Chapter 109: Bloodline Mark, Double-Bladed Spider

Chapter 109: Bloodline Mark, Double-Bladed Spider

Su Nan and Rose were overjoyed.

Just the gem bug alone made their trip worthwhile.

Regaining their composure, they turned to the third notebook.

This notebook detailed how to extract ancient beast blood from magical creatures and convert it into a one-time-use bloodline ability.

Avegni named this ability the Bloodline Mark.

Depending on the type of ancient beast blood extracted, the resulting Bloodline Mark would vary in both form and power.

However, to create a Bloodline Mark, the extracted ancient beast blood had to reach a certain concentration.

Avegni had once tried to extract the bloodline of the Crimson Fang from a blood soul bug, but the blood concentration was too low, and he had to abandon the attempt.

"Ancient beast blood? That's incredibly rare," Rose shook her head.

While many descendants of ancient beasts still lived on the Starlight Continent, none of them had a strong enough bloodline.

Even Avegni couldn't extract a sufficient concentration of bloodline, so she doubted she could manage it.

The few with a higher concentration of bloodline were also incredibly powerful, far beyond her capabilities.

This research was almost useless to her.

However, Su Nan saw things differently.

What did it matter if the blood concentration was low? With the Magic Cube, he could synthesize and increase the concentration.

He had done this many times before.

From this perspective, the Bloodline Mark seemed tailor-made for him.

All he needed to do was find a clan of ancient beast descendants, no matter how weak their bloodline, and use the Magic Cube to synthesize it to the required concentration for a Bloodline Mark.

Putting down the notebook, Su Nan couldn't help but marvel.

Avegni might be ruthless and not a good person, but he was undeniably a brilliant genius.

Blood soul bug bloodline fusion, gem bugs, and Bloodline Marks.

Any one of these three achievements would be beyond the reach of an ordinary third-level wizard apprentice.

But Avegni had accomplished all of them.

If not for his bad luck, leading him down a dead-end path, his achievements would have been truly remarkable.

Even if he couldn't advance to the rank of wizard due to the Starlight Continent's limitations, he would have become a renowned powerhouse!

"He was indeed a genius," Rose gently caressed the notebook cover, feeling a bit disheartened.

If even a genius like Avegni had fallen on the path to becoming a wizard, what hope did she have?

Did she really have a chance to advance to a full wizard in her lifetime?

Their thoughts diverged, and the room fell into silence.

After a long while, Su Nan gathered his thoughts and said, "Let's search the rest of the place."

Rose snapped back to reality and nodded silently.

They thoroughly inspected the entire cavern but found no new discoveries. They then began to divide the spoils.

There was nothing to argue about with the notebooks. They divided the work, each copying a set of notes and taking one set.

The gem bugs and blood soul bugs were evenly split.

Su Nan took all the rare metals, compensating Rose with some magic stones.

After dividing the spoils, Rose's mood improved significantly.

Although the Bloodline Mark and blood soul bug bloodline fusion were of little use to her, the gem bugs alone made the trip worthwhile.

For Su Nan, it was even better. He had gained an additional piece of knowledge about Bloodline Marks.

"The more than ten thousand gold coins I spent weren't wasted," Su Nan was very satisfied.

Exiting the cavern, Rose smiled at Su Nan, "It was a pleasure working with you, Player. If there's a similar opportunity in the future, we can collaborate again."

Su Nan smiled back, "Sure, I look forward to it."

"See you at the gathering."

"See you at the gathering."

Watching Rose leave, Su Nan returned to the original cavern.

Passing by the lake, Su Nan glanced at the direction of the Lion-Faced City.

Many dog-headed men and ogres were busy near the city gates, apparently repairing the collapsed walls.

There were also patrols of lion-faced creatures on the island, with the defenses much tighter than before.

It seemed the Lion-Faced City would remain in this state for a long time.

"Looks like we won't be able to infiltrate again anytime soon."

"Well, the information we obtained this time is enough."

Taking one last look at the direction of the Lion-Faced City, Su Nan turned and left.

Back in Flash City, Su Nan immediately found Kei and explained the situation with the Lion-Faced City.

After listening to Su Nan, Kei couldn't help but frown deeply.

"If what you say is true, the Lion-Faced City can muster at least four to five thousand troops?"

"About that. The residents of the Underworld are different from us. Almost everyone is a soldier."

Seeing Kei's expression grow more serious, Su Nan tried to reassure him.

"Most of the slaves in the Lion-Faced City are dog-headed men and lizardfolk. They aren't much stronger than ordinary soldiers. Only the ogres are a bit more troublesome."

"The real threat comes from the two thousand lion-faced creatures."

"What do you plan to do?" Kei asked in a low, serious tone.

Su Nan had already thought this through and didn't hesitate to respond.

"First, we need to continue the blockade of that forest. From now on, it will be a military no-go zone, and no one will be allowed to enter without permission."

"Second, we need to establish a camp at the entrance of the cave. I need a forward base for the attack on the Lion-Faced City."

"Additionally, I will need a large amount of granite."

Kei agreed to each of these requests and then asked, "How many troops do you need for assistance?"

He had long been planning to eliminate the threat of the underground city, and he was prepared to pay a heavy price for it.

To his surprise, Su Nan shook his head.

"No need."

"The environment of the Underworld is not suitable for human combat. I intend to use golem puppets for the assault."

The Underworld was dimly lit, and humans without darkvision found it difficult to adapt. Even knights, who were typically formidable, could only perform at about 60-70% of their usual strength in the Underworld.

If he were to use the Flash City's army, the casualties would be severe, even if they eventually succeeded in capturing the Lion-Faced City.

Using golems was a much better option. With darkvision, golems could move freely in the Underworld.

As for the potential losses from the war, Su Nan was not at all worried. According to the map Rose had given him, there were seven mine veins within a hundred kilometers of the Lion-Faced City, including one large iron mine, three medium iron mines, one large copper mine, one small silver mine, and one small gold mine.

Once the threat of the lion-faced creatures was eliminated, he could freely develop these mines. The future profits would more than cover the costs of the war.

After settling all the details, Kei immediately began making arrangements. Su Nan returned to the base and got to work.

He fused the six divine blood ambers he had obtained from Rose into the high-grade divine blood amber. This increased his daily Starlight Ring Meditation proficiency to 3,100 points.

On the other hand, his progress in learning spellcasting without verbal components was also steadily increasing. Su Nan estimated that by the Dawn of Spring (March) next year, he would have mastered it.

Notably, the establishment of the Knight Academy was also on the agenda. Considering the commuting and logistical pressures for teachers and students, the academy's location could not be outside the city.

After careful consideration, Su Nan chose a site in the suburbs of Flash City, near the northern gate. Construction of the academy had already begun, and Su Nan occasionally checked in, leaving the day-to-day management to his subordinates. According to the construction schedule, it should be completed by the Heat of Summer.

By then, he could start accepting students.

Kei's efficiency was impressive. By the time the Dawn of Spring arrived, a new camp had already been built on the site of the old mine.

Su Nan named the camp Camp 1 and established a new puppet factory inside, ramping up the production of stone golems.

The production of iron golems was limited by the availability of soul crystals, so they could not be mass-produced. However, stone golems required only a sufficient supply of gems and rocks, allowing for unlimited production.

All the profits from the mine were invested in the production of stone golems. To expedite the elimination of the Lion-Faced City's threat, Kei also allocated a significant portion of the domain's revenue to support the golem army's expansion.

With ample funding, the number of golems grew rapidly.

Meanwhile, Su Nan was also considering the creation of a new type of puppet. Iron golems and stone golems were incredibly strong and durable, but their main drawback was their slow movement.

This was evident in the previous battle against the Lion-Faced City. The stone golems and elite stone golems were at a disadvantage against the agile and quick lion-faced creatures.

To address this, Su Nan believed he needed to design a more agile puppet. Traditional golems were typically large and robust, with short, thick limbs. Except for a few flying golems, most golems suffered from this limitation.

So, the new puppet must be redesigned to be more agile, ideally with an animal form that moves more freely.

The first creature that came to Su Nan's mind was a spider.

In the underground world, nothing strikes more fear into the hearts of adventurers than the various mutated spiders and spider-like monsters. Especially the spider-elf hybrids, which are the result of dark elves transforming. Their fearsome reputation is well-known throughout the entire underground realm.

These spiders move with ghostly speed, appearing and disappearing without a trace. They often launch surprise attacks from unexpected places and can navigate even the steepest caverns and tunnels with ease, making them one of the most formidable assassins in the underground world.

If the puppet were designed in the shape of a spider, its eight legs would undoubtedly make it more adaptable to the complex terrain of the underground world.

With this in mind, Su Nan immediately began designing a spider puppet.

His proficiency in puppet crafting had already reached level 4, thanks to the large-scale production of stone golems. Adding his experience with the Black Rock Leopard, Su Nan didn't find it too difficult to complete the design of the spider puppet.

The key, however, was the materials.

To maximize the spider puppet's speed, the material had to be lightweight. However, it also needed to be hard enough to avoid being brittle.

Blackstone iron was an excellent choice, but its current production was too low to supply 1st Camp, let alone to mass-produce the spider puppets, especially when he also needed it for the Black Rock Leopards.

After much consideration, Su Nan decided to use a metal called tungsten steel for the new puppet. Tungsten steel is known for its high hardness, wear resistance, and toughness, as well as its heat and corrosion resistance.

While it wasn't as hard as blackstone iron, that wasn't a problem; he could enhance it through synthesis.

In the end, the synthesized tungsten steel, which had a hardness and weight similar to blackstone iron, had a comparable cost per volume, making it a suitable substitute.

With the materials and design finalized, the crafting process was relatively smooth.

The final spider puppet, like the golems, possessed dark vision, immunity to all mind-affecting effects, immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, confusion, suffocation, and high elemental resistance.

At this point, the spider puppet was already on par with the stone golems.

However, Su Nan still felt it was lacking.

He decided to enchant the spider puppet's two front legs, which were used for attacks, with the properties of Black Steel and Sharpness, significantly enhancing their hardness and sharpness.

In other words, the spider puppet now carried two enchanted weapons that could attack simultaneously.

The final cost of crafting the spider puppet was 180 gold coins, nearly nine times that of a regular stone golem!

However, the saying "you get what you pay for" held true, as the spider puppet's combat capabilities far exceeded those of a regular stone golem.

Su Nan conducted a test, and in a one-on-one fight, the spider puppet took less than half a minute to slice a stone golem into dozens of pieces. The stone golem's vaunted defenses were no match for the two enchanted leg blades.

Overall, the spider puppet's combat strength was comparable to that of a peak knight, which justified its high cost.

"This puppet will be called the Double-Bladed Spider."

Looking at the massive, pitch-black spider in front of him, Su Nan's face broke into a satisfied smile.

With the Double-Bladed Spider, the golem army's combat system became even more complete.

"Unfortunately, flying puppets are rare, and I don't have the design diagrams. Researching them would be time-consuming, and the manufacturing difficulty and material requirements are high. Otherwise, adding a flying unit would be perfect."

Most of the puppet designs Su Nan currently had were for low-tier golems, and none of them were for flying puppets.

Even if he did have the designs, his current skill and materials might not be sufficient to manufacture them.

After all, flying puppets aren't just about being able to fly; they also need powerful ranged attack capabilities.

Without ranged attacks, a flying puppet would just be a flying target.

For example, metal golems capable of flight and ranged attacks, like the Shadow Steel Golem and Mithril Golem, are at a level that even a third-level wizard apprentice would struggle to create.

These golems are already close to the power of a full-fledged wizard.

"A flying puppet with weaker ranged attacks would be better, as I can always synthesize it."

"I'll ask the others at the next gathering at the Forest Lodge."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end