President Fred answered honestly, “Your Majesty, all I know is that Meng Lei has thunder-elemental, fire-elemental, and earth-elemental magic talent. I indeed am not aware that he has wood-elemental magic talent.”
“Thunder, fire, earth, and... wood?”
“Four elements?”
“Meng Lei actually has four types of magic talent?”
“Gasp! How terrifying! How terrifying, indeed!”
“On top of possessing both Golden Colossal Dragon and Fire Dragon bloodlines, he also has four different types of magic talents! O great Dragon God above, aren’t you favoring that guy too much?!”
The people couldn’t help but gasp, every one of them astounded by Meng Lei’s terrifying talent.
Double bloodlines! Four different types of magic talents!
Either aspect was enough to drive one crazy with jealousy, let alone both. Even the Dragon God’s illegitimate son wouldn’t have been that much of a mutant!
Frederick the 32nd praised from the bottom of his heart, “With such talent, he’s surely the most talented member of the royalty in the last 10,000 years. This greatly comforts me!”
At the same time, in the Lost Continent...
The battle had already come to an end at this point. No matter how unwilling Barbarossa was to admit it, it had indeed already ended!
“You’ve lost, Your Highness!” Meng Lei said meaningfully.
Then, he paid no more heed to Barbarossa, who was so infuriated that he was close to killing someone. He picked up the Crocohawk Albatross King’s carcass, and then, he left the area.
“He’s gone!”
“That guy has finally left!”
“He’s too powerful! And too frightening!”
“Is there anyone among you that knows who that guy is? Just where did he pop out from? Why is he so strong?”
“With such strength, he can probably fight on par with those four mutants from the academy...”
...
“You’re totally famous now, kid!
“Tsk, tsk! Beating up a prince! That’s something I’d wanted to do back then but hadn’t managed to, y’know!
“Speaking of which, though, when did you awaken the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline? How is it that I never knew? Just how much are you keeping from me, kid?”
Meng Lei laid back down on the Multi-Armed Behemoth, which resumed its journey. Then, he started to chat idly with Ol’ Amos.
Roughly half an hour later, a huge canyon entered their sight, and Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth stopped in its tracks.
“Boss, that’s the Golden Corpse Canyon—the Golden Corpse Bugs’ territory—ahead!”
“The Golden Corpse Canyon?”
The canyon was wide and deep, and the path through it rough and rugged, long and winding. One couldn’t see to the end of it at one glance. Filled with drifting smoke, it also gave off a shocking stench.
Strewn all over the bottom of the canyon were innumerable carcasses and remains. Some were already starting to rot, and flies, mosquitoes, and maggots were crawling all over them, while some were old, aged carcasses where ghastly white skeletons were the only things remaining...
Meng Lei stared from afar at the carcasses and skeletal remains littered all about. Coupled with the overwhelming stench, he hadn’t even gotten anywhere near the area when he felt his stomach churn, and he almost threw up the contents in his gut.
“Sacas, why did you bring me to a place like this?”
Meng Lei clapped his hand over his nose, somewhat displeased.
“Aren’t you looking for Saint Domain Magical Beasts, Boss?” Sacas explained, “The emperor of the Golden Corpse Bugs is the Saint Domain Magical Beast that was the nearest to us. It dwells right in this Golden Corpse Canyon!”
“Fine!” While pinching his nose, Meng Lei asked, “Is there any way to get the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor out? I have no interest in going into the canyon and dying from the stench!”
“Easy-peasy!”
Sacas grabbed a huge rock and then, he hurled it forcefully into the canyon. The impact caused the canyon walls to shake and tremble and rocks and stones to roll and fall off.
“Boris, you motherf*cker! Get the hell out here! I’m going to beat you up so bad that even your mother wouldn’t recognize you!”
Sacas let out a thunderous roar as he thumped his chest, his voice resounding in the canyon like roiling thunder.
“Compared to Clara, Sacas’ way of doing things is so simple and crude!”
At the sight, Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh. When he’d sent the Uni-Horned Rose Python to call on others in the past, that fellow was always cowering in fear, afraid of every single thing. Even the sight of it was an embarrassment!
In comparison, Sacas was much wilder!
Buzz, buzz!
A brief moment later, a buzzing sound cut through the air and rushed toward them. Then, they saw a golden cloud floating out of the canyon.
With Meng Lei’s eyesight, he could naturally see that that was no golden cloud at all—it was obviously innumerable golden insects that had clustered into something like a locust swarm!
Dense and packed, they were a large golden mass!
“Boss, those are the Golden Corpse Bugs!” Sacas shrank back a little as it said, “They are a type of repulsive insects with tiny little bodies but an extremely shocking level of destructiveness!”
“Which grade of Magical Beasts are the Golden Corpse Bugs?” Meng Lei asked as he watched the glittering golden cloud intently.
“Boss, a Golden Corpse Bug barely makes the cut as a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, but their mouthparts can easily pierce through a vast majority of Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts’—and even Saint Domain Magical Beasts’—armor and skin!”
In a low voice, Sacas explained, “A large swarm of Golden Corpse Bugs can polish off a Saint Domain Magical Beast in a matter of minutes. Therefore, they are highly dangerous entities!
“Unless I absolutely have to, I’d never come to this damned canyon to provoke those damned stinky bugs. They are simply too fearsome. The moment I imagine them crawling all over me and worming into my fur, I can’t help but shudder all over!”
“Haha! Look at how scared you are!” Meng Lei couldn’t help but laugh, though he also wondered, “Since every Golden Corpse Bug is a Ninth-Grade Magical Beast, with so many around, imagine the amount of money I can earn!”
Buzz, buzz!
Just as Meng Lei’s imagination was running wild, the golden cloud of Golden Corpse Bugs also finally flew over to them. Then, they came together to form a huge insect.
Standing at 100-meters-tall and with a greenish face and ferocious fangs, the huge insect looked as though it was a gigantic louse, except golden-yellow in color throughout and with a pair of wings on its back. Armor-plated all over, it was incredibly savage-looking!
“To think you actually dare to come to my Golden Corpse Canyon, Sacas! Bold of you to do so!”
In a thunderous voice, the huge insect spoke the human tongue and said, “Since you are so bold as to come here, then I shall eat you today so that you’ll know that the Golden Corpse Canyon isn’t a place where a big guy like you can enter! My little ones, gobble it up!”
Buzz, buzz!
The huge insect instantly dispersed and turned into a golden cloud that covered the entire sky and rushed toward Sacas!
Roar!
Sacas roared furiously into the sky, fully displaying its tyrannic stance. Yet it had no effect whatsoever on the Golden Corpse Bug cluster blotting out the sky. The insects dispersed at times, converged at times, morphed into a humanoid form at times...
In a mere instant, it’d already charged all the way to Sacas!
Roar!!
Sacas roared furiously and incessantly as its sharp claws swiped about here and there, smashing huge rocks around it in a haphazard manner. Yet despite its violent, raging power, it gave off a rather helpless feeling, as though a tiger that didn’t know how it should be eati
ng a porcupine.
Indeed!
Against a cluster of tiny insects like that, what use was its wild and extreme physical strength?
Sacas was on the verge of being surrounded by the overwhelming masses of Golden Corpse Bugs. When that happened, it would end up like the rest of the broken carcasses lying forgotten at the bottom of the Golden Corpse Canyon—devoured by the Golden Corpse Bugs and then, rotting, decaying, and becoming the food of maggots and flies!
Just as that was about to happen...
“Absolute Zero!”
Meng Lei attacked at this point!
Crack!
A white, chilly air current burst forth and engulfed the large golden cloud, sealing it in ice amidst crisp-sounding cracks!
At the same time, the white, chilly air current also continued to spread toward the Golden Corpse Canyon. It sealed everything in its path in ice, including even the all-pervasive stench and carcasses.
A brief moment later, the Golden Corpse Canyon from earlier was no longer anywhere in sight. In its place was instead a vast white glacier.
... And of course, an infinite number of motionless Golden Corpse Bugs frozen in mid-air!
“They aren’t dead yet?”
Meng Lei was rather startled. There hadn’t been any notifications from the system—this showed that the ice-sealed Golden Corpse Bugs hadn’t died yet. The spell hadn’t frozen them to death—not a single one!
“Well, that’s amazing!” Meng Lei was filled with marvel at once.
“Golden Corpse Bugs are metal-elemental and ice-elemental Magical Beasts. They’re practically immune to spells of these two elements,” Ol’ Amos’ voice rang out at this point, “Absolute Zero can’t kill them!”
“No wonder!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. “They might not be afraid of Absolute Zero, but what about Prairie-Blazing Heavenly Fire?”
Boom, boom, boom!
With a mere thought from him, large expanses of black flames immediately descended from the sky and engulfed the whole area within 1,000 meters of where they were, including the Golden Corpse Canyon behind him!
Everything in the black flames’ path was set ablaze—even the solid ice giving off an astonishing chill was no exception!
Crackle, crackle!
Upon being scorched, the solid ice surprisingly didn’t melt. Instead, they became the black flames’ fuel, making them burn even more violently.
Boom, boom, boom!
The flames blazed furiously.
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug killed, 10 million gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug killed, 10.01 million gold coins gained!”
“Ding...”
At once, system notifications began to ring out. On top of that, they rang out without any pause!
“That’s more like it!”
Meng Lei nodded in satisfaction.
“Damn! You bastard! How dare you slaughter my children! You should die for that!”
A voice that sounded like an owl’s hoot rang out. Then, a Golden Corpse Bug the size of a baby’s fist abruptly flew out of the cluster. It glared furiously at Meng Lei, its teeth gnashing as it did so.
“Boss, that’s Boris, the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth supplemented in a timely fashion at this point.
“The Golden Corpse Bug Emperor?” Meng Lei couldn’t help but look over.
A normal Golden Corpse Bug was pitifully tiny and only about the size of a date seed. However, that particular Golden Corpse Bug was dozens of times—even up to 100 times—the size of other Golden Corpse Bugs! It was as big as a human’s fist!
“That’s a Saint Domain Magical Beast?”
Meng Lei was astonished. “A fist-sized Saint Domain Magical Beast... That’s probably the smallest Saint Domain Magical Beast I’ve ever seen...”
Right at this point, two golden light balls dropped from the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Assimilation successful. You have obtained a metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“Assimilate the metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment! But I’ll skip the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline!”
Chapter 178: The Tree of Vitality, The Hammer of Destruction
Ever since he’d assimilated the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline, Meng Lei had become awfully picky about his bloodlines. He honestly turned his nose up at most typical bloodlines now!
Be it the Fire Dragon bloodline, the Fire Demon bloodline, or the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline that he’d just assimilated, they were but just white elephants.
If it were possible, he didn’t even want them!
Therefore, Meng Lei held even less interest in the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor bloodline that he’d just picked up.
“Assimilate the metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
After a split second, a wave of information about metal-elemental magic elements and metal-elemental laws of nature surged into his mind, rapidly boosting Meng Lei’s comprehension of “metal”.
“Metal—sharp and solid, it specializes in slaughter...
“Metal—reserved and austere, it specializes in revolution...”
After a long while, Meng Lei finally exhaled a long breath of pent-up air. His comprehension of metal-elemental laws of nature had obviously moved a whole step up!
“Thank you for your metal-elemental Laws of Nature fragment!”
Meng Lei’s gaze fell onto the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor, and he said, “To thank you, I’ll leave your body in one piece!
“Ice-elemental first-class spell—Absolute Zero!
“Wood-elemental first-class spell—Judgment of Life!”
With two first-class spells tossed out successively, the Golden Corpse Bug Emperor didn’t have the chance to flee at all before it lost its life.
“Ding! 1 Golden Corpse Bug Emperor killed, 11.8 billion gold coins gained!”
When the carcass came falling down, Meng Lei caught it in his hand casually. He couldn’t help but sigh. “If only all Saint Domain Magical Beasts’ carcasses were this small. I wouldn’t need to be troubled over storing it anymore...”
Then, he ordered, “Sacas, look for the next Saint Domain Magical Beast!”
“Yes, Boss!”
The Multi-Armed Behemoth resumed its journey once more. As per usual, Meng Lei also started to take stock of his rewards. He wouldn’t have known just how scary his rewards were had he not done so, but the moment he did, he received a huge shock!
“My Wealth points have increased by so much?”
Meng Lei was rather astonished.
.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
When converted to gold coins, that would amount to 586 billion gold coins!
“How much did I have before this again?
“22.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, so that makes it 223 billion gold coins...
“And now... It has become 58.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“It has increased by a whole 36.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals!
“Oh my goodness! Why did it suddenly spike that much?
“Wait a minute! Let me calculate this...
“One Golden Corpse Bug is worth ten million gold coins, so ten of them makes it 100 million gold coins.
“36.3 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals is equivalent to 363 billion gold coins. In other words, that’s 36,300 Golden Corpse Bugs?
“36,000 Golden Corpse Bugs? They’re worth that many gold coins?
“Oh my goodness! Hunting Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts is more lucrative than hunting Saint Domain Magical Beasts?”
“...”
It was only after a long time that Meng Lei finally regained his composure.
He understood that it wasn’t so much
as Ninth-Grade Magical Beasts were more valuable than Saint Domain Magical Beasts; rather, it was because the number of Golden Corpse Bugs he’d just killed was simply too high!
Every little bit counted when winning through sheer numbers!
That was how he’d gotten the windfall of 363 billion gold coins!
“Little did I imagine that casually killing those Golden Corpse Bugs would actually bring me this much benefits! Looks like hunting pack Magical Beasts is still the most cost-effective when it comes to money-making!”
Meng Lei ordered resolutely, “Sacas, prioritize going to Saint Domain Magical Beasts with a clan! The bigger the clan, the better! And the stronger, the better! Understand?”
“Yes, Boss!”
“Great!”
A satisfied Meng Lei nodded. Then, he looked at his massive Wealth again. 58.6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals was a huge sum of money. How should he spend them?
His gaze swept across his stats interface. At once, Meng Lei had an idea. He instructed, “System, raise my Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate!”
The system’s icy-cold voice rang out. “Ding! Raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline by 1% requires 10 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals. May I know whether you’d like to raise it?”
“Yes!”
Meng Lei looked absolutely unwilling to part with the money, but he still gave the order to do so anyway. He was already aware of the cost beforehand, so it didn’t surprise him.
Raising his bloodline assimilation rate by 1% required 100 billion gold coins, while raising his comprehension of laws of nature by 1% only required 10 billion gold coins.
In other words, if he’d used the 100 billion gold coins to raise his comprehension of the laws of nature instead, he’d have been able to raise his comprehension of a certain type of laws of nature by 10%!
%!
That was already 1/10 of the total!
From that, one could tell just how expensive raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate was!
Meng Lei found it worthwhile, however.
The reason for that was because raising the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate gave an all-rounded boost to his combat abilities. In particular, the boost it brought to his speed and defenses were even more fearsome.
There was an absolute need for him to boost his speed and defenses in the perilous Lost Continent, especially when there was also a mysterious divine tree eying them in the shadows. Speed and high defenses couldn’t get any more essential!
Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406 Page 97
