Chapter 1052 - Sacrifice

The Hardened Abyss Demons closed in on Han Wu.

Between the Magma Locust’s Self Detonation, the Glutton Locust chewing through them, and the Bloodfang Bat’s Corrupted Blood Arrows and Crimson Halo, every Hardened Abyss Demon died.

Crimson Halo fully recovered all the damage they dealt to Han Wu. By the time the battle ended, Han Wu had once again cleared the wave with a full health bar. His rating for the second wave was still S rank.

Han Wu earned 600 Energy Points but no treasures, so he selected a Blood Stone that increased HP by ten percent from the clearance rewards.

If any other student taking the final exam obtained the Blood Stone, its effect would have been negligible. A student’s HP was calculated based on their personal physical stats. Han Wu’s Mesocosm strength converted into 589,000 HP, while his classmates had maybe 2,000 or 3,000 at best.

Han Wu loaded the Blood Stone. His HP surged by ten percent to a staggering 647,900. His already massive health pool grew even larger.

Just as he was about to spend Energy Points on draws, he suddenly thought of something. If Merge isn’t fully blocked, then maybe Sacrifice isn’t either. They are both powerful abilities with the Exclusive rarity, after all.

He tentatively reached out toward his divine realm. Sure enough, he sensed the products of 300 Sacrifices, and he could extract them normally. However, every single one was a unit, and they were all the lowest tier of locusts.

He could obtain one locust per unit killed. The locusts were extremely weak and completely useless on their own, so Han Wu could only use Merge to combine them and raise their rank.

In the end, he obtained one Earthsunder locust along with a few High Lord locusts. Even as an Earthsunder life form, the locust’s stats remained completely flat. The only attribute that changed was its Attack, which had reached 256. It was extremely powerful compared to Han Wu’s other units, but unfortunately, it was pathetic compared to other Earthsunder life forms.

Han Wu was certain that any other unit would easily reach 256 Attack at the Lord or High Lord rank. Locusts had to reach the Earthsunder rank to match that number. That alone proved how garbage they were.

Still, these were freebies from Sacrifice, so he wasn’t going to complain. He stationed the merged locusts at the portal entrance, where they would continue serving as the first line of attack. He then positioned the other units drawn from the pool elsewhere based on their skills.

Before long, the third wave arrived. This time, the invading life forms were 1,000 Little Dwarfs. Their stats were low across the board, with only their 250 HP and 2 Agility.

Stats that pitiful made them nothing but free kills in front of the newly merged locusts. The Earthsunder locust alone wiped out 500 Little Dwarfs. The survivors reached Han Wu, only to be annihilated before they could even touch him.

This time, Han Wu cleared the wave with a proper full health bar. Thanks to the Blood Stone, he finished with 110% HP, which earned him an SS rating!

Under normal circumstances, SS-rank rewards were far better. When he opened his, he received a fortress with 10,000 Durability. Until that value was depleted, he wouldn’t take any damage. Nonetheless, for someone with 647,900 HP, the fortress amounted to a measly 10,000 extra HP. It wasn’t much of a reward for him and couldn’t even compare to the Blood Stone. Unfortunately, the reward had already been decided, so he could only accept it.

He then checked the rest of his rewards from the wave. The 1,000 Little Dwarfs had dropped 2,000 Energy Points and ten treasures: Little Dwarf short spears that each boosted a unit’s Attack attribute by 1.

Han Wu merged the ten treasures into a powerful one that added 10 Attack, then equipped it on the Dark Curse Bug. As a result, its Shadow Nail got a noticeable attack boost.

Afterward, Han Wu spent his remaining Energy Points on draws. Out of 200 pulls, 175 were Common locusts and only twenty-five of them were the other types of his units.

Han Wu didn’t find that disappointing at all. Through Sacrifice, he soon extracted another thousand Common locusts from his divine realm and merged them all.

Something unexpected happened: he somehow merged a Microcosm locust.

The Will of the Civilization informed Han Wu that this was the locust’s maximum rank and that it couldn’t be raised any further.

Han Wu stared at the Microcosm locust. Its stats were still terrible overall, but it had a monstrous 1,024 Attack.

Locusts really are garbage. That was one of his thoughts.

After merging the Microcosm locust, a new Microcosm appeared in his consciousness sea. It was the smallest and most unremarkable Microcosm among all the ones he possessed, yet it was a real Microcosm all the same, born from a Microcosm locust.

An idea struck Han Wu. Maybe locusts aren’t as worthless as I thought. If I look at them from a different angle, isn’t this simply an easy way to create Microcosms?

Han Wu grew eager. If I maximize the breeding of Common locusts, how many Microcosms can I harvest by the end of the final exam?

With that thought, he waited for the fourth wave. This time, the invaders were Bloodthirst Bats.

[Bloodthirst Bat: Elite life form. HP: 200. Movement speed: 10. Attack type: Bite (single target). Attack range: 1. Damage: 8. Attack interval: 0.5 seconds. (Invading creatures only target the host.)]

[Skill: Lifesteal. Attack damage restores lost HP.]

Han Wu saw right away that the Bloodthirst Bats relied on speed, high attack frequency, and lifesteal recovery. Their other stats weren’t impressive.

What excited Han Wu most was their sheer number. There were 5,000 of them. If he killed them all, Sacrifice would produce 5,000 locusts, which basically equaled five Microcosms. He could already see a path to greater riches opening before his eyes.

“This final exam is getting more and more interesting!” Han Wu muttered with excitement.

The Bloodthirst Bats swarmed in. The Microcosm locust guarding the portal struck first, but its attack frequency allowed it to handle about ten percent of the bats. The Dark Curse Bug behind it provided some backup, which let the locust pick off a few more.

The surviving Bloodthirst Bats fought through layer after layer of defenses and finally reached Han Wu. They bit down hard, but the fortress absorbed the first wave of attacks.

Then the Magma Locusts unleashed a barrage of explosions.

By the time the fortress dropped to 300 Durability, every last Bloodthirst Bat had been wiped out.

This round, Han Wu’s rewards were enormous. Energy Points, treasures, and clearance rewards were all secondary. He immediately extracted the 5,000 locusts from Sacrifice, merged them, and produced five Microcosm locusts. That was five Microcosms!