Stinger and Thunder Halberd faced off against the Gigadrasprite and Megadrasprite respectively. Despite being ultimate Digital Sprites, they were losing. The gap in their rank was simply too large.
Stinger and Thunder Halberd were only at the Earthsunder rank, while the two dragon-type Digital Sprites had reached the Heavenrender rank. Even though they managed to inflict numerous wounds, the damage was superficial. One solid hit from either dragon would leave them severely injured. Against the dragons’ overwhelming physical power, the Locustmen were outclassed.
Watching his two Locustmen struggle, Han Wu searched for a way out of the situation. He had already spent his donated money. His panel displayed only the energy and evolution points he had earned from killing the Commandrasprites and Sealdrasprites.
It was nowhere near enough to unlock a new evolution path or summon a new War Saint Locustman. He could summon an ultimate Iron Abyss Bug, or two ultimate Nuclear Locusts, but neither option would make a meaningful difference against the Gigadrasprite and Megadrasprite.
After considering every possibility, Han Wu was left with one choice. He needed to spend more money.
I have already invested 1 million Divine Essence. What is a little more? That thought was enough to console him.
Since he had committed to spending, Han Wu wouldn’t settle. He chose an evolution path that consumed a massive amount of resources, focused entirely on the dragon attribute!
Moments later, a system-wide notification flashed across every viewer’s screen.
[Viewer “Wisdom Faction Welcomes All” has donated 1 million Divine Essence to contestant Han Wu. This is an official announcement.]
The comment section of Han Wu’s broadcast exploded.
“Another million Divine Essence? Does the Wisdom Faction have money growing on trees? Can winning two divine wars really make you that rich?”
“Serious question. Is the Wisdom Faction still recruiting? I’ll be their dog if that’s what it takes.”
“Is it really necessary to go this hard for a single event?”
“I give up. The Wisdom God King must be playing four-dimensional chess.”
The viewers had lost their minds, overwhelmed by the Wisdom Faction’s sheer spending power.
***
Meanwhile, inside the Wisdom Faction, Xu Hai stared at the flood of membership applications pouring in. He thought he was dreaming. On a normal day, 100 applications would have been impressive. Today, the number had surpassed 10,000. The faction was on the rise!
When Xu Hai learned that Han Wu had been funding their advertising out of his own pocket, he was moved to tears. What a great kid! Even while competing, he didn’t forget to recruit members for the faction.
The only problem was the advertising cost. Xu Hai couldn’t help but wince. That was 2 million Divine Essence in total. Even if someone stripped the True Martial Faction down to their underwear, they still wouldn’t be able to produce that much!
“You won’t go broke from eating or drinking, but poor planning will ruin you. When Han Wu gets back, I’m going to teach him the meaning of frugality!” Xu Hai declared sternly while approving one application after another.
***
On Han Wu’s end, the 1 million Divine Essence arrived. With his funding secured, he opened his Evolution Tree once more.
Under normal evolution, the highest dragon-related species available to locusts was the Locust Dragon, which occupied the mature stage of the tree. The perfect and ultimate forms above it could only come from species generated through Random Evolution.
Han Wu quickly selected a dragon-focused evolution path.
[Locust (juvenile, Common life form) > Pterasprite (adolescent, Unique life form) > Locust Dragon (mature, Lord life form) > Green Dragon (perfect, King life form) > Yinglong (ultimate, Heavenrender life form)]
Activating that single path cost 800,000 Divine Essence. In the blink of an eye, he was down to 200,000. He couldn’t afford to waste the remainder, so he invested every last bit into summoning a Yinglong.
The 200,000 Divine Essence converted to 2 million energy points, but summoning a Yinglong required 2.1 million. In an instant, his money disappeared without even leaving so much as a spare coin behind. He even had to dip into his reserves for the remaining 100,000 energy points.
When the 2.1 million energy points were spent, a Yinglong appeared, and pure Dragon Fear descended. Its mere aura was enough to make the Megadrasprite and Gigadrasprite freeze in a panic and stop fighting.
Han Wu checked Yinglong’s attributes.
[Yinglong (ultimate). Skills: True Dragon’s Might, War Dragon Form, Dragon Bane. Description: An extremely powerful dragon-type Digital Sprite that deals double damage against all other dragon-type Digital Sprites.]
“Now that’s strong!” Han Wu said, and gave Yinglong its order to crush the Megadrasprite and Gigadrasprite.
Yinglong obeyed and activated its War Dragon Form. Its scales shuddered and erupted with golden light. Its claws gleamed like blades, and it moved with the swiftness of wind.
The Megadrasprite and Gigadrasprite didn’t dare face it head-on and tried to flee. Stinger and Thunder Halberd quickly moved to cut them off, while Yinglong targeted the Megadrasprite first.
Although both were Heavenrender life forms, and the Megadrasprite was technically stronger than Yinglong, it could do nothing but tremble under True Dragon’s Might. Even in the face of death, it didn’t dare resist. The fear was instinctive, etched deep in its bones.
The Megadrasprite died quickly and dissolved into data. The Gigadrasprite followed shortly after falling beneath Yinglong’s claws.
The two powerful dragon-type Digital Sprites yielded 400,000 energy points and 60,000 evolution points upon death. Converted into Divine Essence, that was roughly 100,000. It was barely enough to recover a fraction of the cost! Both dragon-type Digital Sprites also left behind special materials.
[Megadrasprite Skull: A skull forged from Dragon Metal that greatly enhances draconic attributes. It could replace a dragon-type Digital Sprite’s head or serve as a material for dragon-type or mechanical-type ultimate evolution.]
[Gigadrasprite Right Arm: An arm forged from Dragon Metal that greatly enhances draconic attributes. It can replace a dragon-type Digital Sprite’s arm or serve as a material for dragon-type or mechanical-type ultimate evolution.]
Stinger flew over carrying yet another special material. It was the left arm that the Metal Tyrannosprite had dropped after being killed by the Megadrasprite and Gigadrasprite. Its attributes were comparable to those of the skull and the right arm.
Yinglong looked at all three materials with obvious desire. Han Wu made his decision and handed them over.
Yinglong absorbed them, and its skull and arms underwent a transformation, becoming harder and more refined. Its Dragon Fear grew stronger as well. Better yet, after absorbing the three materials, Yinglong awakened two new skills.
[Turbo Claw: Extends the right claw to impale the enemy.]
[Infinity Arm: Uses the left arm to crush the enemy.]
Both skills greatly boosted Yinglong’s combat power. With the powerful Yinglong by his side, Han Wu decided to head downward to check on Loki’s progress.