Large-scale upgrade, clues to the new expansion (5600)

"Alright, My Lord."

Du An finished speaking and left with the other Arctic People to continue working.

Not long after the knights left, a huge shadow appeared in the sky above the territory.

The shadow descended towards the territory at an extremely fast speed!

It was Assam riding the Griffin King.

Seeing this, a joyful smile appeared on Cao Xing's face.

Because this meant that Assam had completed his mission and returned successfully from Merlind City.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

The Griffin King flapped its giant wings, kicking up a fierce wind, and then landed steadily.

Assam jumped off its back and walked quickly to Cao Xing.

"Respected My Lord, I have lived up to your trust; I have successfully completed the mission!"

"However, it took some time to find that Master-level Beast Tamer, so I was delayed for a few days."

Cao Xing smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, you have returned at the perfect time."

"I was just preparing to take people to attack that ancient undead battlefield today. Since you are back, you can come along."

Hearing this, Assam's expression turned serious, and his eyes were filled with fighting spirit.

He had no complaints about returning from Merlind City and immediately going into battle.

He said with a firm gaze, "I will use the blade in my hand to clear away all obstacles for you!"

Pausing for a moment, Assam recalled something and took out two items from the backpack at his waist.

"By the way, My Lord, these are the things you asked me to bring back."

After speaking, he stepped forward and handed over the items in his hands.

Cao Xing took them.

[Obtained: Merlind City Center Shop Deed * 1]

[Obtained: Dragon Taming Reins (Orange) * 1]

… At this moment, both items he needed had been successfully obtained.

Cao Xing smiled even more happily.

The most important reward among them was naturally the [Dragon Taming Reins (Orange)].

This thing could force a dragon to submit and become his pet!

Of course, it was limited to young dragons.

At this moment, Cao Xing was already thinking about whether to send a core member to search the mountains outside to see if there was any news of young dragons appearing.

Just then, Assam's words interrupted Cao Xing's thoughts.

"My Lord, besides these two things, both of the people you asked me to see entrusted me with a message for you."

Cao Xing asked doubtfully, "What did they say?"

Assam replied, "The Count didn't say much; he just wants you to visit the Count's mansion in Merlind City when you have time."

"And the other Beast Tamer said that if you want to use these reins to tame a dragon, he can give you a free clue."

"Oh?"

Cao Xing's eyes lit up slightly, "Let's hear it."

Assam replied, "He said that his younger brother once accidentally discovered a dragon nest on a high mountain while exploring the Diyesha Mountains."

"It seemed that a mother dragon lived inside."

"Five years have passed since then."

"According to the timeline, this mother dragon should have laid a few dragon eggs by now."

Hearing this, Cao Xing was overjoyed!

Good heavens, he had just thought about sending people out to search for a dragon nest, and this Beast Tamer had brought him news.

And it even confirmed that there was a dragon nest in that place!

"However… where are these Diyesha Mountains?"

Assam replied, "My Lord, he said the Diyesha Mountains are outside the border, close to the Ostia Kingdom."

A thoughtful look appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Outside the border… and near the Ostia Kingdom?"

"Isn't this the kingdom that destroyed the Victoria Kingdom?"

Cao Xing knew that this country was an opponent of the Qi Queen Victoria, and it also had at least one Hero-level wizard.

However, with his current strength, one or two Heroes could no longer pose a threat.

He made up his mind to explore that dragon nest after finishing the business at hand.

Cao Xing nodded and said, "Alright, I understand, Assam. This information is very important to me."

"Now use this to upgrade your lady of the lake sword again."

After speaking, he threw a glowing soul from his backpack.

Assam respectfully caught it and understood Cao Xing's meaning.

Then, he brought the legendary weapon with a blade as thin as a cicada's wing—the lady of the lake sword—close to the soul.

As the sword blade emitted a bright light, it enveloped the soul.

In the blink of an eye, the power contained within the soul was absorbed completely.

Cao Xing checked the attributes of the lady of the lake sword.

The weapon level had increased to level 40, and the attack power had increased by another 700 points.

The base attribute had also increased from the original 280 to 420.

Now, the attack power of this weapon had officially broken ten thousand!

And Assam's attack power had also reached a staggering twenty-three thousand!

You must know that he was still only a level 54 leader-level creature.

If it were some time later, it was hard to imagine how terrifying his attack power could become!

Assam also held the hilt of the sword with great satisfaction and said respectfully, "Thank you, My Lord!"

Cao Xing waved his hand, "It's nothing. Now go get some rest, and wait for my orders."

"Yes!"

This knight immediately retreated respectfully and then found his partner, Frost Wolf Winter.

Cao Xing himself went to the Alchemy Workshop.

As soon as he entered, he saw the witch who was concentrating on refining potions.

Cao Xing's voice rang out, "Francesca, take a rest for a while."

"I need you to accompany me on a trip later."

The witch raised her beautiful head and said casually, "Understood."

"The holy water refined these past few days is in the storage box; go get it yourself."

Cao Xing nodded and didn't make small talk with her.

He walked straight to the storage box and took out all the holy water refined during this period.

[Obtained: Holy Water (Orange) * 1521]

… Seeing this number, a smile appeared on the corner of Cao Xing's mouth again.

"Very good. Counting the holy water I have on hand, it has already exceeded two thousand."

"Currently, the entire territory has only a little over a thousand melee units; it's completely enough!"

"Now the resources are enough, and the holy water is also prepared."

"It can be said that everything is ready!"

Thinking of this, Cao Xing immediately contacted Ji Xinyue.

"Xinyue, are you free?"

A moment later, a message came back immediately.

"Great Lord Cao Xing, of course I am free. If you have anything to say, just say it; don't be polite with me!"

Ji Xinyue's crisp voice rang out, carrying a hint of excitement.

Cao Xing replied with a smile, "It's the same as last time; I need to trouble you to go to the underground palace and bring a message for me."

Hearing this, her originally excited tone immediately dimmed.

"Ah… going to find that group of undead again?"

It was clear that Ji Xinyue was a bit fearful.

Although she had been to that underground palace a few times, she still felt very afraid every time she faced that group of undead.

Cao Xing said, "Yes, just notify them that I am ready and ask Duke Baradin to bring his people over now."

"I will wait for them in the territory."

Hearing the last sentence, Ji Xinyue seemed to realize something, her expression tightening.

This man might be about to make a big move!

After all, there were thousands of undead in that underground palace.

Cao Xing actually asked so many undead to come find him.

Plus the strength of his own territory, which was famously formidable, so many creatures acting at the same time must be preparing for some huge operation.

Or perhaps, to deal with an extremely powerful enemy?

Therefore, Ji Xinyue said solemnly, "Got it! Great Lord Cao Xing, I'm going now."

After speaking, both sides hung up the communication.

Ji Xinyue was no longer afraid at this moment; she patted her flat chest and then quickly headed into the forest to notify Duke Baradin to bring his troops over.

As for whether Duke Baradin could find his territory, there was naturally no need to worry about that.

Cao Xing had already told this Undead Duke last time.

After Ji Xinyue started acting, Cao Xing also clapped his hands and said, "Next, it's time for pre-battle preparations."

"Use up those resources and raise the warriors' tiers."

Facts proved that the decision he made a few days ago was correct.

He had used high-level Heart of Strength in advance to raise the levels of all the Ascalon Warriors to the fourth tier.

Although it consumed more than a thousand Heart of Strength, worth tens of millions of Ice Dragon Mark, the battles over the past few days had brought their levels to 40, which was the full level of the fourth tier!

In other words, he could now directly have them all break through to the fifth tier!

Just thinking about it made one excited.

Therefore, he came to the center of the territory and took out [Balthazar's Divine Altar].

"Clang…"

The heavy red altar landed on the ground, carrying a heavy and ancient aura.

Even the breakthrough function on it was in a lit state.

However, before this, Cao Xing had another idea.

"Last time in the Battle of the Oracle, I killed those Divine Servant Grand Commanders and obtained four Divine Power Shards."

"The fragments I have on hand now add up to 9."

"With so many fragments, should I try to restore the divine power of this altar and enable its function to break through to the Master level?"

Cao Xing did it as he thought.

He then directly took out the 4 Divine Power Shards from his backpack; the other 5 were to be kept as a backup, just in case.

Last time he used the strongest skill on the [Lizardman Statue], it had drained all the divine power, and it had only recovered a few points in the past few days.

So he had to ensure that he could deliver a demigod-level blow at any time.

[Do you want to consume Divine Power Shards to replenish the divine power of Balthazar's Divine Altar?]

"Yes."

[Divine Power Shard insufficient, activation failed…]

…

Seeing this prompt, Cao Xing was slightly stunned.

"Are even 4 Divine Power Shards not enough?"

"Then how many are needed?"

He shook his head.

Cao Xing was not prepared to dwell on this issue any longer.

If it couldn't be activated now, it didn't matter.

Anyway, he didn't have enough resources to let the other warriors breakthrough to Tier 6 Master.

Thus, Cao Xing said directly: "All combat personnel, assemble!"

Upon receiving the order, over a thousand people in the entire territory gathered in a swarm.

This included the core combat personnel, the witch Francesca, the Qi Queen Victoria, and others; all of them came out.

In about two or three minutes, they had assembled completely.

They gazed at their lord with bright, spirited eyes, each one showing high fighting spirit!

Among them, the big guy Jode Ironfrost was the most conspicuous.

Even while sitting on the ground, he was a head taller than the others.

Like a walking small hill, he was full of intimidation.

Cao Xing didn't waste words and directly ordered the one thousand Ascalon Warriors to step forward.

Then, he clicked on the breakthrough function on the altar.

[Whether to consume materials… to make the warriors in the territory breakthrough to Tier 5?]

"Yes."

The next moment, a familiar blood mist rose from Balthazar's Warrior Altar.

It spread rapidly, gradually devouring the offerings on the ground.

Twenty million crowns, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of food, and a large amount of mithril vanished rapidly…

This time, it could be called the time Cao Xing had sacrificed the most resources in his history.

The scale of the blood mist became extremely massive, and the powerful aura inside was almost solidifying!

After finally accumulating to a certain extreme, it turned into a blood pillar and shot into the sky!

"Hum!"

The blood pillar shot a thousand meters into the high sky.

Then it split into a thousand small blood pillars, landing on those Ascalon Warriors.

At this moment, all the warriors felt a scorching power appear within their bodies!

This power surged throughout their bodies, allowing them to complete a higher-level transformation in a short time!

In the blink of an eye, waves of powerful auras rose up.

[Your territory member: Yaskin, has successfully advanced to a Tier 5 Leader-level creature, base attributes increased by 100%, HP extra +50%, Prosperity +10]

[Your territory member: Barry, has successfully advanced to a Tier 5 Common-level creature, base attributes increased by 100%, HP extra +50%, Prosperity +5]

[Your…]

…

Over a thousand system prompts rang out one after another.

In the blink of an eye, all Ascalon Warriors transformed to Tier 5 simultaneously!

They excitedly looked around, feeling the surging power in their bodies, the excitement in their hearts overflowing.

These thousand Ascalon Warriors after the breakthrough exuded an extremely fierce aura.

Like a pack of awakened beasts, they were ready to throw themselves into the battlefield to slaughter at any moment!

Cao Xing looked at this group of warriors before him with satisfaction.

Thus, in his territory, the number of powerhouses above Tier 5 had already exceeded 1,300!

Even those still at Tier 4 were only the mages, as well as the Star Country Swordsmen and the Silver Hand Knights.

However, to let these four hundred plus people also breakthrough to Tier 5, a large amount of Expert-level Heart of Strength was needed, which was a rather headache-inducing matter.

Currently, only a few dozen remained in his backpack.

He could only think of a way later.

Then, he took out over 1,400 bottles of Holy Water from his backpack.

He distributed them to all Wild Boar Warriors, Ascalon Warriors, and Dragon Blood Warriors, as well as other melee units.

Finally, over 400 bottles of Holy Water remained; these were for Cao Xing's own use, intended for dealing with those powerful undead.

At this moment, over a thousand people held the Holy Water in their hands, staring at each other, not knowing how to use it.

The Wild Boar Warriors asked confusedly: "Lord, how do you use this thing? Do we drink it directly?"

Even Cao Xing was a bit bewildered.

He had just wanted to say to let everyone drink it and try.

But Isabelle beside him quickly stopped him.

"Lord, this kind of Holy Water is not for drinking!"

"It contains a strong corrosive power; if you drink it, it might cause great harm to your body."

Cao Xing was slightly stunned and then asked: "Then how should this Holy Water be used?"

Isabelle explained: "You just need to apply it to your weapons."

A look of realization appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

Fortunately, Isabelle stopped him in time, otherwise, he would have almost caused a huge blunder!

If these thousand plus warriors drank this Holy Water, even if their physical constitution was strong enough to resist it.

But diarrhea would be inevitable.

By then, everyone in the territory would become spray warriors, and today's battle at the ancient battlefield would be impossible.

Thus, Cao Xing coughed twice and said: "Everyone, just pour the Holy Water onto your weapons."

Everyone started to follow suit.

Then.

System prompts appeared one after another.

[Your territory member: "Bo Jie, Sun Chaser" used Holy Water, causing the next 5 attacks to deal an additional 40% Light-attribute damage when dealing damage to undead.]

[Affected by the talent Eternal Power, this status has become permanent…]

…

The effect of Eternal Power was once again demonstrated.

One bottle of Holy Water could be used as countless bottles; as long as the weapon wasn't changed, it would exist permanently.

This was equivalent to saving Cao Xing an unknown amount of resources.

Now everything was ready.

He just needed to wait for Duke Baradin to lead the undead over, and then he could officially start the operation.

And Cao Xing continued to wait in the territory.

…

…

Meanwhile.

On the snowfield about tens of kilometers away from the territory.

Many Survivors stood blankly on the spot, watching the eerie scene happening in the distance.

A large group of undead appeared on the vast white snowfield.

They were all floating, their legs about twenty centimeters above the snow, marching forward in a mighty force.

These undead were silent, all holding battle blades and wearing uniform armor.

Their bodies exuded a strong undead aura, making any living creature afraid to approach!

Especially the undead leading them, it gave people an invincible feeling!

That group of Survivors hid far behind a pile of rocks, exclaiming.

"My goodness… this group of undead is out again. We often saw them haunting the snowfield in the past month, but this time the scale seems to be larger."

"Yeah, this number, I estimate it's over ten thousand; it's a bit terrifying!"

"Do you think this group of undead is going to find trouble with someone?"

Everyone was suddenly shocked.

"No one could be that unlucky, right? With such a massive scale of undead, no territory in the entire Gale Snowfield could withstand it."

"Indeed, it shouldn't be that outrageous; after all, everyone hasn't provoked these undead."

At this time, a Survivor seemed to suddenly remember something.

Then he said with uncertainty: "Brothers, do you remember that the system hinted that the next expansion pack would be updated soon?"

Hearing this, the others replied.

"I remember, what do you mean?"

This person had an excited look in his eyes and said: "I reckon the next expansion pack is highly likely to be the Undead Scourge!"

The other Survivors were also stunned, then as if recalling something, their pupils suddenly contracted!

"Damn! That makes sense! How could an expansion pack be without an Undead Scourge?"

"And the system also said that the opening time for the next expansion pack won't be long now. These undead appearing are likely warming us up!"

"Brothers, let's take pictures quickly and post them on the forum."

The Survivors took pictures of this scene one after another.

After all, this was information related to the next expansion pack, which was big news among the remaining two billion plus Survivors!

Once published, these few people who discovered the information would become famous in the future!

So very quickly, a post appeared on the world forum.

[Shocking! The next expansion pack is confirmed to be Undead Scourge, pictures and truth inside!]

Under the post, pictures of these undead were attached, along with their analysis.

Very quickly, a large amount of discussion was stirred up in the post.

Second floor: "Damn! So many undead, this number is a bit terrifying. Is the next expansion pack really the Undead Scourge?"

Third floor: "Brothers, you might not believe it, but I analyzed two months ago that the new expansion pack would be the Undead Scourge, but no one believed me."

Fourth floor: "+1 to the floor above. I saw many brothers on the forum saying they saw a large number of undead near their territories, so I guessed that an expansion pack related to the undead might appear soon!"

Floor 1785: "My relative is in the game company, I can prove that what the brothers above said is all true!"

…

As the Survivors discussed, the content became more and more outrageous.

It even made many people believe that the next expansion pack was indeed related to the undead!

In just half an hour, this post quickly gained a million views.

…

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