Chapter 5: Cannon Fodder Units!

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Cannon Fodder Units!

[Mechanical Perception·Fragment (Grey): Possesses a weak sensing ability toward Mechanical creations, able to faintly perceive their Energy flow. Upgradeable.]

[Spiritual Talent (White): Spiritual Power talent enhanced. Able to perceive faint Spirit fluctuations and Elemental Energy. Upgradeable.]

A cooling sensation washed over Chen Shang’s head. He could faintly perceive something flowing in his surroundings, realizing that this might be an enhancement of his Spirit Talent.

"Did I just obtain my dream talent this easily?" he wondered.

But this was not a good time to study it in detail. The transportation work had already begun, and Chen Shang immediately stepped forward to join in.

The manual labor was dull and tedious. Items with various tags had to be sorted into different categories, over and over again in an endless loop of repetition, yet no one complained. The remuneration promised by the Apprentices was generous enough—gold and Power. Moreover, the work wasn’t heavy. Lifting three to five hundred pounds was a breeze for a Third Level Knight. Only a fool would complain.

As Chen Shang carried the goods, he kept an eye on the people around him. The Knights also had entry fragments on them.

[Endurance Enhancement·Fragment]

[Power Burst·Fragment]

[Fighting Qi Fullness·Fragment]

...

He quietly harvested them without drawing any attention.

Over the next three days, he accumulated over a dozen new grey entries. On the night of the fourth day, he lay on the communal bed, taking inventory of his stash.

He had finally gathered five [Fighting Qi Fullness·Fragment]s.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the fusion interface.

[Five identical entry fragments (Fighting Qi Fullness·Fragment) detected. Fuse into the white entry [Fighting Qi Fullness]?]

"Fuse!"

A flash of white light illuminated his vision.

[Entry obtained: Fighting Qi Fullness (White)]

[Fighting Qi Fullness (White): Fighting Spirit recovery speed increased by 30%, total Fighting Spirit capacity increased by 15%. Upgradeable.]

In that instant, it was as if something inside Chen Shang’s body loosened with a sharp CRACK. The Third Level Knight bottleneck that had trapped him for over a decade... shattered. Closing his eyes, he felt the Fighting Spirit surging through his meridians. It flowed nearly fifty percent faster than before, and the total volume had noticeably expanded, allowing him to steadily cross that threshold.

A Great Knight! After lying flat and doing the bare minimum for years, Chen Shang had finally become a Great Knight.

Next, he shifted his focus to [Spiritual Talent]. Unfortunately, since he knew absolutely nothing about Wizards, he couldn’t gauge the exact level of this talent. He could only vaguely sense that his body had undergone some sort of Transformation.

However, the effects of [Mechanical Perception] were far more obvious. Over the past two days, whenever he looked at those Demon Puppets, he could sense the light emanating from their chests and the rhythm of those pulsating light clusters. He could even feel that light flowing through their metal skeletons.

For the following few days, everything went on as usual. Chen Shang continued to work while collecting entries.

On the twelfth day, Chen Shang was in the warehouse moving a square box with a Blue tag when he suddenly heard someone shouting outside. "Transportation team, send ten people out here!"

He set the box down and walked out. A blue-robed Apprentice stood at the entrance. It wasn’t the young man from before, but a man in his thirties.

Chen Shang rejoiced inwardly. The entries provided by the Apprentices were almost exclusively white and leaned toward the mystical side. Sure enough, a notification rang out in his mind again.

[Collectible entry fragments detected in the vicinity.]

[Target: Third Level Apprentice — Extractable entry: Spiritual Talent (White)]

Chen Shang discreetly collected it.

The Apprentice swept his gaze over the gathered crowd and casually pointed out ten men. "You, you, you... and you. Follow me."

Chen Shang was among those selected. He followed the Apprentice through several rows of metal buildings, venturing deeper into a secluded area. The surrounding Demon Puppets became increasingly scarce. The air grew thick with a strange amalgamation of scents—it smelled of blood, some sort of Potion, and the lingering stench of rot.

A massive shed appeared ahead. Its doors were wide open, and a low humming sound drifted out from within, sounding as if some machinery were operating.

The Apprentice stopped at the entrance and turned to face them. "Inside are combat Warriors. They’re too heavily injured and possess no further treatment value. Go in and carry them to the decomposition furnace over there."

With that said, he stepped aside.

Chen Shang peeked inside, his footsteps faltering.

The floor of the shed was littered with a sprawling mass of... indescribable things. They appeared to be living creatures, albeit grotesque and bizarrely shaped ones.

Some resembled magnified lizards that walked upright, their bodies covered in scales. The scales were riddled with cracks, and dark red liquid oozed from the depths of those fissures. Others looked like some kind of insect; their carapaces were shattered, exposing the translucent, gelatinous matter beneath. He couldn’t even name most of them. Some sported seven or eight limbs, half of which were severed, while the remaining stumps twitched unconsciously.

They were densely packed together, sprawling motionlessly across the ground. Only a few were still breathing faintly. Yet, the aura exuding from every single creature was vastly more powerful than that of the Knights!

Someone behind Chen Shang drew a sharp breath. "What... what are these things?"

The Apprentice’s voice rang out from behind. "Combat Warriors. Don’t understand? They’re cannon fodder. Hurry up and get to work. What are you dawdling for?"

Taking a deep breath, Chen Shang was the first to walk in. The floor beneath his boots felt sticky—he had no idea what he was stepping on. He bypassed several paralyzed creatures and approached the nearest one.

It was a lizard-like creature, twice his size. More than half of the scales on its body were shattered, revealing charred, blackened tissue underneath. Its eyes were open. Its pupils shifted, watching as he drew closer.

Just as Chen Shang crouched down to lift it, the notification in his mind chimed.

[Extractable entries detected: Scale Armor Hardening (White), Power Burst (White), Corpse Qi Residue (White)]

"These have entries too?" Chen Shang thought, his interest piqued.

[Extraction successful.]

No longer in a hurry to lift the body, he continued walking forward. He approached the next one—an insect-like creature.

[Shell Hardening (White), Rapid Regeneration (White), Corpse Qi Residue (White)]

Extracted.

The next one.

[Power Burst (White), Endurance Enhancement (White)]

Extracted.

Chen Shang walked along, harvesting relentlessly along the way. Behind him, the other nine Knights braced themselves and entered the shed as well.

Staring at the hideous creatures, someone muttered under their breath, "These things aren’t going to suddenly come alive and bite us, are they..."

"They’re injured to this extent. How could they possibly come alive?"

"Then why are its eyes still moving..."

"It’s dead. Stop looking and hurry up with the moving."

Chen Shang didn’t participate in the chatter. He focused entirely on harvesting entries. This place was practically an entry mine. He found one every few steps, almost all of them white. It was just that some were completely useless, like [Scale Armor Hardening] and [Shell Hardening]. Chen Shang didn’t even have a shell, so what exactly was he supposed to harden?

A creature overheard the Knights chatting and suddenly spoke up. "Do not be afraid. We will not bite you."

Chen Shang stopped in his tracks and looked over. The creature lay on the ground. Its shape was somewhat human-like, yet not entirely. It possessed long, slender limbs with exoskeletons covering its joints. Its skin was grayish-blue and crisscrossed with fine, dense patterns. A massive, gaping wound pierced straight through its chest; one could see right through it, revealing the slow, sluggish writhing of the tissues inside.