Chapter 177: Fire Spirit Fruit Tree Seed |
A few minutes later, the battle was over. It was easy to the point that Cheng Yang felt ashamed he had been worrying so much.
Yagni had used a few other skills, but nothing with damage on par with the lava wave. So, Enlai was able to tank those attacks with ease.
When it died, Yagni’s body solidified, then crumbled into jagged heaps of rock. At the same time, the lava lake surrounding them began to flow into an unseen drain. A few seconds later, the remaining magma solidified into softly glowing stone.
“My Lord, what’s going on here?” Jiang Yang asked in fear. To them, this situation was a little too similar to the earthquake that ended the world.
“The dungeon is transitioning into a conquered state. If it didn’t, how would anyone be able to farm monsters here?” Cheng Yang said, “It’s nothing to worry about.”
“That’s true.” Jiang Yang said with a curt nod. “But wouldn’t that make the name ‘Magma Wastes’ a misnomer?”
“If you have the time to worry about the names, tidy up the map you’re making.” Cheng Yang grumbled.
Jiang Yang chuckled but didn’t remark on Cheng Yang’s outburst.
Ignoring that, Cheng Yang walked over to Yagni’s remains. He sifted through the rubble until he found a small red velvet bag.
Cheng Yang grinned. Thank goodness the reward for conquering the Magma Wastes was the same as in his previous life.
As the name suggested, the seeds would grow into a fruit tree that would produce Fire Spirit Fruits when planted. Although fresh fruit would be a treasure in its own right during the apocalypse, the Fire Spirit Fruits were far from ordinary.
The first open-world dungeon near every safe zone was the Magma Wastes, so the fruit’s properties were well known. They could be used to create powerful potions or supplement someone’s training when eaten raw.
If a Low-Grade Apprentice ate a Fire Spirit Fruit, they would immediately level up. After eating another two, they would level up again.
Fire Spirit Fruits were the kind of treasure people would kill for. Think about it. Others would toil for months to achieve what someone else did by eating a light snack.
Befitting such an item, the Fire Spirit Fruits were exceedingly rare. If there was a way to get them other than defeating Yagni, Cheng Yang didn’t know about it. You also could only eat three before they lost their effectiveness. Moreover, each tree only produced twenty to thirty fruits with each harvest.
Speaking of the trees, it would take quite a while before they had grown enough to bear fruit. Thankfully, the gods’ rules sped up the process significantly. Otherwise, even five years after planting the seeds, you wouldn’t get any fruit.
Since most areas didn’t obtain the seeds until after a few months had passed, the value of the Fire Spirit Fruits diminished significantly in the eyes of the world’s leaders. The fruit would be only marginally helpful to them since they would fill their experience bars by an eighth or less.
However, Cheng Yang would extract far more value from them since all of his subordinates were still low-level.
“When we get back, I’ll give each of you a hundred contribution points.” Cheng Yang announced with a broad smile. This trip to the Magma Wastes had been a productive one.
Jiang Yang and the others were delighted. They’d already earned a large number of Experience Fragments from this mission, so gaining some contribution points was the cherry on top. With this many, they might be able to exchange for the rights to train using the Nirvana Feather.
“My Lord, when will the dungeon be available for normal use?” Jiang Yang asked.
“Monsters will start spawning here at midnight, so you’ll be able to bring a hunting party in tomorrow morning.” Cheng Yang said, “Be careful and come prepared.”
“Don’t worry, my Lord, we’ll let the generals organize the expedition.” Jiang Yang replied.
As they left, Cheng Yang put away Undine’s Tear. After conquering the dungeon, the magma was either dried up or solidified, making the cavern only as warm as a summer day. Those patches of solidified magma would birth new monsters, but they would never flow freely like they used to.
Once they got back to Phoenix Village, Cheng Yang summoned Zhao Chuan to his Meditation Hall.
“My Lord, I was successfully able to acquire the Statue Lifting Stone.” Zhao Chuan said once he arrived. To him, it was apparent what Cheng Yang wanted to know. “In the end, I only needed to spend three hundred thousand Experience Fragments.”
Cheng Yang took the Statue Lifting Stone and the leftover Experience Fragments with a smile. With this, he would strengthen not only the territory but himself as well.
“We’ll have to spend more time browsing the Auction House, so we don’t miss good things in the future.” Cheng Yang mused before ordering Zhao Chuan to handle implementing that.
Once Cheng Yang used the Statue Lifting stone, his Magic Attack attribute nearly doubled. With this, he could deal over 200 damage with a single attack. If you included the bonuses from his skill level, equipment, and potions, Cheng Yang’s attacks had reached fearsome levels.
With a heart filled with excitement, Cheng Yang began the day’s training.
That night, Cheng Yang’s experience bar surpassed the three-quarters mark. He would level up in six days at this pace, allowing him to reach the second stage of evolution.
Then, when the village reached the Pinnacle-Grade level, he would be able to level up again using Divine Grace. He would be able to challenge the Hell Difficulty of the Blood-Soaked Church with the Imperial Guard and clear the Forgotten Grave on Nightmare Difficulty.
Although Cheng Yang hadn’t finished gathering the wood necessary for a High-Grade wall, it wouldn’t be long before he could build one the size he wanted it to be.
When he exited the Meditation Hall, Cheng Yang stared into the deep blue sky. Today was the one month anniversary of the apocalypse. It would also be a day of great sorrow and joy around the world as the gods instituted yet more rules. The gods would save the unlucky survivors in rural areas, but high-Grade monsters would become standard in exchange.