Chapter 120 – Secret Realm Phase Two

Young Lord: “!!!”

Their pupils slightly contracted, brows furrowing.

The giant roared furiously, then crouched halfway down, its palm wrapped in energy armor scooping into the earth to grab a massive boulder, which it hurled into the air.

Dolai drifted lightly to the side, effortlessly avoiding the incoming boulder.

“From this moment on, I shall stand above the heavens.”

It very much wanted to say this, but since the Lord forbade it from speaking, it had no choice but to stitch its mouth shut.

Let its fists do the talking!

It raised a hand, pointing a single finger skyward. A flicker of flame appeared at its fingertip, rapidly swelling into a scorching, blazing Fireball.

Instead of throwing it immediately, Dolai continued channeling energy while dodging the giant’s flying stones.

300%!

500%!

The ends of its sky-blue hair began glowing orange-red, as if burning with fire.

The Fireball held aloft by Dolai, now refined to an extreme degree, expanded to five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters in diameter!

A Fireball dozens of meters wide hung in the sky like a miniature sun, radiating boundless light and heat.

The female Lord raised a hand to shield her eyes from the glare.

Suddenly remembering something, she hastily retreated.

Young Lord also changed expression slightly, stepping back a dozen paces to take cover behind several of their units.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the giant’s energy armor spread inch by inch from its arms, covering its Black Armor until it enveloped its entire body.

It roared and charged forward.

The crimson miniature sun descended from the sky.

In that moment, all things between heaven and earth seemed to transform into light. Visible heat waves rippled out, impacting the surrounding thick fog and gradually dissipating it.

After light came fire.

After fire came smoke.

Flames, smoke, and deafening roars swept in all directions as shattered stones flew everywhere, leaving a deep crater in the ground.

From within the pit, amidst the dust and smoke, a massive figure still rose, roaring as it swept away the smoke and fog.

The giant appeared battered, its energy armor mostly gone, the Black Armor it wore nearly completely shattered.

It panted heavily, but it remained standing.

It hadn’t lost yet!

Just as Young Lord was about to say this, they noticed the female mage standing above the heavens once again raising her fair, delicate finger that seemed to contain immense terror.

A flicker of flame bloomed.

But my giant won’t fall so easily!

The flicker expanded into a swelling Fireball.

Young Lord: “I concede!”

With the utmost speed, they recalled the giant into their Lord’s Mark, fearing another heavenly Fireball strike.

Then, with a complex expression, they watched the female mage slowly descend.

No, this was definitely no Rare One-Star mage.

They could vaguely sense that the girl hadn’t even broken through to Elite Rank yet, yet she wielded such terrifying power capable of suppressing the giant.

This was absolutely a high-tier unit.

An Elemental Mage? A Blaze Sorcerer? Or something else?

Young Lord couldn’t guess.

But they could tell that not only was the girl’s grade high, her techniques were also incredibly refined. The simple yet enormous Fireball revealed extraordinary, ultimate foundation.

They looked at the Lord completely encased in Black Armor, whose behavior and mannerisms seemed like a complete novice. They could be certain – this person was no novice!

This was definitely a Lord with more experience than them, and one who enjoyed pretending to be inexperienced more than any crafty veteran.

Intense resentment.

Young Lord turned and left in a huff.

The female Lord glanced around. “B-big boss, should I leave too?”

Then, like a startled deer, she disappeared into the mist with her units.

…

“Time to get to work!”After the battle, Dolai, still brimming with energy, flew up to the treasure tree and began harvesting.

However, its consumption was not low.

With Dolai’s current energy reserves, it could only unleash two and a half of these ‘Full Power·Super Fireballs,’ and since it had previously conducted a barrage of rapid-fire fireballs, it actually only had the strength for one more shot.

If Dolai had just entered the Professional Tier, a single ‘Super Fireball’ might have completely drained its body, causing it to plummet from the sky with a splat.

Even so, it had already made a name for itself as the “Dolai Artillery.”

It solidified its position as the top artillery mage in Tianyuan Territory. Well, mainly because Tianyuan Territory’s artillery mages were limited to—and only consisted of—Dolai.

Soon, the Divine Radiance Crystal Prisms were harvested.

As a key contributor in this battle and the second strongest in Tianyuan, Dolai naturally received the largest share—five pieces.

It picked one up, crunched it down, and immediately narrowed its eyes. “So tasty!”

Is this really about whether it tastes good or not?

Thwack!

Dolai clutched its head. “M-my experience increased by more than half. I leveled up.”

Dolai had previously been at Rank 1, Level 6. Leveling up required a significant amount of time and Soul Sand. If Deadbone hadn’t cheated once, it would have taken at least a month to reach Rank 1, Level 7—and that was with the assistance of the Skull Graveyard and its extremely high tier.

Higher-tier troops level up faster. The further they progress, the greater the gap becomes compared to ordinary troops.

Deadbone was also absorbing the Divine Radiance Crystal Prisms, rapidly converting them to enhance its combat power.

But the gains weren’t substantial enough.

It took a full three Divine Radiance Crystal Prisms for Deadbone to reach ‘LV18.’ Of course, even a single level-up brought a noticeable boost to its combat strength.

Out of the total thirty-nine treasures, Mu Yuan planned to set aside three for Tree Spirit Grandma, reserve a few more for emergencies, and distribute the rest on the spot among the commanders.

And himself.

Mu Yuan briefly left the Secret Realm to rest and recuperate.

He then activated ‘Dolai Mode,’ brought a Divine Radiance Crystal Prism to his mouth, paused for a moment, and when he bit into it, it felt like biting into a crisp, thin potato chip—crunchy and brittle. Immediately, pure energy surged into his body, flowing through his limbs and deep into his Soul.

“Ah~”

“I leveled up!”

His level was around Rank 1, Level 1—not high. After absorbing the Divine Radiance Crystal Prism, the energy within him surged and flowed, as if receiving a gift from heaven and earth. He grew stronger with every moment, feeling incredibly comfortable.

In an instant, the rushing stream of energy began to calm.

“My energy capacity increased by about 20%, and not just that…His muscles, tempered by the energy’s baptism, also grew stronger.

With a mere thought, threads of energy coiled around his fingertips.

His ability to summon, control, and stabilize energy had improved significantly.

What if he reached the Peak of the Professional Tier, or even the Elite Tier?

He really wanted to see what the Elite Tier was like.

But it would take time.

Without cheating, without special treasures like the Divine Radiance Crystal Prisms, and without the baptism of heaven and earth, it would take Lord Mu at least two to three months to advance from Level 1 to Great Perfection.

And that was assuming he used the Dolai template.

If he trained using an ordinary troop template, it would be an even more distant prospect.

…

「Prompt: Your troop ‘Ancient Treant·Tree Spirit Grandma’ has achieved a Breakthrough to the Professional Tier.」

Rumble~!The Treant Forest trembled slightly as a sturdy, ancient tree rooted near an architectural archway began to grow at a visible pace.

In the blink of an eye, it soared to over ten meters tall—roughly the height of a five-story building.

Its branches flourished with dense foliage, and its roots broke through the soil like earth dragons slithering through the ground.

An aged, deeply wrinkled face emerged from the tree trunk.

“Lord, this humble elder greets you.”

Mu Yuan looked up in awe.

Not long ago, the giant they had battled was a colossal being, yet it still paled in comparison to Tree Spirit Grandma. Such was the advantage of size!

Big meant strong.

In general theory, larger beings also possessed the advantage of abundant energy.

The only drawback was limited mobility.

A minor issue.

…

After a brief rest, Lord Mu continued his campaign through the Resource Secret Realm.

This time, he brought far fewer troops.

Lu Liu, Deadbone, and Dolai guarded him closely.

Seventeen and over a dozen Skeleton Warriors followed closely behind.

Past the initial stages, the chances of discovering treasures had indeed significantly decreased.

Three times in a row, the Treasure Lands Mu Yuan found had already been looted. After several hours, he had only gathered three Windfall Fruits and one Rare Remnant Soul.

Balancing caution with urgency, he slightly increased his exploration speed.

The second day,

The third day,

The fourth day,

As time passed, the places still holding treasures grew scarcer. He had taken action, repelling or slaying the Elite monsters guarding the Treasure Lands, swiftly clearing the battlefield and seizing the treasures.

He had also witnessed powerful Elite monsters lying dead outside Treasure Lands, their bodies torn and broken.

Naturally, he had encountered other lord-led forces as well. In the vast white mist, they exchanged distant glances before tacitly parting ways in different directions.

Such encounters had occurred six times over the past few days.

Once, he came across a young lady lord he had met before, who fled in a panic at the sight of him.

Mu Yuan: “…”

During this period, he also engaged in a duel to decide the ownership of a batch of Soul Crystals.

His opponent was an experienced lord, but his strength was far inferior to that of the Giant Lord. The challenger was merely a Peak Professional Tier ‘Halberdier,’ who, after dozens of rounds of fierce combat with Lu Liu, was ultimately defeated and slain on the barren ground.

“At this point, it’s become very difficult to find rare treasures. It’s about time to shift focus elsewhere.”

The vast world outside awaited him; there was no need to fixate on a single Secret Realm.

Coincidentally, during his exploration of the Secret Realm these past few days, he had obtained a rather valuable treasure.

「Guiding Compass」

「Type: Special Item」

「Description: Using the current location as the starting point, the compass needle will always point toward the nearest special structure, guiding the user to it. Remaining uses (3/3).」

In his eyes, the value of this item surpassed that of ten rare materials.

The Blessing Shrine located twenty kilometers outside Tianyuan Territory was a ‘special structure.’

Hmm, using this compass surely wouldn’t point toward the Blessing Shrine, right? Probably not.

He planned to have Deadbone leave the Secret Realm and lead a team to search for special structures.

Suddenly,

Mu Yuan blinked and looked around. The dense white mist in the distance, which had previously blocked all vision, began to thin out.

Growing increasingly sparse!Half an hour later, the war fog that had enveloped and filled the entire Secret Realm space had almost completely dissipated, leaving only faint wisps drifting between heaven and earth.

The barren land, sprouting only sparse weeds, and the distant green land with its treasure trees were now fully visible.

And…

At the far edge of the horizon, faint pillars of light shot skyward, as if Treasures were beckoning to the Lords.

“Treasures! They must be Treasures!”

Dorale tugged at his arm.

Mu Yuan was also tempted, for this was a Resource Secret Realm after all—it was hardly surprising for Treasures to emerge.

Thus,

he instantly exited the Secret Realm, summoned several Hurricane Falcons that were on standby within the territory, and stepped back Inside the Secret Realm.

The Hurricane Falcons soared into the air.

Their sharp eyes scanned the distant area from above.

There, beneath the pale yellow pillars of light, lay one Treasure after another, each radiating a faint glow.

An old Lord approached the light pillar and gently touched it.

“Finally, it’s here. Legend has it that when all the Treasures in a Resource Secret Realm are collected, the core pillar will shine, and even rarer Treasures will emerge!”

The Lord murmured.

When his gaze fell upon one particular object, his breathing grew heavy.

“The Hero’s Token!”

“To think it actually appeared in a Level 1 Secret Realm?!”

“I must seize this—it might be the one and only opportunity of my lifetime!”

Two chapters totaling over six thousand words, and I just can’t write anymore. This useless author is hugging their head and crying QAQ~!

(End of Chapter)