Chapter 224 : The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation

The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation

"You want to know where my underworld Undead come from?"

Serea asked, and as soon as Leklis heard this, he nodded energetically.

"Like this."

As she finished speaking, Serea selected several corpses previously buried in the Plague Graveyard—some from the White Blade Mercenary Group, others belonging to those undead mages and Holy Knights—and sensed several with higher levels among them. Thick death energy seeped into the ground.

"Undead Resurrect!"

Serea selected twenty corpses, and since their levels were all high, the consumption of death crystals was considerable—on average, each resurrection consumed six death crystals.

But such an expense was worth it; a few seconds later, the ground inside the Plague Graveyard rose up, and one Skeleton after another crawled out from underground. The soul flames in their skulls burned fiercely, filling their minds with stabbing pain. Serea then canceled her control over them.

With the control removed, the soul flames in the eye sockets of the twenty Skeleton Warriors dimmed.

Leklis's jaw dropped as he watched more than twenty Skeleton Warriors suddenly crawl out.

"These... these are all underworld Undead!"

His shock raised his voice by several degrees, but in contrast, Serea appeared composed and indifferent.

"Yes. Try to take command of them yourself; let's see how many you can control."

"Lady Serea is willing to hand them over to me?"

Leklis couldn't believe it. He knew how rare underworld Undead were—some undead mages spend a lifetime never obtaining even one, but now, twenty underworld Undead stood before him. For a moment, he felt like he was dreaming.

Gradually accepting this newfound reality, leklis's expression grew hesitant again.

"But I..."

"You can't leave. Even if you put aside your earlier promises, can you really bear to have Julie and the children continue to wander, constantly at risk of being hunted? So, these Skeleton Warriors are yours, and you'll use this strength to serve me—for Julie and for your children."

Serea's tone was one that brooked no argument. After hearing this, leklis fell silent for a while, before finally making up his mind to act.

He turned to the Skeleton Warriors, trying to establish a mental connection. As they didn't yet have a master, leklis easily gained control over them.

"Devote your loyalty to my master."

In unison, the Skeleton Warriors knelt. After assuming control, leklis felt his mind tense up—despite having enough mental power, controlling so many all at once was a bit much for him.

However, that discomfort soon faded. Sensing the powerful strength under his command, leklis turned and knelt before Serea.

"Lady Serea, I understand, and I will not let you down!"

Seeing it had come to this, leklis did not plan on leaving. Upon hearing his response, Serea showed a satisfied smile.

"I accept your loyalty. Get used to commanding them as soon as possible, because I'll have more missions for you later. For now, go and get Julie and the others settled in. This will be your new home."

"Yes!"

Leklis replied, stood up, and led the Skeleton Warriors away. Halfway down, he turned around and gave Serea a deep bow.

"Thank you, lady Serea."

"Go on, go on."

Afterward, leklis left. Having taken care of Leklis's matters, Serea sat alone on a nearby stone platform.

She picked up a bone necklace and examined it carefully.

"Even though I don't know what secrets this thing holds, I'm very pleased with it as equipment."

After saying this, she put the necklace around her neck. First, she felt a cold sensation, but after adapting, her mind became clear, and now she had ten more slots for direct undead followers.

However, Serea did not rush to fill these slots; she had more important matters to attend to.

With a single thought, Serea entered the consciousness space, stood before the ruined Dark Altar, and asked:

"Show me my materials inventory."

System: Calculating, please wait...

Blood crystals: 469

Fear crystals: 112

Death crystals: 196

Soul crystals: 1189

Seeing the 1189 soul crystals, Serea hatched a bold idea.

"It's really not my fault—I just have no use for soul crystals right now, so might as well do a draw! That's right, otherwise they're just sitting here, so why not draw?"

Having found her excuse, Serea called out confidently:

"I want to do 110 draws in one go!"

System: Consuming 1000 soul crystals, converting to 10,009 dark power.

In a flash, the number of soul crystals drastically reduced. Staring at the Dark Main Altar flooded with dark power, Serea could only think of one word to describe her feelings:

Ecstasy!

This time, Serea's goal was also clear.

"System, the probability of getting a level-three building unlock voucher is 0.5%, correct?"

System: Yes.

"So the chances should be pretty high after 110 draws, right? If I don't get it, that would be a serious problem."

System: This system does not interfere with draw probabilities.

"Then give me ten draws first!"

Eleven cards flew out. For this first draw, Serea had no hesitation. Upon flipping them all over, amidst a bunch of experience gems, there was a single purple blueprint.

No pity mechanism, and already a purple on the first draw!

"Excellent!"

Off to a good start, Serea examined the blueprint—it was a building blueprint for the Blood Altar.

Blood Pool (single-use blueprint, purple): After construction, consumes blood crystals to continuously generate Blood Spring.

Reading the blueprint's description, Serea became excited.

It was actually the Blood Pool!

The so-called Blood Pool was a trimmed-down version of the Blood Well, only capable of producing ordinary Blood Spring but lacking other functions. Still, this was more than enough.

With a Blood Pool providing Blood Spring, she could now control more blood slaves and blood elves—in other words, this meant population growth, which was exactly what Serea needed at present. However...

"Why is it a single-use blueprint?"

System: Blood Spring requires summoning for construction, same unlocking method as Blood Well, so only single construction is supported.

"You make it sound so nice, but you just want to limit my population growth!"

But the system remained silent when exposed by Serea.

"Fine, it's still better than nothing. If it's single-use, so be it. I'll just draw a few more."

So saying, Serea did another ten draws.

Ten experience gems, and one purple blueprint.

That was...

Blood Pool!

"It's actually another one. But I'd still rather have the level-three building unlock voucher."

With that, she drew again, getting ten experience gems and a potion.

"A familiar taste."

Another ten draws—ten experience gems and another potion.

"I have a bad premonition..."

Ten more, ten experience gems, one potion.

"......"

Again, ten draws, ten experience gems, one potion...

"Hiss~"

Suddenly, Serea clutched her chest. She felt ominous for some reason. Logic told her she should stop now, but she simply couldn't restrain herself, and so the repetitive outcome played out over and over.

One minute later.

"Phew..."

Serea let out a long sigh. Surrounded by piles of experience gems and potions, she finally calmed down, and there was only 2,020 dark power left.

"System, your pity mechanism is broken. Other games at least comfort the player with something special—even if it's just a token—but you just keep throwing potions at me!"

System: This system does not interfere with draw probabilities.

"But you said there's a 5% chance to draw a good item out of each ten. I did 88 draws and only got two items. Why?"

System: Due to your luck.

Hearing this answer, Serea's face darkened.

"Sometimes being too blunt is not the way to make friends..."

After a round of roasting the system and calming herself down, Serea activated her last hope.

"Ten-pull!"

Eleven cards flew out—she flipped them all, and two glows appeared.

Purple!

Purple!

"Beautiful!"

Serea exclaimed, then checked the two items she'd received.

First one...

Assault Battle Armor Blueprint (equipment blueprint, purple): Grants the crafting technique for 'Assault Battle Armor' upon use.

An equipment blueprint from the Death Altar allowing crafting of combat armor for all melee professions. Though the stats weren't exceptional, the key was its universal application.

Second item...

The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation (purple): Grants one powerful free draw upon use.

The first item was easy to understand—but what the heck was "The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation"?

Serea felt baffled, and for some reason, just hearing the word "invitation" made her shiver.

"What is this 'Invitation'..."

System: "The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation" allows you to do a powerful free draw.

"A powerful draw?"

System: A powerful draw can yield rewards of any rarity.

"Even gold?"

System: All rewards are possible.

"Then what are we waiting for? Open it!"

Hearing that gold was possible, Serea's eyes lit up. After selecting to use it, the invitation flew out of her hand, and the envelope opened, releasing ten cards.

Serea immediately saw one card glowing gold.

"Damn!"

Her heart skipped a beat—she'd hit the jackpot.

"Ten cards, and one gold and two purples in there? I take back all I said—I absolutely love you, you stupid system!"

Serea rubbed her hands together and spoke to the system.

"Reveal the rewards! I want to see the gold one first!"

She stared at the gold card, but it didn't drop, and the system's prompt sounded.

"Please commence the draw before seeing the reward."

"Huh?"

The system's words sparked a sense of foreboding in Serea.

"I just drew—it's mine, right? Aren't these my cards?"

System: The ten cards are a super draw pool. Each 'The Darkness Sovereign's Invitation' lets you select one reward. After each selection, you can refresh or retain the pool.

"......"

The system's words were like a bucket of cold water thrown at Serea on a winter's night. After a while, she managed to get her head around it.

"You mean that's the pool, not the actual rewards?"

System: Yes.

The answer was hard for Serea to accept, but on reflection, it made sense—the system was never so generous.

"I should have known... Fine, so I can only pick one this time?"

System: Yes.

"If I don't get what I want, the pool can be kept for next time?"

System: Yes.

"Then that's fine."

With this, Serea relaxed. Keeping the pool meant that, after up to ten usages, she was guaranteed to get the gold one eventually. No need to worry.

The invitation might be rare, but at least there was hope—that gold reward was right there, and it was just a matter of time.

"Okay... let's do it. If I miss now, I can try next time. Two purples as well—three-in-ten odds for something good, not bad."

Serea comforted herself this way, feeling exhausted by the rollercoaster of expectations, but at least there was still hope. Who knows, maybe she'd get lucky!

"Draw."

System: Please wait...

The ten cards flipped over and became identical "?" backs. Serea stared hard at the gold one, but the next moment, the cards overlapped and shuffled—their positions now completely altered.

"No exploiting the system, huh? I'll just pick randomly, then."

Speaking thus, Serea reached for one of the cards, and perhaps because the system pitied her luck so far, it glowed faintly gold as soon as she touched it.

"Oh my god!"

She was stupefied—she'd drawn the gold one out of ten! For some reason, her heart stirred, and she almost wanted to cry.

Death Altar gold reward!

Dragonbone Catacomb (building blueprint, gold): Level-three Death Altar building, allows for the spawning of powerful flying and behemoth units.

Seeing this, Serea immediately thought of the Bone Yan she'd previously summoned. As an undead monster on par with griffins, bone Yan was extraordinarily strong.

But even as a flying unit, the adult Bone Yan was only so powerful. What kind of behemoth units could the Dragonbone Catacomb produce?

She could hardly imagine. As a level-three building, its value—and resource consumption—was incalculable...

Construction requirements: Costs 1,500 death crystals, with prerequisite building "Mountain Cave," and requires a 5,000-square-meter area.

Such demands made Serea gasp. Even though blueprints outside the tech tree didn't need "Level-Three Building Unlock Vouchers," the cost was outrageous.

Never mind the 1,500 death crystals—just finding a 5,000-square-meter "Mountain Cave" for the site was a huge challenge. There might be many mountains around camp, but finding the right pre-existing cave would not be easy.

And if there wasn't an appropriate cave...

Would she have to dig one halfway up the mountain herself?

Sorry everyone, I was down for a while due to piracy issues, which may have affected the story, but I'm over it now. For all my legit readers, I'll work even harder from now on. That's all!

(To be continued...)