86: Chapter 86 The Heart of the Source!

Just at this moment.

"Master."

A low voice came from behind.

Xu Qin turned his head to look.

He saw Shadow standing three meters behind him.

The silhouette of its black bone armor flickered in the shadows, and in its pair of hollow eye sockets, two clusters of dark purple soul fire danced.

It, too, spoke.

This was the first time Shadow had spoken.

"...Task."

"Huh?" Xu Qin was stunned upon hearing this, then immediately understood. "Alright, so you want a task, is that it?"

He pointed in the direction of the underground.

"Take one thousand Elite Troglodytes to the west side of the ore vein to mine the eternal source crystal."

"Tian Ming doesn't have enough manpower over there; go and share some of the burden."

Shadow did not reply, turned around, and disappeared into the shadows.

One thousand Elite Troglodytes followed closely behind, surging into the underground passage in an orderly fashion.

"It's good, just too few words," Xu Qin commented. "A perfect employee."

...

After finishing the specializations for the two heroes, Xu Qin remembered another matter.

He opened the hero slots in the Hall of Valor.

[Hero Promotion Slots: 5/6]

Now he could promote a sixth hero!

Xu Qin couldn't wait to look at the Stitched Bone Beast.

If he could produce a Bone Beast hero with this kind of health-locking tank...

He selected the largest Bone Beast with the best combat performance and clicked [Promote].

Beep!

The system popped up a notification box.

Xu Qin took one look, and his smile froze.

[Promotion conditions not met!]

[The Stitched Bone Beast is a multi-source fusion entity; required hero slots for promotion: 12 slots.]

[Currently available slots: 1 slot.]

[Insufficient slots, unable to promote.]

How many?!

Twelve?!

Xu Qin's eyes widened.

A single Bone Beast actually dared to occupy twelve hero slots?

"Is it really that outrageous?"

Xu Qin closed the interface and paced back and forth.

Leaving this slot empty bothered him.

But if he promoted other troop types...

Erosion Beast, Rift Guard?

He shook his head.

Ever since he had seen the Bone Beast, how could these ordinary troop types catch his eye?

"Let's wait for now," Xu Qin waved his hand. "The current heroes are enough. I'll keep one promotion slot reserved and wait until I encounter better troop types in the future."

Anyway, Tian Ming could command the Bone Beasts.

Pushing one thousand health-locking tanks forward would give anyone a headache.

Xu Qin turned and walked towards the Forging Area.

After the upgrade, the level 6 Forging Area had doubled in overall area.

The furnace flames had changed from deep blue to deep purple.

Xu Qin clicked on the main forging interface and browsed the list of newly unlocked blueprints.

Green, Blue, Purple...

He scrolled all the way down to the very bottom.

An orange icon.

[Bone Emperor Scepter (Legendary · Orange)]

[Type: Weapon - Staff/Scepter]

[Forging Requirements: Forging Area Level 6]

[Main Materials:]

[Bone × 100]

[Abyss Bone Marrow × 50]

[void soul crystal × 20]

[Bone Essence × 100]

"What, what, what, what are these?"

Xu Qin looked at the three new terms—Abyss Bone Marrow, void soul crystal, and Bone Essence—with a confused expression.

Four main materials, three of which he had never seen before; which meant he didn't even know where to get them right now.

"I just thought I was a resource tycoon..."

Xu Qin smiled bitterly and closed the interface.

"Suddenly, I discovered that I haven't even seen several of these."

However, the fact that this scepter dared to be named Bone Emperor meant it was truly strong.

If this item were forged and given to Tian Ming to use...

Xu Qin shook his head.

It was useless to think about these things now; he should solve the matter at hand first.

Just as Xu Qin was studying the forging blueprints.

The command panel popped up a communication from Tian Ming.

"Master."

"Speak."

"An abnormal object has been discovered in the core area of the first giant beast remains."

Xu Qin immediately perked up:

"What kind of abnormal object?"

"A prismatic crystal with energy flowing inside. Neither I nor the Troglodytes can touch it; we get bounced away upon contact."

"Good, wait for me!"

Xu Qin didn't say another word and jumped straight down from the descent platform.

Three minutes later, he was standing at the mining site of the first giant beast remains.

The remains had been stripped layer by layer by the Troglodytes, exposing the internal structure.

Sure enough, in the most core position, there was a fist-sized orange prismatic crystal floating in the center of the bone cavity.

Xu Qin tried to reach out and touch it, and easily grasped it.

The command panel popped up information.

[Source Essence Heart]

[Quality: Legendary (Orange)]

[Type: Living Material · Core Component]

[Description: The energy core of a Source Essence Giant Beast. The crystal contains all the Source Essence of the giant beast before its death. It can be implanted into any functional zone of the Floating City, granting that zone a unique "Source Essence Characteristic." Each Source Essence Heart can only be implanted into one zone; once implanted, it is permanently bound and cannot be removed.]

[Implantable zones and effect preview:]

[Energy Zone: Grants the "Source Energy Acceleration" characteristic. After activation, Floating City movement speed increases by 200% for 30 minutes. Cooldown: 4 hours.]

[descent platform: Grants the "Overload Deployment" characteristic. The troop deployment limit for a single deployment is temporarily increased to 8000 units. After deployment, it enters a charging cooldown (3 hours).]

[Combat Readiness Platform (Single Layer): Grants the "Source Crystal Expansion" characteristic. Carrying capacity is permanently increased by 25000 units.]

[Bone Turret (Single Unit): Grants the "Source Energy Charged Cannon" characteristic. After every 8 regular shells, a charged shell can be fired. Upon hitting, the charged shell produces a soul energy explosion with a 15-meter radius, dealing 200 shadow energy damage to all targets within range (damage value increases with turret level).]

[Defense System (Bone Wall): Grants the "Source Crystal Regeneration" characteristic. After the Bone Wall is damaged, it automatically repairs 5% of its total durability every minute.]

[Forging Area: Grants the "Source Energy Catalysis" characteristic. Equipment enhancement success rate increases by 30%, and equipment is not destroyed upon enhancement failure.]

[Watchtower: Grants the "Penetration" characteristic. Detection radius expands to 3000 meters, capable of penetrating 50 meters underground for detection.]

[Lords Hall: Grants the "Lords Protection" characteristic. When the Lord and their affiliated troops are within the Floating City area, all attributes +50%, and they are immune to fatal damage once (resets every 24 hours).]

Xu Qin finished reading the effect list and counted on his fingers.

Fourteen remains, which meant fourteen Source Essence Hearts.

If he used them for every zone, it seemed like there would still be some left over...

Wrong!

The Combat Readiness Platform and Bone Turrets are implanted per unit.

Just using them for those two would use up eleven.

He couldn't waste them like that.

Xu Qin decisively gave up on the turrets.

Although the [Charged Shell] was indeed fierce, with eight cannons firing in rotation, the city defense firepower would multiply several times over.

But the overall improvement was limited.

The [Lords Protection] of the Lords Hall was more important.

All attributes +50%, and it also included one instance of immunity to death.

"...I'll implant one in each zone first, and then use the rest to strengthen the turrets."

Xu Qin made his decision.

If the turrets had two fewer, so be it.

The firepower coverage of six charged turrets was already terrifying enough.

"Tian Ming, speed up the mining."

"Yes, Master."

Xu Qin put the first Source Essence Heart into his inventory and turned to walk towards the Floating City.