Chapter 44: Servants and Missions

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Servants and Missions

Soon, the panel vibrated again.

[Mythical Resonance condition met!]

[Collected: Iron Bone + tenacity + Qi Blood Surge. Fuse into Mythical entry: Huluwa·Sanwa (Blue)?]

He mentally commanded, "Fuse!"

[Huluwa·Sanwa (Blue) core abilities: Copper Head and Iron Arm, Steel Bones and Iron Flesh.

Exceptional physical structure arrangement, impervious to weapons, immune to Water and Fire, with extremely high resistance to ordinary weapons and Magic.]

Relying on Erya’s perception ability, Chen Shang strolled around the talent market for a long time and collected the rest of the Huluwa, except for Qiwa. He guessed that Qiwa’s abilities involved Space, and Space abilities were extremely precious, making it almost impossible for them to appear on Tier Two Creatures. Furthermore, the success rate for High Level creatures was very low, so he had to leave it for the future.

Aside from the Huluwa series, he also harvested a massive pile of assorted entries and even Mythical Characters. For example, Xinghua Immortal, Pine Tree Spirit, Red Phosphorus Giant Snake, Ox Head and Horse Face, and so on.

Of course, there were also some rather practical entries. For instance, from a Two-headed Ogre, he extracted [Three Heads and Six Arms·Fragment (Green)]. Although its completeness was low, its development potential was massive; many powerful Mythical Characters possessed this move.

Completely satisfied, Chen Shang called it a day. These entries would be enough for him to study for a long time.

As he prepared to leave the talent market, Chen Shang’s gaze was suddenly drawn to a bird. It was a pitch-black bird squatting on a stone pillar, tilting its head as it watched the crowd. What attracted Chen Shang the most was that it actually had three legs!

"What race are you?" he asked.

"Dream Crow!" The bird’s voice was hoarse, but it spoke very fast. "I am from the Spirit Nightmare World Community Dream Crow Race. I came out to find some work. Do you want to adopt me?"

Chen Shang did not speak and instead opened the system panel.

[Extractable entry detected: Dream Perception (Green). Source: Three-legged Dream Crow. Extract?]

He chose to extract it, and another entry entered his inventory.

Looking at its abilities, Chen Shang began to think. He did not need servants, but he did need materials. This Three-legged Dream Crow was a bit like the Mythical Character, the Golden Crow. Moreover, he had Flame Affinity, High Temperature Adaptation, Fire Element Control, and a series of other Fire Element entries in his hands. Perhaps they could collide to create a miracle.

"Come with me," he said.

The Dream Crow jumped down from the stone pillar, kicked its three legs in the air, and landed steadily on Chen Shang’s shoulder.

"Room and board are included, right? I don’t want a cage; I hate being locked up. Also, what’s your name? What laboratory are you from? How are the benefits? Are there any opportunities for further study? I want to learn Runes. I heard Wizard Runes can strengthen Dream Abilities..."

Was this Dream Crow a chatterbox? Chen Shang reached out a finger and gently pressed it against its beak.

"Shut up."

Leaving the Truth Continent, Chen Shang returned to the Starfall Half-Plane and dove headfirst into his research.

The disassembly work of the Huluwa series was much more complicated than he had expected, but he knew Da Wa’s Runes by heart and could apply those underlying principles to the others. Coupled with the Golden Finger allowing Chen Shang to personally perceive the states, his progress was extremely fast.

Day after day, he continuously dismantled Runes, engraved, experimented, tested, and then rearranged them. Yet, Chen Shang did not find it boring at all. He often fell into a flow state. In that state, he felt as if he were omnipotent, even becoming obsessed with it.

In his spare time from research, Chen Shang began taking the Lingxi Concentration. When he drank the pale Blue liquid, it felt like a stream of ice-cold spring water flowing from his throat into his Sea of Consciousness.

The first time he drank it, he felt his Spiritual Power being compressed by an invisible hand. The mist-like Spiritual Power in his Sea of Consciousness began to slowly condense, turning from a gaseous state to a liquid state, and from a liquid state to a gel-like state.

After one cycle, a Crystal Core the size of a grain of rice appeared in the center of his Sea of Consciousness. His overall Spiritual Power had skyrocketed by more than ten times, but it was still far from complete crystallization. Gritting his teeth, Chen Shang continued to place orders.

Time flowed like Water.

While Chen Shang poured his heart and soul into the Runes, the rest of the laboratory became the private territory of the two creatures under his command.

The Hallucinogenic Mushroom found a comfortable little garden outside the laboratory to take root in; it now continued to use the name Luna Xiya. The Dream Crow also clamored for a name, so Chen Shang bluntly told it that its name was Golden Crow.

Obviously, this name expressed Chen Shang’s earnest expectations.

The Dream Crow was bewildered. "What is a Golden Crow? Does such a creature exist?"

"It is a legendary divine bird, bathed in flames, and the incarnation of the sun," Chen Shang explained.

The Dream Crow was stunned. "Is this why you’re making me learn Flame Runes? Have you ever seen a Dream Crow that can breathe Fire! My talent is manipulating dreams..."

"Cut the crap. This is the evolutionary path I’ve designed for you. It’s absolutely awesome!"

Upon hearing about an evolutionary path, the Dream Crow compromised.

Occasionally, Chen Shang would also chat with Princess Di Long. When she heard that Chen Shang had detonated the Dragon Blood Crystal and eliminated all the Apprentices, Ithirandir’s eyes sparkled. "It exploded! Woohoo, you blew everyone away! I want to go too!"

"This is a Wizard assessment; you cannot come," he said.

"Then call me the next time you fight! I can pretend to be one of your units! I can shrink a little and hide in your Space Book..."

"No," Chen Shang decisively refused. Otherwise, if something went wrong, the Dragon Emperor would definitely come looking for trouble with him.

Two years later, Da Wa’s Rune Array was finally perfected and could be stably mass-produced. With the experience from Da Wa, the progress for the other Huluwa was vastly accelerated.

Five years after that, the Huluwa series was completely finished. Chen Shang engraved over a dozen sets and placed them into his Space Device. At the same time, his Spiritual Power had also reached a semi-crystallized state. In his Sea of Consciousness, the Crystal Core seed that had been the size of a rice grain had grown to the size of a walnut. Its surface was smooth, gleaming with a faint Gold light.

Additionally, there was his greatest harvest—the Automatic Assembly and Growth Device. He had gotten the inspiration from the Doll Seed a few years ago: using Spiritual Power to map out the growth, allowing the Mechanical Armor to grow on its own.

Chen Shang spent three years building the main body of the device, and another two years adjusting the parameters. After activating the device, he planted fifty Doll Seeds at once, each engraved with Ben Bo’Erba’s Rune template.

Seven days later, the seeds had grown into fifty grayish-Blue Ben Bo’Erba bodies. After activation, the Runes lit up on thirty of them. The other twenty had incomplete Runes, blocked Energy Circuits, or broken connection points.

A Good Quality rate of sixty percent was barely usable. It qualified him to sprint headlong toward mass-producing an army, but there was still a massive amount of room for improvement.

However, Chen Shang stopped his work at this moment. A crucial factor was limiting him... he was out of money!

Over the past few years, his achievements had been remarkable. The Huluwa series of Mechanical Armor, the Automatic Assembly and Growth Device, and his own semi-crystallized Spiritual Power... The price was that all five hundred thousand Wizard Coins had been spent clean. His monthly allowance and the sales of Mechanical Armor couldn’t possibly offset the enormous consumption.

"I have to find a way to get some income to maintain my daily expenses!" he muttered.

Chen Shang opened the Celestial Net and navigated to the mission acceptance interface. After browsing through it in detail, one mission caught his attention.

[First Level Apprentice Mission: Investigate the Plague outbreak on Aifannuo Continent]