Chapter 87: Epic Item, Shining Throne!

Chapter 87: Epic Item, Shining Throne!

The reward notifications continued to appear.

[Obtained Loot: Intermediate Heart of Strength *1]

[Obtained Bright Boss-grade Soul (Gold) *1]

[Obtained King's Warblade (Gold) *1]

[Obtained King's Altar Construction Blueprint (Gold) *1]

[Obtained Ironwall Rune (Gold) *1]

[Obtained Heart of Corruption *1]

A whole heap of gold-grade items appeared.

[You have discovered the reason for the Goblin King's corruption. Reputation +500.]

…

At this moment, Cao Xing was hit by a massive wave of pleasant surprises!

"This is insane!"

"What is a jackpot? This is the true definition of a jackpot!"

A whopping four gold-grade items, plus a first-kill reward!

As expected, getting the first kill on these powerful creatures always brought extremely high returns.

And this was well worth the difficulty of slaying the Goblin King.

In fact, Cao Xing and his team hadn't even fought the Goblin King in his strongest state; at his peak, the Goblin King had a whopping 60,000 HP!

But because he was corrupted, his HP was reduced by 20,000, and then he stabbed himself, reducing his HP by another 20,000.

So this time, Cao Xing had essentially gotten a bargain.

Just as Cao Xing was still immersed in his ecstasy…

…a massive uproar had already broken out in the chat channel due to his terrifying leveling speed.

Zhang Ping: "Holy shit! Holy shit! What did Great Lord Cao Xing do this time? How did he shoot up to such a high level all of a sudden?"

Hong Xizhe: "This is ridiculous! I've been staring at the leaderboard, and I watched Great Lord Cao Xing's level skyrocket from Level 8 to Level 9 with my own eyes! Now he's almost at Level 10!"

Mi Ziwei: "Indeed, it feels like Great Lord Cao Xing's leveling is completely different from ours. His EXP surges in massive chunks, while we slowly crawl up bit by bit."

Li Yang: "I just reached Level 3, and Great Lord Cao Xing is already almost seven levels ahead of me!"

Shi Changbing: "Isn't leveling up supposed to get harder the further you go? Why does it feel like Great Lord Cao Xing's leveling speed is only getting faster?"

Cao Xing's soaring level caught everyone's attention.

It was simply because his leveling speed was too absurd.

This could be clearly seen from the current leaderboard.

[Area 174 Level Leaderboard]

[1st Place: Cao Xing, Level 9 (87%)]

[2nd Place: Liu Muxue, Level 8 (11%)]

[3rd Place: Zhou Bo, Level 5 (43%)]

[4th Place: Fang Long, Level 5 (26%)]

[5th Place: Wu Xinghu, Level 5 (19%)]

[6th Place: Ji Xinyue, Level 5 (11%)]

…

Almost all of the top ten were Survivors of Level 5 or above.

But Cao Xing was leading by a massive, insurmountable chasm!

Aside from this, other observant Survivors also noticed that Liu Muxue's EXP had also surged significantly.

Jiang En: "Guys, did you notice that Goddess Muxue and Great Lord Cao Xing's EXP increased almost at the exact same time? Do you think it's possible they're actually together?"

Pang Leiming: "Makes sense. It's one thing for Goddess Muxue to be beautiful, but if she's also this amazing at leveling up, that's just too enviable."

Qu He: "Indeed, if Goddess Muxue is with Great Lord Cao Xing, then it's not surprising."

Yu Yin: "I'm so jealous of Liu Muxue, being able to party up with Great Lord Cao Xing…"

Cen Yarong: "I wonder if Great Lord Cao Xing is still looking for some 'thigh-hangers' to carry. I want to join his territory too!"

At this moment, Fang Long, who was already feeling defeated, had an expression as dark as water upon seeing Cao Xing's level.

He knew that Cao Xing securing first place was now practically set in stone.

And once Cao Xing digested the leaderboard rewards, Fang Long would have even less of a chance to deal with him.

More importantly, the novice protection period was about to end.

If this Cao Xing decided to target the Three Heroes Alliance, they would likely suffer heavy losses.

At this moment, despair was gradually creeping into Fang Long's heart.

…

At this moment, Cao Xing was not paying attention to the chat channel.

Because system notifications had once again sounded in his ears.

[Due to your proper command in this battle, you have demonstrated outstanding leadership abilities.]

[Territory Member: Andrew's loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 100]

(Loyalty has reached its maximum. Andrew will prioritize your orders above all else.)

[Territory Member: Sarah Blade Dance's loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 100]

(Loyalty has reached its maximum. You can now issue any command to her.)

[Territory Member: Renice Hawkeye's loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 92]

[Your Territory Member: Brent Brimstone's loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 89]

[Your Territory Member…]

Everyone's loyalty skyrocketed!

Including the two Centaurs, everyone's loyalty rose above 80.

And most importantly, both Andrew and Sarah's loyalties had reached maximum!

"Fantastic!"

Cao Xing looked at his territory members on the field. They were all injured, but green numbers were floating up one after another as their precariously low HP rapidly recovered.

Liu Muxue was continuously casting Purify to heal their wounds.

Cao Xing said solemnly, "You are all the bravest warriors. I am proud of you."

Hearing Cao Xing's praise, touched expressions appeared on the faces of these territory members.

"No, it is all thanks to your outstanding commanding ability, Lord, that we won such a difficult battle."

"Lord, your commanding ability is even on par with the Khans of our Centaur clan!"

The Centaur's words were met with agreement from the other recruited creatures.

After a round of mutual flattery, Cao Xing walked over to the two robots emitting black smoke.

[Detected that the Drill Robot and Forklift Robot's durability has reached zero, and internal parts have been damaged. Use materials to repair?]

Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief. As expected, these robots could be repaired.

Otherwise, losing two major fighters at once would have pained even Cao Xing.

Fortunately, the ones damaged just now were robots. If it had been other territory members, a death would have been permanent.

As usual, Cao Xing used materials to repair the two robots.

Before long, the two robots began to creak and turn.

[Repair successful.]

The robots, standing back up, emitted synthesized mechanical voices.

"Master… I fell asleep just now…"

Cao Xing nodded.

These repaired robots had their buffs cleared, equivalent to a factory reset.

After thinking about it, he felt this was normal.

After all, if buffs didn't disappear after death, other lords would only need to obtain damaged robots from him and repair them to essentially get recruited creatures with permanent buff boosts.

Cao Xing reapplied the buffs to the two robots and let them recover slowly on the side.

Meanwhile, outside the main hall, a fair-skinned Tree Spirit carefully poked her head in.

When they first entered the main hall, Cao Xing had sensed the danger inside, so he had told Juliette to hide outside and not come in.

Now seeing that the battle was over, Juliette approached Cao Xing's side with a lingering sense of fear.

The intense battle inside the main hall had made her heart clench repeatedly.

Cao Xing said, "Don't be nervous, the battle is over."

Juliette nodded gently, looking at the man before her with admiration in her eyes.

He had actually led his subordinates to defeat such a powerful Goblin King!

Cao Xing turned his gaze to this splendid, golden palace, excitement flashing in his eyes.

Next came the thrilling moment.

"Everyone, get ready to work!"

"Take away everything you can see before your eyes!"

Hearing this, Renice and Blot were still a bit dazed.

But Andrew and Assam had already sprung into action.

They were prying off the crystal chandeliers, gilded candlesticks, gold-inlaid murals, and even the floor tiles, piece by piece!

Meanwhile, Sarah was expertly searching the entire palace, looking for any hidden compartments.

Blot Brimstone and Renice opened their mouths, staring blankly at their actions.

As for Cao Xing, he walked straight toward the throne.

His gaze was completely captivated by the various gems embedded on it!

"My goodness, with so many gems, prying them all off would fetch a hefty price, right?"

However, when Cao Xing saw the attributes of this throne, he immediately snuffed out that thought.

[Shining Throne: Special Item (Orange)]

[Quality: Epic]

[Additional Effect ①: Charm Gem (After binding to the throne, Charm +50)]

[Additional Effect ②: Luck Gem (Placed in the territory, can increase the bound lord's Luck by 10. Requires Level 2 Lord's Manor to activate.)]

[Additional Effect ③: King's Blessing (Placed in the territory, can increase the Attack and Armor of all friendly units in the territory by 30%. Requires Level 3 Lord's Manor to activate.)]

[Additional Effect ④: Shining Star (Epic-grade effect. Every seven natural days, can release a Shining Star to locate an area containing precious resources for the lord. Requires Level 4 Lord's Manor to activate.)]

[Item Description: A throne possessing weak divine power, crafted by a dwarf master blacksmith, commissioned by the goblin race at the cost of more than half their treasury's resources.]

…

"Orange! Epic equipment!"

"This throne is actually an epic-grade piece of equipment!"

At this moment, Cao Xing felt his breath hitch!

As seen from the previous transaction with the Black Lion Chamber of Commerce, a gold-grade piece of equipment was already enough to make the natives of this world covet it.

And an even more powerful epic-grade item would likely drive them mad.

The value of this [Shining Throne] was already immeasurable!

However, Cao Xing would definitely not sell this throne for money. Only by placing it in his own territory could he maximize the effects of this epic item.

"So cool!"

Cao Xing couldn't help but marvel at the magnificent appearance of the throne before him.

He even imagined placing the throne in his territory in the future and sitting on it whenever he was free. It would definitely look majestic!

Just then, a system notification appeared.

[Discovered unowned epic-grade equipment: [Shining Throne]. Bind?]

"Just binding it increases Charm by 50, which is even more than what two black diamonds provide!"

There was no need to hesitate at all; Cao Xing clicked bind immediately!

…