Chapter 154 - Settlement Advancement and New Function
It was not just that nothing happened for the rest of the night.
Technically speaking, nothing major took place in the following days on the battlefield of the “Ten-Species Competition” that only had two species left.
While human beings were trying to manufacture guns that represented modern warfare, the Eagle Men spent most of their time on cultivation under Ji Ye’s observation via the Mirage Cloud Mirror.
Everything was usual, until one day…
On the sea that was covered in a huge fog, a red sun rose on the horizon to the sky, illuminating the seawater and turning it orange.
Hum!
Intense green light shined from the top of the Eagle Men’s nests on the cliff that faced the sea. Then, a rather tall Eagle Man walked out of his nest under the morning sun!
“Zhou!”
He let out an eagle cry and then jumped off the cliff all of a sudden!
This Eagle Man’s nest was a thousand meters from the surface of the sea. Over such a height, even a metal plate would’ve been deformed by the immense blast when it hit the water!
Was this Eagle Man committing suicide? Or had Ji Ye secretly controlled him with the Soul Mask in the past days?
Obviously… neither of the cases was true.
It was because a sheen of green light appeared on the tall Eagle Man during his fall.
When he fell five hundred meters to the surface of the sea, the green light vaguely changed into wings on his back.
Clearly, this tall Eagle Man had reached a certain level, and he was in the critical phase of a breakthrough!
Different from how human beings trained, those Eagle Men probably needed to perceive or absorb the energy of the wind, which was why they built their nests on the cliffs where the wind was very strong.
Also, this Eagle Man was clearly Extraordinary, and not a regular Extraordinary guy. The strong wind on a cliff a thousand meters high wasn’t enough for his breakthrough. He had to embrace a fiercer wind by jumping off the cliff!
There was a widespread rumor back on Earth.
In order for the baby eagle to grow strong, its mother would break its wings and push it out of its nest on the crags. If the baby eagle could hold back the excruciating pain and flap its broken wings to fly during the fly, it would be a qualified eagle and be able to adapt to the cruel living environment!
This Eagle Man had obviously adopted a similar approach for himself to break his limits. During his fall, the green light flashed on him nonstop as he tried to condense a pair of wings!
“Zhou! Zhou! Zhou!”
The Eagle Men in the nests that were on the way of his fall couldn’t help but crane their heads. Even the sentinels that were defending their settlement were distracted by the Eagle Man who was seeking a breakthrough.
Bam!
When the Eagle Man fell a hundred meters from the surface of the sea and the wings of green light on his back were almost completely gathered, a silver light suddenly flashed!
Pew!
A bloody hole appeared on the forehead of the tall Eagle Man, and the green light around him collapsed all of a sudden.
Next, his body fell another hundred meters at a high speed and hit the reefs in the sea, not moving any longer!
“Zhou! Zhou! Zhou!”
The Eagle Men were instantly in a flurry.
Some of them, covered in green lights, dived to the tall Eagle Man who had crashed in the water, trying to see if they could still save him.
Some other Eagle Men glanced at the surface of the sea and even roared and shot several rune arrows that were covered in green lights towards the surface of the sea!
Although it happened very fast, the Eagle Men sensed that the attack was from the sea thanks to their excellent eyesight, but since they had been too focused on the Eagle Man who was seeking a breakthrough, they couldn’t tell the source of the attack. They didn’t even know whether it was launched by human beings or the monsters in the sea!
…
You have killed an Eagle Man (Extraordinary Rank-4, Commander). EXP received: 1,039. Honor received: 103. Rare Honor: 2!
Several hundred meters away, Ji Ye walked to the shore from the seawater while holding the Serpent of Death, which was safe from the water thanks to the protection of the Sludge Monsters’ skins, and the Soul of Civilization that had gathered in his right hand.
“I didn’t know he was a Commander. What a pleasant surprise!”
Although the Eagle Men were a group mainly devoted to cultivation, they couldn’t have too many Commanders.
They had lost an Extraordinary Rank-3 Commander earlier and an Extraordinary Rank-4 one who could’ve broken into Extraordinary Rank-5 just now…
As a result, their odds of winning had been further reduced.
“Eh?”
At this moment, Ji Ye sensed something and looked at the Twin Dragon Mount fort.
Hum!
He saw that a yellow pillar of light that represented providence rose to the sky from the Twin Dragon Mount as two yellow dragons with five claws, which appeared much more concrete than before. The pillar then dispersed into yellow providence and melted into the Twin Dragon Mount. It could be seen that even the regular plants were lusher than before as if they had been nourished.
After absorbing the Mirage Monsters’ settlement core, the Twin Dragon Mount settlement had finally entered Extraordinary Rank-5.
“Does the settlement have new abilities now that it’s Extraordinary Rank-5?”
Ji Ye looked at the soaring pillar of light hopefully.
The players and the heroes would experience certain qualitative changes after entering Extraordinary Rank-5. What about the settlement core?
…
“The equipment can be upgraded now? My weapon level can finally keep up with mine now!
“It can also adjust the providence to increase the productivity of certain resources. I find that function very useful.”
When Ji Ye returned to the Twin Dragon Mount fort with Distance Reduction, many locals and players were already gathering in the Temple of Providence. Ji Ye realized the new functions of the settlement core through his senses now that it reached Extraordinary Rank-5!
“So this is how it works! After reaching Extraordinary Rank-5, the settlement can accelerate the speed of the yield of certain special resources by spending the power of providence!”
That was definitely a useful function.
For example, the Stone Milk and the Red Pip were of critical importance for human beings to advance into the Extraordinary level.
However, because of their limited storage, only the Commander-level heroes and the core players had the privilege of using them earlier. Now that the Twin Dragon Mount fort had advanced into Extraordinary Rank-5, it could accelerate the maturing of the pips and the gathering of the Stone Milk so that more people could become Extraordinary!
“Secondly, the settlement can also upgrade some equipment by consuming Honor and the power of providence through the Stone of Civilization?”
The second function was some sort of equipment enhancement.
That was very useful too.
For example, while the Tiger Soul Saber that Wu Song wielded was Perfect, it was only Extraordinary Rank-2 and had been slightly restricting his combat ability since he entered Extraordinary Rank-5.
The case was the same for Lu Zhishen’s gauntlet and Ji Ye’s Black Serpent Sword.
However, such equipment could be upgraded by consuming their own Honor and the settlement’s power of providence. It was undoubtedly another way to improve their combat ability.
Of course, it was on the premise that the item was upgradeable and that they had “Stones of Civilization” that were of higher levels than the item itself!
Unlike the Souls of Civilization that were generated by the locals of this world, the Stones of Civilizations could only be dropped by players.
The players of the Twin Dragon Mount fort weren’t as strong as the heroes. Except for Ji Ye, Li Qing and Qin Yueyu were the strongest, but they were only at Extraordinary Rank-4.
It was mostly because those two weren’t just warriors but also had to take part in the administration and even research in the settlement. Since the earthlings weren’t a cultivation civilization and they didn’t have a Fusion talent, their training speed was unavoidably slow.
But the Eagle Men were different!
After such a long time of development, considering the fact that the Eagle Men were from a cultivation civilization, a lot of their players must’ve reached Extraordinary. If they were killed, there would be a chance for the core warriors of the Twin Dragon Mount fort to upgrade their main equipment, particularly their weapons, to Extraordinary Rank-4 and even Extraordinary Rank-5.
“Everybody is yearning to fight!
“Master, it looks like we can officially declare war on the Eagle Men now!”
Looking at the earnestness on the faces of some players and even heroes, Elder Meng smiled and remarked.
Ji Ye had snuck to the edge of the Eagle Men’s nests to ambush the enemy naturally because human beings were already prepared.
He planned to kill a few ordinary Eagle Men so that they might be enraged and attack human beings instead of holding themselves back in their territory.
But it seemed that he was truly lucky. He killed an Extraordinary Rank-4 Commander Eagle Man who was about to make a breakthrough!
“Well, the Eagle Men are taking action!”
As displayed by Ji Ye’s Mirage Dragon Pearl, the Eagle Men were initiating a massive mobilization.
Clearly, they were greatly threatened when the Twin Dragon Mount fort advanced into Extraordinary Rank-5, and since they just lost another Commander, they couldn’t afford to hold themselves back any longer!