Chapter 203 - 202: Dragon Blood’s Enhancement

Chapter 203: Chapter 202: Dragon Blood’s Enhancement

Average subscriptions for Chapter 1620. The average is rising every day, and I’m working hard to release extra Chapters. Please keep up the great support, subscribe to all Chapters, and send a monthly ticket or two if you can!

————————————

The sky was just beginning to lighten. Dawn’s first rays slipped through the cracks in the shattered courtyard walls, casting mottled patches of light on the dirt ground.

Gu Su stood in the center of the small courtyard, his head tilted slightly up toward the gray sky. His fingertips unconsciously traced the healing wounds on his body.

Two full days had passed since the black Giant Dragon was dragged away by the silver threads.

In those two days, the entire defensive line seemed to have been completely forgotten by the higher-ups of Ring Moon, left in a corner to fester in an eerie silence.

No new orders came down. No players arrived to investigate. And no one had contacted Gu Su to inform him whether the beast tide was truly over, or if the players stationed on the front lines could finally withdraw and return to Ring Moon.

So, Gu Su could only stand guard over his battered but reborn Graveyard Demon, waiting on standby in this forgotten region. He had no clue what was happening, but he had no choice but to wait patiently.

At first, a stone had been weighing on his heart, his mind filled with worry. After all, he had secretly intercepted the Dragon Blood that dripped from the Giant Dragon—a priceless treasure from the very source of the beast tide. If the higher-ups at Ring Moon discovered this, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But two days passed, and nothing happened.

He gradually came to a realization. ’My worrying was clearly unnecessary.’ The leadership of Ring Moon currently had all their attention focused on the slain black Giant Dragon.

It was, after all, a supreme being capable of unleashing an entire beast tide. Its corpse, its scales, its Dragon Crystal—every part of it was a priceless treasure. Who would bother paying attention to a single drop of blood that happened to fall from its body?

And even if someone had noticed where that drop of Dragon Blood went, what could they do?

A glint of determination flashed in Gu Su’s eyes. He was struggling to survive in this Game World, every step an arduous battle. ’I finally stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this; there’s no way I’m just handing it over. No matter what pressure I face, I have to survive and protect what’s mine—my opportunity and my Graveyard Demon.’

Stretching his limbs, Gu Su moved his body, which had grown much stronger thanks to the Dragon Blood Baptism. His bones made soft CRACKING sounds, and he felt an abundant Power coursing through him.

After his simple warm-up, he began his routine morning inspection of the Graveyard Demon, as was his custom.

It was a habit he had slowly developed after mastering the City Transformation Skill and gaining the ability to have two-way Communication with the Graveyard Demon.

Before, he could only rely on the cold numbers on a panel to understand the Graveyard Demon’s status. But now, he trusted the details he could see with his own eyes. Through his Communication with the Graveyard Demon, he could sense the operational state of every structure, which gave him a greater sense of control over his Undead Territory.

For the first stop on his inspection, Gu Su walked straight to the Yin Fire Heap next to his living quarters.

He leaned in, carefully examining the Yin Fire Heap’s operational status. His gaze fell upon the ethereal blue flames within the furnace as he communicated with the Graveyard Demon in his mind, checking its current Resource reserves. The most critical among them was the total amount of Yin Qi.

He knew better than anyone that the Graveyard Demon’s movement, its functions, and indeed the normal operation of all its structures depended entirely on the support of Yin Qi.

During the earlier Dragon Blood Baptism, the Graveyard Demon had expended nearly all its Yin Qi reserves to resist the Dragon Blood’s corrosion and absorb its energy, bringing it to the brink of shutdown.

Because of that, Gu Su now paid extra attention to the reserves and recovery rate of Yin Qi, terrified of facing a similar crisis again.

After confirming that the Yin Fire Heap was running normally and the Yin Qi was slowly recovering—not quickly, but enough to sustain the Graveyard Demon’s basic functions—Gu Su finally relaxed and turned toward the nearby Deceitful Tree.

Unlike the other structures within the Graveyard Demon, which had recovered quickly after being corroded by the Dragon Blood, the Deceitful Tree’s recovery was far from satisfactory.

After being eroded by the Dragon Blood, all that remained was a bare trunk.

The branches that once hung down were all gone. Not a single one of its faintly glowing leaves remained; they had all turned to ash the moment the Dragon Blood fell.

The trunk was covered in marks of corrosion, with patches of black and brown. It felt dry and brittle to the touch, devoid of any life.

The other buildings had the Corroding Mycelium to support them and the Bone Masonry leading the Undead to repair them, so they were quickly more or less restored. But the Deceitful Tree was different; it could only rely on itself to slowly grow back.

Even after two days of nourishment, the Deceitful Tree had only managed to sprout a few tiny buds at the top of its trunk. Its recovery speed was far slower than the buildings being actively repaired by the Bone Masonry and its underlings.

Gu Su paused beside the Deceitful Tree, his brows furrowed as he gently touched the rough trunk. He tried to communicate with it in his mind, hoping to find a way to stimulate its growth, but the Deceitful Tree only sent back a faint thought, a craving for energy. Beyond that, there was no other response.

Gu Su sighed helplessly. All he could do was check on it daily, provide some supplemental Resources, and silently wait for it to recover on its own.

His next destination was the place he valued most during his morning routine.

The Yin Soul Shop, located to one side of the Graveyard Demon’s entrance. Ever since the Dragon Blood Baptism, all of Gu Su’s structures had been affected by the Dragon Blood’s energy to some degree, undergoing subtle changes. The Yin Soul Shop was no exception.

Take the five white-quality Artillery pieces he previously owned, for example. Two of them had completely dissolved under the Dragon Blood’s intense corrosion, utterly destroyed.

Another one, however, had managed to withstand the corrosion, nourished by Yin Qi. It had not only survived but had undergone a quality leap, evolving into a Green Quality City Defense Weapon.

[Dragon Scale Mortar (Green Quality, City Defense Weapon)]

[Attack: 35]

[Range: 400 meters]

[Equipment Requirements: Must be mounted on a defense tower or gunnery platform.]

[Special 1: Cluster Shell. The fired shell will automatically explode upon landing, spraying dragon scale fragments in all directions with power equivalent to the Artillery’s Attack. Covers a thirty-meter radius.]

[Special 2: Rapid Fire. Can be used once per hour to fire seven shells simultaneously. Attack Power remains unchanged.]

[Explanation: BOOM! Annihilation.]

The Yin Soul Shop was a similar case. Although it didn’t look much different on the outside—still just an ordinary wooden counter in a room built into the wall—its internal Attributes had seen a significant improvement.

Previously, the three white-quality items that refreshed daily were all valued at under 10 Gold Coins.

Now, the item value had increased to under 20 Gold Coins. Even more surprisingly, the shop now had a chance to refresh with Green Quality items each day, which undoubtedly gave Gu Su more ways to acquire scarce Resources.

Today was no different. Gu Su walked up to the Yin Soul Shop and picked up the three items resting on the wooden counter to examine them.