Chapter 163 – Sacrifice of the Black Coffin and Talent Arrangement

The spatial gate finally closed, revealing the vast wilderness ahead where ancient trees stood tall, rustling softly as the wind blew through them.

“We’re safe now.”

Mu Yuan thought to himself.

Though it was a pity that he hadn’t managed to collect any drops or rewards, the giant shadow might not necessarily be dead—after all, the Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon was primarily a large-scale destructive spell.

He didn’t dwell on it too much; safety was the top priority.

This mission had already been successfully completed. The only extra cost was one large-scale spell. By pushing Isloria a bit further, a new spell would be ready—truly eco-friendly and loss-free.

The dozen or so witches he had just ‘recruited’ were still shaken, tense, and reserved. Coupled with their poor physical condition, Mu Yuan only offered a few words of comfort before leaving.

The rest would be handled by Isloria’s guidance.

But unexpectedly, even Isloria herself had fallen into a dilemma.

“Lord, do you really have no prejudice against witches?”

“You’ve asked this question before, haven’t you? It seems I haven’t fully convinced you yet. Well, let me put it this way…” Mu Yuan gave an example. “You can take a look at what the main forces of our Tianyuan Territory are.”

Isloria thought carefully.

Halberdiers, Treants, Flower Fairies?

No, none of those. It was the Skeleton Generals clad in heavy gray-black armor—skeletons, the undead.

In the Eagle Kingdom, witches were discriminated against, viewed with hostility, and hunted down by everyone. However, their situation and treatment were still slightly better than that of the undead and necromancers. The latter would be sent to the stake immediately upon discovery.

Looking at it this way, staying in Tianyuan Territory was indeed quite reassuring.

“Hmm, I understand.”

Isloria said.

Mu Yuan, on the other hand, felt that the Eagle Kingdom was too backward. Witches and the undead were actually met with such hostility? Look at the current era—witches and high-tier undead were both highly popular unit types. If there was one type that was less welcome, it would have to be goblins.

The group quickly returned to the territory, and the witch girls were settled in the newly built Advanced Housing.

Mu Yuan prepared one building for them. It was a bit crowded for 13 or 14 people, but the environment was far superior to that of ordinary residences. This was a preferential treatment for talents, and their current condition required a suitable environment for rest and recovery.

He also sent Tianyuan’s top physician, ‘Holy Light High Priest Laney,’ to check on them.

Meanwhile, he opened the territory panel and pulled up the information of the dozen or so witches he had just ‘recruited.’

「Black Crow Sophia」

「Rank: Rare Three-Star」

「Level: Second-Order Level 7」

「Skills: Black Crow Summoning, Black Feather, Molting, Dark Claw, Fireball, Wind Blade, …」

…

「White Wolf Lian Yue」

「Elk Ailin」

「Fox Daisy」

All four were Rare Three-Star rank.

They were the highest-ranked among the witches.

This rank’s potential was not low. If they could cultivate normally and steadily, reaching the peak of the Second-Order would not be difficult. With a bit more effort and sufficient resources, there was a considerable possibility of advancing to the Third-Order Warlord Tier.

Before the Great Calamity, Mu Yuan wasn’t sure about the specifics of the Holy Radiance Empire, the strongest human nation. But in the Eagle Kingdom, a Third-Order Warlord was already qualified to serve as the City Lord of a major city. Even the teachers at the Central Spell Academy, where Isloria had once studied, were only at the Second-Order.Unlike the current era in the Taixuan Alliance, where many veteran players can field a full squad of Second-Order Elite Tier units themselves.

“The other witches are of even lower ranks, with only four having reached the Rare Rank.

“Among the witches, Black Crow, White Wolf, and Elk are Elite Tier, with Black Crow having the highest Rank and likely the strongest combat power, followed by White Wolf.”

Of course, when Mu Yuan recruited the witches, it wasn’t their combat prowess he valued, but their talents.

Aside from White Wolf, the four seemed to be of noble birth—educated individuals—while the other witches also possessed various skills and arts.

Compared to the vast majority of refugees who were illiterate, they already held many advantages.

“Establishing schools, handling documents, and forming merchant caravans can all be quickly arranged,” Mu Yuan thought.

But everything would have to wait until the witches completed their physical examinations and recovered.

He turned and saw Dolai tapping on a black coffin placed on the floor, producing crisp bang-bang sounds.

He had almost forgotten—they had brought this coffin out from the Wicked City.

It seemed the underground space’s immunity to monster invasions was somewhat related to the coffin.

So, it really was a treasure?

“It’s a treasure, but its specific function isn’t clear,” Dolai said.

Mu Yuan examined it and, using his Lord ability, identified it at a glance.

「Sacrificial Black Coffin」

「Category: Special」

「Effect: Those who offer sacrifices to the Black Coffin may gain something in return.」

Mu Yuan: “???”

The description was vague, but some higher-level items, especially special ones, were indeed difficult to identify at a glance unless they were obtained from treasure chests or light orbs.

Unfazed, he immediately fetched several Rare Rank Appraisal Stones from the neighboring Warehouse—one of the items he occasionally hoarded.

He picked one up and slapped it onto the Sacrificial Black Coffin.

Snap~!

A brilliant light enveloped the entire black coffin, taking several seconds to slowly fade away.

Upon closer inspection, the coffin’s description had become slightly more detailed, but it still wasn’t enough. He continued using Appraisal Stones—a second, then a third—and through sheer quantity, the coffin’s description finally became clear.

「Description: Open the Black Coffin and offer a sufficient number of monster carcasses as sacrifices to exchange for a certain amount of Unit Shards.」

「Note ①: The quantity and Rank of Unit Shards obtained from sacrifices will be far lower than those of the offerings.」

「Note ②: The type of carcasses sacrificed will determine the type of Unit Shards obtained.」

“It seems to be a treasure with a very unique function,” Mu Yuan pondered.

He immediately had Dolai bring over a batch of monster carcasses.

Tianyuan Territory didn’t typically collect monster corpses, but it did refrigerate some processed smaller monsters like brown bears, gray wolves, and rock sheep—commonly referred to as frozen ingredients.

Pouting, Dolai brought over a batch of food and then strained to push the coffin lid open.

Creak, creak, creak—

The black lid, covered in eerie patterns, jammed after being pushed open to a certain extent. Peering inside revealed utter darkness—a light shone into it but brought no illumination, as if it were a black hole or a devouring maw.

Dolai dumped the carcasses of brown bears, gray wolves, and others into the coffin.

Strangely, even though the coffin’s opening wasn’t large, when an entire brown bear fell in, it slid in naturally, disappearing as if into an abyss.

After a while, Mu Yuan and Dolai worked together to push the coffin lid back into place.When the lid closed completely, a spine-chilling crunching sound echoed from within the coffin.

Dolai didn’t find it frightening—it only felt it was wasteful.

So many ingredients that could have been used for a feast!

The chewing sounds lasted only a few seconds before stopping. The next moment, the coffin lid automatically lifted slightly, as if displeased, and spat out a small, glowing remnant soul orb.

“Gray Wolf Soul Fragment (Common One-Star)”

Dolai: “!!!”

You ate so much and only spat out one remnant soul? Spit out more for this Dolai!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dolai furiously pounded on the coffin, but the lid of the Sacrificial Black Coffin had fully closed, appearing as if it wouldn’t listen no matter what.

“No, this drop rate is normal.”

Mu Yuan said.

Dolai: “???” Has Lord’s brain malfunctioned?

Mu Yuan continued, “The monsters devoured by the Sacrificial Black Coffin aren’t limited to edible ones. Goblin corpses, Jackalwere remains, and so on—any monster corpse can be tossed in. Not only is it profit without cost, but it will also save us the work of incinerating and cleaning up remains in the future.”

Dolai: That does seem right! As expected of Lord, always smarter than this Dolai.

Mu Yuan: (¬_¬)

He quickly activated several Mental Energy seeds placed on the War Falcons, ordering the tool falcons to swiftly hunt and bring back a batch of monsters.

Soon, after several rounds of testing, Mu Yuan confirmed his speculation.

“The Sacrificial Black Coffin truly isn’t picky—it devours any monster corpse. From this perspective, no matter how many remnant souls it produces, it’s pure profit.”

Before him lay over a dozen remnant souls: Winged Bat Soul Fragments, Gray Wolf Soul Fragments, Goblin Soul Fragments, and so on. The vast majority were Common One-Star Soul Fragments.

From a waste utilization standpoint, the Sacrificial Black Coffin’s drop rate couldn’t be considered low. However, in terms of the quality of the remnant souls produced, it was genuinely low.

Mu Yuan strongly suspected that even if large quantities of Rare-grade monster corpses were fed into it, it would only yield a few Common-grade remnant souls.

If one wanted to produce Exceptional-grade remnant souls, they’d probably have to feed it Epic-grade monster corpses.

Leaving aside whether the Sacrificial Black Coffin’s output limit was that high, even if it were, the value of Exceptional and Epic-grade monster corpses was considerable. Feeding them to this coffin might not be worth it.

“For ordinary lords, this Sacrificial Black Coffin is useful, but only somewhat. It allows them to earn a bit more in daily operations. But for me…”

The Sacrificial Black Coffin’s role is significant!

More remnant souls mean faster accumulation of Evolution Points. After all, purchasing remnant souls externally costs money and is quite time-consuming.

Moreover, the Sacrificial Black Coffin can produce specific types of remnant souls. For instance, the hardest-to-accumulate falcon Evolution Points could now be gathered by hunting flying monsters like Harpies and feeding them to the coffin.

The future looks promising.

At most, we’ll need to form a few transport teams in addition to the exploration squads. It shouldn’t be difficult—Tianyuan Territory has ample military strength.

At this moment, the War Falcons and hunting teams he had dispatched, such as Bone Two and Bone Three, were continuously bringing back monster corpses.

Mu Yuan pushed the coffin lid of the Sacrificial Black Coffin fully open and kept tossing monster corpses inside.

Ten;

A hundred;

A thousand;

No matter how many were thrown in, the pitch-black coffin seemed like a bottomless pit, dark and unsettling.After Mu Yuan closed the coffin lid, the “crunching, crunching” chewing sounds resumed, this time lasting a full several dozen seconds. Then, with a creak, the coffin lid lifted slightly, revealing a dark slit from which remnant souls came tumbling out one after another.

Though their grades were all quite low, the quantity appeared rather impressive.

After spitting out dozens of remnant souls, the coffin lid surprisingly didn’t immediately close this time. Instead, a wisp of black mist drifted out from within, coalescing into a human-sized shadow.

A pair of eyes opened within the shadow, and it let out a piercing shriek.

“What is this thing!”

Watching the shadow pounce toward him, Lord Mu instinctively threw a punch. Energy coiled layer by layer around his fist, channeling penetrating force.

Boom!!

The powerful fist struck into the shadow’s form, compressing and then bursting it like a water-filled balloon.

Black smoke scattered in all directions, and the sharp shrieks vanished without a trace.

As if nothing had ever appeared.

[Note: The next chapter will be slightly delayed, probably… before dinner (:з」∠)]

(End of Chapter)