Chapter 73: The Queen’s Heart
If the Exo-skeleton could survive a blow from an Eldritch Class beast like the Rook, then he would definitely not have any trouble against most of the superhumans out in the real world!
Eldritch Class magical beasts could only be taken down by high-level A Ranks, so most superhumans would be easily killed by them! The only people Jaosn still had to be careful of were the S and SS Ranks.
Jason thought about getting rid of the helmet, and he cracked his neck as the silver helmet melted away to leave him in just the silver armor. Jason looked himself over, and then he willed away the rest of the armor, other than the part over his arms. Now, Jason looked like some sort of cybernetically enhanced human with metallic arms and he chuckled at that thought before putting his right hand out to the Rook and giving it another order.
The Rook immediately used its paws to hide its nose on the ground while looking up at Jason with miserable eyes! It really didn’t want to do this! Why was Jason making it do this!?
All the members of the Legion saw Jason as their King, and to them, it was taboo to even think about hurting the King. Anyone who tried to hurt the King deserved to die immediately. So Jason testing out his abilities by forcing them to hurt him was only making the wolf feel bad! But Jason assured it that he wasn’t angry.
’I’ll give you more head pats after, come on.’
The wolf perked up at the mention of head pats, and Jason just laughed as it came forward and bit down hard on Jason’s right arm!
Clang!
A sound like metal striking metal echoed through the region and Jason grimaced as he felt some pain in his arm! The Moonlight Wolf’s teeth were like vice clamps as they held Jason’s arm down, but even though Jason knew he couldn’t move, his arm was still not hurt by the bite! Jason ordered the wolf to let go and it immediately let go and looked at the arm to make sure that it didn’t hurt Jason! Jason petted the wolf on the head and told it that he was fine, and then he ordered it to go back and rest with the large Adamantine Ant Rook.
Jason flexed his hand and then grinned as he willed the armor to vanish. This was a good test, and at least he now knew how strong he was compared to the rest of his legion. Jason was somewhere on the same level as the Rooks, but he was still weaker than them for now, so he would likely lose if they had a fight. But once Jason resurrected more monsters in just a few minutes, he was going to become more powerful for sure. Jason just hoped that the monsters here would be enough to take him all the way to S rank.
Yip! Yip!
A sound came from beside Jason and Jason turned to see the wolf he sent out with multiple magic crystals in its mouth. Jason put his hand out and the wolf dropped the crystals into his palm. Jason petted the wolf’s head in thanks, and the wolf moved to go and join the rest of the Legion in gathering the bodies of the ants.
Jason popped one of the crystals in his mouth and chewed.
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The user has consumed a Low-level Magic Crystal from the [Adamantine Ant] Race.
+15 MP
+0.1% Strength
+0.1% Stamina
——
Mana Points: 4,350/6,451
——
This time, the stone Jason ate came from an Adamantine Ant worker, so it gave him a lower boost in his stats and mana compared to the one from the Adamantine Ant Soldier. Jason’s mana was still being replenished after all the fighting that he had just gone through, but he could feel the reserves growing faster with each stone he consumed. Jason licked his teeth with his tongue and tasted the crystal properly, and when he was sure that he didn’t feel any form of sickness in his stomach from the one he had swallowed, he started to walk towards the dead Adamantine Ant Queen.
The body of the Adamantine Ant Queen was extremely large and it towered over Jason like a freaking duplex. Jason looked it over calmly, and he suddenly wondered if there was really no use for it. Jason hadn’t heard any superhumans talking about using the carcass of a magical beast before, but there was no way the magical beast carcass would be useless, especially since it had been saturated in its own mana for so long.
[Most magical creatures lose their strength and durability after their death due to the gradual diffusion of their mana to the environment. The majority of a dead magical creature’s mana gathers into its Magical Crystal and any artifacts that it leaves behind. There are very few creatures who do not lose their magical potency even after death, such as the Basilisk, the dragons, or the multi-headed hydra.]
Jason read through the message from the system quickly and hummed in understanding. So that was why they weren’t gathering the bodies in the SMD building. The magical creatures would be useful for a while, but they would eventually lose all their properties as the magic faded from their bodies and left them useless.
That was why they mainly focused on gathering the Magical Crystals. Gathering the bodies when something like that was bound to happen would become a second priority.
Jason sent a mental command to the Adamantine Ant Rook and told it to bring out the magical crystal from the Boss. The Rook went to the Boss’s body and tore it open easily before reaching toward its heart and ripping out the magical crystal. It came and dropped the magical crystal in Jason’s hand, but then it went back and retrieved something else that was inside the Boss. It was a circular glass globe that was just large enough to sit in Jason’s hand. It had strange swirling waves inside it and Jason narrowed his eyes as he activated [Appraisal].
[Due to repeated use, the user has evolved the skill [Appraisal - B]]
——
Adamantine Ant’s Heart
Rank: S
Durability: 100%
Boosts: +100% to Mana Attacks, +50% Agility.
Description: The heart of the Adamantine Ant Boss, which contains its soul essence. The orb grants the wielder a massive boost in their mana output and allows them to operate at a much higher level than they were once capable of. Constant use of the Heart will drain the object’s durability.
——
[The system suggests that the user fashions this orb into a wieldable staff in order to use it more efficiently.]
[The system has detected that the user does not possess any Emitter-based skill that would allow him to utilize this staff to its maximum potential. The system advises that the user either acquires an Emitter-based skill or grants the artifact to one of his allies or subordinates who will be capable of utilizing it more efficiently to aid the user in battle.]
Jason tossed the orb up and caught it. It was really useful. Boosting magic attacks by a hundred percent meant that a simple B Rank spell could grow to be half as strong as an A Rank spell. It wasn’t going to just close the gap between the ranks, but it would at least allow someone to stand against enemies that would’ve easily killed you earlier.
But Jason knew that an artifact like this wasn’t going to do him much good. This artifact was more suited towards Emitters who cast spells, and since Jason didn’t have any Emitter-type skill, he wasn’t going to be able to put this to good use.
’But I know someone that this would be perfect for...’