Chapter 718 Plan

A/N: The 1st-ranked Dragon Academy is Sunborn Royal Academy, not Aurex Dragon Academy; my mistake.

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Chapter 718: Plan

Ding!

> 4 Voidfang Panther beastcores have been turned into essence and are being assimilated with the tamed beast Void-Obsidian Panther [Shyra].

Ding!

Void-Obsidian Panther [Shyra] (Mid 4-star)

- Noble Bloodline (70% -> 79% -> 87% -> 93% -> 99%)

- Blood Bond (87% -> 89%)

Ding!

> New Skills Acquired!

[Nightfall Roar] - Low 1%

- The user releases a powerful roar infused with Shadow Energy, spreading darkness across the surrounding area. Enemies caught within its influence suffer reduced vision, perception, and movement speed.

[Shadow Claws] - Low 1%

- The user coats their claws in condensed Shadow Energy, enhancing their cutting power and allowing the energy to seep into wounds, gradually interfering with the target's movement and perception.

[As the skill develops to higher stages, Void Energy begins to replace the Shadow Energy, greatly increasing its ability to disrupt the target's body and regeneration.]

Leo grimaced when he saw the bloodline progress get stuck at 99%, not to mention that Shyra didn't even advance in rank.

After reading the skill panel, he realised he didn't know what shadow and void energies were, so he set them aside to study later.

He closed his eyes to check Shyra's physical condition and was surprised to see her energy requirements were almost complete.

She probably needed a few Soul Crystals to advance, which Leo would need to hunt for, or wait for Shyra to advance naturally in due time.

At that point, Shyra would probably even become a Royal Beast, because whenever a beast advanced in rank, its bloodline progressed too.

With that done, Leo checked the other item that he had been handed, the flag artefact.

At that point, Shyra would probably even become a Royal Beast, because whenever a beast advanced in rank, its bloodline progressed too.

With that done, Leo checked the other item that he had been handed, the flag artefact.

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[Voidshade Veil] - Single Use Artefact

Range: 5 km diameter

Duration: 10 minutes

Covers the entire region in a veil of Void Energy that disrupts enemy senses.

Blindness: Randomly causes brief periods of blindness in enemies.

Sensory Distortion: Randomly distorts enemy hearing, spatial awareness, and sense of direction.

Void Echo: Sudden sounds and movements may appear to originate from false locations.

Allies remain completely unaffected.

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"Another great item!" Leo exclaimed.

This was like handicapping an enemy team when attacking a base, or in case someone attacked their base.

Combined with Shyra's newly improved stealth abilities, there was no chance anybody was surviving that area, even if it was a dragon—especially if it was nighttime.

Leo approached near the spirit beam of the Stronghold Beacon, and almost instantly, the Summoning Shards in his pocket reacted, glowing brightly as they became phased through objects and placed themselves along the beam's ray at the centre.

Humming with energy, they rotated slowly.

The two flag artefacts also seemed to react, glowing briefly, and both had a change in their descriptions.

Bound to Aurelius Beast Academy's Stronghold and can only be used by its members.

Even the private screen flared up, listing the new items.

Stronghold Tools:

- Summoning Shard - 2

- [Frostfall Domain] - Single Use Artefact

- [Voidshade Veil] - Single Use Artefact

Right now, the clock had already hit 12 am, and the sky was covered in darkness. Ideally, they would have waited until the next day to act and plan things out, but with the heavy momentum the 1st-ranked academy was carrying, there was no time to rest.

So, Leo immediately called a meeting of the important individuals.

After everybody got to see Fruder's reports, they started to plan things out.

"Right now, everybody's focus—be it those who captured the flags or those who didn't—is on the 3 remaining flags yet to be captured," Fruder said.

"And if we play things right, we can eliminate some tough competition since we already know the approximate direction of most of the academies' strongholds."

"Yes, but the way you figured things out, I highly doubt most of them wouldn't have done the same," Kaelion pointed out. Miho had already finished bandaging him, and he could move around safely.

"What I mean to say is, we took out the nearest two flags as well as the nearest academy, which caused our points on the leaderboard to rise in real time. That means our location should be the most apparent."

The others nodded at Kaelion's reasoning.

"So, in other words, we should expect attacks…" Uraan said.

Fruder once again spoke.

"But even then, I highly doubt the Sunborn Royal Academy, which we presume is ranked first, will attack us when there are other strongholds and even 2 flags nearer."

"We have even taken out 5 of the main forces of Azirith Grand Academy. I highly doubt they are eliminated yet, but if they haven't captured a flag yet, they will be desperate."

"So, out of 7 academies, 2 academies are no real danger yet. That would leave the 3rd ranked Dragon Academy, Zarathyr, Velerath of the humans, and Elarion of the Elves, if they haven't been eliminated yet," Uraan muttered.

There was a moment of quiet in the room. Not knowing the rankings of each academy individually and planning things based on guesses was really a headache.

Leo then pulled everybody's attention.

"Alright, if we leave out the uncertainties, then what we are certain of is that there's a high chance somebody can attack us, while there's a 100% chance that most academies will approach the flags to capture them."

Lily nodded.

"We cannot even rule out the possibility of academies using those flag artefacts to catch people by surprise… Just look at that Voidshade Veil. It might be very troublesome if some enemy used it on us. What if they use an artefact on a flag location itself?"

They debated things for more than an hour. In the end, they decided to leave most of the fighting force to defend while just sending Leo, Lily, and Uraan out.

The reason for Leo and Lily was obvious, while Uraan was chosen to act as a scout and actually travel to all the flag locations, captured or uncaptured, to check their geography and guess the ability of the artefact that the capturing team might have received.

Normally, Kaelion would have accompanied Leo and Lily, but due to his injury, he was told to stay back. The other students, being sensible, didn't ask why Kaelion couldn't be healed when he chose not to speak himself.

But coming from a high noble background, they could already guess—either a curse or something related to the soul. Or, in an extremely rare case, a talent that would inhibit the natural healing of the body in exchange for power.

But any of those possibilities shouldn't be revealed casually, so they didn't nose in.

"Remember to keep in contact at 15-minute intervals until we meet again," Leo instructed Uraan.

"If anything happens in the stronghold, inform me too, and—"

Leo handed the artefact tabs to Fruder.

"When I say to deploy them in a location, do it instantly."

Fruder nodded.

With that, Uraan took off on his Falcon, while Leo and Lily mounted Agnivar.

Lily would have brought out the Infernal Tempest Amphithere… but it was simply too big.