconsciously used his former forms of address toward this terrifying existence whose strength was second only to Dian Wei.
Cao Ang said:
“General Dian has already awakened.”
Cao Anmin asked:
“Could it be that General Dian intends to personally take action this time?”
Over the past one hundred and twenty years—
The Day of Ultimate Darkness had erupted nearly a thousand times.
By now—
The pollution zone already covered ninety percent of Wan territory.
As for why the remaining ten percent still existed—
Partly because Jia Xu’s Sixfold Providence Formation truly was formidable.
And partly because the Abyss did not necessarily need to completely corrupt every region.
The population flourishing within New Wan City was itself potential Abyssal population.
In recent years—
Dian Wei did not personally take action every time.
Usually—
Cao Ang led the Abyssal army in assaults against New Wan City.
However—
Whenever Dian Wei personally entered battle—
Even under the protection of the Sixfold Providence Formation—
New Wan City still suffered devastating losses.
Now—
The effects of the Sixfold Providence Formation were becoming weaker and weaker.
Cao Anmin believed the time had come to launch the decisive battle as quickly as possible.
As long as Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu, Wen Ping, and the others were all dragged into the Abyssal nightmare—
The Abyssal forces could completely seize control of this region.
Cao Ang said:
“General Dian sensed changes occurring in the direction of Xinye City. A strange absence appeared within the nightmare puzzle, and the aura of the Evil Infant Deng Ai suddenly vanished as well.”
Suddenly vanished?
Even Cao Anmin could not understand this.
Even if defeated by the experts of New Wan City—
The Evil Infant should not simply disappear into thin air.
Nightmares could not be killed—
Unless one special circumstance appeared……
That was the intervention of the Stars’ Will.
Only the power of the Stars could purify nightmares.
Cao Anmin immediately said:
“Could it be that the Stars have descended?”
Cao Ang replied:
“That is possible. Therefore, during this Ultimate Darkness, you will act as the vanguard. Immediately head to Xinye and grasp the local situation. General Dian and I will arrive afterward!”
“Yes!”
At this moment—
There was still some time before Ultimate Darkness fully descended.
Core pollution sources still could not leave the core pollution zone.
However—
Other Abyssal citizens beneath the core nightmare’s influence possessed the ability to temporarily leave the core region and briefly move within ordinary pollution zones.
Below Dian Wei and Cao Ang within Old Wan City—
Cao Anmin belonged to the strongest tier of Corrupted beings.
He possessed mobility far surpassing other Corrupted creatures.
Whether for reconnaissance or acting as vanguard—
He was the most suitable choice.
Cao Anmin wasted no words.
His enormous, savage wings beat once more.
He rapidly soared into the sky and headed toward Xinye City.
…………
At this same moment—
Hang Yu had already completed a round of building upgrades.
He upgraded one Dining Hall, one Alchemy Workshop, and one Forging Workshop each.
Because his resources were limited—
The remaining facilities would be dealt with later.
After all—
Recruiting new employees also required time.
With Tier-Three workshops as the foundation—
Hang Yu could now directly recruit advanced blacksmiths and advanced alchemists.
There was no need to painstakingly cultivate them from scratch before they could immediately begin forging Tier-Three equipment or refining Tier-Three pills.
Doing this—
Had both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was saving training costs and time.
The disadvantage was that these were all top-tier talents.
No matter which territory they joined—
They would receive favorable treatment.
Naturally, they tended to be proud and difficult to manage.
Their demands and conditions were usually extremely high as well.
Personally—
Hang Yu preferred recruiting workers whose abilities were temporarily weaker—
But who possessed high potential, obedience, and diligence.
This way—
He could sign long-term contracts with them—
And gradually cultivate them into loyal confidants.
However—
As the territory continued expanding—
Training every employee entirely from scratch consumed too much time.
Thus—
If suitable candidates could be found—
The option of directly recruiting high-level production professionals could not be completely ruled out.
After the territory facilities were upgraded—
Hang Yu began focusing on improving his own strength.
And the methods of increasing strength were nothing more than three categories:
Equipment, skills, and Talents.
Regarding equipment—
Hang Yu still had considerable room for improvement.
Although he had already reached Tier Three—
Every piece of his equipment remained Tier Two.
If he could raise all his equipment to Tier Three—
Then strengthen them to sufficiently high levels—
His overall strength would definitely rise tremendously.
The problem was—
There were currently no blacksmiths capable of forging Tier-Three equipment.
There was a need to raise Yan Ling’s level as quickly as possible.
As for skills—
The room for growth was likewise immense.
The territory still possessed many skills which, despite being the Lord, Hang Yu had yet to learn.
For example—
Zhang Zhongjing’s Alchemy Arts and Talisman Arts.
Additionally—
Hang Yu possessed an enormous number of skills.
Yet among them—
Only two were Blue-quality skills.
This was truly somewhat unworthy of his current level and attribute strength!
There was a need to collect items or buildings capable of increasing the number of skill-teaching opportunities.
Only then could he gather all the territory’s skills onto himself as quickly as possible—
Thus increasing his attributes.
Beyond that—
He also needed to fully utilize the Dao Comprehension Tower.
He had to create more fusion skills—
Especially Blue-quality fusion skills.
With his current abundance of skills—
Through integration—
Turning fragments into wholes, complexity into simplicity, and quantity into refinement—
Hang Yu could absolutely create several more Blue skills for himself—
Thereby effectively enhancing his overall combat power.
This process would require large amounts of Magic Crystals, Essence—
And time!
Was there a faster method of improving personal strength?
The answer was: Talents!
Regarding Talents—
Hang Yu had already activated five Lord Talents:
“Lord’s Aura,” “Pioneer’s Heart,” “Soul of the King,” “Overlord of the Stars,” and “Human Emperor Physique.”
Unlike other Talents—
Lord Talents could be upgraded!
Generally—
Lord Talents could be upgraded to Level 5 through consuming Talent Points.
The higher the Talent’s grade—
The more difficult it was to upgrade—
And the more Talent Points it required.
Currently—
Hang Yu only had one remaining Tier-Three Talent Point.
Keeping it served little purpose for now.
After all—
It would still be a long time before he gathered enough for ten Talent Points.
Given the current circumstances—
Breaking through Tier Three again in the short term was impossible.
Rather than that—
He might as well use this Talent Point elsewhere.
Among his current Talents—
Human Emperor Physique possessed the highest value.
Because Human Emperor Physique formed the deepest layer of a character’s growth coefficients and foundational attribute panel.
All other Talents capable of percentage-based attribute increases—
Were built upon this core foundation.
If he could raise the level of Human Emperor Physique—
His strength growth would become immediate and obvious.
At that point—
Every Talent or Talent skill that increased attributes by percentage—
Such as the effects of Lord’s Aura—
Would also become stronger.
However—
Obviously—
That was impossible.
Activating a Tier-Three Talent required ten Talent Points.
Upgrading it to Level 2 required twenty Talent Points.
Under current conditions—
That was absolutely impossible.
Hang Yu could only shift his attention toward Tier-One and Tier-Two Talents.
One Tier-Three Talent Point could be converted into ten Tier-Two Talent Points—
Or one hundred Tier-One Talent Points!
Activating a Tier-One Talent required only five Tier-One Talent Points.
Upgrading from Level 2 to Level 5 required 10, 20, 50, and 100 respectively!
Activating a Tier-Two Talent required ten Tier-Two Talent Points.
Upgrading from Level 2 to Level 5 required 20, 40, 80, and 200 respectively!
From a cost-performance perspective—
Tier-One Talents were obviously more worthwhile to upgrade.
From the perspective of Talent effects—
The Tier-One Talent “Pioneer’s Heart” was also the most powerful among Tier-One and Tier-Two Talents regarding individual strength enhancement.
This Talent was already Level 2.
Thus—
Hang Yu converted his remaining one Tier-Three Talent Point into one hundred Tier-One Talent Points—
Then consecutively upgraded the Talent twice—
Raising it to Level 4.
【Pioneer’s Heart】Tier-One Lord Talent. Current Talent Level: 4. During the expansion of your territory, each additional ordinary Blessing Point occupied increases your four base attributes by 4% based on your net base attributes. Maximum amplification: 600%!
Level 4 Pioneer’s Heart—
Raised the maximum attribute amplification to 600%!
Hang Yu currently possessed four maps—
With a total of twenty-four activated Blessing Points.
Thus—
His current amplification had already reached 96%!
Of course!
This amplification referred to the baseline of the four core attributes.
It was calculated after excluding all external growth and bonuses.
Not only were equipment bonuses ineffective—
Even attribute growth from skill cultivation and medicinal enhancement was excluded.
Only the purest fundamental physique values served as the basis for amplification.
Even so—
The increase was absolutely astonishing!
After all—
Hang Yu’s physique was no longer that of an ordinary Lord.
He had activated the Tier-Three Talent Human Emperor Physique.
Each level increased all four attributes by 40 points.
In other words—
The fundamental values of his four core attributes were already approximately 1000 points each.
Under such circumstances—
An increase of +96%!
Even excluding equipment and cultivation growth—
Each individual attribute would still reach at least 1960 points.
That meant gaining 3840 total attribute points out of thin air.
And this was one of the core reasons why Hang Yu possessed Overlord-level combat power!
Feeling the newly increased power—
Hang Yu naturally felt delighted.
Obtaining new Talents and upgrading Talents truly was the best method of increasing strength.
Unfortunately—
Both acquiring and upgrading Talents were extremely difficult!
Next came skills!
However—
Creating and integrating entirely new skills required considerable time.
Yet judging from the latest celestial anomalies—
The Day of Ultimate Darkness would likely arrive within one to two days.
Currently—
Preparing the Calamity Army to face Ultimate Darkness—
Was even more urgent.
However—
Right at this moment—
Another piece of good news arrived.
Yan Ling came to submit her assignment!
Though exhausted—
She was extremely excited.
“Yan Ling has not failed her mission. The Spirit Horse has already been successfully refined!”
What?
Hang Yu was somewhat shocked!
It had not even been half a day since Zhang Zhongjing produced results.
Yet Luoshui City’s chief blacksmith Yan Ling had also successfully submitted her assignment!
Two days earlier—
Hang Yu had handed Yan Ling the Spirit Horse Refinement Secret Scroll along with dozens of Black Dragon Spirit Horse souls.
Naturally—
He hoped Yan Ling could forge superior Spirit Horses for the territory.
Although the territory already possessed dedicated stables—
The quantity and quality of Spirit Horses those stables could provide were limited.
These Spirit Horses were sufficient for transportation—
But they could neither level up nor be strengthened.
Using them involved many inconveniences.
They belonged to basic public transportation—
And their numbers were extremely limited.
Even now—
Many players were already complaining they could not rent horses.
Once the Calamity Army expanded further in the future—
Spirit Horses would definitely become insufficient.
How could a fun game—
Possibly lack a mount system?
If players could possess exclusive personal mounts—
And strengthen, upgrade, and modify them according to their needs—
Wouldn’t that greatly increase enjoyment?
Of course!
Increasing gameplay enjoyment was only a secondary consideration among secondary considerations!
When a territory possessed powerful war beasts or mounts—
The Calamity Army’s combat power could be greatly increased.
Furthermore—
Using mount cultivation or pet cultivation systems—
He could wildly harvest players’ wallets and reclaim massive amounts of Contribution Points!
Although Yan Ling possessed the relevant blacksmithing secret scroll—
Successfully forging this type of special equipment was not easy.
Hang Yu originally estimated that repeated failures and experimentation would be necessary.
At minimum—
Five to eight days would be required.
Yet Yan Ling completed it in only two days.
This performance exceeded expectations.
“Please take a look, Lord!”
Yan Ling produced a sample.
【Black Dragon Spirit Horse Bone Whistle】Tier-Two Special Equipment, Green Mid-Quality. Includes skill: “Summon Black Dragon Spirit Horse.” Durability 50/50.
Like a teleportation staff—
It provided no attribute bonuses.
However—
It did not occupy an equipment slot.
Flexible—
And extremely practical!
Unlike the Spirit Horses from the stable—
This “Black Dragon Spirit Horse Bone Whistle” was actual equipment.
Since it was equipment—
It could be strengthened, upgraded, and improved in quality.
The higher the strengthening level of the bone whistle—
The stronger the attributes of the summoned Spirit Horse.
The higher the quality and tier of the bone whistle—
The higher the tier of the summoned Spirit Horse.
This was one method of cultivating Spirit Horses!
Special equipment was significantly harder to upgrade, strengthen, and modify!
Hang Yu firmly believed in the wisdom of players—
As well as their willingness to spend money and grind endlessly.
As long as Black Dragon Spirit Horses were successfully released—
The Calamity Army players would undoubtedly go completely crazy over them!
This was not merely a mount!
It was also a symbol of status!
And a powerful combat force as well!
However—
Summoning-type skills were directly linked to the user’s level and strength.
The level of summoned spirits generally could not exceed that of the summoner.
Thus—
No matter how high the quality—
If the user himself was too weak—
He still could not summon a powerful Spirit Horse.
Yan Ling looked full of anticipation—
Yet also somewhat nervous and uneasy.
“Lord, what do you think? Should the forging method be adjusted further? I could also attempt to create rings with attribute bonuses.”
Hang Yu replied:
“There’s no need. Equipment slots are limited. Having this bone whistle is already sufficient. There’s no need to specifically occupy another slot!”
Ring-type equipment—
Was especially easy to imbue with skills or special abilities.
If every player wore a Black Dragon Spirit Horse Ring—
They would have to sacrifice another ring with different capabilities.
That would not benefit the Calamity Army’s versatility or maximum combat potential.
Hang Yu felt somewhat curious.
How exactly had Yan Ling accomplished this?
Thus—
He asked about the research process.
It turned out—
After using the forging secret scroll—
Yan Ling had not isolated herself and blindly experimented with the materials.
Instead—
She immediately requested leave and returned to Saint Cang City.
Afterward—
She sought help from her mentor at the Blacksmith Academy.
Within the Land of Stars—
Hidden dragons and crouching tigers existed everywhere.
Saint Cang City possessed countless professional academies.
Yan Ling attended a civilian blacksmith academy.
That academy had never produced many exceptional blacksmiths.
Yan Ling herself had only graduated from the academy as an ordinary student two months ago.
However—
In merely two months—
Yan Ling had advanced from a Tier-One beginner blacksmith—
To someone on the verge of becoming a Tier-Three advanced blacksmith!
Without question—
This immediately caused an uproar within the academy!
Yan Ling’s mentor himself was only an intermediate blacksmith.
Unable to help her forge Spirit Horses—
He immediately introduced Yan Ling to the academy’s dean.
And the dean valued Yan Ling immensely!
Without question—
For an ordinary blacksmith graduate with no background to achieve such astonishing growth in so short a time—
There was only one explanation:
She had been selected by some top-tier big shot and cultivated as a key trainee.
Her future prospects were limitless!
That dean even invited Yan Ling to become a guest professor at the academy.
He personally mobilized the academy’s resources to help Yan Ling perfect the refinement plan.
It was precisely with the help of the Blacksmith Academy dean—
That Yan Ling managed to complete the assignment so quickly.
After learning the full story—
Hang Yu nodded in satisfaction.
The Blacksmith Academy clearly valued Yan Ling’s potential and wanted to recruit her in advance.
Meanwhile—
Yan Ling also required the academy’s resources.
The two sides simply benefited from each other.
No matter what—
Yan Ling successfully developing the Spirit Horse item was a major contribution to the territory.
Coincidentally—
Hang Yu was already planning to quickly raise her into a Tier-Three advanced blacksmith.
Perfect.
Now he even had a suitable justification.
Hang Yu planned to use the successful development of the Spirit Horse item as a reason—
To advance Yan Ling a large amount of Essence—
Directly raising her to Level 21 and allowing her to break through into an advanced blacksmith!
This way—
The territory would finally possess high-tier production capability!
Not only Yan Ling—
Bai Mu also needed to be promoted!
Now that the Tier-Three Alchemy Workshop already existed—
The territory urgently required such advanced blacksmiths and alchemists to oversee operations—
In order to satisfy the continuously increasing production demands!