Chapter 283

Ah—

It let out a stirring dragon roar, on the raised claws of Little Black a mass of terrifying blood-red energy instantly gathered, the oppressive energy shot forward like a heavy cannon at the A-rank 5-star subjugation target before them, instantly cutting off its last life.

Moon·Dragon King's Wrath Strike

The opposing subjugation target, also at Epic rank Lv50, had even less HP than Little Black, so Little Black didn't need to expend any HP at all; merely consuming the rage generated by activating Blood Fury was enough to easily drain its HP.

Facing an opponent like Little Black, unless it has high damage reduction like Silver Horn, any same-rank encounter ends only in being instantly killed.

After all, Dragon King's Wrath Strike has no cooldown; it is purely a skill that pits HP against HP.

As the subjugation target collapsed heavily, turning into scattered specks of light that vanished, a pile of resources like a small mountain remained on the field, and Little Black alone completed the task of slaying the A-rank secret realm subjugation target.

Boom~

Little Purple's body surged with lightning, and its eyes showed a tense yet eager expression.

Having witnessed Little Black's obvious power increase before and after its breakthrough, it could hardly wait to feel the formidable strength after breaking through to Epic rank.

A few minutes later, after Qin Chuan and Lin Yue had gathered the resources from the secret realm and teleported away, Little Purple's breakthrough officially began.

In the dazzling light, its amethyst-like bodily structure became increasingly complex and mysterious, and the electric arcs wandering around its body concealed terrifying, explosive power.

All four of Lin Yue's Spirit Beasts are damage-dealing types, but the only one whose main attack method is single-target damage is Little Purple.

Under normal circumstances, single-target attacks have a higher damage multiplier than area attacks.

After its breakthrough, Little Purple's output power is enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Ice Cream and Little Black.

No, perhaps it should be even stronger.

Because Little Purple has already obtained an extra affix.

Over the past seven days, perhaps due to the blessing of fate, the S-rank secret realms with top-tier rewards appearing in the nearby area have mostly been the extra affixes that Lin Yue needs.

So far, on Qin Chuan's side only Silver Horn has an extra affix, but Little Green, Little Red, and Little Purple have already obtained theirs.

However, with the advent of the guild's teleportation feature, this will no longer be an issue.

"It's still early; want to give teleportation a try?"

After Lin Yue used up the dedicated subjugation attempts she had been saving and reappeared beside him, Qin Chuan smiled and said, "I checked; there's an S-rank secret realm about thirty zones away that can drop a top-tier water-element extra affix."

"Sure." Lin Yue glanced in the direction Qin Chuan indicated and readily agreed.

Qin Chuan left a message in the guild channel telling the other members not to wander in by mistake, then immediately re-entered the guild teleportation panel, opened the secret realm map, selected the one he wanted to go to, and soon a confirmation window popped up.

【Consume 6000 subjugation points to open the portal to the S-rank secret realm: Merfolk Palace?】

【Yes】 【No】

Thinking that killing a boss in a dedicated subjugation now yields 4w subjugation points, Qin Chuan clicked 【Yes】 without hesitation.

Soon, a small vortex icon appeared at the corresponding location on the map.

【Luoyue Guild has opened the portal to the S-rank secret realm: Merfolk Palace】

Here we come!

Seeing the prompt pop up before them, Qin Chuan and Lin Yue exchanged a smile and simultaneously touched the vortex.

Whoosh—

Their figures instantly vanished from the spot and reappeared on a solitary island.

Behind them was a vortex-shaped portal.

At this moment the portal could still teleport three guild members over, but the S-rank secret realm is too dangerous for them, so Qin Chuan had left a message beforehand warning others not to come.

After choosing to close the portal, Qin Chuan and Lin Yue looked at the brand-new secret realm before them.

Apart from the small island beneath their feet, everything around them was endless ocean.

A cerulean palace floated above the sea, faintly visible at the edge of their vision.

That place is the central area of this secret realm, and also where the subjugation target resides.

With Little Black, Little White, and Little Green leading everyone soaring into the sky, the new subjugation officially began.

——

Zone 2457, headquarters of the Mithril Dagger Guild.

Having just led four hall-of-fame players to complete an A-rank secret realm subjugation, Zephina returned to the base, her face unable to hide delight.

After such a long effort, hard work finally paid off, allowing her to gather everything needed for a Contract Spirit Beast to break through to Epic rank, and she completed the breakthrough smoothly.

Although it was merely an additional Epic rank Lv40 Spirit Beast, the boost to the entire subjugation team's strength is significant.

Normally, five hall-of-fame players can only subjugate A-rank 1-star secret realms; only when the first major formation chart trait on the group chart is maxed to Lv10 can they subjugate A-rank 2-star secret realms.

But with an Epic rank Spirit Beast, they can subjugate A-rank 3-star difficulty secret realms.

The more Epic rank Spirit Beasts there are, the more they can subjugate 4-star and even 5-star secret realms.

At the same rank, different star levels bring vastly different rewards.

So, with this good start, afterward she will only speed up the breakthrough of her other Spirit Beasts to Epic rank, eventually smoothly advancing to become an Epic-rank player.

Thinking that Luo had already completed his advancement, Zephina couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness.

He really is a terrifying guy.

Although they are all golden-talent players, he has moved ahead of everyone else, forcing others to expend all their strength just to catch up to his previous stage.

"Zephina, what are you thinking?" Orielia grabbed Zephina's waist and chuckled, "I'm already by your side, and you haven't noticed—this is quite unusual."

"The traceless first talent greatly reduces the presence of oneself and one's Contract Spirit Beast; I haven't noticed that you're not quite normal, have I?" Zephina smiled.

"But you didn't used to be like this." Orielia spread her hands, "The Luoyue Guild is already level 3—I really want to know what guild abilities level 3 will have."

"On that point, I can actually guess a bit." Zephina spoke softly, "Just a moment ago, Luo and Yue Li's positions instantly crossed 30 zones, and the cross-server channel is still discussing this."

"If nothing unexpected happens, this is the level 3 guild ability."

"You mean… teleportation?" Orielia widened her eyes.

Even for a hall-of-fame player, traveling in the Dream World takes a lot of time; if the route is a bit farther, it will take several Dream Days to arrive.

If one could instantly reach another zone, the value of this ability would be enormous.

"Yeah." Ze Fei Na propped her cheek, "But this ability isn't really necessary for secret realms below S-rank."

"Only secret realms above S-rank have special rewards; if you only want A-rank secret realm rewards, the number of secret realms in one zone is enough."

"Alright." Olierjia suddenly remembered why she came to find Zephina, "Zephina, has the base relocation you mentioned a few days ago been confirmed?"

"Not bad." Zephina nodded, "We've already completed the bloodline replacement of guild members; now all members in the guild have crimson or higher talent."

"Going forward, our demand to recruit guild members will drop significantly."

"So, there's no need to stay in this zone." She glanced at the fledgling guild's headquarters, "Next, we'll move the headquarters to Zone 5150."

"That would make us neighbors with Luoyue Guild, right?" Olierjia couldn't help muttering.

"Luoyue Guild has a Divine Forge." Zephina gently patted Olierjia's head, "If all goes well, the Divine Forge can help other players enhance their equipment."

"Just breaking through a single Epic Spirit Beast caused me to fail equipment enhancement many times; without the Divine Forge's help, the remaining enhancements would be much harder."

"Later, when other guild members break through, they'll also encounter this problem."

"If we can get the Divine Forge's help, this will be much easier."

"The Special Affairs Group has close ties with Luo; Dragon Gate No. 1 Guild will surely get help from Luoyue Guild, but if we want their help, we need to show some sincerity."

"Moreover... the past grudge between you and Luo must be resolved."

"Alright." Olierjia sighed, "You're right."

——

"Swish——"

Without waiting for the mermaid-like Sea Demon King before him to let out an angry shriek, Qin Chuan paused time for a second, multiple spirit beasts struck simultaneously, achieving an instant kill on the Legendary rank Lv55, causing it to follow in the footsteps of the Sea Demon Queen who had been killed earlier.

S-rank 5-star secret realm Sea Demon Palace, subjugation successful.

In the previous B-rank and A-rank secret realms, the subjugation targets were always the max-level entities of the current stage, regardless of whether the difficulty was 1-star or 5-star, they did not change.

But in S-rank secret realms, the situation is completely different.

S-rank secret realms have two subjugation targets; these two targets are of the same rank, and their level is related to the difficulty star rating.

One-star corresponds to Legendary rank Lv51, while five-star corresponds to Legendary rank Lv55.

This made Qin Chuan suspect that the subjugation target of the upcoming SS-rank secret realm would still be Legendary rank.

As the Sea Demon King turned into scattered specks of light and vanished, among the abundant resources left behind, a cerulean spear planted upright in the ground stood out prominently.

That was Qin Chuan's objective for this trip—the Sea Demon King's Spear.

The weapon's appearance is merely its surface; the corresponding extra affix is the key.

【Sea Demon King Spear: usable by water-type Spirit Beasts; Spirit Beasts wielding the Sea Demon King Spear gain the extra affix 【Surge】, attribute might increased by 200%, number of attack targets is 1, effect doubled】

The extra affix 【Surge】, on top of providing all-around buffs to Shui Hua's damage, increased its damage against single targets.

With a 400% increase in attribute might, once Shui Hua unleashes the Void-Rending Torrent Slash again, it will surely shake the heavens and earth.

Pulling out the Sea Demon King Spear and handing it to the excited and eager Shui Hua beside him, Qin Chuan turned his head to look at Lin Yue on the other side.

Lin Yue had already gathered the resources dropped earlier by the slain Sea Demon Queen; at this moment she held a fist-sized azure-blue pearl.

【Sea Empress Pearl: usable by water-type Spirit Beasts; Spirit Beasts wielding the Sea Empress Pearl gain the extra affix 【Stored Water】, healing skill effect increased by 1000%, damage reduction increased by 50%】

This is another top-tier extra affix within the Sea Demon Palace.

The Sea Demon Queen, who coexists with the Sea Demon King, is a Legendary rank focused on support and healing.

This is also why Qin Chuan unhesitatingly chose to eliminate her first.

"This pearl goes to Du Yu." Qin Chuan glanced at the pearl in Lin Yue's hand, smiling as he spoke, "Consider it a thank-you gift for her earlier healing of you."

"Mm-hmm!" Upon hearing this, Lin Yue's eyes curved, her smile widening a bit.

After gathering the resources here, Qin Chuan and Lin Yue teleported away, using the Iron Hammer stationed at the guild headquarters as a marker, and initiated another teleport back to the guild.

——

Real world.

Qin Chuan and Lin Yue sat side by side; the teacher on stage was analyzing the biological structures of humans and other animals.

This is the theory course of the Martial Arts system.

The Martial Arts system stems from one's own strength; understanding bodily structure and the way power is transmitted helps enhance Martial Arts abilities.

This counts as one of the few courses Qin Chuan can barely keep up with the lecture pace without Lin Yue's help.

However, at this moment Qin Chuan's expression looked somewhat dejected.

And the reason is quite simple.

Because Xiaohei, whose affection with him had just reached 100% and was brought into reality, has no interest in Martial Arts knowledge at all.

No, that statement is not accurate.

Strictly speaking, Xiaohei has no interest in anything that requires using the brain.

It only likes to hit, hit, hit, kill, kill, kill.

This leaves Qin Chuan feeling quite helpless.

Watching Qin Chuan occasionally show a gloomy expression, Lin Yue, meanwhile lowering her head to take notes, couldn't help but curl the corner of her mouth up slightly.

When the break came, she lightly poked Qin Chuan's arm, "Don't overthink it; just honestly attend the Martial Arts class."

"Alright." Qin Chuan sighed regretfully, having no choice but to accept reality.

Besides Silver Horn, the other three Spirit Beasts have no interest in learning.

As a player, he actually has to study himself—this is utterly excessive!

"Right." Lin Yue recalled something, turned to look at Qin Chuan, "Which Spirit Beast's active skill did you bring today?"

"Silver Horn." Qin Chuan smiled, "I originally wanted to bring Xiaohei's skill, but then I remembered there will be an A-rank dungeon descent today."

"The time for Little Black's contract is still too short; although because it hatched from an egg, the affection is already maxed out, but the time needed for the ultimate skill might be longer than the other three." Qin Chuan spread his hands, "With its skill equipped, I can't perform Descent today."

"Okay." Lin Yue nodded slightly, then added, "I brought Little Green's."

"You still haven't mastered the ultimate skill with Little Red, have you?" Qin Chuan spoke softly.

Little Red broke through the Epic stage, and it's been three or four days; the time when affection reached 100% was even earlier than that. After so long, Lin Yue still hasn't been able to develop the ultimate skill together with Little Red, which leaves Qin Chuan somewhat puzzled.

"It's still the same problem." Lin Yue shook her head slightly, "Most of Little Red's abilities are related to its fiery tail, but I don't have a tail, so we haven't been able to find a point of agreement on this."

"I believe you can do it." Qin Chuan took Lin Yue's hand and smiled.

"Mm!" Lin Yue nodded firmly, "When will the A-rank dungeon descend?"

"There's still over an hour, just enough to finish this lesson." Qin Chuan glanced at the time.

With his current 100w extraordinary value, solving an A-rank dungeon that descends should not be a big problem.

Therefore, Qin Chuan wasn't overly nervous.

The class bell rang, and the two refocused their attention on the lesson.

"Classmates, we covered the anatomical structure of the human body in the first half of the lesson; now we'll discuss the anatomical structure of common animals…"

Lin Yue listened quietly to the teacher's lecture on the podium, and a thoughtful light occasionally flickered in her eyes.

(End of chapter)