Chapter 281: Alien Race Command, Master of Reproduction

Chapter 281: Chapter 281: Alien Race Command, Master of Reproduction

Just as Lance was dreaming about his wonderful future, he suddenly noticed something abnormal.

In the past, when he activated his [Dragon Form], he would burn Life Force in exchange for Power.

He could clearly feel his Life Force rapidly draining away, as if his life was on a countdown.

But now, even though he was still maintaining his Half-Dragon Transformation, the feeling of weakness from his draining life had become faint.

He immediately pulled up his panel to check.

Upon closer inspection, Lance discovered that after fusing with the trait, the descriptions of all his "Dragon Species" related abilities had undergone subtle numerical changes.

First was his [Dragon Form] state.

Previously, the consumption was set to burn away a frantic 2% of his Life Value per second.

But now, that consumption number had become 1%.

This meant that the duration he could maintain this trump card state in actual combat had doubled!

In addition, the personal base charm bonus provided by his [Dragon Phase] Source Material had also skyrocketed from a meager +2 to an absurd +5.

And the source of this qualitative change, the Heroic Spirit Trait called "Thousand Descendants’ Blessing," had now completely disappeared from his panel. It had fully merged into the entry for the [Crimson Dragon] Source Material, becoming a permanent enhancement for him.

Lance couldn’t help but feel his lips twitch as he read the new detailed description.

’The style of this effect... is exactly what I expected.’

[Crimson Dragon: Thousand Descendants’ Blessing]

[1. Alien Race Command: As a Dominator, your aura naturally carries both deterrence and acceptance. When you interact or communicate with any Sub-human Species, their wariness and hostility toward you will be reduced by 30%. Furthermore, the initial favorability of all neutral Sub-human Species is naturally locked to "Friendly."]

[2. Master of Reproduction: You can control the activity of your own life seed at will. You will ignore the reproductive barriers of any race in the world. Furthermore, your life essence is as solid as a rock, granting permanent immunity to most negative statuses related to reproduction (such as the Racial Talents of Succubi, Vampires, etc.).]

’The greatest value of this Heroic Spirit Trait was actually acting as a catalyst. It allowed my Source Material to evolve successfully, pushing my body to mutate and grow Dragon Horns.’

Lance silently summarized in his mind.

As for these two new entries.

’The first one, "Alien Race Command," should be a great help when I travel the continent in the future and deal with various Sub-human Species.’

’As for this second one...’

A few dark lines appeared on Lance’s forehead as he looked at the description for "Master of Reproduction." ’This thing is definitely not going to be useful anytime soon. I’ll just let it collect dust for now.’

Lance closed the system panel without a second thought.

He had another worry on his mind.

In fact, after returning to his room, he realized that the most terrifying part of this Summer Crown wasn’t conquering the three major regions and the ten Iron Guards.

The tens of thousands of Adventurers gathered in the square today hadn’t thought too deeply about the announcement that the Underground City was being sealed.

But once the leaders of the Grand Guilds returned to their bases and calmed down, they would soon realize a grim problem.

The superficial prosperity and stability of this Underground City camp were actually built entirely on the constant supply line from the outside!

Every day, countless merchant caravans came and went, transporting massive amounts of food and consumables into the Underground City to sustain the tens of thousands of people inside.

Now that the Underground City was completely sealed and no one could get out, it meant that for the next two weeks, the camp’s supply line would be completely cut off.

And the current food stores of the few temporary taverns in the safe zone, combined with the daily reserves in the warehouses of the major Guilds, were definitely not enough to sustain tens of thousands of people for two weeks!

What’s more, activity within the Underground City during the Summer Crown event forcibly increased stamina consumption by 200%.

It was the same even in the safe zone. The safe zone only protected against Demon interference; the Effect of the entry wouldn’t disappear.

This meant that in order to resist weakness, everyone’s food consumption would be about 1.5 to 2 times higher than usual.

Don’t even think about hunting Demons. The Demons wandering here were all products of the Underground City’s Chaos Ether. Their flesh was highly contaminated and completely inedible.

Once supplies truly ran out and starvation began to spread...

...the human nature exposed by the instinct for survival was a hundred times more terrifying than the Demons outside.

And now, this group of people trapped in the Underground City not only had to face the threats of the dungeon itself, but also had to complete the second half of the Summer Crown’s conquest in an oppressive environment of scarce resources, where infighting could break out at any moment.

This was the greatest difficulty of this Summer Crown.

’I can completely subsist on Magic Energy Crystals to stave off hunger. The food crisis won’t affect me much.’

Lance’s brow was tightly furrowed.

’But Bazzer, Lilia, and Nieve can’t do that.’

If order collapsed, Lance had to figure out a way to secure survival supplies for the people around him in advance.

’Next, it’ll all depend on the resolve of the leaders of the three top teams.’

’They have to consolidate all their forces as soon as possible.’

Only then would more of these tens of thousands of people be able to survive until the day the Underground City reopened.

Besides the food crisis, there was another layer of worry hidden in Lance’s heart.

Namely, the group known as the Crimson Bell of Death.

That bunch were still hiding like rats in a gutter, tucked away in some unknown corner.

The ones he had killed in the camp before were all peripheral members carrying out sabotage missions. They had pitifully little secret intelligence and knew nothing about the core team’s coordinates.

His Fire-Stealing Relic, the [Guiding Compass], only had a radius of one kilometer, which was nowhere near enough.

This meant that even if Lance wanted to eliminate them root and stem, he couldn’t even find their lair.

He hadn’t seen any of them in the camp, which meant they definitely had a rare item that could establish a safe point in the wild.

They had probably even solved their food supply problem through means unknown to him.

But they had better behave themselves. Otherwise...

He mentally glanced at his ten-cubic-meter Imaginary Number Dark Grid.

Inside, nearly a thousand Alchemy Explosives, plundered from Goblins, lay quietly waiting.

’Then I’ll just send that trash to kingdom come and eliminate the problem for good.’

...

The next morning, the radiant array in the safe zone lit up as scheduled, simulating the feeling of dawn.

Lance pushed open the door to his residence and walked out onto the street.

He planned to talk to Nieve about the Iron Guards. Yesterday, besides obtaining the Heroic Spirit’s trait, he had also acquired the coordinates for the remaining four Iron Guards.

Including his own, he now knew the location of half the Iron Guards.

But when he got to the street.

The street, which should have been bustling with activity at this time, was now unusually quiet.

On both sides of the street, shops that controlled resources—like the Potion shop selling Alchemy Potions and the general store that bought and sold Enchantment Materials...had all quietly closed their doors.

They had clearly realized the supply crisis and had all turtled up, waiting for the situation to become clear.

But this wasn’t true for everyone.

When Lance followed the street to the familiar corner from last night, he stopped.

The simple-looking tavern, with its two rickety swinging doors, was wide open.

Steam was even rising from the kitchen chimney, mixed with the rich aroma of starch and spices being roasted at high temperatures.

Lance pushed through the swinging doors and went inside.

The tavern’s main hall was empty. The few young waiters who usually took orders and served food were nowhere to be seen.

However, on the counter near the kitchen, a small mountain was neatly stacked.

As he got closer, he saw that it was actually hundreds of tightly wrapped meal boxes.

In the open kitchen behind the bar, the father-and-son Chefs were focused on their work, the steam causing fine beads of sweat to form on their foreheads.

Lance didn’t make a sound to disturb them, instead standing still and quietly observing them work.

This was the first time he had seen with his own eyes how Life System Professionals used Ether Energy to process ingredients.

The old Chef stood before a cutting board, his hands emitting a soft, jade-green glow.

In front of him was a large cut of hind leg meat from a recently slaughtered Low Tier Demon.

As the old man’s deboning knife slid past.

With a faint SIZZLE, the black impurities, toxins, and frenzied Ether residue inside the meat, which were difficult to see with the naked eye, were forcibly extracted by the glow, turning into wisps of black smoke that dissipated into the air.

After this step, the originally dark-red, coarse Demon Flesh instantly took on a pure, alluring, bright red color, like top-grade marbled Wagyu beef.

The young man standing beside him, the old Chef’s son, immediately took the purified chunks of meat, quickly diced them into fine pieces, and threw them into a large iron pot of boiling stock to simmer and reduce.

Then, a faint Blue glow covered the young man’s hands.

He grabbed a handful of steamed wheat rice and wrapped a filling of special plum sauce and processed diced meat in the center.

In just a few seconds, a fist-sized rice ball with a faint glow on its surface was formed in his hands and then quickly wrapped in a banana leaf.

The young man tidied up the rice ball and handed it to the old Chef.

Just as the old Chef was about to place it on the counter, he turned and saw Lance standing there.

He immediately wiped his hands on his apron, a somewhat apologetic smile on his face.

"My sincerest apologies, customer."

The old Chef came forward, his tone extremely sincere. "Due to the sudden situation last night, many of our food supply channels have been cut off."

"We can’t offer the roasted meats and thick soups on our menu today."

"Today, we’re only offering one type of emergency meal that can be preserved for a long time."

"If you don’t mind..."