Goblin Dependency

He recalled the changes in his mind from recent days, and already had some guesses.

Now, adding in the gains he’d gotten over the past few days, the upgrade progress of his three Battle Skills had gone up another notch.

It made Xia Nan silently sigh; if only, in the real world outside the Secret Realm, he could maintain this kind of efficiency.

Sometimes he even felt Algae Scale Dodd was a bit petty—if he’d just pulled in a few hundred more adventurers, maybe Xia Nan could have pushed [Embers Resonance] straight to Full Level right here in the Secret Realm.

Instead of like now, where every time he helped send an adventurer out, he had to carefully check the number of remaining participants and calculate how much profit was left.

It’s worth mentioning that, just like the Introduction of the near-concept legendary creature [Veteran Blade Master] on the attribute panel, after his fifth Evolution, Xia Nan felt his original Battle Skills had become inexplicably smoother to use.

Several of them, even though they had already been raised to Level 5 Full Level Master, still felt like their Skill Level was deepening further—it just didn’t show on the attribute panel.

More critically, because he fought in wolf form within the Secret Realm, that vague inspiration about the combo between [Teeth Hunting] and [Vortex Slash] seemed to have been further developed thanks to the legendary creature body he currently possessed.

The distance from truly forming a prototype...

"Just that last bit left." Xia Nan estimated the progress to himself. "I just hope I can get some results before the ceremony completely ends."

A powerful wingbeat sounded from behind.

He turned his head, and saw Lorin, attached to the mutated Thorn Demon body, struggling to haul Black Bear Sasha as she wobbled through the forest toward his position.

Meanwhile Sparrow Salisa arrived one step ahead of the two, landing lightly on the shrub branches next to Xia Nan.

Because the four-man clumped state was extremely obvious in his Perception, once they locked onto a Hunting target, Xia Nan usually went ahead alone by virtue of his speed advantage, while his teammates watched the surrounding adventurers’ movements and followed after.

Just like now; many times, by the time they caught up to Xia Nan, he had already finished absorbing the Life Energy.

"Adventurers in the Secret Realm are dying faster and faster. I suspect Algae Scale Dodd is entering the final phase of his actions."

Lorin tossed the Black Bear she was carrying by the paw onto the ground, took a breath, and said worriedly.

Though they didn’t know why all the remaining adventurers had gained the ability to perceive each other’s positions,

it was clearly also a mechanism to speed up the ceremony.

As the Ceremony Arranger of the Secret Realm, Algae Scale Dodd had to have known the exact timeframe of this change long ago, and had probably prepared for it from the moment he descended.

And after Xia Nan told them that the Life Energy he absorbed had clearly increased, that all the more confirmed this point.

This powerful Great Pirate had likely completed his accumulation and begun rapidly harvesting the remaining adventurers in the Secret Realm.

[We can’t waste any more time. We have to speed up our Hunting even further!]

Having a deep shadow in her heart toward this fierce and terrifying father of hers, Salisa chirped sharply, then raked the ground hard with her bird claws.

They knew full well that their clumped state was extremely conspicuous in Perception and very likely to attract Dodd’s attention.

If he was indeed in the final harvesting phase, putting Xia Nan’s group in his shoes, facing a party with a numerical advantage, to be safe he’d probably choose to leave them for last—killing off the remaining solo adventurers to boost his Strength before dealing with them.

Their group was also exploiting this, fighting to buy more time for Xia Nan’s growth.

Ever since entering the Secret Realm and learning the ceremony’s mechanisms, Algae Scale Dodd’s existence had been like a constant "Sword of Damocles" hanging over Xia Nan and the others.

No one knew this Ceremony Arranger’s progress, nor what he was currently doing.

But from Xia Nan’s point of view, if he were the Ceremony Arranger instead, he was confident his own growth wouldn’t be worse than his current five-Evolution self.

He had never minded planning from the worst-case scenario.

Just as Salisa feared, in order to stop Dodd’s ceremony—and also to harvest as much Skill Level as possible—he had to go faster and push harder!

"Next one, let’s pick this one in the southeast—it’s a bit closer."

He searched the nearby participants’ positions within his Perception; before he’d even had time to fully digest the Life Energy of the rhino adventurer, Xia Nan and his teammates made their plan.

...

...

Dodd finally completed his fourth Evolution since descending into the Secret Realm!

"Aooou!!!"

The high-pitched howl turned into invisible air currents surging outward, making waves ripple across the grass.

Not far away, a gray-furred rat bigger than an adult Human lay motionless in a pool of blood.

Above the corpse, the Life Energy that had originally hovered in midair had been completely absorbed.

And the culprit behind the gray rat adventurer’s death—that earth-yellow lizard with a semi-transparent body—finally welcomed the fourth Evolution he’d dreamed of.

Without an attribute panel Golden Finger, forced to randomly select his Evolution path, Dodd had clearly gone further and further from the expected giant dragon direction.

His already burly lizard body swelled like a balloon, bulging at the sides of his abdomen with pus-filled sacs that eventually burst, revealing a pair of fresh new claws.

There were no giant dragon-like membrane wings on his back; instead, his body was now covered in tougher yet even more transparent scale-like skin.

Like some special creature that had long dwelled in lightless environments, those originally semi-transparent scales had become crystal-clear like glass crystals, allowing even his squirming organs inside to be seen.

A single earth-yellow horn pierced out from his forehead, clearly an important casting organ of this bizarre creature; dense Magic Particles billowed around it, staining the air with an ocher halo.

Feeling the surging, vast Strength within his body, and a level of fine control over Elemental Energy far beyond before,

Dodd only felt his confidence soar, growing even more proud of his own prudence.

With the ceremony’s boundary shrunk to this degree, his original advantage of Perceiving positions had diminished. Converting that into a Life Energy bonus massively amplified his edge.

If he had previously only been slightly ahead, then now, upon reaching his fourth Evolution and undergoing a qualitative leap in overall power, he had undoubtedly risen to the apex of the adventurer Pyramid in the entire Secret Realm.

Next, what Dodd had to do was use his power advantage to the fullest—killing off the adventurers across the map one by one, harvesting Life Energy, and widening the gap in Strength to an unbridgeable chasm.

At that point, he would become the final victor of the Secret Realm and complete the promotion ceremony.

Starting from the Scale Changer class, he’d become a true "Transcendent" existence.

Whenever he thought of that bright and beautiful vision in the near future, of what he was about to achieve, Algae Scale Dodd couldn’t help the ripples spreading through his heart.

"As long as I can complete the ceremony... as long as I can advance to Transcendent..."

Then everything he’d invested before—time, effort, wealth, even social ties—would all have been worth it!

In Dodd’s lizard slit-pupils, after that reverie, a flash of resolve appeared.

He focused his will, searching for his next target within his Perception.

That small team of four adventurers he’d noticed long ago had not suffered any casualties yet.

His will swept past them; Dodd hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not choose them as his target.

After all, they had a numbers advantage, and he had just completed his fourth Evolution, needing some time to adapt to his body.

To rush into a siege now might make the fight somewhat strained—and if he were injured at this critical node where rapid growth was essential, that was absolutely unacceptable.

"Heh, I’ll let you cling to life a bit longer."

He disdained adventurers who chose to form parties in a Secret Realm with a kill-to-Evolve mechanism like this.

Dodd let out a cold laugh, shifted his attention away, and picked other targets.

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