Chapter 43: Good News
Among the few people in the Radiance Preaching Grounds, only two were currently possible to negotiate with: Dorothy and the Decayed Man. One was easy to deal with, and the other had infiltrated the mutant base camp and was familiar with the situation there.
The advantage of the Radiance Preaching Grounds was that it was not far from the mutant base camp and was sufficiently concealed. Hiding here to recover after a battle was a good choice.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Dorothy slightly bowed to Su Xiao to express her apology.
Returning to the preaching grounds, Dorothy walked into her own doorway. Inside, candles were lit, and there was no door. The space was about a dozen square meters, containing a wooden bed, two wooden stools, and some cooking utensils. This was all of Dorothy's possessions.
Dorothy wasn't too worried that Su Xiao harbored ill intentions toward her, because she was very poor and had almost nothing.
"Mr. White Night, you can use everyone here except the little beetle, as long as you can kill the Mutant King."
Dorothy got straight to the point. She had already learned earlier that Su Xiao's target was the Mutant King. This made her both disappointed and happy. Disappointed that Su Xiao wasn't planning to gather the surviving humans, but happy that Su Xiao was willing to deal with the Mutant King.
"Use you? How?"
"Well..."
Dorothy was momentarily at a loss for words. To some extent, the Radiance Preaching Grounds was 'invincible'—both poor and with several severely wounded members. Those with strong combat power had no intention of dealing with the mutants. Compared to the mutants, that one actually hated humans more; it was humans who had turned her into what she was now.
"I'll be staying here for a while. When the time is right, I'll go find the Mutant King. Answer two questions for me."
"Alright."
"What is the King's Heart?"
"It's a treasure of the mutants. It has existed for a long time. There are four pieces in total. When all four are gathered..."
Dorothy spoke softly. Through her description, Su Xiao learned the function of the 'King's Heart'.
The four pieces of the 'King's Heart' were originally a single whole, a treasure of the mutants, kept by the Mutant King. This thing originally had no use. Even if implanted into a mutant's body, that mutant would die in an extremely short time.
A treasure without value was worthless. A certain generation of Mutant King split it into four pieces, which was a very wise decision. After the small pieces of the 'King's Heart' were implanted into a mutant's body, they would greatly overdraw the mutant's potential, rapidly increasing that mutant's strength.
A sub-human discovered this. By ambushing and killing a mutant commander, he seized one piece of the 'King's Heart' and implanted it into himself. The result was that he did become stronger, but died two years later due to overdrawing his potential.
Those two years were the beginning of the revival of humans and orcs. Having tasted the benefits, the next generation of sub-humans began collecting the 'King's Heart'.
What no one expected was that the sub-human succeeded. After multiple experiments, the four 'King's Hearts' were implanted into the sub-human's elder brother. Unfortunately, his elder brother did not gain powerful strength but instead turned into a beast-like mutant, huge in size, with wings on his back, and three rows of teeth on both the upper and lower jaws of his massive mouth, resembling the image of an evil dragon from myths.
Even worse, this beast mutant was controlled by the Mutant King. The Mutant King had deliberately allowed the sub-human to obtain the four 'King's Hearts', gradually luring him into turning his brother into a monster. That sub-human was very decisive, preventing humanity from losing the four 'King's Hearts'.
Through bloody and tearful experiments, people finally discovered that at most three pieces of the 'King's Heart' could be implanted into the body, replacing the heart, liver, and lungs respectively. The last piece was implanted on the body surface. This way, the power of the 'King's Heart' could be unleashed without being controlled by the Mutant King. The person would die within a day, but could exert extremely powerful strength.
Just as this research result was obtained, six mutant commanders attacked and seized the four 'King's Hearts'. On their way back, the sub-humans recaptured one piece. From then on, neither side had ever gathered all four 'King's Hearts' again.
"I see."
Su Xiao now understood the function of the black flesh ball, the 'King's Heart'. After implanting this thing into the body, one could quickly gain power by overdrawing potential, partially mutating, and having their rationality affected.
If Su Xiao implanted it himself, he would definitely not become stronger but weaker. He fought using techniques. If his rationality was affected, his judgment and adaptability would greatly decrease.
Su Xiao indeed couldn't use it himself, but he could give it to a temporarily created alchemical creature. He had nothing to do at the moment. Originally, he planned to wait until there was news from the Sith Star before acting. Taking this time to create a temporary alchemical creature was also good.
"Do you have the 'King's Heart'?"
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Dorothy's gaze wavered.
"I... I have it, but I won't give it to you."
Dorothy said the toughest words in the most cowardly tone.
"Give him the King's Heart."
The voice of Beast King Tyld came, causing Dorothy to hesitate for a moment before finally walking toward the doorway of the triple-bodied one. The 'King's Heart' actually didn't belong to her but to Tyld.
Soon, Dorothy came back holding a black flesh ball. This was the second 'King's Heart'. Gathering all four 'King's Hearts' was basically impossible. The last piece was sealed away by the Mutant King. Except for him, no one knew where it was.
Beast King Tyld was willing to hand over the 'King's Heart' for no special reason. Since someone was willing to deal with the Mutant King, he would show his support appropriately. Moreover, the 'King's Heart' he provided was not complete; he had kept a very small piece to ensure that the four 'King's Hearts' would never be gathered.
Looking at the 'King's Heart' in his hand, Su Xiao pondered for a moment before walking into an unoccupied doorway, beginning to conceive what type of alchemical creature to create.
In terms of intelligence, of course, it wouldn't have the treatment of Amu or Baha. They were previously alchemical creatures but no longer were.
The intelligence didn't need to be too high, which could avoid the drawback of reduced rationality after implanting the 'King's Heart'. The size needed to be large—this was the minimum condition for being cannon fodder. The existence time didn't need to be too long, compressed to 8 to 9 days. A short existence time meant no need to worry about the load on the core formation, and combat power would also be stronger.
As for materials, Su Xiao planned to use T19-Yahe Ore as the main material, commonly known as Blue Ore. This was a type of ore with biological activity, perfect for serving as the main structure of a giant alchemical creature.
Su Xiao had 878 Blue Ores, obtained from the miners of Apocalypse in the Abyss World.
For the core formation, since durability wasn't a concern, processed Soul Crystal (Complete) combined with a few other materials would suffice. This wasn't an alchemy laboratory, so conditions were limited.
This giant alchemical creature was for saving his life at critical moments. If everything went smoothly, Su Xiao needed to reach the mutant base camp, kill the Mutant King, and seize the World Core. If he was surrounded during the process, using this giant alchemical creature as a vanguard to break out would be perfect.
"Amu, guard the entrance."
Su Xiao took out Blue Ores one by one from his storage space, along with five Soul Crystals (Complete). As soon as he took out the Soul Crystals, a pair of eyes looked over—it was the triple-bodied one. There was no greed in those eyes, only confusion.
Su Xiao ignored him and began processing several materials. Just then, two announcements appeared.
[Announcement: Successfully seized Writhing Spirit ×2.]
[Announcement: If War Mission 2 fails, all allied contractors will be forcibly executed.]