Chapter 187 – Large Recruitment Point

Mu Yuan had already recalled the information about ‘Obsession Residue’.

This was an extremely rare type of special monster that only had a chance to spawn when the lingering obsession of a fallen powerhouse was corrupted by Filth.

After slaying an Obsession Residue, one would have the opportunity to Devour and absorb the remaining essence.

It was possible to obtain ‘Legacy Knowledge’, ‘Advanced Skills’, and ‘Profound Techniques’, similar to Experience Stones. However, one might also gain benefits that Experience Stones couldn’t provide, such as ‘Concepts’, ‘Physical Enhancements’, and ‘Mental Enhancements’.

Even the key to reaching the legendary level—’Domain’—could potentially be obtained by absorbing Obsession Essence.

It sounded wonderful, as if many top-tier powerhouses should be flocking to seek out Obsession Residues everywhere.

In reality, that wasn’t the case.

Apart from the benefits, absorbing Obsession Essence also brought various drawbacks, such as making one’s spirit impure and causing chaotic conflicts in power. Otherwise, why would it be called Obsession Residue?

“Dolai, are you okay? Don’t eat random things.”

Mu Yuan was a bit worried and visualized a finger in the Mental Link, tapping Dolai on the head.

Dolai innocently covered its head and sent out the ‘Slime with Hands on Hips’ emoji.

“Dolai, no problem (。。).”

“This Dolai has finally begun to grasp the Domain, hehe~!”

It had heard that Isloria had already advanced to the Epic rank and was worried about losing its position as the second-in-command under Tianyuan. But now it seemed that General Dolai was still the most formidable, unrivaled in the world.

Wait,

“Why is it only half-step Domain realm?”

“Where’s the other half? Hurry up and show yourself!”

Dolai’s face turned red with effort as it struggled to fully manifest the Domain, but… aside from stirring up a faint breeze, nothing seemed to happen.

It had pushed open the door to the Domain, but not completely.

“Just a little bit more.”

Undead General remarked, “Next, you just need to calm your mind and combine it with your terrain skills to naturally deduce the Domain.”

So that’s how you push open the door to the Domain?

General Dolai understood.

General Dolai was full of confidence.

Ten minutes later, General Dolai began to doubt its very existence.

Undead General also started to doubt his skeletal existence: According to common sense, once you’ve reached this step, shouldn’t you be able to deduce and create the Domain with your eyes closed? What exactly went wrong?

Isloria facepalmed. Of course, everything was wrong.

As someone from an academic background, she immediately drew upon her extensive knowledge and explained in great detail, “The so-called Domain is a special ability derived from the fusion of Concept, energy, terrain, and self-awareness. We can divide the birth of a Domain into ninety-nine steps. You’re currently around the sixtieth step. Next, you just need to do this… then this… and then this… (omitting 1,200 words) to truly push open the door to the Domain.”

“You understand now, right, Dolai?”

Isloria curled her lips into a smile. When it came to teaching, she considered herself far superior to Undead General.

She was, after all, the Isloria who had nearly become a dean.

Back in the day, countless admirers had been captivated by her lectures.

As she thought this, snapping out of the joy of lecturing, she saw Dolai’s entire body swaying unsteadily, its large eyes spinning in circles, looking as if it was about to faint.”Lord, Lord… could this be the side effects of Dolai absorbing the essence flaring up?”

She immediately stepped forward to support Dolai, conducting a thorough physical examination, but found Dolai’s physical condition to be perfectly fine. So why was it in this state?

Isloria fell into deep thought.

Mu Yuan didn’t ponder, merely sighing softly, “Everything is within this Lord’s expectations.”

Dolai’s body was indeed fine.

Likely due to its Devouring Talent, the obsession essence that contained both medicinal properties and toxins for others was merely ‘edible stuff’ for Dolai.

Not only was there no danger in its devouring, but it could even absorb more experience and power.

This allowed it to leap directly to the half-step Domain realm.

As for the remaining half-step…

It would continue relying on devouring.

Was Dolai stupid? Not exactly.

Was Dolai’s comprehension poor? Not really either, though it couldn’t compare to the Undead Emperor and Isloria.

But if Dolai could learn something through others’ explanations, it wouldn’t be Dolai anymore.

“Yes, that’s right, gurgle~!”

Dolai placed its hands on its hips, looking proud.

What are you so proud of?!

Dolai and the others began their enjoyable looting session, while Mu Yuan contemplated the recent obsession residue.

Judging from the results, this wisp of obsession likely belonged to a top-tier powerhouse at the ‘Fourth Order Peak’, ‘Domain realm’, ‘half-step Legendary’ level when alive, probably even stronger than a certain Linglong Lord.

But reduced to just a remnant thought, it seemed rather weak, easily defeated by Dolai with one bite.

The obsession residue was nowhere near its peak power when alive.

“In the future, we should seek more information in this area. While obsession residue is rather useless for most people, it’s different for Dolai.”

He himself could also advance to the Domain realm through Dolai’s template by devouring extensively.

Not that he lacked confidence in himself, but one should learn to utilize all advantageous conditions.

Mu Yuan also micro-managed several bone undertakers to carefully search the surrounding experiment tables and storage cabinets, thoroughly combing through the entire area while trying to preserve its original state as much as possible.

Half an hour later, he gradually furrowed his brow.

This place wasn’t large to begin with, only about half a football field in size, so searching didn’t take much time. But likely due to the erosion of time, the books here had decayed, and the various potions had dried up, leaving only some crystallized, spoiled residues.

Further damaged by the recent AOE destruction from the obsession residue, the ancient artifacts lay shattered everywhere.

Dolai stomped its foot, “How annoying!” It shouldn’t have let that residue pass on so peacefully!

In terms of gains, this trip allowing Dolai to reach the half-step Domain realm was already quite good, but finding nothing of value in a still somewhat functional secret realm was rather unexpected.

A second round of searching began.

This time, everyone dug three feet deep, regardless of destructive methods, but still found little – only about a dozen semi-damaged rare materials. Isloria made imprints of the damaged books, hoping to restore something after returning.

Her eyes sparkled with the glow of archaeology.

Unearthing ancient sites, step by step uncovering the truths of the past.

This was quite fascinating.

Wait, wasn’t she originally an ancient person herself? Isloria fell into deep thought.

Meanwhile, Dolai walked over to where the obsession residue had appeared earlier.Here, a rather irregular gap had been gnawed out by its Space Devour, revealing the stone layer beneath the floor. The surrounding area had been searched multiple times, with nothing out of the ordinary found.

But Dolai refused to believe it was a dead end. It stretched its arms directly, transforming them into a pair of high-frequency vibrating shovels, and began buzzing away as it worked.

It kept digging downward, following a specific direction.

After digging over thirty meters down—

Clang!

Its high-frequency shovel struck something, as if jammed. Soon, the dust-covered Dolai pulled out a glossy black box, roughly half a meter in length, width, and height.

The box was exceptionally sturdy. Even Dolai’s steel-hard, thunder-magnetic vibrating shovel only left faint scratches on its surface.

Isloria circled the box, her glowing fingertips tracing over it.

“This is a spatial safe. Not only does it contain a space far larger than a Storage Ring, but it will also self-destruct if subjected to violent force. This box can’t be forced open—it requires finesse. Of course, that’s no challenge for me.”

Three orbs materialized behind Isloria, constantly shifting in color.

She channeled energies of varying frequencies and properties into the safe.

After a while—

Click—

The glossy black finish on the safe receded like a tide, leaving only a gleaming silver shell. Simultaneously, the top of the box slowly opened, revealing an interior space of about a hundred square meters.

‘Your treasure-retrieving skills have earned my approval!’

Dolai thought Isloria was a great teammate. It peered inside, pulling out one item after another.

There were many in both quantity and variety.

But Dolai recognized most of them—Treasure Catalogs and Monster Catalogs were among the very few subjects it had ever bothered to study. As for the few it didn’t recognize, no worries—General Dolai always carried plenty of appraisal crystals.

It provided its own sound effects:

“Ding~!”

“Acquired: Soul Crystals ×100.”

“Acquired: Standard Equipment ×200.”

“Acquired: Rare Equipment ×15.”

“Acquired: Mechanical Guards (Rare) ×10.”

“Acquired: Mechanical Dragon (Excellent).”

“Acquired: Half of a Recruitment Point Map.”

There was quite a haul—seemingly the last reserves of supplies from the inhabitants of this Secret Realm?

But since everyone here was long dead, Mu Yuan naturally accepted it all with a smile.

Standard equipment? Could be melted down and reforged.

Rare equipment? Assign it to whoever fits best.

The mechanical guards seemed promising, boasting Elite-level combat strength. According to Isloria, they also held significant research value.

The most valuable item, naturally, was the ‘Mechanical Dragon,’ rated as Excellent upon appraisal, which occupied most of the storage space.

The Soaring Dragon measured over ten meters in length and three meters in height, with a large abdominal cavity and two pairs of folded alloy wings. Its entire body was a muddy gold color, resembling an enlarged, somewhat bloated and cumbersome metal Dragon.

On either side of the Dragon’s abdomen hung four machine guns, and within its gaping maw was an energy cannon of considerable power level.

It appeared to be an armed airship, formidable in strength, though with equally high energy consumption.

Even if not used in combat, it would serve excellently for transport or as an impressive display.

The Mechanical Dragon was truly majestic.

As for the remaining half of the map:

“Fragment of a Large Recruitment Point Map””Note: Using this blueprint can unlock a large recruitment site. However, due to unknown reasons, this guide map has been damaged. Only by finding the other half of the blueprint and restoring the incomplete map can this recruitment site be activated.”

Mu Yuan had also heard of such treasures.

Some special recruitment points could only be unlocked by holding specific media. When prefixed with the term “large,” it indicated that the recruitment site could attract a considerable number of military units with relatively high ranks.

More importantly, this incomplete map looked somewhat familiar to him.

Mu Yuan rushed to the Warehouse, retrieved another incomplete map that appeared wrinkled and aged but was actually impervious to Saber cuts and fire damage, and carefully compared the two.

“Land of Buried Bones.”

What kind of military units might be found inside?

Mu Yuan grew intrigued.

Chapter One…

(End of Chapter)