# Chapter 3: After Allied/Friendly Units on the Fungal Carpet Fall to Critical Condition, Their Health Recovery Speed Increases
If it were before, the first option would definitely be chosen, but at this stage, what's needed are more noticeable abilities. For example, after a beastman warrior falls critically wounded, some fungal carpet climbs onto him to help restore his health.
The amount of recovery isn't the key point. The key is that this recovery doesn't appear out of nowhere. So the fungal carpet must absorb a certain amount of bio-energy, which suddenly makes sense. As long as the fungal carpet's bio-energy absorption efficiency is controlled—only activating about 10% of full power—and the total amount of bio-energy the fungal carpet can store is also limited to only 5% storage capacity.
Furthermore, when the insect nest cultivates the fungal carpet, give it genetic instructions to only absorb the bio-energy of the sea race. This isn't difficult, as the primordial life force characteristics of the beast race and sea race are vastly different.
In this way, even if the fungal carpet starts absorbing bio-energy, the beastman warriors and lords won't suspect the purpose of the bio-energy, let alone imagine it could be used to mass-produce troops. Moreover, after the fungal carpet absorbs and filters the enemy's primordial life force, it converts it into energy to heal them. Just thinking about this is satisfying, and the beast race won't have any suspicions.
As for the insect race not needing this ability to recover health on the fungal carpet after falling critically wounded, that doesn't matter. Even if the current version of the fungal carpet develops to be unsuitable for the insect race, it's only a loss of some "Evolution Points." Ultimately, the fungal carpet is just an insect race structure derived from the insect nest. Even if this version of the fungal carpet becomes useless, at most, this "Insect Race Structure: Genetic Memory" can be stripped away and the previous version—the fungal carpet genetic memory at only Lv.20—can be reactivated.
Of course, the development of Jila, the insect nest, and the gene library must be handled with extreme caution. These cannot be stripped away or abandoned, and there's no possibility of reactivating previous versions.
Su Xiao continued upgrading the fungal carpet. When he raised it to Lv.30, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: Due to "Race Level" restrictions, the fungal carpet has been upgraded to its maximum level.]
[Fungal Carpet Lv.30: Bio-energy and soul energy absorption efficiency +50%, movement speed of all allied/friendly units on the fungal carpet +25%, stamina recovery speed +35%, true stamina +5 points. When an allied/friendly unit falls critically wounded, their life force recovery speed will be increased to a certain extent.]
It could be said that this version of the fungal carpet is completely unsuitable for the insect race. The insect race doesn't need stamina speed recovery, true stamina attributes, or critical wound recovery. Even the movement speed bonus isn't particularly necessary.
The insect race has never relied on individual strength but rather on endless insect swarms charging at the enemy. Under such circumstances, movement speed on the fungal carpet isn't that important. When the insect race fights the enemy, it's usually a melee first, and only then is the fungal carpet deployed.
As for stamina recovery, stamina attributes, and critical wound recovery, these are all useless bonuses for combat insect creatures. After a combat insect creature exhausts its stamina, it will be automatically decomposed by the fungal carpet, converted into bio-energy, and transmitted back to the mother nest. The mother nest then uses this bio-energy to cultivate new combat insect creatures.
In the time it takes for one combat insect creature to recover from critical condition to full strength, the insect nest can probably complete three to four batches of troop production.
Although this fungal carpet isn't suitable for combat insect creatures, it's suitable for the beast race. The beast race can't mass-produce troops, so stamina recovery, critical wound recovery, and true stamina attribute bonuses are all very important.
After other lords discover this item, as long as Su Xiao operates properly, over 90% of beast race armies will use it. What Su Xiao needs is the Evolution Points generated by the mother nest after the fungal carpet absorbs massive amounts of soul energy.
The current problem is how to let other lords see the power of the fungal carpet. The best method is definitely to appoint Eguin, Harvey, Viper, and Evil Fang as beast race leaders. The six legions of Twilight City—with Eguin and Harvey each leading two, and Viper and Evil Fang each leading one legion—will then go to the main battlefield.
In this way, Su Xiao can not only steadily earn 1800 reputation points per day from the legion's combat participation but also have these six legions under his command demonstrate the power of the fungal carpet on the main battlefield. At that time, other beast race lords will naturally come to him.
So, the current difficulty is still gold coins and food. The six legions of Twilight City owe a total of over 2 million gold coins in back pay. To go to the front lines, at least 500 units of high-quality food supplies must be prepared.
There's no problem with food supplies. Su Xiao still has over 2000 units of food supplies in the main city's warehouse. Starting this morning, Amu, Eguin, and the others have been transporting this batch of food supplies back.
What really needs to be solved is the gold coin shortage. Previously, with a large batch of crystal resin, taking out over 2 million gold coins wasn't a problem. But that windfall was used to feed the lords of Twilight City's fiefdom. Otherwise, how could things be so peaceful now?
Of course, this is only one of the reasons Su Xiao was willing to take out that windfall. After taking out several thousand units of high-quality food and various daily necessities, the happiness and economic situation of the residents in Twilight City's fiefdom began to skyrocket from this morning.
The most direct impact of this is that the fiefdom evaluation has already risen from D-level to D+. By tonight at the latest, it will reach C-level, and it will definitely climb to B-level afterward.
The requirement for the second ring of the main mission is to raise the fiefdom evaluation to C-level, so this windfall wasn't wasted. As for where to get 2 million gold coins later to fill the gap in the beast race legions of the fiefdom, that definitely requires going to the sea race.
Previously, Su Xiao led the lord team to raid the central building of White Hoof Port and destroyed the "Array Core" in the lowest level treasury of the central building. This seemed like destruction, but it was actually leaving a backup plan.
If Su Xiao hadn't destroyed that "Array Core," the sea race would have strictly inspected it to prevent Su Xiao from leaving any backup plan inside. Conversely, if Su Xiao smashed it, the sea race wouldn't have such concerns. Who would leave a backup plan and then destroy the "Array Core"? Wouldn't that also destroy the backup plan they worked so hard to leave?
The real situation is that Su Xiao really did this. He can be sure that when the sea race mages repair that "Array Core," they will definitely use local materials. The materials of that "Array Core" have long had resonance with the array patterns inside White Hoof Port. Rashly changing materials to remake the "Array Core" would reduce the efficiency of all arrays in White Hoof Port by 20% to 30%.
This also means that when those sea race mages repair the array, they will also aggregate the micron-level array diagrams contained in those materials one by one. A single such array diagram is useless, but when multiple are aggregated, they can be activated. This is the backup plan Su Xiao left.
As for the effect of this array diagram, it's simple: a directional attraction array diagram. Its function is to unidirectionally activate the demon teleportation array, causing it to generate a powerful attraction force, sucking all surrounding items into it, and then teleporting them to the corresponding array diagram set by Su Xiao.
Don't forget, White Hoof Port is the only safe coastal fortress of the sea race on the main battlefield. The energy crystals mined from the Crystal Forest must first arrive at White Hoof Port for transfer. After purification and catalysis at White Hoof Port, they become crystal resin, which is finally transported away.
So, just wait for now. The treasury of White Hoof Port needs some recovery time. Having just been looted once, it needs at least three to four days before it can recover.
As for whether the sea race commander of White Hoof Port, Penelo, will abandon that treasury, that's impossible. No matter what, it's the safest place in White Hoof Port. The last looting was purely an accident. The central building was captured, and the treasury's defenses held out for so long, which was already quite surprising.
Su Xiao took the half-bag of potato chips that Jila had left over. It was almost time for breakfast, so why eat snacks? This made Jila's gaze turn to Bubu Wang, thinking about asking for another bag. Bubu Wang immediately looked at the ceiling, pretending nothing had happened.
When he went back down the stairs to the first floor of the castle, Su Xiao found it was much warmer here. The aroma of food was also wafting from the kitchen. When he arrived at the dining room, he found the little lord, Gurwe, sitting quietly at the dining table, waiting for the meal to start.
Not long after Su Xiao sat down, the maid came out of the kitchen carrying the meal. She was obviously waiting for Su Xiao to arrive before serving. Don't underestimate anyone's intelligence; everyone has their own way of surviving.
After enjoying a fairly hearty breakfast, Su Xiao looked at Gurwe. From the moment they met until now, this little lord had remained silent. Su Xiao wasn't surprised by this. Gurwe didn't lack language ability; she just hadn't spoken a word since her parents were killed.
Considering Gurwe's experience and her calm demeanor upon meeting, it was clear her mental capacity far exceeded that of her peers.
"You can't leave Twilight City for now. Until the back pay for the six legions is filled, the outside isn't really my territory."
Hearing this, Gurwe nodded. Her gaze toward the main door showed she really wanted to go out.
"Are they your friends?"
Su Xiao put down his utensils. Gurwe beside him looked puzzled, as if she didn't understand what Su Xiao was saying.
"Since they're not, Amu, you go."
"Moo."
Amu, holding the Dragonheart Axe, walked out of the castle. At first, Gurwe sat quietly, but when Amu pushed open the door, her gaze became somewhat uneasy. She secretly touched the gem buckle in her pocket with her finger. Without thinking, this was using the resonance of the gem to convey a message, telling the several infiltrators not to harm Amu and to retreat immediately.
Actually, Gurwe didn't need to worry. Those infiltrators wanting to harm Amu was indeed beyond their capabilities.
After a while, Amu returned with quite a bit of snow on him. Seeing that Amu wasn't injured and there was no blood on his weapon, the little lord Gurwe relaxed. She didn't want Amu to be hurt, nor did she want anything to happen to those infiltrators. Although Gurwe remained quiet, her much more active aura showed she was somewhat secretly pleased.
Was it that Amu couldn't deal with those infiltrators? Of course not. Although Amu was a bit simple, he wasn't stupid. Especially regarding Su Xiao's orders, he could fully understand the implied meaning. Bubu Wang, Amu, and Beini all knew that for dealing with this kind of infiltrator, Baha would definitely be sent. But this time, Amu was sent, which clearly had another meaning.
Su Xiao didn't believe that the old lord hadn't developed some forces loyal to his daughter Gurwe. Now it seemed such forces existed, but they weren't strong.
Su Xiao looked at Amu's message in the team channel. There were three infiltrators: one wolf clan, one fox clan, and one tree lush clan member who was relatively short among his kind, only a little over three meters tall.
Judging by appearance, these three were relatively young, around their early twenties. Their infiltration today was more to check on Gurwe's safety.
These three had no intention of rescuing Gurwe. No matter how you looked at it, Gurwe was safer in the castle, just with restricted freedom. Since these three weren't here to rescue her, what was their purpose? Or rather, what were they helping Gurwe do?
Given Gurwe's current situation, it wasn't realistic for her to command these three as a lord. So, the relationship between these three and Gurwe was more likely that of friends, friends willing to help Gurwe do things to a certain extent.
Thinking this way, what would Gurwe have these three help her do? Get rid of the butler? Those three clearly couldn't do that. The butler had the secret support of the tribal wizards, and against Su Xiao's side, he was indeed fragile. But these three friends of Gurwe still didn't have the ability to confront the butler.
Excluding the butler matter, what Gurwe most wanted to do was definitely to find the secret treasure left by the old lord. Considering that the secret treasure had been passed down in Gurwe's family for many years, as the current head of the family, Gurwe could probably sense the general location of that thing.
Don't forget, there were rumors that the secret treasure was inlaid with two "Primordial Fragments." With the abilities of Gurwe's three friends, there was no way they could gain an advantage among the many competitors. But if Gurwe could really sense the general location of that secret treasure, the treasure-hunting team formed by these three was very likely already very close to that secret treasure.
"So, the three of them have almost found the secret treasure and came today to tell you this good news."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Gurwe, who had been quietly and elegantly enjoying her after-meal tea, froze on the spot. But she quickly recovered, as if nothing had happened.
"Oh? It seems I guessed wrong. Those three infiltrators aren't working for you?"
Hearing this, Gurwe remained quiet, her innocent gaze as if she hadn't understood anything. It could only be said that children from Transcendent Primordial Worlds were all such good actors.
Su Xiao took out a bag of gold coins and placed it on the table. Gurwe beside him, although a bit tempted, ultimately shook her head.
"Don't want to go out for a stroll?"
Su Xiao picked up the money bag on the table. Gurwe struggled internally for a while before finally holding out both hands to take the money bag. However, after accepting the money bag, she ran upstairs with a thumping sound, retrieved a Soul Crystal (Small) from somewhere, placed it in Su Xiao's hand, and then went to the kitchen to drag the maid, asking her to accompany her out.
After the maid took Gurwe, who had changed into winter clothes, out, Su Xiao put the soul crystal between his fingers into a wine glass, then drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, crunching and chewing the soul crystal.
"Boss, I sensed something incredible on those three infiltrators."
Baha quietly flew out of the alternate space, lowering his voice as he continued: "Among them, the fox clan member has a very hidden mark on them. That thing has some abyss characteristics. It doesn't look like erosion, more like a tracking coordinate left by someone."
Hearing this, Su Xiao immediately thought of one person: Demon Scythe Talid. She had also set her sights on this treasure-hunting team and shared the same view as Su Xiao: this treasure-hunting team would definitely be the first to find where the secret treasure was.
After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao had Baha secretly protect Gurwe to prevent her from accidentally encountering Demon Scythe Talid.
An unknown powerful tribal wizard, Demon Scythe Talid, and counting Su Xiao's own side, the competition for this secret treasure was fiercer than imagined.
However, compared to the whereabouts of the secret treasure, Su Xiao was more puzzled by another matter: he had already summoned Jila, so why hadn't the Void Tree reputation deduction penalty arrived yet? The fact that no penalty prompt had appeared for so long made one wonder if this was brewing a big move.
Just as Su Xiao thought of this, the Void Tree prompt appeared.
[Prompt (Void Tree): Because the hunter has summoned the insect race dominator Jila, and the insect race dominator Jila has already caused significant changes to multiple primordial world systems certified by the Void Tree, you will be deducted a "Massive" amount of Void Tree reputation.]
[Reputation deduction in progress...]
[Deduction failed. Unable to complete this deduction with reputation at -???]
[Penalty balance mechanism activated. In this world's legend ranking list, you currently have 83450 points of legend.]
[Your legend and reputation have been synchronized. Your legend has been changed to -???]
[Ranking refreshed. Current ranking as follows:]
Last Place: Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise), -??? points of legend.
First Place: Brother Ruthless (Reincarnation Paradise), 109500 points of legend.
Second Place: Demon Scythe Talid (Holy Light Paradise), 108410 points of legend.
Third Place: Shenfu (Sanctuary Paradise), 86900 points of legend.
Fourth Place: Aige (Apocalypse Paradise): 85850 points of legend.
Fifth Place: Enzuo (Death Paradise), 84920 points of legend.
Seeing this ranking, Su Xiao immediately checked his current reputation points. After finding that his reputation points were unaffected, his mood instantly cleared up. As for legend points, he didn't particularly care about that aspect. Whether it was finding the Wolf Tomb, the "Initial Mark" fragments, or preparing to stock up at the sea race's faction store, these all had higher priority than competing for the top spot on the ranking list. Moreover, there was a chaotic battle of gods happening in this world.
However, what puzzled Su Xiao was that as the last place, why was he ranked above Brother Ruthless who was in first place? And that -??? legend points seemed to have a lot of operational potential.
PS: (I have to go out for the next few days, so updates will be unstable or there may be no updates. Dear readers, please forgive me. Normal updates will resume before the end of the month.)