Magical Soul-Sinking Incense, Griffin Surrenders (6000)

Just as Cao Xing's crowns in his backpack had dropped below forty million, he could indeed replenish them.

With a look of satisfaction, he put everything in the chest into his backpack.

[Obtained: Coins * 10 Million…]

[Obtained: Spatial Spar (Gold) * 627]

…

"Not bad, not bad, there's actually a full ten million."

"The money I have on hand right now is already enough for more than two hundred warriors to all break through to Tier 5."

Then, Cao Xing looked over at Du An beside him.

"Du An, how is the construction progress these past two days?"

This Arctic People hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Lord, currently we are mainly building the furnace, Lords Manor, and expanding the basement."

"The Intermediate Bakery, Intermediate Knight Hall, and Warrior Camp that you ordered before have all been successfully built."

"In addition, the Advanced Mechanical Factory that you specially instructed has also been upgraded."

Hearing the last sentence, Cao Xing's eyes instantly lit up.

The [Advanced Mechanical Factory] was a building he urgently needed right now.

Because only by upgrading to advanced could he build Goblin Airships.

Thus enabling large-scale, long-distance combat.

"Very good, next you can continue to upgrade the furnace and Lords Manor, and the excess manpower can go help build arrow towers and the like."

"Understood!"

With that, this sturdily built Arctic People gripped a hammer and went back to work.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing pressed the communication device on his ear and called the goblin Locke over.

Moments later, a short figure quickened its brisk pace and rushed toward Cao Xing's side.

Before the person even arrived, that shrill voice unique to goblins rang out.

"Oh! Respected Lord, you have returned!"

"Not seeing you for a few days, I have missed your towering figure so much!"

Cao Xing speechlessly glanced at him and directly asked, "Locke, I heard the Mechanical Factory has already been upgraded to advanced, is that right?"

This goblin respectfully said, "Yes, respected Lord."

"I know you need Goblin Airships, so I have already started making them."

Speaking of this, he somewhat coyly said, "But you know…"

"This kind of large-scale goblin technology requires quite a bit of manpower and material resources."

"Relying on just me alone, it would take seven or eight days to make one."

Cao Xing frowned, "So slow?"

"Is there any way to speed up the production cycle?"

This goblin nodded and said, "Of course there is."

"Give me a few people, let them help out with odd jobs, assembling parts and the like, and it can save a lot of time."

"We can make one in about three days."

Cao Xing asked, "How many people do you need?"

Locke said with an embarrassed expression, "Five people will be enough, Lord."

"If they are some people with relevant manufacturing skills, it would be even better."

Cao Xing nodded, "I know, recently you should first call a few goblins over to help."

"Later, I'll go look around to see if there are any talents with relevant skills who can come over."

After speaking, he took out the [Damaged Master-tier Energy Core] he had scavenged from the black market from his backpack.

"Clang!"

A heavy mechanical device dropped onto the ground.

An energy core like this had plenty of materials used in it, so it was also extremely heavy. Even damaged, it still weighed four to five hundred catties.

Goblin Locke had sharp eyes and recognized this thing all at once.

He exclaimed, "Oh! The Underground God above!"

"This is a Master-tier energy core, Lord actually managed to get this kind of thing!"

Cao Xing said, "That's right."

"However, this thing is already damaged. I need you to repair it, and then modify the Earth Dragon Mecha to Master-tier. Any problems?"

"Of course no problem, but…"

Goblin Locke rubbed its shriveled hands and said with a flattering smile,

"To repair this energy core, a large amount of Evergold and Mithril is needed. In addition, Frost White Spar is also required…"

"Lord, do you think the materials in our territory are enough?"

Cao Xing pondered for a moment, "The other materials are enough, but we are currently lacking one kind of white spar."

"But it will be soon, we will be able to conquer a whole mineral vein right away."

"Before that, you should first make two Goblin Airships."

This goblin immediately straightened his body and then respectfully said, "Understood, Lord!"

"Locke will work wholeheartedly for you!"

With that, he turned around and strode away with his short little legs.

After finishing arranging work for all these staff members,

Cao Xing looked at the remaining half section of [Soul-Sinking Incense] in his backpack, a look of anticipation appearing in his eyes.

"Now, let's go see if this thing has any effect on the griffins."

Thinking of this, he walked quickly to the fourth-ring area of the territory, which was right next to the Blacksmith Shop.

There were four large griffin cages there, with chains wrapped around the iron cages, firmly fixed to the ground.

From afar, Cao Xing could already see the figures inside the cages.

After a few days of neither eating nor drinking, those four griffins had become listless, and had even entered a near-death state.

They lay lifelessly on the ground, their originally pitch-black, shiny feathers having grown dull and lusterless.

Their pair of huge wings also hung down weakly.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing frowned slightly.

When he came to the side of the griffin cages,

several guarding Wild Boar Warriors saw his figure.

"Oh! Strong Lord, you have returned!"

Cao Xing nodded lightly and then asked, "How is the condition of these few griffins?"

One of the Wild Boar Warriors quickly replied, "Not too optimistic, Lord."

"These griffins are truly too stubborn, just like a donkey."

"These past few days, seeing that they were about to die, I prepared to feed them some food, but it turns out they'd rather starve to death than eat."

"At this rate, I feel that in a few more days, we'll be able to eat griffin meat!"

Cao Xing nodded.

He went directly to the side of those griffins and observed for a moment.

And these unruly creatures, upon sensing Cao Xing approaching, had no reaction whatsoever.

Their heads drooped low, eyes half-open and half-closed.

Even when Cao Xing placed the [Special Pet Rations] beside their mouths, they completely ignored them.

He sighed inwardly, "As expected, no reaction."

"A creature like the griffin is still too arrogant."

"If it were an ordinary beast, they simply wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of pet rations."

"Now, it's time to use the trump card."

With that, Cao Xing directly pulled out that half section of [Soul-Sinking Incense].

Then, he had one of the Wild Boar Warriors clip out a piece of coal from the Blacksmith Shop and ignite it.

Instantly, a faint wisp of smoke drifted from the Soul-Sinking Incense in Cao Xing's hand.

Sniffing it lightly a few times, a faint fragrance wafted to the tip of his nose.

This fragrance seemed to subconsciously calm a person down, clearing out all thoughts in their mind, leaving them wanting nothing more than to peacefully take a nap.

And those Wild Boar Warriors couldn't help but lift their noses to sniff, immediately exclaiming,

"The Beast God above! What kind of fragrance is this? It gives me the feeling of being in my mother's arms, just one sniff and I'm about to fall asleep!"

"Me too!"

Cao Xing grasped the half section of incense in his hand, then slowly squatted down and placed it beside these griffins.

As wisps of fragrance drilled into their noses, these griffins seemed unable to resist the temptation and sniffed it lightly a few times.

Very quickly, the fragrance began to take effect.

In the pupils of the griffins, a faint glimmer flickered, as if they were about to fall asleep.

In a daze…

These griffins seemed to forget the pain in their bodies, forgot the hunger and fatigue, and also forgot their hatred toward the human before them.

That seemingly nonexistent fragrance was like a gentle hand soothing their souls.

Two or three minutes later, the griffins' originally dim eyes gradually closed, and their breathing became increasingly steady.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing instantly realized that now was the best moment to use the contract scroll!

Thus, he pulled out the [Advanced Pet Contract] from his backpack and clicked use without hesitation.

[Contract failed…]

The first scroll failed, but Cao Xing was not discouraged.

Then he proceeded to use the second one.

[Contract failed…]

Failing twice in a row.

That Gale Griffin in its dazed state seemed about to wake up.

However, the fragrance of the Soul-Sinking Incense continued to exert its effect, causing them to return once more to a half-asleep, hazy state.

Consequently, Cao Xing pulled out the third contract scroll and clicked use directly.

At this moment, a peculiar feeling emerged.

It was as if an invisible thread connected him to this griffin, and even with his eyes closed, he could sense the other's existence.

Moreover, he could even feel this griffin's emotions at this moment.

Dizziness, anger, hunger…

A system prompt appeared.

[Ding! Congratulations, contract successful!]

[Gale Griffin Lv53, Tier 6 Chieftain-tier creature has become your pet, Territory Population +5, Prosperity +10]

…

At this moment, wild joy instantly appeared on Cao Xing's face!

It finally worked!

Truly deserving of something given by a Master-tier Beastmaster, this effect is simply too good!

He glanced at the [Soul-Sinking Incense] in his hand.

In just a few dozen seconds, another small section had burned away.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing's heart instantly tightened.

"Good grief, this thing burns really fast!"

"No, I have to speed up. The remaining Soul-Sinking Incense is meant to be saved for contracting the Griffin King."

Thinking of this, he began quickly pulling out more pet contract scrolls and clicking use one after another.

[Contract failed…]

[Contract failed…]

[Ding! Congratulations, contract successful!]

[Ding! Congratulations, contract successful!]

…

After seven or eight consecutive system prompts, Cao Xing had consumed a total of 11 pet contracts.

Finally, all four Chieftain-tier griffins became his pets.

At this moment, Cao Xing was overjoyed.

"Haha! Even such a stubborn creature was tamed by me. With this, I directly possess four flying military units!"

"So comfortable…"

After his joy, he immediately looked at the burning item in his hand.

[Soul-Sinking Incense: Special Prop]

[Remaining burning time: 19 minutes 24 seconds…]

…

Seeing the prompt above, Cao Xing extinguished it at the first possible moment.

Then he put it back into his backpack as if it were a treasured possession.

Meanwhile.

After establishing pet contracts with Cao Xing, these four griffins looked at him in shock.

Their pupils were filled with disbelief.

Because they felt that they no longer loathed this human!

Furthermore, it even felt a sense of closeness toward this human.

Before this, this was something they had never imagined.

This was the effect of the pet contract.

The master could decide the life and death of a pet with a single thought, and it would also forcibly increase the favorability.

That was why these griffins felt close to him.

Cao Xing glanced over and found that the loyalty of these griffins was not high, only around the early 50s.

But even lower than their loyalty was their satiety.

[Satiety: 15 (Extremely Hungry, All Attributes Reduced by 70%)]

(Note: If the pet's satiety drops below 10, it will fall into a state where all attributes are reduced by 90% and will die in a short time)

…

Cao Xing frowned slightly.

This was the first time he had encountered this situation; turns out such a negative status would appear if satiety was too low.

After all, ever since entering this world, he had never let his pets or subordinates go hungry.

Cao Xing pondered, "It seems we need to restore some of their satiety first."

"Otherwise, it won't be long before these griffins actually starve to death."

Thus, he looked at the Wild Boar Warrior beside him and said, "Bring the food over and feed these griffins."

The Wild Boar Warrior beside him felt somewhat puzzled, but still quickly hoisted an iron bucket from the side over.

The iron bucket was filled with a large amount of fresh flesh and blood.

One of the Wild Boar Warriors directly reached out and scooped, took out a piece of bright red flesh, and placed it by the griffin's mouth.

However, facing the meat delivered to their mouths, these griffins still had a look of disdain in their eyes, with no thought of eating at all.

The Wild Boar Warriors looked at Cao Xing and said with difficulty, "Lord, look…"

Cao Xing nodded, then looked at the griffins and said,

"Open your mouth, eat."

Simple four words, yet they were like some kind of mandatory command.

All four of these griffins opened their mouths.

The Wild Boar Warriors felt extremely astonished, and then threw the meat in their hands into their mouths.

"Gulp… Gulp…"

The griffins swallowed all the meat in their mouths.

[Your pet: Gale Griffin has eaten fresh horse meat, satiety + 1]

[Your pet…]

…

Several consecutive system prompts regarding increased satiety appeared.

The soldiers looked in amazement at the eating griffins.

Cao Xing said, "Continue."

They immediately followed suit one after another, continuously taking out the meat in the bucket and feeding the griffins.

As an entire bucket of fresh flesh and blood was completely fed.

Yet these four griffins looked as if they had just eaten an appetizer, with an expression of unfulfillment.

Cao Xing glanced at their panels.

[Satiety: 31 (Hungry, All Attributes Reduced by 50%)]

…

Only when satiety reached around 50 would it be a normal state, without negative states of attribute reduction appearing on the body.

Reaching 60, it would basically be in a good state.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing continued, "Go to the cafeteria and move some more fresh flesh and blood over."

"Understood!"

Several Wild Boar Warriors quickly began to act.

After a short while, each of them walked over carrying a bucket of thawed meat chunks.

And they placed all these beast meats in front of the griffins.

Those buckets of bright red flesh exuded a bloody smell, attracting the attention of these griffins.

Shortly after, they began to devour these beast meats in large bites.

As they ate, their satiety continuously increased.

However, the appetite of these griffins truly exceeded Cao Xing's imagination somewhat.

After continuously feeding nearly 120 kilograms of fresh meat chunks, their satiety was raised to around 55.

Cao Xing was somewhat surprised by their appetite.

At the same time, he calculated in his heart.

"Calculated this way, a griffin eats at least twenty or thirty kilograms of meat a day."

"If it is a griffin flock, not to mention many, there should be dozens of griffins."

"If I can really tame all these griffins, just what they eat every day would require preparing thousands of kilograms of meat."

After getting this number, the corners of Cao Xing's mouth twitched.

"This is also a considerable burden…"

Cao Xing shook his head helplessly.

"Now, the population in my territory is increasing, and the daily consumption of food is also a terrifying figure."

"Although I obtained nearly one million kilograms of food last time."

"But this food still needs to be used for the warriors to break through, and it still won't last long…"

"It seems I must find a way to open up more sources of food channels, preferably achieving a self-sufficient effect."

However, for now, Cao Xing didn't need to worry about food.

After all, he now controlled a baron.

The baron's estate had a large family and a vast business; making him find a way to raise a million kilograms of food for himself and send it to his territory shouldn't be a problem.

Thinking of this, a smile hooked up the corners of his mouth.

The current Fitz Walker was already taking on the embryonic form of becoming his personal ATM.

When he continued to grow to a certain height, he could bring even greater benefits to Cao Xing.

After feeding several buckets of fresh flesh and blood, the satiety of these griffins finally reached above 60, and they no longer had that negative effect of attribute reduction.

Their condition was also much better, and one by one they gradually stood up from the cages.

At the same time, four system prompts appeared,

[You fed Gale Griffin Lv54, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 61]

[You fed Gale Griffin Lv48, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 60]

[You…]

…

Cao Xing looked over and found that although these griffins had escaped the crisis of starving to death,

the injuries on their bodies still hadn't begun to heal automatically.

For other Survivors, it was a bit troublesome; after all, healing these pets was also a major problem.

But for Cao Xing, it was much more convenient; he just needed to throw a few healing skills over.

Under the blessing of [Eternal Power], these griffins' HP could quickly recover to max value.

As Cao Xing's staff gradually lifted.

One [Ice Healing Art] after another fell down.

+3728

+3728

+3728

…

Recovery numbers kept popping up above the four griffins' heads, and their HP was also increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Feeling the vitality continuously surging within their bodies, they seemed very happy, raising their heads one after another and comfortably closing their eyes.

[Because you rescued the pet: Gale Griffin Lv54, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 68]

[Because you rescued…]

…

The loyalty of the four griffins increased by another chunk, all reaching above 65.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing simply pulled out 20 [Specialized Pet Rations (Green)] from his backpack.

and fed 5 to each Gale Griffin.

raising their loyalty to above 70.

When the four Gale Griffins tasted the first pet ration, they were instantly stunned in place.

As if it was the first time they had eaten something so delicious.

All of them widened their eyes, their gazes filled with shock!

Soft "chirp" sounds came from their mouths, seeming to feel very happy.

Then they looked at Cao Xing with a yearning expression, hoping to taste a few more.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing was not stingy either.

He took out another 12 purple-quality pet rations from his backpack and fed them all.

The effect of the purple-quality rations was much more domineering and also much more delicious.

A single one could increase loyalty by 10 points.

As the continuous feeding went on.

The four griffins became more and more excited; they held their heads high and stared intently at the rations in Cao Xing's hands.

Their loyalty also rose accordingly, reaching the maximum value in the blink of an eye.

[You fed the pet: Gale Griffin Lv54, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 100]

[You fed the pet…]

…

After four consecutive system prompts.

All the griffins' loyalty was raised to 100, reaching the maximum value.

And inside the cage, those unyielding and arrogant creatures, looking at Cao Xing right now, no longer had their previous arrogance and unruliness.

One by one they became tame and respectful, like loyal guards waiting for their master's command.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing said, "Alright, open the griffin cages."

Hearing this, the Wild Boar Warrior beside him appeared somewhat hesitant.

After all, the scene of these griffins going mad was still vivid in his mind.

But because it was the lord's command, they still followed it without hesitation.

"Clatter…"

The sound of iron chains dragging came over.

When the four griffin cages were completely opened.

And the Gale Griffins, trapped for so many days, finally regained their freedom; they excitedly waved their wings continuously.

"Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh—"

The strong gale almost blew the nearby soldiers away.

The Wild Boar Warriors propped their longswords on the ground, striving to steady their footing.

Not only that, the gale whipped up by these griffins flapping their wings even blew away the floorboards that had been laid down with great difficulty.

The soldiers let out exclamations.

"These griffins are way too strong!"

"If this goes on, this entire area is going to be destroyed by them!"

Cao Xing slightly furrowed his brows and said, "Alright, rein it in a bit."

Hearing the command, the four griffins instantly stopped their actions, as if the pause button had been pressed, and stood obediently in place one by one.

Cao Xing waved his hand, "Come over here."

The four griffins simultaneously strode with their powerful limbs, stepping closer to Cao Xing step by step.

When they arrived by their master's side, they respectfully lowered their bodies one after another.

They were as obedient as could be.

This scene astonished the surrounding Wild Boar Warriors endlessly.

"Beast God above! These fierce guys are actually so obedient to the lord, this is incredible!"

"Yeah, clearly not long ago, these griffins were still thinking about breaking free from their cages and attacking us!"

Cao Xing smiled.

"You don't need to look after these griffins anymore; go patrol the territory outside now."

"Understood, miraculous lord!"

The Wild Boar Warriors retreated one after another with looks of astonishment in their eyes.

And Cao Xing, bringing the four griffins, came to the agricultural area of the territory.

He instructed Du An to urgently craft a few [Intermediate Cattle Sheds] to serve as night dwellings for the griffins.

…