Chapter 245

One of the Dark Magic Dragon's abilities is Dark Breath; the Bone Dragon can eject a concentrated dark energy wave from its mouth, dealing large dark‑element damage to enemies.

It also has a certain chance to reduce the opponent's dark‑element resistance and cause a fear effect.

This is also the Bone Dragon's main output skill; judging by the skill description, both its damage and area of effect are stronger than basic necromancy.

Seeing this, Su Hao felt somewhat moved; judging solely by skill effect, it looks a bit stronger than the Bone Dragon's Breath.

"If we kill a Dark Bone Dragon, I don't know if we can refine a corresponding supernatural item."

Su Hao stroked his chin, and a bold idea formed in his mind.

If after the Bone Dragon dies we can refine from its corpse a supernatural item similar to the Bone Dragon's Dragon Crystal, consuming it might grant the Dark Breath skill.

Then not only would Su Hao's personal strength increase, but combining this item with Skeleton Summoning would also make the summoned skeleton warriors, Bone Dragons, etc., stronger.

Su Hao temporarily set this aside and continued checking the remaining skills.

When he saw the Dark Affinity skill, he felt his eyes light up again.

Dark Affinity is not an active skill but a passive one, and it is the key for the Bone Dragon to enhance its strength in dark environments.

Units with Dark Affinity can absorb dark‑element energy from the surroundings, thereby comprehensively boosting their physique, mental power, and skill damage.

The denser the surrounding dark element, the greater the boost the Bone Dragon can receive.

And according to the skill description, this boost has no upper limit.

As long as the surrounding dark element is sufficiently dense, even if the Bone Dragon's Supernatural Grade is only Third Tier, its physique and mental power can be raised to Supernatural Grade Fourth or even Fifth Tier.

Of course, these are literal descriptions; the Bone Dragon's actual strength must be tested personally to know.

Afterwards, Su Hao summoned about ten Pale Skeleton Warriors to an open space nearby, and had the Bone Dragon hovering in mid‑air use Dark Breath on them.

The Bone Dragon slowly opened its massive jaws, an intangible pressure spreading out, making the surrounding air seem to solidify.

Next, it drew a deep breath; the black gas on its body surged and gathered toward its mouth.

"Roar——!"

With the Bone Dragon's low roar, the dark‑element‑formed martial mist turned into a black breath that surged toward those Pale Skeleton Warriors.

The black gas rolled, instantly engulfing the skeleton warriors.

Shortly after, the Bone Dragon withdrew its breath and hovered silently in the air.

Those dozen or so Pale Skeleton Warriors then reappeared.

Under the Dark Breath's corrosion, their bodies suffered no damage; their bones were intact, not a single crack.

But the soul‑fire in their heads had been completely extinguished.

For undead creatures, their core is the soul‑fire.

Now that the soul‑fire is extinguished, the skeletons of those dozen Pale Skeleton Warriors, after a gust of wind, turn into a handful of bone powder and dissipate between heaven and earth.

Clearly, Dark Breath is a skill that ignores the flesh and directly attacks the soul.

Unfortunately, the surrounding dark element is unusually thin, so the Dark Affinity skill's effect cannot be fully exerted.

After all, areas rich in dark element are exceedingly rare in this world.

Even with Su Hao's memories of his past life, he has only heard of three or five places where dark element is relatively dense.

The nearest of those is the Dark Dungeon in the Dark Forest.

"Ah, wait a moment!"

Mentioning the Dark Dungeon, Su Hao recalled the Light‑absorbing Stone.

The reason the Dark Dungeon is filled with dense dark element is that it contains a large amount of Light‑absorbing Stone.

So, if we let the Bone Dragon carry some Light‑absorbing Stone, would that be equivalent to keeping it constantly in a dense dark‑element environment, letting it exert greater combat power? And if we synthesize the Light‑absorbing Stone to raise its Supernatural Grade, this boost might be further enhanced.

Besides that, Su Hao thought of another use.

That is, after synthesizing it, to use it as another primary material for constructing the Heavenly Eye Watchtower.

The Heavenly Eye Watchtower's range can cover the entire territory; its main function is to monitor all intruders entering the territory.

If we synthesize the Light‑absorbing Stone to Third Tier and use it to build the Heavenly Eye Watchtower, perhaps it could to some extent reduce the intruders' field of view.

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, if the opponent's vision is reduced, that is equivalent to increasing our concealment.

Consequently, the opponent would find it harder to notice that we have been exposed.

Thus, for outsiders to invade Su Hao's territory, the difficulty would greatly increase.

Moreover, after suffering an invasion, Su Hao can use the Heavenly Eye Watchtower to detect the enemy's movements before they notice, thereby seizing the initiative and making appropriate arrangements.

Merely wanting to use the Light‑absorbing Stone as the primary material for the Heavenly Eye Watchtower requires raising its Supernatural Grade to Third Tier.

The Light‑absorbing Stone itself is only First Rank Supernatural Grade; thus, four synthesis chances are needed to raise it to Supernatural Grade Third Tier.

"Ah! These synthesis chances are completely insufficient, and I don't know when proficiency will improve..."

Su Hao sighed helplessly; nowadays there are only five synthesis chances per day, and to synthesize a Third‑Tier Light‑absorbing Stone one must use four of those chances.

However, the Heavenly Eye Watchtower concerns the territory's safety; it is an important safeguard.

If this evil god's attack had not caused such a commotion but instead sneaked in stealthily,

even if it caused no loss to Su Hao, dealing with it would be much more troublesome.

At least the Giant Flame Empress and Giant Azure Wave Pitcher, these wide‑range attack skills, could not be used casually.

Otherwise, they would cause massive destruction to the territory.

Therefore, to avoid unnecessary losses, building the Heavenly Eye Watchtower has become a necessity; even if it consumes four synthesis chances, it must be built.

Having made his decision, Su Hao no longer hesitated; he summoned Pu Wenyao and handed her the Storage Bag containing the Energy Crystals.

He had her act as commander, directing the skeleton warriors to transport undead corpses and to charge the Energy Crystals, supplying power to the Death Tombstone so as to continuously transmute undead beings.

Due to the limited number of Energy Crystals, and after witnessing the Bone Dragon's strength, Su Hao had Pu Wenyao prioritize transmuting Supernatural Grade Third‑Tier undead creatures.

As for First‑ and Second‑Tier corpses, Su Hao could only exert himself a bit more, using Skeleton Summoning to summon the corresponding undead beings.

Strictly speaking, aside from Su Hao being a bit tired, this is actually a greater improvement; after all, skeleton warriors and mages are far stronger than ordinary skeletons.

After finishing matters concerning the Death Tombstone, Su Hao turned and returned to his room, taking nine Light-absorbing Stones from his Storage Bag, using the Synthesis Heart three times in a row, and obtained three Second‑Tier Supernatural Grade Light-absorbing Stones.

Next, Su Hao used the Synthesis Heart once more on those three Second‑Tier Supernatural Grade Light-absorbing Stones.

Su Hao clearly felt that the consumption of this synthesis was several times greater than the combined consumption of the previous two.

Generally, the better the synthesized item, the greater the mental power consumed.

The mental power consumed in this synthesis far exceeded that of any previous Second‑Tier item synthesis.

"I hope it brings me some surprises."

Regarding this synthesis result, Su Hao felt a bit more anticipation.

As time passed, the golden light sphere wrapped around the three Second‑Tier Light-absorbing Stones suddenly burst into blinding golden light; a mass of black gas lay quietly on the ground, appearing before Su Hao's eyes.

Moreover, this black gas was slowly spreading outward.

Su Hao had a vague feeling that if the gas were allowed to spread, before long the entire residential area would be shrouded in darkness.

Furthermore, within that black gas Su Hao sensed an extremely rich dark‑element aura.

When Su Hao reached his hand toward that black gas, he realized that the product of this synthesis was not a gas but a black crystal.

The dark element contained in this crystal was even richer, and the pitch‑black, dark‑element‑filled gas was produced because of this crystal.

Su Hao then slightly focused his mind and applied the Item Appraisal Technique to it.

【Third‑Tier Dark Crystal】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

【Third‑Tier Dark Crystal】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

Effect 1 – Dark‑Element Conversion: The Dark Crystal can absorb the energy of Energy Crystals or energy from other objects in the surrounding environment, gradually turning the surroundings into rich dark‑element, thereby enhancing dark‑element‑related skills and spells.

Effect 2 – Vision Obstruction: In an environment rich in dark‑element, thick dark‑element clouds form, effectively hindering enemies' vision.

……

"Changing the environment, this effect is great!"

Looking at the appraisal result displayed, Su Hao nodded in satisfaction.

Generally, when constructing a building from a certain material, the completed building retains part of that material's traits and abilities.

Thus, the Heavenly Eye Watchtower built from this Third‑Tier Dark Crystal presumably also has the ability to transmute the surroundings into dark‑element.

However, this also has a drawback: if the dark‑element in the territory becomes too dense, the people living there will also be affected, such as obstructed vision and erosion by dark‑element, etc.

If large amounts of Dark Crystal are placed within the territory, solving this problem would be difficult, but constructing buildings from Dark Crystal makes the solution comparatively simple.

After all, buildings belonging to the territory can be controlled by Su Hao; he merely needs to restrict the dark‑element transmutation zone to certain areas, which poses no problem.

Afterward, he took the Dark Crystal downstairs, brought the Construction Platform, and went outside the Shelter.

He placed the Dark Crystal, ten tons of Silver Alloy, the Heavenly Eye Mechanical Core, and the Heavenly Eye Watchtower construction blueprint together on the Construction Platform, then began this construction.

【Please select the construction site for the Heavenly Eye Watchtower.】

After Su Hao began construction, a model of the Shelter, the surrounding environment, and a lighthouse‑shaped 3D model appeared before his eyes.

Being well‑versed in the construction process, Su Hao dragged the lighthouse model to the side of the Shelter, whereupon another prompt appeared.

【Are you sure you want to build the Heavenly Eye Watchtower here?】

"Certainly!"

The next moment.

A golden beam of light enveloped all the materials on the Construction Platform, forming a golden light sphere that flew to the position Su Hao had designated.

Immediately afterward.

That golden light sphere then began to expand and deform, ultimately becoming a cylindrical shape and bursting with blinding light.

After the golden light faded, a black lighthouse about fifty meters tall appeared before Su Hao's eyes.

Su Hao then slightly focused his mind and opened the information panel of this building.

【Heavenly Eye Watchtower】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

Effect 1 – Global Surveillance: The Heavenly Eye Watchtower possesses strong surveillance capability, able to monitor in real time any unit entering its detection range.

When a target unit enters the territory, the Heavenly Eye Watchtower will automatically lock onto it, precisely track and observe the target, and project the surveillance results in real time.

At the same time, the tower also has a unique vision‑interference function that can restrict the observed unit's vision, thereby lowering its alertness and reaction speed.

Any unit of Supernatural Grade not exceeding Fifth Tier will be subject to the Heavenly Eye Watchtower's surveillance.

Effect 2 – Dark‑Element Conversion: The Heavenly Eye Watchtower can absorb Energy Crystals or other forms of energy from the surrounding environment, gradually transmuting the ambient elemental energy into pure dark‑element, forming a dark‑element mist.

Units within the dark‑element mist can significantly boost the power and effect of their dark‑attribute skills.

The generation range of the dark‑element cloud can be freely controlled according to the user's will.

……

"Excellent, this effect is even stronger than I expected!"

Looking at the appraisal result displayed, Su Hao nodded in satisfaction.

The Heavenly Eye Watchtower's effects are exactly as he imagined: it inherits the Light‑absorbing Stone's ability, likewise possesses the ability to alter the environment, and after testing it, this environmental alteration effect can also be directed to a specific location.

Moreover, because the Heavenly Eye Watchtower was built using Light‑absorbing Stone as material, its surveillance effect has indeed become much harder to detect, greatly increasing its concealment.

Thereafter, Su Hao followed the method shown in the details interface, linked his mental power to it, and began testing the two functions of the Heavenly Eye Watchtower.

(End of Chapter)