Chapter 13: Accumulating Too Slow? Go Steal
Within the lush layers of vines, a Stinger lay in ambush, having tracked the scent and heat residue of its prey to this location.
Fifty meters away from the Stinger, a massive bird stretched its neck, searching for fruit among the trees.
Pfft!
Like a jet of air, a half-meter-long bone spike shot out from the vine layer, cutting through the air with a sharp gleam before piercing the giant bird's neck.
The bird tilted its head, let out a mournful cry, and turned to flee. Before it could run far, two more venom-coated bone spikes flew over. These spikes were slender and sharp, designed solely to pierce the prey's body, with limited destructive power.
Both spikes embedded themselves in the bird's thigh roots, slowing its escape. A third spike struck its rear.
The bird leaped in pain, but mid-air, its body rapidly numbed, and it crashed to the ground with a thud.
A Mantis Armor rushed forward, its tail tip extending a ring of hooked blades to firmly grip the bird's neck and drag it away.
It was nearly a perfect hunt—no communication needed, yet the coordination was flawless.
The next morning at 8 a.m., Su Xiao lay in a wooden shed. The nest's interior was too sticky for him to sleep there.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang's bark roused Su Xiao. The dog was yawning, already looking somewhat tired.
Through the adventure group channel, Su Xiao recalled Amu and Baha. After a night of work, it was time to verify the results.
The Mantis Armors and Stingers were still busy; they were practically biological machines, working 18 hours straight with only a half-hour rest near the nest before resuming their energetic hunting.
Su Xiao checked the nest's stored bio-energy: 1952/2000 points. It was close to advancing to the next rank—only 48 points away.
The 14 Stingers were fairly efficient, contributing about a third of the bio-energy. However, during the latter half of the night, one Stinger was torn apart by a wild beast, taking a Mantis Armor with it.
After waiting about half an hour, three Mantis Armors dragged back three large beasts. The process was the same: dismember the prey, then let the nest devour the flesh.
The nest churned, and a stream of emerald liquid surged from below. The surrounding Mantis Armors swarmed forward to consume it—this was excess bio-energy.
"Jila."
"I'm here."
A lazy voice came from within the nest.
"You can advance to the second stage."
"That is also my hope."
Inside the nest, Jila was completely enveloped by it, with vast amounts of bio-energy flowing into her body.
Hearing Jila's words, Bubu Wang was surprised. He looked at Su Xiao with confusion, as if asking, "The bug sister is this obedient now?"
"The demonic force is gradually taking effect."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang understood and went into the wooden shed Su Xiao had built, collapsing into sleep.
As Jila advanced, the entire nest sealed itself, even shrinking slightly to enhance its defenses.
A lengthy wait began. Clearly, advancing to the second stage was different from spawning troops—it was slower, and any mistake meant failure, which led only to death.
As Jila began her evolution, Su Xiao felt the surrounding world shift. Something invisible seemed to gather toward the nest, shielding it and Jila.
The Withering Seed was taking effect. Since Jila wasn't a pure plot character, the seed didn't make her a World Child (false), but even so, absorbing it made her a special existence in this world. She gained a boost from fate's power, albeit a minuscule amount.
While Su Xiao waited for Jila's evolution to complete, the Apostle's Eye floating above issued a warning: suspicious creatures had entered within a one-kilometer radius.
Su Xiao carefully sensed the feedback from the Apostle's Eye, pinpointed the location, and vanished into the forest in a few flashes.
Half a kilometer from the nest, several primitive humans wearing crude fur skirts and covered in fiery red markings moved through the underbrush. Their steps were agile, and the leader held a broken insect leg that emitted a faint glow.
These primitives moved quickly, and from their expressions, they seemed to have discovered some kind of "treasure."
"Flame Fire, can we find the new mother body?"
Fragmented conversation reached Su Xiao, who stood behind a massive tree. Hearing these snippets made him uneasy—the Sun Tribe seemed to have a way to locate nests.
"The leg's resonance is not wrong..."
The leader, marked on his forehead, spoke with fiery red eyes, as if flames burned within them.
Behind the tree, Su Xiao judged their path and leaped onto a branch, silent and completely hidden.
He crouched on a half-meter-thick branch, slowing his heartbeat to a minimum.
A dozen seconds later, the six primitives passed beneath the tree. When the last one was directly below and ahead of him, Su Xiao dropped from the branch.
Mid-air, Cyan Steel Shadow Energy enveloped the Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao gripped the blade in a reverse hold, tip pointing down.
Pfft!
The sharp blade pierced through bone, entering through the crown of a primitive's head and exiting through his chin.
Landing, Su Xiao reversed his grip, switching to a forward hold, and kicked the primitive in front of him in the lower back.
The primitive with the pierced head flew forward, already dead, crashing into his comrade at the front.
Su Xiao stepped forward. Dead leaves scattered as his blade cut a streak of light, pale blue arcs of electricity flashing in the air.
With a swish, a head flew up, its face frozen in shock.
"Enemy—"
The primitive to Su Xiao's left barely shouted a word before Su Xiao gripped the blade with both hands and stabbed it toward the ground.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
Hum~
Everything around slowed down, except Su Xiao.
Pfft. Pfft...
Another head and most of a torso flew up. Two primitives stood rigidly, blood spraying meters high from their severed necks.
With a bang, the corpse Su Xiao had first pierced slammed into the leader at the front.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
Clang.
A blue-white blade aura shot out. This technique had one trait: speed—extreme speed.
The aura sliced through a primitive's neck. So fast that no blood line appeared.
'Blade Path Sword: Time!'
Su Xiao stabbed the blade into the ground again. The primitive leader had just pushed aside his comrade's corpse when his movements slowed.
Clang, clang, clang.
Three blade auras struck the leader, severing both arms, and the last one cut through his waist, passing clean through.
Back in Dead Silence City, Su Xiao never had such a satisfying slashing sensation. Enemies there were all tough nuts—even breaking through the Black King's defense was a challenge.
His self-developed blade techniques, combined with the boost from Blade Grandmaster Lv.26, multiplied his killing power. This was the true combat style of a Blade Grandmaster.
Su Xiao angled his blade toward the ground. A few drops of blood slid off the edge. With enough momentum, the blade stayed clean.
Blood hit the ground as the five corpses finally fell. The primitive leader collapsed with a thud, incapacitated—Su Xiao had deliberately left him alive.
Through the Apostle's Eye, Su Xiao checked the primitive's info. His health was at 21%.
D·Assassin appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He fired a shot into the primitive's side, avoiding vital organs. The shot dropped his health to 9%, putting him in a dying state.
Sheathing his blade, Su Xiao picked up the broken insect leg from the ground and crouched before the primitive leader.
"How do you use this?"
Su Xiao pressed D·Assassin against the primitive's head. Any sudden move, and he'd blow his brains out.
"Don't... know..."
Pfft~
The bullet fired, blowing the primitive leader's head apart. Su Xiao stood, took a test tube from his storage space, and poured its powder around the area.
Soon, a beast's roar echoed from afar. The bodies would be dealt with quickly.
As Su Xiao turned to leave, several small streams of transparent crystal fragments rose and drifted into the [Soul Lock Lantern] hanging at his waist. Only melee kills collected soul crystal fragments—Su Xiao had learned this through practice.
He held the lantern, barely the size of a pinky finger, before him. It already contained many fragments, and the deep craving within him grew stronger.
A rumbling sound came from behind. A beast resembling a black panther, but much larger, approached. The scent of blood kept it from advancing.
Su Xiao glanced at the beast. Too little meat—he dismissed it.
He headed back toward the nest, eager to see what changes the second stage would bring for Jila and the nest. More importantly, he had obtained a leg that seemed capable of sensing nests. This was a good find, even if he didn't know how to use it yet.
Simply hunting beasts to accumulate bio-energy was too slow. Su Xiao's idea was: could he attack other nests to seize their bio-energy? After all, most nests hoarded it, as it was the only means of evolution.
If this plan worked, Jila's advancement speed would skyrocket.
Even if he couldn't plunder bio-energy, could he send Bubu Wang to infiltrate the enemy and steal it somehow?
These ideas, Su Xiao would test only after Jila evolved to the second stage.