Chapter 72: Divine-Grade Styx Ferry! All Your Dead Troops Belong to Me!

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Divine-Grade Styx Ferry! All Your Dead Troops Belong to Me!

Arno lowered his eyes, his white hood concealing his expression.

He remained silent for a very long time before finally speaking, one word at a time.

"Vira was the most accomplished disciple of my entire life."

"She learned faster than anyone else, and she was more determined than anyone. She truly managed to incorporate the combat techniques of the Ancient Dragons into the art of assassination."

"Three years before my fall, during the battle to defend the Mistshadow Mountains..."

Arno’s voice was quiet, but everyone present could hear him.

"She stood alone before the mountain gate."

"That battle... was where she proved her own path as an assassin."

"She never retreated."

The wind swept across the dragon’s back.

Ophelia said nothing more.

She turned her head slightly and looked toward the horizon again. Something stirred within her dark golden, slit-pupiled eyes, but eventually, it slowly faded away.

An oppressive silence settled over the dragon’s back.

Sitting at the front, John listened to the conversation behind him. The words that had almost reached his lips were silently swallowed.

He coughed lightly, already regretting bringing up the subject.

The atmosphere had grown heavy, and nobody spoke for a while.

John decided not to disturb the two of them for the time being. Since there was still some time before they returned, he might as well take the opportunity to review the spoils from this expedition.

He opened his overall resource panel.

As for the five basic resources, there was no need to mention them. Each had reached approximately fifteen million.

Besides these resources, he had also recruited nearly two thousand natives.

All of them had previously been "under the protection" of the Judgment Alliance.

Of course, calling it protection was rather generous. Quite a few of them had actually been forcibly abducted from their respective settlements by members of the Judgment Alliance.

Raistlin had discovered them in the rear camp.

After obtaining John’s approval, he had recruited all of them.

However, these ordinary people couldn’t simply be brought onto a dragon’s back, nor did they possess the physical ability to fly on dragons alongside the Dragon Knights.

Therefore, Raistlin had volunteered to escort them back.

John had assigned him a sufficient number of troops for protection and left behind enough supplies for the journey. He himself had departed ahead of them with Arno and the main army.

...

John opened his inventory.

It was packed with the resources and spoils he had collected during this expedition.

Gold Coins: 15,724,612

Meat: 14,819,372

Wood: 15,362,749

Stone: 14,108,563

Iron Ore: 14,974,681

The quantities of these resources were still slowly increasing as the battlefield cleanup continued.

It was fair to say that, apart from successfully recruiting Arno, this haul of resources was another major reward from the expedition.

"Resources... I’ve got enough now."

Looking at the numbers displayed on the panel, John suddenly thought of something.

He immediately opened his skill tree.

At the very top of the skill tree, among the Divine-grade skills, one particular skill was quietly glowing.

[Styx Ferry (Divine-Grade · Active)]

[Effect: Resurrect enemy units killed by you and permanently transform them into undead units that will fight for you.]

[Current Level: Lv. 1]

[Current Resurrection Limit: 1,000 units.]

[Restriction: Can only resurrect units and troops of Divine-grade or below.]

[Special Note: Undead units resurrected through this skill cannot be revived through conventional methods such as Gold Coins or altars if they are killed again in subsequent battles.]

[Learning Cost: 10,000,000 of Each Basic Resource.]

"Finally, I can learn it."

John’s gaze was resolute. Without the slightest hesitation, he selected the skill.

[Would you like to learn the skill: Styx Ferry?]

[Cost: Gold Coins ×10,000,000, Iron Ore ×10,000,000, Wood ×10,000,000, Stone ×10,000,000, Meat ×10,000,000.]

"Confirm."

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Lord "Tyrant"! You have learned the Divine-Grade Skill: Styx Ferry!]

[Styx Ferry (Divine-Grade · Active)]

[Current Level: Lv. 1]

[Cooldown: 4 Hours]

[Current Resurrection Limit: 1,000 units.]

The quantities of all five resources on his panel immediately decreased by ten million each.

Looking at the reduced numbers, John couldn’t help feeling a little reluctant to part with so many resources.

But after reading the skill description again, he felt that the expenditure was absolutely worthwhile.

Even at Level 1, this skill could resurrect up to a thousand units below Divine-grade in a single use.

As the skill level increased in the future, the number of units it could resurrect would continue to grow.

In other words, from now on, every battle would provide him with an opportunity to turn the enemy’s fallen troops into his own army.

The more enemies died, the larger his army would become.

"Definitely worth the investment."

...

After reassuring himself, John continued reviewing the rest of his spoils.

When he recruited Arno, he had also obtained two additional items.

[Seven-Star Unit Training License ×1.]

[Seven-Star Unit Altar Stone ×1.]

"Another seven-star unit. Hopefully, it’s as useful as the Corpse Exploder. I’ll be able to build it as soon as I get back."

He glanced at the items and casually put them away.

Further down was a blueprint emitting a faint blue glow.

[Joint Defensive Barrier (Epic · Combined Item)]

[Effect: When activated jointly by multiple Lords, the defensive barriers of their respective territories are connected into a single barrier.]

[Special Property: The more Lords participating in the activation, the higher the combined defensive durability of the barrier.]

It was the same blueprint used by Augustus and his alliance.

"Not bad. This will allow me to take my territory’s defenses to another level."

John continued scrolling down.

But when he saw two familiar icons, he suddenly froze.

[Lord Core ×2]

A Lord Core was an essential item required to become a Lord.

Only by possessing one could someone obtain the right to establish a territory.

At the beginning of the game, John and everyone else had become Lords using the Lord Core provided by the system.

John had originally assumed that such an item would only be distributed by the system at the beginning.

He had never expected it to drop as loot during a siege battle.

"Wait... this thing can drop, too?"

John couldn’t help but marvel at the discovery. At the same time, he began considering what he should do with these two items.

"Should I keep them? In case my territory gets destroyed someday, I could use one to establish a new territory?"

"No. Why am I even thinking about something like that?"

John immediately shook his head.

He figured he would probably never need them.

He already had a territory, and one Lord Core was more than enough. Having additional ones wouldn’t do him any good.

So who should he give them to?

A bold idea suddenly popped into John’s mind.

Could he... give one to a Hero?

John immediately shifted his gaze toward Arno and Ophelia.

What would happen if a Hero also possessed a Lord Core?

Would it be possible to establish an entirely new territory for that Hero?

John’s gaze gradually deepened.

There was no way to verify this idea for the time being.

"Let’s keep them for now."

He suppressed the thought and put the items away.

"I’ll find an opportunity to test it later."

...

He continued reviewing the remaining items.

[War Medal ×66.]

"Materials for upgrading Legion Equipment. I’ve actually managed to gather enough in one go."

The rest consisted of a massive assortment of miscellaneous items.

[Unit Equipment: Enchanted Steel Swords ×420, Chainmail Armor ×380, Fine Steel Kite Shields ×260, Armor-Piercing Heavy Crossbows ×150, Dragonbone Arrows ×3,000...]

[Items: Basic Training Acceleration Scrolls ×88, Intermediate Marching Speed Scrolls ×46, Return Scrolls ×60, Basic Resource Chests ×120...]

[Hero Equipment: Embrace of the Arcane (Cloak), Ring of Giant Strength, Windrunner Boots, Crown of Focus, Mana Pendant...]

[Various low-tier Unit Training Licenses and Training Stones, numbering in the thousands.]

One item after another, row upon row, densely filled his inventory.