Half a month later.
Brandon Territory, at a Blood Ring Base.
Clang!
Amidst the crisp sound of metal clashing, two Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors collided violently.
Wearing identical Blood Ring Armor, they looked like two iron cans. The only difference was that the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior on the left had a ribbon tied to his arm, bearing the emblem of Brandonburg.
Moreover, this special Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior appeared more robust, with superior strength, pushing his opponent back two steps! Even the armor showed slight indentations.
"The 7 Free Attributes of Pure Blood Protection, all added to the slave's Power, show a significant improvement. Unfortunately, the success rate of converting enemies of the Elite Template into slaves with Pure Blood Protection is relatively low.
"Most critically, at this stage, the Pure Blood conversion only creates temporary slaves that cannot leave this plane! My departure would mean its death. To turn Qin into my slave, I need to wait until I advance to the Hero Profession to obtain the quota for transforming permanent slaves."
Behind him, Bai Pu held an alchemy scroll in his hand and watched the two Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors fight, as the iron hammers sparked continuously, slowly assessing in his mind.
The Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior with the ribbon was precisely an elite slave enslaved by Bai Pu using Talent Skill 2: Pure Blood Protection.
The opposing Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior suddenly roared loudly. With his roar, several Dead Plague quickened their staggering steps, rushing towards Bai Pu.
Adaptive Evolution: Scaly Skin!
Bai Pu put away the scroll and directly activated the first evolutionary form, gaining a significant 50% reduction against Sharp Damage! He leaned in for a shoulder slam, and the Iron Spike Shoulder Guard struck the first Dead Plague, stumbling it backward.
Charge left, dart right!
The assault of several Dead Plague only left a few white scratches on Bai Pu's skin, barely breaking through his defense.
It must be known that besides the targeted defense from Adaptive Evolution, Bai Pu's Basic Endurance was as high as 15 points, meaning 15 points of Basic Armor, which could significantly reduce Physical Damage.
On the Iron Shoulder Guard, the blood-colored runes of the Flesh and Blood Spell lit up, as if red flames were burning. Around Bai Pu, threads of blood-colored energy extended from within the Dead Plague, attaching to Bai Pu's body surface, forming a semi-transparent Blood Shield.
Professional Skill: Flesh Armor!
The Dead Plague constantly endured Magic Damage, and although the 1~3 points of Magic Damage per second were not high, accumulated over time, they became unbearable pain for Dead Plague with only seventy or eighty Life Value, high Armor, and low Magic Resistance!
The Bone Hammer in Bai Pu's hand continuously smashed down with precision, each strike accurately hitting a Dead Plague's head, smashing the skull, with black blood spurting from the nasal cavity and ear holes!
Soon, several Dead Plague fell under Bai Pu's Bone Hammer, providing dozens of scattered Spiritual Points.
After clearing out the lesser threats, Bai Pu switched to Adaptive Evolution: Fluid Skeleton Form, stepped forward, and with the Heavy Hammer Warrior slave, killed the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior.
Wisps of blood-red mist escaped from the Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warrior's body and were absorbed into Bai Pu's body. This process was visible only to Bai Pu.
[You have gained 2 Life Source Points. Current Life Source Points: 79/100.]
Life Source Points are the resources for unlocking the third unknown ability of the Heart of Evolution. Through Bai Pu's experiments, he discovered that only enemies above the Elite level would produce it.
He still doesn't understand the purpose of Life Source Points, so he can only collect them for now.
A blue Treasure Chest floated before his eyes.
Picking up the chest, Bai Pu felt a trace of joy in his heart. He opened it directly and selected one of the blue cards to flip open.
The card flipped, revealing a Lucky Bag symbol, with a small "X3" symbol beside it. Bai Pu quickly received a notification:
[You have gained 458 Spiritual Points.]
"Spiritual Points again, but triple drop rate isn't bad, it's still better than drawing equipment I can't use..." Bai Pu consoled himself.
"Your combat power has already taken shape. Now, none of Cwieg's Adjutant's elite knights are your match. Once you accumulate richer combat experience (and level up), Cwieg might not be able to beat you either."
Qin, wearing a luxurious wide-edged fur-collared cloak, spoke up not far behind Bai Pu.
These days, Bai Pu had been battling across the frozen land of Northern Brandon, with Qin always accompanying him, ostensibly recording Bai Pu's combat data for research purposes.
The north is vast, and the Blood Ring Bases are spread out. Even if Bai Pu could calculate the approximate location of a Blood Ring Base using brainpower, it often took a day or two to find one.
On the road, Bai Pu would sometimes encounter some Dead Plague. In total, Bai Pu had experienced several dozen battles of varying sizes over the past half-month.
At this moment, Bai Pu had already practiced One-Handed Hammer Combat Specialization to Basic Level 4, 56%, and Fighting Specialization to Basic Level 3, 99%.
Such a speed of improving specialization is quite terrifying. In addition to Bai Pu's high comprehension and ability to summarize deficiencies, guidance from experts among the natives is also an important reason—these days, Bai Pu often seeks out Cwieg's Adjutant and his subordinate elite knights for sparring.
With Qin's follow, Bai Pu now has an alchemy mentor he can consult at any time. Ten days ago, he successfully grasped the sub-profession of Alchemist and learned several basic alchemy formulas.
In terms of spoils, Bai Pu harvested four blue treasure chests, all dropped by Blood Ring Heavy Hammer Warriors. Additionally, there were several white treasure chests obtained by defeating Dead Plague.
From the four blue treasure chests, only two pieces of equipment were acquired, and the rest were lucky bags containing Spiritual Points.
The low rate of equipment drops is evident.
One piece of equipment is Bai Pu's current "Iron Spike Shoulder Guard," from the deep blue treasure chest dropped by the Mutant whose right arm was gigantified, a guard of Blood Hand Colun.
[Iron Spike Shoulder Guard (Sealed)]
[Quality: Enhanced Elite (Deep Blue)]
[Equipment Location: Shoulders]
[Equipment Requirement: Basic Power 5]
[Attributes: Shoulder Armor +10]
[Additional Skill: Charge: Charge at the target at double speed, causing slight piercing damage, blunt damage, and knockback effect. During the charge, you are immune to slow effect influences below priority level 2. Cooldown: 12 hours.]
[Durability: 18/20]
[Explanation: Blood Ring's fangs hunger for the blood of innocents.]
The quality of deep blue equipment is far superior to white armor, and the additional skill [Charge] is actively triggered, equivalent to gaining a displacement. With Bai Pu's current Enhanced Elite Template's basic 3 priority level, he is immune to slow effect influences below priority level 5.
The other piece of equipment is an ordinary white upper garment: Blood Ring Standard Plate Armor (Sealed), +15 upper body armor value, fixed reduction of physical damage by 5 points, yet requires a hefty 10 points of Basic Power!
Bai Pu's meager 5 points of Basic Power are simply insufficient, and he can only let it gather dust in the Storage Space.
Currently, Bai Pu's personal attribute panel is:
[Bai Pu/Enhanced Elite Level 1]
[Species: Humanoid Species/Human Race]
[Profession: Blood Armor Shield Guard/Alchemist]
[Attributes: Power 5, Agility 5, Constitution 15, Spirit 9]
[Professional Skills: Flesh Armor]
[Combat Specialization: Advanced Equipment (Two-Handed Hammer Class) Level 1, Basic Equipment (One-Handed Hammer Class) Level 4, Basic Combat Level 3.]
[Combat Skills: Nothingness]
"Let's return to Stettin Town... I should go," Bai Pu said.
With less than a day of free exploration time remaining, Bai Pu's spirit was somewhat fatigued, making it meaningless to continue staying here.
News came from Brandonburg that Duke William held a lord assembly in Westphalia. During the meeting, former Swedish Royal Junior Knight Yvette eloquently revealed the ambition of Blood Ring Fortress to conquer the world. Duke William seized the opportunity to issue a call and form a resistance army.
However, the shortsighted lords fiercely quarreled over troop numbers and command rights. Even with Duke William's prestige, he couldn't quell the disputes due to the size of over three hundred autonomous territories.
It's said that Duke William jokingly yet seriously remarked after the meeting, "We need a unified German Empire."
Since the key faction leader was absent, Bai Pu's chances of uncovering Main Quest III and obtaining the third phase's residence time were basically impossible. The main quest becomes harder to trigger in the later stages.
Qin embraced Bai Pu from behind. Although separated by clothing, the soft yet solid weight still distinctly transmitted.
"Dior, you are overly rational. Sometimes, I really doubt my own allure..."
Bai Pu turned aside, stretched his arm backward, and gently lifted Qin into his embrace.