Iville Ai was filled with both curiosity and confusion as to how the Dragon King enhanced his power.
Was it related to the restoration of the capital's city walls?
It shouldn't be just that. She could faintly sense a magical reaction within the repaired city walls.
"Dragon King, is there something you might know of?" Iville Ai hesitated slightly, her voice carrying a tone of seriousness and solemnity.
"What is it?" Tang Zheng asked.
"It's like this."
"Not long ago, in the Tove Great Forest..." Iville Ai then reported in detail about the recent incident involving the Magic Tree.
She had deliberately tried to contact the Dragon King before but couldn't reach him, leaving her with many unanswered questions.
What Iville Ai was referring to wasn't the Magic Tree itself, but something else.
After the Darkness Scripture left E-Rantel, the Blue Rose, who harbored doubts about the Magic Tree issue, quietly followed them.
However.
The Blue Rose's group was too slow. By the time they arrived at the scene, the battle had already concluded, leaving behind only astonishingly deep craters and ground stained with blood.
All these traces indicated that a fierce battle had taken place.
Lakyus and the others confirmed that the Magic Tree had been destroyed, believing it to be a battle caused by the Darkness Scripture and the Magic Tree.
—But!
Iville Ai didn't think so, because she had observed from afar the magical barrier that spanned several kilometers.
That wasn't ordinary magic; it was Origin Magic!
As a witness to the demise of the Abyss Body, Iville Ai had seen the same Origin Magic with her own eyes.
This meant!
The battle that took place in the depths of the Tove Great Forest involved a True Dragon Lord!
"Dragon King... I suspect that the Platinum Dragon Lord from the Council State came into conflict with the secret forces of the Slane Theocracy."
Iville Ai revealed the astonishing discovery that had been weighing on her mind. This matter involved too many parties, so she hadn't told Lakyus and the others.
She hadn't had a precise concept of "True Dragon Lord" before, but after glimpsing the power displayed by the Eternal Darkness Dragon Lord, Iville Ai finally deeply understood what the words "True Dragon Lord" represented—an indescribable terror and power.
"Oh, did something like that happen?"
Tang Zheng's tone was filled with surprise, as if he were only just learning about it now.
He hadn't paid much attention to Lakyus and the others secretly following the Theocracy's side. After all, his focus at the time had been primarily on the Platinum Armor.
"Ha, this is truly interesting."
Tang Zheng felt a sense of absurdity, as if the Platinum Dragon Lord had painstakingly tried to conceal something, only for it to be discovered by an unexpected person:
"To think that Iville Ai would be the first to uncover the secret behind this."
You must understand, Even the Theocracy's side had only tentatively speculated that the Platinum Armor might be Silver, one of the 13 Heroes, who might have been hiding in the Council State all along.
They hadn't harbored even the slightest suspicion towards the Platinum Dragon Lord.
Currently, apart from Tang Zheng.
Iville Ai was probably the first person to realize that the Platinum Armor had some connection to the Platinum Dragon Lord. No... she didn't know about the existence of the Platinum Armor yet.
However.
As long as Iville Ai obtained information about the Platinum Armor from the Theocracy, she would easily deduce a direct relationship between the Platinum Armor and the Platinum Dragon Lord.
"This might be a piece of intelligence worth utilizing."
Tang Zheng's gaze flickered slightly. He felt that this gap in intelligence offered an opportunity for strategic planning. Suppressing his thoughts, he asked with a majestic voice:
"Have the Council State and the Slane Theocracy made any moves?"
"Based on my observations, no," Iville Ai shook her head in confusion.
For the past half month, she had also been secretly monitoring both countries. After all, with such a fierce battle having occurred, it was hard to imagine such tranquility.
"Since that's the case, let this matter rest for now,"
Tang Zheng said slowly in a profound tone, "Just act as if you know nothing."
"Understood, Dragon King!"
Iville Ai nodded respectfully.
"Then—let the magic ritual for power enhancement begin!"
Tang Zheng fully unfurled his dragon wings, stretching his massive dragon body. The simple movement instantly generated a strong wind that raged all around. He raised his sharp claws, and a Magic Scroll appeared in his palm:
"Seventh Tier Magic—Undead Army!"
He crushed the scroll.
Boom!
Instantly, dense negative energy was released from the magic scrolls, transforming into a black torrent that descended upon the ground.
The dark brown soil beneath churned!
Rotten, incomplete claws were the first to emerge from beneath the earth, followed closely by dense swarms of low-level undead crawling out from underground.
In the blink of an eye, over a thousand appeared!
"Hiss!"
"Ahrrr!"
"Woooo..."
The many undead gathered together, emitting strange hisses and screeches.
"Army of the Undead" could summon around a thousand low-level undead at once. The first time it appeared, it was activated by the alliance leader [Ziranong] through a ritual.
At that time, Tang Zheng didn't pay much attention to this magic. After all, even a large number of low-level undead were meaningless; ordinary soldiers could kill a few if they were careful.
Furthermore, at that time.
Tang Zheng hadn't yet developed a new ritual for gaining experience through the "Spiral of Death Ritual," so he cared even less.
He only regretted it after developing the new ritual later!
The undead summoned by "Army of the Undead," like "Final War (Good)," were all neutral monsters.
Only "neutral monsters" could gain experience through rituals.
"A Seventh Tier magic..."
Iville Ai's crimson pupils dilated, disbelief showing on her face. Her pale lips parted uncontrollably:
"Scrolls!"
Seventh Tier magic belonged to the domain of Demon Gods. While powerful, Iville Ai believed she had some knowledge.
She had seen higher-tiered magic during her interactions with the [Abyss Body], and even the Dragon Lord possessed higher magical power.
However, scrolls were another matter entirely!
You must know that in all human nations, the highest-tiered scrolls were only Third Tier.
The Seventh Tier scroll before them was unimaginably valuable!
It's just...
Iville Ai didn't quite understand what the Dragon Lord was doing. But the next moment, her body trembled uncontrollably, and her expression turned vacant.
"Seventh Tier Magic · Army of the Undead!"
"Seventh Tier Magic · Army of the Undead!"
"..."
"Seventh Tier Magic · Army of the Undead!"
Scroll after scroll was crushed by Tang Zheng. The astonishing negative energy condensed in the air, almost becoming tangible, like a tide.
The air throughout the ruined royal capital seemed to dim, affected by the pervasive negative energy.
Dense swarms of low-level undead continuously emerged from the ground, spreading outwards like a zombie tide!
At this moment.
Iville Ai finally understood why the Dragon Lord had repaired the royal capital's walls – it was to prevent these low-level undead from spilling out.
One scroll after another!
Tang Zheng was too lazy to count, as he knew the total number of scrolls.
Currently.
He could create a maximum of three blank Tenth Tier scrolls per day!
Twenty sheets of paper of the same tier could produce one scroll.
A Tenth Tier scroll required the expenditure of 350 mana points.
With Tang Zheng's normal mana reserves, he could create two, and with the special skill "Rapid Mana Recovery," he could create an additional one.
Before June 25th, when the [Abyss Body] incident concluded, he had a total of 194 blank Tenth Tier scrolls in his possession.
Because from that period until now.
Tang Zheng had begun designing the "Iville Ai Strength Enhancement Plan," creating only one Tenth Tier scroll per day and the rest as Seventh Tier scrolls.
Therefore.
The number of "blank Tenth Tier scrolls" he currently held was 262.
"Seventh Tier · Papermaking" could produce 30 sheets of Seventh Tier paper.
To fully create a Seventh Tier scroll, not only did "Papermaking" need to be activated, but mana also had to be infused. During this process, there was an additional mana consumption of 15 points.
He could create 18 Seventh Tier scrolls per day!
In practice.
In theory, Tang Zheng could create more scrolls, for instance, by using experience casting. He could level up first, then cast magic, and have his level decrease, using the experience points to create them.
The reason it was only theoretical:
For Tang Zheng, the drawbacks of doing so outweighed the benefits.
He now needed tens of millions of experience points to level up once. If his level dropped, his experience bar would reset to zero.
Keep in mind:
Tang Zheng could still gain 1.5 million experience points daily. If he repeated this process every day, his 1.5 million daily experience would be completely wasted during the level-down process.
There was no other way to gain a large amount of experience at once. If he operated this way, it would be equivalent to being permanently stuck at level 70!
However:
Once he reached level 95 or higher, he could intentionally leave a few levels as a buffer for experience casting, using them for this type of operation.
Boom! Boom!
The increasingly dense negative energy, during the scroll's activation, had already formed a nearly tangible pillar of black light that struck the ground.
Tang Zheng currently held a total of 1224 scrolls of "Seventh Tier: Undead Legion," each capable of summoning 1000 low-tier undead.
With almost numb movements.
At this point, he wasn't crushing them one by one anymore but several at a time.
Looking down from the sky, the entire Royal Capital was filled with low-tier undead, their numbers dense and impossible to calculate.
The negative energy formed by the convergence of numerous undead had dyed the area black, turning it into a special negative energy field.
If an ordinary person appeared here.
They would likely be killed by the overflowing negative energy before they could even get close.
"..." Iville Ai was silent.
The scene before her shocked her to the point of speechlessness, her pale lips parted, unable to close.
If it weren't for her undead nature suppressing emotions, she felt she would have fainted by now.
Every time!
The Dragon King's actions mocked her centuries of perception, showing her a completely new world.
Gods?
Iville Ai believed that perhaps only deities could accomplish what the Dragon King was currently doing.
She even felt a prayer-like plea rising within her, begging him to stop releasing scrolls.
Seventh Tier scrolls were national treasures!
"No... ah, too..."
Iville Ai's throat emitted an inarticulate sound. Every time the Dragon King crushed a scroll, it felt as if she herself was bleeding.
For a moment, even an undead like her felt a pang of heartache.
Tens of thousands of undead?
No!
It had already surpassed 200,000. The entire Royal Capital was filled with undead, and they were even stacking upon each other.
"Let's stop here for now."
Tang Zheng's faint voice sounded, ceasing the continued activation of scrolls.
He had used approximately 300 scrolls in one go, and the number of undead below now exceeded 300,000. If deployed in the Northwestern Continent, it would be enough to sweep through all the human nations.
"Ah-hoo— Hiss!"
"—Ah—Ah!"
The dense undead below let out a collective roar, mixed together like a magnified buzzing sound, forming an almost tangible sonic impact.
"Finally... it's over."
Iville Ai's eyes twitched. It was as if she had emerged from the depths of the water to the surface, feeling as though she could finally breathe. Her voice trembled:
"Dragon King..."
"Fly to the center of the Royal Capital," Tang Zheng said without explanation.
"Ah, yes."
Iville Ai's mind was blank as she flew down into the crowded undead.
As an undead herself, Iville Ai naturally wasn't attacked by the numerous deadly creatures.
Seeing her descend to the designated location.
Tang Zheng nodded slightly, his draconic vertical pupils narrowing, a hint of seriousness appearing.
Was the time and numerous scrolls consumed on Iville Ai a waste, or not worth it?
He didn't think so.
In another world, there were only three ways to break through the level cap.
Dragonkin, God-Humans, and Undead!
Setting aside the first two for the moment, the number of naturally born undead was extremely small, with most members of the Abyss Body belonging to this type.
These kinds of undead had no sense of recognition towards humans, or rather, any living beings. Once the Undead King appeared, the probability of them siding with him was close to 100%.
But Iville Ai was different!
She was an undead born after the fact, and she still held a strong sense of identity with her human origins.
"Initiating ritual."
Tang Zheng's eyes widened as he activated a massive magic ritual he had specifically set up in the ruins of the royal capital.
Hum!!
With the support points of each stone pillar on the city walls serving as the outer perimeter of the ritual, a colossal magic circle spread across the ground, covering the entire royal capital.
Azure magic light emerged, illuminating the area shrouded in an almost oppressive darkness!
Constructing such a vast ritual was painful for Tang Zheng. If he hadn't controlled the resources of the entire hilly region, he probably wouldn't have been able to set it up.
"Seventh Tier - Undead Army!"
Tang Zheng felt a pressure immediately. He opened his mouth and let out a majestic, low growl:
"—Dispel Magic!"
Splash, splash~
Splash, splash~
Over 300,000 undead instantly transformed into pure negative energy, beginning to dissipate.
Thud!
The air vibrated.
The blue light on the magic circle suddenly became even more dazzling, and all the negative energy converged into Iville Ai, who was at the very center.
"Ninjutsu: Detection!"
The aura emanating from her began to increase!
"Success!"
Tang Zheng's eyes shone brightly. "As expected, this kind of ritual can also be used on people from another world."
While contemplating this!
Tang Zheng raised his dragon arm and reached towards the concentrated negative energy gathering below. After a brief touch, he retracted his arm.
"Unfortunately, the living cannot accept negative energy." Tang Zheng shook his head slightly, then looked at Iville Ai with anticipation.
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