Chapter 346: The Blood Spider Queen’s Metamorphosis, Strength Skyrockets! (6800)

Chapter 346: The Blood Spider Queen's Metamorphosis, Strength Skyrockets! (6800)

Cao Xing was utterly shocked by Hilda's metamorphosis!

No wonder Isabelle said that Hilda had once single-handedly destroyed six Giant Cities.

With this skill, let alone destroying six Giant Cities…

Given time and enough corpses, it was even possible for her to destroy an entire kingdom!

Cao Xing glanced at their attributes after the breakthrough.

[Blood Spider Queen: Hilda Bloodkiss]

[Race: Blood Spider]

[Level: Level 43 (Tier 5 Commander-grade Creature)]

[Detailed Attributes: Click to View]

…

…

[Dark Night Hunter: Herlie Feiying]

[Race: Demi-human]

[Level: Level 40 (Tier 5 Leader-grade Creature)]

[Detailed Attributes: Click to View]

…

"So strong!" Cao Xing couldn't help exclaiming.

Especially Hilda, who was now a Commander-grade; she was formidable in almost every aspect.

You must know that her Blood Poison attack power and the Blood Spider's attributes were affected by her own stats.

In other words, Hilda's metamorphosis didn't just boost her personal combat power.

The Blood Spiders she hatched were also significantly strengthened.

Coupled with her Commander-grade skills, it became even more monstrous!

Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction, then praised, "Not bad, Hilda. Becoming a commander is indeed an extremely powerful metamorphosis for you."

Hearing the voice, Hilda slowly turned her beautiful head.

And the physical form of the Blood Spider Queen, who had metamorphosed into a Commander-grade, seemed to have undergone some kind of change.

Her upper human body hadn't changed much; it was mainly her lower spider body, where several rows of blood-colored patterns had appeared on her abdomen.

It looked both dangerous and charming.

She placed her right hand on her chest, slightly bowed, and said respectfully, "Respected Lord, thank you once again for allowing me to regain Commander-grade combat power."

"The Blood Spider Queen, Hilda Bloodkiss, will lead the Blood Spider clan to defend your honor and territory with our lives."

This was her first solemn vow.

Hearing this, the corners of Cao Xing's mouth curled into an arc.

Because this showed that the Blood Spider Queen had completely submitted to him.

Right at this moment, the beast-eared girl nearby said with a hint of grievance, "Lord… This Feiying has also successfully broken through…"

She seemed to want Cao Xing to praise her.

However, Cao Xing said, "I know you broke through."

"But you must also know that a Tier 5 leader is roughly the backbone of our territory."

"However, there is still a long way to go if you want to catch up to Sarah. You need to keep working hard."

Give a little sweetness, then point out the other party's shortcomings to make her work harder.

Cao Xing was well-versed in the art of mental manipulation.

Sure enough, upon hearing Cao Xing say this, the beast-eared girl immediately tightened her grip on her weapon, a serious look appearing in her eyes.

Looking at Sarah's back, she said firmly, "Mm-hm! I'll keep working hard and strive to catch up to this Dark Elf sooner!"

Then, Cao Xing cast his gaze toward the beautiful witch in the crowd.

Her attire today was quite casual, consisting of a simple plain-colored long robe draped with a woolen coat.

But this outfit still couldn't hide the witch's proud figure and unique temperament.

"Francesca."

Hearing Cao Xing call her name, the witch raised her eyes and looked at him in confusion.

Cao Xing took out a red crystal almost the size of a human head from his backpack, which contained unimaginable power!

It was precisely—the Master-level Heart of Power.

It could allow a Level 50 Expert-grade powerhouse to advance to a Master!

Among Cao Xing's subordinates, Francesca was the only one who met the conditions.

"Are you ready to become a Master-level powerhouse?" Cao Xing asked with a chuckle.

Although the success rate of the Master-level Heart of Power was relatively low, only 60%, he had a full 4 of them in his backpack.

So there was no need to worry at all.

The witch also understood Cao Xing's meaning.

She nodded solemnly and said, "I am ready."

With that, Cao Xing tossed the Heart of Power to her.

Francesca slightly bent down and thanked him respectfully.

"Thank you for your gift. My power belongs to you…"

[Due to your generous gift, territory member Francesca's loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 89]

Cao Xing smiled and signaled for her to begin her breakthrough.

Francesca also knew how to use this thing.

She directly crushed it and absorbed the power contained within.

In an instant!

A terrifying power erupted from within her body.

An intangible green aura continuously emanated outward.

This was forest spiritual power, which was also the power Francesca possessed.

As the aura on her body continued to rise,

everyone watched intently.

After all, this was the metamorphosis process from Expert to Master!

Except for a few individuals who once possessed Master-level strength, the other territory residents felt both curious and envious!

They also wanted to quickly reach the Expert-level limit and then become Master-level powerhouses!

However, Francesca's breakthrough this time was not smooth.

When the aura on her body rose halfway, it abruptly stopped.

She stood dazedly in place, seemingly finding it hard to accept the fact that her breakthrough had failed.

Everyone else was also extremely surprised.

Yet Cao Xing didn't care at all.

He took out another Heart of Power and tossed it to her.

"Don't worry, continue."

Clutching the Heart of Power in her arms, the witch looked at Cao Xing with eyes full of gratitude.

She nodded solemnly.

Then she crushed the second Master-level Heart of Power once again.

This time, the aura emanating from her body was several times more terrifying than the last!

The green forest spiritual power was almost on the verge of solidifying!

After nearly ten full minutes, Francesca was still in this peculiar state.

A look of confusion appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "Good grief, does the metamorphosis from Expert to Master take this long?"

You must know that every previous advancement was finished in at most a few minutes.

But this time, it took an unexpectedly long time.

Finally, another five minutes passed.

Francesca suddenly opened her eyes.

A trace of green light burst from her pupils, and her entire temperament drastically changed, as if she had ushered in some kind of deep-seated metamorphosis!

The surrounding overflowing forest spiritual power was also completely absorbed into her body!

At the same time, a system prompt appeared.

[Survivor, please note! Your territory member Francesca has successfully metamorphosed into a Tier 6 Master-grade creature. Base attributes increased by 100%]

[Due to completing her sublimation metamorphosis, Max HP +100%, Status Ailment Resistance +50%]

(Note: Status Resistance reduces the hit probability of various negative states, such as stun, freeze, bleeding, poisoning, etc.; at the same time, it will also reduce the duration after being affected by status ailments.)

[Attention! You now own a Master-level territory resident. Prestige +3000!]

…

Three consecutive prompts filled Cao Xing's heart with wild joy.

"So the metamorphosis from Expert to Master actually grants an additional doubling of health and 50% status resistance!"

Among these, the most powerful enhancement was naturally the subsequent 50% status resistance increase.

This thing could be said to greatly increase the crowd-control immunity probability.

Making it difficult for those Master-level powerhouses to be continuously locked down by control skills.

Therefore, once reaching this level, it basically came down to raw strength or luck.

Of course, when it came to raw strength, Cao Xing's side was completely unfazed.

After all, under the blessing of terrifying status boosts, every single one of his subordinates was an expert capable of fighting above their rank!

He glanced at Francesca's attributes after her breakthrough.

[Forest Witch: Francesca]

[Race: Half-Elf]

[Level: Level 50 0/1 million (Tier 6 Commander-grade Creature)]

[Detailed Attributes: Click to View]

…

"Holy cow… Over three million health points, and nearly fourteen thousand attack power!"

"Isn't this way too formidable?"

As a Tier 6 Commander-grade creature, Francesca's panel could be said to be unimaginably terrifying!

Coupled with nearly 2,000 armor, this woman could now be said to be both tanky and capable of dealing damage—powerful in all aspects!

As for whether she could deal with powerhouses of the Archbishop's level, Cao Xing wasn't actually entirely sure in his heart.

But at least he had gained an even more powerful combat force.

"Not bad, Francesca."

At this moment, the witch had also adapted to the skyrocketing power within her body.

Facing Cao Xing's praise, she nodded gently, "Thank you for your cultivation."

At this point, all these spoils of war had been completely distributed.

Next, there wasn't anything left that could immediately boost their combat power.

Now that the war in Lake Doron City was over, there were no other places in the short term that would allow them to quickly acquire resources and increase their strength.

Liu Muxue said softly, "Axing, are we getting ready to head back now?"

Cao Xing pondered for a moment without making a decision immediately.

He first glanced at the time.

It was now past 9:00 PM.

According to their movement speed, if they rushed back to the territory at full speed, it would take about six hours.

And tomorrow would be the last day of Construction Week.

Cao Xing glanced at the map, seemingly thinking of something, as a smile suddenly curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Mm, we are getting ready to go back."

"However, before going back, we are going to go meet an old friend."

"An old friend?"

Liu Muxue blinked her big eyes, feeling a bit confused.

Cao Xing nodded. "That's right, it's Jiang Qingyun."

Hearing this name, Liu Muxue was stunned for a moment.

But an expression of realization quickly surfaced.

Indeed, Cao Xing had discovered that the headquarters of the Wangjiang Pavilion legion where Jiang Qingyun was located was only more than two hundred kilometers away from Lake Doron City.

This time on the battlefield, their figures had also appeared.

This fellow had led his subordinates to kill many Aberrant Ghosts, and it looked like he had gained quite a few benefits.

Wangjiang Pavilion had been struck by him several times and was somewhat demoralized, but the losses inflicted were not fatal.

This Construction Week had given them time to develop, and they seemed to be jumping around in the chat channel again, starting to frantically recruit people.

With Cao Xing's understanding of the Three Heroes Association, he naturally knew that these fellows were a group of petty villains who would seek revenge for every slight.

Don't look at how well-behaved they were now; that was because they were frightened by the strength Cao Xing had previously displayed.

Once they possessed sufficient strength, they would definitely unleash the most cruel retaliation against Cao Xing!

These gang fellows were each crueler and more ruthless than the last; anything you could imagine, they were capable of doing.

If one fell into their hands, it would truly be worse than death!

Therefore, for such potential enemies, Cao Xing would not give them any chances.

Liu Muxue also understood this point. Although her personality was relatively soft, she wasn't the type of naive girl to be taken advantage of blindly.

When Fang Long was killed earlier, she didn't have any resistance either.

A trace of murderous intent surfaced in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Tomorrow just happens to be the last day of Construction Week, so by the way, let's go finish this fellow off."

For him, eliminating Jiang Qingyun was truly just by the way.

His development progress and strength were already far ahead of other Survivors by God knows how much.

The global Survivors totaled several billion.

Among them, there might be his enemies, such as the Seed of Light, or some other existences with great opportunities and great wisdom.

But Jiang Qingyun simply wasn't qualified.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing quickly led the crowd and galloped all the way toward the legion headquarters of Wangjiang Pavilion.

…

Nightfall…

In a plain area.

There was a territory here with relatively complete infrastructure.

Inside were a Level 12 Smelter, a Level 5 Lords Cabin, and many residential houses.

Under the joint efforts of hundreds of Survivors plus those staff members,

they had also built a circle of primary city walls around the territory, and some of the city walls had even been upgraded to intermediate.

Besides that, there were seventeen intermediate Elemental Arrow Towers in the territory, plus several watchtowers.

The Survivors, combat personnel, and staff totaled over 1,000 people.

The diameter of the entire territory was around 500 meters, which already counted as a large territory.

At this moment, Jiang Qingyun was still leisurely strolling around in his territory.

The Survivors and other territory residents on the road would respectfully salute him upon seeing him.

"Hello, Young Master Jiang!"

"Good evening, Boss!"

"Lord, may you be well!"

Jiang Qingyun nodded and greeted them one by one in response.

He enjoyed this feeling.

This was the Wangjiang Pavilion legion headquarters, where everything was up to him.

In fact, adding up all the major branches of Wangjiang Pavilion, the number of Survivors had already broken through 1,000, and counting the territory residents, there were a full 3,000 people.

But the entire headquarters alone had 1,000 people.

This was naturally because not everyone was qualified to come to the headquarters territory.

Living here means either being Jiang Qingyun's trusted aide or someone he values.

To them, the people in the branch are all cannon fodder and leeks.

Meanwhile.

An elderly man wearing a grey mage robe strode briskly and quickly walked up to his side.

Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by Jiang Qingyun, who said, "Elder Liu, I see your physique has become a lot sturdier? You run almost as fast as me."

The old man was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded, saying, "Indeed."

"I have Young Master Jiang to thank for taking care of me and helping me exchange for an intermediate Heart of Power, allowing me to successfully break through to Tier 3."

"My physical fitness has improved by a huge margin, and I feel like I've even returned to when I was in my thirties or forties."

This is the most obvious benefit for Survivors coming to this world.

Physical fitness is greatly enhanced, and many hidden ailments that could not be cured on Blue Star are also beginning to heal gradually.

In addition, a greatly enhanced constitution means that lifespan also increases accordingly.

According to the calculation method of the indigenous people of this world.

A human with Tier 3 strength can live to at least 150 years old.

This is equivalent to more than doubling the lifespan.

This is something that humans across the globe wouldn't have dared to imagine before.

On Blue Star, many researchers went through untold hardships and consumed massive resources to study the mysteries of the human body, just wanting to break the biological limits and try to enhance human lifespan.

Yet the results were minimal.

And here, this has been achieved effortlessly.

Moreover, it is not too outrageous for humans to have a lifespan of over a hundred years.

After all, there are too many long-lived races in this world, and living for a thousand years is a common occurrence.

Among them, there are many races whose reproductive capabilities are even stronger than humans and whose lifespans are even longer.

Coupled with the fact that the territorial area of this world is simply too vast.

Adding up all the races in the world, if they continue to grow at the current reproduction rate, even after tens of thousands of years, there won't be any population pressure.

Of course, maintaining a stable population growth is inherently an extremely difficult task.

Common wars, snowstorms that appear from time to time, and natural disasters such as cold and lonely winds.

Various natural and man-made disasters can take away a massive amount of lives.

Having said that.

Jiang Qingyun had a smile on his face, and he was in an extremely good mood today, "Elder Liu, speak, what is the matter you are looking for me for?"

The old man in front of him nodded slightly, gathered his thoughts, and then began to report respectfully.

"It's like this, Young Master Jiang, Chen Peng has already returned, and according to your request, successfully exchanged for a big guy!"

"He is already waiting for you at the Lords Manor."

Hearing this, a look of pleasant surprise also appeared in Jiang Qingyun's eyes.

"Back so soon? Chen Peng this kid's efficiency is quite fast."

"Let's go over right now!"

After speaking, the two walked together toward the center of the territory.

Soon, they saw the three-story Lords Cabin.

Standing beside it was a hesitant young man with a somewhat nervous expression.

Seeing them coming over, the young man immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Boss Jiang, greetings, Elder Liu."

Jiang Qingyun nodded, and then got straight to the point: "Chen Peng, I heard you've already exchanged for the Destroyer Siege Crossbow?"

"Quickly take the thing out and let me have a look."

Hearing this, the young man quickly replied, "Al… Alright, Boss."

Having said that, he opened his backpack, then took out a big guy and heavily slammed it onto the ground.

"Boom!"

Following the heavy impact sound.

A large crossbow whose main body was forged from heavy black refined iron, with a huge and thick crossbow body covered with mysterious runes and carvings, appeared!

This siege crossbow was nearly three meters long, and its wingspan was a full two and a half meters.

The crossbow arms were like a pair of huge steel wings with full tension, seemingly containing infinite power.

At the front of the crossbow, a huge aiming device was also installed, composed of complex gears and crystal lenses.

Through this aiming device, distant targets could be clearly seen, and the shooting angle and force could be adjusted precisely.

This big guy looked full of deterrent force!

After quickly scanning the attributes of the siege crossbow, Jiang Qingyun's eyes instantly burst with a strong sharp light!

He said excitedly, "Such a strong crossbow bolt, it actually has over 8,000 attack power, and a 40% armor-ignorance effect!"

"With a single shot of this thing, I'm afraid even a Tier 3 boss wouldn't be able to take it!"

"Too fierce!"

The young man beside him said cautiously, "Boss, your deduction is correct. When I exchanged for this crossbow, that officer also said that two or three shots of this thing can take away the life of a Tier 3 boss monster."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Jiang Qingyun's face.

He felt extremely satisfied to suddenly own such a powerful guy.

"Not bad, Chen Peng, you also contributed a lot of honor points this time."

"Later I will consider exchanging for an intermediate Heart of Power to help you upgrade to Tier 3."

Hearing this, a look of wild joy instantly appeared on the young man's face.

He thanked him respectfully, "Thank you, Boss Jiang Qingyun!"

Jiang Qingyun nodded slightly, "There's nothing much here anymore, you can go down and rest first."

Hearing this, the young man sensibly retreated.

A moment later, the old man beside him said again, "Young Master Jiang, besides the Destroyer Siege Crossbow."

"This time we also used the remaining honor points to exchange for 20 Locarno warhorses, three of which are elite-level ones, and they are all placed in the stable."

"Now the development of the territory is gradually getting on track. I think we should create a knighthood of our own just like Wu Xinghu and the others."

"What do you think?"

Jiang Qingyun was still immersed in the power of this huge siege crossbow at this moment.

After hearing this question, he gradually came back to his senses.

He nodded and said, "Alright."

A trace of a smile appeared on the old man's weathered face.

Pausing for a moment, he continued, "Do you think our knights should be selected from among the Survivors, or cultivated from those combat personnel?"

Jiang Qingyun thought for a moment and said, "Let's select them from among the Survivors."

"Choose the batch of brothers we trust the most, preferably of the Arctic Warrior class."

Although Survivors could choose the Aurora Knight before entering this world.

But as mentioned before, knights and Aurora Knights are not the same.

The main role of the Aurora Knight is to protect teammates and cast various powerful blessings, coupled with a certain amount of combat capability.

While traditional knights are those who possess warhorses or other mounts.

As long as one has a warhorse, has learned to fight on horseback, and possesses basic riding skills, they can actually be called knights.

(PS: Here, knight refers more to a class rather than an identity.)

Including those warriors and archers, they can actually be trained into knights later on.

Of course, because knights are a group of highly mobile classes.

They are also the best unit for charging into battle.

Therefore, it is more cost-effective to cultivate melee classes into knights.

The old man nodded, while quickly filtering the list in his heart.

A moment later, Jiang Qingyun glanced at him, seeing that he had a preoccupied look.

"Elder Liu, is there anything else?"

The old man hesitated for a moment and nodded: "There is indeed one more matter."

He cautiously looked around, then lowered his voice and said:

"Young Master Jiang… that mysterious powerhouse in our territory seems to be a black-robed priest!"

"Now the king is issuing a wanted notice for all members of the Church of Light across the entire kingdom."

"If it is discovered that we are cooperating with the Church of Light, those natives might lead soldiers over to attack our territory."

"This is no small hidden trouble for us!"

Hearing this, Jiang Qingyun nodded without changing his expression.

At the same time, he said in a low voice: "I know, the Church of Light is now despised by everyone."

"Moreover, the four black-robes who went out this time still haven't returned, so they're probably all dead."

"This fellow probably won't dare to make a move recently, so he no longer has any value to be utilized."

"Later when I find a chance, I'll go to the Giant City to report him to the army and get some rewards by the way."

For such a thing of utilizing someone beforehand and then turning around and selling them out, Jiang Qingyun felt no aversion in his heart at all, and instead felt completely at ease.

Seeing that Jiang Qingyun had already made a decision, a smile also appeared on the old man's face.

Then, he put the huge siege crossbow into his backpack.

Looking at this big guy, a trace of confidence inevitably rose in his heart!

"If there were a few more big guys like this, I'd also have the confidence to challenge the Medium Ice Dragon Horn."

"At that time, no matter who it is, they won't be able to squeeze my ranking down!"

Thinking of this, a trace of anger appeared on Jiang Qingyun's face.

During the last leaderboard challenge, he suffered from this loss.

Because of insufficient combat power, he could only challenge the Small Ice Dragon Horn, and was then surpassed by Yao Yiming.

Later, after investigation, he already knew.

That Yao Yiming was Cao Xing's person.

Cao Xing deliberately joined forces with this person to snatch away his second-place reward.

Whenever he thought of this, Jiang Qingyun felt extremely furious.

"Hateful fellow!"

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the emotions in his heart.

"However, I haven't heard any news about Cao Xing recently."

"Ever since the construction week, this guy seems to have gone silent. His figure wasn't seen in this battlefield either; it seems he really is hunkered down developing in his own territory."

"Of course, it's even better if he doesn't come out. That way, he misses out on a lot of development opportunities."

"Although this guy is terrifying, he hasn't established a legion, so his development speed definitely can't compare with ours."

"Give me a little more time, and I will be able to surpass him. At that time, I will definitely make him regret coming to this world!"

Jiang Qingyun hooked the corner of his mouth into a cruel smile.

And just as he was about to turn back to the Lords Cabin.

He suddenly felt that something seemed to appear in the sky.

He raised his head to look up and vaguely saw two small black dots.

"Hmm? What is that, a bird?"

Before he could even react.

Those two black dots magnified at a terrifying speed, descending towards his territory at extreme speed!

"Whoosh—Whoosh—"

A strong whistling sound of breaking through the air struck, and Jiang Qingyun's smile instantly froze on his face.

Because he had already felt a death-like sense of crisis from those two black dots!

At this moment, Jiang Qingyun only had one thought left in his heart…

…

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