When Lin Xun returned to Hidden Canyon again, it was already the second night.
The Shell mory of Broken Horn Sharu had caused his knowledge to overload, and now his Knowledge cap had surpassed thirty thousand.
The most shocking thing in that mory was the truth of this chapter: the Omniscient True Knowledge was a god that had already fallen into madness.
[You remain in stealth as you step into the canyon…]
[The scene before you takes you by surprise. At this hour, it should have been the mining ti for the slave miners. By all rights, there shouldn’t have been a single miner in the canyon.]
[But contrary to your expectations, columns of half-dragon miners were patrolling back and forth. What they held in their hands was no longer a Worn Cross Copper Pickaxe but sharp spears.]
[You carefully step forward, following one of the patrol teams, eavesdropping on their quiet conversation…]
[It turns out your assassination of the hybrid overseer has been exposed. Both you and Broken Horn Sharu have been placed on the wanted list.]
[Forr mining companions, for the sake of rewards from the Dragon Nest, had joined the hastily ford guard squads, determined to capture you and Broken Horn Sharu, who had vanished without a trace.]
[The lords in the Dragon Nest had already dispatched a new overseer to take up residence in the mine. The new overseer ca from another pit and was the descendant of a hybrid overseer.]
[It had inherited the cave dwelling of the deceased overseer, along with all the property left behind.]
[Do you wish to reveal yourself and kill these miners, or will you first go to the overseer’s cave to investigate?]
[You no longer shadow the guard team and instead walk toward the cave you rember so vividly.]
[…]
[At the entrance to the overseer’s cave, a squad of miner slave guards stand watch. You remain in stealth, slipping inside without a sound.]
[You stealthily advance all the way to the living quarters cave. The overseer’s corpse at the entrance had long since disappeared, and even the bloodstains had been cleaned away.]
[The sleeping mat inside the cave had been moved elsewhere. The passage leading to the underground storage was now exposed, unguarded.]
[You hear so movent from inside and realize the new overseer is in the storage.]
[Do you wish to enter the underground storage?]
[You slip into the passage silently. Inside the underground storage, a Hybrid Half-Dragon Who Gazes Upward is counting ore.]
[You are surprised to find that there is even more ore here than when you last ca.]
[It seems the new overseer had moved its own private stash here.]
[Will you quietly kill it or leave without making a sound?]
According to the previous docunts, a hybrid half-dragon’s bloodline was more noble than that of a mixed-blood half-dragon, but to enter the Dragon Nest, it still had to embezzle ore to strengthen its bloodline.
Only when the bloodline reached the level of a pureblood half-dragon would it be qualified to enter the Dragon Nest.
Lin Xun looked into the inventory. Inside was the secret art scroll that Broken Horn Sharu had found.
[Secret Rite Scroll of Hermit Bloodline Tempering (Item): An ancient scroll inscribed with half-dragon script, covered in many twisted symbols.]
[Using this item, you can comprehend the special skill Hermit Bloodline Tempering Rite.]
Secret rites belonged to the category of special skills. Lin Xun tried equipping the Earth Giant Shell and clicked on the secret art scroll. The system did not display ‘Unable to Comprehend’ or any similar ssage.
But he did not rush to use the skill scroll. Since he still didn’t understand the precise effects of the skill, the safest course was to kill the overseer, possess its Shell, and then check the skill’s details before making any decisions.
[You quietly approach the hybrid overseer from behind. A sharp blade springs from your gauntlet, stabbing fiercely into its back…]
[The overseer, counting ore with a pleased expression, froze. Its face stiffened, it twitched twice, and slowly collapsed…]
[You have defeated Mixed-Blood Half-Dragon Who Gazes Upward. Experience increased slightly.]
[You obtained Weak Spirit Essence of Steadfast Will x1.]
[You obtained Small Divine Statuette of the Radiant Stars (Junk).]
[You look down at the corpse before you…]
[You have possessed the Shell of Hybrid Half-Dragon Who Gazes Upward!]
Lin Xun opened the panel to inspect.
The overseer’s Shell quality was slightly higher than that of the mixed-blood half-dragon, reaching Fine grade. Its Shell Level had also risen from 40 to 45.
The skill list included not only Venomous Bite but also the secret rite skill.
[Hermit Bloodline Tempering Rite (Special Skill): The descendants of the Hermit discovered that the Obsidian Venom Ore contained the bloodline power of their great ancestor. To absorb this power and strengthen their own bloodline, they developed this clandestine art.]
[Using this skill, you can extract bloodline power from any material imbued with the Hermit Bloodline, thereby enhancing your own bloodline.]
[This skill can only be used by a descendant of the Hermit.]
“…So even if the Earth Giant learned this secret art, it still wouldn’t be able to use the skill.”
Lin Xun had been fantasizing that if he let the Earth Giant learn it, maybe it too could beco a little dragon man.
Though the mixed-blood and hybrid half-dragon Shells were of very low quality, the true quality of the Hermit Bloodline surely surpassed all limits…
“If only the descendants of the Hermit hadn’t betrayed the Omniscient True Knowledge, I wouldn’t need to possess these little dragon n to infiltrate the enemy ranks, nor think up all these ways to secretly raise my bloodline and sneak into the Dragon Nest…”
Lin Xun suddenly thought that if he were an envoy of the radiant stars and ca to Hidden Canyon, how would the story have unfolded?
Would he have been honored by the little dragon n as a distinguished guest, invited straight into the Dragon Nest?
For a mont, he felt that was very likely.
“…So joining the Oath of the Radiant Stars was actually the proper route to conquer Hidden Canyon.”
The Oath of the Radiant Stars was incredibly treacherous. It required Devout Service which ant giving all of your Spirit Essence, and you also had to continually contribute the Spirit Essence you obtained from subsequent steps of this chapter.
But in return, you gained the rewards of the Star Spirit Palace and the key to Hidden Canyon.
Joining the Oath of the Omniscient True Knowledge made the progression far more difficult, and you’d miss out on part of the rewards. However, the blind-draw lottery of the Divine Book of Favor made up for everything.
“No… the Dark Dragon Knight was part of the Omniscient True Knowledge faction. It was from him that I received guidance on how to reach Hidden Canyon. If I had belonged to the Radiant Stars faction, maybe I wouldn’t have gained the inheritance at all.”
The more Lin Xun thought about it, the more wrong it seed. Wouldn’t the ga’s progression be contradictory like this?
Earlier, you needed the Oath of Omniscient True Knowledge to acquire the Dragon Knight inheritance. But after entering Hidden Canyon, you needed the Oath of the Radiant Stars to proceed normally.
Did conquering Hidden Canyon really have to be this infuriating?
He couldn’t worry about anything else and quickly flipped through the previous ga text.
After searching for quite so ti, he finally found the text from before he entered the illusion of the Dark Dragon Knight.
The inscription on the stone stele beside the giant dragon’s bones never explicitly demanded that he must be a follower of the Omniscient True Knowledge from start to finish.
In other words, even if he were a follower of the Radiant Stars, he could still obtain the inheritance.
Then, a clue he had overlooked resurfaced before his eyes.
Back then, at the bottom of the underground lake, in pitch darkness, when he touched the chains binding the giant dragon, the text had described it this way.
[The chain was so thick that it would take more than a dozen people linking arms to encircle it. Running your fingers along its surface, you felt countless mysterious runes deeply engraved into the tal.]
“Runes…”
The kindly smile of the Servant of Knowledge flashed through his mind.
At the very bottom of the stele’s inscription, the Dragon Knight had once said:
[By overcoming the trial I left behind, you will be able to accept my inheritance.]
[When you beco an existence equal to the gods, please rember to avenge …]
At the ti, he had taken it for granted that the target of vengeance was one of the deities from the Radiant Stars faction. Thinking back on it now, things were likely not that simple.
“So this entire quest chain was prepared for Apostles who swore the Radiant Stars Oath. Would the final step of the inheritance be demanding that I storm the Temple of Knowledge?”
Lin Xun shook his head, pushing aside that unrealistic thought.
Right now, his strength was still far too feeble. Even if there were such a quest, it would probably only appear in later chapters.
Faced with a sugar-coated shell, Lin Xun’s choice was to eat the sugar and fire the shell right back.
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