Chapter 12: The New Hero and the Heart of the City

Soon, the ghostfire slaves cleared away most of the items from the passage. Looking at the detailed inventory, Li Bin realized this mission had been quite profitable.

Not to mention the extra rewards he could claim from Bloodlust City upon completion, just the spoils taken from the ghost spider alone were enough to satisfy him. Under the ghostfire slaves’ disassembly, all eight legs of the ghost spider were fashioned into strong bow limbs. By Li Bin’s estimation, any bow made from these limbs would have at least a +3 attack attribute. The ghost spider’s body was broken down into several pieces, each ideal for crafting armor and shields; its venomous fangs could be made into daggers, its eyes were high-quality gemstones, its venom sac could be used by skeleton mages to research poison magic, and even its organs could be put to strange uses by the undead.

Additionally, the ghostfire slaves had found more than ten ordinary weapons and pieces of equipment on the battlefield, over fifty units of iron ore, three units of mithril ore, and roughly three thousand gold coins’ worth of general energy.

Just as Li Bin was contentedly watching the ghostfire slaves busy themselves, one suddenly floated before him. “Great master, we have discovered someone who is still alive. Should we disassemble her?”

“Still alive? Take me to her,” Li Bin decided without hesitation.

Led by the ghostfire slave, Li Bin was brought before the spider-transformed beauty. It was unclear how she had survived the explosion earlier; though gravely wounded, her body bore no visible scars.

Upon seeing Li Bin, the spider-transformed beauty asked, “Has the ghost spider been killed?”

“It’s dead.”

“That’s wonderful,” she sighed in relief. “You may kill me now.”

“Why should I kill you? From your tone, it sounds like you hated the ghost spider. Would you tell me your story?” Li Bin smiled as he asked, for the ghostfire slaves were still transporting the newly acquired materials and he had plenty of time to linger here.

“What story could I have? I was merely a pitiful soul imprisoned by the ghost spider.” The spider-transformed beauty sighed.

Yet in the end, she revealed her circumstances. Her original name was Lidas, an Amazon warrior of the barbarian lineage. While undertaking the hero evolution task assigned by her tribe, she was captured by the ghost spider and imprisoned within the body of a giant sword spider, becoming a spider-transformed female warrior.

During her days under the ghost spider’s control, Lidas secretly resisted its domination, trying various ways to attract heroes who might defeat it. However, until Li Bin arrived, no hero had ever found this passage deep within the mine, let alone defeated the ghost spider.

Now that the ghost spider had been slain by Li Bin, Lidas, with no regrets left, was finally ready to die in peace. A trace of relief appeared on her face as she spoke.

“Have you never considered returning to your original form?” Li Bin suddenly asked, seeing Lidas’s desire for death.

“I have, but the ghost spider’s transformation magic isn’t the same as the dark elves’—it’s irreversible. And even if I could return to my original self, what would it matter? My hero quest has failed. A failed Amazon warrior cannot return to her tribe,” Lidas sighed.

“If you have nowhere to go, why not become a hero under my command?” Li Bin proposed with a smile.

“What? You would accept me as a hero? Is that truly possible?” Lidas exclaimed excitedly.

“Of course. You already possess the strength to be a hero, though you may not realize it,” Li Bin nodded earnestly.

Hearing this, Lidas struggled to rise, kneeling before Li Bin and declaring, “I, Lidas, am willing to become a hero under your command, and will never betray you.”

At the same time, the system immediately displayed Lidas’s attributes:

Lidas, female, spider-transformed Amazon warrior, Level 4/Level 1 barbarian hero, warrior type, long blue hair, uses a fundamental longbow as her weapon, extremely swift movement speed.

Combat attributes: Strength 12, Agility 18, Constitution 10, Intelligence 8, Perception 14, Charisma 10;

Campaign attributes: Attack 2, Defense 2, Knowledge 1, Wisdom 1, Leadership 2;

Special skill: Web Guardian—after reaching level 5, with each additional level, all spider and half-spider units under her command gain +1 attack and +1 defense;

Ordinary skills: Basic Offense, Basic Archery (subordinate units’ ranged damage increases by 10%), Basic Reconnaissance, Basic Leadership;

No accompanying units yet; her battle flag bears an arrowhead engraved with a spider emblem.

After accepting Lidas, Li Bin was about to instruct her to return to the Graveyard Mage for recuperation when another ghostfire slave floated up to him. “Great master, we have found a strange cave at the end of the passage.”

“A strange cave? Could there be other enemies?” Li Bin’s heart tightened. He had no strength left for another fight; should they encounter enemies now, he and his troops might not survive.

“No, great master. We found no enemies, but we did discover a peculiar pool and a stone stele,” the ghostfire slave replied cautiously.

“A stone stele? Could it be a summoning stone for a type of unit?” Li Bin wondered aloud, following the ghostfire slave to the strange cave.

The inner cave was barely three square meters wide. Most of the space was taken up by a pool of green liquid, in which a stone stele was submerged.

Unlike the gargoyle stele Li Bin had obtained earlier, this one was larger and contained far more powerful energy.

“This is…”

“This is the Heart of the City: Spider Level 3. If you find the right place, you can use this stele as the foundation to build a level 3 spider city,” Lidas explained. “It can also upgrade a level 2 spider city or a level 1 free city.”

“This is a treasure!” Li Bin exclaimed in excitement. Despite his limited time playing the game, he knew that the only requirement for leaving the novice continent was obtaining a Heart of the City, so that in the new continent, he could establish his own stronghold and develop it.

Now that Li Bin had acquired this item, his options had greatly expanded. He could immediately take this city heart to another continent for development, use it to trade with others, or keep it until he obtained a necromancer city heart and then use this one to build a sub-city.

Thinking of this, Li Bin smiled involuntarily. He ordered, “Transport the city heart to the Graveyard Mage, and move all items from here. Hurry, we’re leaving soon.”