Chapter 195: A Legendary Chest from an Ordinary Hunt

Before their departure, Veyra had registered the complete Grade-D Ninefold Blade Art book found among the recent Skill Book spoils in the Hall’s inheritance. It suited the Eclipse troops so well that, with the Hall’s accelerated training, most of the veterans had already reached Lesser Mastery.

A Grade-D art at Lesser Mastery could rival a beginner’s Grade-B skill, while using less than a tenth as much Aether. For repeated fighting, it was superb value.

The sword energy cut through a serpent’s neck. Its head dropped. The enormous body thrashed against the ground, scattering gray-white blood that hissed as it ate into the earth.

[Your troop Lianne has killed an Ironbone Demon Serpent.]

[Battle Essence +1,630. Aether +100.]

[Refined Chest ×3; Refined Bone Sword ×1; Elite Troop Soul ×1; Basic Physique Book ×1.]

"These drops..."

Cassian drew a breath.

"That’s almost frightening."

Killing monsters above their Level already improved his troops’ Battle Essence and drops. With the Intermediate Vein added, the effective drop rate here might be close to ten times normal.

Six items from one ordinary Elite monster.

"The Quality isn’t high, but the Chests will give us resources. The Attribute Book can go to an ordinary troop."

His Domain now held thousands of Buildings, counting the houses. The prerequisites for each new Rank consumed resources in the tens of millions. Those supplies had to come from somewhere.

Paid recruitment before the expedition had brought his working Settlers to more than ten thousand. Among them were over a hundred Legendary harvesters, recruited for their exceptional gathering skills. Farmer One still had his separate duty tending the Tea Tree.

That workforce, constantly extracting resources, had helped him reach Rank XII so quickly.

A steady stream of Chests could help him reach Rank XIII even faster. That was when he could choose a direction for the Domain’s development.

In a little over ten minutes, his troops killed thousands of Ironbone Demon Serpents of various Qualities.

Then an enormous head emerged from the dead forest.

[Ironbone King Serpent — Epic]

[Race: Demonkin]

[Level: 85]

[Combat Rating: 14,385 stars]

[Skills: ???]

Seven had meanwhile surveyed the terrain and monster populations for thousands of kilometers around them.

Cassian studied her report.

"This many monsters, and this many Bosses. A few hundred Fortune really does turn a Region into a perfect hunting ground."

If not for the Governorship contest and the Contest of Champions in Tidecrown, he could happily have stayed here for months.

The King Serpent approached the Domain slowly. Its body stretched for more than a hundred meters—only a middling size among Epic Demonkin above Level 80.

It looked down at the Human settlement. Something like puzzlement passed through its eyes.

How had a Rank-XII Lord slaughtered its followers so quickly?

It was curious, nothing more. The strength those Legionnaires had shown was no great threat to it.

The serpent tasted the air. It remembered the last Human Lord it had swallowed.

A pleasant memory.

Cassian had learned enough about their surroundings.

"Stormlance. Finish it quickly."

"Yes, Lord!" Sigrid answered.

Storm Body wrapped her in lightning. She stepped into the air, each Thunder Step cracking like an explosion.

In an instant, she stood before the King Serpent.

Its pupils contracted. Before it could move aside, her spear struck it beneath the jaw.

At Level 60, Sigrid’s Combat Rating was around seventy-four hundred stars, but her Physique exceeded fourteen thousand points. Her bodily strength could match the serpent’s.

The impact threw its enormous head back and lifted the long body clear of the ground.

A woman no larger than an ordinary Human had knocked a hundred-meter monster into the air with one sweep of her spear.

Seeing it was very different from reading a number.

As Levels rose, the attributes supplied by training arts accounted for a smaller share of total strength. The Stormlance had pulled ahead of the Praetorians again.

The King Serpent struck the ground hard enough to shake it. Dazed, it raised its head. The contempt had vanished from its eyes.

How could this new Lord have warriors so strong?

Then it saw the others.

More than one.

It turned to flee. Giselle was already in its path, Thunder Step carrying her into position.

"Thunder Javelin!"

A raging dragon of lightning struck the serpent’s body. Flesh burst apart.

The King Serpent lived up to its name. Even with twelve Stormlance attacking it, it held on for a full minute before its life finally ran out.

It had spent that minute being knocked from one attacker to another. Surviving even that long was impressive.

[Your troop Amanda has killed the Ironbone King Serpent.]

[Battle Essence +1,740,000. Aether +80,000. Legendary Chest ×1.]

"Legendary?"

Cassian stared, then burst out laughing.

"An Epic monster dropped a Legendary item!"

A single Legendary Chest was hardly a fortune to him now. But this was an ordinary hunt. Something he could do every day.

Legendary Chests from routine hunting.

What a place.

He handed the Chest to Veyra. She opened it and took out a piece of Level-80 Legendary equipment. A normal result for the Chest, but welcome all the same.

The Legendary harvesters hurried out of the Domain as soon as the fighting ended. They set to work on the bodies, gathering skills flashing one after another.

This was why Cassian had recruited them.

[Harvest Mastery activated. Yield ×5.]

[Epic Ironbone Serpent Meat ×5 obtained.]

[Harvest Mastery activated. Yield ×5. Material Quality increased by one tier.]

[Legendary Ironbone Serpent Gall ×5 obtained.]

More notices followed for skins and other materials.

Cassian listed the Legendary materials he did not presently need on the Worlds Market. They would earn him money and make room in his stores.

The collected blood essence of Rare Quality and above went into the Blood Chalice.

While the workers processed the remains, Cassian considered their next move.

One thing bothered him. He was a lawful resident of Swordheart, yet he had no access to its Region map. Gate privileges were out of the question.

Julian Lind must have restricted those permissions before his death.

The Region was far larger than Cassian had expected too. Seven’s survey covered thousands of kilometers without finding its boundary or the Sword Saint’s old Domain.

An ordinary Lord could spend years searching a place this size.

"Three scouting parties," Cassian ordered. "Seven, Eight, and Nine, each take two Dawnwing squads. East, west, and south. Your job is to map the Region. If you meet a strong enemy, don’t get drawn into a fight."

"Yes, Lord."

Harriet and Seven accepted the orders. The scouts departed.

Then Cassian opened the Exchange.

Thirteen Legendary Hero Souls. He bought them for a total of one billion six hundred million Aether at the current offers and opened the Hero growth panel.

"Aurelia. Three-Star."

A Legendary Hero Soul vanished as he paid the Battle Essence cost.

"Four-Star."

He continued confirming the advances. Seven Souls took Aurelia from Two-Star to Nine-Star. Six more brought Liora from Three-Star to the same limit.

The advances consumed two billion seven hundred million Battle Essence in total. Celia was already Nine-Star. All three of his standard Heroes now stood at the limit of Legendary Quality.

"Good thing Darian was so generous yesterday. That would have been hard to afford otherwise."

The battle had been easy, but Swordheart’s monster Quality was higher than he had expected. Before these advances, Celia alone had held the overwhelming advantage of Nine-Star strength against whatever Legendary monsters they might find.

Keeping the Aether was no longer worth leaving his other Heroes behind.

Cassian bought and supplied fresh premium Aether Crystals for his Battle Name.