Chapter 137: Divine Creatures, Submission, and Rivals

Chapter 137: Divine Creatures, Submission, and Rivals

Kasham was less of a city and more of a towering, pockmarked stone pillar.

The nearly three-hundred-meter-tall monolith was riddled with countless openings, resembling a colossal anthill. The internal passages were a labyrinth of intricate tunnels.

Except for insects that could communicate through pheromones, other races often found themselves hopelessly lost in the maze-like insect hive.

Overall, it was a battlefield perfectly suited for the insectoids.

It was this home-field advantage that had kept Kasham undefeated for so many years.

"Ugo chose a fine place."

Su Nan surveyed the stone pillar before him.

Unfortunately, this place was only suitable for insects. With its current state, it would be difficult to repurpose, and capturing it would likely leave it abandoned and unused.

Unless he, like Ugo, decided to cultivate a swarm of insects.

Shaking off his thoughts, Su Nan flew forward, entering the stone pillar.

After Ugo's death, the remaining insect swarm had broken free from his control but still returned to Kasham by instinct. Upon seeing an uninvited guest, they immediately hissed and attacked.

The narrow tunnels were not suitable for golem combat, so Su Nan released nearly a hundred dual-blade spiders. They spread out along the tunnels, beginning to clear out the remaining insects.

Meanwhile, he searched for Ugo's laboratory.

Important places like laboratories were typically located deep within Kasham.

It didn't take Su Nan long to find his target.

At the very center of the stone pillar, a vast cavern had been divided and transformed into a laboratory, a meditation room, and a spell-practice area.

Su Nan thoroughly searched every nook and cranny. Apart from finding numerous wizarding tomes in the library, he didn't find much of value elsewhere.

Finally, he reached the laboratory.

Among all the areas, the laboratory was the largest.

In the center, several wide workbenches were placed, one of which still bore remnants of shattered carapaces and dried slime.

In a corner, a small mountain of insect eggs was piled up.

The bioluminescent light from the ceiling illuminated the pale white eggshells, revealing the faint movements of some creatures inside.

Su Nan glanced at the eggs, then strode over to the workbenches. After a thorough search, he found an experimental notebook.

He immediately flipped through the notebook, reading it carefully on the spot.

As expected, most of the content was about the cultivation and modification of various insect beasts.

Su Nan skimmed through this content quickly until he reached the sections on the Bell Tappers. He then slowed down and read more carefully.

As time passed, a look of pleasant surprise gradually appeared on Su Nan's face.

According to the notebook, the ancient bloodline of the Bell Tappers was not just from a powerful ancient beast but from a rare divine creature.

Divine creatures generally came into being in three ways.

The first was when a deity personally separated a sliver of their divinity and infused it into a living being, transforming it into a divine creature.

Many of the sacred beasts of various divine churches were created this way.

The second was through totem worship.

In some planes, primitive and backward tribes would venerate totems, trees, or rocks as spiritual symbols. Over countless years of worship and prayer, these objects would gradually develop a spark of divine energy, awakening with consciousness and becoming divine creatures.

In fact, many deities started as such divine creatures.

The third was the most unique and involved naturally occurring divine creatures. These creatures were born with a spark of divinity from the moment of their birth.

This spark of divinity could be passed down through their bloodline, and once the bloodline concentration reached a certain level, the divinity would awaken.

However, such divine creatures were extremely rare, and due to the lack of methods to increase their divinity, such as faith, their divine power remained relatively unchanged throughout their lives.

Despite this, these divine creatures were among the most formidable of all ancient beasts.

The Bell Tappers' bloodline originated from the third type of divine creature.

"Ugo was really lucky to find such a rare ancient bloodline descendant," Su Nan remarked with a whistle.

But now, this treasure belonged to him.

After reading the notebook, Su Nan finally understood why Ugo had controlled the insect swarm to hunt extensively.

The reason was tied to the Bell Tappers' bloodline.

After integrating the Bell Tappers' bloodline, Ugo's lifespan had significantly increased, estimated to be no less than three hundred years.

The only issue was that he needed to consume the essence of Bell Tapper blood and flesh regularly.

However, there was only one Bell Tapper, which was insufficient to meet his dietary needs.

So Ugo devised a method to substitute quality with quantity. He extracted the Bell Tapper's bloodline and infused it into other insects. After multiple genetic modifications and selections, he created the Bell Beetle species.

The Bell Beetles, derived from the Bell Tapper, had similar blood and flesh essence. After refining and concentrating this essence, it could serve as a substitute for the Bell Tapper's essence.

This method allowed Ugo to sustain himself until now.

Cultivating a large number of Bell Beetles naturally required a substantial amount of food. Therefore, Ugo would periodically send out the insect swarm to hunt, only stopping once they had accumulated enough food.

"Extending one's lifespan through bloodline fusion always comes with various defects."

Su Nan thought of Aivgni, who had fused with the Blood Soul Bug's bloodline.

He had been doomed by the Blood Soul Bug's bloodline.

While Ugo's fusion with the Bell Tapper's bloodline had fewer defects, it also provided a relatively smaller increase in lifespan.

In general, the more effective a bloodline was in extending lifespan, the more severe its defects.

Of course, there were exceptions, but such bloodlines were extremely rare.

Su Nan had no interest in fusing with the Bell Tapper's bloodline and skimmed through this section quickly.

If he were to fuse with a bloodline, he would wait until he became a full-fledged wizard and found a suitable one. Fusing with a bloodline prematurely would only narrow his future options.

After finishing the experimental notebook, Su Nan let out a long breath.

The war had taken a significant toll on his golem army. A high-tier stone golem and an elite dual-blade spider were completely destroyed, and the golem army's losses were nearly one-third. The estimated loss was around 180,000 gold coins.

The profits from the mine this year were almost entirely wiped out.

Fortunately, the gains were also substantial. Just one Bell Tapper was enough to make up for the losses.

With the Bell Tapper, he could start researching bloodline imprints.

Additionally, he could try extracting divine energy from the Bell Tapper's bloodline.

If successful, he would have a stable source of divine energy, which would greatly accelerate his mental energy growth.

As long as he could speed up his mental energy growth, spending any amount of gold would be worth it!

Putting away the experimental notebook, Su Nan looked at the Bell Beetle eggs in the corner. After some thought, he waved his hand, and a burst of flames incinerated them all.

Ugo could control the Bell Beetles because he had fused with the Bell Tapper's bloodline. Without that bloodline, these eggs were useless and better off burned.

Besides, all the relevant information about the Bell Beetles was in the experimental notebook. If needed, he could use the Bell Tapper's bloodline to recreate them.

When he left the laboratory, the battle in Kasham had already ended.

The surviving insects had been completely cleared by the dual-blade spiders.

Leaving a dozen dual-blade spiders to guard Kasham and prevent any unwary creatures from entering, Su Nan returned to Shadow Lake City.

Since the war had taken place outside the city, Shadow Lake City had suffered minimal damage.

The city remained peaceful.

Returning to Base 2, Su Nan immediately headed to the puppet factory.

All the golems had sustained some damage during the war and needed repairs.

Originally, he could have left them in the geomantic node to repair automatically, but he was eager to deal with Mato and Aeson, so he decided to do it himself.

However, events unfolded in a way he hadn't anticipated.

Three days after the fall of Kasham, Carolina knocked on the door of the puppet factory. Upon Su Nan's permission, she entered with a strange expression.

"Master, the Red Widow is here to see you."

"She brought the Black Duke's head."

Su Nan was momentarily taken aback, then a sly smile appeared on his face.

"Have her come to the reception hall."

Carolina bowed and left.

When Su Nan entered the reception hall, the Red Widow was already waiting.

Seeing him enter, she immediately stood up, her beautiful face breaking into a flattering smile.

"Lord, I congratulate you on defeating Kasham."

Su Nan glanced at her and sat down opposite her, saying, "My victory over Kasham isn't necessarily good news for you."

"The Lord jests. The insect plague from Kasham has always been a major headache for us. Now that you've solved the problem, the people of Mato are grateful to you."

The Red Widow smiled, but Su Nan's half-smile made her expression stiffen. She sighed internally, realizing that Su Nan had already guessed the truth. She decided to be straightforward and opened the wooden box in her hand, revealing the Black Duke's head inside.

The coronal-like black flames above the skull and the soul fire in the eye sockets had already dissipated.

However, from the aura, it was undoubtedly the Black Duke.

"Lord, after the fall of Kasham, the Black Duke still intended to harm Shadow Lake City. I took advantage of his lack of vigilance and killed him. I have also captured Aeson. I am willing to offer Mato and Aeson to you, Lord, in exchange for the chance to serve you."

Indeed.

Su Nan raised an eyebrow, not the least bit surprised.

When he heard that the Red Widow had brought the Black Duke's head, he had already guessed that she was planning to defect to him.

Whether the Black Duke truly intended to continue his conflict with Shadow Lake City and was thus killed by the Red Widow, remained unknown.

Regardless of the truth, it was clear that the Red Widow was a woman of action.

She was ruthless, decisive, and cold-blooded!

Su Nan glanced at the skull, showing no intention of taking it, and said calmly, "What can you offer me?"

"Lord, you have many responsibilities and must be very busy. You only have Carolina at your disposal, and it is difficult for her to manage three city-states alone. While I may not be exceptionally capable, I believe I have some experience in city-state management and can help ease your burden."

Su Nan narrowed his eyes.

He understood the Red Widow's underlying message.

With only Carolina as his follower, he could not guarantee that she wouldn't act against him in secret. However, if he had another follower, they could keep each other in check, which would be to his advantage.

The Red Widow's words hit the mark.

Mutual supervision was one aspect, but the key was that he needed to expand his influence in the underground world. This meant he had to recruit more local personnel to assist in managing the city-states and resource points.

After all, he could not handle everything alone and could not afford to let various tasks consume too much of his time.

The Red Widow was the perfect candidate.

As for loyalty, a soul pact would suffice.

"You have convinced me."

Having made his decision, Su Nan did not waste time and immediately stated his terms.

"I will allow you to become my follower, but as a condition, you and all the legendary-level vampires of Mato must sign a soul pact."

"I will follow your orders, Lord."

The Red Widow agreed without hesitation.

The soul pact was expected, and she had already prepared herself and convinced all her clan members.

While it was difficult to accept that her life would be at the mercy of another, it was far better than death.

Moreover, the wizard before her was exceptionally powerful.

He was the strongest being she had encountered in her long life.

Becoming a follower of such a powerful individual was not an unacceptable fate.

Su Nan then took out a gemstone and immediately signed a soul pact with the Red Widow.

"Take three days to wrap up your affairs. After that, I will send people to take over Mato and Aeson and sign soul pacts with the remaining members."

Su Nan waved his hand, then suddenly remembered something.

"Do you still have a silver vein?"

"Yes, Lord," the Red Widow did not dare to hide anything.

Su Nan made an immediate decision: "I will send golems to take over the silver vein. Have your people cooperate."

The natives' mining speed was too slow, and it was better to let the clay golems handle it.

Accelerating the development of the silver vein would help him gather the materials needed to forge secret silver puppets sooner.

The Red Widow had no objections and nodded in agreement.

Su Nan waved his hand, signaling that she could leave.

As she walked out of the reception hall, the Red Widow saw Carolina standing nearby, her expression blank as she watched her.

The Red Widow smiled at her.

Carolina snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Seeing the Red Widow emerge from the reception hall unharmed, she knew that her master had accepted the Red Widow's defection.

This was not good news for her.

From now on, she would have a new competitor.

And a particularly cunning one at that.

"Whore!" Carolina muttered under her breath.

At the same time, as she watched Carolina's retreating figure, the Red Widow's smile slowly faded, and a look of disdain flashed in her eyes.

"Fake prude!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end