Chapter 191: Departing for Hoge Village, the Druid’s Advanced Form

"Follow me, and all these dreams will be realized one by one."

Cao Xing's steady voice rang out.

At this moment, Sylvia and Aili both gazed at the man before them, their Lord.

Their eyes filled with emotion and a hint of admiration.

Because they knew that what Cao Xing said was true.

This man had the ability to help them realize their dreams!

The two women bowed respectfully.

"In the name of nature and flowing water, we will follow you with our lives!"

Then, they took the souls from Cao Xing's hands.

[Due to your generous gift, territory member: Sylvia's loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 98]

[Due to your generous gift, territory member: Aili's loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 99]

…The two mages' favorability was just a little bit away from being full.

They also knew how to use the souls and patted them directly into their bodies.

A moment later.

A breath of flowing water rose from Sylvia's body.

Splash…

However, the moment this water vapor touched the cold air of this world, it turned into clumps of ice crystals.

Crack! Crack!

A system prompt appeared.

[Your territory member: Sylvia has successfully advanced to an Elite-grade creature. Base attributes increased by 30%. Learned new skill: Water Jet.]

[Water Jet: Condenses a water column that erupts from the ground, dealing 137% magic damage to enemies within a certain range. Affected by the world environment, this skill becomes Ice Pillar Eruption, with an additional 30% damage increase. Cooldown: 45 seconds.]

Seeing the effect of this skill, joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

The skill attributes were decent, and the damage coefficient was also good.

The key was that it changed from Water Jet to Ice Pillar Eruption, and the damage increased by another notch!

Sylvia looked delighted. "Lord, I succeeded!"

Beside her, Aili looked a bit dejected and gazed at Cao Xing with some fear.

"L-Lord… Aili failed…"

"Are… are you going to punish Aili?"

Seeing her delicate appearance, it was as if she would cry the next second.

Cao Xing was speechless and directly took out another Elite soul from his backpack and handed it to her.

Not only that, he also took out the [Magic Spider Staff] and [Ancient Staff] from his backpack.

Both of these weapons were Level 10 Blue-grade gear, which, compared to Cao Xing's current strength, were a bit outdated.

But they were just right for them to use.

The two mages took them with surprise on their faces!

Especially Aili, whose eyes showed a complex expression as she stared at Cao Xing for a long time.

A system prompt appeared.

[Due to your generous gift, territory member: Sylvia's loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 100]

(Loyalty is full. You can now issue any command to her.)

[Due to your generous gift, territory member: Aili's loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 100]

(Loyalty is full. You can now issue any command to her.)

Very good, the loyalty of both mages was full.

A smile appeared on the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

He watched as Aili patted the Elite soul into her body.

This breakthrough went very smoothly.

Aili also successfully advanced into an Elite-grade creature.

Then, Cao Xing left the place.

He now needed to go and improve the strength of another ranged troop type.

After searching around the territory, he saw Elisa, who was leading her archer squad in training.

When this little girl saw Cao Xing, she immediately shrank her head in fear and prepared to run away on the spot.

"Elisa, stop."

Hearing Cao Xing's voice, Elisa froze in place.

She clutched her bow and arrows and slowly turned around.

"Lord… w-what is it?"

"I-I-I… I didn't mean it last night! I apologize!"

The little girl thought Cao Xing was looking for trouble because of what happened last night.

Cao Xing said speechlessly, "Enough."

"There is a mission tonight. You need to take your archer squad and come out with me."

"If you perform well, I won't punish you."

Upon hearing this, Elisa immediately straightened her posture and said, "Understood, Lord!"

"Elisa will definitely perform well!"

Then, a playful smile reappeared on her face.

At this moment, Cao Xing took out 5 Elite souls and 1 Leader soul from his backpack, then said.

"The enemies we have to deal with tonight are quite troublesome, so I am giving you 5 Elite souls and 1 Leader soul to help you improve your strength."

"Keep that Leader soul for yourself, and distribute the other five yourself, understand?"

The Frost Archer's Elite skill [Ice Rapid Fire] had quite high burst capability.

If they focused fire in one wave, they could contribute quite a bit of damage.

That was why Cao Xing was willing to take these items out.

As for the Leader-grade soul, Cao Xing wanted to see for himself.

What new skill would be activated after the Frost Archer advanced to a Leader?

Seeing the souls in Cao Xing's hand, the little girl seemed to be hit by a huge surprise!

"Wow!! Lord, what did you say? You want to give me a Leader-grade soul!"

"I love you so much!"

After saying this, she flew directly in front of Cao Xing and hugged him tightly like a little raccoon.

The five Frost Archers behind them watched this scene in surprise.

And Elisa seemed to realize that there were others here.

Her face flushed red, and she let go of her hands that were hugging Cao Xing.

Then, she excitedly took the six souls.

She quickly ran to the other archers and proclaimed, "Hmph! This was bestowed upon us by the handsome Lord!"

"Everyone, shout with me: Thank you, handsome Lord!"

Hearing this, the five Frost Archers looked at each other and then said in unison, "Thank you, handsome Lord!"

Cao Xing stood behind them, speechless.

Just then, five system prompts for increased loyalty appeared.

Except for Elisa, the loyalty of the other five had all reached over 90.

Since Elisa's loyalty was already at 100, it did not increase further this time.

After all, it was not easy to cultivate a die-hard subordinate.

Then, the six of them, including Elisa, patted these souls into their bodies at the same time.

Not long after, a strong cold air rose from those Frost Archers!

Including Elisa, who also erupted with a stunning aura at this moment!

Four system prompts appeared in a row!

[Your territory member: Habule has successfully advanced to an Elite-grade creature. Attributes increased by 30%. Learned new skill: Ice Rapid Fire]

[Your territory member: Elisa has successfully advanced to a Leader-grade creature. Attributes increased by 30%. Learned new skill: Ice Burst Arrow]

[Your…]

…

Cao Xing nodded secretly.

Six souls, four successes; this success rate was considered very good.

What excited him the most was that Elisa had successfully advanced to Leader-grade!

One Leader was worth at least the improvement of four or five Elites!

He impatiently checked the attributes of the new skill, [Ice Burst Arrow].

[Ice Burst Arrow: Condenses a large amount of cold ice aura and fires an Ice Burst Arrow, dealing 167% of attack power as blast damage to enemies within 5 meters. Deals an additional 30% damage to frozen enemies.]

[Additionally, it deals different damage to enemies based on the charge time. Each second of charging increases the damage coefficient by 30%, up to a maximum of 3 seconds. Skill cooldown: 90 seconds.]

…

Seeing this skill, Cao Xing was shocked!

"This skill is not bad!"

And it was very suitable for Cao Xing's next operation.

Charging for three seconds meant a full 257% damage, and it was an AoE attack!

This way, he could deal more damage to the Snow Demon in a short time.

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction, "Not bad, Elisa."

After receiving Cao Xing's praise, Elisa giggled foolishly.

Then, Cao Xing took out 6 Green-grade longbows from his backpack and had Elisa distribute them.

Although there were a few Blue longbows, they were Level 20 gear, so they couldn't use them yet.

After doing all this.

Cao Xing let Elisa continue to go out and deal with the Ice Nest Monsters.

As for him, he waited silently in the territory.

Time passed slowly…

By the afternoon.

Cao Xing brought Liu Muxue out of the Lords Cabin and shouted directly, "Combat personnel, assemble!"

After hearing Cao Xing's order, a large number of combat personnel gathered from various locations in the territory.

Hundreds of eyes gazed at him firmly.

They were all waiting for Cao Xing's next order.

Cao Xing said directly,

"Assam, Andrew, Sarah, Renice, Blot, Braum, Hilda, Isabelle, Jonard, Josent…"

"You all are coming out with me tonight."

He called out ten names in a row; these were all his core members.

Not a single one was below the level of a chieftain, and they were terrifyingly powerful.

At this moment, Cao Xing looked at the Wild Boar Warrior in the crowd.

"Rabb, you lead twenty Wild Boar Warriors, go to the blacksmith shop, have everyone pick up a pair of grappling hooks, and come with me."

Hearing that Cao Xing was actually bringing them along, Rabb became excited.

"As you command! Powerful Lord!"

After speaking, Rabb selected the personnel and led them to the blacksmith shop.

Then, Cao Xing looked at Elisa and Aili.

"Are you both ready?"

Aili and Sylvia nodded gently.

Beside them, Elisa gripped her bow and arrow, eager to try, and said, "Don't worry, Lord! Just watch Elisa show off her skills tonight!"

Cao Xing looked at everyone with satisfaction.

This time, he had taken almost all of his ranged units and core members.

Including Dabai and Volibear, whom he also brought along.

This was to wipe out more Snow Demons in one fell swoop.

After everything was prepared, the group of over thirty people walked out of the territory…

Thump! Thump-thump!

The massive Mammoth walked at the very front of the team, and whenever its elephant hooves lifted, they would leave a deep pit in the thick snow.

Volibear and the others followed in the footsteps of the Mammoth.

A few minutes later.

Cao Xing and Liu Muxue sat on Dabai's back together.

He glanced at the map.

Their current position was only four or five kilometers away from Hoge Village.

Just as previously mentioned, Hoge Village was not far from Cao Xing's territory.

In the early stages of arriving in this world, it might have taken one or two hours to arrive.

But now, if they traveled at full speed, they could reach Hoge Village in just a few minutes.

However, Cao Xing did not travel too fast.

Instead, he called Andrew over and asked him to unleash [Ancient Tree Form] to see.

After receiving the order, Andrew executed it without hesitation.

As a surge of life energy emanated from his body.

In an instant, Andrew's body underwent a change.

His thick limbs disappeared, gradually turning into branches, and his body turned into the trunk of an ancient tree.

Not only that, but a large amount of green leaves grew from the top of Andrew's head.

"Rustle…"

Before long, Andrew had turned into an ancient tree that was three meters tall.

A system prompt appeared.

[Your territory member: Andrew successfully cast the skill [Ancient Tree Form]. Under the influence of the talent [Eternal Power], this skill has become a permanent state, can be exited and switched at any time, with no cooldown.]

A look of joy appeared on Cao Xing's face again.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, this new form was also affected by [Eternal Power] and became a permanent state.

The bald-headed Braum looked at Andrew's transformation with a happy expression, "Mr. Andrew, your appearance reminds me of the ash trees in my hometown."

At this moment, a human face appeared on the ancient tree.

Andrew said in a weathered voice, "This is the power of nature… Mr. Braum…"

After hearing this, Braum asked curiously, "Then can you Druids transform into other forms?"

Andrew pondered for a moment after hearing this, "Yes…"

"In our clan, depending on the nature spirits we communicate with, we can transform into other forms."

"For example, Cheetah Form, Cat Form, Raven Form, and so on."

"Of course… these forms can only play a role in specific environments and are not as powerful as my Owl-Beast Form and Ancient Tree Form."

Cao Xing, who was listening to their discussion from the side, also became interested.

He asked, "Andrew, is the Ancient Tree Form your final form?"

"Can you transform into even stronger creatures?"

Hearing this question, Andrew looked thoughtful, then replied, "Lord, generally speaking, the Ancient Tree Form is the end of our evolution."

"But I heard the old patriarch say once that when we Druids evolve to a certain degree, some unknown metamorphosis will occur, unlocking new forms."

"For example, Unicorn, Moose, Whale, and so on."

"We can even transform into the legendary ferocious beast, the Behemoth."

"Behemoth?" Cao Xing asked, puzzled.

Andrew said, "Yes, it is a powerful and ferocious creature."

"They even possess the power to contend with dragons!"

"But I have never witnessed any Druid who has unlocked this form."

"In our clan, this is just a legend."

Cao Xing nodded after hearing this and did not pursue the questioning further.

He said, "Andrew, start bestowing the new blessings upon our territory members now."

"If your spirit is insufficient, remember to consume tree sap."

The leaves on top of Andrew's head rustled, and he replied respectfully, "As you command, Lord."

After speaking, he raised one of his branches.

A rich vitality appeared from the tip of the branch and then fell directly into Cao Xing's body.

[Your territory member: Andrew successfully cast the [Life Bloom] skill. Under the influence of the talent [Eternal Power], this skill has become a permanent state.]

At the same time, green recovery numbers of +540 and +378 appeared above Cao Xing's head.

Then, Andrew cast [Thorns] on Cao Xing, which was also enhanced by [Eternal Power].

"Not bad, not bad."

Cao Xing praised sincerely.

For the rest of the journey, they advanced at a steady pace.

Twenty minutes later, everyone had almost received Andrew's two new blessings.

Then, they saw a village nestled in the snowy plains ahead.

And a few watchtowers at the entrance.

Meanwhile.

The militiamen who were in Hoge Village also saw the mighty figure of Cao Xing's group.

Because they couldn't see their faces clearly, everyone immediately became alert.

The entire Hoge Village, twenty or thirty militiamen, walked out in a swarm, holding weapons.

Then, when they saw that the person coming was Cao Xing, the vigilance on their faces instantly disappeared and turned into surprise.

They quickly put away their weapons and ran to Cao Xing's side.

Militiaman Arno said excitedly, "Lord, you really came!"

Cao Xing smiled and said, "Of course, after all, I have already accepted this mission."

Hearing this, Arno became even more excited, "That's great, Lord Cao Xing is here, our Hoge Village is saved!"

Including the other militiamen, they also had excited smiles on their faces.

They had all heard from Arno that Cao Xing had agreed to their request to come to Hoge Village tonight to eliminate the threat of the Snow Demons.

However, because the evil creatures known as Snow Demons were too powerful and had a fearsome reputation.

Even the most outstanding demon hunters and mercenaries were unwilling to deal with such creatures.

They didn't have high expectations for Cao Xing either.

Unexpectedly, this young Lord really came!

Arno said excitedly, "Lord Cao Xing, please wait a moment, I will go call the village chief."

"He will discuss the specific details of expelling the Snow Demons tonight with you!"

Cao Xing nodded and said, "Okay, go."

Arno ran back to the village excitedly.

And the remaining militiamen looked at the people behind Cao Xing with expressions of awe or curiosity.

They had a feeling that everyone here was terrifyingly powerful!

Even the seemingly weak mage apprentice Aili had the strength to slaughter this village.

These militiamen exclaimed, "Lord Cao Xing, you have changed so much; your current aura has already surpassed the strongest knight I have ever seen."

"Yes, yes, compared to the last time we met, Lord Cao Xing's subordinates have also become much stronger!"

Other militiamen echoed one after another.

Cao Xing smiled and didn't speak.

Hoge Village was just a small village; they wouldn't see many strong people if they stayed here for their whole lives.

So it was normal for them to have this reaction.

A moment later, the Hoge Village chief, Maldo, came running over.

This little old man was wearing a thick cotton coat and a black hat on his head, moving with swift strides.

After seeing Cao Xing, he said excitedly, "Lord Cao Xing! You are finally here!"

"If you hadn't come tonight, I was prepared to take the villagers to the mines in the Borealis Mountain Range to spend the night…"