booktalesy Chapter 44 Dark Corruption, Soul Harvesting
Chapter 44 Dark Corruption, Soul Harvesting
Territory: Great Xia Town, name can be changed at any time.
The current level is a one-star town.
The current population is 9,621, and the town can accommodate up to 30,000 people.
The town's unique trait is that any contracted envoy who officially obtains a town identity will forever enjoy a double bonus to the Yin Yuan cultivation gained from hunting Yin creatures. Once they leave or betray the town, this effect will disappear permanently.
All residents of this town can enjoy the original 30% recovery speed bonus of their respective wooden houses, and can also use basic materials to upgrade their own sheltered wooden houses.
With each step the wooden house ascends, the inhabitants will randomly receive different levels of rewards from the underworld.
The town's exclusive bonus is a 10-point increase each to both the Netherworld Connection and Luck.
After upgrading your town, you'll receive various unexpected and generous rewards. Build and protect your territory in the underworld.
Tip: As the town head, you can take in homeless exiles to increase your population; you can also issue simple, mandatory territory quests to all your citizens.
The next upgrade requirement is to have ten star-rated cabins, which is currently zero.
After carefully reading through all the detailed information about the town, word by word, Fang Han's face showed a thoughtful expression.
"This underworld created by the will of the netherworld really has everything! It's completely integrated the gameplay of those mortal world construction and management games. Building your own territory, constantly upgrading your town, unlocking buildings and functions you've never seen before. If this continues, does it mean that one day I'll have to lead my people to conquer the heavens and the underworld, starting from the lowest level, the first realm, and fighting my way up to those higher-dimensional ghost realms, building my own underworld empire?"
He was making these plans in his mind, a hint of barely suppressed excitement and ambition flashing in his eyes.
After a moment's thought, as the creator and first head of Daxia Town, he exercised his naming rights and officially named the town, which had just risen from the ruins and was full of infinite possibilities, "Daxia".
Announcement from the Underworld of Daxia Town: Congratulations to Contract Envoy Fang Han for officially becoming the Town Chief of Daxia Town.
The town is currently at level one.
Once a town reaches ten stars, it can be officially upgraded to a higher-level main city.
The era of territories has officially begun.
Kyushu Underworld War Zone Announcement: Due to the birth of the first town in this war zone, the town upgrade mission is now officially launched in the Kyushu Underworld War Zone.
This is a special hidden mission.
Any new player village that successfully hunts down the local leader of the Underworld has a chance to obtain a rare "Village Upgrade Token". With this token, you can trigger a town upgrade quest for your village.
The moment this grand announcement, addressed to the entire Kyushu war zone, resounded once again, almost every newbie village in the entire war zone that was still struggling to survive was in complete uproar.
Town quests are now open! Hunting down bosses gives you a chance to obtain the Village Upgrade Token that can change your destiny? Doesn't this mean we also have a chance to transform our godforsaken newbie village into a town with all sorts of buffs and privileges, just like Great Xia Town?
Although they are not yet fully aware of the crazy benefits of upgrading the town after the beginner village is upgraded, the contract envoys of Kyushu are not stupid. They can sense the implications just from the words of the announcement.
The fact that it unlocks the entire warzone chat group is enough to drive all the other newbie villages crazy.
This means you can obtain more detailed information from other, stronger villages, gain a deeper understanding of the rules of this world, avoid countless detours, and greatly increase your chances of survival.
Of course, besides this informational advantage, there must be other substantial benefits that can transform a person completely.
Otherwise, the supreme will of the underworld would never have created such a construction-oriented setting that seems unrelated to individual combat power.
This must be closely related to future trends.
Fang Han was also slightly attracted by this sudden announcement that was made to the entire Kyushu.
This seems to be the start of the Netherworld's will establishing territorial boundaries across a large area of the Kyushu war zone.
It seems that the era of simply grinding monsters may be coming to an end, and the mainstream in the future will definitely be villages, guilds, or even national wars.
Thinking of this, he turned his attention to the specific conditions for his Great Xia Town to be upgraded to a one-star town: the town must have ten star-rated wooden houses.
This sheltered cabin is the spawn point for every contracted envoy upon arrival. It is an absolutely safe zone protected by the rules of the Netherworld's will. It has the characteristic of a 30% recovery speed from the start, and no outsider or ghost can enter without the owner's permission. It is the most reliable safe house.
However, when the village was still in its primitive stage, the wooden house did not have a strict hierarchy; it was just an ordinary, dilapidated little house that could barely keep out the wind and rain.
But ever since the starting village was officially upgraded to a town, every wooden house now has a clear level label indicating that it can be upgraded.
Take Fang Han's own room as an example. Because he has never taken care of it, it is now at the lowest, most basic level.
To upgrade these scattered wooden huts to one star, the most basic materials needed are listed clearly: ten units of wood, ordinary grade is fine; five units of stone, ordinary grade is fine; and five units of fur, ordinary grade is fine—fur can be directly collected from ordinary Yin creatures hunted.
"The upgrade requirements seem pretty simple; they're all the most common materials with no special requirements," Fang Han muttered to himself.
Then, on a whim, he opened the Kyushu War Zone chat group, which had just been unlocked due to the town upgrade and was open to all war zones, preparing to mobilize the power of the masses.
He sent a message in the group: "Everyone, this is Fang Han. Yes, I'm the town head of Daxia Town, the one you're discussing right now, and the one mentioned in the announcement earlier. I have something to tell you all. Daxia Town is newly built and its foundation is still very weak. We need everyone's help and effort to make this town in our Nine Provinces stronger. I believe everyone now has a basic understanding of this underworld created by the Netherworld Will, right? That's right, besides personal cultivation, contracted underworld objects, and various ghostly arts and underworld tools, this territory..." The town system is probably one of the most crucial aspects of this world. It's likely closely related to our ability to break through our limits and continue climbing. Therefore, there's something all the brothers in Daxia Town need to do: try to take some time to upgrade your sheltered cabins, even if it's only to one star. You can see the specific requirements for upgrading in your cabin's information. Currently, if Daxia Town can have ten cabins reach one star, it will smoothly upgrade to a two-star town. Thank you all.
When Fang Han's calm yet clear words appeared in the newly unlocked Kyushu War Zone chat, the entire chat exploded, becoming a hundred times more lively than before.
What is his identity now? He is the universally recognized "God of the Square" in the entire Kyushu War Zone. He is the fierce god who destroyed the Korean village, survived the calamity of the dead, and pushed the village to the level of a town with a single slap. He is the walking cheat code in everyone's heart. Now he is the town leader of the first town in this war zone.
The moment he opened his mouth, not only his own people in Daxia Town, but also many contract envoys from other villages became completely excited, like die-hard fans seeing their idol, and started spamming the screen.
"Holy crap, Fang Shen! The real Fang Shen! Fang Shen himself has spoken up in the battlefield group chat, let's take a group photo in the front row!"
"Okay, whatever Fang Shen says goes. I'll go chop wood and move stones right now to upgrade the wooden house."
"Ten units of wood, five units of stone, and five units of fur—all the most basic and ordinary materials imaginable. Simple, too simple. Please wait a moment, Master Fang, we'll be right there."
"We have to give Fang Shen a boost, brothers! This is the first time our Great Xia Town has ever had a full-territory construction mission. Let's go collect materials!"
"To be honest, if Fang Shen hadn't specifically mentioned it, I would have completely overlooked the upgrade function of this wooden house and thought it was just for decoration."
"That's right. I haven't spent a single day in that dilapidated wooden hut since I arrived; I've slept outdoors the whole time. That 30% recovery speed must have been incredibly useful."
"Alright, alright, hurry back and upgrade the cabins so that Fang Shen can smoothly raise the level of our town and unlock more awesome features."
At Fang Han's urging, almost all the people of Daxia Town immediately sprang into action.
They gathered in twos and threes, marching out of Daxia Town with great fanfare, heading towards the withered forests and rocky hills that were everywhere outside the town.
This time, we're not going to kill monsters, but to collect the most basic upgrade materials.
These citizens have basically already met, or even far exceeded, the upcoming newcomer assessment standards. They now have enough confidence and time to contribute to the town's development.
Seeing that everyone in the town was moving efficiently, Fang Han finally shifted his attention from the town's construction to the items that the Skeleton Knight had dropped and were piled up in his storage ring.
The first item is the Undead Warhorse, a special mount of rare quality.
The description says that this is a spirit warhorse that is bound to the soul of that undead knight, and the rider can summon it or put it away at any time using their soul power.
It has the ability to briefly take off, and its maximum flight speed can be maintained at one times the speed of sound.
"Only one speed of sound? That's a bit of a waste for me. But the design looks pretty impressive and stylish. It's alright for now, as a means of transportation to show off." Fang Han glanced at the characteristics of the Undead Warhorse, his face showing little joy.
This warhorse did not provide any real help to his actual combat ability, and its top speed was far from being three times the speed of sound when he flew through the air.
For someone like him who values practicality, this thing is currently just something to show off.
However, now that even mounts have officially appeared, there are bound to be even more powerful and stylish things to come.
Fang Han couldn't help but recall the terrifying creatures from the Fifth Realm Ghost General level Netherworld that he had glimpsed in the random matching options when he first descended and made his first summoning contract—the black snake that could destroy cities, the holy winged creature that represented radiance, and the spirits of nature's children.
If there were a chance in the future to capture all those high-level species that only exist in legends and use them as mounts or even contract with Yin creatures, wouldn't that be even more exciting? Thinking of this, Fang Han couldn't help but show a hint of anticipation on his face.
Then he turned his attention to the giant scythe that the skeleton knight had unleashed.
The Death Skeleton Scythe, a Mysterious-grade Underworld Tool.
Yin Yuan attack power increased by 320.
There are three additional traits associated with resentment.
One is Dark Corrosion, which means that the blade light and the main body released during the attack have a certain corrosive and destructive effect on other Netherworld artifacts and armor.
The second is Soul Harvest, which automatically harvests the scattered soul fragments of any creature after it is successfully killed, transforming them into pure dark power and storing them in the scythe.
Once enough soul power is stored up, it can be released all at once, doubling the power of the next attack.
The third is soul cutting. The blade's light can cut through the opponent's soul, dealing a deadly extra damage to those with weak or flawed souls.
The hint is that this artifact can only withstand a maximum of five thousand years of Yin energy cultivation. If it exceeds that, it will not be able to unleash its full power and may even shatter.
After Fang Han carefully examined all the characteristics of the Death Skeleton Scythe, a hint of unconcealed disappointment flashed across his face.
With his current terrifying cultivation level of 15,000 years, this seemingly powerful Xuan-grade Netherworld artifact would be nothing more than a useless trinket in his hands.
His cultivation level has far exceeded the limits that this scythe can withstand. Once he pours all his Yin energy into it, the scythe will probably shatter on the spot.
Moreover, its design is quite ferocious and chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), at least it doesn't fit Fang Han's personal aesthetic.
Most importantly, in terms of overall value and strangeness, this weapon is not even as good as the Tide Armband, which he had previously obtained and was also a Xuan-grade weapon but belonged to a special set.
"It's a bit of a double-edged sword, tasteless but a pity to throw away. Oh well, I'll keep it for now and give it as a reward to someone who has done a good job later." Fang Han muttered to himself, just about to casually toss it into his storage ring.
Suddenly, a slender figure appeared with lightning speed next to the death scythe, which was several times larger than her entire soul.
She flapped her ghostly wings, swirling around the scythe, her dark eyes filled with undisguised, intense interest.
The figure that suddenly appeared was none other than Xiaoqian, who was still savoring the fight.
Fang Han looked at her excited expression and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
"What? You like this sickle?" he asked, pointing to the menacing weapon.
"Waaah—" Xiaoqian seemed to understand his words completely, nodding her head up and down like a madwoman, her mind filled with the urgent emotion of "want, want."
"This scythe is way bigger than your whole body, you can't use it even if I give it to you." Fang Han shook his head helplessly, feeling that Xiaoqian seemed to have no concept of the proportion between her body size and the size of this weapon, and her brain seemed a little not working properly.
But Xiaoqian wouldn't give up. She even released a few condensed, soul-capturing whispers on the spot, which, like invisible threads, tightly bound the huge skeletal scythe of death, showing a "I won't let go until you give it to me" attitude.