127: Dragon Claw Blood Devour, an endless killing machine with unlimited power!

Inside the control room, the indicator lights on the dashboard flickered on and off, illuminating Lu Sheng's pensive face.

Fifteen advanced spirit source crystal cores was a huge sum, but it was only enough to upgrade one core skill.

Lu Sheng's gaze swept back and forth across the skill bar, his mind racing as he weighed the pros and cons.

First, he ruled out Dragon Eyes and Dragon Scales.

The current Dragon Eyes could see through information and weaknesses of creatures below Level 6, which was temporarily sufficient.

As for Dragon Scales, while defense was important, in this Apocalypse where offense was the best defense, simply stacking durability wasn't the optimal solution.

Although Dragon Breath and Human-Dragon Form were terrifyingly powerful, they were ultimate moves reserved for critical situations, and their consumption was simply too great.

In the previous battle, he had activated Human-Dragon Form for less than three minutes, and the hollowed-out feeling of hunger still left him with lingering fear.

If the sustainability problem couldn't be solved, upgrading these two skills would only make him a 'three-second hero'; if he failed to instantly kill the enemy, he would become a lamb to the slaughter.

Lu Sheng's gaze finally settled on the most basic and earliest Awakened skill — Dragon Claw.

As his earliest Awakened skill, Dragon Claw had always been his primary method of close-quarters combat.

However, when facing Level 6 Sea Beasts with thick bone armor, simple physical tearing was starting to feel somewhat strenuous, often requiring the cooperation of the dragon devouring spear to break through their defenses.

Moreover, and most crucially, activating Dragon Claw only increased his strength by a hundred jin, which was clearly insufficient when encountering powerful enemies.

"You're the one."

Lu Sheng's eyes narrowed, no longer hesitating.

"System, consume 10 advanced spirit source crystal cores to upgrade Dragon Claw!"

As his thought fell, the 10 purple crystal cores in his storage space instantly shattered, transforming into a terrifyingly vast torrent of energy that surged wildly into his arms through his Meridians.

"Hiss—!!!"

Lu Sheng gasped, clutching the armrests of the command chair tightly with both hands.

Pain!

The feeling was like plunging his hands into scorching magma, or countless tiny files scraping against his bones.

The blood vessels beneath his skin instantly bulged, displaying an eerie purplish-red hue.

His finger bones emitted crisp 'crackling' sounds under the flushing of energy, undergoing a qualitative transformation.

The Dragon Scale patterns, originally hidden beneath his skin, now seemed to come alive, converging towards his palms, gradually forming a complex rune he had never seen before.

Five minutes later.

The burning sensation receded like a tide, replaced by an unprecedented feeling of fullness.

Lu Sheng slowly raised his hands.

It was still the ferocious Dragon Claw form.

But in the very center of his palm, there was now a dark red mark, shaped like an open Dragon mouth, with jagged patterns along its edges, emitting a heart-palpitating aura of devouring.

The system panel refreshed:

[Skill Name: Dragon Claw · Blood Devourer (Lv1)]

[Effect 1: Strength bonus increased to 1000 jin! Sharpness greatly increased, capable of tearing through Level 6 Sea Beast bone armor!]

[Effect 2 (New!): When an attack hits a target, the Dragon rune in the palm will forcibly extract 15% of the target's vital blood and 10% of their spirit source, and convert it proportionally into the host's stamina and spirit source (instant recovery)!]

[Restriction: Each cast consumes 5% spirit source.]

Lu Sheng's pupils sharply contracted as he looked at the newly appeared text.

Lifesteal!

Mana steal!

This was simply a divine skill tailor-made for group battles!

Although each cast had a consumption, as long as he could hit an enemy, the spirit source he absorbed back would definitely be greater than the consumption, and could even replenish his stamina.

What did this mean?

It meant that as long as there were monsters on this sea, Lu Sheng would be a tireless perpetual motion machine!

"This is a bit too abnormal..."

Lu Sheng licked his somewhat dry lips, a hint of wild joy flashing in his eyes.

He couldn't wait to test the quality of this new skill.

"Dragon Claw · Blood Devourer!"

With a thought.

"Buzz!"

Lu Sheng's right hand was instantly enveloped in a strange, pale red glow.

That wasn't a light effect, but high-density energy materialized.

The dark red rune in his palm suddenly lit up, as if a Vicious Beast that had been hungry for ten thousand years had opened its eyes.

He made a grasping motion in the air.

"Rip—!!"

A booming sound, similar to fabric tearing, actually erupted in the air. A visible distorted mark appeared in the space ahead, as if a chunk of flesh had been torn away by that claw, and the surrounding free spirit source particles were forcibly dragged into his palm by a domineering suction force.

He made a grasping motion in the air. A booming sound, similar to fabric tearing, actually erupted in the air. A visible distorted mark appeared in the space ahead, as if a chunk of flesh had been torn away by that claw, and the surrounding free spirit source particles were forcibly dragged into his palm by a domineering suction force.

Although he was just grasping at air, Lu Sheng clearly felt a faint trace of spirit source flow through his palm and throughout his body, replenishing a bit of the spirit source consumed by activating the skill.

"Excellent!"

Lu Sheng clenched his fist, feeling the surging power.

With this skill, the path ahead, whether it was a Corpse Tide or a beast tide, would no longer be a threat to him, but rather a mobile supply station.

Fighting to sustain oneself, growing stronger with each battle.

This was the optimal solution for survival in the Apocalypse.

Just as Lu Sheng was immersed in the joy of his skyrocketing strength, the communicator on the control panel suddenly vibrated.

On the screen, Chen Yan's resolute face glowed red.

Lu Sheng suppressed the smile at the corner of his mouth, dispersed the red mist from his hands, and pressed the connect button.

"Brother Lu."

Chen Yan's voice was a bit hurried, and in the background, there was the characteristic clamor of the Zhenyuan Ship's command room, with various commands rising and falling.

Lu Sheng leaned back in his chair, saying lazily, "What's wrong, General Chen?"

"Two pieces of news, one good, one bad."

Lu Sheng pursed his lips and smiled.

This old guy had learned to be enigmatic.

"Then let's hear the good news first."

Chen Yan didn't waste words and cut straight to the chase, "The good news is, according to navigation and positioning, we have already sailed one-third of the way west, with about 1500 kilometers remaining to our destination, the Western Mountain Range. Currently, The Fleet has officially entered the waters of the former E Province's Hanwu City."

Hanwu City.

That map flashed through Lu Sheng's mind.

The former hub of nine provinces had probably long since become a watery expanse.

"And the bad news?"

"The bad news is that both the meteorological department and the spirit source radar have detected anomalies." Chen Yan took a deep breath, his expression grave. "A new Floating Corpses Tide is forming and is expected to fully erupt in 48 hours."

"Floating Corpses Tide?" Lu Sheng raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Yes, a Floating Corpses Tide, but this time it's a regular Floating Corpses Tide, with an estimated number of Floating Corpsess below 500,000." Chen Yan pointed to the red blotch on the screen. "At sea, we have no cover. Once surrounded by a Corpse Tide of this scale, The Fleet of tens of thousands of people would be like a piece of fat thrown into an ant's nest, gnawed until not even a scrap is left."

Lu Sheng looked at the inland city cluster on the map, submerged by floods.

Although most of Hanwu City was submerged, as a former metropolis, many high-altitude mountain peaks and skyscrapers still protruded above the water.

"You mean, find a place to hold out?" Lu Sheng instantly understood Chen Yan's plan.

"Exactly." Chen Yan nodded. "Large-scale warfare on the sea is very difficult for us to defend against. We must find an easily defensible stronghold within these two days, construct temporary defensive fortifications, and first endure the most ferocious prelude of this Corpse Tide before making further plans."

Lu Sheng tapped his fingers on the armrest, pondering for a moment.

"Agreed. Do you have a target yet?"

"Not yet, we're still looking." Chen Yan turned around and ordered his adjutant, "Release the drone swarm! Scan the entire surrounding area!"

P.S. Today's update (1/4).