Chapter 13: Mission Accomplished

Facing Li Bin’s onslaught, as relentless as a storm, this team displayed remarkable resilience. Just the two squads of Naga Queens alone cost Li Bin half a battalion of mixed troops, most of his harpy forces, a third of his Amazons, and seven Death Knights.

After the Naga Queens were cleared out, Gru had already forced “Take Down the Bird That Sticks Out” into a corner. Just as it seemed the latter would fall to Gru’s arrows, an unexpected turn occurred.

A streak of black light shot out from “Take Down the Bird That Sticks Out,” and at that very moment, the body of a Construct Lich was expelled from the besieged silver mechanical vehicle.

Li Bin shouted, “Carter has failed above and is preparing to find a new body—stop them quickly!”

Reid immediately turned, blocking the path of the black light, and brought his greatsword down heavily upon it. The black light, seemingly intelligent, twisted in midair, evaded Reid, and merged into the Construct Lich behind him.

Seeing this, Li Bin quickly ordered, “Reid, you deal with Carter. The rest of you, lure the mechanical car away.”

Though the Construct Lich’s body was still sluggish, it rushed toward the mechanical car. Li Bin shouted, “Reid, what are you waiting for? Haven’t you always wanted to kill Carter and avenge yourself?”

Unable to take the goading, Reid let out a roar. Silvery scales erupted across his body as he raised his greatsword and leapt behind the Construct Lich, cleaving it in two with a single blow. The black light burst out from the Lich’s body and shot toward the mechanical car.

Another Construct Lich body was ejected from the car, ready to be seized by the black light.

This time, Reid was prepared. With a single slash, he hacked the new Construct Lich into pieces, then kicked the silver mechanical car fifty or sixty meters away.

The disembodied black light swerved in midair, hovering as it cried out, “Li Bin, this was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“You could say that, but I’m just completing a mission, so you can’t blame me,” Li Bin replied, grinning as the black light gradually coalesced into Carter’s phantom.

“A fine mission indeed, even tricking me. I see I underestimated you. If you want to kill me, then come do it!” Carter snarled.

Seeing Carter close his eyes and await death, Li Bin felt a strange emotion stir within him. He said to Reid, “He’s yours now. Handle it as you see fit.”

Reid didn’t say another word. He thrust his black longsword straight at Carter, but as the blade pierced Carter’s form, Carter’s apparition dissolved into a black mist, attempting to flow along the sword into Reid’s own body.

Though his level had dropped, Reid was still of dragon lineage. With a thunderous roar, he repelled the invading black mist. After a few more strikes, the mist dissipated entirely beneath his sword.

Sheathing his blade, Reid said with satisfaction, “Try invading my body again—he clearly didn’t know what he was up against.”

But then Little Carter spoke up from the side, “Something’s wrong—Carter isn’t dead yet.”

Li Bin paused, then ordered, “Little Carter, search again.”

Little Carter repeated the search, and though the results were less clear this time, he did notice something amiss on “Take Down the Bird That Sticks Out.”

By then, “Take Down the Bird That Sticks Out” had already been knocked to the ground by Gru. Reid approached, placed his sword at his throat, and commanded, “Hand it over.”

Stubborn at first, “Take Down the Bird That Sticks Out” didn’t move, even under threat. Only after Li Bin cut him twice did he hurriedly produce a sapphire from his pouch and placed it before Reid.

Little Carter tested the stone and confirmed it was Carter’s phylactery. Reid took the sapphire and crushed it to dust with a laugh.

At that moment, Li Bin received a series of system notifications:

“You have completed the mission ‘Hunt Down Carter.’ Experience gained: 2000/3000. Reward: one of Carter’s mechanical vehicles.”

“You have completed Reid’s third mission, ‘Eliminate Carter.’ Experience gained: 9000/9000. Reid’s abilities unsealed, attack and defense +5, and received a Bone Dragon Construction Manual.”

“You have completed Jessica’s escort follow-up mission, ‘A Father’s Wish.’ Experience gained: 15000/16000. Gained one opportunity to learn a basic skill.”

“You have completed the regional mission, ‘Overthrow the City of Uyada.’ Experience gained: 15000/20000. Gold: 100,000. Ten units of assorted resources. 10% dominion over Uyada and a random level-5 treasure.”

This made Li Bin ecstatic—the experience alone propelled his level from 5/5 straight to 6/7.

He allocated the two new attribute points to Knowledge and Leadership, then chose “Basic Enlightenment” as his reward. This skill increased his experience gain and randomly improved certain attributes or skills upon leveling up.

Next, he selected the Scholar branch of Enlightenment, which allowed him to learn and use spells known by his subordinate heroes.

Finally, he picked the Undead Fortune branch of Luck, which gave his undead troops a chance to frighten enemies into retreating on the battlefield.

Li Bin then turned to his spoils of war. The item that drew his eye most was Carter’s silver mechanical vehicle.

Li Bin instantly recognized it as a treasure—not only could it move autonomously, but it could lay twenty fire traps per hour, housed a space of 5,000 slots for supplies and other items, and with a single thought, the user could eject anything stored inside.

What pleased Li Bin most was that the system hadn’t emptied the contents: all 5,000 spaces were filled with Carter’s collections amassed over the years.

Among these were a vast number of spirit-mechanical blueprints, several advanced spellbooks, more than ten silver dragon corpses, and over twenty Construct Lich bodies.

Li Bin surmised that Carter had intended to prepare spare bodies, switching to a new one whenever one was destroyed—only to have Li Bin profit from it all in the end.

With everything packed up, Shenling approached and asked, “Master, Mr. Damon sent word that he wishes to see you?”

“No need,” Li Bin replied after some thought. “Take the deed for 10% dominion over Uyada and see him instead. Tell him to trade me a level-2 or higher Undead or Spirit-Mechanical City Core.”

“What if it’s a different type?” Shenling asked, accepting the deed.

“Level 3 or above is acceptable,” Li Bin responded without hesitation.

Shenling nodded and departed. Li Bin then called Gru over and said directly, “Gru, I’d like to hear your story.”

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