Summons Beaver Blackheart, King Engine! (5000)

Cao Xing didn't waste words with her, saying directly: "Join my territory, pledge your loyalty to me for ten years first. During this time, you must completely obey my orders."

"The curse that you spent hundreds of years failing to break, I have now helped you remove."

"Pledging loyalty to me for ten years, that's not too much to ask, right?"

Hearing this, a look of struggle appeared in Lana's eyes.

A moment later, she gritted her teeth and said: "Ten years it is!"

Meanwhile, a curve already formed at the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

Heh, thought you could resist me?

Ilena was also very happy, and she said joyfully: "That's great, Lana! We can be together all the time from now on!"

Green Snake Lana looked at her sister's happy expression, then sighed.

Consequently, Cao Xing directly sent her a recruitment invitation.

[Recruitment successful! Snake-men: Lana Lv80, 8th-tier Sovereign-level creature has joined your territory, Territory Population +20. — .]

There was another Sovereign-level powerhouse in the territory.

Cao Xing was secretly delighted.

As a lord who often dealt with various women, he could handle even difficult existences like Hilda and Bing Lan; even this bad-tempered Green Snake was a piece of cake for him.

Then, he glanced at her specific attribute panel.

[Snake-men Green Scale: Lana]

[Race: Snake-men]

[Level: 80 (8th-tier Sovereign-level creature)]

[Health Points: 4.123 million / 31.5775 million (Pale Tree Blessing)]

[Attack Power: 68195 ~ 79784]

[Armor: 7177 ~ 7285]

[Skills: Advanced Hardened Green Scales, Poison Fang Pierce, Green Scale Shadow, Blood Sacrifice Snake Spirit, Green Shadow Snake Curse]

[Commander-level Skill: Ten Thousand Snake Bind · Strangle (Summons the shadows of ten thousand venomous snakes to attack the same target, causing them to fall into a bound state, then performs a high-intensity strangulation on them, lasting 1~5 seconds. Cooldown: 10 hours)]

[Sovereign Domain: Green Snake Sovereign Domain (Increases self-received healing effects by 30%, increases attack power by 20%, and suppresses all enemies' healing effects by 30%)]

[Talent: Jungle Behemoth (After switching to Green Snake form, maximum health increases by 30%, armor increases by 20%)]

[Satiety: 65]

[Loyalty: 58]

"A Commander-level control skill? But it doesn't clearly state the control strength of this skill; the specific effects still need to be tested."

"However, since it is a Commander-level skill, it certainly won't be weak."

"Besides that, this Sovereign Domain that suppresses enemy healing effects is also very good!"

Cao Xing evaluated.

Clearly, this Green Snake's combat power was quite good, and she could also help the team.

Therefore, Cao Xing casually cast an [Ice Healing Art].

The next moment, recovery numbers of over thirty thousand appeared above her head one after another.

The shocking scars on her body healed and closed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Before the look of shock could appear in her eyes, Cao Xing said directly.

"Alright, Ilena, you take her around the territory now to recover her physical strength."

"If you can't sit still, take her out to fight those Ice Nest Monsters."

"Your sister is only at 8th-tier combat power right now, she's still too weak."

Ilena said softly: "Yes, Lord."

Lana, who was on the side, was stunned, and in the end, she didn't say a word.

If she had heard Cao Xing say she was weak before this, Lana would have retorted without hesitation.

But now, feeling the abundant vitality within her body, as well as the constantly recovering health points.

She suddenly understood why she was clearly stronger than her sister, yet couldn't beat her.

Without saying much more, Cao Xing left Ilena's room directly.

Anyway, this Green Snake had already been successfully taken into his territory; he would have plenty of opportunities to 'train' her later.

He could even make her completely submit right now.

After all, he still had a few [Loyalty Pearls] in his backpack that he hadn't used.

This thing could directly raise a friendly unit's loyalty to the maximum value!

Of course, forced fruit is not sweet.

Relying on items to forcibly increase loyalty gave him no sense of accomplishment.

Cao Xing preferred to have her submit willingly.

Thinking of this, a smile gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Cao Xing thought to himself: "Next, I can redeem that scroll from the Gold Point Shop to add another Sovereign-level creature to my territory."

Then, he directly opened the shop and made the exchange.

[Whether to consume 3000 gold points to redeem the Bifer Blackheart (4th-tier Sovereign-level creature) recruitment scroll?]

"Yes."

[Redemption successful, gold points – 3000]

The next moment, a pitch-black recruitment scroll appeared in Cao Xing's backpack.

Placed in the backpack, it seemed to be beating slightly like a pitch-black heart.

Then, he directly performed the summoning.

[Whether to use the scroll to summon a 4th-tier Sovereign-level creature?]

"Yes."

The moment Cao Xing clicked confirm, the scroll in his hand disappeared.

And in front of him, a surge of intense dark aura emerged.

Then, Cao Xing heard a vicissitudinous voice in his ears.

"Once upon a time, I was so cowardly."

"Running around in desperation, living a precarious life, unable to control my own destiny like a candle in the wind."

"I wanted to know why my heart was so cowardly, I wanted to know why I didn't dare to resist when facing oppression and bullying!"

"So, I cut open my own heart!"

"However, I discovered that it was so pitch black inside!"

"At this moment, I finally understood that it wasn't that my heart was born cowardly, but that the darkness of this world had long since stained it black!"

"Since that is the case, why should I resist the darkness I was born with?"

"So, I accepted my pitch-black heart and possessed unprecedented power ———"

When the voice ended,

A strange figure appeared in front of Cao Xing.

He wore a suit of pitch-black metal armor, and also wore a pair of black metal gloves on his hands, like a devil's sharp claws.

Most eye-catching was the heart area on his chest, where a huge black crystal was embedded, as deep as a bottomless spring!

His face was hidden beneath a pitch-black helmet; one could only vaguely see his eyes emitting a ghostly green light.

At this moment, this astonishingly imposing existence slowly turned his armor and gradually looked at Cao Xing.

"May I ask, are you the master of this territory?"

Cao Xing nodded slightly: "That's right, I summoned you from an alternate dimension. Are you willing to pledge your loyalty to me?"

Hearing this, this existence in black armor swept his gaze around the surroundings, then let his gaze fall on Cao Xing.

He seemed to sense the vast magic power on him, then nodded slightly and said:

"I am Bifer Blackheart, an executioner walking in the darkness, very happy to serve you."

As he finished speaking, this black-armored man extended his right hand with sharp claws, placed it on that black heart, bowed slightly, and solemnly saluted Cao Xing.

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

Clearly, his powerful strength had saved him a lot of trouble.

Even this existence, who looked very difficult to talk to, chose to offer his loyalty on the spot.

Adding two Sovereign-level creatures to the territory in one day today also put Cao Xing in a great mood.

After all, these were all potential stocks, existences that had a high probability of breaking through to Legendary in the future.

With a pleasant mood, he glanced at this new member's attributes.

[Bifer Blackheart]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 40 (4th-tier Sovereign-level creature)]

[Health Points: 325894 / 325894 (Pale Tree Blessing)]

[Attack Power: 5891 ~ 6022 (Command Art)]

[Armor: 1247 ~ 1389]

[Attributes: Strength 2158, Agility 2079, Spirit 2041, Constitution 2591]

[Skills: Master-level Claw Mastery (Claw attacks containing some kind of evil power; after hitting an enemy, it will reduce their maximum health by 1%, stacking up to 5 times.), Evil Heart Impact (Activates the power of the black heart to shoot an impact beam forward, with a maximum attack range of (Spirit * 0.1 meters), dealing Attack Power * 167% damage to all enemies along the path. The beam lasts for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds), Heart Energy Shield (Activates the power of the black heart to condense an energy shield around the body, which can absorb (Agility * 10) damage, lasting 10 seconds. After the shield shatters, it deals 189% fragmentation damage to surrounding enemies. Cooldown: 90 seconds), Dark Grasp (Extends the sharp claws in his hand to shoot towards the target at an extremely fast speed, and causes the opponent to fall into a forbidden state, lasting 15 seconds. Cooldown: 55 seconds)]

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

Heart-Piercing Claws (The sharp claws in hand spin crazily, dealing continuous damage equal to Attack Power * 178%. If attacking the enemy's heart, it deals an additional 200% damage and converts all damage dealt into Health. Cooldown: 120 seconds.)]

[Commander-level Skill: Evil Heart Fission · Raging Tide (Explodes the power within the heart, absorbing 1% of the Health of all surrounding friendly units. Can absorb up to 10 consecutive times. Cooldown: 5 minutes.)]

[Dominator Domain: Emperor Engine Domain (Allows all surrounding enemy creatures to hear one's own heartbeat,]

causing them to feel fear. For enemy units lower than your level, it suppresses their attributes by 20%. For units higher than your level, it reduces their attack speed by 20%.)]

[Talent: Strong Heart (During combat, every time an enemy is successfully killed by crushing their heart, it increases one's own attack power by 1%]

for 30 seconds, stacking up to 20 times.)]

[Satiety: 72]

[Loyalty: 65]

After reading through this guy's long series of skills, a look of amazement appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Good grief, most of his abilities are related to the heart? That is indeed quite formidable!"

"Combined with his talent and Dominator Domain, his attack power can even rival Bjorn after he devoured the demon blood!"

Of course, Cao Xing was more focused on that Commander-level skill—Evil Heart Fission · Raging Tide.

"Absorbing the Health of friendly units? And it's a percentage-based absorption."

"This doesn't seem to have much use?"

After all, under the amplification of [Eternal Power], his territory certainly didn't lack healing capabilities.

Moreover, if this skill absorbed enemy Health, it would be better, but it absorbs from allies,

at most only increasing Bifer Blackheart's own survivability.

Thinking of this, a hint of disappointment gradually appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

But then, he seemed to remember something, and his eyes suddenly widened, bursting with a sharp light!

"No… this skill might be extremely useful!"

After all, what was the concept of absorbing 1% Health from all allies?

Almost all the combat personnel in Cao Xing's territory had millions or even tens of millions of Health.

Absorbing just one wave would be hundreds of millions of Health, which could instantly refill his health bar!

And this skill could absorb ten times in a row.

In other words, as long as he wasn't killed in one hit, he could remain in an immortal state.

"And at that time, I can use the Soul Link skill to have everyone attack Bifer Blackheart,]

transferring true damage to the enemy."

"Coupled with our terrifying damage per second, we'll be attacking while healing."

"The damage caused by this skill would be even more terrifying than a Forbidden Spell!"

Thinking of this, an excited look gradually appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Good, good, good! As expected, there are no useless skills, only Lords who don't know how to use them!"

His mood instantly improved.

However, to realize the effect of this combined skill set, he first had to raise Bifer Blackheart's level.

After all, how much output others could deal depended on his maximum Health.

Thus, Cao Xing directly took an [Expert-level Heart of Strength] from his backpack and said, "Bifer, use this Heart of Strength to restore your strength."

The man wearing black battle armor immediately replied, "Thank you, generous Lord. Bifer will return to peak condition as soon as possible!"

After a notification of increased loyalty appeared, he respectfully took the red crystal from Cao Xing's hand, then extended his metal claws and lightly swiped across it.

The crystal was sliced open directly, and the pure power contained within was absorbed.

At the same time, the black crystal on Bifer Blackheart's left chest throbbed once.

Cao Xing heard a faint, intense heartbeat echoing in his ears.

"Thump-thump! Thump-thump!"

This heartbeat was very clear, as if it were sounding inside one's mind, rhythmic and even driving one's own heart to beat with the same rhythm.

Not just Cao Xing, but even the surrounding territory members heard this heartbeat, and their hearts began to beat in sync.

"Is this his domain effect? It can actually influence the heartbeats of others. Interesting."

"In certain situations, this domain could even create a significant lethal effect!"

After all, everyone's heartbeat would follow his heart rate.

What if Bifer suddenly increased his heart rate to five or six times, or even over ten times the normal frequency?

Under a sudden acceleration of the heart, it could cause serious consequences like dizziness, fainting, mental disorders, and gastrointestinal ischemia!

Powerhouses like Cao Xing and the others at the seventh or eighth rank could withstand it.

But those fourth or fifth-rank creatures below could not withstand such an impact!

"It seems—this new member has many more abilities to be developed!" Cao Xing marveled.

Meanwhile, Bifer's breakthrough was also quickly successful.

A system notification appeared.

[Your territory member: Bifer Blackheart has successfully broken through to a Tier 5 creature. Basic attributes increased by 100%,]

Health +50%]

The man in black battle armor felt the surging power within him. He excitedly extended his hands, which were covered in sharp claws, and swung them back and forth in the air.

"I didn't expect that I would recover Tier 5 strength just after being summoned."

He looked at Cao Xing and said in a hollow voice, "Respected Lord, thank you. I have successfully broken through." "Very good. Now I will continue to strengthen your power."

After saying that, Cao Xing directly raised his staff and cast four status skills on him: Ice Healing Art, Ice Armor Technique, Frost Magic Shield, and Ice Attraction.

This significantly boosted Bifer Blackheart's survivability.

Feeling these four layers of buffs within him, this new member's eyes also showed extreme shock.

His loyalty, like that of the other members, directly soared above 75.

Cao Xing said, "Now, you go out and fight as well. Improve your strength as quickly as possible."

Bifer Blackheart said respectfully, "Yes! Great Lord."

"Bifer will do his utmost to bring you more hearts!"

Then, he turned around and quickly left the territory.

When the new member's back disappeared, Cao Xing clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Good, basically everything that needs to be done is finished. Next, I can go out to find those Ice Nest Monsters to fight and raise my level."

"But I haven't been back for several days. Before that, I'll inspect the territory first, and then it won't be too late to go out and grind mobs."

Thinking of this, Cao Xing quickly crossed the buffer zone and arrived at the outskirts of the territory.

A row of frost-white city walls, over ten meters high and nearly eight meters wide, appeared before him, looking full of weight.

After this period of development, all the high-level frost city walls in the territory had been upgraded to Expert-level Frost City Walls.

Combined with the high-level spell of the Earth Mage Tyren—Rock Barrier.

It caused the durability of these walls to increase significantly once again!

Not only that, several war tools like [Destroyer Siege Crossbows] and [Catapults] were placed on top.

Currently, his territory was looking more and more majestic!

"Not bad. I wonder when the system will add the exchange for Master-level City Wall Blueprints. That way, the territory's defensive capabilities can be reinforced again."

As he walked, he arrived at the [Ore Processing Plant] area.

In the open space in front of the processing plant, seven or eight black transport vehicles were parked, waiting to be unloaded.

Each transport vehicle was loaded with a large amount of ore.

Inside the processing plant, over a dozen Arctic People were constantly unloading the ore from the truck beds and then moving it into the factory for sorting and smelting. It was quite busy.

Now, Cao Xing held three large mining points, and these mining points were all being mined simultaneously.

With dozens of transport vehicles returning to the territory from time to time, they brought back a large amount of resources for him every day.

"Very good. When there are more staff members and more large mining points under control, and enough resources have been accumulated, the third expansion of the territory can be carried out."

Cao Xing's territory now had a diameter of two kilometers, which was roughly the size of a small town.

If it expanded further, it would almost reach the level of those Giant Cities.

Of course, building a Giant City required a massive amount of resources.

He still needed to accumulate for a while longer.

■

(PS: This humble author is speeding up the plot progress QAQ. In these next two days, we'll reach the final monster siege, and then someone in the territory will break through to the Legendary realm. Next, the Blood Expansion pack can be opened!)