Chapter 499: Chapter 499: The Core of Creating Clones

One of the three purple items was a Purple Demon Mark, which could be exchanged for an NPC follower with a Leader Template.

After going through so much trouble and almost losing one of their leader-level followers, this item was a worthy reward for their efforts.

Another purple item was the head of the Demon Overlord, which could be taken back to the Expeditionary Army Fortress to exchange for a Bronze Badge. The badge could then be used to get various valuable items.

The last purple item was a large sword called the Warlord’s Blade. Upon picking it up, there was a prompt that if a player picked it up, it became a player’s equipment, but if an NPC picked it up, it became an NPC-specific piece of equipment. Since neither he nor his girlfriend could use the weapon, he let Mars pick it up, whereupon it transformed into a blood blade even larger than the one the Demon Overlord had wielded.

In addition, there were several pieces of blue equipment, all above level 70 and T4 level, with attributes even better than the level 60 purple gear he was currently wearing.

There were also some rare materials.

Besides the Overlord, other Demon Centurions and Wizards continued to drop some items. Among these were one Blue Demon Mark, eleven Green Demon Marks, and eighty-five common Demon Marks.

Next, they took stock of their troops. Less than a hundred of their forces remained, but those who had survived had gained several levels, and most of them had elite templates. The common templates with less health were too easy to lose.

After a brief rest and full health recovery, Lin Xiao directly led his troops to attack the Demon Camp.

It seemed that the news of the Demon Overlord’s death had reached the camp, as the remaining demons, led by a Demon Centurion, were guarding the gate. Two massive towers of Fel energy were pulsating as if charging up.

Lin Xiao first ordered Starfire to destroy the camp’s Fel energy towers from a great distance with a spell, and then led his forces inside the camp.

Upon entering the camp, they saw a gigantic unknown demon statue with six arms in the center of the camp. They felt a formidable oppression from afar, growing stronger as they approached. Standing under the statue, Lin Xiao felt as if a malevolent gaze was upon him, and he had a Negative BUFF called Demon God’s Gaze.

Attack power -10%, moving speed -10%.

The effect was not very strong, but it was a wide-ranging Negative BUFF that reduced speed and attack power as soon as one entered the camp. In large-scale battles, the effect of this BUFF was considerable.

Unfortunately, the remaining defenders in the camp were too few, around six or seven hundred of them, with no strong fighters—just one Centurion, a few demon captains, and only five demon wizards and magicians. They were no match for Lin Xiao’s forces.

In less than twenty minutes, the demons inside the camp were annihilated. Lin Xiao strode up to the towering Demon Statue in the center of the camp, looked at it thoughtfully, and with a slight smirk, he gestured:

“Smash it!”

Hels shot an arrow towards the statue from a distance, and a red glow with one million health points blocked the arrow.

“Continue!”

The statue could not retaliate, and many followers swarmed it. Rapidly, they took down the one million defenses and shattered the statue. Amidst the cracking sounds, a roar could be faintly heard, followed by a purple light shooting up into the sky.

Upon closer inspection, there was a palm-sized exquisite Demon Statue floating in and out of the purple light. Picking it up, Lin Xiao exclaimed with his mouth slightly agape:

“Damn, this camp can actually produce such good stuff!”

Camp Demon God Statue (Epic): There’s an extremely small chance to find this when conquering a demon camp. When placed inside a fortress, it consumes certain resources to open a Demon Camp Team Dungeon.

Note: The dungeon’s storyline, mechanics, and extra loot can be set by the owner, but the output must be something that can potentially drop from the dungeon.

Note: The output of the dungeon is related to the invested resources.

Note: In accordance with the rarity of this item, the team dungeon must be set for at least ten or twenty players, with a minimum entry level of 65.

Lin Xiao was familiar with this kind of item; he had seen it on the world channel before when a team had killed a big BOSS and obtained an item that could open a dungeon. That was only a level 60, five-person dungeon, yet it sold for over six hundred thousand gold to a grand guild.

As described, this item allowed the owner to consume resources to open a self-designed dungeon. Players could enter to clear the dungeon and obtain rewards such as experience, money, and equipment.

This was a powerful tool for Legion Fortresses to attract casual players. Compared to finding BOSSes all over the world, players could now grind dungeons within another player’s fortress. If the loot inside the dungeon was enticing enough, it could definitely attract masses of ordinary players to gather at a Legion Fortress.

A fortress needs players for development, and this item was the supreme artifact to attract them. For Lin Xiao, its value was much higher than all the loot from the Overlord they had killed.

To other players, it might be hard to assess whether this item or the Purple Demon Mark, which could be exchanged for a leader template follower, held higher value. But for Lin Xiao, who had the Creation Rubik’s Cube and could continuously create leader template followers, this item was undoubtedly more valuable.

Moreover, it wasn’t a small five-person dungeon but a large group dungeon for ten or more players. The gear or items it produced would be of higher value and therefore more attractive.

It took nearly an hour to clean out the entire Demon Camp and collect a large number of combat supplies, including armor and weapons for NPCs, as well as some combat machinery. Most of it was basic, but still useful.

The equipment used by demons obviously couldn’t be directly used by humans, but it could be taken to the Expeditionary Army Fortress and exchanged for that of humans or other races.

The camp occasionally spawned demons, but since the Demon Overlord was dead and the central Demon Statue destroyed, the creatures appearing were merely wild monsters, not demon soldiers.

That is to say, this camp was essentially gone, turning into ruins or perhaps a place for wild demons to occupy unless a new Demon Overlord arrived to rebuild it.

After gathering the loot and leaving the camp, Lin Xiao passed the previous battlefield and saw a dozen players doing something on the battlefield. They looked up as they saw troops carrying various crates of supplies pass by. One man, who seemed to be their leader, waved from a distance and shouted:

“Hey big guy, what’s this… There’s a demon camp over there, is the stuff you’re carrying… from inside the camp?”

Lin Xiao laughed:

“That’s right, I’ve already conquered that camp.”

“Hiss!”

The man sucked in a breath of cold air, his gaze sweeping over his subordinates. All of a sudden, his eyes widened as he spotted Mars and others in the crowd, and he was so shocked that he couldn’t speak for a while.

His companions, following his pointing finger to Mars and the others, were all equally shocked, watching them leave. He muttered:

“Who is this big shot with five leader-level followers? This is too strong.”

Back at the Expeditionary Army Fortress, he and his girlfriend split up, one to exchange the supplies, while he went to the quartermaster to exchange a Demon Overlord’s head for a Bronze Badge, which he then used to get an Epic amulet for Starfire called the Veto Pendant.

It had only one function: to cancel any skill or effect on the wearer. It could be used on oneself or on a teammate and had a cooldown of one hour.

He learned from past experiences; five Demon Wizards had suppressed Starfire together, and if it hadn’t been for Hels’s long-distance sniping to free him, he would have lost that battle without the leader-level mages.

He then exchanged all the demon marks he had accumulated: one purple, two blue, twenty-two green, and one hundred and twenty-four common demon marks.

He exchanged the purple Demon Mark for a leader-level Rogue, as scouts were the only thing he lacked.

The two blue Demon Marks were both exchanged for strengthened elite warrior templates.

Half of the green ones were exchanged for warriors; the rest were split evenly among the other professions.

The common ones were all cannon fodder warriors.

Having had a taste of success, Lin Xiao became even more eager; he longed to undertake more such grand operations.

However, his current strength made it quite a stretch to take another demon camp; with a bit of bad luck, he could easily be defeated. He had to restrain his excitement and restlessness, deciding to gather more resources before his next move.

Despite not being able to attack a demon camp, his strength was now sufficient to defeat any demon group in the wilderness, other than those in the camps.

Therefore, he began to venture deeper into the Outland, far from the main watch posts, a good preparation for establishing a fortress further afield someday.

Time flowed by, and before he knew it, half a year had passed.

In that half-year, through the Creation Rubik’s Cube, he again acquired six portions of Bloodline Essence from his True Body, two from Star Spirits, and four from the Supreme Naga, including the final portion from a Rank 9 Naga Great Lord named Selton.

To see if he could create Lord Template followers, Lin Xiao specifically drew some essence blood and strength from Selton, blending it with two units of Creation Energy.

Fortunately, in the last month, he reached Level 71; only then was the restriction lifted enough to extract this essence.

He gave the two Star Spirit essences to one Level 70 Elite Fire Mage and another Level 70 Elite Priest, who successfully transformed into leader-level mages and the second Leader Priest, respectively.

Previous battles had proven how astonishing the healing capacity of a leader-level Boss Priest was, and how important. With an expanding troop size, one Great Priest wouldn’t suffice, and having another would be far better.

Or rather, you can never have too many healers.

The Elite Fire Mage who ascended to leader-level was renamed from Starfire to Deep Blue by Lin Xiao, and the original Starfire name was passed on to the new Fire Mage for easier recollection.

One of the three Rank 7 Supreme Naga essences went to an elite Shooter who transformed into a Leader Shooter named Hels No. 2.

Despite being a Shooter, the talent of the Supreme Naga gave them incredibly strong bodies, and in their Big Naga form, they possessed melee abilities second only to warriors.

The remaining two essences were gifted to two elite warriors, giving Lin Xiao a total of four Leader warriors, two Leader Shooters, two Leader Mages, two Leader Priests, one Leader Rogue, three Enhanced Elite warriors, eighty-six elites across all professions, and three hundred and twenty-one cannon fodder, mostly warriors.