Han Wu knew that the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite before him still fell short of a true Machineddrasprite. Even so, it had reached the Microcosm rank.
How powerful would the real thing be? He couldn’t begin to imagine.
After confirming through the system that nothing else remained in the ruins, Han Wu led his Digital Sprites out. He now commanded formidable forces: the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite, Yinglong, two War Saint Locustmen, the Iron Abyss Bug, and 200 Nightwing Butterflies.
If necessary, he could also summon Nuclear Locusts for additional firepower. With this level of strength, Han Wu felt that he could carve out a territory in the Sprite Civilization.
After leaving the ruins, Han Wu gathered intelligence through his avatars. His current location had already reached the civilization’s high-danger zones.
To the east lay the Chessboard Lands, a kingdom built by countless Chess Soldiers. According to the avatars’ reports, four contestants had already fallen there.
To the west stood the Kingdom of Sin, a zone filled with Sin Digital Sprites and home to more than fifty ultimate ones. Nearly ninety-eight percent of contestants who entered hadn’t returned.
To the north stretched a snowfield inhabited by powerful Ice Digital Sprites. Only three ultimate ones had been discovered there so far, but all wielded formidable ice abilities.
To the south was the Forest of Bewilderment, which was the ultimate Puppet Beast’s territory. Twelve contestants had been defeated there, and two had failed to teleport out in time. The Puppet Beast had turned them into scarecrows.
Only moments earlier, Han Wu had felt powerful. After learning what surrounded him, he realized he wasn’t as powerful as he had thought. For now, the wiser choice was to enter the least dangerous zone, gather resources, and cultivate his ultimate units into a proper army before challenging the high-danger zones.
He chose the Chessboard Lands, the safest of the four options.
On the way there, Han Wu noticed that the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite and the Iron Abyss Bug moved far too slowly. With them slowing the group down, the journey would take twice as long. Fortunately, a solution quickly presented itself. The Pseudo-Machineddrasprite had reached the Microcosm rank and possessed a Microcosm capable of housing other Digital Sprites. That allowed him to travel light and protect the weaker Digital Sprites.
As such, he immediately had the Iron Abyss Bug, the 200 Nightwing Butterflies, and the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite itself enter the Microcosm. He could summon them whenever he needed them.
Han Wu then rode Yinglong, with Stinger and Thunder Halberd at his side, and soon entered the Chessboard Lands.
The moment they crossed into the territory, the guards attacked them. Arrows rained upward from below. Against Yinglong’s defenses, the arrows weren’t even worthy of being used as toothpicks.
Still, getting shot at without fighting back wasn’t Han Wu’s style. He looked down and saw a neatly organized formation of Chess Soldiers firing volleys with disciplined precision. Wave after wave of arrows arced upward in orderly succession.
Before long, information about the Chess Soldiers appeared before him.
[Bow Soldiers (mature, Unique life form). Skills: Arrow Shot, Volley. Description: Well-trained archer Chess Soldiers whose range increases with the number of identical units in formation.]
[Shield Soldiers (mature, Unique life form). Skills: Shield Raise, Shield Bash. Description: Well-trained shield-bearing Chess Soldiers whose defense increases with the number of identical units in formation.]
[Spear Soldiers (mature, Unique life form). Skills: Pierce, Javelin Throw. Description: Well-trained spear-wielding Chess Soldiers whose attack power increases with the number of identical units in formation.]
Every type of Chess Soldier was incredibly weak on its own. They were only mature-tier, yet individually they were even weaker than some of the weakest species that Han Wu had encountered. Even the Magma Locust, a unit designed solely for Self Detonation, seemed superior by comparison.
Just as Han Wu was thinking that, a cannonball tore into his field of view and detonated dangerously close. Yinglong’s scales absorbed the attack without issue, but Han Wu took the shockwave directly. His protection barrier lost fifty points.
The hit immediately sharpened his focus. He searched below and eventually spotted the source.
[Cannon Soldiers (perfect, Heroic life form). Skills: Launch, Self Detonation. Description: Cannon-type Chess Soldiers capable of both ranged and close combat. In formation, their blast radius, explosive power, and ammunition capacity increase with the number of identical units.]
More Cannon Soldiers were clustered nearby, and additional Chess Soldiers were converging on the area.
Han Wu’s brow furrowed. Individually, those Chess Soldiers were weak, but their strength scaled with numbers. Once they formed proper battle lines, they could rival other Digital Sprites of the same tier. Digital Sprites like this needed to be culled.
Han Wu summoned the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite and the Iron Abyss Bug from the Microcosm. Using the Iron Abyss Bug as an airborne fortress to minimize incoming fire, he sent his other Digital Sprites into battle.
Stinger and Thunder Halberd moved the fastest, carving through hundreds of Chess Soldiers with ease. Yinglong was even deadlier. A single pass over the formation shredded more than 1,000 Chess Soldiers with its Turbo Claw.
The most terrifying of all, however, was the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite. Its metallic frame easily shrugged off most attacks. Its Infinity Cannon unleashed a shockwave that obliterated tens of thousands of Chess Soldiers in one blast. Entire formations crumbled to ash under the bombardment.
The Chess Soldiers’ strength-in-numbers trait was completely neutralized in the face of the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite.
As the slaughter continued, energy and evolution points poured into Han Wu’s account. In no time, he had accumulated 4 million energy points and 1.2 million evolution points. The rate of growth was staggering.
Han Wu was genuinely glad that he had chosen this destination. No other region nearby could offer such dense concentrations of enemies for the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite to eliminate.
After witnessing its overwhelming performance, Han Wu decided that the Pseudo-Machineddrasprite’s next evolution path would focus on the mechanical attribute, with the Machineddrasprite as its final evolution.
Because he already owned a Pseudo-Machineddrasprite, he quickly located the Machineddrasprite icon within his Evolution Tree. Evolution had to proceed step by step, however, so he needed to determine the sequence.
He fed the screws and bolts he had collected from the Machineddrasprite ruins into the tree, along with a massive amount of evolution points. Soon, a brand-new evolution path took shape.