CH 88

In the following days, Rode continued to kill fiercely in the sewers.

The once most unsafe Iron Cross district sewer has now become the safest sewer in the entire outer city.

Residents no longer have to worry about monsters rushing up from the wells, and patrol members no longer have to worry about unexpected encounters with monsters while on patrol.

Even going to the bathroom has become more comfortable.

The tasks in the sewer cleaning office of the Iron Cross district defense department have been piling up for almost a year, and the few clerks are racking their brains every day to find tasks in the pile of old papers.

They never thought that one day someone would force them to give them tasks. In the past, they always had to beg others to do the tasks.

But not to mention the guards, even the newly arrived defenders are unwilling to go.

They have never seen anyone who likes to go into the sewers so much.

Could this be the legendary "Black Bucket"?

The deeds of Rode are not unfamiliar in the Iron Cross district, and all of his legendary experiences are closely related to the sewers.

The first time he entered the sewer, he encountered the Doomsday Cultists and disrupted their evil ritual. The second time he entered the sewer, he assisted the hunting team in killing the highly threatening plague monster. The third time he entered the sewer, he carried out a major cleanup of the Doomsday Cultists and killed nearly forty of them in one go.

The sight of the continuously moving corpses being brought out of the sewer shocked everyone.

And Rode, who had just started school a little over a month ago, why does he have such remarkable achievements?

The people quickly came up with a reasonable guess.

It is because his soul fire seed "Black Bucket" in the sewer can provide additional bonuses, just like a fish entering water and immediately reaching the shore.

This is called "environmental adaptability" proposed by a well-known scholar. Specific fire seed holders will perform very well and grow rapidly with exceptional combat power in specific environments.

Obviously, Rode, who has become a star in the Iron Cross district, is such a person!

In the current worsening weather, residents can no longer gather and socialize. Apart from drinking in the tavern, their entertainment time has greatly reduced. Therefore, various gossip rumors and legendary stories about Rode have become their main pastime.

Rode's story undoubtedly has great topicality and exploitable content, and it is closely related to them.

Unlike those powerful top-tier characters, although they are very powerful, they are too far away and lack a sense of reality.

Not only have they seen Rode in person, but many people have also spoken to him. He often appears in the tavern, telling jokes and entertaining everyone, occasionally teasing the landlady. He is very humorous, interesting, and approachable, bringing a lot of joy to everyone.

Therefore, stories about him quickly spread throughout the Iron Cross district at a fast pace. People quickly exchange information and topics about him during their short working hours or when buying food fuel. Many of them are made up.

In this way, Rode quickly acquired hundreds of romantic stories and had one-night stands with hundreds of beautiful girls. His soul fire seed "Black Bucket" gained hundreds of abilities, most of which are related to the sewers and feces.

In his legendary stories, he always saves girls who have been abducted by monsters in the sewers, sends them home, and has a one-night stand with them (there are detailed descriptions of this part, with separate versions for males and females. The male version focuses on describing the graceful and melodious voices of the girls, while the female version focuses on describing Rode's abdominal muscles, length, and handsome side profile during exercise). After that, he jumps back into the sewer to continue hunting monsters.

However, because Rode is too young, the past stories cannot be too long, otherwise, he would have started rescuing beautiful women and having passionate nights with them when he was ten years old, which would be inappropriate.

Therefore, after a period of development, they began to create future stories for Rode. This opened up a whole new world.

For a while, all the women in the Thalorian Kingdom couldn't escape his clutches, and even the men couldn't escape.

Of course, no one mentioned this in front of Rode. The tavern in the Iron Cross district was full every day, especially during the time when Rode often returned. People were almost squeezed out, which greatly annoyed the officials of the Iron Cross district's administrative hall.

Not only that, but many girls came to inquire about Rode's news and his room number every day, making the landlady of the tavern both happy and disappointed.

However, out of professional ethics, the landlady of the tavern did not disclose Rode's room number to them and persuaded these girls that Rode works very hard every day when he comes back and needs rest, so please do not disturb him.

The girls could only leave disappointedly. In the current worsening weather, no one can stay outside for long, especially after dusk.

Rode didn't notice any of this.

His only feeling was that there were suddenly more people. Initially, he thought it was because he was brushing up his humanity every day in the tavern.

But he soon discovered that even during his monster hunting in the sewers, humanity would occasionally emerge.

Although he didn't know why, it was obviously a good thing.

During this period, his journey in the sewers was also very smooth. He could kill a large number of monsters every day, and he never encountered the Doomsday Cultists again.

They disappeared instantly, and not a single piece of information about them was heard—

Generally, various information is frequently transmitted to and from the defense department. Thalorian has multiple communication methods, and the Raven Messengers are just one of them. They also have psychic devices similar to fax machines and instant communication tools similar to wireless telephones.

However, the former seems to be more expensive and is not used much.

The latter has a short communication distance, about one thousand yards.

Since Rode often stays in the defense department, he has finally figured out some commonly used terms here. They particularly like to use steps and yards as units of distance. One step is the distance an adult (excluding dwarves) takes in one small step, which is about one-third of a meter. One yard is three steps, which is about one meter.

One thousand yards is approximately one kilometer, and this communication distance is even shorter than step communicators. It is also affected by the black mist and cannot communicate across the mist.

Therefore, the most common thing received in the defense department is the Raven Messengers or intelligence delivered by personnel.

They distribute the information provided by the Royal City Military War Department to the defense departments in various areas.

This is also something Rode recently learned.

The Military War Department is a powerful department responsible for all combat affairs. Each defense zone has a military war department, and the military war departments are responsible for different areas within the defense zone.

The leader of each military war department is a Guardian, but general affairs are handled by the Chief Defense Officer.

Above the military war departments in the major defense zones, there is also a General Military War Department, which serves as the central brain.

The highest commander of the General Military War Department is the King, but routine affairs are handled by the First Defense Officer.

The Royal City Military War Department is responsible for the war organization of the Royal City Defense Zone and is the largest military war department among all areas. It compiles the information of the Royal City every day and transmits it to the defense departments of each district.

Previously, Rode often heard about attacks by Doomsday Cultists on residents or institutions in certain places and districts, but in the past few days, there has been no news about them.

Big Scar Face is very nervous about this, but Rode doesn't care. These Doomsday Cultists are weaklings in front of him. After he finishes brushing up the sewers and kills the invaders, he will go after them and settle the score, and by the way, solve the migration case that has been bothering him for a long time.

After finding the real culprit, he will force-feed him some shit to vent his anger and then kill him to thoroughly understand the matter.

—

During this time, Rode received a considerable amount of humanity every day, reaching over a hundred points at its peak and generally around fifty to sixty points.

Combined with what he obtained from the tavern, he has already made twenty soul ashes.

Now, if he uses all his trump cards, he can summon five Distorted Spiderlings, one Undead Hound, fourteen Poison Bugs, and an illusion of the Chief of the General Hospital, Theodore.

The illusion of Theodore is his most pleasant discovery.

Originally, he thought it would be a ranged fighter like Nightwing, but to his surprise, when summoned in a crisis, this illusion picked up a big stick and charged into the swarm of rats.

It banged and struck, like a war god, and in the blink of an eye, it killed nearly fifty plague rats.

Rode was amazed.

Isn't this supposed to be a mage?

"Spell Aptitude" is the talent for using spells, right? Why is it that the illusion you created with your soul fragments is a warrior?

And it's so powerful!

This is just too great!

Rode's face almost burst into a smile. If he had known it was so powerful, he should have gone straight to the depths of the sewers and done something big.

Of course, Theodore told him that this illusion is only equivalent to a relatively strong rank monster and is far from invincible.

But it is melee, which makes it much easier to cooperate.

You hold the front, and I'll shoot from behind.

With so many summons, they can wear down the invaders.

—

In this way, Rode continued to kill until the last day before the invasion. The sewer cleaning office of the defense department could no longer find a single task, and the administrative staff were in tears.

Big Scar Face kept urging Rode to rest for a day, saying that long-term battles are unhealthy for the body, mind, and soul. Overusing power and frequently fighting with distorted beings will also cause oneself to become distorted.

Moderate rest and relaxation are necessary.

Rode accepted this advice but ignored Big Scar Face's suggestion to go find girls to chat with and sleep with, to experience the warmth and beauty of the human world. He went straight back to the tavern, closed the door, and entered the dream.

In the dream.

Rode looked up and saw the countless soul fires floating above the Soul Altar.

These are all his achievements during this period.

With a thought, he gained their information.

36 "Insane Sinner Souls," 121 "Plague Rat Souls," 95 "Face-Hugging Poison Bug Souls," 61 "Maggotman Souls," and 50 "Corpse Fly Souls."

There are also 331 "Small Soul Fragments," 166 "Large Soul Fragments," and 27 human souls.

Rode directly sacrificed all the "Small Soul Fragments" and "Large Soul Fragments," obtaining 15,110 No Soul Souls and 61 Soul Essence.

Not bad, the biggest use of these soul fragments is to decompose them into No Soul Souls and Soul Essence.

Rode looked at his data. It has become:

Soul Strength: 140

Soul Stars: 2

Humanity: 609

Divinity: 45

No Soul Souls: 16,922

The storage still has 101 Soul Essence, 15 Humanity, 1 Human Essence Flower, 12 Living Humanity, 4 Chaotic Traits, and some materials.

Due to the warmth sent by the Doomsday Cultists last time, as well as some rewards from the defense department and Big Scar Face's application for reimbursement of some supplies, Rode's assets have inflated to 5,120 Silver Soles. He has 310 True Silver Bullets, 90 Thunderstones, and 40 Sealing Bullets. Basic supplies are no longer lacking.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Everything is ready.

Rode turned his gaze to the blue star.

It's time to take action.

With a thought, countless soul fires flew from the altar and formed a beautiful meteor shower, falling into the blue star.

The flames of the star began to burn violently, its light rapidly becoming brighter, and its strength rapidly increasing. On average, it increased by about one point for every two to three souls added.

Rode invested about 240 souls before the strength of the blue star reached 199.

After that, the number stopped moving, and the flames of the star began to tremble violently.

Rode knew that it had reached a bottleneck and desperately poured souls into the star until only a few souls remained, and the star stopped trembling.

It paused for a moment, then suddenly burst open, covering the night sky with a blue light. The burning blue flame seemed to melt the stone monument and leaped out of the night sky.

The entire soul surface of the monument emitted a blue light, giving the dream a new color.

After tens of seconds, the light gradually subsided, and the blue flame returned to the star like a receding tide.

In the night sky, a clear, bright, and substantial blue star was born, with a gentle and non-dazzling light.

[Frozen Azure]

[Status: Constant Burning]

[Star Power: Awakening]

[Infusion: Not Available]

[Quantification: Ancient God Ashes]

[Position: Eternal Fire]

[Strength: 200]

[Description: Instead of complaining about being in the dark, it's better to carry a lantern and move forward]

—

Rode stared at it blankly, as if he had been enchanted.

In the soul, he could already directly sense this star, flickering in the darkness of his soul, connected to his spirit. With a thought, he could use the power of this star.

[Awakening]: Awakens the potential in the soul, draws power from the void, and restores and greatly strengthens psychic abilities.

Joy blossomed in his heart for a moment. So, this is the final form of the star, like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon, revealing its true form.

After reaching constant burning, it no longer needs to consume humanity to maintain its fire, and [Soul Rejuvenation] has also evolved into [Awakening].

This ability is too powerful!

Not only can it quickly restore and strengthen the soul, but it also inherits the recovery effect of [Reishi Rejuvenation].

At first glance, this inconspicuous [Frozen Azure] is actually so powerful.

Rode is looking forward to the next star.

He turned his head to look at the soul strength on the back of the monument, which had increased to 230, more than five times stronger than before.

Very good.

Rode confidently went to the back of the monument, lightly touching the surface, and blood-red words flowed down.

Invasion!

Invasion!

Invasion!

After one sunset, the invasion will arrive.

Warning: About to enter the River of Eternal Death!

Invader: Huntmaster Redling of the River of Death.

Invasion Environment: Night of Nightmares.

Escape from Invasion: No.

Invasion Threat: Certain Death.

—

Rode's heart sank slightly.

Still certain death.

However, he is not very worried.

The threat assessment only calculates the difference in soul strength between the two sides, and he has not only become stronger in soul strength but also has more means to kill enemies.

In addition, Rode remembers very clearly that these pieces of information were all fuzzy before and only became clear as the invasion approached.

This gives him a feeling that this dreamland seems to be a physical entity running in some unknown space.

Rode noted this speculation, came to the Soul Altar, and listened to the remaining souls of the Doomsday Cultists one by one.

Most of them were noisy voices of desires, but there were also a few pieces of useful information.

Among them, the most mentioned were "Baker Street No. 13" and "Alexis."

Alexis is the fake Consul who loves to eat shit and run naked, the Black Priest.

Baker Street No. 13 he has heard from the souls of several Doomsday Cultists. It seems to be some critical stronghold.

Alright, after I get through the invasion, I will go and overturn your stronghold.

Rode casually sacrificed their souls, obtaining 51 No Soul Souls and 27 living humanity.

The number of No Soul Souls became 16,973, and the number of living humanity increased to 39.

Now, the fireballs that were floating above the Soul Altar have only three left.

Rode used 360 complete souls to upgrade [Frozen Azure] to its final position.

Looking at it this way, [Dark Devourer] is definitely a special star. Rode only added one soul, [Northern Prince], from beginning to end, and it directly reached the [Eternal Fire].

In comparison, [Frozen Azure] went through five levels and six trials, first adding soul kindling, then adding countless souls, to reach its final state. However, its strength far surpasses [Dark Devourer].

Rode finally looked at this blue star, his heart raising two questions:

After "Quantification," what will happen to this star?

What exactly is a star? It looks like a star, but also like a bonfire. Its description changed three times as its position increased, and these words feel like epitaphs, giving people the feeling that they have personality.

But these questions only turned in his mind once before fading away.

Rode returned to the material world, closed his eyes, and slept quietly, waiting for the unseen sun to set.