Treasure chest in the lair. (5200)

After successfully contracting the Gryphon King.

Cao Xing struck while the iron was hot and contracted other gryphons.

As one [Expert-level Pet Contract Scroll] after another was used.

[Contract failed…]

[Contract failed…]

[Ding! Contract successful. Gale Gryphon Lv56, a Tier 6 Boss-level creature, has joined your territory. Population +4, Prosperity +50.]

…

As the system prompts continued to ring out.

One leader and elite-tier gryphons after another were brought under Cao Xing's command.

The territory's prosperity and population were also steadily increasing!

Even if there were one or two stubborn donkeys among them, they directly yielded under the onslaught of Cao Xing's dozen or so scrolls.

Taking about five minutes, all the adult gryphons were completely subdued.

Cao Xing then went after those young gryphons.

Moreover, because these young gryphons were not high in level, the success rate of the Expert-level scrolls for them increased significantly.

In about two minutes, all the juvenile gryphons were also brought into the territory!

At this point, the entire gryphon lair had become completely in Cao Xing's grasp.

Cao Xing clapped his hands, overjoyed in his heart.

At the current stage, having a gryphon as a mount was already something to boast about to the heavens!

And Cao Xing?

He directly wiped out an entire gryphon lair!

Even with the foundations of those kingdoms, it was very difficult to accomplish such a thing.

Although they could capture so many gryphons.

But wanting to tame so many gryphons would cost a massive amount of time!

Unlike Cao Xing, who captured them on the spot and tamed them on the spot.

This was simply an unimaginable feat.

At the same time.

He quickly glanced at the Soul-Sinking Incense in his hand, which only had a small stub left.

The remaining burning time on it was only the last five minutes.

He hurriedly blew it out.

This thing was a genuine treasure; there might still be a chance to use it later.

After carefully putting it back into his backpack.

Cao Xing said, "Everyone go look inside this gryphon lair and see if there are any good things."

He hadn't forgotten that this trip of his, besides capturing these gryphons, also had a quest on him to complete.

Everyone scattered and began searching around in this huge gryphon lair.

As for Cao Xing himself, he walked straight up to the Gryphon King.

At this moment, it was lying weakly on the ground.

Seeing Cao Xing approaching, a conflicted look surfaced in its eyes.

After all, the human in front of it was the enemy of its entire tribe.

And had even enslaved all the gryphons.

Yet, it seemed unable to hate this human.

This was naturally because of the contract scroll.

However, despite this, the Gryphon King still didn't want to yield to him.

It could be seen from its loyalty of just over 50 that if this Gryphon King had the chance, it would definitely rebel at the first opportunity and then escape.

Cao Xing didn't talk nonsense with it either; he directly pried open its big mouth and stuffed a [Special Pet Ration (Purple)] inside.

Just like all the other pets.

The expression on the Gryphon King's face went from its initial indifference and rejection to instantly widening its eyes.

Feeling the deliciousness in its mouth, it swallowed it directly.

"Gulp…"

[Your Pet: Gryphon King Lv61 successfully used a Pet Ration, Loyalty +10, Current Loyalty: 61]

…

Seeing the prompt, a smile appeared at the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

And at this moment, the Gryphon King was also looking at him longingly.

It seemed to still want to continue tasting this deliciousness.

Cao Xing didn't dawdle either.

He directly smashed down a dozen or so pet rations, forcefully pushing its loyalty to max value.

After reaching max value, there was no longer the slightest bit of hatred in the Gryphon King's gaze towards Cao Xing!

It had become incomparably respectful!

"Gu… Gu…"

The Gryphon King lay on the ground, emitting a cheerful low hum towards Cao Xing.

Formed a sharp contrast with its previous unyielding and unruly appearance!

Cao Xing chuckled and said, "Since you are the Gryphon King, you will be called Lao Wang from now on."

[Pet: Gryphon King successfully named, changed to: Lao Wang]

"Wuu…"

This Gryphon King lay on the ground and responded in a low voice, seeming quite satisfied with the name he gave it.

Cao Xing glanced at its stats.

[Cao Xing's Pet: Lao Wang]

[Race: Gryphon]

[Level: Level 61 (Tier 7 Commander-level Creature)]

[HP: 175,251 / 5,958,321 (Pale Tree Bonus)]

[Attack Power: 18,977 ~ 19,591]

[Armor: 2,678 ~ 2,864]

[Skills: Sharp Beak Peck, Wing Sweep, Gale Raid, Wind Howl, Heavenly Flight Feather]

[Commander-level Skill: Guardian Wings (The Gryphon King spreads its huge wings to shelter up to 5 friendly units, taking all damage they receive and reducing the damage received by itself and allies by 20%, lasting for 100 seconds, Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

[Legion Skill: Swirling Storm (Leads all gryphons to surround the enemy, then with a high-speed rotation stirs up a terrifying swirling storm, causing all enemies along the way to be swept into the storm and suffer claw attack damage from the gryphons, Duration: 30 seconds, Cooldown: 1 hour)]

[Talent: Wind Affinity]

[Bond — Gale Gryphon (100 activated)]

[Status: Severely Injured, Bleeding]

…

…

"Oh? This Guardian Wings can also protect friendly units and take damage."

"This effect is really good!"

Relying on the Gryphon King's massive HP pool, it could indeed be used as a meat shield.

And that way, as long as they were under the protection of [Guardian Wings], there was no need to worry about being suddenly focused-fired and killed by the enemy.

With a look of delight.

Cao Xing threw an [Ice Healing Art] at it and let it slowly recover.

He also had Andrew nearby throw a [Life Bloom].

Above the Gryphon King's head, recovery numbers exceeding ten thousand gradually appeared one after another.

Lao Wang lay on the ground, feeling the magical power continuously emerging within its body, and the shock in its eyes grew increasingly intense.

As its vitality gradually recovered, Lao Wang also regained some strength and then stood up.

Its huge wings spread open.

"Hoo—hoofoo—"

With gentle flaps, they stirred up gusts of fierce wind.

After shaking off the dust and blood stains on its body, the Gryphon King stood proudly in place.

However, it no longer had its previous unruly appearance; the gaze it directed towards Cao Xing was filled with awe and obedience!

Cao Xing chuckled and said, "Lao Wang, gather all the injured gryphons together, and I'll treat them all at once."

This Gryphon King nodded slightly and then issued an order to its tribesmen behind it.

"Gugu…"

All the gryphons quickly gathered together.

Cao Xing glanced at his own [God-Blessed Aura (Legendary)]

After this period of recovery, the divine power value on it was originally in a maxed-out state.

But he had used it once before coming out, so now only 10 points of divine power value remained.

However, applying statuses to these hundred-plus gryphons one by one would waste too much time.

Recently, Cao Xing probably wouldn't welcome a major upgrade, so he decided to just use it directly.

"Hum…"

As the soft light turned into a halo of light and fell down.

Everyone also cast various status skills onto this group of gryphons.

All the gryphons felt their injuries recovering at an extremely fast speed.

"Chirp… Chirp…"

Bursts of cheerful low chirps came over, and this group of gryphons appeared very happy at this moment.

However, there was still a problem laid out before Cao Xing.

That was, although the gryphons were captured, he still had to figure out a way to accommodate them in the territory.

After all, so many gryphons required a fairly large living space.

"This lair is quite good, but there's no way to take it away."

"Otherwise, I could directly place it in my territory."

Pondering for a moment, Cao Xing shook his head.

"Forget it, if worse comes to worst, we'll just build a few more cow sheds; anyway, the temperature in the territory is very comfortable."

"It's the same to let them live in the cow sheds."

At the same time, Herlie's voice came over.

"Lord Lord, come quickly, come quickly! I found a huge pile of weapon and armor fragments in this corner!"

Hearing this, Cao Xing's eyes instantly lit up.

Then he walked quickly to the location Herlie mentioned.

In the corner of the gryphon lair, he indeed saw a huge pile of messy items.

There were some damaged standard armors, broken arrows, and longbows.

There were also various badges, spearheads, and so on.

Clearly, these things were all brought back by the Gryphon King after defeating enemies, having piled up here for a long time, covered in thick dust.

Holding an attitude of accepting all comers, Cao Xing put this entire pile of miscellaneous items on the ground into his backpack.

[Obtained: Damaged Standard Armor]

[Obtained: Broken Brooch]

[Obtained: Broken Kingdom War Bow]

[Obtained: Family Heirloom Sword (Gold) * 1]

[Obtained…]

…

Among the pile of junk, there was a rather special item, a sword.

"Family Heirloom Sword… Should be the one Earl Winston needs, right?"

Glanced at its stats.

[Family Heirloom Sword (Gold)]

[Quality: Rare]

[Attack Power: 578 ~ 684]

[Attribute: Quest Item]

(Description: The ancestral sword of the Zachary family, a symbol of family honor.)

…

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

"As expected of this quest item, it's finally in my hands."

"Next, I need to complete the second ring of the quest, head to the summit of Scott Alpine, and bring back the body of that beast tamer's younger brother."

"However, wanting to climb such a high mountain requires not only the Gryphon King's flying ability, but also extremely strong cold resistance. Even master-level ones can't endure it!"

"At the very least, a Hero-level unit is required."

Thinking of this, Cao Xing seemed to realize something.

"Damn it! If I had known, I would have made that Dragon Speaker bitch wait another day before leaving!"

"Aside from her, there are no Heroes in my territory."

Pondering for a moment, Cao Xing shook his head.

"But it doesn't matter. I remember there is something called a cold-resistance potion on the market, which can increase a certain amount of cold resistance in a short time."

"Although it's very little, I should be able to acquire some."

Thinking of this, he stopped worrying.

Just when he thought there was nothing left to gain in this gryphon nest,

Sarah also walked over and reported, "Lord, there are still two treasure chests in the corner over there."

Hearing this, Cao Xing perked up again.

"Treasure chests? Take me there!"

With those words, Cao Xing followed Sarah toward the depths of the nest.

Soon, they came to a rather dim corner.

And when Cao Xing clearly saw the appearance of those two treasure chests, his spirits instantly rose!

"A Gold Treasure Chest and a Bright Moon Treasure Chest!"

"Good grief, this wave is so comfortable!"

With an excited expression, Cao Xing stepped forward.

[Unlocked Gold/Bright Moon Treasure Chest discovered. Open it?]

"Yes."

[Successfully opened]

[Obtained: Large Gryphon Nest Construction Blueprint (Orange)]

[Obtained: Expert-level Elemental Arrow Tower Blueprint (Gold)]

[Obtained: Gryphon Knight Longsword (Purple)]

[Obtained: master-level elemental crystal * 32]

[Obtained: Gryphon Feather * 523]

[Obtained: Resource Package * 3]

[Obtained: Dried Grass Seed * 62]

…

…

"Huh? There's actually an orange construction blueprint, and it's for a gryphon nest!"

Cao Xing chuckled. He had just said he needed to find a way to accommodate these gryphons.

In the blink of an eye, a blueprint had been dropped!

However, the things opened from the other Gold Treasure Chest were somewhat subpar.

After all, he already had the Expert-level Elemental Arrow Tower Blueprint.

This blueprint could only be thrown onto the market first to see if anyone else needed it.

But overall, the harvest from these two treasure chests was still quite good.

Taking a look at the attributes.

[Large Gryphon Nest Construction Blueprint (Orange)]

[Quality: Epic]

[Footprint Area: 3,742 square meters]

[Armor: 550]

[Durability: 120,000]

[Effect: After providing sufficient food, it can increase the reproduction rate of gryphons and the growth speed of young gryphons.]

[Materials required for construction: Wood * 50,000, Fine Iron * 10,000, Mithril * 500, Hay…]

[Time required for construction: 156 hours]

[Maximum number of workers: 0/8]

(Note: The gryphon nest can be built on the ground, but the temperature within the nest must be ensured, otherwise it will seriously affect the reproduction rate of the gryphons.)

…

"I didn't expect this gryphon nest to actually have the effect of increasing the reproduction rate and growth speed of gryphons."

"This is truly a good thing!"

Moreover, the materials needed to build the gryphon nest were also very simple.

Only a large amount of wood and fine iron was needed.

Letting the Arctic People go all out after returning, it could be built in a day.

"Great!"

"In this way, more gryphons can be steadily produced in my territory!"

Cao Xing's mood became even better.

At this point, the things inside this gryphon nest were basically all looted by him.

After carefully confirming once again that nothing was missed, Cao Xing directly waved his hand and said, "Let's go, prepare for the return trip."

This trip to the gryphon nest could be said to be quite smooth.

Of course, it couldn't not be smooth.

After all, the strength of Cao Xing and the others was far too powerful; it was simply crushing!

As long as they figured out a way to get in, dealing with the gryphons inside was hardly any difficulty at all.

Soon, these more than a hundred figures all jumped into the Goblin Airship.

Among them, even those gryphon eggs were carefully carried inside by them.

Then, Cao Xing gave an order to the Gryphon King.

"Old Wang, lead all the gryphons and follow ahead with our airships."

"Coo coo…"

The Gryphon King responded in a low voice.

Then, the Goblin Airships quickly flew in the direction of the territory.

More than a hundred gryphons followed beside the two Goblin Airships.

Like a sky guard, they grandly headed towards the territory.

All birds and beasts along the way, upon seeing their grand momentum, simply did not dare to approach.

Half an hour later.

Everyone had completely arrived above the territory.

At this moment, all the staff couldn't help but raise their heads.

Looking at the large swaths of shadows overhead, they raised their vigilance at the same time.

Over a hundred gryphons acting simultaneously brought them a strong sense of oppression!

Not knowing better, they would think these monsters were going to attack the territory!

They were just about to run back to sound the alarm.

When they saw that amidst the large swath of shadows, there were also two Goblin Airships.

"That seems to be… Lord's airship?"

"Could it be that these big birds were all brought back by Lord?"

"Good heavens… Lord went out for a trip and actually brought back so many powerful creatures again!"

"Too incredible!"

Amidst their shocked gazes,

the shadows overhead continuously descended.

Soon, the two Goblin Airships descended into the buffer zone of the territory.

Including those more than a hundred gryphons, they also quietly stood on the open space nearby.

All the staff looked in amazement at this scene before them.

Meanwhile, the newly joined gryphons spotted the other three gryphons that had already been tamed by Cao Xing at a glance.

"Coo coo…"

Along with the calls, these three gryphons quickly ran over and then merged with their own flock.

This picture had quite a feeling of a long-awaited reunion.

Cao Xing smiled, then called Du An over and instructed,

"Du An, take seven Arctic People together, find an open space in the buffer zone, and build the gryphon nest."

"Right, don't build it close to the city wall."

That Arctic Person hurriedly and respectfully replied, "Understood, Lord, I will go right away."

He quickly turned around and began leading people to build it.

Cao Xing looked at everyone present and instructed,

"The rest of the Silver Hand Knights, start practicing the coordination with these gryphons now."

"Including the Nightmare Archers, you are the same."

As an aerial unit, the gryphons could cooperate with many types of troops in combat.

Especially for ranged troops like archers, riding on a gryphon could raise their lethality by several tiers.

However, the flying mount most suitable for ranged units like archers was still the Chimera, which excelled at launching ranged magic.

It is said that this legendary creature could launch two forms of attacks simultaneously.

Respectively, fire and poison.

Cao Xing had once heard the Blood Spider Queen casually mention it before.

But this legendary creature hadn't appeared on the continent for many years.

At this moment, those Silver Hand and Nightmare Archers all showed excited expressions in their eyes!

One by one, they stepped forward cautiously and stroked the feathers of these gryphons.

At first, those gryphons were still very resistant, seeming to dislike contact with them.

However, under Cao Xing's will, they still reluctantly allowed these archers and Silver Hand Knights to climb onto their backs.

"Screech—"

Along with a high-pitched cry sounding out,

these gryphons carried them and quickly flew into the air!

Seeing the territory shrinking beneath their feet and the rapidly receding scenery, the Silver Hand Knights were extremely excited in their hearts!

"Holy Light! I actually really became a Gryphon Knight, this is simply too incredible!"

"Haha, being able to ride a gryphon is something I've dreamed of all along, I didn't expect it to be realized in this territory!"

The excited feelings of the knights were almost beyond description!

Including those Nightmare Archers, they were also extremely excited at this moment.

Riding on the backs of the gryphons, they continuously pulled their bowstrings, shooting at the distant air to practice their accuracy.

Seeing that both types of troops had already begun the coordination process,

Cao Xing was also deeply gratified.

This was a surprise force; as long as it was used well, it could exert powerful effects on no matter what battlefield in the future.

Moreover, once this gryphon flock bred for some more time later, the gryphons in his territory would grow at a steady number every year.

By then, he might even be able to form a gryphon regiment of a thousand people!

Thinking of this, his mood became even better.

…