Chapter 513, Section 512: Each Person's Harvest

As dawn approached, an unusual crowd gathered outside the door.

The reason is simple: a new metal pillar has been erected beside the city gate to bind the vampire.

Lately, the green-skinned vampires haven't been screaming much, making the door-knocking lose its former charm. Now, it's rare to see a new vampire arrive.

In particular, after learning that this guy was the culprit behind the deaths of more than seventy soldiers, no one wanted to miss his "first call".

The only regret is that the newcomer, with his head covered and mouth gagged, probably won't be able to let out such a hearty wail.

"Ugh! Ugh—!"

Cassinar sensed the malice emanating from the surrounding crowd. His unease caused him to struggle frantically, but the binding magic array behind him and the barbs piercing his collarbone pinned him firmly to the pillar. Each twist only brought excruciating pain.

"First time?" A calm voice came from the side, sounding particularly abrupt amidst the pervasive malice.

His bloodline senses told him that the speaker was the only other vampire present besides himself.

Unfortunately, Cassinar couldn't answer; Lin Jun hadn't granted him access to the mushroom network.

"Relax, it's not as scary as you think."

Scary? What's scary?

"The important thing is to learn to enjoy pain and accept it... so that your mind and body can be purified and sublimated."

"Ugh?! Ugh—!!"

Before Cassinar could understand the meaning of those words, the first rays of dawn pierced the night.

"Mmm... Ah..." The green-skinned vampire next to him let out a satisfied groan, as if his soul had floated to the heavens.

Cassinar, however, was not so composed. At first, he gritted his teeth and persevered, but after Lin Jun thoughtfully added a heating pad under his feet, the double heat finally caused him to groan, "Ugh! Ugh!" Once he started, he couldn't stop.

The residents of the mushroom fortress, who had gathered to watch, burst into satisfied laughter. Chatting and laughing amidst the mushroom netting, as if they had just enjoyed a wonderful performance, they filed into the city in the gradually brightening dawn.

While enjoying his meal, the green-skinned vampire glanced at the marquis, who was trembling in agony, and seemed to see a reflection of his younger self when he first arrived. He shook his head slightly.

"Sigh, a newbie..."

...

Norris sat atop a large, fluorescent mushroom, which bathed him in a deep blue light.

A silver-gray scale curled up from his shoulder blade, with bits of skin still clinging to its edge; scales like this were found all over his body.

Norris's fatal wounds were actually almost healed by the next day, but only his flesh and bones had been restored.

The regeneration of scales under the [Scale Armor] skill management will require more time.

A jet-black claw approached, its tip fiddling with the half-fallen scale, pulling at the tender new flesh beneath, eliciting a hiss from Norris.

"Stop, stop, stop, Sister Hei, be patient, don't touch it! It will fall off by itself in a couple of days, and then it will all be yours!"

At Norris's pleading, Blackie reluctantly withdrew his paw.

Norris tried to get up, but a thick black tail wrapped around his waist without warning, pressing him back onto the mushroom.

Norris sighed heavily. Every time he was seriously injured, it was the time when he was closest to Xiao Hei. They were so close that even when delicious mushrooms passed by, Xiao Hei was unwilling to let go of Norris to catch them.

After repeated communication, he was barely able to get Xiao Hei to wrap its tail around his left hand, so that he could at least move.

If there's any advantage to this situation, it's that we don't have to worry about Karen's attacks these next few days.

In the mushroom garden, most people are still quite afraid of Xiao Hei, especially werewolves, a race with a keen sense of wild instincts.

The werewolf, whose strength is far inferior to Xiao Hei's, can't help but feel uneasy just by staying near her.

His performance in this battle was quite remarkable, and the boss gave him a rare high evaluation and agreed to strengthen and upgrade his newly assigned Jida mech.

Even Number Four, after hearing this, expressed his approval at the Mushroom Clan's internal meeting and voted in favor of the proposal to "grant Norris the honorary title of Mushroom Clan," although it ultimately failed to pass.

Norris didn't care about being called an "honored mushroom clan" at all.

To his surprise, the duke's daughter also seemed to be eligible to attend the meeting...

Having just finished drinking the daily special core member potion, Norris looked up and saw Louisa walking towards the training ground.

He almost reflexively looked away.

Although Luisa herself didn't care at all, the new equipment was just too...exciting for Norris.

His well-defined abdominal muscles were faintly visible between the magic crystal grooves, and the design of his leg armor was so daring that it was hard to know where to look.

If Norris knew that beneath that seemingly revealing outfit lay forty-eight barbs deeply embedded in his flesh… his embarrassment and shame would likely turn into a chilling horror.

...

In the training field, Number Four lay slumped at the edge of the field, utterly dejected. Several cows and horses, having just drained the "life-giving water" from its body, were slowly leaving.

After being forbidden by its master from using its giant beast body to run wild, it was so bored that it was almost growing mushrooms.

Seeing Louisa enter the training field, Number Four barely managed to cheer up. The sparring session with Louisa was one of the few happy moments it had had recently.

Instead of immediately starting a fight, a cow or horse trotted up to Louisa's side and pulled out more than ten cut B-grade magic crystals from its body, the size of which corresponded perfectly to the grooves on the armor.

Louisa embedded the magic crystals one by one, each crystal making a crisp "click" sound as it fell into its slot, with a faint light flowing along the patterns.

When the last magic crystal is in place, the complete magic circuit is connected!

The entire armor glowed with purplish-red veins, and the blood surrounding Louisa surged out, quickly filling the gaps between the armor plates and condensing into a crystalline blood crystal layer. A pair of broad wings formed from blood crystals also suddenly unfolded behind her.

The equipment that was originally exposed in many places has now been transformed into a hideous blood armor covering the whole body, like a demon crawling out of hell.

But this terrifying appearance did not frighten Number Four, who did not know what fear was. Seeing that Louisa was ready, it pounced on her and used all the skill combinations it had figured out while it was daydreaming.

Louisa is now completely immersed in the power brought by the magic crystal weapon!

The surging magic, through those barbs that penetrated deep into her flesh, strengthened every inch of her muscles and nerves.

Her strength increased dramatically, and [Blood Manipulation] became as natural as breathing; the flowing blood seemed to become an extension of her limbs.

The only problem is that this power has made her fighting style wilder and more brutal than ever before.

Sometimes, even when she could have avoided an attack, she would choose to run straight into it, trading injury for injury.

Obviously, there are still psychological side effects, but they are still within an acceptable range.

...

Let them continue practicing, Lin Jun turned her gaze elsewhere.

The artifacts related to the war puppets in the ruins have been transported out in batches. Lin Jun has specially designated a piece of land within the Fungus Castle as a base for researching these things.

The dwarf named Tolin was a member of the Deepforge clan and had some knowledge of war puppets, but it seemed insufficient.

However, there is no more suitable candidate at the moment, so he can only conduct research first with the assistance of mages such as Xinghuo.

Of course, Lin Jun offered attractive treatment for this, not only to Torin, but also to Grum and Baroque, which temporarily put aside the two dwarves' idea of ​​returning to the mountains.

Now there's only one question left.

The Frost Elemental Lord is a bit too fond of Pink Puji; she's so fond of her that she won't allow her to leave the ruins or forbids anyone else from getting close.

Even feeding the powdered puffs has to be done by throwing them.

Most importantly, Pinky has been in the ruins for over ten days, while in Mushroom City, Fal, feeling like the sky has fallen, has already sent out a rescue team in a panic to search for her...

[Or, let's just build a teleportation array and teleport out.]

"This is what Huang Pishu, who has already been promoted to strategist, suggested."

(End of this chapter)